[OP: "Battle of the Bands"--Equestria Girls. AMV by Conflict Revolution]

Wally explained the rules of the game quickly.

First, they got snacks though. Jean actually had found some requested ones for them, though she had questioned the girls' taste.

And it had been hard to find it, in this pre-Prime shipping era, but she'd been committed.

Shine put on what she termed "lounge music", which was just poppy or show-tune type songs that no one but her seemed to know.

"You have music for everything," Raven said, which might be a complaint or an observation. It was hard to tell with her tenor.

"Aren't you used to this by now?" Shine replied sassily. "Must be like that with Huntrix all the time."

"Oh, sure, we sing about everything," Zoey said. She sat on the couch. "Couch, couch, couch," she sing-songed.

"Who sings about their couch?" Baby said.

"Better than singing about stealing people's souls," Zoey shot back.

She must have been in high spirits; she hadn't roasted him in ages.

"Okay, who wants to go first?" Wally asked, grabbing a handful of snacks from Shine, which she appeared to be used to, as she didn't react.

Grace was now in her walker again, gumming a toy.

"Can you go first?" Romance was worried about screwing this up.

"Okay...I guess," Wally said. "All right, never have I ever... Hm, it's hard to think of things I've never done."

"I could think of a few things," Shine said. She whispered something to him.

"Is that one fair?" Wally asked.

She shrugged.

"Okay, never have I ever cursed at someone in public," Wally said.

"You've never done that?" Morph was astounded.

"Only on the job, maybe, under my breath, but not out loud," Wally said. "Superheroes don't curse at people. We have a reputation to maintain. Xavier doesn't allow it either, you know."

"So you put a finger down if you've done it, right?" Raven said, with a flat look.

"I know you have," Shine said, but only amusedly.

Raven put a finger down.

Surprising absolutely no one, so did Mira.

Surprising most of them, Zoey did too.

"Zoey?" Rumi was shocked.

"I had a really good reason," Zoey said sheepishly. "They smacked me with a tray while I was checking social media."

"On purpose?" Wally asked.

"No, but it hurt." Zoey shrugged.

"I think it's more strange that you didn't dodge that," Raven said. "You're a hunter."

"I was really focused on the post, okay?" Zoey said.

"I don't know what she's talking about," Wally said.

"Remember that Instagram thing we showed you at home?" Shine asked. "Like that."

"Oh...right...those app things," Wally said.

"I'm sorry, why does she know what it is and you don't?" Romance said.

"I'm from the early 2000s-2020s." Shine put a hand up.

"90-s early 2000s," Wally said. "And a pre-social media era. Which, from all I've heard from Shine, Camie, and now Morph, sounds like a blessing."

"It is," Raven said. "I want to stay out of it. I thought chat rooms were insanely risky."

"Did anyone else put a finger down?" Romance looked around.

"I've never done it," Rumi said.

"Jinu!" Abby was surprised.

"I had a good reason, okay?" Jinu was embarrassed. "I nearly got run over by a cart. That's a good reason, isn't it? Better than Zoey's--that can kill you."

"And you remember that after 400 years?" Morph said.

"My life flashed before my eyes," Jinu said.

"But you never have, really?" Zoey glanced at Shine. 

"Nope, I don't curse people out at all." Shine shrugged.

"Me neither," Morph said. "I guess Wally and I both have the same reason. It's funny, I never would've guessed that about Jinu. Zoey, I'd believe."

"Hey!" Zoey cried.

"But all of us don't remember enough about ourselves to be sure," Romance said.

"Doesn't matter. Idols don't do that, so we know we haven't," Baby said.

"You go next," Shine said to him.

"Why?" he said.

Shine just smiled at him in a strange way, like she thought either he'd say no, or she was daring him to try.

Baby wasn't to be intimidated by her that easily.

"Fine." He stuck out his chin. "Never have I ever had a crush on someone."

Pause.

"That was your pick, really?" Romance said.

Baby smiled evilly.

"Oh...he's trying to embarrass us," Jinu realized. "Uh, is there a penalty for not answering honestly?"

"How would they know anyway?" Abby asked.

"Because I am here." Emma startled them.

No one had noticed her at all.

"You're helping with this?" Raven said.

"I will if it means they can't lie." Emma smiled like it would be funny.

"Oh, great," Zoey said. "I mean...not that I'm worried about it. But is there a penalty?"

"I'll shave your head while you sleep," Wally said.

Wally would not actually have done this, for real, but Zoey took him seriously.

"Okay, okay." She put a finger down.

"I guess it's fine, since everyone already knows." Jinu did also, and so did Rumi without any shame.

Romance sighed and did so also.

Morph and Raven did without any drama.

Abby did so also.

Mystery hesitated before he also put one down, and Zoey cast him a strange look.

"It's not a current crush, right?" Mira asked. "Just if you've had one."

"That's what he said." Shine already had her finger down.

Mira sighed and put a finger down.

"But that you clarified it means that you have a current crush," Baby said, not willing to let this drop.

"Or she thought she didn't need to, since it wasn't current," Morph said.

"Oh, we know that Mira wouldn't have clarified that," Baby said.

"Shut up, I would have," Mira denied it.

"Well, no one was lying," Emma said.

"Just a minute, Baby--you've never had a crush on anyone?" Romance said. "How is that possible? You're...22? 23?"

"I just don't see people that way," Baby said.

"That explains so much," Abby said.

"It really does," Zoey said. "Okay, my turn. Never have I ever...thrown away an old notebook (I mean, that wasn't shredded by demons)."

"I've wanted to ask this," Shine said, "but is the reason your notebooks are so hard to rip apart because demons might try to destroy them?"

"Uh...yeah...I buy ones with really thick paper and covers..." Zoey was surprised. "But how did you know that?"

Shine just smiled.

"Creepy," Baby said. "Calling it now, she's a stalker."

"I get that a lot," Shine said.

"You should be flattered that any woman wants to pay that much attention to you anyway," Abby told Baby.

"Why would I care?" Baby frowned at him.

Rumi had put a finger down, and so had Wally and Morph.

"I can't remember," Raven said. "I don't use notebooks that often."

"I honestly don't throw mine away..." Shine said. "Not if they're used. I always think I might want to remember that later. Mark of a writer, am I right, Zoey?"

"Oh, you write?" Zoey asked.

"Yes, mostly stories and essays, but I've tried poetry and songs a few times," Shine said. "Oh, I have one: Never have I ever written something I wouldn't let my family read (minus my diary, perhaps)."

"What kind of thing is that to say?" Jinu said. "You know all of us Saja Boys have to put our fingers down now."

"Jinu, the object of the game is knocking people out of it for doing weird things," Shine said. "Wally just told you that."

"Oh, she's fighting dirty now?" Baby said.

"You did," Shine said. "And besides, I wasn't thinking that when I said it. I was directing that more at Zoey."

"What the heck?" Zoey said.

But she put a finger down.

"Zoey?" Rumi said.

Mira had one down also.

"Mira!" Rumi cried, more surprised.

"My family doesn't like any of our music," Mira shrugged. "So it counts, right?"

"Sure," Morph said.

"But how, when your songs inspire people's souls?" Mystery asked, confused.

"My family isn't the type who like to be inspired in that way," Mira said.

"My family is the same," Shine said. "Except for my immediate ones. The others would never read my stuff either, so I feel you."

"My mom has listened to it..." Zoey said. "I don't know if she likes K-pop or not, but...I mean, you know she likes that I'm rich and famous."

"I've never written something I'm ashamed of," Rumi mused.

"Okay, I'm gonna say my high school essays count." Morph put a finger down. "Because I didn't want to show my dad those."

"Do blackmail letters count?" Raven asked.

Shine nodded.

She put a finger down.

"I think I'm learning more about Raven than I wanted to know again," Romance said.

"Well, what if we said that to you?" Shine warned him.

He cringed.

"We can go to him now. Your turn." Wally pointed at Romance.

"Why?" Romance welched. "Because I said that? That wasn't that bad."

"Talking about your teacher like that is always bad," Shine said. "Now go."

"For once it wasn't Baby? I'm shocked," Jinu muttered.

Romance sighed. "Never have I ever...worn mismatched socks."

"That was random," Mystery said.

"That you can remember, though," Jinu said. "But I don't have to put a finger down. I never wore socks at all till we left the demon realm, and then they always matched."

All the girls put their fingers down, and so did Shine, Wally, Morph, and Raven.

"Everyone does it if they can't find a pair," Shine said. "Romance, that is not natural."

"Well, that I would remember," Romance pouted. "And I'm very careful. Besides, we only had one set of clothes anyway till yesterday."

"To make matters worse," Abby said, "I don't think Mystery's socks are matching now."

Mystery looked at his socks, and they were not.

"You get a bunch of pairs yesterday and you didn't put on a matching set?" Baby thought that was funny.

"I thought they looked the same in the lighting..." Mystery was embarrassed.

One sock was brown and the other was black.

"If it makes you feel better--" Zoey pushed her feet out. "--mine aren't matching right now either, but that's to match my outfit."

Her outfit was blue and yellow, and so were her socks.

"Who cares anyway?" Mira rolled her eyes. "They're just socks!"

"But you know when you have one sock that's longer than the other?" Shine said. "That's when it's annoying. Or not the same texture. Or even size."

"This is so inane," Raven said.

"Then you go," Wally said.

"I can't think of anything I've never done," Raven said.

"Oh, this could take a while." Baby took a handful of the snacks.

"He didn't want to play, but who is enjoying himself more?" Abby muttered to Jinu, who nodded.

Raven had to think for a solid minute at least, but finally she said, "Never have I ever given someone my phone number outside of the people in this room."

"You...never have done that?" Rumi said.

"I've never in my life had a phone number (till your world)," Raven said. "I always switched places too quickly."

"I had a home phone in the past," Morph said, "so I have to put a finger down."

Nearly everyone else did as well.

"Wait, but you don't remember," Rumi said to the Saja Boys, "and you don't have phones now."

"No, but I'm sure I have done it before," Abby said.

"Not hard to figure that out," Romance sighed.

Jinu alone was safe.

"I think it's not fair when he's too old to have done the stuff we have," Zoey pouted.

"If you were strategic, you could make him lose because he's old," Shine said.

"Why are you so against me?" Jinu said.

"I'm not saying I would," Shine said.

"Jinu, you go now." Rumi wanted to hear what he'd say after that.

Jinu looked annoyed. "Never have I ever used a computer."

Of course everyone had to put a finger down except for him.

"Jerk," Baby said. 

Jinu was smug now. "Guess maybe I will win."

"Nah, Shine could beat you," Wally said. "If this gets down to the two of you, she'll totally destroy you. But she usually wins most games that involve tricking people."

"Not chess. I just can't keep that straight," Shine said. "I'm more of a verbal strategist than step by step, but I think that isn't real life anyway."

"Street smart versus book smart, right?" Morph said.

"Street smart, hmm?" Abby said. "Okay, my turn. Never have I ever killed a demon."

Blank stares.

"You're targeting us?" Mira said.

That was the first thing she'd said to him directly since she'd come in.

Abby smirked.

"But that's us also," Morph said. "Wow...that is mean."

Surprisingly, Shine and Wally both put their fingers down also.

"Wait, you kill them?" Rumi said. "I mean, you...do stuff, but...I thought it was more like you just got rid of them."

"Well, here, yes," Shine said. "But in the world of Remnant there were demon animals that you could kill, so I think that counts. Though can you kill something that's not really alive at all?"

"If it eats, it's alive," Wally said. "Though they were some of the ugliest things I've ever seen in my life, other than demon powers we saw in the ninja world."

"Oh, and the nomu things were pretty gross too, in the hero world," Shine said.

"Don't know what they're saying," Romance said.

"I'd like to hear about how you slayed those monster animals though," Zoey said.   

"It wouldn't be interesting. It's just what you do," Shine said.

Then she realized what she'd just said and laughed. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. Just that it wouldn't be new to you. Except that they have aura instead of the Honmoon to protect them, but it's soul energy."

"Okay, seeing why they thought you were like us," Mira said.

"Oh, also the protectors of the world are called Hunstmen," Shine said.

They stared.

"They were even called like us?" Zoey said.

"Yeah, but most everyone there could fight. But they still have people called Huntsmen/Huntresses who do it for a job and are the best fighters," Shine explained.

Stares.

"I feel less special now," Mira said.

"Why? You're still the only ones in your world," Wally said.

"I find it hard to believe that no one in the world can fight demons other than you," Shine said. "Are you sure?"

"Honestly, we didn't think that far," Rumi said.

All four of the world travelers just gave her a look.

"Okay, moving on," Zoey said. "Rumi, you haven't gone."

"Okay." Rumi thought. "Never have I ever...cut my hair."

"Never?" Mystery gaped.

"You think I cut it with this hairstyle?" Rumi flipped her braid.

"Dang it." Zoey had to put a finger down. "I think everyone has at least once, right?"

All the guys had to put a finger down, except Morph.

"I don't have to cut my hair, I just morph it," he said.

"My mom used to make me cut my hair," Shine said.

"Mine grows. I'm surprised yours doesn't." Raven looked at Morph.

"We've really never talked about that, huh?" Morph didn't think much of it.

"Mystery's turn," Rumi prompted.

Everyone looked at him.

Mystery seemed perturbed. 

After way too long thinking about it, he finally spoke:

"Never have I ever had a pet."

"Oh, that's so sad," Zoey said.

"Well, I'm down," Morph said.

Shine and Wally both were too.

Jinu put his finger down because of Derpy and Sussy.

But Mira, Rumi, and all the other Saja Boys were safe.

"Celine wasn't really into pets," Rumi said.

"My family? No way," Mira sniffed.

"Can't remember," the boys all said.

"I've never had one either," Raven said. "I've been a pet, but never had one."

"Ugh, don't," Romance shuddered.

"I thought it was kinda funny," Wally said. "Kinda sad though. Well, that's everyone."

"We're supposed to play till someone is out," Shine said.

"Eh, I'm bored though," Wally said. "Let's switch it up."

"Can we? I feel like this game is too rigged," Romance said.

"Yeah, something that requires real strategy," Baby said.

"I guess we could play hide and seek," Shine said. "That's on your level, right?"

The others all laughed while Baby frowned at her.

"Or we could play Simon Says--that must be your favorite game," he said.

"Only when I get to be Simon." Shine didn't even care that that was the exact point he was making.

"You've got to teach me how you manage never to be offended by what he says," Romance said.

"It's all in not caring," Shine said. "But I don't expect it would work for you. Don't worry, it makes you more interesting."

"I think you mean more easily played," Baby said.

"I don't think those two things go together always," Shine said. "Perhaps some better feelings actually would make it hard to manipulate certain people."

She let that hang, and no one wanted to comment on it. 

"I'd love to switch games." Raven had had it with this one. "What next?"

"Board game?" Wally suggested.

"Are we...supposed to be learning something?" Jinu asked.

"I'm learning a lot," Wally said.

"Mmm," Shine agreed.

"We need more people for board games," Morph said.

"Don't mind if I do," Emma said. "I loathe most board games, but Taboo is entertaining."

"Because you can cheat at it," Shine said.

"Oh, you take the fun out of everything," Emma sniffed.

"Why don't we play Pictionary?" Shine said. "We finally got one of those. And that's easy enough for the teens to join us. They're dying to anyway."

"How did you know we were here?" Kitty suddenly stuck her torso through the wall of the kitchen.

"I have a 6th sense," Shine said.

Zoey gaped at her.

"I heard the door open earlier," Shine then said, with a wry smile.

Well, the teens did join them for that game, and after Ryan and Kevin had killed everyone else at it by being better artists and guessers than expected, the others changed to several different games.

Hours went by, and Huntrix hadn't spent that long playing games in...ever, they thought.

Rumi had never had the board game night experience at all and found it more dramatic than she expected. The fits people threw when they lost, the way they made a big deal over the turns, and the jokes...

She kind of liked it though, but she wondered why they were doing it at all.

Finally, at about 11 p.m., after having had dinner while still playing some games like Risk and Bargain Hunter, and having put the younger kids to sleep ages ago, the X-men and DJs called it at night.

"Gotta go, so you all have a good night's rest." Shine put Grace in her baby carrier. "And, tomorrow, we're going to start training."

"We...are?" Rumi said.

"Do you have an issue with it?" Shine gave her a look.

"Oh, no...no, that's...great..." Rumi was starting to feel like Shine was doing this on purpose.

Because she was.

* * *

Surprisingly, Raven and Morph checked in with their students before everyone turned in for the night.

"How did you like your day off?" Raven asked the girls with a wry look.

"I liked it fine, but I'm not sure what the point of it was," Zoey said. "Still, it was cool. Just chilling all day, doing stuff without any real plan. Honestly, I feel like I needed a nice break."

"I guess it was fine." Mira was thinking of the many weird things that had happened to her today, not the least of which was the...thing with Abby that morning.

Raven actually knew about it already. Rogue had told her while they'd been alone outside briefly.

"Shine really let me have it." Rumi finally thought just talking about it might be best. "And I don't know why...or I do...but...she was... It was like her personality changed, almost."

"She flipped on you? Yes, she does that." Raven nodded. "She's like a wind up toy. You can push her so far, and she'll never show the slightest sign of annoyance, but if you cross a line, she'll snap on you like a trap. Though I've never seen her do anything that bad. At most, she'll yell and say some harsh words, maybe she's smacked a few people, but they always were ones who had it coming. Like Callisto."

"She told me I was wrong to push for things so much." Rumi sounded like this was the real injury, not her tone. "That I take them too fast."

"Yes, we've been saying that for weeks." Raven knew already, since she'd heard the whole thing.

"I guess she has a point there." Mira was not one to disagree with true critiques.

"Oooh, I'm sure it's not that bad..." Zoey hedged.

"She thinks it's risking all of you for me to do it," Rumi said.

"If it helps, she let us have it for almost the same reason," Raven said. "She takes endangering people very seriously. She and Wally both, they like to be the hero. Though for Shine, it's more than that. She's almost pathological about defending people if they seem helpless... Even if they absolutely deserve to get ridiculed, she doesn't tolerate it. She always did that with me."

"She thinks my team needs to be defended from me?" Rumi was more hurt.

"If you've neglected their best interest to pursue your goals, she thinks that's wrong," Raven said. "Well, within limits. She'll take gambles. Both of them will. You have to in this job. But whatever ones you took, she thinks were not justified. I'm inclined to agree with her now, but it was partly on us for not stopping you. We allowed it out of a wish to finish things quicker ourselves. All of us screwed up on this one. I believe, though, she thinks you have a habit of not learning from your mistakes."

"That's a little...I mean, isn't that pretty harsh?" Zoey said. "Rumi learned from her mistakes."

"History says otherwise," Raven said. "All those incidents with the boys where we pushed them into danger, and each other, in order to find answers--now that I've had space to think about it, I'm pretty sure that Shine and Wally would never have done that so many times. Shine neutralizes a threat once she's sure it's going to be a reoccurring one. I can't say how she'd have done it, but she'd have found a way to keep Gwi-Ma off of us, if it had been her, before she did anything else. Or just wait him out and work on the inside. That's what she told us to do, but we missed the point in her letters somehow. Or we just didn't want to see it because that was harder than doing it our way."

"I think you two had some good ideas," Mira surprisingly said. "They got us leads."

"Wanting answers over wanting people's safety is not something they usually do," Raven said. "Well, we could argue whether it was for the best all day long, but one thing I do regret is what happened to Romance and...you."

"Me?" Mira blinked at her.

"Those things were the ones they were the most angry about," Raven said, which was funny, since Shine and Wally had not been going to expose her and Morph like this, but she was doing it herself now. "They feel we left you both unprotected at vulnerable moments. But we couldn't argue with them. Whether you wanted our help or not--" For she saw what Mira was going to say. "--we had a responsibility to keep an eye out for weak points like that."

Mira was dumbstruck.

She honestly had never had anyone tell her this kind of thing before. A least...not someone older.

"Ouch." Zoey realized it must have been rough to hear that for Raven. "But wasn't it our fault too?"

"Maybe." Raven wasn't that willing to let her off the hook. "Still...perhaps, Shine thinks only some of us are learning from our mistakes."

Rumi looked crushed. "But I am trying to learn from my mistakes, Raven."

"But have you been pestering Shine all week about helping you?" Raven replied. She knew she had already.

"I... How is that...?" Rumi blanked.

"Shine told you, didn't she? No one takes this more seriously than her." Raven folded her arms. "Acting like she and Wally have no idea how severe our situation is...that's ludicrous. If they waited this long, didn't you think there was a reason? And I thought your culture was big on respecting your superiors... Why do you think you know so much about this that you could tell her she was wrong?"

"You heard that," Rumi realized finally.

"I heard it, yeah," Raven said. "And she was nicer than I would have been, if I'd thought I had the right to say it at all. Still...when she told me I was wrong, I at least listened."

"I did listen!" Rumi cried, sounding near tears. "I had no idea she thought that way anyway. How could I have known that?"

"But using your head, Rumi, do you think they let us come here for help and then forgot about it? Please... Look around." Raven gestured. "Don't you get it? All this has been helping you."

Blank stares.

"Uh...how...?" Rumi said.

Raven pointed at Zoey. "This one can't even focus right now without getting a migraine."

She pointed at Mira. "This one has emotional issues she's trying to work out."

Mira glared at her.

"And you've been rushing into things and nearly getting killed over it." Raven turned to Rumi. "That doesn't even touch what the boys needed to work on. The best thing they could have done to help you is address the things that are putting you in danger at all. Zoey has gotten time to heal, Mira has been working through her stuff, and you've had to wait and think things through a bit more, haven't you? As for me and Morph, we've had our own problems we've been working on. If you'd shut up and listen to her, you might have noticed it already. She said it all on day one, remember? She said we were going to wait and figure it out by talking and observing."

Shine had said that when they'd talked in the kitchen on the first day.

"She was quite upfront with you," Raven then added. "And I and Morph knew this the whole time. Did you think we would have let them just ignore our problems?"

Rumi hadn't considered this either.

"So learn to trust people for once." Raven then locked onto the real problem, since she'd have had it herself if she were Rumi. "Not everyone is like Celine, you know. You have 3 days left to benefit from being around people who aren't as clueless as the rest of us. Why not just enjoy it?"

"You know what?" Mira finally spoke up, now calmer. "I think she's right."

"What?" Zoey hadn't thought Mira of all people would agree.

"It sounds weird to say this," Mira said, "but they just aren't like Celine...or like anyone else I've ever met. Maybe we'd do better if we just stopped fighting that and started trying to appreciate it. Besides...we have talked about serious stuff."

"But I haven't, not since that time she mentioned Celine," Rumi said.

"You ran away," Raven stated. "She's waited for you to come back to her. Or Wally. Whichever you prefer."

This was...true.

"That didn't go over so well," Mira said. "Maybe she was giving you space."

"Yeah," Zoey sadly. "She felt bad about making you cry."

"I know, but..." Rumi was appalled that she might have been the one slacking off here after all. "But...I didn't come here to talk about that. I wanted to ask about the Honmoon and Gwi-Ma."

"Do you really not think those two things are connected?" Raven said.

It hadn't hit Rumi till then that they must be.

Now she gasped.

Perhaps she just hadn't wanted to see it.

"Dang." Zoey saw it too. "That's some heavy stuff."

"That makes sense," Mira admitted, uneasily. "I don't like it, but...Celine affects us all. And...to be real, knowing she disapproves of what we're doing has weighed on me too."

"It's not like I don't think about it either," Zoey said. 

"She had issues with the boys as well," Raven reflected. "Even we have...clashed with her. Whatever bitterness she carries, whatever she hides, it affects us all. And the Honmoon. So you see, Rumi...Shine did help you. But you didn't accept it. Are you really so surprised she's made you wait?"

"I..." Rumi was shell shocked. "I need to think about this...excuse me."

She went into their room.

"I...think I'll go say good night to the guys." Zoey maybe wanted to go tell them and see if it blew their minds as well.

She walked up to the guy's rooms.

Mira leaned on the wall and glanced at Raven.

"What?" Raven said.

"That was impressive." Mira shrugged. "Making that connection."

"I just know Shine too well," Raven said.

"I could see why you admire her so much." Mira shrugged again. "Why you'd want to be like her. If we could help people like that, we'd be better heroes.  But how does someone become like that?"

"I don't know how..." Raven leaned the wall also. "Her life was not easy, but she's embraced the difficulties in it because she thinks they taught her things. Maybe that's her real gift. She makes her students start to see their suffering as something that makes them stronger, if they choose to get through it and learn instead. I began to see mine in a new light, eventually. I suppose this is where God redeems our lives, but I don't think most churchy people really believe that. Kurt is one of the only others I know who does."

"I wouldn't mind it if I could be more like that," Mira said quietly, "if I could channel what I went through into insight and compassion. I thought it was enough to use it for our music and to fight demons, but there was that thing they said, that anger isn't the best emotion to rely on..."

Raven thought. "Anger... They're not against anger itself--you've seen that. What they meant is that it's not a good motivator, hating demons, because hating Gwi-Ma is not the right focus."

"Yeah...Rumi thought that too, but what will drive us if we don't feel that hatred and anger? We can't second guess it with real demons." Mira frowned.

"I don't know that either...but one thing they told me is to direct anger and hate at the right things. Anger on behalf of innocent people, that's a good thing. Hatred for evil, without hating the people who do it, is a good motivator...but not easy to pull off."

"You sound like her now." Mira smiled wryly.

"I think I'm falling into it, being around her more," Raven sniffed. "I suppose I'll lose it again once we're back in your world."

"I like you better here." Mira was savage.

"What? Watch your tongue!"

"No, you seem more relaxed." Mira shrugged yet again. "Maybe it's being around people who like you without expecting you to be anything. You and Morph both. You're really close to these people. It's nice, for you..."

Awkward.

"Well, you're getting closer to people yourself." Raven changed the subject now. "I suppose I might as well just say it. I know about Abby. Rogue..."

"What? She ran her mouth about that?" Mira flushed red.

"Did you bind her to secrecy?"

"No, but..."

"Well, if she hadn't told me, I would have found out sooner or later anyway...whichever of you would have spilled. It's true that idiot can't keep a secret." She meant Abby.

"Look, I'd rather not talk about it." Mira bit her lip. "It was a mistake, anyway."

"To run off, you mean."

"No...I mean the whole thing. I got caught up in the moment, but, to be realistic, that's never going to work out."

"I'm sorry, but...why not?"

"Why not? Why would you encourage this?"

"I don't give a darn if you date or not," Raven said, though it was not quite true. "But mucking up the works again over something stupid, I thought we were past that. If being together would just make both of you quit doing the theatrics, I would say to just be together."

"Oh, sure, that's how easy it is!" Mira was incensed. "Think about it, Raven, we're...it's... Look, even if it was possible, what's that gonna look like months, or even years from now? And I'm not the type to just...toy around with that idea, either."

"So you can't imagine it working out?"

"I... How...?"

"Is it really that hard? You already live in the same tower. If that hasn't killed any romantic interest, what could make it worse? Most people break up because they find out the worst sides of each other, but you've already seen that in high definition, and seen what living in the same place would be like. What surprises do you have left?"

"He's not as...bad as I would've thought," Mira said. "And, while the...thing is still weird, I think...you know, they're free now, and being here, away from it all, it looks different. But we will go back, and things will be under pressure again."

"So, what? Celine will disapprove? Because it's not like she has the best judgment."

"I know she will, but that's not... It...it's just...our lives, they're full of conflict, pressure, danger...and if there's no Golden Honmoon...it'll never stop being true." Mira suddenly sounded panicked. "I could never ask anyone who doesn't have that responsibility to put up with that... I can't...I can't take it."

She stopped and frowned, as if she hadn't known she was freaking out about that till she said it.

Raven stared at her for a long moment...since she couldn't make fun of that reason.