[OP: "The Contract"--21 Pilots]

Raven moved just before the worm could bite her leg off.

Mira tried to cross the room and got blocked by the other demon.

She swung her weapon, and the demon dodged it.

Raven didn't know why she was having so much trouble but would have realized if she'd had time that it was because the other girls were not there. The Honmoon was stronger when they were together; if she was alone, it wouldn't give her the same power boost as usual.

And why did this keep happening to Mira?

The demon then slashed at Mira with its claws, and she had to jump out of its reach.

The worm hadn't waited for them to move more. It was lunging again--though it wasn't fully out of the hole. Maybe something still tied it to Gwi-Ma's realm.

Jinu, not sure what to do, threw one of the plates that was lying in the living room at it.

It didn't even look at him--in fact it was unclear if it even had eyes. It just hissed again as if it was annoyed.

"Okay, that didn't work," Jinu muttered in a way too squeaky voice to be manly.

"Jinu, do something to that other one," Abby said.

He was the only one capable of speaking right now. Romance was too petrified with fear, Mystery was no less so, and Baby just looked confused by what was going on and was just gaping at the scene without any sign of knowing what to do.

But then, Abby had always been the only one of them who seemed to have any sense of how to get out of danger.

The big demon that was still on Mira snarled.

Mira lifted her spear again but was wondering now if she was going to be able to win this one alone.

The red wave was getting worse, and the wider it got, the less backup she had from the Honmoon.

The demon lunged at her, and she moved, but this time she had no direction to go but the corner of the wall, and she hit her shoulder into it painfully.

The demon reached for her, and she kicked its arm aside, which was impressive considering.

Jinu, having nothing else to try, threw a food tray at the demon.

But this time it had an effect. It turned to look at him as if he'd just volunteered to be its first meal. It smirked.

Then it lunged towards him, and Jinu knew this had been a bad idea. He put his hands up awkwardly.

Mira thrust her spear into the demon's back, and it burst into sparkles.

While that had happened, the worm thing had nearly bitten Raven yet again, and she was pressing Mystery and Romance back towards the far side of the room to avoid it herself. They were all against the wall that led to the balcony now. So unless they broke it open, they had nowhere else to dodge but to the side, and the hole was spreading farther that way anyway.

The worm itself seemed to make it bigger somehow.

"Maybe... if I shot inside its throat..." Raven muttered, trying to get a grip, "it would be weaker..."

Did the same principles apply to the monster?

"You'd need to wait for it to strike again for that," Abby said.

Raven wondered why Abby apparently understood how this worked... Had he been in fights before?

Well, she got her chance, because the next second, the worm lunged at them again, mouth open.

Raven started to aim and then realized the hole was now under her foot.

She was falling before she knew it--

But Abby somehow managed to grab her by her shoulder and yank her back out of reach and then farther toward the wall.

The worm tried to crawl after them, and now they were on a different side of the room from the other three.

Finally, that snapped Romance and Mystery out of their daze. They gasped, then started to move faster, trying to get away from the hole.

Baby reached the sliding door and fumbled with the latch till finally he got it open.

"If we go out there, there's nothing left," Romance said. "We'd have to jump..."

Mira leapt across the room and managed to slice the worm's side in mid-air while it was still looking at Abby.

The worm howled and then whirled around toward her instead.

Mira had thought it would just disappear, and she wasn't ready for it to counterattack, since she was still landing.

The worm moving yanked her spear forward and flipped her over in the air till she landed on the wall with the TV--where the hole was right under her.

Mira hit the TV and wall behind it but somehow jammed her spear into it before she fell into the hole.

She was now dangling off the wall mere inches from where the hole was.

The worm turned toward her.

Raven fired into its mouth now. She had a clear shot.

She fired at least 6 shots while muttering a prayer.

The worm recoiled, and finally it burst into smoke and disappeared into the hole.

Mira was glad to see it gone.

"Mira, can you jump?" Raven called.

"Normally, I could," Mira said. "But the Honmoon is dissolving over here, and I can't do it without that boost, not enough energy."

Raven didn't understand that at all but took her word for it.

"Why isn't the hole closing now?" Romance whimpered.

Mira started to pull herself up by her arms so she could get more leverage.

"I got it," she said. "Just give me a second..."

"Take your time," Romance said nervously, leaning away from the hole.

But suddenly another ripple appeared and shook the tower floor with it.

"You can't escape me..." a voice that was certainly Gwi-Ma seemed to come out of the hole itself. "All of you!"

Mira suddenly felt her spear give away and realized the ripple had jerked it out of its place there.

"No!" she cried as it fell off the wall and she fell with it.

"Mira!" Raven and Jinu both yelled. But both of them were too far away to reach her.

Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion.

Mira nearly reached the hole, and no one knew what would happen if she touched it--

But Abby, who was closer than the others, managed to reach out and grab her arm before she hit it and yank her away so hard that it had to hurt a lot.

But Mira didn't scream or even react.

At the same time, Raven fired at the hole, and it shuddered and started to close slightly.

And then, startlingly, Rumi and Zoey burst into the room from the roof outside and slashed their weapons, activating the Honmoon, which made the hole close up.

Zoey then threw her knife through one of the last faceless demons that had crawled out of the ceiling without anyone noticing it.

Rumi killed another one with her sword. "Is that all of them?"

Everyone looked at them, and then Romance screamed, Mystery covered his ears, Baby fell to the floor, and Raven looked like she was going to faint.

"Hey guys." Morph appeared through the sliding glass door then, using mutated wings and then resuming his normal form. "Was I late?"

"What happened here?" Rumi took in that there was a scuff mark on the wall where Mira had hit it and broken plates on the floor--and the TV screen was cracked.

Mira stared at them like she was lost for words. She was half leaning on the wall and half sitting on the floor right now.

"Mira, are you okay?" Zoey asked.

"Raven?" Morph walked up to her.

Raven tried to answer but didn't find words. She then covered her face.

Morph put his arms around her. "Something bad happened, didn't it?" he said. "There were more than just those two."

"It...it was horrible," Romance finally found his voice. 

"Yes, this...huge demon...worm thing," Jinu said. "I've never seen anything like it before. It looked like something out of a nightmare...more than usual. And there were other ones too, and it talked, and Gwi-Ma's voice shook the entire room."

"In our tower!" Rumi cried. "How could he do that?"

"It was Baby!" Romance accused him. "He said something weird, and then the hole just appeared, and it was like all hell broke loose, literally. He wanted it too."

"I never wanted that to happen," Baby argued. "I had no idea that would happen. I was just talking about not trying to do something to upset Gwi-Ma... and he is clearly upset!"

"You want him to take us all back!" Mystery cried.

Rumi slammed Baby into the wall and raised her sword to him. "Did you do something?!" she demanded. "Did you call Gwi-Ma here? How could he get in that easily?"

"Mira, talk to me." Zoey was in front of her now. "What's wrong?"

Mira swallowed. "I...it..."

"She almost fell in," Jinu said. "Didn't think you hunters could do that."

"In?" Rumi looked back. "Into the hole?"

"What?" Zoey paled. "We can do that?"

"I guess anyone could," Morph said, "if it was big enough. I reached into one before."

"Did you stop it?" Rumi asked Raven.

Raven shook her head silently.

"I think Raven is too shocked to talk," Morph said. "Look, I don't know how it happened. The tower must have been compromised by something one of us did, I think... I think that's how it works, anyway... I wish I knew as much as my teachers did, I really do...but I think we should try to reseal it. Maybe a barrier?"

"Okay," Rumi said, drawing a deep breath. "Then we're going to talk about how this happened, got it?" To Baby.

He cringed away from her.

"Abby, are you okay?" Mystery finally thought to ask him.

"Oh... yeah, I think so," Abby said, though he didn't sound completely okay. "That was pretty gross, wasn't it? I never saw a thing like that when we were in Gwi-Ma's realm. Do you think he hid some other pets down there?"

"Perhaps he has some hidden room for the really ugly ones," Romance said. "It was repulsive."

"What did it look like?" Zoey asked.

"Like a parasite," Mira said. "A giant one."

[This is actually similar to what Gwi-Ma's original design was going to look like when Huntrix fought him in the final act... so it's not too far fetched.]

"That fits," Rumi said. "But I've never seen one like that before. How could that be possible?"

"I think we'd better call Celine," Zoey said to her. "This is too much... Mira almost got taken into a hole, and our tower is being compromised... There's something we're doing wrong."

"I think... we know what the problem is." Rumi glanced at the Saja Boys. "They're still connected to Giw-Ma. It explains what happened yesterday morning too. As long as they're here, it has to be weakening the tower."

"Come to think of it, Shine has said something about conflicting spiritual powers," Morph said. "They must have Gwi-Ma's... Maybe you being in the same house is bringing that conflict to a stronger head than usual. You weren't in the same place for that long before."

"So we...what? Kick them out?" Zoey said.

"If we do that, they're dead for sure," Morph said. "Unless the attack wasn't aimed at them?"

"No, it came right for us," Romance said. "He wants us back!" He sounded terrified.

"And not in a nice way," Baby said. "I think he's trying to eat us."

"And it's your fault," Romance said. "What did you do?"

"I didn't summon him on purpose," Baby said. "I got angry, that was all. Raven was pushing me. It's her fault."

Raven had not recovered enough to disagree with him.

"It is not her fault!" Mira got the rest of her composure back when she heard that. "It was your fault! Whatever messed up thing you were saying or doing, it opened the door! Don't you try to blame her for that. Maybe we should just kill you now. You don't even want to be free of Gwi-Ma."

For once, the other Sajas didn't rush to defend Baby either.

"Baby, you need to be honest with us--are you trying to bring us back to Gwi-Ma?" Abby said.

"You all didn't even care about that 5 days ago," Baby said. "Now suddenly you do."

"After what we just saw, why would we want to go back there?" Mystery asked.

"Yes, it looks like it's gotten more unfriendly," Romance said.

"At least you guys finally know you don't want to go back." Zoey tried to put a good spin on it.

But they all just glared at her, and she stepped back nervously.

"I'm sorry we didn't come back sooner," Morph said. "We shouldn't have taken that detour after all. We knew it was pushing our luck to be gone for too long... This never happens when we're all together, only when some of us split off."

Rumi bit her lip. "I should have..."

"We need to rebuild the Honmoon in here," Zoey said. "Better sing."

"I hope that's going to be enough, but without any fans here..." Rumi wasn't so sure.

"What about those CDs?" Morph said. "Shine sent us some, remember? They might help... Probably should have had them on before. Maybe he couldn't have gotten in then."

"CDs don't usually work," Zoey said.

"These ones are different, okay?" Morph said. "Trust me... It's worth a shot, anyway."

"Okay...uh, I'll get the CD player." Zoey was eager to be helpful, and she left the room.

Morph helped Raven to a chair.

"Well," Jinu said, uncertainly, "that was horrible...but, uh...Abby, you were actually pretty helpful. That was some quick thinking... I didn't think you were that good at that."

"Oh, that?" Abby said. "I'm not sure why I thought of it at all. Maybe I was in a fight before. It does seem kind of familiar."

"What did he do?" Rumi asked.

"He just helped Raven," Jinu said. "I was too far away... I couldn't think of much to do."

"Didn't you help Mira with that other one?" Romance asked faintly.

"You did?" Rumi glanced at Jinu.

"I just threw something at it," Jinu said weakly. "I didn't have any better ideas."

"You still bought me time." Mira was one to be fair about battle, even if she didn't like Jinu. "Gave me the chance to finally kill the monster."

Jinu looked down. "Well, I guess I owed you anyway."

Pause.

Then Rumi surprised Jinu by actually hugging him, which made him turn bright red.

"Thanks," she said. "And...you too, Raven...and, uh...Abby, I guess."

"Do I get a hug?" Abby asked.

"Abby!" Jinu snapped.

"I was kidding." Abby put his hands up.

Zoey returned, holding the CD player, and stopped short. "Whoa... did I miss something?"

Rumi backed away real fast. "I was just... thanking him for helping Mira."

"Oh, did you?" Zoey said. "Wow, thanks, Jinu."

"So are we ignoring that Abby did also?" Romance said.

"He did?" Zoey and Rumi both said oddly.

Mira was still struggling to process that part herself--and also the entire experience, really.

"I didn't do that much." Abby was surprisingly not asking for praise.

"I think if you hadn't moved, she would have probably fallen in..." Mystery said, confused about why Abby was denying the praise.

"Why are you being humble all of the sudden?" Jinu was confused too.

"I'd rather not think about the entire thing," Abby said.

They realized that he actually might be freaked out by it as much as the others. He was just hiding it more.

"Oh..." Zoey said. "Of course, sorry... but, uh... thanks, I guess. But we don't have to talk about it. I guess I'll just put this on and... Uh, which CD should I try?"

"Here." Morph handed her the pack of them. "She labeled them... This mix says it's for battle/peace, so that doesn't make any sense, but that's Shine for you. Sounds like the right one."

Zoey popped it into the CD player and pressed the play button.

A song in a very different style than any of them were used to began to play.

https://youtu.be/ds8vcSJFe7E

["Strong Tower"--Kutless]

Another song was called "Defender". [Upper room]

https://youtu.be/Za-yGR3sbNw

The style didn't really appeal to the girls, or even Raven for that matter, but once the music had been on for about 10 minutes, they realized that things felt quieter.

The Honmoon began to glow a little also, when Morph hummed along with the songs... and the hole seemed to be gone still.

"I guess it does something," Zoey observed.

"Anyone want tea?" Jinu had felt like he needed something to calm his nerves, and tea was the only thing he knew how to make in the high tech kitchen.

Raven just took a cup and sipped it.

"Do you feel up to talking yet?" Morph asked her.

She looked up. "I'm fine...I guess. Trying to forget what it looked like... I've seen some ugly things, but that was the worst monster I've ever seen."

"Glad I didn't see it then," Morph said with a weak laugh, but no one else joined in.

"We can't have that happen again," Rumi insisted. "What do we do? Leave music on all the time?"

"If that would work," Zoey said, "might as well."

"That might work," Morph said. "But that's a temporary solution. The only thing we could really do to make sure this stops is to free the Saja Boys."

The boys didn't need the reminder.

"I hate to say it," Jinu said, "but doesn't all of your safety kind of take priority over theirs? The world needs you more. Maybe this experiment should end."

"Oh, easy for you to say that," Romance griped. "You're already free."

Jinu realized it was, in fact, easier for him to say.

"You would just do that to us?" Mystery was also upset. "Cast us out there where Gwi-Ma could take our souls for all eternity? Maybe you haven't changed, Jinu."

"I..." Jinu blanched. "I..."

"We can't do that," Morph said. "I'm sorry, I couldn't live with that. It's too cruel."

"Better to kill them ourselves than give Gwi-Ma that chance," Raven said flatly.

The boys all looked at her in fear.

"But, I don't think we should." Raven sat up more then, lowering her cup of tea. "That's what Gwi-Ma wants... If he can't have them, he wants them to die...always the way. He wins either way then. And we concede that we can't free anyone. None of this mattered at all then."

"Jinu, I think they're right," Rumi said. "I appreciate your concern, but every attack from Gwi-Ma just makes me more sure he really doesn't want us to succeed at this, and that means it's big if we do."

"But we need results," Zoey spoke up. "We need some progress... I mean, at the rate we're going, none of us can ever separate from each other without risking being jumped. Though, why is it always Mira? You and I were alone in the bathroom earlier."

"Did you have to say that?" Raven said.

"What? Girls do that," Zoey said. "Morph wasn't going to follow us in there... but nothing attacked him or us. And we were in there for longer than a couple minutes."

"Didn't need to hear that either," Romance said.

"We were talking," Zoey said. "That was all. At the counter. Don't make it weird."

"And reapplying our makeup," Rumi said. "You realize that girls do other stuff in the bathroom, right?"

"Why would I know that?" Romance said.

Pause.

"Nevermind." Rumi waved it off. "Okay...yeah...and Raven was here too... Raven got attacked once while she was alone. Is that a coincidence, or is there a reason Mira and Raven are more likely to get targeted?"

"Are you saying there is something wrong with us?" Raven did not take that well.

Mira didn't even argue... which was a bad sign. She was still sitting quietly.

Zoey knew if Mira was quiet, she was upset.

"Baby is the one who started the attack," Abby spoke up. "Why would it be their fault?"

"Not their fault, just...I meant maybe there's a reason Gwi-Ma picks on them?" Rumi said.

"Mira is the strongest," Zoey said. "Without her, we'd have a lot harder of a time fighting off large demons. Maybe it's a divide and conquer thing."

"It was always that," Morph said. "Raven's a good precision fighter, and she has a lot more range because of her weapon of choice, and she can use it almost non-stop, so it's probably based on who he thinks will weaken us the most if he takes out. But was the...parasite demon thing even trying to attack Mira or Raven?"

"No, it went for us," Romance said. 

"Then it's more likely that he attacked with only them because he thought he could get around them to get to you," Morph mused, rubbing his chin like a scientist. "It could just be numbers--that could have worked with any of us...but...okay let me visualize this."

He surveyed the room. "Mira, Raven, where were you when the attack happened? Anyone have chalk?"

"I have tape," Zoey said.

"Okay, that," Morph said.

Zoey grabbed tape out of one of the closets and handed it to him.

"I was about here." Raven got up and moved to where she'd been holding Baby when the hole started and pointed at it.

Morph taped the spot.

"And I was over here." Mira moved to about where she'd been, but half-heartedly.

Morph taped that spot.

"And the worm thing came through the hole," he said.

"And the other hole was in the ceiling." Mira pointed at it.

Morph taped that part also--he could do that just by extending his arms.

They almost didn't notice anymore.

"Are you trying to triangulate their position?" Baby asked flatly.

Morph held his hands up like he was framing it.

"Mira is a close range fighter," he said. "Except for that sonic blast move you can do... but that takes time to build up, right?"

"Yeah." Rumi nodded.

"Raven is longer range," Morph said. "So let's think about this. The worm thing, and whatever else came with it, blocks Raven into that side of the room, right?" He pointed at the wall she'd been backed into.

Raven nodded.

"And the other one blocks Mira into that section," Morph said. "Mira can't hit long range enough to help as long as she's pinned to that wall. Then, a really big demon like that parasite doesn't go down easily with small shots like the blaster has. It's almost stragetically planned to make sure they can't help each other enough to stop the attack--at least, until the boys are already retaken. And all this furniture blocks you too." He pointed at the couch. "All this means that Gwi-Ma can see the room. Which we know he can, since he can see what anyone under his control can see, within some reason, unless we do something to block him for a short time. Gwi-Ma is not a strategist, based on what you've told us, but the basic idea of sending opponents to capture someone might not be beyond him... or he got the idea from one of his other human slaves down there." He flipped the tape in his hand.

"That's some crime show levels of analysis." Zoey was impressed.

"How does it help us?" Jinu was lost.

"Because it tells us how Gwi-Ma is attacking," Morph said. "Mira was alone before, but he waited awhile after she'd left to attack her. Probably he had to watch through the boys' eyes long enough to be sure she wasn't coming right back. That has to mean he's afraid to attack us all when we're together. Together, we've always won. It only takes minutes, in fact. Not worth the effort if we're together. But we have some unexpected factors. Jinu did something, and so did Abby. That must have thrown a wrench in his idea."

"And how does that help?" Rumi repeated Jinu's question with a tired voice.

"That's an important thing to know," Morph said, gesturing like it was obvious. "It means that Gwi-Ma is predictable. If we can predict him, we can avoid this happening again. At least, part of it... He probably is not going to stop trying to attack, and he can spy on us, unfortunately...but, he's limited. I don't think he'll send anything like that again if we're all here...but, just in case, I suggest we all sleep on the same floor. When things keep happening during the night."

"But...that might be awkward," Zoey said.

"Just like camping," Morph said. "I mean, you can still be in different rooms, you have a lot of space here...but, we need to be closer, that's all I mean. At least for now. Once we get further with freeing them, it'll probably be okay."

"So you're not going to kick us out?" Mystery said.

Maybe he'd not been paying attention to the conversation that well, but when you're anxious about something, it's easy to be hung up on it and block out everything else.

[Been there.]

"Of course not," Zoey said. "We can't let Gwi-Ma win like that."

"I don't like that we'll be trapped in our own tower," Rumi said. "We have to make some progress."

Everyone was silent.

Morph looked around, and then he said, "Rumi, I think we've all had a stressful day. We should discuss what happened, but, maybe it can wait. I know I could use a hot shower and some dinner...so..."

"But..." Rumi glanced at Mira and then at Zoey. "Okay." She changed her mind. "Maybe we should wait a few hours."

Zoey nodded.

Then she checked her phone. "Bobby is coming over... I guess he hasn't checked in in person in a few days, so that makes sense... Oh, crud, you guys have to hide. We can't let him find you here. He'd think... I don't know what he'd think."

"I know what he would think, and you had better hide them," Raven said.

"Say no more," Romance sighed. "I suppose the lower level will be safe...for now... It would take a while for that to happen again, right?"

"I hope so," Jinu muttered.

They filed out of the room.

"I'll just go with them," Morph said. "Just in case. And I think Bobby shouldn't see us here either. Raven?"

"I'm washing off first," Raven said. "But yes, I don't want to bother with a cover story."

"We better move the furniture," Zoey said.

It had pillows in disarray, and one of the demons had slashed the couch back badly.

Zoey couldn't think of anything to do but tape it over, which looked wrong, but maybe Bobby wouldn't notice.

"Mira, are you okay?" Rumi finally asked, since everyone else had gone. "You're being...really quiet."

Mira looked up. "It's not the attack that bothers me. It's why," she finally said. "You thought there might be a reason it keeps targeting me and Raven, right?"

"Strategic placement, right? Morph was saying that," Zoey said, while putting pillows pack onto the couch.

"What if that's not it?" Mira said soberly. "We're both...negative...a lot. And willing to attack first and ask questions later. What if it wasn't just Baby? Both of us were ready to hurt him as soon as he started talking like that. Which...I'm not even sorry for." With a frown. "But if fear or hatred or anger fuels the tearing of the Honmoon in some way, and both of us can affect it, then could we be what weakens it? What if's not the Saja Boys? They barely did anything other than get mad at Baby, but only after we already did...and what if they're learning anger from us too? They never seemed to care before this."

"That's a leap," Zoey said.

"Yeah, that can't be right." Rumi shook her head. "I'm sure they could feel anger before. And...it's strange to hear you not blaming them for it. I thought you would be saying by now that they should leave and we shouldn't take this chance."

"Is it because they helped out this time?" Zoey tilted her head. "Do you feel bad now?"

"I don't think I feel bad." Mira gestured uncertainly. "I mean...what? Does this cancel out what they did before? I still think they're sus... but they did resist Gwi-Ma, at least a little. That's new. He said something about them not escaping.. .so he's worried they will? This is so blatant. But it's also making us all weaker. Or...bis it just me?"

"It's not you. It was just how it worked out. We left you here alone," Rumi said. "I think it's our fault, really. I'm sorry for that. We thought it was okay since we hadn't had a problem today, but... that was stupid."

"Yeah, we're sorry," Zoey agreed.

Mira waved that off. "I still think it's possible the problem is with me. Do I just seem like a better target?"

Rumi didn't understand why Mira would think this... Hadn't it just been that the Saja Boys were around her? Weren't they the ones the attacks were drawn to?

"I think it's just getting to you," Zoey said. "That's got nothing to do with it, I'm sure."

Mira went quiet.

They didn't know if that meant she agreed or not.

* * *

"Okay..." Romance said, once the boys were in their space. "I have to ask this now... Jinu makes sense, I suppose, since he has a reason to want to stay on their good side, but, Abby...what was that?"

"Yes," Mystery agreed. "Why did you help?"

Baby thought it had been weird also.

Morph, following close behind them, cocked his head curiously.

"I don't know." Abby put his hands behind his head. "Didn't think we wanted Gwi-Ma's...pet thing...to win? I don't think that was a friendly visit. That thing could have taken us all back there and fed us to his fire. He's not happy with us... Can't you feel it? The voice is getting more menacing."

"So you hear it again?" Jinu said.

"We never stop hearing it." Romance shot him another look. "Except when they sing, for a short time...but it's not usually so clear and threatening. Abby is right, it's gotten worse. I'm not even sure what he's saying he's going to do. It's garbled, but it sounds dangerous."

"I keep hearing it say that I'll never be free," Mystery said. "And that I should accept what I am."

"I used to hear that too," Jinu said. "Or just the voices of...the people I hurt."

"Funny that we never hear that," Abby mused. "Just seem to remember each other, and that only faintly also."

"Unless the reason is that it was each other you had shame over," Morph remarked.

They all turned to look at him strangely.

"Huh..." Romance said, but then he shook his head like he was removing that thought. "Nevermind. Baby, I think you owe us all some kind of explanation."

"I told you, I never thought that would happen." Baby was defensive. "I was just angry. And I thought this whole thing was a bad idea. And it was, because now Gwi-Ma is more angry at us than ever. If there was a chance he would have let us redeem ourselves before, it's gone. He only wants to punish us now. We've all been destroyed by this."

"Stop talking like that," Jinu said. "You could call him back again." He looked around nervously. "And it's not true... There's still hope."

"Mr. Self Serving thinks there's hope," Baby scoffed. "Whatever they told you, our situation is different."

"Why is it so different?" Abby was angry at him again. "You could have asked us what we want, you know. After what's happened, we're starting to have second thoughts about this."

"You barely had thoughts 3 days ago!" Baby retorted.

"Well, now we do!" Romance said. "And our thoughts are that this whole situation is not working out. What if we should be trying to get free?"

Baby looked as if he didn't like the sound of those words at all.

He leaned on the far wall sullenly.

"What is with him?" Abby just didn't get it. "Even he should be seeing that our options are narrow now. Either we get free, or we'll be destroyed too."

"But that's not going to free us," Romance said. "You heard them... Selfish reasons won't work. So maybe it still is hopeless."

"But can you want freedom for other reasons besides that?" Morph said. "Before this started, didn't you start to think it would be nice? Being human again? Maybe have a real friendship instead of a deal with Gwi-Ma?"

"Maybe..." Mystery mumbled.

Morph was quiet for a bit, and so were all of them.

Finally, Morph spoke.

"For what it's worth," he said, "I think it's brave of you to try at all... No matter how miserable it is to live with a voice in your head...it feels like it's you... And when it feels like you, you start to wonder if you can ever get away. Believing that you can, trying to act against it...it's the hardest thing you'll ever do... It proves you're still human, deep down."

They glanced at him uncertainly.

"What about Mira?" Jinu then said. "And Raven...? I thought Mira would jump to say they should go, after what just happened. Baby basically gave her all the proof she needed that not all of them really want help."

Baby glared at him but couldn't argue.

"Mira is more fair than you think," Morph said. "She's got a short fuse and trust issues, but, she's tried to patch things up with us more than once when she was wrong... I don't think she's going to just side against you if it's clear Gwi-Ma wants that. Only thing she hates more than demons is their master... And Raven, she's used to this. She's a little shaken up, but she'll recover. She's resilient. This has been a very challenging thing for us to face, though. Usually we fight other people with powers, not monsters. It wouldn't faze our mentors, but, we're not them, obviously." He sighed. "I wish they would give us the answers we're still searching for...if they could tell us. But they won't, not all of them. I think they would say to do the next right thing. Wally would say to do whatever we could to help next, even if it is small... I wish I knew what that is."

"This conversation might be it," Jinu suggested. "At least, that was a nice thing you said... Though, I don't know if it changes anything. Still, at least you and Raven see them...and me...as people."

"Even Rumi looks at us like we're monsters sometimes," Romance remarked, "even if she has no room to judge... I suppose it's because our brains are gone, not just our human forms."

"I don't think she thinks of you as monsters. She's just frustrated," Morph said.

"Yeah, she's not like that," Jinu said.

"And Zoey?" Mystery said.

"I can't tell with her." Jinu honestly couldn't.

"She's trying," Morph said. "I think the girls are only human also... Can't expect it to be easy for them. This has tested us all."