31.6-2: 《cold》 are you the original or original?

_{quick add on note: the opening notes with the arrow icons actually are collapsible so if you click on them, they’ll open up to reveal some tidbits}

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[tatu/mbili] frame 1, olivier chance

frame 1, begin

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Olivier Chance, opening notes

Olivier Chance—0 years.
His first words are at 6 months.  His first steps are at 7 months. His parents call him the apple of their eye.

Olivier Chance—5 years.
He can solve complex analytical geometry questions with ease. He enjoys meeting new people and making new friends, but it’s important for him that he means more to others than they mean to him.  There isn’t any deep reason for this. 
His sister comes into his life and he wonders what fun things they’ll get to do together.

Olivier Chance—10 years.
Called Olive, Ollie, Ol, Live, and so on for short by friends. Has always been fascinated by comics. More specifically, he has always been fascinated by the characters in comic books. Even more specifically, the issues he loves the most are re-centralized on the villains and anti-heroes. There isn’t any clear or deep reason for his intrigue. The closest thing to an explanation is that he just cannot relate to the heroes.

Olivier Chance—17 years.
He is at the top of his class and is 2 levels above his expected KM-level. He is rather popular among his peers and is sociable but keeps a small and closely-knit inner circle of trusted friends. Among these are Yuseong Claire and Trystan Carter. He is infatuated with Claire’s younger sister though there’s no deep reason for this.
He feels like Ndoto is too quiet and boring and that it needs a little spark: even if that spark catches others on fire.

Cadence’s mall idea worked out in Olive’s favor. He had an evening shift at his part time job there and had been dreading the commute after hanging out at the beach, but now he had a free ride: Izsak’s minivan. They were all squeezed into the back: Olive himself, Trystan, Claire, and Felix. Lavi had abandoned Olive, choosing to sit up with Csilla and Eunji in the middle instead. Olive made a mental note to stick Lavi in the single seat at the back of the school bus during their next field trip.

Lavi and Csilla were yapping about some new movie that was in theaters, while Claire was teasing Felix about wearing long sleeves to the beach. Olive supposed he couldn’t always be the center of attention but he made a mental note Izsak was telling a familiar story about his first time in the mall at the first ever mall in Ndoto. Olive didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d heard it a million times before.

“—and Liza here called me short and dumped the milkshake right over my head!” Mr. Wtorek laughed.

Mrs. Wtorek only smiled and held Izsak’s hand.

They arrived at the TwinStars Mall half an hour later. The lot was packed and it took Izsak ten minutes to find a spot—a spot that happened to be right next to a very particular motorcycle surrounded by a very particular group.

Almost everyone that had been under Cadence’s tent at the beach—minus Claire’s apartment complex mates and Shion—now gathered there. Olive’s friends who had taken a different carpool, Cadence and her brothers and butlers, Werner and his family and questionable friends, Maria and her co-workers, Jericho and his siblings, and all the zany VNWs.

Once Izsak took five minutes to reverse park into his spot, Olive squeezed his way out, shoving Claire and Trystan out of the way, and joined the group. Almost everyone that had been under Cadence’s tent at the beach was gathered here now.

Heather, Eric, Stanley were standing awkwardly at the edge of the group and perked up when he joined him with Trystan, Claire, Felix, Eunji, and Lavi. They really were hopeless without him.

“I can’t believe you guys don’t remember the mall!” Werner was saying. Kaiser, still harnessed in, was on his shoulders. “It’s like the best place ever! There’s food, clothes, and an arcade too!”

“An arcade?” Ludwig asked.

Werner nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, they have a bunch of games in there like pinball and this new one where there are a bunch of squares and you jump on them to the beat of music.”

Groove Groove Insurgence. Last time Olive checked, he had the highest score under the pseudonym Incinerator. Sometimes when he was bored during his late night shifts he would turn all the games and play until he had the highest score on all of them. He was trying to create a sort of urban legend for himself. Sort of like the ‘Golden Beast’ story his parents used to tell him to try to deter him from staying out too late.

“We do have that v-ehicle mall project opening in south central Ophiuchus,” Gabrielle replied, hands on hips as she studied the mall in the distance, “but it’s a lot less colorful… and smaller.”

The Market District’s TwinStars Mall stretched three stories high with a triangle glass roof and glass exterior walls so all the flashing lights and stores on the inside could be seen from the outside.  Both the east and west wings of the building stretched several blocks and therefore were dotted with many doors.

Izsak rounded them and put his hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder. He thumbed behind him. “Hey, there’s an automall at the opposite end of the district. We could swing by there sometime after the kids have their fun.”

Gabrielle studied him a moment before giving a lopsided smile. “I’ll pass, Izsak.”

“So why are you here then? Why were you at the beach?” Nico interjected. His arms were crossed and he was facing Gabrielle but looking at Professor Kingsley and Weingartner. “There was an ELPIS talk down there today and there’s a demonstration happening at the mall this afternoon. Tell me these dots don’t connect.”

Gabrielle glanced over at Alice before studying Nico for a moment. She offered a smile. “Well then, Mr. Fabrizzio, they don’t connect.”

“Aren’t there other things that a guidance officer should be doing,” Jericho interjected, pushing up his glasses, “instead of bothering civilians on their day of rest?”

Olive wished he still had the popcorn Claire had bought.

Nico glared at Jericho but continued to address Gabrielle: “Look, Law, we’re on the same team here. I know things are confusing for you right now, but—”

Werner gasped and squeezed Nico’s arm. “Liebling, you promised not to bring work into today!”

Nico’s face went red like he’d been caught in a lie.

“That’s right, dear Nico,” Maria added. “Today is your day of rest, no? There are times to work and times to relax and times to have fun and times to be serious. Being a guidance officer means knowing which is which, yes?”

“Right.”

Maria studied him for a bit before her brows rose. “Nico, do you no longer—”

“So it’s basically a buncha shops crammed into one building,” Carl summarized, returning to the original topic. 

Did VNW have a new side-effect of stating the obvious?

Olive wasn’t sure where the thought had come from. 

“Huh?” Werner was a step behind as usual.

“The mall,” Carl elaborated.

“Oh yeah! There’s a movie theater there too!” Werner added. “‘We should all go catch that new movie that all the kids are talking about! I think it was called Greener Pastures. I hear it’s really sad!”

“You cried after watching that nature documentary about those leopards.” Cadence sighed putting her hand to her head. “I can’t imagine you keeping yourself together after seeing that one. I saw a limited early screening—it is quite sad.”

“This mall concept ain’t bad,” Allen interjected. “Guessin’ the shops need t’pay rent to have a place here.”

“That was exactly our idea,” Francis answered, pulling away from Charite and Cadence and stepping beside him. “What do you think?”

“So this is ours?” Allen asked.

“On paper it’s our company’s and our shareholders’,” Francis replied and then smiled, “but… between us, yes it is.”

“I have no idea where you all come up with all these sparkling ideas,” Cadence said, “but they’re very brilliant.” She extended her hand, holding the building in her palm. “A place you never want to leave.”

Francis chuckled. 

Carl grumbled.

“I can never get over the connections you have,” Heather whispered to Olive. 

Olive smirked and shrugged.

Werner, Izsak, and Cadence rattled on as they headed collectively towards the building. Olive pulled ahead of them with his friend group and strode through the main entrance of the building. It was a lot busier than Olive had been expecting, but he figured more people meant that more interesting things were bound to happen.

Stairs and escalators leading to the upper-levels criss-crossed across the mall’s main lobby which consisted of a large water fountain boxed in by the food court. The checkerboard floors reflected the neon lights that were shining into the fountain and being dispersed by the droplets. The fountain was slightly more crowded than usual. Olive suspected the draw of the crowd was the large moving tree standing at the front of the fountain. It had two leafy branches, large eyes, and a goofy smile. In its left tree branch were a bundle of ribbons leading up to a cloud of balloons.

So his boss had found someone to rope into being the mascot for this year’s much delayed Tree Festival.  Olive wondered who the poor sucker was.

There was a sandpit playground a ways behind the fountain and it was filled with children. Frankly, Olive was getting tired of looking at sand and hearing children screaming. It was going to be a long day which meant that he needed some well-deserved entertainment in exchange.

Olive glanced over his shoulder and at the group at his toes.

“Livelier than I expected,” Gabrielle noted.

“Looks like a circus,” Carl muttered.

“Oh!” Werner pointed to the mascot and grabbed Nico by the arm. “Liebling, let’s go get balloons for Kaiser!”

Jericho watched the trio go before he turned to Alice and then Araceli.  “Well, I’ll see you around.” He said a few more words to his siblings before he departed deeper into the mall.

* * *

“Well, those are familiar faces!”

Olive was sitting at the food court with his group of high school friends. The adults—minus Gabrielle and the two professors—were at the tables around him. He was shoving a forkful of fried noodles in his mouth when he looked up and saw his physics teacher standing at his table. He nearly choked.

“Marta! What are you doing here?”

Marta wrinkled her nose and placed a hand on her hip. “Just because we’re outside of the classroom doesn’t mean that you can start calling me by first name.”

“Hi, Miss John,” Trystan added. “How are you?”

Suck up.

Claire and Lavi waved. Coach Charming shot up in his seat.

“Doing good, Trystan. Thanks for asking.” Marta refocused her attention on Olive. “Speaking of which…”

Uh-oh.

“I’m surprised to see you and Trystan here, Olive. You told me that you two were going to spend today finishing up that solenoid engine project and have it ready by Monday for advanced physics. Did you all already get that done?”

Trystan went pale. He stared at Olive. “Wait—what? I thought you said we got an extension on that.”

“You see this is why I chose advanced bio instead,” Claire interjected unhelpfully. “My project is just acting like a god over a family of fruit flies.”

Marta arched a brow. “So… what is it?”

Oh shit. Oh shit.

Olive stood up and nodded over at the sandpit. “Wait, I think Jericho’s sister is calling me over there. One second!”

He headed over to the sandpit where Sidra indeed was. Her hands were lit up a misty gray as was the sand beneath her palms. When she moved her hands left, the sand moved left. A gift from the tree.

“Hey, Sidra, what’s up?” Olive greeted her. “You needed me for something?”

Sidra looked up and him and smiled. “Hey, Olive. What do you mean?”

Olive peeked over his shoulder. “You definitely needed me for something.”

Sidra arched a brow. “I definitely did not.” She returned to shifting through the sand.

Crap.

“Excuse me, you’re Jericho’s sister, right?”

Olive looked to his left and found Emilia something standing there with Klaus. The woman offered him a tight smile before looking back at Sidra.

Sidra turned to Emilia and nodded. “Who are you? Are you friends with my brother?” She eyed Olive. “Or one of my brother’s friends?”

“I’m Emilia,” Emilia something introduced herself. “I’m…” She glanced back towards the food court tables, towards the table the Foxmans, Werner, and Nico occupied. “An… acquaintance of a friend of your brother’s.”

Sidra nodded slowly. “Emilia’s a pretty name.” She looked her up and down. “I like your outfit by the way.”

“Thank you—I…” She stared at Sidra’s baggy flower print shirt. “I like yours too…” After a pause, she said. “I just noticed that conducting you were doing on the beach earlier making that sand castle. It looked like… are you an Earth Elementalist?”

Sidra cocked her head again. “Earth Elementalist?”

Emilia gestured to the sand.

“Oh! You mean my gift from the tree!” Sidra brightened.

“I’m just… so impressed by the fine control you have over the medium,” Emilia explained. “The individual grains and minerals—it’s much easier with solid ground since it’s compact and connected but—”

What the heck. Crazy VNW talk. 

Olive paused for a moment, wondering if he should stay to look after Sidra for Jericho but he figured that Sidra was well off on her own with the VNW lady. Klaus could look after her.

Olive slowly exited the conversation. But—he couldn’t go back to Marta at the table. No, he had to bide his time until his shift started so he would have an excuse to be too busy to talk. With that in mind, he rounded the fountain and headed into a store that was selling cotton candy. He was stopped by a hand around the wrist.

“Olive!” Trystan stood behind him, face red. “Are you serious right now?”

Olive rolled his eyes and rocked back on his heels. “Don’t worry about it, Trystan.” He pulled his hand away. “We can totally get it done in a couple of hours. Just stay the night at my house—”

“I can’t,” Trystan interjected.

“Then I’ll come over to your house—”

Trystan’s eyes went wide and he shook his head. “You can’t!”

Olive threw his hands up in the air. “What’s the deal?”

Trystan stumbled over his words, “I— It’s just that… My parents. They’re not feeling well right now. I don’t want you to get sick and I need to be home to take care of them.”

“Fine, then we’ll just work on it after my shift. I can’t call off at the last minute obviously.” He looked around. “And since you don’t have anything to do right now…”

Trystan let out a sigh. “I’ll go look for supplies and see if I can get started on something.”

Olive squeezed Trystn’s shoulder. “You’re the best, Trystan. For real.”

Trystan cleared his throat, nodded, and  headed off to scour through the mall.

“Gag me with a spoon—aren’t you ashamed?”

Damn.

Olive turned.

Cadence stood behind him shaking her head.

Cadence sighed. “Olive dear, while it’s true that you don’t owe Trystan and your friends—or anyone for that matter anything—they don’t owe you anything either. And because they don’t owe you anything, sooner or later they’ll realize all they put in with nothing put out. Don’t you want relationships in your life that aren’t shallow?”

Olive frowned. “It’s not that deep, Cadence.”

“That’s exactly it.” Cadence sighed and shook her head. “You’re young, Olive, so you don’t know. I was on Trystan’s side of the fence for a while.”

Olive sighed. “What’s that got to do with anything?” He put a hand to his chest. “Haven’t you heard of unconditional friendship?” 

“There’s no such thing as unconditional relationships, dear. Not unconditional love or anything else similar.” Cadence clicked her tongue. “Even a mother’s love is based on the fact that she’s carried her child for a laborious nine months and raised them for more. If the child’s adopted then the love is conditional on the experiences she had leading up to the child’s adoption and the experiences she has with them after that.” She gestured to herself. “My fans don’t truly love or care for me. They only love and care about what I do for them. The love and kindness they shower on me is conditional on the content I provide for them.” She sighed and placed a hand on her cheek. “I do have a friend who has quite a lot of trouble distinguishing between fan and friend and it’s caused him quite a lot of heartache but I digress. That’s why it’s important to understand these things.”

“Isn’t that cold?” Olive tried poking at her. “Aren’t your songs all about love and peace and all that other ‘educated hippie’ stuff?”

“It’s not cold at all!” Cadence assured him. “Things that are conditional are viewed as more valuable than things that come without conditions. People tend to work harder to meet those conditions in order to keep those conditional things in their possession. If no effort is needed then why put time into it when time could be spent in areas that require effort?” She paused. “You see…?”

Olive nodded, trying not to care too much about what she was saying. He looked at a watch on his wrist that wasn’t actually there. “Oh would you look at that. My shift’s about to start. Gotta go!”

* * *

Olive, fully dressed in his striped ice cream man uniform paired with his stupid sailboat-shaped hat, manned the counter of the Lucky Chance Ice Cream store. There were two other ice cream shops in the mall, but Olive was proud to say they were the third most popular shop. 

With the way Ndoto was, he didn’t really need to work. But what he did need was to find something to escape from the boredom. What better way to escape from boredom than to work at a place where you could see all types of weirdos on a daily basis. Wracking up extra VPs was just a bonus.

“Seven scoops of dark chocolate please.”

Olive looked up at the familiar voice.

Atienna stood at the front of the line with a smile.

“That’s a lot of scoops,” Olive noted as he went to fill the order. 

“I heard what Cadence said to you,” Atienna said, following him along the counter. “She can be quite judgemental sometimes, don’t you think?”

Olive stacked seven scoops of dark chocolate haphazardly onto a waffle cone. “Yeah but whatever. Celebrities are always zany.” He reached over the counter to give her the order. “See you around, Atienna. It was nice hanging out with everyone again.”

Atienna remained standing there, cone in hand.

Olive blinked twice.

If had only felt like a few seconds but the ice cream was now melting down her hand.

“Let me get you a napkin.” He went to grab a handful from the dispenser behind him and handed it to her.

“Oh, what a mess,” Atienna murmured, cleaning her hand. “Things always end up going awry when you don’t pay attention…” After some more struggling, she abruptly threw the ice cream and everything else with it in the trash bin to the counter’s left.

“Hey, that’s high quality ice cream,” Olive joked.

But Atienna did not laugh. “I wonder if Cadence is right. I mean, you could easily lose your relationships if you keep acting like that, don’t you think?”

Olive blinked.

Atienna was holding an ice-cream cone stacked with seven scoops of dark chocolate. The bottom scoop was just beginning to melt.

“It would be very sad to lose it again.” 

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frame 1, pause.

[tatu/mbili] frame 2, nico fabrizzio

frame 2, begin.

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Nico Fabrizzio, opening notes

Nico Fabrizzio—0 years.
Although he is always attached to his mother’s hip, he’s always looking towards his father. 

Nico Fabrizzio—5 years.
His father introduces him to the Foxman siblings and Fortuna Romano. Cadence, Carl, and Francis are both well-mannered and polite, while Allen is loud and adventurous. He’s always been the quiet and shy type so he is secretly grateful for their companionship.

Nico Fabrizzio—15 years.
He decides not to follow in his father’s footsteps of medicine. It’s simply not for him. Instead he looks in admiration towards his area’s main guidance officer Shion Myosotis. To bring happiness to people. What a purely altruistic goal. 
His father and mother respect his decision.
There is nothing holding him back.

Nico Fabrizzio—19 years.
He is on the face track to becoming a guidance officer. He has been a junior officer for 3 years now and he can taste the official title on his tongue. Through situation and circumstance his friendship with the Foxmans and Fortuna ends. Their paths in life are too different, too incompatible.
He meets an odd cat that is bestowed the name Kaiser and an odd man named Werner Waltz. The day of their first meeting ends with Werner being held for a day in the Small Services District and Kaiser being held for a nondescript amount of time in his own home. Werner shows up the next time with a box full of chocolates. He shows up again the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that.
He does not know if Werner is visiting him or Kaiser.

Nico Fabrizzio—21 years
Somehow Kaiser and Werner have become part of Nico’s daily routine for the past few years. Kaiser stays in Nico’s apartment while Werner swings by to visit every day. Werner is always getting in trouble but eventually settles down and matures—just a bit. Soon Werner’s visit turns into a permanent stay.

Nico Fabrizzio—25 years
He is the best guidance officer in his area. He has a doting husband and an adorable cat. His parents are still in his life. He is looked at with admiration and respect. He is in a profession of unquestionable integrity. His life is uncomplicated. It is not perfect, but it is very close to it.

“Nico! Elizabeta! Let us talk for a second, yes?”

Nico tore his gaze away from the water fountain, his hand out Werner’s, and turned towards the call. Maria, Araceli, Conta, and Ambrose were standing at the very edge of the food court beside some fern displays. Nico exchanged a look with Elizabeta who was sitting at one of the food court tables with her family. Her daughter Csilla’s gaze lingered on them.

He paced over to Maria’s group with Elizabeta. Kaiser who was riding on his shoulders meowed in protest.

“First off,” Maria began, all smiles, “today is your day off, so I want you to relax, yes? Even after you hear what I am about to say, yes?”

Nico nodded.

“Understood,” Elizabeta replied.

“There has been an incident at the recovery facility in the Small Services District,” Aracelli said.

“An incident?” Elizabeta pressed. Her gaze lingered on Araceli.

“There’s… been a break in,” Conta explained. “Someone broke into the wing holding the serious VNW cases at the lower levels and a handful of people were abducted.”

“When was this?” 

“We just caught word of it now,” Araceli answered. “The break in took place just 15 minutes ago and we have chief guidance officers already on the scene. They’re in hot pursuit of the perpetrators and the victims.”

“Do we know who?” 

“We don’t have IDs yet but we have some descriptions. A man: black hair, black eyes, about 174 centimeters, lean. Two women. First: blonde, blue eyes, about 180 centimeters, lithe. Second: brown hair, about 160 centimeters, slender. The first two seem to have had some sort of training because they were able to incapacitate several of the officers on site.”

Ambrose swallowed and pulled at the neckline of his shirt.

“I don’t understand,” Nico drew slowly. “Why would anyone kidnap someone from the facility? The facility is meant to help people.”

Elizabeta turned to him.

Maria stared at him too before her brows rose and her smile fell flat. “You… do not have it anymore, Nico?”

Nico arched a brow. “Have what?”

Maria reached out and pressed a palm to his chest.

“Er… ma’am?”

Maria glanced over at Araceli and shook her head. Araceli’s lips pulled into a thin line. Maria pulled her hand back and smiled.

“Well, that’s okay. Maybe this is a good thing, yes?” She clapped, startling Nico and causing Elizabeta to jump. “Anyways, I just wanted to let you know so you both are prepared when you go to work tomorrow. Do not worry about it today, yes? We will go there now and get a handle on it, yes?”

Nico pinched the bridge of his nose. First murders and now abductions. Just what was happening in Ndoto?  He nodded. “Got it. Thanks for the heads up.”

Elizabeta continued to stare at him.

* * *

“You all looked really tired when we got you from the gates,” Werner was saying to the VNW cases sitting at the table with him when Nico returned, “so I’m really glad you’re all in good vibes today!”

“Tired?” Otto scoffed from the chair beside him. The chair had originally been the one Nico had been sitting. “They looked out of their minds. That’s what they looked like. Still do. No offense.”

“Don’t be mean.” Werner frowned slightly. He turned back to Valentino, Vogel, and LeBlanc. “It’s a good thing we found you when we did!” He craned his neck to shout to the table next to his where Atienna, Sefu, Klaus, and Emilia sat. “Right, Atienna?” Before she could answer, he faced forward again and stared at the three. He scratched his head. “You know now that I think about it, isn’t it kinda weird that J-man’s group didn’t get VNW when they were at the gates on the same night too? Why was it only you guys?”

“Maybe it was just what part of the gate they were at,” Otto offered.

Werner pointed to himself. “But then… why didn’t we get it?”

Atienna cleared her throat. “That’s… a good question, don’t you think?” Her gaze was glued to Werner. “Why do you think that is?”

“Uh—”

“What are you talking about, boss?” Otto sighed. “Don’t think too hard about it when it comes to ELPIS and VNWs. You know they’re out of there.”

“Out there in a cool way?”

“Sure.”

Werner shrugged and nodded. He looked up, finally noticing Nico. “Liebling, there you are!” He reached over and scratched Kaiser’s chin. “And Meine King!”

Gabrielle, Alice, and Volker returned at that moment. Nico had noticed them leave after Jericho earlier, but hadn’t investigated because he had to keep his promise to Tesoro—his promise not to work today.

“Gabe!” Izsak Wtorek waved from another table where he sat with the just returned Elizabeta, Csilla, and Foxman and co. “Where were you off to?”

“Nowhere fun,” Gabrielle assured him. She leaned forward and tapped the table. LeBlanc, Vogel, and Valentino turned to her. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” Nico interjected. “You people have been acting sketch all day. What are you up to? Don’t think that I haven’t noticed. This is about the Raincoat case, isn’t it?”

“Liebling!” Werner gasped. “You promised!”

Nico squeezed Werner’s shoulder. “I’ll make it up to you later tonight, Tesoro. Sorry.”

“Okay…”

Nico felt his stomach squeeze. He was doing this for good reason. If this Raincoat case got out of hand, then it would eventually affect Tesoro. 

He nodded at Gabrielle. “Well?” 

Gabrielle put her hands up. “Well, you’ve got me.”

Alice tensed.

Nico let out a sigh before pointing at Atienna and Alice. “This case was supposed to be confidential and here you’re spreading information to every ear available.” 

Just like they were spreading VNW—even though Gilbert said otherwis.. Werner was hanging around a lot with these people so Nico was worried they’d come down with a case of it too. The last time Werner had VNW had been awful. 

“Aren’t I also a guidance officer?” Gabrielle asked. “My head may not be ‘in the game’ according to you, but my skills are.”

“Liebling, they’re just trying to help,” Werner said, pulling on Nico’s sleeve. “You got to give people a chance!”

“It’s more complicated than that, Tesoro.” Nico sighed. 

Atienna rose from her table and approached with Sefu at her heels. “I am sorry for going behind you, but… it was truly through Gabrielle’s help that we were able to decode the message left behind by the culprit. The message that was left… in that open field…”

The crime scene with the dismembered hands and flowers.

“I wouldn’t say it was all me.” Gabrielle thumbed Atienna. “She was able to turn that mess into actual code characters. The rest was straight forward.”

Nico paused. “Code?” 

“‘Find root,’” Gabrielle explained. “That’s the message that this ‘Raincoat Killer’ left.”

Alice interjected, “Does that mean anything to you?”

“Finding the root…” Nico rubbed his chin. “Finding the root of the problem? Or finding what they think is the root of the problem…” He shook his head and pointed at Gabrielle then at Volker. “Neither of you are authorized nor well enough to be handling something like this.” He looked around. “Who else knows about this?”

“Probably everyone will if you keep speaking so loudly about it,” Cadence noted from her table.

Nico grimaced.

“I don’t mean to interrupt, Nico… but we did find additional leads,” Atienna drew slowly, quietly. “Alice was able to obtain old rosters of attendees of previous PD Oran talks from his most recent talk at the beach.”

Nico paused then asked in a whisper, “They just gave you the roster? Oran didn’t seem willing to give up the ones other than the most recent one he gave us.” He paused. “The one he gave me.”

“We have our methods,” Gabrielle noted lightly. “Anyways, there’s someone on the list that we’re very interested in because they keep appearing over and over again—along with previous victims in this case. Flannery Caertas.”

“Does that name mean anything to you?” Alice asked.

Nico eyed her. “You and Atienna mentioned her before during our initial interview with Oran.”

Alice put a hand to her chin.

“We weren’t able to find her at the talk at the beach but we asked around and barely managed to squeeze out that she was going to be at a demonstration here instead,” Gabrielle said. “You’re a guidance officer, right? I reckon people will be more willing to listen to the push and shove of someone in your profession. We could use your help.” She thumbed Francis and Charite. “We tried to ask them a thing or two about these Oran talks but—”

Francis waved an apologetic hand. “The two of us are actually taking a bit of a break from our ELPIS activities for a while to plan for the wedding.”

Nico grunted. “You need help on a case that wasn’t even assigned to you and you’re asking help from one of the main investigators of the case. Do you know how backwards that sounds?”

“Everything is backwards here.” Gabrielle nodded, unperturbed. “I’m starting to get used to it.”

Nico ran his hands through his hair. First the murders then the chaos at the Small Services District and now this. Involving civilians who had VNW in a case like this was the opposite of what a guidance officer should do. That was, unless resolving this case meant bringing these people happiness—bringing these people closer to the tree. Yes, that was the end goal.

Nico placed a hand on Werner’s shoulder. “I’m going to go with them for a little bit, Tesoro. Are you okay with spending time with Kaiser for now?”

Werner’s face fell. “I… guess…”

Nico felt his stomach twist again but he had a job to do. He silently moved Kaiser from his shoulders to Werner’s arms.

“Well, if Nico’s going off breaking promises,” Cadence said, “how about you come with me, Werner? I was planning to stop by some of the newer shops and I also have my one self-defense lesson later this evening. I just gave Felix and Donato the rest of the day off, so they can’t be my sparring partners, but… how about you, Werner?”

Werner brightened. “Okay!”

“Wait.” Nico put a hand on Werner’s arm before he could get up. “Don’t you remember the last couple of times you ‘trained’ with Cadence because her plans fell through?”

Werner’s face fell for a moment. “Well, yeah, I was pretty sore after that, but it was still fun!”

Carl snorted. “You’re kiddin’ me.” He pointed between Cadence and Werner. “You’re tellin’ me Cadence is able to throw Captain Ditzy down?”

Nico frowned.

“I’ll be gentle, Nico, don’t worry.” Cadence sighed as she rose to a stand. “You—”

“Not so fast.” Nico held up a hand before pointing to the woman sitting beside her. Said woman was wearing a large pair of sunglasses and a shawl. A poor disguise. “Take off your sunglasses for me.”

Cadence visibly tensed while Carl and Allen shared a look.

The woman pulled off her sunglasses—her disguise—without much resistance.

Nico’s eyes narrowed. “I should’ve known. Fortuna.”

“You’re telling me it’s only now that you’ve realized?” Fortuna Romano looked him up and down. “This version of you isn’t the brightest, is it?” She glanced around. “I was being cautious earlier—dare I say overly cautious—in keeping myself hidden but… I noticed something odd. Even when I was disguised poorly, no guidance officer seemed to recognize me.” She leaned forward and locked eyes with Carl and Allen. “Just now, I was thinking to myself ‘Nico of all people should recognize me’—and he did.”

Now some of the others were sharing looks.

“It’s unnerving, isn’t it?” Fortuna relaxed back into her chair. “Don’t you find it strange, Nico?”

She was talking like they were closer than they actually were. A symptom of the VNW no doubt. Nico had actively made sure to interact with the Foxmans and Fortuna as little as possible after their fallout a couple years ago.

“What are you talking about?” Nico arched a brow. “You need to register yourself in the Small Services District as a VNW. You can’t go walking around unregistered.” He whipped to Cadence. “And why the hell did you hide her?”

“Language!” Cadence clicked her tongue. “What’s the difference if she’s registered or not? How would that help her? Do you just want to register her so you grill her so you can send her off to the tree?”

“Cadence…” Francis, who had been quietly observing the entire time in that annoying way of his, interjected. “Calm down now.”

Nico felt his blood begin to boil. He jabbed a finger at her—at her brothers. “You’re always like this. Holier than thou—acting like you know what’s right and what’s wrong.”

“Liebling…” Werner tugged at his sleeve. “You’ll scare Kaiser.” He scooted forward. “Hey, let’s all just relax, okay? We’re all probably just tired from the beach. Or hungry! Hangry! Oh—I know! Let’s get some pretzels—”

Cadence held up a hand. “And you know better? Just because you’ve taken some specialized class—”

“That’s exactly why!” Nico snapped back. “This is what I do for a living. Making sure everyone is happy. It’s not all about you, Cadence.”

 Cadence fumed. “I know it’s not all about me, but why do you assume that everyone wants to go to the tree.”

“I don’t.” Nico sighed through gritted teeth. “You’re the one who’s always making assumptions.” He paused and then added. “Ever since we were kids. You just assumed I was some sort of way when I told you what my life goal was—whenever I told you anything. Do you know how that felt? I just wanted you to listen. You were my only friend back then. At least, I thought ou were.”

Cadence put a hand to her mouth. “I’m… sorry, Nico.” She stared at him for a moment before she rubbed her arm. “I didn’t know you felt that way. I really am sorry.” She looked at him then at Francis, Carl, Allen, and Fortuna. “Honestly, I miss the way we used to be when we were younger before things became so complicated with the gates…” She put a hand to her cheek. “Do you think we could ever be the way we used to be…?”

Nico rubbed the back of his neck in the silence that followed. After a while, he nodded. “If we all want it then yeah.”

Francis stood, rounded the table, and patted Nico on the shoulder. 

It felt warm—

Carl shook his head. “What the fuck? The hell was that? The hell is going on?” He gestured between the three of them. “That ain’t normal. You’ve gotta see that ain’t normal.”

Alice shared a look with Gabrielle and then Atienna.

Before Nico could even respond to their weird behavior, he felt someone shove him from behind. He stumbled forward and whipped around just to be met with a face-full of floating balloons. Dozens upon dozens of those balloons flew up into the air and began their slow ascent to the ceiling. Nico watched them, momentarily distracted by the way their rubber surfaces caught the light from the fountain. Then he looked down and found the tree mascot laying splayed across his feet.

Werner leapt to a stand, grabbing the mascot by the scruff. The tree’s face remained smiling even as Werner gave it a shake down. “Did you do that on purpose, huh? Running into my Liebling like that?”

“Tesoro”—Nico patted him— “Put him down. Obviously he tripped.”

Werner’s mother gave him a grateful look.

After some thinking, Werner released the mascot who immediately pulled off his mask—much to the dismay of the children who were drawn near due to the commotion—and revealed himself to be—

“Talib!” Werner dropped Talib Al-Jarrah. “I didn’t know that was you! Sorry, Libby! You just missed, J-man though! What are you doing here?”

Talib Al-Jarrah. Graduate student. Freelance Journalist. KM-Level 4. Affiliate but not member of ELPIS. One of Ndoto’s more colorful characters.

Nico noted how Gabrielle, Alice, Volker, and the others tensed at Talib’s reveal. He’d noticed this odd behavior among several of the VNWs earlier at the beach. What he hadn’t noticed—rather what he hadn’t gotten the chance to witness—were the peculiar reactions of some of the non-VNWs gathered around. Yuseong Claire, who’d been sitting several tables away, rocked back in his chair with a smirk, while Wtorek Csilla narrowed her eyes for just a moment. Her mother beside her tensed and reached for Csilla’s shoulder. Lavender Chance meanwhile regarded Talib closely.

Something was fishy.

Talib dusted his tree arms off and tilted his nonexistent hat in Werner’s direction. “I’m simply earning my keep.” 

Kafke snorted.

“Talib…” Alice murmured.

Talib tilted his nonexistent hat again at Alice, Gabrielle, and the Wtoreks before he turned back to Werner. “I’ve been wanting to purchase a new billboard for my room for a while now but the one I wish to acquire requires some additional VPs. The free standard billboard the guidance officers offered to provide me simply won’t cut it—no offense, Nico.”

“A billboard?” Gabrielle drew slowly, carefully, like she was waiting for him to go off like a firecracker.  “What for…?”  She looked him up and down. “It must be for something important…”

“Indeed it is! It’s to help me organize my notes on the movements of the Organization.” Talib tapped his nose. “Their movements are getting more and more unpredictable day by day. I have to record them or I’ll certainly lose track of them. I reckon I’ll have trouble keeping up with them even if I get my hands on that billboard.” He tapped the table. “I have an inkling that they’ve gotten their hands on technology that can warp the very fabric of what we perceive as reality.”

Gabrielle and Alice exchanged glances again. “What do you mean by that?” the former asked.

Talib struggled for a moment in his costume before he popped his hands out of the head hole. He winced as several children screamed but procured a journal. He tapped it. “Now where would you like for me to start my explanation? I can read you my notes straight from my investigation journal—”

“You mean your diary?” Carl snorted.

“Diary, journal, tape recording. It’s all the same. A means of recording knowledge, of recording the truth!” He whipped back to Alice and Gabrielle. “So shall we begin with—Section 25: The Organization’s Warping of Perception? Perhaps Section 89: The Organization and the False Organization or—”

“Oh!” Werner snapped his fingers. “Speaking of books and journals!” He dug into his own pockets and pulled a slender book the size of his palm. He held it out to Volker. “Here!”

Volker accepted it with mild confusion. “This is…?”

“The book Greta told me to give you!” Werner explained. He added sheepishly, “I think I doodled a bit in there while I had VNW so it may be a little tiny bit weird, but it’s always been my favorite book!”

Tesoro was so cute sometimes—most of the time frankly—but the rest of this situation was giving Nico a headache.

“Mr. Al-Jarrah,” Nico interjected just as Talib was reading out loud a section of his diary.

Talib snapped his diary shut. “Yes, Mr. Fabrizzio?”

“It’s good that you came here now.” Nico reached into the depths of his pocket and flashed his officer badge. “You’re affiliated with ELPIS. I know you are. Take me to where they’re setting up their demonstration.”

* * *

Talib led Nico, Gabrielle, Atienna, and Alice past the mall’s central rollerblading rink. The rink was full, the disco ball hanging above spinning full throttle, the speakers blaring Caddy’s most recent hit. Nico knew this was something Werner would’ve enjoyed which made him feel all the more guiltier for leaving him behind. Hopefully Cadence was spoiling him a bit on the shopping front. It was only fair given that she was probably using him as a punching bag for her self-defense classes.

“—been such a long time since we’ve all been together,” Talib was saying.

“Sure has,” Gabrielle said wryly. “Speaking of which, you, me, and Alice all seem to be pretty close. I heard from Izsak too that we’re all in a tight-knit group together. A bit nostalgic and ironic if you ask me—so how’d that happen? The VNW’s got the situation mixed up in my brain.”

“It’s a long story, Gabe,” Talib answered. “A tale of woes, friendships–“

“Alright. I’ll grab some popcorn later and you can explain it to me.” Gabrielle asked, “But what about Roberto and Ferris?”

“Don’t you remember, Gabe? Ferris is at the Small Services District. She had a bad bout of VNW and Roberto’s been swamped with his guidance officer duties lately. Elizabeta too actually.”

Gabrielle hummed, sharing another look with Alice. “And what about Flannery?”

Talib nearly tripped. “What about Flannery?”

“You know her?”

Talib nodded. “Of course I do! I’ve known her since childhood like Alice here.”

“The similarities are just as peculiar as the differences,” Alice noted to Gabrielle when the latter glanced at her. “Do you know if she’ll be here at the demonstration, Talib?”

“Well, I reckon so, yes.” Talib nodded slowly. “She may not participate but she voiced an interest in seeing how things played out—”

Nico interjected, “What’s the ELPIS demonstration here involve?” 

“You know it’s no secret,” Talib said, “so I don’t want you to think that I’m betraying my allegiances now.” He tapped his chest. “I will never betray something my partner has put so much time and effort into—”

Nico suppressed a sigh. “I wasn’t assuming anything like that, Mr. Al-Jarrah.”

Talib cleared his throat and nodded. “Well, then: the demonstration today is being led by Vincente Law and a few others. Jericho is taking a step back this time around. Basically they’re going to do some commentary on the gates and form a human chain around—”

Something in the air changed. 

The lights above them—no all around them—flickered momentarily.

On. Off. On. Off.

The disco music in the distance became distorted.

Everyone stopped and looked upwards.

The main lights burned bright—

The entire building shook.

—and then popped as they burned out in a bright burst of sparks.

Whispers followed the blanketing silence.

“What’s going on?” Gabrielle asked, tense.

A scream from far off answered her—loud, shrill, unlike anything Nico had heard before. The whispers of those around them became louder, more panicked. Then came another scream, this time cut off by a gurgle that echoed through the open space of the mall.

More silence.

“—has a knife!” came a shriek.

The whispers of those around them became louder, louder, more and more panicked, until it erupted into shouting. Soon everyone around them was dispersing in every which direction. Nico himself was shoved backward several times by panicked runners.

“This is getting out of hand,” Gabrielle said, looking around. “They’ll start a stampede and trample each other to death if we don’t get a handle on this.”

Nico sank to the ground and pressed his palms against the floor. His palms lit up amber and that light flooded the floor and then up the stairs and escalators leading to the upper levels. Everyone who in the mall became glued to the floor by the flats of their feet. 

“The amount of vitae that takes…” Alice muttered.

Nico needed to check his KM-card. He didn’t know the exact amount of VPs he was spending on this, but he knew it was a lot. 

Panicked shouting melded to panicked whispering.

“This is a guidance officer speaking. Everyone stop and listen to me,” Gabrielle shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Do not panic. Head calmly and quickly and quietly to your nearest exits. We have the situation under control.”

The whispered slowly but surely died down. 

Maybe Gabrielle was right about her still having her skills despite the VNW.

Nico pulled his hands away from the ground upon receiving a nod of affirmation from Gabrielle. The amber light dimmed and people began to move again—albeit more calmly and quietly.

“Officer Nico?”

Nico turned and found a younger man standing 

It was Marion. Another guidance officer. It looked like he was on duty. Good.

“You work towards the front getting people out,” Nico ordered. “I’ll move towards the back. Check everyone who’s leaving. Check their KM cards. Everything. Keep an eye out for anyone suspicious.” He paused, eyeing Alice. “And if there’s a Flannery Caertas anywhere, detain her too. Tell any other guidance officers stationed here to do this too. Obviously, call for backup.” He studied Marion’s belt and pointed to a few select items clipped onto it. “I also need to borrow those.”

“W-What’s this about Flannery now?” Talib interjected.

Nico glanced at him and then at Gabrielle, Alice, Talib, and Atienna. “You guys get out of here. If the perpetrator is here you aren’t equipped to handle them.” He nodded at Marion. “Take them.”

Nico proceeded to scour the crowd that was moving in the opposite direction of him. He flashed his badge, directed the most anxious-looking towards the exits, and picked up the ones who were tripping and falling. A hand around his arm stopped him short. He turned.

“Nico!” Jericho stood there, brows furrowed. Beside him stood Hayal, their arms locked. On his opposite side stood Vincente Law, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to figure out. You need to get you and your siblings out of here. Have you seen anything strange?” 

“No, nothing—” Jericho’s gaze swept the chaos in almost a panic. “Sidra—have you seen my sister? Have you seen Sidra?”

Nico placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him. “I saw Sidra just a moment ago. She was still at the food courts so she’s probably gone through the front already. I’ll keep an eye out for her.”

Jericho nodded, pulled his sibling closer, and proceeded past Nico.

* * *

The mall was nearly empty now with just a few panicked stragglers lingering behind.  Some of the neon store signs had come back on, barely lighting up the darkness. Nico noticed a particularly large group of stragglers gathered in-between an ice-cream shop and a wedding boutique. He recognized two of the stragglers. One of them was holding a crimson red flame in their left hand.

“Olive!” Nico called out to him with a wave.

The teenager was dressed in an ice cream man uniform and looked rather disheveled. Upon registering Nico he paced over and was followed by the group which included one Trystan Carter and the woman that Nico had seen the two speaking with earlier. Marta John? 

“What are you still doing here?” Nico frowned.

“My boss asked me to help get people around the store out of here,” Olive answered nonplussed. “He said he’d give me extra VPs—”

“That’s ridiculous,” Nico interjected. “Write your supervisor’s name down for me—”

A woman in a red and white dress and bright red lipstick stumbled out of one of the stores on the left. Nico waved to her but stopped short upon realizing how pale she was. The woman’s knees buckled a moment after before she fell backwards into the window of the store. It shattered into tiny shards under her weight. Blood pooled beneath her fallen body. The red dyed the rest of what was her formerly white dress. 

Marta gasped while Olive swore, a tremble clear in his voice.

A figure cloaked in a pink raincoat stepped over the woman’s body.

“Olivier Chance,” the figure croaked out, causing Olive to pale further. “Is it you?”

“Go now,” Nico ordered as he stepped in front of them. “I’ve got this.”

The group darted away behind him. The raincoat figure made to pursue them but Nico stomped his foot on the ground, sending a sliver of amber from his foot to the figure’s and binding them in place by that very foot. The figure stumbled for a moment before catching themselves.

Nico eyed the glinting item in their hand. A knife with a ridiculously long blade. “You’re under arrest—”

The figure swept their blade—now glowing a neon pink—across the ground where the amber light touched her foot. As soon as it met contact with it, the amber light dissipated into faint orbs that faded away. Nico barely had the time to process the familiarity of it before the figure plucked a shard of glass from the ground and hurled it at him. It pulsated that dangerous pink again.

Instinctively, Nico lifted his hand to catch it. At the last second he burned his palm amber and concentrated as hard as he could until he felt the cold press of glass.

“How did you…?” 

Nico tossed the now dull shard of glass back onto the ground. “You don’t deserve your gift from the tree if that’s how you’re going to use it.”

The figure remained silently for a while before drawing slowly, “You were more lovin’ly crafted than the others… Now that I get a good look at ya, it makes sense that you were. Nico Fabrizzio—right?”

Lovingly crafted? 

Nico tapped Marion’s cuffs clipped to his belt. “That’s Officer Fabrizzio to you.”

---

frame 2, pause.

[tatu/mbili] frame 3, kaiser.

frame 3, begin.

---

Kaiser, opening notes

Kaiser—0 years.
His mother smuggles herself across the gates to give birth to his litter because she senses that inside Ndoto is safer than outside Ndoto. He sleeps in a pile with his siblings for half the day, plays with his siblings for a quarter of the day, suckles for the rest.
It is simple. It is good.

Kaiser—6 months.
He has been searching for his mother for a long time now. He barely remembers her scent, barely remembers the day when the old scary human scooped him up and away from his siblings. He does not like this old man nor his scent. He does not like the dark shed the old man locks him in.
He does like the person who breaks him out of the shed. He does like the other person who gives him a warm place to sleep, lots of food. He learns that the first is called Werner and the last is called Nico.

Kaiser—1 year.
He spends his days sleeping and making sure that Nico is not attacked in his sleep. When Werner visits, he always gets extra treats. Nico may spend the most time with him, but Werner has always been his favorite. They are his.

Kaiser—3 years.
He spends his days sleeping and making sure Werner and Nico are not attacked in their sleep. Werner has suddenly started to sleep in the same bed as Nico, but this makes it easier to guard them. They are poor hunters and clumsy and unrefined, but being by them makes him feel safe, warm, comfortable.

Kaiser—5 years.
Life is simple and good. He does not remember his kittenhood anymore, but it’s not important. He is showered with pets by the people who visit Werner and who eat the things Werner makes. He makes sure to let Nico know how upset he and Werner are when he returns late.

Kaiser—8 years.
Something has changed. He can smell it. It’s important for him to make sure everything says the same. For himself. For Nico. For Werner.

Kaiser knew something wasn’t right. He was of the species Felis cactus, so in nature he was both predator and prey. Right now, he knew he was prey. But he was in Werner’s arms. Werner was clumsy and moved with little grace, but Werner was strong. If Werner watched his back and he watched Werner’s back, no one could get to them.

At least that was what Kaiser thought up until everything became loud and people started screaming and the ground was suddenly bright and Werner handed him to the strange woman Kaiser had only just approved of.

“Please keep Meine King safe, Toria. I need to make sure Nico’s safe!”

Werner left him, heading in the direction where all the loud sounds were. The woman now carrying Kaiser started heading in the opposite direction after talking to the man that smelled a bit like Werner. The man went in the direction Werner had gone.

No, Kaiser did not like this. He squirmed and scratched and bit until the woman released him. He scrambled along the floor, dodging feet and legs and hands, until he found a hiding spot behind some stacks of big brown boxes. Eventually, it became quiet, until—

Kaiser smelled something disgusting and familiar. His hair stood on end and he arched his back to try to make himself look bigger. A shadow passed over him and a man’s face eclipsed his body.

“Look at you cute little thing,” the man said, reaching out a hand. “Kaiser, right? We played with each other a little while ago. Remember me?”

Kaiser hissed and swatted the hand away.

“Well, that’s rude,” the man said, still reaching. “You know you’re alive because of me, right? If I wasn’t pretending to be you that day then she would’ve killed all of you.” The man went for Kaiser’s head. “And the gardener would’ve been so upset, because you serve a very particularly special wittle purpose, don’t you?”

Kaiser immediately brought out his claws, hissed, and swatted. He knew he drew blood. He smelled it, but the smell was gone a second later and so were the red streaks on the man’s hand.

“I bet if I looked like your owners, you’d be rubbing all against me, wouldn’t you?” The man showed his teeth before pulling back. “That’s why it’s better to be someone else, isn’t it?”

The man’s footsteps receded and that disgusting smell was no longer in the air. 

Kaiser waited there for a few more moments before peeling out of his hiding spot. It was almost completely quiet now save for a few squeaks, whispers, and steps here and there. He sniffed the air. Werner and Nico were still here somewhere. Close. He wanted to see them so they would carry him to somewhere safer. 

Kaiser padded forward, maneuvering over chairs, on top of railings, past a few people running in the opposite direction. He stopped in his pursuit when he noticed a strangely and vaguely familiar smell in the air. He moved along the railings towards the smell and spotted a human dressed in a green raincoat. A woman—he could smell it. Beside her stood another woman holding something long and sharp. They smelled similar.

The woman in the raincoat noticed and looked up at him before reaching out a hand. Kaiser did not accept the greeting, and the woman eventually chuckled and left.

Kaiser continued his journey towards Nico and Werner. Their scents were getting stronger now. They were close together, he could tell.

Kaiser, however, was once again distracted from his journey. This time he was distracted by a strange sound. A crackling. He padded over to a window where the sound was coming from. White cracks appeared at the window and spread through the entire thing. A moment later and a woman suddenly burst out from the glow.

Kaiser leapt back, fluffed himself up, growled.

The woman smelled familiar though. Her hair was blonde, her eyes blue, and she was wearing something shiny around her head. Somehow, she was wedged halfway through the window, but she did not seem to be in pain. The woman pressed her palms against the ground and looked back at the window behind her, at the lower half of her body that was trapped in it.

“I can’t make it all the way through yet, can I?” she muttered. 

Kaiser realized she smelled a bit like Charite. The woman lifted her head, stared at him for a moment, chuckled.

“Well, cat, you’ve certainly caught me in an awkward situation,” the woman panted. “You wouldn’t mind lending me a hand would you? Squeezing yourself between the roots is more challenging than it looks. Our gardens may be adjacent, but… And here I am talking to a cat. She would ridicule me if she could see my state.”

Kaiser mrred at her and approached. Before he could reach her, however, she was suddenly pulled backwards into the window. The light from the cracks there  disappeared. The cracks disappeared too. Kaiser stared at it for a while, but nothing else interesting happened, so he continued again.

Closer and closer, stronger and stronger, Werner’s and Nico’s scents became as Kaiser padded on until—there. Three humans were standing in a big open area. Werner and Nico were two of them.

Tail now up, Kaiser meowed furiously as he dashed over to his two humans. Werner whipped around immediately and gasped before scooping Kaiser into his arms. Immediately, Kaiser felt warm and safe. He began to purr in appreciation—and because he sensed Werner was afraid. Purring always helped the bad feelings in humans go away.

“Kaiser!” Nico shouted. “What are you doing here! Bad boy!” But Nico gave him pets anyways.

Kaiser stopped purring, however, as something in the air made his instincts go haywire. He looked around wildly before there: the woman standing across from Nico and Werner.

This person. This woman. She smelled almost like that man from before.

Dangerous.

Predator.

---

frame 3, pause.

[????] frame ?, atienna imamu.

frame ?, begin.

---

This entire day was beginning to feel more like three days compacted into one. The beach investigation had proven somewhat fruitful and the mall investigation had seemed promising. That was until they were all being collectively ushered out of the mall through the front.

Thankfully, Atienna, Gabrielle, and Alice managed to catch some of the others by the food court. The reunion did not last long. As soon as Werner had heard that Nico stayed behind, he left Kaiser in Viktoria’s care and ran off. Ludwig followed after him.  Vogel, seeming to become irate over his lack of control over the people Atienna assumed he thought should be under his command, slammed his hands against the table and ordered everyone else to stay put.

“Easy now. We might be closer to an answer than we realize,” Gabrielle shouted over the chaos around them. “They’re evacuating the entire building, but I say—”

“We should capture this raincoat person,” Vogel agreed, the good news seeming to ease his earlier outrage. “Granted this is the person we’ve been looking into.”

“We’re going in with a disadvantage—especially if our raincoat person is an unfriendly,” Gabrielle warned. “We don’t have our conducting at our disposal. I hope you’re all aware of this.”

Eunji averted her eyes briefly.

They sent Viktoria, Kamaria, Sidra, the Foxmans, and a few others out of the mall leaving them with a smaller group—Atienna herself, Sefu, Weingartner, Vogel, Valentino, Alice, Gabrielle, Klaus, Emilia, Eunji, Felix, and Alexander. There was quite a bit of back and forth between the Foxmans and the Capricornians, but Gabrielle managed to quell things rather quickly. Eunji seemed more concerned about Claire and Lavi who had both gone off to the arcade half an hour before and still had not returned. Atienna wondered if anyone else had noticed how coincidental Claire and Lavi’s departure seemed.

None of the guidance officers around them moved to stop them as their group moved in the opposite direction of the crowd. As they headed deeper and deeper into the mall, the number of people that were running past them in the opposite direction grew farther and fewer in-between. The Capricornians picked up make-shift weapons—toppled over steel beams, glass shards, and so on—as they marched on. 

Eventually they reached what appeared to be a rollerblading rink that was barely visible in the faint light cast by the neon signs of the stores. The lights had flickered on a few seconds before they reached the rink which caused Atienna to imagine that the lighting had somehow been purposeful. A way to set the mood for a scene. A method to signal the change of an act, the start of a new chapter.

“There’s someone there…” Eunji whispered, pointing.

And there certainly was someone standing there. A man skating in a tight circle at the center of the rink.

“That’s definitely not Flannery,” Gabrielle, held up a hand to signal everyone to stop. 

“There’s something peculiar going on with his face,” Alice drew quietly.

“Is…?” Emilia whispered. “Can that even be considered… a face…?”

The man’s facial features were smudged as if they had been painted on and promptly run over with a thumb before the paint had a chance to dry.

“That man… I’ve seen him before,” Atienna informed them. “Carl and I both did. He was in that garden we spoke of earlier.”

The Capricornians tensed.

“What do we do, Hauptmann?” Klaus whispered. 

“I say,” Gabrielle whispered back, “we don’t engage in what we don’t understand—”

“And what do you understand, Gabrielle Law?”

The voice came from behind them—from the window of the store behind them. The man that had been in the rink now stood there. A quick glance back informed Atienna that somehow, by some means, the man had transported himself from one place to the other in the blink of an eye. It was almost as if he’d used Francis’s gates without the presence of Francis himself..

“Do you understand that you and your lot don’t belong here?” The man stepped forward into —and through—the window. “Do you understand by just being here, you’re spreading your disease to everyone you’re around? You’re not so much different from the conquerors and explorers of a new continent.”

They all collectively took a step back as the man landed on their side of the window.

Something on the ground drew Atienna’s attention away momentarily. Spots of green popping up and random here and there. Grass, she realized, and stems. Moss, shrubs, plants. They blossomed at a rapid rate, their full growth expanding over the floor around them and up to their shins.

“And I’m talking about you peacekeepers and soldiers there. The others, you’re alright. At least, you eventually will be.”

An impossibility. 

“How do you know who we are?” Gabrielle asked, eyeing the newly green ground. “Nice conjuring by the way. Is it a hobby?”

The man lifted a finger, the tip of which began to glow a dark orange. A moment later and the beam of light was hurtling towards Gabrielle’s head. Gabrielle just managed to dodge it,

“Now is that a gift from the tree or a gift of conducting?” Gabrielle tried. “Vitae all the same, right?”

She certainly had a tongue in her. Perhaps that was where Olive had gotten part of his own sharp tongue from. Olive—Atienna hoped he had made it out. Certainly, he would have. She knew that the version of him here was inclined towards self-preservation unlike the Olive she knew.

“Wait—”

Some of the tree saplings blossoming on the ground were growing larger and larger, thicker and thicker, taller and taller, until they reached the height of Atienna herself. One in particular had taken root right next to Valentino.

Valentino barely had the chance to take a step back before a crooked arm burst out from the wood and grabbed hold of his neck. Weingartner was at his side immediately, severing the arm with difficulty with a thick glass shard wrapped in cloth. 

The arm—though Atienna could barely call the wooden, rotting thing that—fell to the ground. There was no blood. And the creature which the arm belonged to pulled itself fully out its encasement. It towered above them all with a head that seemed to be endlessly growing petals that formed the shape of an almost familiar mask.

“What the hell..?” Vogel stared in disbelief. “What is that?”

Music suddenly started blaring from the speakers around the rink. That music Werner called ‘funk’ of all things.

“Be on the defensive!” Weingartner shouted.

No sooner had he shouted that all the other blossomed tree saplings burst into fragments releasing humanoid-shaped creatures with petals for heads.

This was beyond any conducting she had ever read about—that even Olive had ever read about—and beyond any encounter she had while in Signum. The only experience she could ring close to this one was the analogous mass of vitae that had almost swallowed the Haupstadt whole during the Week of Blindness. The possibilities of vitae were written as endless but Atienna knew there was always a limit—

“Atienna, watch out!”

Sefu tackled Atienna to the ground just as one of the creatures threw a rotten arm at her. Atienna pushed him aside next and rolled over him just as the creature brought down its boulder-sized hand. She scrambled up to a stand, pulling Sefu with her until they reached the storefronts.

There were about twelve of those creatures total, lunging with murderous intent at the others. However, Atienna could not focus on them—not entirely—because—

“Sefu, do you see it?” she asked.

“See what? We must make an escape with the other—”

Atienna pressed, “Their faces—”

“What faces? They have no faces—” Sefu paused. “They look like the masks of our people and the other tribes.”

Atienna let out a breath. “I thought so…” 

“What does this mean…?”

Past the chaos and the rink in the store opposite directly from them,  the man with the smudged face was watching them from behind the window. 

Was he the one responsible for all of this? Would incapacitating him put an end to these creatures? Would incapacitating him be enough? She had no conducting. She had never had it to begin with. Instead she had always relied on her mind, deduction, and occasionally her bare fists to solve the problems that had come her way. 

The other five—they were more adept and prepared for these sorts of things, were they not? What to do… Atienna’s palms again itched for the answer. Another decision, it seemed. One reckless, incorrect stumble after the other. It was rather aggravating.

“Sefu, stay here for me—”

“What—”

Atienna broke into a dash, leaping over debris scattered through the moss, sliding across the now grassy rink and under the swings of the creatures. She passed by Weingartner and Vogel. The two struggled in dodging the swipes of a lanky creature that sported sharp branches capable of piercing flesh as indicated by Vogel’s bloodied arm.

“Atienna!” Alice shouted at her from somewhere.

“We need to take care of this man,” Atienna called back to her as she picked up a stray shard of glass from the ground. “I am sure of it.”

 She was just about to reach the door to the store the man occupied when she saw one of the thicker creatures lunge at her from the side. Atienna leapt backwards, clenching the shard in her palm as she faced the thing—the thing that was now hurling its spindly, long, sharp fingers directly into her face.

It stopped short and lowered its hand.

Atienna was left staring at it in confusion, tense, ready to strike, but also excrutiatingly curious.

Why?

The petals on the creature’s face spread and parted—forming a thin line in the shape of a mouth. A voice filtered out—

You know why.

A streak of dark mauve light lit up the darkness above her . That beam tore right through the flowery head of the creature and split it down the middle. Atienna whipped around searching for the light’s source of origin as she was joined by Sefu. 

At the mouth of the roller rink stood a lone and familiar man. Straight-backed, stiff, one arm behind his back, the other sweeping outwards and sending out another arc of dark mauve light. The light hurtled out like a crescent, slicing several of the creatures clean in half.

Kafke Netzche, still dressed in his swim shorts and loose button up.

“The Kaiser…” someone whispered. 

No, that wasn’t the Kaiser. Atienna doubted he was even the ‘Kafke’ of Ndoto. ‘Kafke’ continued forwards, this time without moving his free hand which he had now joined with the other behind his back. Despite the restraint, the arcs of light continued to sweep outwards, cleaning cutting the creatures into smaller and smaller pieces. 

He stopped short in front of where Vogel, Valentino, and Weingartner crouched in front of oneof the things he had just felled. Then came the familiar, oppressive wave of heaviness. The aura ‘Kafke’ carried with him—ominous.

“Colonel Vogel of the 47th United Front Battalion?” ‘Kafke’ asked.

Vogel appeared bewildered for a moment but eventually he managed, “General Vogel.”

There was a pause.

‘Kafke’ then raised his hand and smacked Vogel hard across the face—so hard that the force sent the man spinning to the ground. Weingartner caught himin alarm.

“Show some honor and respect, you fool. You’re a general and you’re groveling behind a subordinate?”

Weingartner and Valentino stared at Vogel wide-eyed. Vogel meanwhile held his cheek as he took the brunt of Kafke’s words.

“How did you even claim that rank? You were the last person I advised the Kaiser to promote.” Kafke turned his eyes towards Weingartner. “Oberleutant Weingartner?”

“I was stripped of my rank,” Weingartner drew slowly, “sir.”

One of the still standing creatures lunged at ‘Kafke’ but the man simply lifted a hand, sent out a ribbon of that light again, dismembered the creature swiftly, and folded his hand behind his back. 

“I reckon you’re not the Kafke we’ve been hanging around with all day,” Gabrielle called out.

“I am not.”

“Are you an Ndotoan?” Alice asked from beside Gabrielle.

“I am not.”

“Are you the Kafke we spoke to before? The one who told us about the gardens?”

“I am.”

After a pause, Gabrielle finally asked the question— “Are you a saint candidate?”

“I am.”

Tension hung in the air.

“For which country?”

“—for Capricorn,” Atienna whispered.

“I am the Saint Candidate of Capricorn,” Capricorn confirmed as he glanced over at her. “The Saint of the Horn and Union.”

A confirmation of reality.

The tension snapped in two.

“The Iron Horn medal?” Emilia whispered from where she stood rigid beside Klaus at the corner of the rink.

“The horns of war,” Capricorn corrected. “And everything leading up to it. Now do you have any other leading questions to ask?”

“I do actually. You protected us just now,” Gabrielle drew, “didn’t you—”

“You’re not supposed to be here,” came a voice from the opposite end of the rink. The man with the smudged face stood there now, having clearly somehow maneuvered himself out from the store. “You slipped through.”

Capricorn’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not supposed to be here either. What in the world do you think you’re doing—… Gemini?”

Gemini. A saint candidate. Peculiar in that this person did not have the same ominous weight and aura that followed all the other saint candidates Atienna had encountered. She tried to recall what little of Gemini had seeped through Leo’s and Epsilon’s memories.

“The saint candidate of my country,” Valentino whispered, “is responsible for this…?”

“The Saint Candidate of Gemini,” Gabrielle tried. “A Diverger? In-fighting, huh?”

Capricorn glanced at her. “If you believe him to be a Diverger then you have fallen for his deception.” He faced the flower-being again. “He’s an extremely adept Transmutationist.”

More trees began to sprout along the ground and burst open to reveal more rotting wooden creatures.

“And what about you?”

Capricorn did not move a muscle and yet tendrils of light shot out from his shadows and made quick work of the newly born things. “I’m an extremely adept Projector.”

The man with the smudged face—Gemini—waved his hand again. More tree growths and creatures sprouted. More were felled by a simple swoop of Capricorn’s hand. Again and again until, abruptly, after Capricorn felled another ten creatures, he doubled over and began coughing into his hand. Flower petals seeped through the space between his fingers.

Symptoms of VNW, Atienna realized. However, this time—

“Do you see that, Sefu?” Atienna asked. “What he’s coughing up?”

“Flowers,” Sefu affirmed.

—everyone could see the supposed hallucination.

 “I thought so,” Gemini said. “Unlike you, Capricorn, I have the right to be here. I’m a law-abiding citizen of this garden. What reality says, I follow. Unlike you.”

Capricorn straightened himself. “You know the only way you would ever be able to win a war of attrition is through partnering with someone else. I have my suspicions but you will confirm them for me now.”

Gemini shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about but—”

The store signs around them flickered again and the building shook more violently than before. Gemini searched the ceiling for something as he went pale. When the lights stopped flickering and shone dimly once more, he was gone. 

“What happened?” Emilia murmured.

“I assume there is something else that requires his attention.” Capricorn fisted the petals still in his hand.  

“That saint candidate,” Gabrielle said, approaching Kafke cautiously and looking him up and down, “is he the one responsible for” —she gestured around —“all of this?”

“There is no doubt that he is one of that hands at play,” Capricorn confirmed, “but I doubt that he’s the only one with a hand in this.” His eyes fell on Atienna. “The other…”

After some consideration, Atienna curiously approached him. After some more consideration, she cautiously extended her hand. This wasn’t the first time she was offering a friendly greeting to a saint candidate. Scorpio’s warm yet cold palm was still burned into her memory.

“I’m… Atienna Imamu,” she introduced herself, “the one you said was the one closest to the gardener. I do wonder why you said that.”

Capricorn stared at her hand for a moment before he accepted the gesture. His hand was warm. He answered, “Because the culprit is most likely the Saint Candidate of Virgo, Saint of Bonds.”

“There are other Virgoans here too, aren’t there?” Atienna tried. “It’s… ‘jumping the gun’ so to speak to think that I would be closest to her, don’t you think?

“You were the only Virgoan at the table,” Capricorn replied.

“And you assumed I was Virgoan?”

Capricorn paused, studying Gabrielle for a moment and then Atienna. “I apologize for assuming.”

“Oh no, I am definitely Virgoan,” Atienna reassured him. Somehow he reminded her of the Werner she knew.

“Well, I suppose I should introduce myself too, right?” Gabrielle held out her hand. “Gabrielle Law. Now I’ve got to ask before we go any further—why did you help just now? What’s your goal?

“A peacekeeper…” Capricorn looked her up and down before shaking her hand. “Any individual whose goal is to escape this place and return everything—vitae and all—to its proper state is an ally.”

“So you’re trapped too,” Gabrielle concluded, “and the reason why you want to get out so badly is because… getting out and ‘returning everything to its proper state’ will… let the syzygy get back on track? I’m assuming Gemini and whoever else is responsible for this is putting a damper on the syzygy. ”

“Yes, that is the truth,” Capricorn affirmed, frowning. “If so many resources have been invested in the syzygy and the people call for it, it would be wasteful to disrupt it like this.” He paused. “Will this be a problem in our alliance?”

“Well, it might be,” Gabrielle replied, “depending on what the syzygy is.”

“You shouldn’t speak for us all, peacekeeper,” Vogel interjected, rubbing his cheek as he finally stood. “Capricorn, if you can recall, we once served on the same front together. I may not have been privy to your identity at the time, however—”

Capricorn spoke over him, “General Vogel, at the moment I recognize Peacekeeper Law as the representative of your group. You have not proven yourself worthy of your rank as of yet.” His gaze swept them all. “Raise your hand if you are in favor of delegating Peacekeeper Law as your representative.” 

Alice immediately raised her hand followed by Atienna and then Sefu and then Emilia, Klaus, Eunji, Felix, and Weingartner. Vogel turned to them and shook his head incredulously.

“I’m honored.” Gabrielle tapped her chest. “Though the only thing I’ll be representing right now is the many, many, many questions that we have.”

Capricorn nodded. “I unfortunately only have a few more answers than you do and I’m sure you have answers to questions that I have. If we are on the same page then we will work together more efficiently. Ask your most pertinent questions first. I don’t know how much time I have.”

He really did remind Atienna of Werner. 

“What do you mean by that last part?” Alice asked. “Does that have to do with…” She gestured to his hand. “…and what you mentioned earlier about the gardener…. watching?”

Capricorn nodded. “Yes, I’m simply inserting myself temporarily into this garden whenever I’m able to slip through. Kafke Nezche was the most compatible person I was able to find the first time I made my way here. Chronologically in this world that would be two months ago. Like how it is in Signum, I cannot interact with this world unless someone accepts my knowledge.”

“Is your relationship with Kafke similar to how Theta’s and Francis’s relationship originally was?” Alice inquired. 

“Theta and who?” Capricorn frowned. “I haven’t been initiated since the Reservoir War so my knowledge on current events is greatly limited. I don’t know what you’re referring to. However, if you are meaning to ask if Kafke and I are aware of each other then the answer is no. You should bring Kafke wherever you expect conflict. I may be of assistance in that case. That aside, that question does not seem relevant.” 

“Okay, I’ll give you a relevant question then: where exactly are we?”

Capricorn stared. “After everything you’ve seen—the people, the fallacy of memory—you have yet to arrive on any sort of hypothesis, theory, or conclusion?”

Gabrielle glanced at Alice and then at Atienna. “We may have an idea but we’re not too sure. That’s why we’re asking you.”

Capricorn turned to Atienna. “Where do you think we are?”

“The threshold,” Atienna answered quietly after some silence. “The threshold of life and death.” 

Alice regarded her silently while the others studied her curiously.

“That would be my closest approximation seeing as I am here and I have not yet been initiated into the next chosen candidate of my country yet.” He proceeded to explain the concept of the threshold similarly to how Francis had explained it. “It’s the reasonable only explanation for how the state of vitae is here.”

“That’s ludicrous,” Valentino muttered.

“But we’re alive… We haven’t died,” Klaus drew, shaking his head. “How are we here if we haven’t died?”

Capricorn put a hand to his chin. “Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out…” 

Falling down to the threshold even though one’s life was not hanging on the line… That certainly was a topic Atienna had been mulling over on and off over the past week or so. It was like crossing a bridge over water to get to an island except the bridge was not present in this case. The only other way to get there was to find some other means to get across the waters—however, in the case of the threshold, crossing the bridge truly was the only ‘correct’ way to get there. The barrier of the water… if it were not there then—

Ah.

“Perhaps…” Atienna surmised. “It’s not that we’ve fallen to the threshold but that the distance between us and the threshold has been closed.”

Capricorn looked up at her at this. “That’s…” He studied her. “You—” He abruptly entered a coughing fit as flower petals spilled out from his mouth. He staggered for a moment before catching himself. “The space between the roots is closing. I don’t have much longer.” He coughed again. “My statements from our prior conversation still stand: find the roots and eliminate them.”

“What are the roots?” Weingartner pressed.

It was a question Atienna thought should have been asked first.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. For something as large as this place to exist with this much vitae, there needs to be a conduit through which all of the vitae is channeled. This is a basic concept of vitae theory.” 

“Like Scorpio’s towers…” Alice murmured. 

“So you’ve encountered Scorpio whom I assume acted out of order.” Capricorn coughed and straightened himself. “Logically, you can compare it to how a conductor and its conducting core is able to channel a conductor’s vitae. Find the roots, destroy the gardens, and escape. That is all.”

Valentino began, “How do we find the root—”

“What…” Klaus stammered. “What will happen to… the gardens—to Ndoto?”

“As I’ve said previously, it will cease.”

Klaus paled.

He doubled over again hacking. “You won’t have to worry about that until later. Again, from what I’ve seen, this garden is one of the more important, well-crafted ones, so it should be saved for last. If you go for the stronger gardens first, the entire structure may cave in. However, if you are not fast enough, you most likely will somehow be incorporated into these gardens yourself. It’s like a rot. If you’ve been here this long, it’s already beginning.”

Valentino’s lips drew thin.

“Cease, huh? And the people?” Gabrielle asked quietly.

“The people here,” Weingartner drew, “are they… real? Will ending this garden end them or will people like Werner return to the way they were? What about the deceased like Otto?”

Capricorn frowned, straightened, and swept his gaze over them all. “Most of you have the eyes of soldiers who have seen the great fight. When you face the enemy, the partisans, the faces peeping out of the trenches, do you question whether or not they are real before you pull the trigger? Did any of you who served during the war question whether the cities and towns beneath you were real when you dropped conducting bombs on them?”

What a straightforward way to go about things, Atienna thought. She did understand his perspective. Would it not be hypocritical or even cruel of these men and women who had taken lives to value lives here and not there? The changing whims of an individual was truly—

“What the hell are you all still doing here?”

Atienna looked up. Capricorn was staring at them all in confusion. The grass and flowers that had once carpeted the floor were gone. Vogel’s arm was no longer bleeding. The scratches that had been carved into Emilia’s face had dissipated.

“Capricorn?” Gabrielle tried.

Kafke stared at her. “No, I’m an Aquarius.”

---

frame ?, pause.

frame 3, resume.

---

Kaiser knew that the person in the pink coat was dangerous. She smelled disgusting. A predator. She pointed her knife at Werner. 

“The probability of you bein’ one the roots is high as well, Werner Waltz.”

Nico pushed Werner and Kaiser behind him as the woman hurtled forward.

Kaiser fluffed up and growled. He could not have his claws at the ready in Werner’s arms so he squirmed his way out and scrambled on the ground. When he looked back he saw Werner grappling with the woman and holding her back by her wrists. Nico lunged at her but was kicked back with her foot.

Kaiser could smell Nico’s fear and Werner’s and hissed, yowled, and growled again. She did not back down despite his warning so he launched himself at the attacker. He wrapped his claws around her leg and bit down hard. The woman shouted in alarm and tried to shake him off but that just made him bite down harder.

It was working!

The woman released Werner—

Something sharp pricked Kaiser’s side. Kaiser yowled and released the woman. He tried to land on his feet but his legs buckled. Werner was holding him tightly now. Kaiser was warm in his arms, until—

Kaiser could not feel Werner anymore.

He could not feel his back paws. 

He could not feel his front paws.

He could not feel his tail.

He could not feel his ears, his mouth, his tongue.

He could not feel—

Kaiser, closing notes

Kaiser—8 years.
Day good. Adventure. New smells. New foods. New people to get pets from. Cuddle time with Nico and Werner. Water, okay. Loud place, okay.
No.
Sudden change.
Loud.
Werner and Nico gone.
Follow.
Find.
Danger.
Predator attacking Werner and Nico. 
Werner and Nico, my territory. 
Lose my territory? No food, no play, no pets, no cuddling, no home.
Have not gotten many treats recently but still:
Need to defend  my territory. 
Hissing not working.
Fluffing up not working.
Growling not working.
Scared.
But must protect territory.
Must attack.
Pain.
Pets.
Sleep.

Kaiser—5 years.
Food good today, so brought gift to Werner and Nico. They did not appreciate gift even though hard work. Nico scream. Gift ran off. Too fast to chase and catch again. Nap time.

Kaiser—3 years.
Many pets today. Werner and Nico busy. Dressed differently. Werner train to carry small circle thing with shiny rock in mouth. Taste is salty. Taken to place with lots of people. Pleasant sound. Bring Werner ring like trained. Given treats. Good deal. Werner and Nico push faces against each other. Everyone loud. But happy.
Werner and Nico together now in same territory. Acceptable. Good. No need to wait for them to come all the time.

Kaiser—1 year
Moving black thing loud. Werner likes. Nico doesn’t like. Agree with Nico.
Like black thing now. Werner pick up and put on black thing. Loud but get to see outside.
Like routine:
Werner visits territory. Makes things (tried, but not very tasty) in hot place and gives to people who enter territory. Werner likes giving things to people. Don’t like people coming into territory but okay since Werner happy.
Nico go out. Why? Don’t know. To hunt, probably. Never brings home food. Bad hunter. But that’s okay. Gives good chin scratches.

Kaiser—6 months.
Danger? No, safe.
Bored? Okay, play.
Tired? Okay, sleep.
Lonely? Okay, cuddles.
Important bad words: no, bad boy, vet, doctor, leave, party, work, bath.
Important good words: food, treats, play, good boy, pets, stay home, meow.
Most important words: Kaiser, Werner, Nico.

---

frame 3, kaiser.

frame 3, end.

frame 2, resume.

---

“Where’s… Kaiser?” Werner looked around wildly, his arms still cradling the space Kaiser once occupied. “Liebling, he was just—”

Nico’s ears rang as he stared at Werner’s empty arms. He slowly looked up at the raincoated figure standing a yard away. Her blade was still pulsating that ugly pink. 

Footsteps resounded behind him causing Nico to whip around violently. It was Ludwig, breathless, as he came to a stop beside them.

“Luddy, have you seen Kaiser?” Werner asked as soon as he registered Ludwig.

“What?” Ludwig appeared confused before his gaze landed on the raincoated figure. He tensed immediately upon seeing the glowing blade. “You’re—”

“Ludwig, go help Werner find Kaiser,” Nico interjected gravely.

Ludwig hesitated.

“Now!”

Ludwig grabbed ahold of Werner’s arm and dragged him off. Werner resisted little, scanning the ground for signs of Kaiser. The raincoated figure made for them but Nico slammed his heel against the ground, sending out an amber tendril that once again glued her to the spot by her feet.

“What the hell is your gift from the tree?” Nico asked through gritted teeth as he jabbed. “What did you do to my cat? What did you do to Kaiser?”

“If y’know what Jericho can do then y’know what I can do,” the murderer replied calmly.

Jericho Al-Mahdy… whose gift was specialized for returning people to the tree.

Nico felt his heart sink into his stomach. It felt like only a week ago that Kaiser had been small enough to hold with just one hand. It was just yesterday that Kaiser had snuck into their room to sleep between them—

SHE KILLED KAISER.

RETURN HER TO THE TREE YOURSELF.

The murderer sliced her blade through the amber light holding her in place and hurled another glowing shard in Nico’s direction. This time Nico whipped out Marion’s baton, coated it in amber light, and effortlessly deflected the attack. He spun the baton around, using his gift to stretch and elongate the material so it resembled more of a pole than a baton. 

“Ah, transmutation. Advanced transmutation,” the murderer drew slowly. “I see. Very advanced transmutation. That’s actually very impressive. Is that how yer able t—”

KILL HER.

Nico swung the weapon at her head. She brought up her blade to block it and sparks flew at the contact. Nico pressed forward regardless, determined to slam her sidewise. In his rage, his concentration slipped—and that was when he saw pink cracks beginning to climb up his pole.

Nico quickly reeled his pole back and flipped it once, dispelling the amber light and the pink light. The damage had been done already, however, and the tip of the pole fell away into shards and then ash, leaving just 3/4ths of it left. It was a lot luckier than Kaiser had been.

Kaiser…

Nico gritted his teeth.

“Looks like y’need a little bit more practice—”

Nico let out a shout and threw out the pole again, this time aiming it for the woman’s hand. The woman brought her blade up to block it, but Nico used his gift from the tree to phase his pole right through the blade itself. He re-solidified it carefully a moment after—just as it was wedged halfway through the silver of the blade—and then ripped the weapon out from the woman’s hands.

KILL HER.

Nico charged forward, his action clearly startling the woman given the wide-eyed look on her face. He threw his hands out and they became entangled in the woman’s. He pressed forward regardless, slamming her against the window behind her. Her hands burned bright pink, while his burned amber.

It burned—but as long as he concentrated, he knew he could slip through her decaying touch.

“You’ll pay for that,” he hissed. “You’ll pay.”

The woman’s cerulean gaze bore into him and through him incredulously—as if she could not believe what she was seeing. Letting out a roar, Nico phased both himself and the woman through the glass of the window with a flash of amber. He continued to push her back, back, back, until she was pressed back against the brick wall of the store. Then he pushed harder—forcing the amber light to coat her entire body. Soon, her body was slipping through the wall.

If he concentrated just right, he could replace the air in her lungs with the bricks themselves. He could put the cement ceiling in-between her ligaments and force the electrical wiring to pop out of her eyes.

This was his gift from the tree.

KILL HER.

SHE’S DESTROYING EVERYONE’S HAPPINESS.

SEND HER TO THE TREE—

Abruptly, Nico thought of Werner.

No.

Nico pulled himself off of the woman and panted heavily. He kept one palm firmly planted against the wall to keep the glow of light in place—to keep her in place—as he studied her. She was half-embedded into the wall, her arms and legs sticking out at odd angles. Most importantly, she was alive. 

He wasn’t the kind of person to disregard someone’s life like that—

His thoughts were cut short as he felt a sharp prick at his waist. He felt the area. Wet. He stared at his hand. Red. He stared at the figure beside him. They were wearing a raincoat—not a pink or yellow one but a green one. A woman holding a spear was standing beside them. Nico recognized her—she’d been one of the VNWs at the gates. An Ndotoan. Nia, he recalled.

Nico sank to his knees and then fell forward. His blood pooled beneath him, creating a crimson mirror. The amber light from the wall faded and soon became replaced with a pink glow. The pink light caused the wall to crumble away leaving the Raincoat Killer to step out calmly as if nothing had happened.

No…

Cadence would be so upset.

Carl, Francis, and Allen would be so angry.

His parents would be heartbroken.

Kaiser would be—Kaiser was gone.

That left… Werner.

Werner would be so, so lonely.

Their happiness—crinkled and tossed aside like nothing, used up like drywood, cut from the stem.

What Nico would do to go back to just yesterday when he’d been dozing off in bed with Werner and Kaiser squeezed in-between them.

What Nico would do to go back to that lazy time on the beach just a few hours ago.

What Nico would do to go back to the day of his guidance officer ceremony with his father and mother crying and clapping proudly in the crowd.

What Nico would do to go back to the first day he met Cadence, the Foxmans, and Fortuna on that rickety playset. 

What Nico would do to go back. 

What Nico would do to go back. 

What Nico would do to go back.

There was a flash of pink and then nothing else.

Nico Fabrizzio, closing notes

Nico—26 years.
His family and rekindled friendships is all he really needs. He wonders if he deserves this much happiness in life.

Nico—19 years.
He feels lucky to have been on duty on that rainy day. He feels blessed to have investigated that noise in the alley, to have encountered that angry blonde man with that small kitten on his shoulder, to have them slowly but surely become part of his life.

Nico—5 years.
He meets his first friends.
He can not ask for more.

---

frame 2, nico fabrizzio.

frame 2, end.

frame 1, resume.

---

One moment Olive was serving a bratty kid and her soccer mom ten scoops of ice cream and the next he was motioning customers towards the nearest exit per his boss’s instructions and the next he was running through the back storage rooms of the mall with Trystan on his tail. He’d directed Marta and some other shoppers out through the exits already but had double-back upon overhearing something from a shopper that he’d passed:

“That crazy girl was heading into the mall! I tried to stop her but she wouldn’t have any of it—!”

They described the girl as slender, having dark hair, and wearing a sunflower-print dress. There were many girls that could fit that descriptor including Lavi but Olive’s mind raced with the possibilities. He didn’t doubt that Lavi wasn’t stupid enough to try to investigate the source of all the chaos on her own. She was his blood, after all. 

So, Olive headed right back inside. But, while Olive knew he was brave, he felt just a bit braver when he had a companion which was why Trystan was tagging along with him. He’d done a little guilt tripping to make Trystan come along, but Olive figured he’d make it up to him sooner or later. 

It wasn’t like Olive was putting Trystan in any real danger. Sure, the person in that pink raincoat was deranged, but there was no way that they’d be able to make their way to this area. Only employees had access to these storage rooms behind the shops, and Olive was pretty sure the crazy raincoat person was not an employee. Even if they happened to be an employee, then there were plenty of exit doors in the storage halls to make an escape through.

They entered the back doors of several stores in search of Lavi but only found darkness and silence. It was a little bit eerie so Olive tried to ease his own nerves by messing around with mannequins and perusing the stores as if they were not abandoned—much to Trystan’s chagrin. 

“Olive, we should just ask the guidance officers if they’ve seen her around,” Trystan insisted as they continued their journey down the storage hall area. It was dark, the only light originating from the occasional exit signs and emergency lights. There was barely enough visibility to save them from crashing into the bins pressed against the walls. “For all we know, she could be outside worried and waiting for you. And what if we get caught? I don’t work here. I could get in trouble.”

Olive rolled his eyes. 

Trystan suddenly stopped walking behind him. Olive turned back. Trystan was staring at the ground. Olive followed his gaze and noticed they were stepping in a very large puddle.

The maintenance guys were obviously slacking again—

Olive’s thought was cut short as he felt something wet on his face.

Drip. Drip.

Olive wiped his cheek and looked up. His stomach burned hot as his limbs went cold. Unaffected by this, those two pairs of feet continued to dangle above his head. He could not make out any other features of the person there besides the sign that hung from their neck.

NO MORE GARDENS.

“Olive…” Trystan whispered. “We need to go—”

The sound of footsteps from down the dark hall cut him off short. Each step resonated with each beat in Olive’s chest. Each step, beat now shorter in-between. Faster, closer, louder. The footsteps abruptly stopped.

Olive could not make out anything in the darkness ahead—until a sliver of pink light grew long and thin there, lighting up the arm that held it and the red-stained face above it. It was a woman with fiery red hair and strikingly blue eyes. Olive knew he’d seen her before somewhere but he couldn’t place where.

The woman took a step forward, brandishing her blade.

Olive broke out into a run in the opposite direction without another thought. He barely noticed Trystan dashing behind him. His mind raced—

Where were they? Near the backdoor of the toy shop so the exit door would be about eight doors down. Now seven doors down. Five doors. Three doors. Two doors. One—

Trystan’s shout broke his train of thought and the sound was followed by a loud thud. Olive immediately dove behind one of the bins to his left, pressed himself against it, slapping his hand over his mouth. He waited, waited, waited, waited for the woman to suddenly pop around the bin and drive her weapon through his chest. Then-

“What do you want from me?” came out Trystan’s trembling voice. 

“T’see if yer the root, Trystan Carter.”

A wave of relief washed over Olive as he heard this. She wasn’t after him.

He slowly un-cupped his mouth and took in a deep breath. He peered around the bin. Trystan was straddled on the ground with the woman standing directly on top of him. The exit sign glowed a few meters away from him behind Trystan and the deranged woman. If he was careful and quick, he could—

Olive felt his heart sink in his chest upon locking eyes with Trystan who seemed to have noticed him. He crouched frozen in place for a moment, waiting for Trystan to shout his name or accidentally alert the crazed woman of his presence, but—Trystan said nothing and did nothing. He simply shook in place and stared back up at the woman.

Why…? Why wasn’t Trystan say anything? If their positions had been reversed, Olive definitely would have called out to Trystan: for Trystan to save him, for Trystan to distract the woman, to draw the woman’s attention towards Trystan instead of him.

Abruptly, Olive recalled Cadence’s judgemental tirade from only a few hours ago. Conditional relationships. Give and take. Then—Atienna’s words rang in his ears:

“It would be very sad to lose it again.” 

Again.

Again.

Again.

Olive’s heart exploded out of his chest as he leapt up and threw his hands out and sent out an arc of crimson flame. The woman whipped around immediately and brought up her knife. His flames disappeared at the blade’s touch and left behind a screen of smoke. Somehow, her blue eyes pierced through the shroud and directly into Olive’s skin.

The woman hummed. “It wasn’t in Nico Fabrizzio, so it most likely isn’t in Trystan Carter either. Is it that the roots aren’t in the companions but the True Conductors themselves? Is that it, Olive Chance?”

Nico? What had happened to Nico?

“C-Come,” Olive stammered, “and find out.”

He didn’t wait to see the woman’s reaction before he broke out into a mad dash down the hall. Distantly he could hear those footsteps tap, tap, taping behind him. The way they echoed around made it difficult to discern how close they were to him. 

He threw a glance over his shoulder and immediately spotted the glowing knife in the dark—tailing him like a fly to light. Bile climbed up his throat.

No, no, no no, no.

Why had he done something so stupid?

What the hell was wrong with him?

He hated when characters did this in comic books.

He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die.

Each thought, each question, drove him further and further, faster and faster—

There. That bright blessed sign glowing read. EXIT. Right above that lovely big white door. 

He reached for the handle—

—before he was abruptly shoved right up against it. He squirmed beneath the woman’s grasp as he tried to send sparks out from his hands once again. His effort was met with a sharp and excruciating jab at both of his palms. The pain was like anything he’d ever felt before and his mind was sent reeling as he realized she’d stabbed him through the hands.

The woman spun him around and pressed him back against the door. Her breath brushed against his cheek. She reeked of iron. The dampness in her hair was not the result of perspiration but blood.

“I don’t want to die,” Olive whimpered. He didn’t know why he said something so obvious. Maybe he was hoping that this woman would hear his pleas and feel a spark of empathy—a spark of anything—and spare him somehow. “I don’t want to die—”

The woman’s eyes were cold, unaffected, like she was looking at a dying bug, a wilting flower, a speck of dust.

Despair.

“Don’t worry,” she said calmly. “Only living things can die.”

Olivier Chance, closing notes

Olive—17 years.
He’s always looking for something to break him free of his boredom. His favorite teacher Marta John knows his true colors but puts up with his antics so by some miracle he’s still enrolled in school. 

Olive—10 years.
He meets his second and third best friends: Trystan Carter and Yuseong Claire. His first meeting with Trystan comes in the form of an extended hand after a bad trip down the slide when pulling a childish stunt. His first meeting with Yuseong Claire comes in the form of a gifted rice ball.
He’s made many friends over the years but these two are the only two he’s wanted to keep along with him for the ride.

Olive—5 years.
He meets his first best friend. She’s much younger than him. In fact, she’s just a baby. However, he knows that they’ll be together for a very long time. Lavender Chance.

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frame 1, olivier chance.

frame 1, end.

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