Owen's P.O.V.
"Are you kidding me?" Anthony was very, very angry when he heard that the wedding was only two days away. It didn't help that we had just gotten back to the Imagination after searching the entire building and finding that it was completely empty—not one room had anyone or anything in it.

"Nope, it says it right here." I showed Anthony the text Logan sent me, and everyone crowded around to see.

"What are we to do now?" Tori asked. "We've only thought of one place to search, and we've already determined that it's abandoned."

"We can search somewhere else," Anthony said. "But with so little time left, I think our best bet is to split up."

"Said every idiot that dies first in a horror movie," Milly said.

"We don't have to go alone," Anthony argued. "There's six of us, so we could go in groups of three."

"Said every idiot that dies second in a horror movie."

"Would you quit it with that, this isn't a horror movie."

"Said every idiot that dies thir—"

"I get it, Mil!" Everyone but Anthony laughed. "Honestly, if we split up in groups of three, we still have a chance of not being the idiots in a horror movie." He shot Milly an annoyed look.

"Well, it's not the worst idea we could have," Camille said. "Besides, it's about all we've got. Who's going with who?" We spent the next minute or so trying to group together, and ended up with me, Anthony, and Tori in one group and Camille, Milly, and Lori in the other.

"Alright then," Anthony said. "That door's only going to be open for a few more minutes, so let's get going. We can find a spot to eat once we're there, then we'll get to searching. Everyone ready?" As usual, an awkward silence followed that question.

Milly's P.O.V.
We didn't find a place to eat until after we split up. The three of us sat down under one of the most alive-looking trees in a cluster of dead ones and started eating. Or, at least, Camille and I started eating. Lori got down on her knees and clasped her hands.

"What are you doing?" Camille asked. I nudged her in the arm, silently telling her not to bother Lori. But, to my surprise, Lori answered.

"I'm waiting for Tori," she said.

"To do what?" Camille asked, kneeling down in front of Lori.

"I'm waiting for her to find a place to eat so we can say grace together."

"But she's not here."

"No, she indeed is not here. But we have a telepathic bond, so even from infinite distances, we can speak to each other. She's sitting out her food now." Lori said nothing for the next thirty seconds or so as Camille and I stared in confusion, then she leaned up against the tree and started eating.

"How are you two so powerful?" Again, I nudged Camille in the arm, and again, Lori answered the question.

"Both our parents had magic. When you put two magic wielders together, you either get a situation where the genes cancel each other out and you have a magic-less child, or the genes work together and you get a really powerful child. Obviously, you can see that we suffer from the latter of the situations.

"Our mother only lived long enough to name us, so our father raised and hid us. That is, until we were eight. See, in our old village, you usually won't get killed just for having magic. But for using it, well, that's a one-way ticket to a death sentence. Father used his magic carefully his whole life, except for one time... But hey, that's a story for another day."

The next ten minutes were consumed by us trying to scarf down our food quickly while we sat awkward and silent. At least we had thought to morph back to our normal forms—our looks were the only thing casual enough to hold us over.

"So," I said once we had finished eating. "Since we're already in a good spot, anyone tired?"

"I am," Camille said. "But do we have time to sleep?"

"Maybe, but only an hour or so. Lori, you tired?"

"Not at all."

"Then there we go. Camille, you get a quick nap while Lori and I keep watch."

"Are you sure? I mean, we shouldn't waste time on—"

"Camille," Lori interrupted. "It would do us no more good to continue without our fullest effort than to not continue at all. Rest, even an hour is better than nothing."

This seemed to be enough reasoning for Camille, as she shrugged, laid out her blanket, and curled up on top of it. I watched out of the corner of my eye as she seemed to fall asleep in seconds. Amateur, I thought, can't even go twenty-four hours without sleep. I was pulled away from my snarky thoughts a moment later by something out the other corner of my eye: Lori had gotten up and started walking away. I stood up and jogged over to her.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm just going to this tree here." She stopped in front of a small tree—a sapling, really—and sat down. I checked to see that Camille was still in sight before I sat down next to her.

"Taking a mental image?" I asked.

"Er, no.. this tree just reminds me of something." We were silent for a moment, then a question came to mind.

"Do you trust us or not?

"What?"

"There are so many things you won't tell us, and yet you're out here risking your lives with us. What side are you on?"

"I find it ironic that you're questioning whether or not we trust you, yet it's clear that you, of everyone, are the least trusting."

"Huh, using my own arguments against me—I like it."

"Witty and snarky humor—I like it." She turned to me and grinned, then turned back to the sapling. "I do trust you Sides, but only because I know your intentions are pure and kind. You, however, I truly trust you."

"Wow, that is.. not what people usually say about me."

"What do they usually say about you?"

"Not that I'm trustworthy, I'll tell you that. Some people I meet in person think off the bat that I'm just an angsty teen, then some online Fanders think the Sanders Sides were just fine when there were only four of us, so... But hey, that's a story for another day."

"Looks like another day's gonna be jam-packed with stories."

"Heh, yeah, I guess it will be."

We sat and looked at the little tree for a couple more minutes before Lori asked, "what's the deal with you and Camille?"

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"You know, like, are you in a relationship? Are you just friends? One of those 'it's complicated' situations, even though it's usually not that complicated?"

I chuckled a little and said, "one of those 'it's complicated' situations, but this time it really is complicated. I mean, like, fortune-telling-and-murder level of complicated."

"Wow, you're right, that's complicated. Alright, you win, I crown you two Queens of Complication."

"Ah, why thank you, madam."

We both laughed that time, and, since I was sitting propped up by my arms which were behind me, I slid back a little. When I slid back, amongst the dirt and dead leaves on the ground, something far colder touched my fingers. I looked over and saw that my fingers had slid on top of hers, looking like an awkward, loose intertwine.

"Sorry," I said, pulling my hand away and sitting all the way up.

"It's alright," Lori said. "You're not the first one to accidentally slide their hand on top of mine, and you probably won't be the last."

And again, we both laughed.

Anthony's P.O.V.
Tori, Owen, and I had been walking silently for a few minutes before Tori suddenly said, "may we sit down and eat now?"

"In the middle of the forest?" Owen questioned. There are a lot of tree clusters in the Dark Imagination, and it just so happened that there's enough for all of us to have ended up in one.

"Well, yes, I was hoping you'd be alright with that. See, Lori is calling to me. Her group is eating at the moment, and she wishes to say grace with me."

"How's she talking to you?" Owen asked. "I don't hear her. Do you hear her, Anthony?"

"No, no," Tori replied with a laugh. "She's using telepathy, so I'm the only one that hears her right now."

"That's so cool!" Tori giggled at this response, apparently very amused by Owen's childishness.

"Well, if that's the case, then sure, we can eat now," I said. "Besides, we need to eat anyway and I don't think we should expect fresh food served on silver platters out here, so there's no point in waiting."

We laid out our food and starting eating after Tori had said grace. We didn't talk at all while we ate, so we were finished in just ten minutes or so, but I noticed Owen yawning a good bit and rubbing his eyes.

"You can go to sleep, you know," I said to him. "It won't do you or anyone else any good if you're tired."

"But don't we have to get going?"

"It'll be fine, Owen, just get a little nap in. Besides, it's not like we actually know where to go from here anyway." He giggled softly and took out a blanket, then laid down on it. "I'll look out for you while you sleep, alright?" He nodded, smiling wide, and closed his eyes.

"You have a very special bond," Tori whispered a few minutes later. I turned around to see her staring at Owen and I, smiling. "The compassion and care you both hold for each other, either in a romantic or platonic sense, it is beautiful. One does not need my abilities to sense your bond."

"Er... thank you..." I stammered. "What abilities would you be referring to? Your powers?"

"No. I bear many gifts, or powers, as you call them—magic, in simplicity—but I'm not talking about magic. I read auras, and I so happen to be empathetic as well. Auras and empathy are no magic, they are matters of spirit and emotion." Tori paused and smiled, a distant look in her eyes.

"You call magic by the name of powers. That reminds me... Lori loves to look at our magic as a curse. She simply says 'powers,' like you, or 'magic.' She blames magic for the deaths of our parents. She thinks that, if only Mother was without magic, we never would have had such powerful gifts and she would have been able to withstand childbirth. She thinks that Father would have lived to old age had he not used his gifts to protect us."

She paused again, and I silently hoped that this was not the end of her story, as I was fascinated by her every word. To my delight, she continued only a second later.

"I, on the other hand, see our magic as gifts. It was not magic that killed Mother, it was blood loss. Neither was it magic that forced us to scavenge for our bare necessities, it was bias, injustice, prejudice, and discrimination. We are blessed to have such rare abilities, such beautiful gifts. They are part of who we are, and we would not be whole without them."

Tori stared blankly into the distance before she seemed to snap out of her trance. She turned to face me and giggled, rubbing the back of her neck embarrassedly.

"Sorry," she said. "I sometimes go off on little tangents like that."

"Oh no, it's fine," I said. "I don't mind it. You have a very eloquent and refined way of speaking, and I rather enjoy it. It's been a while since I conversed with anyone who spoke that way... Really, it's been a while since I conversed with anyone at all. That is, if you set aside all the time I've spent planning and such."

"You miss Roman very much."

"I do." I said it before I even thought about it, but I said it nonetheless, and I meant it. It was the first time I had really said that I missed Roman. Oh, how do I explain this? He is to me like Virgil is to Milly, or Patton to Camille, or Logan to Owen. Roman was there for me from the beginning, teaching me about being a Side, about what all the others were like, making sure I wasn't left out of the group.

I missed the way he talked, how he would randomly burst out singing, and how he was always cracking jokes. I missed how much he loved talking about himself, how he put so much time into doing his hair, and how he always had the coolest clothes and accessories. I missed how he smiled at Virgil, how he laughed with Patton, and how he bantered with Logan. I missed how much he cared about everyone, even though he wasn't prone to showing it, and how he always tried to protect us. I missed everything he did, everything he was. I missed him.

"It's okay to be doleful," comforted Tori. "It will do you no good to suppress your emotions. Trust me, Anthony, I know firsthand what pent-up emotions do to people, and it is neither beneficial nor pleasant."

"Thank you," I said. "But I assure you I'm quite aware of that. It is following this advice, however, that is not so simple."

"Understood. Again, I have firsthand knowledge of this topic."

After that, we didn't say anything else. Tori fell asleep about ten minutes later, leaving me to spend the rest of the time alone. Though I was terrified that something would show up out of nowhere while they slept, there was no one around. The only sound was the quiet breathing of Tori and Owen and the soft rustling of dead leaves. After some time, I checked my phone and saw that the hour of sleep was coming to an end. I stood up and went over to Owen, who was curled up in a ball on his blanket.

"Wake up, Owen," I whispered, shaking his arm a little to wake him up. His eyes fluttered open daintily, sending a dainty flutter through my stomach.

"Hey, Anny," he whispered tiredly. "Is it time to start searching again?" I nodded, and he sat up, rubbing his eyes and stretching. While he started putting away his blanket, I went to wake up Tori. She was propped up against a tree, a slight smile on her face, her legs crossed, and her fingers intertwined on her lap. If I hadn't already known she had fallen asleep, I would've thought she was just sitting and relaxing.

"Tori," I said, tapping her shoulder. "Wake up, it's time to get going." She opened her eyes, turned to look at me, and smiled.

"Thank you for waking me," she said.

"Thank you for talking with me," I replied.

"My pleasure," we said in unison.

We packed up our things and started walking in a random direction, only for Owen to ask, "where are we going?"

"I have no idea," I answered. "Tori, do you know where we're going?" She shook her head. "Well then, I guess we'll just go this way until we see something worth searching."

"What plans we have," Tori joked. "Never knowing where to go or what to do next. Any more clueless and we may not even know what we're looking for." Owen laughed, then silence fell over us.

For the rest of the day we walked aimlessly, searching for something to search, but there was nothing. The Dark Imagination was a desolate wasteland, to put it simply. There was nothing but dead grass and dead trees for as far as we could see. Hour after hour passed by with nothing and no one, and eventually, we decided we had better start going back towards the door to meet up with Milly, Camille, and Tori. But halfway to the door, just a few minutes after 4:30 in the morning, Owen took out his phone and gasped.

"What is it?" Tori and I both asked. Owen held out his phone to us with an excited smile on his face. On the screen, in a little text bubble on the left, we're the words, 'Roman is in the Imagination.'

A.N.
YEAH, who's excited to know where Roman is?! Yeah no, that's a bad start... Who's ready to see what comes next? Nope, that's worse... Whatever guys, I'm going on another trip this weekend which is why I'm publishing early.

Anyway, on to the part of this author's note that I actually give a rat's donkey about. I got my hair done yesterday! I was only supposed to get it cut but I ended up getting the color touched up a little so now it's a dark purple with some brown instead of blue with purple stripes. I would show some pictures but I just can't get the right lighting anywhere to see any color.

Anyway, I'll see you guys Monday in the next chapter. Adiós, guys, gals, and non-binary pals.