After successfully avoiding the auroras until they faded from the sky, Banshee stood on a rooftop in Kaladrel, trying to figure out exactly where the front entrance to this building was located.

She could hear rather loud music, but the same was true of every third block in this district. Loud music, bright lights, enthusiastic crowds of people who were all trying to stand out and be that little bit different to everyone else--they were all staples of outer Kaladrel.

Banshee pulled out her Liaiser--well, Olivia's Liaiser--and double checked she hadn't forgotten anything. Background image changed, check. Contact names changed? Check. Notifications set to zero--no sound, no flashing? Check. Font changed to the most unreadable text ever? Check. Secret folder of 'I'm totally where I say I am' picture proofs ready to go? Check.

After completing her check, she flicked open the messages to one conversation in particular.

[SASHA WINDSCRIBE [1 new message]]

Banshee said:
[Hey Rikky~ Noooot that you heard this from me, but I saw a note in Banshee's box today that said she was going to be at a party in Kaladrel tonight.]

Sasha said:
[NO. WAY. WHERE? PLEASE. PLEASE I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE I LOVE YOU HAVE I TOLD YOU THAT I LOVE YOU? YOU SHOULD COME WITH IT'LL BE SO MUCH FUNNNN! YOU CAN INTRODUCE ME!]

Banshee said:
[Here's the address. Parents would kill me if they found out I was chasing Lumi's again, so I'm probably just gonna stay home and do some study. BUT KEEP ME UPDATED OK?]

Sasha said:
[You know I won't tell anyone about your little secret, Livvv! Let me know if you change your mind, I'm gonna head over now! AHHH IM SO EXCITED. THANK YOU.]

Banshee cracked a smile as she hid the previous messages before replying to the recent one.

Banshee said:
[No problem <3 Should get a selfie with her. Tell her you're the one who made the Starsong dress, she loooved that dress. I might be a lil slow replying, doing some things, but keep.me.updated.]

Ericka's reply came quickly.

[Will do!]

Banshee tucked the Liaiser back into her pocket, ensuring it was locked in about five different ways before turning her thoughts to the problem of finding the entrance.

The sensible thing to do would be to jump down and ask, but... well, she'd never exactly done anything like this as a Luminary before--a public event. Sure, she'd barged into buildings in a million different ways, but there'd always been a Manifested involved. Panicked, scared people didn't care about manners and formalities, didn't question a Luminary.

Screw it. Subtle had never been her style anyway.

Banshee twisted into a backflip off the roof, landing perfectly atop one of the lit starstone lamp posts before planting her feet against its stem and sliding down with one hand.

By the time she hit the ground, at least a few people had noticed her. She winked at them before sauntering down the street, poking her head into every doorway she could find looking for the entrance. In his note, he'd said that he'd hang around outside waiting for her for at least thirty minutes or so after the auroras, but--

"Banshee!"

She turned around, finding a familiar individual walking towards her, one well-muscled arm raised above his head in greeting. His three friends trailed a few metres behind him, whispering and nudging each other with the occasional laugh.

"Mister Cloudheart," said Banshee, sweeping her arms to the side. It'd been eight--nine?--weeks since she'd last seen him at Offerings the day after she'd frantically asked him for Cryo's direction, but he really hadn't changed all that much. He still had that cocky grin plastered across his face, like he was just daring her just to see how much of him she could handle. "I was starting to think I'd never get that dinner out of you."

"And miss the chance to make these three pay up?" said Baine. He tossed his blonde, shoulder-length hair as he looked to his friends and tapped his pocket. None of them looked particularly enthusiastic as they reached for their wallets. "I think not, Banshee. I am indeed, a man of my word."

"You aren't a man yet, Cloudheart!" called one of his friends, the tall guy with dark hair. "Two years to go!"

Baine turned back and extended a sarcastic arm to the side. "Old enough to be a Luminary, though, aren't I? That has to mean something!"

"By the way you talk, anyone would think you were the Cloud of Skypillar himself," said the second guy. "At this point, the only reason we know you aren't is because Pegasus hasn't gone Dark for outing himself yet."

Baine just looked at him and wiggled his finger-guns in reply as he came to a stop in front of Banshee.

She'd forgotten how damn tall he was. "I still can't believe you're sixteen."

Baine flashed her a grin. "You and everyone else."

She shook her head and placed a hand on her hip. "So, what's the plan tonight?"

Baine's friends drew level with him, and the girl reached for his arm, wrapping her hands around his bicep. "We made a deal with Bainey-boy over here. To actually win this bet money, you gotta hang around this party for at least twenty minutes, and then you two can go off on your little dinner date!"

Surprisingly, Baine's face went red. "It's not a date! It's just to repay her for this dumb bet that you guys came up with and--" He cut off with a huff as the three of them burst into giggles and the girl released his arm. "Yeah, yeah, okay you lot."

The girl smirked at Banshee. "He's usually aaaaall suave and flirts right back, but I think he's got a bit of an actual crush on you. Keeps falling into little, blushing pieces whenever we mention you. He was always busy with mysterious stuff every time we told him to make good on the bet and ask you out."

Banshee grinned. "Seems to me like a certain three individuals have a plan to embarass me out of that twenty minutes." She stepped forward and looped her arm through Baine's. "Too bad for you guys that I have performed Offering tasks that were far more embarrassing than this. You're all gonna have to up your game if that's gonna work, and I got alllllllll night."

Baine recovered his swagger with a cocky smile. "All night you say, Shadow of Skypillar? Then allow me to show you one of the best places in Kaladrel." He winked. "Assuming, of course, you don't feel the urge to simply whisk me away into the night."

"Boy, I'm not going anywhere until this free food has been secured."

They had a small, curious audience by the time Baine led her to a set of double doors. He approached them, giving the bouncers a small, saluting gesture with an 'I told you so!' before entering a large, open room entirely lit by a variety of flashing strobe lights.

The music pounded against Banshee's ears as she took in the room, noting the indoor balconies, the multiple bars, the private booths sectioned off to the side. In a true Kaladrel fashion, everyone was dressed in a completely different way. Nothing was too outrageous or too weird. Banshee spotted at least five people in outfits that she suspected were designed after her own transformation in the first minute of being inside.

However, Baine didn't stop here. He kept to the edge of the room, his arm still looped through Banshee's as he took her up the stairs, past the balconies that overlooked the dance floor below and the people that filled them, drinks in hand. His trio of friends trailed closely behind, Liaisers out and whispering among themselves.

It was at an archway lined with brightly coloured strips of light that Baine finally took her. He flashed something at the man standing with his arms folded by the archway, who nodded and allowed them to pass.

Inside, Banshee found herself staring at the biggest arcade she'd ever seen.

"Welcome to heaven," Baine announced with the sweep of his arm.

Indeed, Banshee was inclined to agree. Games of a hundred varieties lined every wall. The open space was turned into a maze of colours and lights and enthusiastic, taunting beeps. Balls, tabletops, lights, screens, clear enclosures with prizes lurking within--there was an arcade in central Cevinari that she and Ericka had frequented a few years back, but it was nothing, nothing compared to the perfect monstrosity that she now found herself staring at.

"This is perfect," said Banshee, her hands pressing against either side of her face. "Not sure why it's on the back of a club, but it's perfect."

"This club is mainly for underage teens," said Baine, waving to his friends as they waddled over to a claw machine, teasing each other the whole way there. "To stop us sneaking into the other, older ones. There's another entrance to the arcade, but I had another bet with the bouncers out front that I'd walk through those doors with a Luminary on my arm one day."

"So what I'm hearing is that you owe me two dinners." Banshee pulled her Liaiser out of her pocket. "How'd they get you lot to want to come here anyway?"

Baine shrugged. "Dunno. Something about free food, a DJ, and Harpy organising a bunch of events when it first opened a few years back. She used to come here once a month or so just to check we were all 'still in line', it's why you see so many people in Lumi-looking outfits."

"Has she been back since?"

"Not sure."

Banshee tapped her Liaiser, lighting up the screen with four notifications from 'Sasha' waiting on the homescreen.

"Secret Lumi stuff?" asked Baine, diverting his gaze in an obviously different direction to her Liaiser.

"Related to it," said Banshee. "Sorry, I'm probably gonna be rude and just check this thing a few times tonight to make sure Cryo hasn't got himself kidnapped by the Other in the five seconds I'm gone."

Baine's attention snapped back. "You have a way to contact Cryo outside the temple stuff?"

Banshee sucked on her lip and checked her surroundings before opening Ericka's message. "Something like that."

Sasha said:
[Do you have any idea where she is? I'm almost there and apparently this place is huge?]

Sasha said:
[Heeeeeeeeey answer meeeeeeee you can't be studying that hard THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT NIGHT OF MY LIFE IM GONNA PERSONALLY MEET BANSHEE OK PLS I NEED HELP I NEED A WING WOMAN IN SPIRIT]

Sasha said:
[Ok srsly you're killing me over here at least a little support or something cos right now i'm not feelin' the spirit Livvy]

Sasha said:
[Well you wanted updates so here's the update even if you've decided to ignore your Liasier: I'm here, there's like ten people badly dressed up as Banshee and none of them are actually her are you sure she's even here cos idk AHHHH IM SO NERVOUS HELP. Still looking thoughhhhhhh]

Banshee tapped out a quick reply.

Banshee said:
[Sorry, had to go do something <3 YOU CAN DO THIS OKAY TRUST ME SHE'S GONNA LOVE YOU. I think she said something about an arcade..? I think there's one at the place she's at tonight. She is 100% there though.]

Banshee locked the Liaiser and stuck it back in her pocket, wondering what she'd do if Ericka still couldn't find her. Rock up on her doorstep later tonight to apologise for being too good at accidentally hiding?

She didn't get a whole lot of time to consider it as she looked up to find a group of teens walking up to her with amused, yet disbelieving expressions.

"Nice costume," said one of them, looking her up and down. "Where'd you get it? Looks a lot more legit than the others I've seen around here."

"Skypillar was kind enough to help me out with it," said Banshee, touching two fingers to her forehead.

They laughed as the same guy who'd spoken said, "Uh huh, and I'm Wyvern."

"I wish, we've been looking for that old bat for weeks now."

"Dedicated, aren't you?" said the guy. He looked back at his friends. "Maybe she is Banshee."

"Nah, can't be," said another one before Banshee could reply. "The actual Banshee is a whole lot prettier than this." He touched his cheekbone. "She doesn't have a scar here, either. Trust me, I've stared at her face enough to see it in all my dreams, if you know what I mean."

Banshee tried to get that image out of her head as one of the girls elbowed her way to the front of the ground.

"Seriously," she asked. "Where'd you get the costume? I've been dying to find a good DragonFae costume. No one can get the wings right."

"Glowy, floaty, ethereal fabric tends to be hard to work with," said Banshee. "Should find someone named Ericka Shadowweave in Cevinari. She's pretty talented when it comes to improvising designs."

"She made yours?"

"Nope," said Banshee. "Skypillar did that. Said I needed a uniform and next thing you know, poof go the shadows and I look like this."

The group rolled their eyes and looked to Baine. "Where'd you find this lunatic?"

Baine pouted, lifting his face to the ceiling as he furrowed his brow in thought. "Lunatic... lunatic..." He dropped the expression and shrugged. "Nope, I can't remember meeting one of those. However I did meet a Luminary when she jumped off a roof, asked me if I knew which way Cryo went, then bounded off after him. Really, we didn't have a good chat until the day after at Offerings."

"There's no way," said another one of the group, frowning at Banshee as if they weren't ready to commit either way just yet. "If you're really Banshee, prove it."

Banshee opened her mouth to reply with something equally sarcastic as her previous comment when she caught sight of something better and grinned. She wasn't in the mood for proving herself a million times over, but she was in the mood to play some games.

"Okay," she said. "I'll prove it by kicking all your butts on that!"

She pointed. They looked.

Two people were currently playing, each on their own separate square pad on the floor, feet and arms desperately flailing about as they tried to match the flashing arrows on the screen.

The group gave her an incredulous look... though the girl at the back, her eyes had lit up at the mention of it, her shoulders tilting a little further back as one of her friends said, "How is dancing going to prove anything?"

Banshee tossed her hair behind her and managed the most tauntingly innocent smile she could manage.

"Why? Scared to challenge a Luminary to a little dance-off?"

*+*+*+*

Eight dance-offs later that earned a victorious Banshee a small army of enthusiastic fanboys, she stepped off her platform and stretched her arms into the air, just as energised as she'd been stepping up for the first one.

She grinned at the crowd. "So, anyone else wanna take me on?"

She was pretty sure no one but Baine and his friends actually believed she was Banshee, but that was perfectly fine with her. They'd taken to calling her the Shadow of Skypillar regardless of her refusals to perform a wide variety of acrobatics and dagger-throwing. Anyone who had asked, she'd challenged, and promptly destroyed in a dance off, which had stopped further questions of her authenticity rather quickly.

"Hail the Shadow!" called the crowd of ten or so people, lifting their arms in an almost mocking way. "She is the one true master of the dance!"

Banshee rolled her eyes but couldn't stop the smile. "Uh huh." She turned to where Baine had been standing most of the time as he finished up an exchange with one of the people at the edge of the crowd. "And you're doing what, exactly, mister Cloudheart?"

"Uhhh," Baine gave the grumbling guy back a note as change before turning towards her. He flashed the cash in his hand. "Making us enough money for whatever dessert we like!"

"I think someone has a gambling problem."

"It's only a problem if you lose more than you win. Until then, it's an investment!"

Banshee pulled her Liaiser and found a single notification from Ericka waiting for her. She flicked it open as she said, "That is a terrible way to look at it."

"People keep telling me that, yet I keep winning," said Baine. "I'm starting to think it's just because they don't like losing money."

Banshee barely heard him.

She was staring at the photo Ericka had sent her with a single line of caption.

The people in the photo were blurry. Not because of Ericka's photography skills, but because they were fighting. No, no fighting--there was at least four of them ganging up on one individual. An individual with black hair long enough to be tied into a ponytail, with a pale green coat that she'd helped him buy a week ago, and who had a strip of bright red blood running down the side of his face.

[?? Isn't this Jason?]

The background. The background was the same buildings that were out the front of the club. The message was six minutes old. Six minutes, and she'd been dancing.

Banshee barely stopped herself from crushing the Liaiser in her grip as her fingers tightened into fists.

"Banshee?" Baine said her name like it was the fifth or sixth time in a row. "Banshee, what's--"

Banshee ignored him and flung herself straight through the walls.

The shadows swallowed her whole, sweeping her through starstone and human alike until starlight forced them to spit her out. Outside, she hit the outer wall of the opposite building with her fingertips and launched herself into the crowd on the street below--the kind of crowd that only a fight could gather. Rowdy, brutal, and bloodthirsty.

Banshee landed right in the middle of it.

The taunts hit her ears. The jeering and the cruel laughter. The few, drowned voices among them that called for it to be broken up. But nowhere among it did she hear the sound of pain. She didn't hear him.

Her nightmares swarmed back all at once. That sense that he was gone. The sense that someone had removed him. Stolen him. Taken him.

It took everything she had to pull a scrap of focus out from the haze clouding her vision. To follow the gaze of the crowd towards the wall, to where those drowning voices of reason were coming from, to where three, taller men stood guard at a wall.

She was there in a step. Behind them, in front of them--it didn't matter, only that she was staring at Jason.

Jason, unconscious and bleeding. His back to the wall. Blood running from a cut above his eye and a deeper wound across his arm. Blood on his coat. On the ground. On the hands of the person crouched over him, attempting to bandage Jason's arm.

"Who did this."

Not enough blood to kill him. Not enough blood, she told herself as crimson smeared the edges of her world.

The man beside Jason turned their head towards her in acknowledgement, though his eyes stayed on the bandage as he wound it around and around Jason's arm, hiding the wound that Banshee could still feel like it was on her own skin.

Shadows trickled down her arm from a line of white-hot pain. She couldn't focus on anything but Jason, the blood, and the burning rage inside her throat that turned her voice hoarse. "Who did this?"

"I don't know," said the man. His dark hair shifted as his emerald eyes flicked to hers. "I, uh--" He swallowed. "--heard the fight and saw someone was injured so I just..."

Emerald eyes. Banshee knew those eyes, just as she knew why there were small patches of crimson hair lurking among the badly applied black dye. She didn't know how he'd got here. Didn't care.

Adande knew the same heartbeat she did.

His hands flew up in front of him. "I wasn't the one who--"

Banshee drew her daggers.

*+*+*+*

A/N - *Closes bunker door*

That door is definitely not budging this time, but since I know you're all still gonna try... *leaves cookie basket outside*

In the meantime, you should check out Delphinus Proxy: ANDROMEDA by @aeodendaal ;D She updates once a week, and it's looking preeeetty solid so far. ALIENS. SPACE. POTENTIAL FOR HUMANITY'S EXTINCTION. KIBART. What more could you want? ;D