"Stronger compared to whose, exactly?" Edgar rose the question, challenging Mason's view on the subject. "Here's a question. How long do you think it would take the average Joe not only learn rocket science, but also learn how to apply it in an adequate way that not only will backfire but will actually of use to anyone or anything?" He said quizzically. He even looked over to Yoon with a raised eyebrow.

~

"Yeah, I do too And no problem, Ms. Samantha," the bird replied. But he went silent for a long minute afterwards before he asked, "Hey, where are we anyways? And why does it get so cold in here sometimes? I don't remember Florida ever being this cold."

Mason gave a sort of nod that was slow, if only Yoon could see the words getting into his mind. “Well I guess you make a fair point there” Mason said to the painter, scratching at his cheek before he would turn to Yoon. And as he would look back to Edgar, he suggested, “Well hey, Peter Parker didn’t become Spider-Man in a day. We got the skills, we got the power, we just gotta really figure things out. So we don’t have anyone here to train us. Big deal. The fact we’ve gotten this far and learned stuff on our own says we can do this. Right guys?”

“That’s… a long story, Leon” Sammy said, wiping the last of her tears away with her training shirt, letting out a sigh to try and wash away all of the sadness within her voice. “I’ll have to get back to you on that. I need to go check on Raven. Need to make sure… that she knows there are people that care.”
She would give the bird one last smile as a vote of confidence before finally stepping out of the room and turning to the basement door. She wasn’t sure what she was going to find down there, and she was more afraid of finding something bad down there. But she knew that she had to see it through, for her sake. With a deep breathe, she opened the door slowly. “Rave!” Sammy called down into the darkness of the basement. “It’s me, Sam. I’m… I’m coming down, okay?”
She took one step, then another and then two then four. She was slow, cautious of what would happen, but she was determined to help out Raven. She knew that there was some chance, some slight chance. So small it could be unrecognizable. But she knew any chance was better than nothing. It was that knowledge of hope that made her step down more into the long dark stairwell into the basement

"That's...the thing. Okay, I'm sorry, but I'm going be blunt here. We don't have the skills. We have the power that we can just barely keep under wraps aside from you, because you have a neutral magic. Despite that, you've been staring at a plant, Mason. You are not going to convince me they there is any power or skill that comes from that but staring at a plant. I messed up—no, correction, I fucked up a spell, majorly needed to get ses mentor back, whom in which we now need for TWO reasons. Yoon nearly caused an accident that thankfully turned out well from her aura alone. And Raven," he sighed. He didn't think he needed to explain anything further with that one. " So again. Rocket scientists. Average Joes that still knows little jack crap about rocket science." He lifted his arms and just let them fall, as if he just had laid where they all were out on the table. "We've gotten this far partially because of skill, massively because of dumb luck, and the cherry on top being that we've had someone to carry us through this. Constantine. Jackie. Galiah. One if those is dead. Another is gods knows where. And the third only able to do so much. Now look me in my eyes and tell it like it is. "Right now, we do NOT got this. What part of that says that we got any of this?"

“Uuuuuuh” was the first word that would come out of Masons mouth. He wasn’t really sure what he could say about the whole situation. It was honestly a lot more disheartening when he laid it all out like that. He didn’t want to completely shoot down the work that Yoon had put into it, but he was a realist enough to know that Edgar had a point. He knew that they were a far cry away from the others who were carrying them through this whole affair. And as he would glance back to Yoon, he turned to Edgar and gave a shrug. “I guess you have a point. Well let me reword it. We don’t got this, but we need to get this. For all our sakes we just gotta find a way to get this. But I think… there’s a better chance than zero now. Not a big chance, but not zero”

We got the skills, we got the power, we just gotta really figure things out.

Yoon didn't know why, but his statement sounded very contradicting. But she could understand the optimism she tried promoting. She gave an effort of a smile and was about to speak until Edgar cut her off. His sudden shift in tone made her shoulders jump a little, and despite being blind, she wasn't sure why she instinctively flinched when he raised his hands. Yoon could feel the temperature inside Edgar spike suddenly, whereas Mason's rose slowly with undertones of nervousness behind that warmth. She tried to maintain herself calm to prevent any heighten emotion of hers being the cause that would make her lose control of her magic. "...." She fell mute.

"....Not a bad way to look at it. Not the best, but not bad." Edgar admitted this wholeheartedly, a small chuckle coming about. He didn't know if it was the multiple sources of pain, it the fact that they were both sources caused by drastically different circumstances, but he couldn't find the time to go about sugar coating things. And he was starting to believe the clearer they saw things, the better.

“Yeah, I think as long as we just keep at it. Somehow, eventually, we’ll manage” Mason said, trying to stay somewhat optimistic despite the state of things they were in. And as he looked back at the manor, wondering just how Raven was going to find her own way through this, Mason would look back to the others and add. “I mean hey, least we made some progress on our own”
And at that, Mason would add, “By the way, that plant is actually for my studies. It’s called Samantha II. It was tasked to me by uh….. someone, I think…” he struggled to remember just who it was

Yoon was glad that they had reached an agreement, even to the extent that conjured a chuckle from the Keeper of Sights. She released the smallest of frosty breaths and a frail smile to join in on lightening the mood. But when Mason revealed the name of his plant, she couldn't help but giggle sweetly at how cheesy and weird the name sounded. "D-Does she know that?"

“No and I pray she never does” Mason remarked with a bit of an exaggerated groan at the sheer chuckle that came from it. “I think the uh… teacher named it that” once more he struggled to remember the name of the person, unable to remember just who it was that assigned him to cater to a plant. “The good news is that the plant is strong and healthy as ever”

"Hmm... That's n-nice to hear." Yoon said with a smile. She thought about how comforting must it feel to have the powers to heal someone and keep something alive. She was sure it felt rewarding to have that kind of power in the world, but also scary if it failed. The Keeper decided not to overthink the subject and instead brought up, "M-Maybe one day you'll be able to heal Edgar's eyes like y-you healed my b-brother. I-Im sure of it." She said, though the mentioning of her brother did sting a bit.

While Yoon and Mason were talking, Edgar was thinking to himself about the what he had felt from the manor while rubbing his chin. He steadied himself, carefully distributing his weight to not press down on his swollen ankle. He eased off away from the two, sliding around to the other side of his RV while pulling his last cigarette from his pocket. He held onto it for a few seconds, the butt of it between rolled between his fingers. And for a moment, he pictured the manor from his RV. He had seen it every day since they got there, even went so far as to make a painting of it in all of sculpture and glorious stature. The path from there to the front doors could have been a straight shot if it weren't for the small slant of an angle of the RV's positioning on the property. Luckily, the sliding door made up for it with how it face the manor almost directly.
He flicked his lighter, and he could feel the warmth that tickled against his hand and soon his lips as he would light his cigarette and take a long drag from it. He had yet to try it, but he wondered if he was careful and aware enough, would he be able to make it up to the porch and get inside himself. Then again...who said I had to take the front? He remembered the secret passage way the he and...Jackie, used to take to get to the basement of the manor. He hadn't used it for a while, since he hadn't been down in an equally long while, and he was the only other person who was aware of its existence. It was faint, but he sense the presence down there, being that his knack for noticing such things was a bit more keen than Mason and Yoon's. He blew out a bit of smoke, his mind already coming to terms with having to do something.

“Yeah that would be something” Mason joked , but even he was a tad unsure of himself. He had been trying so many times for the last few weeks, every time he’d heal him only a little but whatever it was, it just kept coming back. He wasn’t sure what it was or even if he could cure it. But he still turned to make the comment to Edgar, only to find that he had disappeared. He looked around then back to Yoon, still ever puzzled, “do you… know where he went Yoon?”

Sammy stepped down the dark steps more and more, the only source of light being her self phone as she had started a download that was only taking a few minutes and the faint light from the bottom of the steps. She never liked coming down this place. Just the very atmosphere of it gave it a sort of cold feeling that chilled her to the bone. But it didn’t deter Sammy, not even a bit. If anything it only made her move down the stairs quicker in a jaunt, wanting ti get to some light source quicker. And as she would see the ground to the training area she would call out, “Rave? You down there? Are you… are you doing okay?” Even without a reply she would still continue to move, but her quickened pace slowed down a bit from before, moving much slower as to not cause any more of a disturbance than her voice

Edgar had managed to hobble his way passed both Leonard and Kyung-ha's watch and away from the other two Keepers simply by doing just that. Hobbling. His hands found familiarity finally has they touched the cool surface that was the outside of the manor, trusting his higher senses to help guide him if they could. By the time he disappeared around the side of the manor, he was trying to catch his breath, finding it much harder to walk quickly while only trying to use primarily one foot. He stopped for a moment to make it easier on himself, but didn't take long at all to recover and was soon on his way out if sight from outside the manor.

Sammy would take just one step down. She didn’t know what she would find down there. Perhaps just Raven sitting there, crying. Or worse a total mess. If she had little care of her own body after what she saw from her hand… she felt a heavy weight but she knew that she had to get down there. Whatever happened she had to. But as she was nearing the last few steps, she would hear a whisper behind her
“Apologies, Lady Samantha”
And before she could even react she was struck in the neck, causing her to fall forward and nearly tumble down the stairs if not caught at the last second by a small but immense strength. And just like that, in her last waking moments she would watch as she was carried back up the stairs before the darkness would take over her and put her to a slumber

While Galiah was heading up the stairs, it took a long moment of feeling around for Edgar to come across thwas heading down a parallel flight that went in a similar spiral, albeit with squared edges and rails opposed to the more rounded ones that the elf currently was going back up. He felt along the walls very carefully,and it took him some extra courage to start down the creaky stairs that would descend down into the ground and into a tunnel way that was lit by stones that looked like glowing chunks of chalk that were layered along the ceiling, lighting the way with a bright enough light that he was just barely able to take advantage of in very brims of his lower eyes. It took even longer for him to finally reach the end than it usually would, and he had to tediously search the opening for the iron and silver latches and the doors that they were attached to.

As the others outside would continue their conversations outside, wondering what was going on int eh Manor, it would only take five minutes before Galiah was back outside, carrying an unconscious Sammy in her arms, surprisingly able to carry her despite the size difference. She would take her toward Kyung, passing her off to the Asian mother casually as she proclaimed, “it would seem the threat of anything inside the manor has passed now. As for Samantha she may try to go and see Raven, which I have deduced would only result in more frustration and crying at best and possible injury and death at worst. I believe you should bring up the leg incident to her and how she won’t have a greater magic user here to help her this time. That should snap her out of her stubbornness a bit to see reason. As for the manor I believe it is safe to return. No major damages but the lighting needs replaced. The wallpaper is torn and there are some floorboard and doors that’s are damaged. I believe anything else would surely doom is all but we were fortunate to survive another day. Will that be all, Kyung?”

[The Next Day]

The previous day Kyung-ha had cleared areas of the manor to ensure it was safe to inhabit once more, especially knowing that the others were growing cold and hungry from waiting outside too long. She figured with the disappearance of Raven she had isolated herself from the world like she usually did to recover. With that in mind, she took the opportunity to clean up the mess she made around the manor to perfect the high image she thought of Constantine. She also allowed Sammy to stay with her for the time being until she awoke from Galiah's doing.

With Samantha's condition, despite being embarrassed about her pathetic loss against the elf, was still tucked in the living room couch. And being that she slept past training hours, it was likely Kyung-ha had cancelled it in the first place. She actually stayed by her side the longest, with Yoon and Mason being frequent visitors to check on her well-being. Kyung-ha was currently dicing some fruit as her daughter prepared a second plate of breakfast.

"Yoon," Kyung-ha began, grouping the strawberries with pineapple and grapes in a small bowl.

"H-Huh?" She paused midway while scooping a third spoonful of rice on her plate.

"I saw you talk to other Keepers yesterday." Kyung-ha brought up casually.

"...o-oh? Y-yeah, I guess... I guess I was talking to them..." Yoon nodded softly.

"Good job for putting yourself out there. I no want you to keep being rat that hides behind shadows." Was all that she said before leaving the kitchen. She went to sit by Sammy's side to wipe away the anxious sweats the woman got at night, waiting with a patience wearing thin for her to awaken.

Sammy remained sleeping on the couch, stirring all through the night. She was in a fit of worry, of concern and fear. It had constantly kept at her, yet she was able to sleep through it all. Until finally, she would slowly open her eyes from her slumber, and then shoot up in shock, nearly knocking into Kyung-ha who was wiping the beads of sweat off her forehead. "Raven!" Was the first thing that Sammy had said, looking around the manor in shock. "W-where am I?" She would then turn her attention to Kyung, who was sitting next to her. She had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't just dreaming. "Uuuuuh, teach? What's going on? What happened? W-Where's Raven? Is she safe?"
Before Kyung could even reply, Sammy was already getting up from the couch to go check, still light on her feet despite being knocked unconscious

As soon as Sammy got up from the couch, she was knocked back down on the piece of furniture by Kyung-ha with no hesitation behind the act. "Oi, pull yourself together." She said regarding the many questions that she was bombarded with. "Raven and you could use some time apart. She fine. Too much attention on her after such heightened state will only send her into another path of chaos for us. You really want that for all of us? There is something called personal space and alone time." Kyung-ha reminded her student, neatly folding the small towel she was using to wipe at Samantha's forehead. "Good skill to have to reflect and learn." She added. "You no wanna look like a leech, do you?"

"What" Sammy asked, confused as to what she was even hearing from her. She tried to sit back up from the couch again and speak up. "But what about her broken hand and well, she's in the basement by herself. Don't you think I should go down there and check. I mean, she might be doing something that we can't revert and-"
"And what" Leonard said as he was walking in again, sitting down on the chair opposite of them. He had walked in after overhearing the conversation. "You think that you causing her any more anger by hanging around like a vulture is going to suddenly make her better. If it makes you feel better, she was given some bandages last night to heal her hand. So unless she decided to go knife crazy, I don't think you need to worry about her doing anymore harm to herself"
"Well... yeah, but.... but what about the.... uh..." Sammy hesitated on mentioning Leon, at least completely. "She needs to feed her bird"
"Fed it this morning" Mason shouted from the kitchen as he was brewing coffee.

Galiah had made her way towards Edgar's RV with a bit of frustration and a bit of worry. Worry that Edgar had gone and wandered off after yesterdays events in his state. She couldn't bare to think what would have happened to him if he was in danger. But she was also frustrated after telling him not to move from that spot and that he did it anyway. She was so mad that she could feel her cheeks puffing slightly again, biting her lips to keep the pocket of air in her mouth as she would knock on the door. "Edgar" She spoke up. "I'd like a word with you at once"

Several hours into the next day, the painter found himself awaking with a small headache and a surprisingly light feeling in his body. But as he would try to sit up, he would feel the tingling sensation of pain around his head, and it was hard for him to think straight at first. However, when he found the feeling of the sandy basement below him, he froze. "The hell.." He went to move but ended up wincing with a yelp.

There was a snort, and then an awkward and drowsy "huh?" that came from beside him. "Ohthankgod—you're awake! What the FUCK MAN?!"

"...Raven?." Edgar groaned, pain striking at his skull. He held his throbbing head. "What...what?" It took him a minute to realize the panic in her voice, and his thoughts pushed through the fog as he was hit with a clarity of where he was and who was present with him, which caused him to sit up immediately, only for his head to smack into Raven's

"Dude—WHAT THE FUCK!?" Raven snapped at him, holding her face.

"S-sorry," Edgar said with a sort of wheeze in attempt to deal with all three pains settling in while rubbing his own head. "What...happened?!"

"What happened? You tell me! I was doing find down here by myself and then I find you behind a wall at the bottom of a freaking staircase!" She paused only to exclaim frantically, "AND SINCE WHEN DID WE HAVE A SECRET DOOR?!"

Edgar cringed hard in agony as Raven's voice bounced around in his head like a mile long echo, the reverberation from the massive area not being of much help. "Long...story—how long have I been out?"

"Since like yesterday, I don't know! All I know is that I was down here, and then I felt something weird, and then something hit the wall and then YOU show up our if nowhere bleeding from your head—wait, did you fall down the entire flight?!"

"I couldn't have.." Edgar trailed off while trying to think. The last thing he remembered was feeling the steps getting lower and lower until he made the wrong step. "No..just...some of it..I think—wait, since yesterday? Did you not get anyone?"

"So I can get blamed for it and have my sanity questioned again? No fucking way!" Raven hissed.

"What, why would anyone—" Thanks to feeling like he had gotten a concussion, Edgar couldn't remember exactly how yesterday had gone down, but he did remember his vision, and how some of the others seemed to be. It didn't make sense at first, but when he looked at her reason for what it was, he couldn't exactly knock her for it. And so he was smart enough to shut himself up before he could finish. Instead, he tried to look in her direction. "Okay..okay, let's just calm down—"

"I AM calm!!" Raven cut him off, obviously not calm at all. She was still pissed from yesterday and had only drifted of for a couple of minutes before Edgar had waken up. She was scared because of how she had found him.

"STOP YELLING!" Edgar finally snapped when he felt as if his head were about to split open at his skull, and him yelling only made it worse.

Raven had recoiled, and even moved away from him some as her body reacted subconsciously to the sound of the yelling. She glared at hom for a second, snarling back "Then shut the fuck up!"

There was silence between the two that surrounded them, with Edgar fearing the next thing he said could cost him his life, and Raven feeling a bit guilty now for snapping at him the way she did.

"...Sorry..I..I just..nnrrruugh!!" Raven could only make an angry noise full of frustration and stress.

Edgar was hesitant to speak, but he was good at telling when something was really bothering someone. And with Raven, it was a bit more, and a lot less subtle at times. Even though he was hurting physically, he had a feeling that he was going to have to try his best to ignore it. "Raven...there's something wrong, isn't it?"

Galiah tapped her foot as she waited at the RV, wondering just what was taking Edgar. It usually didn't take him this long to open teh door, even in his blind state. She was certain that she had helped him get around the place without hitting his foot too much. But when there was no sound, she grabbed the door and spoke, "Edgar, I am going to open the door. Do not worry if you are unclothed. I have seen every inch of your figure already. I must speak with-"
But as she pushed through the door, she would find that the RV was empty. Edgar was not around. In fact, his RV had remained untouched from when he was last there. It was as if he had just disappeared. And only then did she start to wonder if he hadn't gone on his own. To her, that was even worse. She turned from the RV and made her way back to the manor, hoping that someone there would know where Edgar was

Sammy looked between Kyung and Leonard, as well as Mason and Yoon who seemed to also be keeping watch on Samantha. She looked back around the room and asked, "Why does it matter what I do?" She asked, sitting back into the couch with her arms crossed. "Someone has to check on her and make sure that she-"
"Because Samantha" Mason interrupted from the kitchen, "You don't understand the idea of biting off more than you can chew. What Raven is going through is more than just being there to be a shoulder to cry on"
"You don't think I can't help her" Sammy said in defense
"I know you can. In your own way" Mason said, "But there's a big difference between wanting to help and having the ability to help. A friend breaks his leg, you want to help them, but do you have the medical training to fix a broken leg? No. Sometimes something else is needed. Besides, how many times has Raven had these... uncontrollable fits of rage. Completely out of her control, might I add" he added those last parts to try and lessen Samanthas building annoyance
"...... Twice" Sammy answered reluctantly but honestly
"And in those accounts, how many times were you injured"
"...............Twice" Sammy answered again, her eyes looking to the other side of the room and not making eye contact with anyone
"Listen, Sam" Mason added, "Raven loves you, and she's not going to stop. I'm sure that whatever she's going through, she still absolutely adores you for just being there. The Corrupted shit when you stood up for her when no one else would, or the many different times you were there for her when she was in danger. One day of frustration isn't going to make her forget how much that means to her. But you need to understand, you need to just do what you can to support, by being there for her, not just be her only source of help and safety. You're just one girl, Samantha. You can't be a girlfriend, a doctor, a bodyguard, a therapist, and a magic wiz all at once. She needs to figure things out herself. Not every thing is like those shows or movies you watch where just giving a sappy speech makes things better instantly. Sometimes... it's best that things are figured out through other means"
"That's total BS" Sammy said, keeping her language to a minimum with Kyung in the room. But Mason did make a few decent points in his statement. Plus, with Kyung next to her and observing, she new that she wasn't going to be able to head in there and check. She let out a sigh and spoke, "But I don't got many other plans, so I guess we'll see what happens"
With a sigh, Sammy pulled out her phone and opened the app that she had downloaded last night, a small piano app that allowed her to play music on her phone. It was the bare minimum of music making, merely a cheap software that only had a few different methods of music making. But she still tapped her fingers along the phone to play some sort of melody. A very simple one, but one that was nice on the ears of everyone in the room
As Samantha focused her attention on her piano app, Mason would turn to Yoon from the kitchen, throwing her a thumbs up and a faint smile as he felt he at least got through to Samantha in a small way as opposed to no way

Raven was quiet for a long moment, but as she looked Edgar in the face she had to immediately look away, the sight of his eyes bringing a queasy feeling to her stomach. It had been worse when she had first seen him on the floor, being her first time seeing his face since the accident. She tried to switch the subject. "Wh-what happened to your face?" The question came out in more insensitive way that she had intended to, but she didn't really notice it.

"Well uh..I uh…" Edgar stammered in embarrassment, feeling a tinge of insecurity towards how his eyes were again, which promoted him to turn his head some. "A magic accident while Galiah and I were trying a spell to find Jackie."

"The weird looking circle thing? A tracking spell, right?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, actually," Edgar said, a little surprised that Raven had even known what it was. "It.. didn't turn out to well for some reason, which I'm pretty sure you...you know," he gestured towards his eyes with a sigh.

Raven spoke quietly after a little silence, "That.. actually kinda sucks."

"You don't say," Edgar said sarcastically, but ended up chuckling. "I guess now I know how Ray Charles felt, except my musical talent could be comparable to a Stephen Seagal Movie."

"Raven burst out laughing a little louder than she had expected, and quickly covered her mouth.

Edgar tried not to jump out of his skin at the sudden loudness that had come from such a mostly reserved voice. He looked over in her direction a little curiously as he heard her trying to contain giggles. He hadn't thought it was that funny at all, just a decent joke out of honesty. But the fact that Raven did, it caught his attention. He hadn't heard the girl laugh so genuinely since he had known who she was. "What are you over there laughing for? You don't know nothing about Steven Seagal."

"That they're pretty bad," Raven said, her hands slowly movie from her mouth to make sure she had gotten the little that had been there out.

"But that's what makes them good though. It's not every day you find things so bad that they end up being good," Edgar stated. "And you have to hand it to the guy, he's got a consistency that a lot of movies don't have like that nowadays."

"Since when did being objectively bad become a good thing?" Raven joked, almost like she would with Sammy. Comfortably. Unknown to the other Keepers, this wasn't the first time that she and Edgar had spoken with one another like they currently were.

"When you've watched more than two of his movies. Then again you might just be too young—"

"Bullshit!" Raven said, poking a finger at him while doing so. "I think I can honestly say that I've seen only one decent movie from that flop," she claimed. "One and a half at best!"

Edgar chuckled. "Relax, relax. I agree with you," he said to her, but then fell quiet.

A brief silence fell between the two of them, and in bordered on starting to become awkward until Raven broke the silence, a question having come to mind. "Hey wait a minute—what are you doing down here anyways? Wait, HOW did you even get down here?" She wanted to think that he was faking it at first, however the look of his eyes was all she needed to know that it was probably pretty far fetched to think so.

As the others were sitting around the living room, hoping for the best that would come from down stairs, Galiah would rush into the room. She threw the doors open in a slight panic, eyes darting around the room before she would hurry in, slowing down ever slightly however in case Samantha was still sleeping. But as she walked in to see her on her phone, she looked around and nodded. “I see the goal of keeping Sammy from hurting herself is going accordingly”
“The goal?” Sammy looked around the room in confusion. “How many of you people are in on this plan?!”
“Everyone except for Edgar” Mason shrugged
“As a matter of fact I was hoping to ask” Galiah turned m, trying to suppress the panic going on in her head with a large and overly exaggerated smile. “Perchance does anyone here know where Sir Edgar might be”
As Sammy and Mason looked to each other they could only shrug with uncertainty
“Right then” Galiah said, feeling her suppression starting to slip. “Then I believe I will have to search for him as the guardian. Need to ensure he did not trip and injure himself and unfortunately break his neck in a dark well” Galiah spoke, a sort of panic underneath her cheery tone. But before anyone could ask what was the matter, she gave a polite bow and hurried down the halls of the manner without another word

"That's..a good question, the how part. It sort of ties in with the "why" actually," Edgar replied to Raven, not really having to think much about his answer, hoping that he had at least softened her up enough with their casual conversation. "I sort of just...felt for where you were. Or.. followed your energy—its odd and hard to explain, but that's how. It's like ever since I lost my sight, I've been able to sort of sense things better magically if that makes any sense. It's hard to explain."

"Oh no, trust me, I definitely understand," Raven reassured, knowing the feeling all too well if not more than he did. But a frown had come to her face when she said it, especially when she thought about yesterday.

"As for the why...well..everyone was worried. And so—"

"And so what? Let me guess, Sammy sent you down here?" Raven asked irritably, feeling as if that was what was coming. But a surprised look soon came to her face as Edgar spoke.

"No, actually. No one could decide on who would come down to check on you after the big scare, and so I decided myself, because I know that this magic stuff if a rough road to deal with" Edgar replied. "What...has something happened with you and Sammy?"

"Well...not..really—" Raven hesitated, chewing the inside of her lip anxiously. She had never talked about Sammy or the things she felt when it came to her with anyone, mostly because she didn't really have anyone to talk to aside from Jeff when it came to things like that. And he was a bird. But it wasn't just that that bothered her so much now.

Sammy would look at the phone, strumming along melodies to the best of her ability, trying to remember the days when she would play piano back in music hall. It was the only instrument she was allowed to play, with guitar being considered too vulgar and crass and anything else was too annoying. Sammy had some muscle memory but not enough to make a decent sounding tune, and especially not with the hardware on her phone. With a sigh, she stood up from the couch and walked away
"Hey, Sammy, where you going" Mason said, ready to stand up
"To talk to the bird" Sammy remarked, heading back to Raven's room. "Tell HECTOR to buy a keyboard also"
"Wait, what?" Mason retorted as he watched Sammy walk down the hall. "How is he gonna send a keyboard"
"The same way he sent my new phone, dingus. Just tell him I'll have like twenty pictures for him if he does it" And before Mason could question any of what Sammy said, she already opened the door to Raven's room, looking to the bird cage where Leon was. Sure enough, there were food pellets just as Mason had stated. She sat down on the bed and spoke, "Hey again, Leon. You doing good, bro?"

Kyung-ha's eyes squinted suspiciously when Sammy promised she wouldn't be going to Raven and instead she would occupy herself talking a her bird. But hearing the exchange of words between Mason and Samantha, her brows couldn't help but furrow. She knew Samantha was no photographer, so the mentioning of pictures in exchange for a piano keyboard sounded odd. She looked over to Mason, who her gaze alone would freeze him in his steps. "Oi, what you kids sending pictures of in first place, eh? Enough to buy an unnecessary keyboard? Is your phone even wired to make sure they cannot trace back our location, or have you been spilling our information without care?"

“What, no” Mason said, already feeling a bit of panic as Sammy had outed his job. He gave a dry gulp as he tried to think of the best way to describe it. “It’s just a job that we do. Been doing it for a few years. We make up paranormal things, send it to this guy to post on his website and then he pays us like hundreds. Uh don’t worry, we make sure to just avoid anything that would lead us here. We have thousands of photos saved up of me and Sammy just faking stuff and he eats it up. It feels a little bad but money is money and we’re desperate for cash. Besides… I think he just likes to throw money around”
“That so” Leonard said, sitting up now as his full attention was grabbed by the whole conversation. “Hand is the phone. We wanna make extra sure there’s no pictures taken here in Turkey”

"That sounds like stupid job." Kyung-ha didn't hesitate to say. However, the things she's done for money were arguably worse and immoral. At the same time, the sound of a guy just willingly wasting his money sounded...off and weird. "Better not be sending inappropriate pictures, especially with faces in it." She began, not remembering she had sent one or even taken one a while back in bed. And when Leonard requested the phone, she nodded in agreement. "We no strip your phones in the first place thinking you children at least had enough neurons to know not to keep contact with outside world. Clearly we wrong. You take pictures here in Florida?"

“Not… When we were under attack” Mason answered with a slight bit of hesitance now. Before he could even unlock his phone, Leonard snatched the phone up and started to scroll through the photos. Pictures of bed sheets in the woods of Vermont, painted beach balls in the fields of Kentucky. Only an idiot would fall for this kind of stuff, but he couldn’t find any recent photos, none that were taken in Turkey or Florida. After a minute of extra checking he tossed the phone back, Mason barely catching it. “All clear. What you do to make money is not my concern. Just keep it separate from this okay”
“Yes sir” Mason blurted out awkwardly
Leonard bit his lip In thought before asking, “This guy have a name?”
“Just a fake one.” Mason replied. “HECTOR. He prefers his privacy”
“And do you stay in touch with him?”
“Occasionally”

Raven and Edgar talked for a long while together within the training facility, their conversation becoming a rather heartfelt one as Raven told him of some of the things that she had been experiencing. Particularly about some of what had happened yesterday, though she didn't go into many details until towards the end. She felt like she needed someone to understand her process before she could explain what it was that had happened, and Edgar was more understanding than she had ever thought. And it was during this time that Edgar found that there was much more to Raven than he would have ever thought. Not only that, but as Raven would explain to him how and what she had found out so far, and some of her uncertainties about the matter, Edgar realized that if Raven was telling the truth, oh how oblivious he had been to his own mind. And with how the last couple of weeks had been, the small but now vital things that he couldn't remember, or rather remembered differently. It took Raven pointing out some of the inconsistencies as they went over the past month, comparing their memories.

And soon, the pair was heading back up towards the top of the stairs with an urgency, but slowly since Raven had to help Edgar stay steady as well as make sure she didn't fall because he was heavy to her. She grunted some every couple of steps, and they stopped for a moment to rest after Edgar mentioned feeling dizzy.

As they sat on the stairs for a minute or two, Raven would be the first to stand when Edgar was ready to get moving again. "Alright, one..two..—" On three, she slid underneath his arm while squatting before pushing herself all the way into a stand.

"Do I need to shift some or—"

"Yeah a little to the right— no big like tha—"

"Waitwaitwait, falling, FALLING —"

"shiw—FUCK!"

Edgar winced slightly as he felt his shoulder push against the rough and stony walls as they were finally able to readjust finally without getting themselves a one way ticket to becoming a tumbleweed on a bad day. "Okay..okay good catch. We're good," he breathed.

Raven gave him a nod. "Alright, going...up," she said between breaths, being one of the most out of shape out of all of the Keepers. "Let's go—"

They reached the door finally, and Raven let out a groan of relief. "Why..why are their so....many..stairs!" She exclaimed breathlessly.

As soon as they would reach the top of the stairs, Edgar would hear the faint footsteps of someone walking passed before it would open and close inside Ravens room.
“Hey Leon. What’s up bro”
The sound of Sammys tired voice was heard from beyond but it seemed as though she passed the room and headed into Ravens. What for was unclear
But as that would pass another set of more rushed footsteps we’re heard, this one also following with a voice.
“Goodness where did he wonder off to” the faint sound of the elf being heard as she would hurry down the halls and making her way ever closer to the basement in a hurry. Soon the halls were silent again, nothing more than the regular scolding from Kyung in the distance and the faint sounds of piano melodies of Tiny Dance just a bit away

"Fake name, hm? Kyung-ha repeated. "Then you better have given him a fake name of yours and Samantha. Or you were dumb enough to reveal true names? I no think it takes that long to find who you are with quick Joogle search," she mispronounced. "Pictures are so obviously fake he must know if he has at least a third of a brain. What is his motive with talking with you or Nguyen?"

Mason didn’t answer immediately. He knew that all the answers to the naming question was yes. But he also knew that HECTOR was one that was unrelated to all the magic stuff. He turned to Yoon, looking for some support before turning back to Kyung in an attempt to elevate the growing suspicions. “Listen all I know is he is my boss, I take pictures and he gives me the pictures. I’ve known him for two years before I even got to Florida so I’m sure I can trust him. If you want I can message him now, he can call me and then you can decide if he’s safe or not”
“And risk blowing our cover?” Leonard mentioned immediately
“If you just keep the camera aimed at you and a blank wall I doubt anything will track.” Mason recommended “I doubt he’ll track in general but if you wanna play it safe it’s a suggestion”

Thwmp! The door to the basement opened with a swing.

"You... could've just opened it," Edgar could be heard saying in complete shock.

"It was in the way and dude your freaking heavy, and I have to use both arms!" Raven exclaimed. "Plus what do you mean?! You're the one who said it wasn't opening man!"

"I said I THINK it was still locked! You didn't even let me finish—"

"Just come on, you freaking boomer my god!"

"Ok what? No, we're talking about that one, and I am not even that heavy," Edgar was in the middle of saying as he was being guided through the entrance and into the hall.

Galiah would immediately turn her attention back to the sound of the door opening down the hall. Her footsteps stopped almost immediately when she would hear the conversation from just down the hall. And moreso, when she heard Edgar’s voice among those voices. She would immediately hurry back into the hall. And as the two were speaking they were interrupted by the sound of the elf. “Edgar!” Galiah spoke up, hurrying to his side as she looked over his face, his body and his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hurt. “Edgar when I say to stay in place, you know that I l- Oh greetings Lady Raven. You seem better” she spoke briefly. “Edgar you could have been hurt, going down the basement alone. Thank goodness Raven was here to help you. By the gods what were you thinking. I was nervous… as a guardian should be, of course”

When Mason looked to Yoon for support, all she could do was give an apologetic shrug from afar. She did however encourage him to just let it be and come eat instead, even if she had already eaten herself.

“No, no suggestion—it’s actually order.” Kyung-ha corrected Leonard. “For what you need money eh?? No amount necessary to risk our hiding spot.” The mother was actually being considerably nice to Mason by not completely degrading him like she would have. Ever since he saved her son, she’d been preparing him special snacks and healthy desserts. She didn’t really scold him for every minor thing either.

Mason looked back at Yoon with a slight grimace, unsure of what much she could do to help. His eyes turned to Kyung and Leo, both still awaiting an answer. He scratched at his cheek before answering, “Well money is one thing but I thought he could send us any news on things happening. I mean the apartment was pretty bad. I wanted to make sure no one could trace us to it. Here”
He placed the phone onto the table, with a blank generic icon with the name HECTOR on the label. Mason looked back at the two and continued, “Just push the video icon. He should answer”
“And if he doesn’t?” Leo asked as he went to shut all the windows just to make sure
“He will” Mason retorted before he would stand up from the seat and go to where Yoon was, leaving the phone on the table

Kyung-ha waited until Mason left to look at Leonard with a quizzical expression. She glanced back down at the phone with debating eyes. "Oi, I no want this Heek-tore man knowing our faces." The woman brought up in case whoever was on the opposite end could screenshot and somehow send their faces to unwanted people. "Already have too much people in my kill list."

“Already ahead of you” Leonard said as he stepped into the kitchen, returning with a pair of sunglasses and face masks. “I use this whenever I need to go out shopping. My Turkish is simple but I think I pass for a sick man when I buy ingredients”
He passed the pair of rounded glasses and white sunglasses to Kyung Ha, putting on a pair of aviators and a white face mask as well, turning back to Kyung with a shrug. “It’s not much, but at least we can avoid any face recognition with these”

Kyung-ha eyed the pair of sunglasses and facemask that was handed over to her, looking at Leonard with a 'Really? sort of expression. She too was cautious when going out to buy groceries, making sure to always use cash so that there wouldn't be any digital footprint of hers. She usually wore high heels to change her height, headscarves, a dress that covered her head to toe, an oversized coat, and also a pair of sunglasses despite the cold. She also made sure to not go out too frequently, doing her best to use the resources in the woods or regrow previously bought ingredients with the fresh soil around the manor. So far she was able to grow cherry tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, and arugula with the time they had spent there. She had also planted onions that weren't quite ready yet to be harvested. If she took a mile journey into the woods, she would also find wild berry bushes that were safe from consumption.


Reluctantly, the woman put on the pair of dark shades over her face, which were too big for the size of her face. "We look stupid." She said before putting on the facemask as well.

“Yes we do” Leonard replied as he picked up the phone, putting it up on the table propped up as he sat down on the couch behind the wall. “But this way we don’t look like we’re trying too hard. Any more reason to not make him think we’re some international criminals that’s worth the hassle”.
With a roll of the eyes that couldn’t be seen behind his shades, he hit the icon on the phone, which began a generic ring sound of a soft melody, slowly but surely playing along. Leonard even took in a bit of extra effort to ruffle his hair a bit, at least to look somewhat unrecognizable from his regular appearance

The woman decided to copy Leonard by letting her hair hang loosely from its perfect bun, adjusting the glasses on her eyes since they kept sliding off. She caught a glimpse of herself and Leonard in the reflection of the phone, and couldn't help but to mutter, "We look stupid," again. She waited impatiently for this Hector guy to answer the phone, letting Leonard take care of the technical part of calling since she wasn't as familiar with this so called FaceTime.

Ring, ring, ring
The number would continue to spin ever slowly as they waited for a reply. It was slowly dragging into a minute, with Leo glancing up from the phone to Mason who was now having a conversation with Yoon, complete with awkward chuckles from both sides. But as soon as Leo’s eyes returned to the phone, he was met with a surprise
A young man, as guessed by his figure. Wearing a white baggy hoodies with some symbols on the sleeves and the hoodies thrown over his head stared at the phone. The most striking thing was the mask he work. A big red demon mask with a long nose, like the only Japanese mythos of ancient demons, the mask grinned at the two, but the faint glow from the camera showed that he was observing the two silently
“Yo what the fuck?!” The young man spoke in with a light Hispanic accent from under the mask. “Yo what the fuck? Mason! Mason” the man shouted at the phone in a sort of panic. “Did you get pinched? Did the Xfiles Men in Black chicanos get you? You Buncha fucking dick bags! Where the fuck is my boy? I’ll fucking ram boiling coal down your throat until you shit lava, pussies! I know people! I fucking know people, bitches!”
The man’s loud voice could be heard from the kitchen, both Yoon and Mason getting an earful. Mason shouted out, “it’s okay Hector. Im fine. Just giving some info needed to my uh… care takers I guess”
“Sure we’ll go with that for now” Leo shook his head as he looked to the phone. “Now is the baby done having his fit”
“…… bitch” HECTOR blurted out casually after a bit before he turned back to the phone. “Okay. Now i is done. So whatchya fuckers want?”

Kyung-ha's brows knitted inwards at the sudden and abrupt display of words given by the tiny man on the screen. She looked at Mason with a face of disapproval for even talking to people like these. Her face leaned toward Leonard, not really knowing how much this FaceTime app could hear before saying out loud, "Little man know he dress like little bitch?"

Mason caught the glance from Kyung and even behind the glasses and mask he could feel the glare from it, which only made him recoil in his seat a bit more in shame. Leonard, on the other hand, had to hold back a laugh at the comment that Kyung made about the aggressive man on the camera, giving a faint snort that was barely hidden by the mask.
"Yo, how about you speak up" HECTOR shouted from the phone, "I can't hear you, Maybe pull the titty out of your mouth and talk clearly"
Leonard would give a sigh at his rather crass comments as he spoke, "We're just here to get some info out of you"
"Oink, Oink" HECTOR cut him off rudely
"Excuse me?" Leonard asked
"That's "No fuckin' way" in your pig language, copper. I ain't selling out Mason here. He's my best boy and my best worker. So if you came for info you can forget it. Unless the mamasita over there wants to make me an offer."
"Hector, please" Mason groaned in frustration and second hand embarrassment. "I'm sorry, guys. He doesn't really have the best attitude around uh... superior individuals"
"The only thing superior here is HECTOR and HECTOR's dick. And I accept worship of either or, muthafuckas!"
Mason's lips tighten to contain a scream that so desperately wanted to escape from how much of a bother HECTOR was. But he managed to keep it down and speak out in some defense, "I promise he's actually really nice when you get to know him"
Mason turned his attention back to Yoon, and knowing the way HECTOR could get really vulgar, he kept silent but used his eyes to direct her out of the room, so they wouldn't hear anymore of it

"Oi, I'll sita YOUR mama and make you watch!" Kyung-ha snapped back, not really getting what the whole 'mamasita' phrase was about.

"...oh my goooddddd..." Yoon groaned in embarrassment, burying her head in her hands while chewing her meal. She wasn't sure what was worse, Hector's speech or her mother's lack of knowledge.

"I no care if he want to be nice or not, I no asking." Kyung-ha responded to Mason before her attention fell back on the man through the screen. "Who you work for, eh? hEcTOr?" She said his name weirdly for him to know that they were aware of his fake name. "Why you want pictures of paranormal, what uniform resource locator are you posting them on??"

"Omma––it's URL!! N-No one says the full thing!" Yoon gritted through her teeth so that Hector wouldn't hear.

"Oh yeah—hurt," Edgar said with a point towards the side of his head where a long gash went from his temple to his ear. What he had yet to notice until he was pointing it out was that Raven had wrapped something around it to stop it from bleeding while he was unconscious. "Right now, that doesn't matter. Raven's got—OOF—" He wheezed slightly when he felt an elbow to the stomach. And so he corrected himself. "I, got some news that I think needs to be heard. Something's not right about the last couple of days—"

"—MONTH."

"Month," Edgar corrected himself again. "It starts somewhere with back at that get together...a celebration I think it was. Those gifts that Jackie—"

"NOT Jackie—"

"That not Jackie gave us, it doesn't add up at all when we take the days before and afterwards into consideration," Edgar said, giving a small glance towards Raven.

And Raven would hesitate before giving him a nod like tap on his back.

Edgar turned his head back to where he heard and could feel Galiah. "Someone's been inside of not just Raven's memories, but all of ours. She thinks—oof—I think whoever it is has a tie in with Jackie somehow and—" He paused as Raven whispered something into his ear. His brows furrowed. "AND, there's a really really really big chance that this Not Jackie has connections to everyone here, ones that we can't remember."

Raven nodded immediately. "Right. What the smart guy said. You should really listen to him," she added. But when Edgar didn't say anything afterwards, she nudged him. "AaaaanD?"

"Oh, right. Raven and I are going to gather everything that she—we've, come across so far," Edgar said. "So in short, I'm going to be with her for a few minutes, and then we'll be back down in a bit."

~

"And just when I thought that the word idiot couldn't stick any harder to anyone but Leotard," one singular voice cut clean through all of the talking as his words and the familiarity of the newer voice to Leonard and Kyung-ha would push into their ears. The refrigerator door could be heard closing as Thube finished his somehow both unheard and unknown unaccounted for rummaging. The bags under his eyes were dark as he stared at the two Keepers that he could've cared less about, and then to Kyung-ha and Leonard, and the glasses that they wore. "And you didn't invite me to the Men In Black cosplay party? The nerve of you pigs." He looked over at the phone that Hector's voice came from. He looked to Leonard, and then to Kyung-ha. And then Mason. And then Yoon. And then back to Kyung-ha and Leonard as they would stare. Because not only had he come out of nowhere, but he had on one of Kyung-ha's shirts that he thought looked good enough, and a pair of Leonard's pants as well as some of Kyung-ha's face moisturizing tea masks. "What? Well don't stop 'cuz I'm here. By all means, carry on with whatever the hell you kiddies were doing," he said while stuffing a handful of popcorn into his mouth while speaking. "Keep it going, I think it was getting to the good part!"

"Listen here, MILF" HECTOR spoke up, pointing at his chest with a sense of pride. "HECTOR works for HECTOR. I ain't no ones whipping bitch. I am my own boss with my own inheritance and I don't have to listen to anyone. The photos are for the world to know the truth about how fucked this world is. Imma bring the truth into the light kicking and screaming like a scared child and no one is gonna stop that!"
"It's called Strange America.Com" Mason answered without hesitation. "Just a forum website with like a few dozen users."
"And soon it's gonna be thousands" HECTOR cut in. "Probably millions. We're growing rapidly, fuckfaces! So best prepare."
"And the money?" Leonard spoke "How do you send it to Mason?"
"Duh, dipfuck" HECTOR groaned "Through a work card. No name on the card, just a regular old work place debit card. Mason's a good worker so it's nice to send him some coin every now and again"
"You're telling me that a small website can afford to make their own cards?" Leonard spoke
"That's private company info" HECTOR stated "And I don't have to tell you anything to outsiders. Could give it away to any competition and I ain't all about that."
But as he was trying to get the information he needed, a voice would break through. An unfamiliar one. And without an ounce of hesitation, Leonard would stand up from the couch and aim a gun at the man, surprised to see it was Thube. Somehow, he had not only survived what happened in Florida, but also managed to make it to Turkey. However, that didn't stop him from lowering his gun.
"Woooooo, let's go!" HECTOR shouted loudly from the phone before he started singing. "Fuck the police! Fuck, Fuck, Fuck the police!"
Leonard would turn the phone on mute so as to not let anymore info get to them. He kept the gun held in one hand as his hand tapped the mute button from their side, but HECTOR could still speak "Yo, the fuck happened" He said with disappointment
"What the hell are you doing back here, Thube" Leonard said, hand on the trigger
Mason on the other hand had suddenly panicked at the sight of the other man within the manor. He didn’t know why but his first response was to step between him and Yoon. Even if Yoon was stronger with her magic he still felt very defensive

“Edgar” Galiah spoke with a worried tone, her hands gently touching at the wound on his head. “You should have told someone you were going down there. Stairs are dangerous in your state”
But at the mention of everything, if another figure that wasn’t Jackie, Galiah paused. It was as if she was starting to picture it all now, yet it was a blur of things "Not Jackie?" Galiah spoke, her ears perking up at the sound of that. She paced around for a bit, having to think really hard about the events that had happened back when all those moments happened, her hand resting on her head in thought. As she did, she would finally turn back to Edgar and speak softly. "I did find it a tad queer when I couldn't remember Jackie gifting me that dress. That was strange"
But as she would hear Edgar's comment on gathering a few things to discuss with Raven, she looked back up and spoke, "Oh, well, is there anything I can do to help, Edgar? Perhaps help gather info? Maybe the other Keepers could help, or... should they know about this?"
And as she asked, she turned to Raven and asked, "Or you, Lady Raven? Anything I can get for you too?"

"uuwwWAAAA––––!!!" Yoon immediately jumped and tumbled over from her seat upon her eyes making contact with a pair of unfamiliar ones. Her fork had left her hand and she almost choked on the rice she was eating out of pure fright, unintentionally grabbing onto Mason besides her in attempt to hide behind him. And only when he stood in front of her did she peek around to see who this mysterious person was.

It was almost out of instinct how fast Kyung-ha reacted and reached for the handgun strapped underneath the smaller table she was sitting on. Earlier upon her arrival to the manor she had planted hidden weapons everywhere to use in case of emergencies. She joined in on aiming the gun at Thube, which was a funny sight considering the big sunglasses that were slipping from her face. The familiarity of his voice finally seeped into her ears, but the suddenness of it all encouraged her to keep her aim. She was questioning the fact whether her eyes were seeing right; did Thube seriously rummage through her closet for a shirt and mask? Right before Leonard was about to end his statement––not knowing he had placed Hector on mute, Kyung-ha shushed him by wrapping her arm around his neck and smacking his mouth shut with her hand to prevent him from sharing his name out loud. "Shibal." Was all she could say at first.