Goth knew many things were wrong, that ahead of them, was another story... a nightmare of Fear.

As Umbra travelled with Seeker, he rested in their mind, focusing on the ragged link between them and Ser, and Solas, as it grew clearer, and stronger.

As they got closer to the final parts of the bridge, it became easier to feed his other half Magic, he was glad that with what Umbra was, he had a lot of Magic to spare, as their other self was almost ripping it from them, as they passed it along.

Gently, he hugged the glowing mental representative of his unborn child's Soul, so pure and curious.

"I'm sorry you will have to wait so long to be born little one." He apologized to them, and the Soul cuddled closer to him, making him smile.

He hated the fact that even when they were freed from their duty, the darker Fate was still up to her games.

Oh, he understood why she was playing them, but he didn't have to like it.

There was a balance that had to be kept, and what was ahead was very unbalanced... teetering on collapsing into the endless void. 

Just one misstep could destroy it all.

Fear had truly lost themselves to insanity... After all, Fear came into existence as part of a balance, and even Fate had a balance, and he wasn't talking about their other Fate half.

Codes appeared inside their mind, it was glowing, it was bright and it burned....

Damaged.

The Codes of the wondering Multiverse.

Could he repair it?

He feared the answer, Umbra had a limit to how much he could sing, to repair what was broken, and once he crossed that line, he would sing himself out of existence...

Solas may be able to help, boosting the shadowy Guardian's power, by blazing his light powers.

Solas... Umbra was becoming a bit unstable the longer that he was forcefully separated from his other half, and it hurt Shades himself, and in the split Multiverse, it was okay for them to be separated, and they wouldn't have to deal with any side effects from their separation...

But in a whole new multiverse?

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind, and he sent a question to Fate.

"Permission given, sweet." She said, with a wicked grin.

He pulled a single strand of power out, and he carefully made sure that it was too low powered for Fear to notice. Golden light gathered in his hands, and he threaded their shadow to give it a form.

"Protect Solas and Ser." He commanded the tiny new aspect of shadow, and then, he threw it into the either of Souls....

In the wondering Multiverse, a small figure shook it's newly formed body, and heterochromia eyes, one gold, one red, opened.

And a few feet away from it, a small child played, and the shadow aspect crept closer to him...

"Mew?" The tiny black kitten cried.

Shades opened his eyes, he was satisfied, and he laughed.

No matter what, his other self was a cat fanatic.

-----

Hibana blinked, and he turned his head, to look at where the sound was coming from. He gasped, and he quickly ran over, to the fluffball, and he picked it up. "Kitty!"

The cat was tiny, a fluffy black puffball that could barely fit in Hibana's hands. The only color to them, other than black, was their heterochromia eyes. The cat blinked, and then, it leaned forward, butting it's head against the other's chest as a small rumble escaped it.. a small, friendly, purr. 

Hibana giggled, and he gently nuzzled the puffball.

"Hibana?" The child turned around, and he smiled at Paperjam.

"Jammy! Look what I found!" He held the cat up, and Paperjam's jaw dropped.

"Is that a Kitty?!" His shout made the other kids run over to them, they cooed at the kitten, and some of them tried to pet it.

"Hisssssss." The kitten said, flattening their body against Hibana in fear, with it's fur floofing. 

"We shouldn't surround it. Cat ears can be sensitive." Goth carefully got the rest of their group to slowly back away from the cat. "And their claws hurt!"

Hibana cooed at the puffball, and he pet it.

The kitten purred, before it climbed up the tiny child to curl around their neck, like a fluffy scarf.

((Shades... why are you a cat?)) Umbra asked him, he was confused.

(Fate gave me permission to do this, go back to the main body Umbra. One of us has to be there. And here, I can keep an eye on our other.) Shades said, enjoying the petting his other was giving this aspect.

((You realize that they'll beg us to have this aspect out forever, right?)) Umbra grumbled, back in their main body.

(Yep) Shade giggled.

Oh.... ear scratches were good. 

Hibana giggled, as he scratched the ears of the kitten, and his friends smiled, when they saw the smile on Hibana's face... Fear had taken a lot from them, and they would fight to the death to keep smiles like that, on each other's faces....

Goth carefully walked to Hibana. "Are you gonna give him a name?" 

"Yep! I'm gonna call it Yami!" Hibana's swirled eyelight was shining.

Prrrrrrrrr

((Well, at least it fits our theme..)) Umbra sighed.

(Shh... do you know how hard it is to build a cat's mind, in a way that it won't wonder off on them?) Shades hissed back.. cattily.

But something was wrong, why didn't Ser, or Solas, recognise them?

'I should be able to link up to them easily, what did Fear do to them?' Shades... or rather Yami, thought, he was worried, but still.. this was his other half, and he would stay by his side.

"Can you help me hide him?" Hibana asked his friends, and Paperjam sighed. 

"We don't know if Fear sent him..." Paperjam had a worried look on his face. He had to look after the others... He was the oldest kid, and he had to be the big brother to everyone. "And we don't know what Fear has done to you..."

Hibana frowned, and he sniffed.

Paperjam started to panic. "I'll think about it, and if nothing bad happens, we'll help you hide him!"

Yami internally rolled his eyes, why didn't these guys get an adult to check his aura, and they would see that it was fully in sync with his other. It would take two seconds, and it would done.

Hibana was about to smile at Paperjam, when someone spoke up.

"Or one of us could check the cat." Reaper floated over to them.

Prrrr... Yami said, happily nuzzling his other's neck.

"Mr Reaper?!" Hibana yelped, and he carefully placed a hand on the kitten. He didn't want to lose Yami...

"It will be okay Kid, it will be a quick check..." Reaper told the young one, before he took a closer look at the cat. "Hmmmm... This isn't a normal cat, it's a familiar, and from the way that it's Magic is reaching out to you, it's yours..."

"Mew..." Yami purred, well.. A familiar.. he could live with that, for now. And it wasn't like anyone would believe, that the tiny puffball of doom, was an aspect of the shadow guardian. And it made it easier for him to use small parts of his powers to protect his other.

Who seemed... reduced, at the moment....

Fear better not appear any time soon, he was more than happy to pull more power to this form, and he would destroy Fear...

Oh no... Solas would demand a cat humanoid form, in the future, whenever he remembered...

There would be bows, he knew it...

"That is so cool!" Palette said. "And it could help Hibana heal from what Fear did to him."

Reaper nodded his head, and for the first time, Yami could see that Reaper had one leg...

Maybe.... His larger aspect could fix that, when he got here....

"So... I don't have to ask if I can keep him?" Hibana asked Reaper.

"Nope. You don't. He's yours kid." Reaper smiled, and Hibana giggled.

Purr... Yami said, fluffing his fur in glee, he had to remember that name. Wherever this... amnesiac other had come from, he had to protect him, and time would tell, if Hibana would become another aspect for Solas, and Ser, in the future.

Feeling a bit mischievous, and to stir up trouble, he was a cat, he jumped off Hibana and he landed on Reaper, he licked him on his forehead, and he leapt back, quickly cuddling around Hibana's neck, again.

There, now Reaper could freak out about a Death free kitty.

And Reaper did start freaking out about a Death free kitty, which made the other kids laugh, as Hibana gently nuzzled Yami.

Unnoticed to all, Yami's eyes briefly glowed, with power.

Shades.. Umbra.. Yami... in the end they were all one self.

And not one aspect of that self would loose this battle..

Hibana tilted his head, and for a few seconds, his swirled eyelight untwisted itself, and he smiled, as he gently hugged Yami.

"I missed you..." He whispered, before his eyelight was swirled again, returning to it's usual form of a gold, and purple, yin-yang circle.

"I missed you too..." They spoke to their other, alone, with both of their eyes briefly turning gold, with codes swirling deep within them, before it faded, and their eyes returned to their original colours. "And not even Fear can truly separate us."

Hibana smiled, and it was a adorable smile... 

Umnra would let the void swallow this Multiverse, if it meant keeping their other safe.

Damn the rest if he had no other choice...

Hibana gently snuggled Yami, as he went around, showing his new friend off, to the other adults, with the rest of the kids following him.

The 'kitten' didn't even bother moving from around his other's shoulders, feeling part of himself relax, and he gently feed Hibana the Magic that he needed.

Skulduggery patted his charge, on the head, when he showed the cat to him, and Sketch smiled. They had a good feeling about the cat, but it was Error that made the cat feel sick... He had crystals, in his eyesockets...

Oh... oh dear...

Yami peered at his other's magic, as his stomach dropped.

Now.. this would not do....

How.. would they fix this?

Error tilted his head, as he gently pet the cat. "You might want to be careful with how much Magic you're giving to him." He whispered, to the cat. "These crystals are designed to drain Magic... And Magic makes them grow... We don't know if Fear implanted one of them in Hibana, and until the Kid recovers his memories, we won't know where it is, and if he has one of them, in his body..."

Of course, it would be an Error, that understood what he was doing.

Yami patted Error's hand with his paw, with a spark of magic in the touch.

"Don't worry I am, it will be enough to for him to survive, untill he gets here... The Little Light will get the help that he needs..." Yami spoke to the other, in a way that his other could not understand, now that their mind had returned to it's sleep...

"Who's he?"

"If there is Light, there is Shadow, there is a balance....  Fear should run, Shadow is not Happy.." Yami purred.

"Fear hurt the Light..." Error mumbled, as Hibana got comfortable, in his lap, and the tiny skeleton picked up where he had left off, in the black scarf that the small child was knitting.

"Big Brother is coming..." Yami whispered sang, but technically, he was already here.

Error smirked. He couldn't wait... Fear was going to pay...

----

Hibana smiled, as he started to retire for the night. He carefully placed Yami, on the bed, and he started to undo the bandages around the right side of his face.

Yami mewled and he settled down, on the pillow, leaving room for his 'owner', his eyes were half masted as he watched his other.

Hibana gently put the bandages on the bedside table, the room had a few beds, but most of it was taken up by the huge nest, in the middle of the room, which was taken by most of the kids... It was those that had a bad reaction to touch, or those with an energy draining skill, that mostly took the beds, but even after those beds were filled, there would be some free beds left, for those that didn't feel safe in the cuddle pile, those who were shy, and those that wanted to change things up, for a night.

Paperjam, Gradient, and Goth had permanent beds, but Palette, and/or Goth's siblings, would crawl into his bed, in the middle of the night, and some of the younger kids would crawl into PJ's bed, when they were scared.

Hibana had a permanent bed, in a corner of the room, where he felt safe, and he didn't have to worry about watching his back. He removed his black eye patch, and Yami could see the scar around Searcher's right eye socket, Hibana had it too, just like Solas... But it had changed... Parts of it had been reopened..

'Freaking Fear!' Shades thought, and even Umbra, who was only a  few hours away from the end of the bridge swore, startling Seeker.

Prrr Yami said, jumping up, and crawling up a startled Hibana, to carefully licked the wound, and inserting healing Codes. Ser did not need that scar to get worse, and the fact that the scar was so visible, in the form that resembled Solas, showed that things were not well...

Hibana smiled, as the dull pain that he felt in his right eye socket went away, and he climbed into his bed, after he had changed into a too big T-shirt that he used as pyjamas.

But from the fact that parts of the scar had been reopened... Ser might have to visit an eye doctor, when they got back...

Yami sat down next to his other, gently watching, as his other yawned.

Solas, or Ser.. or even Hibana, the light would be protected by the shadows...

"G'Night Yami..." Hibana mumbled, as he closed his eyesockets, and he went to sleep.

"Mew." Yami said, purring at him.

Then Yami was alone, as the other kids slowly fell into a deep sleep.

Phantom arms hugged Hibana.

"Goodnight, My light.." He whispered, as the phantom arms faded.. and the feline aspect went to sleep.

----

Seeker frowned, when Umbra started to swear. "Umbra... What's wrong?"

"Shades... well.. you could say that he created what you could call an extended aspect of us, a small black cat, and since we know that Solas and Ser would be attracted to felines..." Umbra unhappily said.

"And it would let you protect him, and gather information, for us, while we made our way to their current location..." Seeker tilted his head. "But.... It saw something that you didn't like..."

"He is definitely stuck in a version of Solas's body, but he's very weak..." Umbra said, trailing off.

"Fear hurt him..."

"Yes... and he's draining his magic, but at the moment, he doesn't have them." Umbra said, frowning, as he tried to figure out how to bring up the other.. issue. 

Seeker had a look of relief, on his face. "But it Fear doesn't have him, where is he?"

"He's being sheltered by the locals, but Seeker... he has Amnesia.." Umbra was angry, and his eyes were glowing. "Yami, the cat aspect, briefly saw Ser wake up, but what Fear did to them, the trauma, it forced him to sleep again...."

Seeker almost growled, and he clenched his fists... His Gothy had Amnesia, and he had been hurt?! "When we get back home.... I don't care what Mr Geno, or Mr Reaper, says... I'm going to tie him to his bed, to make sure that he stays out of trouble, while he recovers..."

Umbra gave him a wry look, yes recover... aka ravish.

"Uh huh..." Umbra responded.

Seeker looked away, from Umbra... He was blushing...

"Do you want me to rush the rest of the way, with you in my pocket, it will only take an hour or two..." Umbra asked him, feeling antsy, he was so close, yet so far, from the vulnerable light...

"Yeah... I have a bad feeling about taking our time...." Seeker told him. "Something isn't right... We're missing something..."

"This may feel weird." Umbra said and he reached out, and somehow, he pulled Seeker into the pocket that was just for Solas.

And then, he Ran.

Seeker yelped, as he was pulled into the pocket, and he quickly got his bearings back.

Seeker could remember, when his Mr.Geno had told him, about something important.

------

"Palette?"

"Yes Mr.Geno?" Palette tilted his head, he, and Gothy, were about to go to the park, when Geno stopped him. "What's wrong?"

"I just need to tell you about something, now that you're old enough to understand.. Please, if you, and Goth must spar, or get involved in a fight, don't hit Goth's right eyesocket."

"Why should I be careful with Gothy's right eyesocket?"

"The Magic within it is very unstable... And Goth doesn't like to admit that occasionally, his sight in that eye gets blurry, and it's difficult for him to see through it. I know that you're old enough to know what that means, and that Gothy might need glasses, in the future, if he wants to see through that eye, but the doctor said that as long as he doesn't get hit in that eyesocket, in a way that damages the bone itself, or if something damages the Magic in that eye, he won't need the glasses."

"Okay, we'll be careful Mr.Geno! I promise!"

"Thank you, Palette."

-----

Seeker sighed. "I'm sorry Mr.Geno..." He muttered. "I couldn't keep that promise..."

"Gah...." Umbra said, making a face, as he came to the bridge's end. Fear's power was like a disgusting haze, warping and twisting the edges of this Multiverse. Thankfully, he could easily hack the 'door', which he did, in a few seconds, and stopping the haze from alerting Fear that it had been hacked.

"Ready?" Umbra said, pulling Seeker out, a shifting shadow was acting as their 'door' into this Multiverse.

Seeker nodded his head.

And with that, they stepped through the shadow, and their booted feet landed on gritty sand.

Seeker immediately fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands, once his feet touched the gritty sand. "Gah!!" The emotions that he was feeling... It was too much... He was a low leveled Empath, he wasn't as strong as his Mother, or his Uncle, he hadn't trained his Empathy, so, he didn't have their sensitivity, or their shields... But the feelings, in this Multiverse, they were so strong, that even a low leveled Empath could feel them... 

"Breath kid, breath." Umbra said, gently rubbing his back.

Seeker followed Umbra's advice, and he breathed.

"I know, it's bad, Fear has twisted this Multiverse to the point that it has almost collapsed.... Focus your Magic around your Soul, and your mind, like an invisible layer... a wall. Block it.. Block as much as you can." Umbra told him.

Seeker nodded his head, and he followed Umbra's instructions. He wrapped his Magic around his Soul, and his mind... "I'm just glad that I did all of those training exercises that increase how much Magic you can have..." Seeker whispered.

"Kid, aren't we all..." Umbra muttered.

"This place must be a living hell, for the local Palette, if he exists, and if he has Empathy..." Seeker slowly stood up. 

"I just realised.. I'm.. rather recognizable, aren't I?" Umbra said, as he realized Fear would recognize him the moment that he saw his image...

"Maybe... I don't know..." Seeker whispered. "You can't use Shades's form.... And Gothy would be upset if the cat disappeared... Hey.... I might have an idea... You can hide in shadows... Could you hide in my shadow?"

"Couldn't I just change my clothing, I think that have some clothing Solas gifted me over the eons..." Umbra said, he was troubled... He missed his other half...

"Yeah... You could change your clothing, and we'll save 'hiding in shadows', for an emergency."

Umbra beamed, his smile was like a million watts, making him look very.. well, Gothy, instead of the calm Shadow Guardian that was older than their Multiverses...

"I'll be right back." Umbra said, jumping to where a few ragged trees would hide him from sight, so that he could change his clothes.

Seeker smiled, and then, he frowned... If Fear could recognise Umbra, could he recognise him? This wasn't the Fear from his Multiverse, but he wasn't going to take that risk, he quickly put his hat, and his jacket, into his item storage place, and he carefully twisted the sash around his waist, in a way that hid the splatters of paint on it. 

Umbra dug through his item pocket, he had pulled off his jacket, scarf, and gloves, and they were hanging from a branch. He'd have to find another pair of gloves to hide the golden guardian swirls on his hands, Fear knew of those... Hibana couldn't hide his, and everyone could see them but thankfully, none of the locals had recognized what they represented.

"Aha!" He said, pulling out a pair of faded black jeans that were rather scuffed, at the bottom, and a few moments later, he found a blue navy tank top, and then, a overly large white jacket with fluff around the face, with pert cat ears on the top of the market's hood. Solas had given it to him, years ago, and the Light Guardian jokingly called it a Mother's day gift.

He rubbed his face, feeling the stress building up, in his body.

He was not doing good with this situation, he, and their other self, shouldn't have been separated... 

The Guardian smiled sadly as he found a pair of leather boots, with little cat charms on the laces. Solas again, with the same excuse, eons later, and a few moments later, he pulled out a familiar ragged red scarf, which had belonged to his Mama, and a old gray pair of fingerless gloves that went to his wrists. 

A few minutes later he was dressed in the outfit, it was an outfit that he usually wore when it was just Solas, and himself. The final part of the outfit was a pair of black goggles, with dark lenses, he could pull these down, to hide his distinctive eyelights, if he had to.

"I'm ready." Umbra said, leaving the shelter, he was clearly an older Goth by sight now, and the only thing saying that he was more than that, was his eyelights.

The fact that Umbra had existed so long, had stopped people from connecting the dots between Goth/Shades, and Umbra, who looked like an older him.

Seeker looked at Umbra, and he blinked, in shock... Umbra looked like an older Goth now...

"Do I look okay, I've never not dressed as myself, other than pulling my jacket off and wearing a purple shirt." Umbra worriedly said. "At least.. not outside the void core, or Solas's temple.." He said, trailing off.

"You're fine! You look great!" Seeker quickly said. "You look like an older Goth... And it should throw Fear off of your trail, and make him think that you're a Goth from a different Multiverse!"

"Seeker, I am  a Goth..." Umbra dryly said.

"Yeah... But he won't recognise you as the Goth that he knows."

"I guess, also..." Umbra said, with a grin on his face, holding up a blue pair of goggles, and a green beanie hat. "Extras..."

"Are those for me?" Seeker asked him. "I hid what I could of the markers that would identity me.. But my eyelights would give me away..."

"That is true." Umbra thoughtfully said, but he still had a grin on his face. "Do you want me to see if I can find some clothes that might fit you?"

Seeker nodded his head. "I'll put those items on, while I'm waiting for you to do that."

"Hey... how about this... I have no clue where I got this outfit, it's too big for me, but it should fit your taller frame." Umbra said, pulling out a green camo, army style, long sleeve shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of sneakers that hadn't been used.

Seeker nodded his head, and he took the clothes, before he used the ragged trees to hide himself, as he quickly changed into the new clothes, and he adjusted the straps of the goggles so that they would fit him, and hide the colour of his eyelights, when he pulled them down to cover them.

He placed his original clothes, in his item storage, and he walked out, from behind the ragged trees, as he put his Gothy's scarf, around his neck.

"I hope that no one thinks that we're a Poth couple Kid." Umbra said, with a scowl on his face, which looked hilarious, because he looked younger than he actually was, thanks to his clothing, and the cat eared hood.

Seeker nodded his head. He didn't want anyone to think that he, and Umbra, were a couple.

Umbra's face went green, and he covered his mouth as he ran to a bush, and he began to throw up.

Seeker winced, and he rubbed Umbra's back.

"Pregnancy sucks..." Umbra said, when he finally stopped throwing up.

"I know.... I think that my Mother is planning to get pregnant, to get revenge on his Counterpart, for spiking the punch..."

Umbra laughed. "It doesn't work that way Seeker."

"I know, but Mother can dream, I think that he's not happy about what happened, as a result of his Counterpart spiking the punch, and what it means for me."

"My Dream is unlikely to get pregnant Seeker, he... got sick when Shades was a child, and he can't have more children, and now that myself, and my other, are a balance, we have to match, to a point. If the two sides had to have an even number, Shades would have had one more sibling growing up..." Umbra softly replied.

"Oh...." Seeker wrapped his arms around himself... "I feel sorry, for him."

"Things happen Seeker, he may have done some stupid things, but he loves Truth more than his own life..." Umbra replied.

"Why do I have the feeling that Truth is going to use his Mother as an unlimited Babysitter?"

"No... really..." Umbra sarcastically said.

Seeker chuckled.

"This is going to suck, I'm older than the Multiverse, and everyone is going to treat me like I'm a kid..." Umbra scowled, and he began to walk in the direction that his tiny cat aspect was.

Seeker followed him.