[OP: "I Want It That Way" Backstreet Boys. AMV by Conflict Revolution]

Two hours of sparring later had Rumi, Zoey, Jinu, and even Abby all exhausted.

Raven was less tired but declared she was done for the day.

Rumi and Zoey weren't even sure why they were tired--they fought harder than this against demons.

 It could have been trying to learn new moves that they hadn't before. Turned out Raven knew more styles of martial arts than they did.

Zoey picked it up faster, being more one to use it in a fight to begin with, and finally seemed to get over her bad mood about being beaten so easily before.

Mystery and Baby stayed to observe the entire thing, with Baby occasionally egging Raven on to go harder on them and Mystery saying nothing at all mostly.

Jinu wanted to strangle Baby several times but wasn't given the chance to.

When they finally stopped, Raven only offered them the sop of praise that they "might" have potential.

"Is that all?" Rumi was miffed again by now. "I thought we did pretty good. It's not like we're amateurs... Well, two of us aren't."

"All this won't matter if you keep falling for the same old tricks." Raven was short on praise as much as she normally was on patience. 

"Gee, teach, you could at least try to give us some positive feedback." Zoey wiped sweat off her face. "We killed it, come on. After that first round, we did way better."

"You hit me way more times than you had too." Jinu was still whining about it.

"At least you started to block it by the end." Rumi tried to put a good spin on it. "That was progress."

"She hits hard enough that I'm sure I'm bruised from where I blocked it." Jinu wasn't appeased.

"My gosh, do you ever stop complaining?" Raven rolled her eyes. "You should be thanking me for this. Do you think the demons will not hit that hard? If you don't get used to it, they'll knock you down like that one did that almost ate you the other day."

Jinu shuddered.

"Hm, should Jinu get some kinda weapon in case that happens again?" Zoey said. "I mean, it's not as effective as our special weapons, but you can stall them, at least, with other ones."

"What's legal here?" Raven said.

"Not a lot..." Rumi said.

"Not sure what he could carry then," Raven said. "Hm, at least in America, they let you have a gun or knife on you in public, if it's concealed."

Zoey sighed. "It's not a bad idea, is it? Celine carries her weapons."

"I don't know how to use any of them though," Jinu pointed out. "So..."

"Do we get weapons?" Baby asked.

"Uh... no," Rumi said. "Not unless you get free first. Why would you need the--" She stopped as she remembered that demons had been attacking them too.

"Yeah, you're not that smart, are you?" Baby saw.

"Will you shut up?" Zoey had gotten tired of his yapping.

"Make me," Baby said.

Her knife stuck in the wall right over his head.

He huffily walked out of the room.

Mystery glanced at the knife. "I'll just go."

He left too.

"Whoops..." Zoey hadn't meant to scare him as well.

"That was great." Jinu had wished they'd do that to Baby all day. "Guess Mira isn't the only one with a temper."

"Mira...hey, she never came back," Zoey realized. "Maybe she was tired. Her arm was bothering her again, maybe. What was the fight about earlier anyway?"

"I didn't hear it that well," Jinu said, "but I think Romance and Abby said something she didn't like."

"Nothing new," Raven muttered.

"I've been thinking about what you just said." Rumi dried herself off with a towel. "About falling for the same tricks...which was kind of rude, but I guess it's true we keep falling for the shape-shifter thing... Is there some some way to tell what really is there? I mean...you would know, right?"

Raven shook her head. "No. Only if you know the person well enough to spot a fake... The demons have a hard time imitating humans and have patterns, so you shouldn't be taken in, but...they appear to be getting better at copying all of us."

"Since the boys still are basically Gwi-Ma's eyes and ears," Jinu said, "the more they're around us, the more he'll learn to copy us. When you cut him off, it's better, but you can't sing all the time... There has to be a better way to make sure we're not getting taking in."

Zoey cocked her head. "I remember I wrote down something about this a while ago... Yeah, what if we had a code word?"

"A code word?" Rumi repeated. "Like...what?"

"I dunno, one all of us would know?" Zoey said. "Then if someone walks away and we see a red ripple, we can test it."

"But if you said the code word around the other Saja Boys, Gwi-Ma would find out about it." Jinu was at least thinking that far ahead.

"So we won't tell them," Rumi said. "Except Abby, who I guess should know... He's taking this whole thing better than I thought. But then...you did too. You didn't seem that surprised by it."

"The surprise was being without Gwi-Ma's voice, like I said..." Jinu shrugged. "But he's taking that pretty well too...or maybe he just isn't the type to get that worked up about stuff. He never was before. Guess that might not be all just being a soulless demoniac. But does he have his soul back?"

"He should." Raven wasn't so sure. She hadn't received an answer yet about it. 

"And it's permanent, right?" Zoey said.

"I don't know yet. Again, our mentor should be the expert on this," Raven said.

"I wish we could talk to them in person," Rumi sighed. " I mean...not that you're not very helpful--" hHastily. "--but, since we keep asking them for clarity on the technical issues, if we had one conversation with them... I guess...they can't come here for like one day and just give us a list of things, right?"

"No," Raven said. "Shine has said you can't enter a world you haven't been sent to. Bad things happen."

"Such as?" Jinu asked.

"She's never said in much detail...but I do know that people doing that with our world nearly destroyed our reality itself... It nearly unraveled, and all of us nearly unraveled with it." Raven didn't like thinking of it. "So, I will not be messing with it."

"But...you can go back to your world and it's not a problem, right?" Zoey said.

"Yes...I belong there, so it won't cause any issues. But when you leave to another word, it has to be on assignment. I have no idea how that works, but I assume there is a way to know the world is ready for it... They told us one story about somewhere they went where it had been 1000 years since someone like them had been there, and it took that long to heal enough from the disaster that had happened the last time. Apparently, the bond was broken."

"That's a thing?" Rumi said.

"Yes, remember when we told you that if you told us to go, we'd have to go." Raven shifted her clothes back to normal now. "That's how it works, apparently."

"Just...words?" Zoe said.

"You just sing and destroy demons," Raven reminded her.

"I see..." Rumi said. "Well, glad we didn't make that mistake." With a weak laugh.

Raven didn't think it was so funny.

"About the code word," Jinu said. "It's not a bad idea. But it needs to be something we all could remember and that would be hard for a demon to guess."

"I've heard that demons can't say the name of the Lord," Raven said. "But that seems sacrilegious to use as a code word."

"Maybe something religious would be good though," Zoey said. "At least they wouldn't think of that, right? And we wouldn't normally use that, so it'd be hard to guess it anyway."

"But what?" Rumi said. "Raven, you'd know more about it than we do... Anything that would stand out?"

Raven walked off the mat and got some water.

After taking a long swig, she shrugged. "I only know the basics... Morph is better at this than me. Code is his thing... Perhaps something to do with a story or a gift or our job?"

"No, not your job," Jinu said. "That's too easy. Gwi-Ma knows what you are."

"Wait, I think you said that before," Rumi said. "But...how does he?"

"He didn't explain it to me, which is not surprising," Jinu said. "I know he said their kind had never been here before."

"Never?" Raven said. "Shine has told me that almost every world has a Walker in it at some point... This one is thousands of years old, based on your technology... How could we be the first?"

"I mean, it's possible, right?" Zoey said. "There has to be a first one at some point."

"He was not happy about it, I know that," Jinu said. "Thought you were interfering...something about some great change coming."

"Oh...and that has to do with what we're doing," Rumi said. "I think you said something about that before, but none of us knew what that meant."

"Well, I don't know what it meant either. I don't think he wanted me to have anything to use against him," Jinu said.

"Let's talk to Morph about this," Zoey said.

* * *

They found Morph and Romance still watching Shakespeare movies.

"Is this that Kenneth Branagh one?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah, they're so good," Morph said. "Much better than reading the play...but don't tell Beast I said that."

"This must have been after our time." Raven eyed the screen. "He looks older..."

"It has Emma in it, too," Morph said. "They're so cute together."

"Too bad they divorced," Zoey said.

"What?" Morph said.

"They did?" Raven said.

"Uh...nevermind." Zoey didn't want to get into it. "Hey, Romance can you give us a minute?"

"Why do I have to leave? Morph is the one you want to talk to about your secrets." Romance was not stupid, apparently.

"I'll just go with you," Morph said.

They moved aside into the hallway.

They explained about the code word idea.

"Sure," Morph said. "That's a good idea. Why don't we reference to the X-men? Gwi-Ma would never get that, since it's another universe."

"That's good too, I guess," Rumi said.

"Something that would sound kind of normal for us but also secret." Zoey had her conspiracy voice on right now.

"Maybe like a team name?" Rumi said. "That's a little cheesy, I know, but...it has to be simple for us to remember it."

"We could be Team Ex-centric?" Morph joked.

"Too close to Exiles," Raven said. "I don't want to think about that team."

"Me neither, too many bad memories," Morph said. "And I guess the 4 Horsemen would also be a bad name."

Raven glared at him.

"Sorry, too soon," Morph said.

"Was that a post apocalyptic reference?" Zoey asked.  

"Nevermind," Morph said now. "Anyway, we could be a force? Or a group?"

"Group sounds too K-pop," Rumi said. "A force might work. Like from Star Wars?"

"I'm astonished that I got that reference and you knew it," Morph said.

"Everyone knows what Star Wars is," Zoey said. "But I think he meant like a fighting force."

"I was just joking," Rumi said.

"Wait, you make jokes?" Morph said. "Rumi, I had no idea you know how to do that."

"Hey!" Rumi said. "What kind of a thing is that to say? You think I don't have a sense of humor."

"Zoey is the only one I've heard make jokes since we arrived...weeks ago," Morph said.

Pause.

"Wow, that's just sad," Jinu said. "Even I made jokes, and I was cursed by Gwi-Ma."

"Shut up," Rumi protested.

"Why don't we call it G-force?" Zoey asked.

"G-force?" Raven said. "Why that?"

"Well, it's a force," Zoey said. "Science, right?"

"I do like science," Morph said.

"And the 'G' is also for God or whatever you guys have," Zoey said. "And then the Force is us. It's obscure enough for no demon to guess it."

"You probably will need to change the password a few times," Jinu said. "Depending on how long this...process takes."

"That reminds me of something," Morph said. "Now that you're free, you and Abby technically aren't obligated to stick around... Are you going to think about leaving?"

Rumi glanced Jinu questioningly.

"I don't know about him, but I still have nowhere to go..." Jinu said uneasily. "Unless you all want us gone."

"Nah, you don't have to go anywhere," Zoey aid. "I think we're all in this together."

"Yeah, that's fine with me," Jinu said.

"Do you even like doing this?" Raven leaned to the side and gave him a probing look.

"Do I like it? No, not really." Jinu was honest. "But it...has to be done, right? And I want to help.I feel like I owe you all that much. And maybe them too. They've been petty nasty about this to me, but I feel like they have a reason to resent me. I was just using them. I didn't know I was doing it, but...still...anyway...shouldn't I want to help if I was helped?"

"That's really sweet," Zoey said. "Maybe you're not as bad as we thought."

"What?" Jinu said.

"She's just kidding--right?" Rumi glanced at Zoey.

"Yeah, I'm just messing with you, sorry." Zoey waved it off.

"So, it's about you trying to earn your place here," Raven said.

"Raven, do you have a problem with that?" Jinu sounded weary.

"Not at all. About time you did something useful," she said.

He frowned there but then saw she was just messing with him also.

"Hah, funny," he said.

"She must like you," Zoey said. "You're the only one she's mean to literally every time she speaks to you."

"If this is affection, then what is her disliking someone?" Jinu asked.

"That's when I'm very nice to them." Raven didn't even bother to deny what they were saying.

"Why are you so backwards?" Jinu asked.

"Are we all okay with code G-force?" Rumi asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," Morph said.

"It's a code word, I don't care that much," Raven said flippantly.

"It's doesn't matter to me," Jinu said. "But shouldn't you run it by Mira?"

"Mira won't care that much about it," Zoey said. "She's not the type to care about things like that... And where is she? Morph, didn't she come sit with you guys?"

"No, I didn't see her at all," Morph said. "When did she leave you?"

"Right after you did," Rumi said, alarmed now. "Oh no...what if she went outside and something happened? She was injured already. She shouldn't try to go off alone. I'll check the roof."

"I'll check her room. She could just be resting." Zoey ran off.

"I'm checking the studio," Raven said.

"Yeah, okay, I'll just try her cell." Morph took out his phone.

* * *

Zoey scared the crap out of Mira when she barged into her room without knocking, but she was too worried to waste time on politeness.

"Gosh, Zoey!" Mira nearly fell off her bed. "I thought you were a demon for a second."

"Sorry." Zoey let out a sigh of relief. "We couldn't find you in the main area."

"I've just been resting here." Mira sounded dull. "Nothing to freak out about."

"Okay...well, if you're not busy, I have these lyrics I want to show you." Zoey switched gears. "Better let everyone know I found you."

She texted. "I'll be right back, okay? Wait, are you still resting?"

"No." Mira didn't get up.

Zoe was a little spacey about spotting if people were upset sometimes, so she didn't note that Mira clearly was not feeling very well.

It only occurred to her after she'd gone and gotten her notebook, then come back, that Mira hadn't seemed that enthusiastic about it.

"Uh...did you not want to work on this?" she asked. "Maybe you're in pain still."

"No, I'm fine." Mira was sitting up now. "Show me."

"Okay." That was all Zoey needed to hear.

She opened her notebook.

"So I've been thinking about a new song about what we've been learning about the last few weeks. Like maybe changing our legacy or something? So I had this...

"'Legacy, pulling a thread on a tapestry. Is there something more to me, something to be proud of?

"'Something that she taught to me, patterns that I can't see, brought me to my destiny, now I feel free. 

"'We carried the spark to a flame, built it into a new name. Bring it to the same generation and ...game...'?"

She paused. "I can't get that last line."

"Is this about Rumi?" Mira asked.

"Yeah, kinda. Like about how her mom was sort of paving the way for us to figure all this out?" Zoey said. "But, I don't want to show it to her yet, 'cause I'm worried it might be too upsetting for her. Do you think it's good?"

"I think there's something there," Mira said slowly. "Was that all?"

"I had a part for me maybe, more of a rap." Zoey turned the page. "Like: Chain breaking, name taking, learning from mistake making.' Or maybe 'risk taking' instead of name taking?" And then 'no longer faking, mask off.' "

"Maybe...darkness shaking?" Mira suggested. 

"Oh, yeah, or 'fears quaking'," Zoey added.

[All of these are original lyrics my sister mostly came up with, but I helped also.]

"That's not bad," Mira said.

"Really?" Zoey said. "I did feel a little unsure. It's kinda different than our usual lyrics...but I felt like we needed to try something new...with all that's been going on. Our new album should probably be about us, right? Now that we're not hiding anymore...our faults and fears, I mean."

"Yeah..." Mira said, but not very sure sounding.

"Any idea for a tune?" Zoey prompted.

"Umm, not right now. Usually I get it more from doing stuff," Mira said.

"Right. Guess we'll wait till we need to go out there and try... Oh, by the way we decided to pick a code word..." Zoey filled her in.

"Guess anything that'll help," Mira said.

"Yeah..." Zoey noticed that Mira wasn't giving her more than a few words at a time.

Which was...not that unusual for Mira, but she seemed even more monotone than usual.

"Are you...sure you're okay?" she asked.

"Yeah...just tired," Mira lied.

But she didn't want to share what was on her mind with Zoey. It was too overwhelming to put into words.

"Yeah, you seem tired." Zoey nodded. "I guess I should leave you alone... Uh, were you hungry yet?"

"Not really," Mira said.

"Really?" Zoey was more worried than before. "That's not normal."

"Maybe it's the pain meds." Mira leaned back on her bed. "I'm okay though. I'll be back to normal by tomorrow, probably."

"Yeah, I hope so." Zoey was still worried.

She left, since Mira didn't seem to want to talk about it.

"So she's just in her room?" Rumi was in the hallway.

"Yeah, I guess we overreacted," Zoey said. "We talked about some...ideas for some new songs, but she was tired, so I left. I guess she's really in lot of pain."

"I thought the injury wasn't that serious though." 

"I think it's pretty bad," Zoey said, troubled. "At least, she really seems out of it."

"But she didn't seem that bad when she was in the gym. She was even laughing," Rumi said. "Maybe...Romance or Abby said something to her."

She frowned.

Then she marched back into the main area.

By this time, the other guys had all joined Romance.

Though Baby was saying that he wanted to watch something else.

"You're still in the dog house. You don't get to pick," Romance said.

"How long are you going to hang onto that?" Baby said. "I explained my reasons."

"And we kinda understood them," Abby said. "But it was still not cool."

"Can we watch more videos about animals?" Mystery asked.

"Zoey isn't here, Mystery," Romance said. "You don't have to play something she'd like just so she'll not get angry."

"I wasn't..." Mystery said uncertainly.

"Is that why?" Abby said. "So you're just scared of her. That's why you keep getting real quiet whenever she's around...well, more so than usual."

Zoey paused mid step, to Rumi's annoyance.

"Is that it?" Mystery didn't sound sure of himself. "I don't really talk that much anyway."

"At least you're not barking anymore," Romance said loftily. "That was just weird. Do you really like dogs or something?"

"I do like dogs, but I still don't remember doing that," Mystery said. "Why did I, again?"

"Dunno, some fan was trying to talk to Zoey, and you tried to stop them, I guess," Abby said. "All part of our job, I guess...though we were supposed to be subtle, so I thought it was a weird choice. I just took Mira's pen."

"I don't think Mira even noticed you did that," Romance said. "She was threatening to smash my face in."

"She must think your face isn't that nice," Abby said. "She never threatened to smash mine in."

"No, but she definitely looked at you funny when you signed your abs," Romance said distastefully. "Of course she thought it was gross."

"Hey, that's all part of the persona," Abby defended himself. "But it was still impressive, you have to admit."

"It's not when that's just the body we get from being immortal monsters," Romance said.

"Yeah, so explain why you picked that form if you had a choice about it?" Abby shot back.

"Hey!" Romance said.

[But why the hair though? That's all I'm saying. His face is fine, but that hair is stupid.]

"Can you both stop fighting?" Mystery leaned back.

"Enough." Rumi was tired of waiting for them to stop talking.

She marched up to them. "Okay, Romance, Abby, what did you say to Mira earlier?"

"Nothing," Romance said. "If anything, she was mean to us."

"I can believe that," Baby said.

"Shut up, Baby." Rumi cast him a warning look. "I mean it. She was okay before that, and now Zoey said she's acting weird."

"Weird how?" Abby asked, with a tone of concern.

Rumi wasn't appeased by it though. "I don't know... Zoey?"

"Well, she seemed tired." Zoey didn't want to start a fight. "She said she was. And her arm is bothering her of course, so it could just be acting up again after she went upstairs. She never said she was upset."

"I just thought she was fine till after talking to them," Rumi insisted. "What did you say? I saw you were arguing."

"We weren't any more than she was," Abby said. "Romance got offended because she said Gwi-Ma was still spying through him. And then I said that it was true, and he got more offended."

"Just tell them the whole thing then, Abby." Romance was annoyed.

"And just when I finally had cheered him up," Morph sighed from the dining room.

Raven sighed as well. "Never ends, does it? How do Shine and Wally deal with this all the time? I know the X-men argue just as much as these idiots do."

"I think they block it out," Morph said. "We should try that. I need to purchase ear plugs."

"That wouldn't work with how loud they are," Raven said. "Maybe one of those headphone sets instead."

[Wow, they're having the side conversations where they make fun of their charges... They really are turning into Shine and Wally's version of DJs.]

"And neither of you said anything to her?" Rumi said.

"I might have said something," Romance said. "But she was being unnecessarily harsh."

"Isn't that what you said?" Abby said. "Or something about not reminding you of it?"

"She only said that because it was true," Rumi said. "We have to be careful, that's all."

"Look, I've heard that enough for today." Romance got cross again. "Go talk to her if you think she's upset. She doesn't like us anyway, so what do you expect us to do about it?"

"Considering that she already go hurt while protecting you two," Rumi said, "you both could be more nice to her after that."

"Are you nice to her?" Baby said.

"Am I?" Rumi repeated.

"Yes, after lying to her about your patterns and risking her life because of that, should you really be that angry at us?" Baby said. "You nearly got both of your friends killed because of your actions."

Rumi stared at him in horror.

Abby and Romance turned to look at him in disbelief.

But that was nothing to Zoey's reaction.

She didn't even take 5 seconds to spring over the couch and knock Baby off it and onto the floor.

She got him in a chokehold.

"Take that back!" she cried. "Apologize right now! You monster! How could you say that to her?!"

"Zoey!" Morph was afraid she was going to kill him for real.

He managed to pry her off Baby, who started coughing.

He lifted her up, and she started kicking wildly to try to get some more hits--she succeeded, too. Till Baby crawled out of her reach.

"Let me go, Morph! He's gone too far this time!" Zoey was boiling. "I'll teach him to talk to Rumi that way!"

"Violence doesn't change anything," Morph said. "Calm down, Zoey. He's not going to learn that way. It's never helped before."

"Baby, that was not an okay thing to say," Abby finally spoke. "Apologize to her."

"Like I would listen to you." Baby had not learned anything, obviously. 

"Do you think it's cool when you talk like that?" Romance said. "It's not. Stop doing it."

"I don't know how you both keep forgetting that their job is literally to kill demons," Baby said. "And they will kill you if you make it necessary for them. Remember that."

He walked away.

Rumi finally found her voice again.

"We wouldn't have to worry about it if you were willing to help us free them!" she shouted at him.

Baby paused, as if that remark had hit home, but then he left the room anyway.

Zoey finally stopped kicking at the air.

"You should have stopped him," she said, still upset.

Morph put her down. "He's not learning that way, Zoey...clearly. We have to try a different approach than violence. I'm sorry... And, Rumi, that was a cruel thing to say to you. I wish punishing him would make him stop, but it won't."

"I know it won't," Rumi said. "I...don't want to talk about what we were before, now. I think I'll just go chill for while."

She walked away.

"We were supposed to be having a nice day," Morph sighed.

"Baby is against everyone having a nice time," Romance said. "I don't know why he's so bitter. What if he summons Gwi-Ma again?"

"Would you like us to tell him to go?" Raven was leaning on the wall now.

They all looked at her strangely.

"If he's sabotaging this, he could just leave," Raven shrugged. "Sure...Gwi-Ma would retake him, but he could talk his way out of getting killed. He's got dirt on us, I'm sure. I'd rather not let Gwi-Ma have that, but better to know and not risk him learning any more information than he has already. Why tempt fate by keep him around? None of you want him to hurt your chances."

"You want to just kick him out?" Abby said.

"One person shouldn't be able to forfeit the safety of everyone else." Raven tilted her head. "Do you want him around?"

They hesitated.

Then Mystery spoke up instead:

"We can't push him out," he said. "He's making this hard for us, but he meant well, I suppose...and, he's still one of us. We can't just let Gwi-Ma retake him."

"I agree with him," Abby said. "Baby is misguided about how he's...trying to keep things from getting worse...but he thinks he's doing the sane thing. He's wrong, but the fact is that he'll never escape if you abandon him now. I think it takes more than a few days of this kind of treatment."

"I'd like to punish him but not to that extreme," Romance agreed. "If you could kick him out without sealing his fate, maybe, but...it's wrong that way. Can't he just stay away from us?"

"So...all of you would still help him even though he's kind of screwed you over?" Zoey had calmed down while listening to this.

"We were friends once," Mystery said. "And maybe he wanted to keep it that way...and it's our fault that he felt it was necessary. Is it fair for us to make him suffer for all eternity for that?"

"Yeah, he's right," Abby said. "We're still mad at him, but we could've caused his problem to begin with. We can't just ignore that."

"Sadly for me, I can't rule it out," Romance said. "I'm not that sorry, considering what he's done to us, but still...like I said, eternal torment is too extreme revenge."

Zoey was moved. "Wow," she sniffled. "That's really sweet... You're so much more understanding about that than we were..."

"I guess it's that we're in the same boat as him," Abby said. "Or, we were."

"You were. We still are." Romance scowled.

"But...you boys are all different since yesterday," Morph noted. "You remembered what happened...and you've been talking way more like real boys... Look, maybe you resent that Abby got free first instead of you, but...it's like it's already weakened Gwi-Ma's effect on you. You seem more human than before... Something changed."

"What if, for each one of them who gets free, Gwi-Ma's hold over them gets weaker?" Zoey said. "And that makes it easier? If they're bound together, that would kinda make sense. Sorta like the Honmoon but if it was bad instead of good."

"Then maybe we should be glad Abby got free first," Raven said thoughtfully. "He had to help the others...because that's his center of humanity."

Abby was actually flattered by her saying that.

Romance and Mystery exchange a look with each other.

"Raven," Morph said, "you should tell them you were only saying that to test them. You'll make them think you're cruel."

Raven shrugged. "Take the fun out of it then."

"Wait, you didn't mean that?" Romance looked affronted. "You said all that for no reason?"

"I was wondering what you'd say," Raven said. "Your moral development has been confusing at best, whether it's just to save yourselves or that you actually care about anyone else...but, apparently, you do care a little. That's good. Only humans care about other humans like that. You're becoming more human then...even if you're not free."

Romance looked relieved now.

"I guess she was better at it than I was," Morph said. "And you all think she's never nice."

"It's so rare, it's like seeing a rare bird," Mystery said.

Zoey laughed. Then she paused. "Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"No," Mystery said, confused.

Zoey laughed again anyway.

"You are kind of funny at times." Abby couldn't help but agree.

"I'm not trying to be funny," Mystery said.

"Hey, laughter is a gift, junior," Morph said. "Be glad people find you funny and not scary. Scary is much worse." With a shudder.

"Sorry about the knife earlier, by the way." Zoey reflected on being scary. "I was aiming for Baby, not you."

"Oh," Mystery said.

Not clear if he'd been bothered by it or not.

"Was he like this before you were all enslaved?" Raven inquired.

"I still don't remember that much about it, but I get the idea he wasn't too different," Abby said.

"Like what?" Mystery asked.

"Nothing," Zoey said. "You guys should really stop saying things like that. Be nice to each other." She waved a pen at them.

"Are you going to jump on us also if we're not?" Romance leaned away from her.

"Maybe," Zoey said threateningly.

"She's not nice all the time," Abby commented. "But that's fine. It's boring anyway."

"You seriously have a problem," Romance said. "Do you only like girls if they're mean to you?"

"It's not mean, it's bold," Abby corrected. "Would you want to be with someone who would only agree with you all the time?"

"I dunno, might be nice." Romance shook his head.

"You certainly have a type, Abby," Morph commented.

"I thought you said that you understood that," Abby said. "Didn't you say you like Raven more because she has a mind of her own?"

Raven shot Morph a look.

"I did say that." Morph decided to just own up to it. "So what? That's normal. It's like he said, you don't want a girl who always has to say yes to you. That's not a woman, that's a dog."

"I think some guys like girls who are like that." Zoey tilted her head. "I knew several of them in high school. Not that I ever really had the chance to know firsthand."

"Really? A cute girl like you?" Abby said.

Zoey blushed. "Uh...well...I was weird."

"What's wrong with weird?" Abby said.

"Abby, will you quit it?" Romance said. "Human for one day and you're back to your old habits."

"I'm just trying to be nice," Abby argued. "That doesn't bother you, right?" To Zoey.

"Uh...not sure," Zoey said. "Are you saying it to hit on me?"

"No," Abby said.

"Then I guess it's fine." Zoey shrugged. "I mean, better than insulting us like before. At least you don't hate us anymore, right?"

"Did we hate you before?" Mystery asked.

"But aren't you the one who said that to me?" Zoey turned to him with some surprised expression that might be a little hurt as well.

"Did I?" Mystery was utterly lost.

"Oh, forget what he said then, Zoey," Abby said hastily. "That was just Gwi-Ma talking. Mystery doesn't hate any of you. I don't think he hates anybody."

"So I did say that?" Mystery said. "I have no memory of saying that to you." He was bothered by the idea.

"I guess that really was Gwi-Ma then," Zoey said. "That's nice to know. So, uh...what do you actually think?"

Mystery froze and didn't seem to find any words.

"Riveting," Romance said. "Truly, couldn't have said it better myself."

"You shouldn't ask questions. He doesn't like to answer them," Abby said.

"Oh, is that the 'mystery' part?" Zoey said. "I guess it's fun to try to guess..."

"You have unique taste in people, Zoey," Morph said. "Though I can see how you and Mira are friends then... Have to do a lot of guess work with what bothers that girl."

"I don't think it's that complicated," Zoey said.

"Then what was bothering her?" Raven asked. "Because if she's not feeling well still, that's a reason for concern. I wonder if the doctor missed something."

"That's just paranoid, Raven," Morph said. "That doctor was very knowledgeable, I'm sure."

"Yeah, he's great," Zoey said. "It's probably not the injury... I bet she's just stressed about Gwi-Ma spying again, since that's what they argued about. But she'll be okay. Sometimes you have to leave Mira alone till she cools off... I mean, she was okay with working on lyrics--she couldn't have been that bad, right?"

She was trying to convince herself.

"Well, you know her better than we do." Abby shrugged.

"Yes, and we can't talk to her anyway," Romance sniffed. "I say literally anything, and she's angry again..."

"And you need to stop commenting on it," Morph reminded him. 

"Fine," Romance said. "Let's just finish the movie."