So it seemed like during the time he was gone, there was no other Phantom attacks, humans wrecking havoc as usual, some war with the squirrels that Theo can't bring himself to comprehend, Flint coming back to spit non complimentary words at him for his absence, everyone's bunked beds turning to coffins for a period of time, and for some reason an intense battle with magic using chicken wings and cheeseburgers.

Just a typical day in Arcadia.

"Don't know who the Phantom was the other day, we." Hugo continued. "Wouldn't say, Oracle. Even Flint. Barrier still up and about, though."

"I see." Theo said but in a flat tone, still trying to shake his disbelief. While those events in Arcadia was pretty much normal, he still couldn't shake off the fact that he was gone for four days. He could have sworn he was in that crazy Reality for about fifteen to twenty minutes, not days. Then again, Delic had warned him that each Reality has a different flow in time.

Still, four days?

"Your turn, now." Hugo said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You, where were? Your sleeve is torn, why? From top to bottom, explain."

Three pairs of eyes settled on Theo and he couldn't help squirm a bit under their gaze. Hugo looked troubled while the new girl, Melita looked a little confused and lost. Psyche looked just as if she was studying him, trying to figure him out but can't seem to be able to.

Regardless, he told them everything he could remember. The funny thing was he left out certain things without planning to. He didn't mention about the guy who stabbed him with that ivory dagger, or the fact that his imaginary friend Joshua was there. It was as if he just couldn't mention those things. Whenever he tried to, Alazne's voice whispered, Not that part. Be silent.

Once he was done, he glanced at them to find Hugo and Melita looking at him with awe while Psyche's expression morphed into concern.

After several seconds of uninterrupted silence, Psyche seemed to grow impatient as Theo sensed angry vibes emanating from her. She extended out one hand towards him, palm wide open. Theo stared at it, no doubt looking dumb in the process but he couldn't decode what she was trying to convey, and he had prided himself as the master of solving everything.

"The book." A new voice, Melita spoke. He turned to see her pointing at the very book in his hands.

"She's asking for the book. You said the spirit is in there right?"

Before Theo could respond, said book jumped open, flipping several pages before stopping to an empty page. All four of them huddled close as words started to emerge in the pale, yellowed page like imprints of a burning stamp.

I have a name you know

To this, Melita seemed to shrink to herself and look flustered. Through her dark skin, Theo could see a light little blush dusting her cheeks, making him deduce that Melita is a girl who was easy to shy.

"Your name, what is?" Hugo asked, snapping Theo out of his thoughts. The elf was looking at book as he said it, not at all perturbed at the fact he was talking to a book. Regardless, the words disappeared and was replaced with letters but, before it was fully formed, Theo almost jumped out of his skin when Psyche spoke.

"Loukas." She said with nonchalance. "L.O.U.K.A.S. His name is Loukas."

As if for confirmation, the letters faded away and 'What she said' appeared in the page instead.

"You know him?" Theo asked without thinking before biting his tongue. Of course she knew. She was the one who gave him the bell in the first place.

As if sensing his realization or not wanting to address his apparent sheer stupidity, Psyche ignored him and extended out her hand again, gesturing him to give the book.

For a moment, Theo was hesitant. After all, it was Alazne's book, the only clue he had to knowing what happened in her final moments and to the children under the crimson leaved tree. He didn't want to lose it as soon as he got it. However, deep inside, he wanted trust Psyche, to convince her that he wasn't like the others who cowered away from her and treated her like dirt.

So gulping nothing but air, he placed the book on her hand. To his relief, she didn't give the cover a second glance and just placed her hands on both sides of it. Then she pushed her hands together, as if trying to compress the book smaller like squishing a slinky spring.

"Speaking of which." Hugo spoke, breaking the ice as Psyche continued to try pressing the book smaller. The elf turned to the silent girl and raised both his green eyebrows where it disappeared into his beanie hat.

"Here, why are you?" He asked, before adding. "Not that you aren't allowed."

Now that Hugo said that, Theo found himself wondering the same thing. This was Psyche after all, the girl who spent most of her time scouting and patrolling around in the forest. Even when Hugo told her she was allowed to be in their cabin months ago, not once had she even visited to greet them a simple hello. So what made her be present in the cabin? Did she finally opened up to them, or was there another reason?

"I heard Loukas calling for me here." Psyche said with a shrug. To this, Theo did a double take.

"Loukas calling?" He asked. "But he was with me in that other Reality I was in."

Psyche pursed her lips tight together to a thin line. "I am not mistaken. I heard him here, calling for help."

There was a finality in her tone that made Theo wince. He turned to the others who looked both startled and puzzled at the same time. Judging from their expression, Theo could tell that they both did not heard such a thing, but he also knew that Psyche, while antisocial, was not a liar, well most likely at least. He didn't really know her, but she doesn't strike as the type to lie.

Maybe when Loukas said he was trying to call his Mistress, he was somehow was able to transmit his... signal, whatever thing he does to Arcadia. Psyche picked it up, but couldn't locate where it was coming from. Theo wasn't sure, and he knew he was going to have a headache if he thought about it any further.

"What's that?" Melita spoke all of a sudden and Theo turned where the girl was pointing. At first glance, he didn't see anything other than Psyche doing... whatever thing she was doing but when he inspected closer, he let out a cry of surprise to see something white and luminous squeezing itself out between the gaps of the pages.

It wriggled to and fro, its thrashing going more frequent as it grew larger in size. With a pop, Theo jumped when the luminous thing shot out and ricocheted around the room.

He heard Melita squeaking and Hugo yelling out more foreign profanities as he pinned Melita down with his body to shield her from any attacks. Theo himself squatted down, shielding his head with his hands in case the bouncing white thing strikes him. That was when at the corner of his eye, he saw Psyche raised one hand and plucked the object out of thin air, halting its movements.

Still a bit taken aback with the turn of things, Theo and the others looked up, breaking out of their air thin shelter. Theo leaned in closer to find it was a sphere of white light, a spirit from the looks of it if he compared that to what he had seen in several encounters with Psyche.

It bobbed up and down in glee, as if happy from being freed from the clutches of Alazne's book and from a distance, it radiated that tingling warmth that he was so accustomed to. This must be Loukas.

Psyche placed the book down and covered Loukas with both hands, closing her fingers together as if in a prayer. She muttered something in what Theo assumed as Old Latin, well from what he could catch her saying that is.

The light in her hand soon dimmed down and Theo began to grow worried about several things at once when Psyche opened her hands wide out again. There, laying bare, was a blue bell that Theo was certain was shattered before, and right beside it... a dark, glossy, chocolate ball?

His suspicions were confirmed when Psyche plucked the bell out with one hand and popped the other sphere in her mouth with the other. She chewed it several times and just when she was about to swallow, Theo was transported back to the past where they met for the first time in the Forest of the Dead.

"People are like chocolates."

Psyche, she had said that and now, Theo couldn't help that there was an even deeper meaning behind those words, concealed beneath multiple layers that it's impossible to get without digging. It was a puzzle, and the gears in Theo's brain started to go overdrive. That phrase, that puzzle, he will solve it sooner or later.

"Know what you did, I don't, but that was disgusting." Hugo said, breaking the awkward silence that laid down on them. To Theo's amusement, Psyche had the nerve to huff at the elf before tossing the blue bell towards him. He caught it and sighed in relief when he felt the familiar tingle of warmth spreading through his hand. His companion was safe and sound.

Then things turned weird from that point on.

"You." Hugo said, authority ringing in his voice as he pointed, more like jabbed a finger at Psyche's direction. The girl just stared at it before looking up to meet the elf's gaze.

"Need to talk, you and I." The elf continued as he pointed a thumb to the doorway. "Some things need to be clear, there are."

Theo watched as a look of surprise flash in his Scabbard's features before she returned to her icy shell of composure and nodded.

"Where are you going?" Theo asked as Hugo stood up with Psyche following soon after. He watched as they walked towards the door with Psyche disappearing out first.

"Won't be far from here, we." Hugo said in a reassuring tone. "Private matters is all. Something I should had done long ago, it is."

From the determinations in his eye, Theo didn't have the heart to say anything but nod. The elf gave him a wry smile before he turned to Melita. Theo didn't know what their story was, but he could see a silent conversation was going through their eyes alone, indicating that they are close and knew each other well enough that they didn't need words to express themselves.

When Melita gave a soft smile and a nod, Hugo returned the smile with a grin and disappeared through the door, leaving Theo and Melita, all alone.

A heavy silence settled over them, thicker than the uneasy tension in the atmosphere. Theo tried to look her in the eye but was quick to avoid catching the other's glances that passed by. He shifted in his spot, sweating with nerves. At the same time, he is dumbfounded at how wound up he was.

He had almost got out of Obsidian's Wonderland without a scratch, he dove right into the belly of a Shadow, he fought alone against five bulky humans, he faced another Shadow and survived that with a few scratches.

Yet, being alone in the same room with a girl he doesn't know well enough was enough to make his stomach turn to jelly.

"...So, how did you and Hugo meet?" Theo began, his attempt to keep things light already waning.

"Um... Uh..." Melita began, fidgeting in her spot and glancing everywhere but him. "I s-sort of went into this magical train by accident and then it got sabotaged. T-Then we had to play this deadly game and um... it's a looong story."

Theo blinked before nodding with a bit of uncertainty. He didn't press any further though because looking at the new girl, he could tell that she was uncomfortable to bring about that encounter to light. Heck, if someone were to ask how he had met Psyche, he would be sweating bullets too.

Also, Delic had mentioned that all the students in their cabins are special children who encountered Obsidian somehow or another. This train trip, that sabotage, it must have something to do with Obsidian. Perhaps the girl met Obsidian face to face. If that was the case, Theo knew to respect her boundaries. Even he didn't feel like reminiscing the events in that carnival known as Wonderland.

He wondered if the man he turned into a hen turned out okay in the end. He never really got the chance to ask.

Regardless, now that he was in front of her, it was easier to observe the girl's eyes. They were so much like his childhood friends, that it unnerved him a bit. If he were to describe them, Theo would say he was staring at Drake's reflection, despite everything else in Melita's appearance look nothing like Drake.

Even so, as silly as it sounded, Theo couldn't help but feel that this girl and his childhood friend was connected somehow or another.

"It's weird isn't it?" The girl spoke, making Theo blink.

It was only then he realized he must have been staring because Melita raised one hand to cover her bright blue eye, where the white patch of skin was. It didn't take a stroke of genius in Theo to figure out that Melita was talking about her heterochromatic eyes and that he had made her feel insecure. Thirty seconds in and he was already making a fool of himself, hardy har har.

"Sorry, I wasn't staring because it was weird." Theo started, before cursing under his breath. That was not what he wanted to say.

"I mean, it's not weird, strange maybe." When Melita's eyes widened, Theo blanched. "No, that's not what I mean. Strangely unique! Unique as in never seen another person with eyes like that. No wait, that's a lie. I mean! I did meet someone like that but that doesn't mean you are unique! I mean NOT unique! I once swallowed a chewing gum thinking I should but when mom told me I shouldn't I thought I was going to die so I cried and begged my mom to call a doctor to get it out and mother of monkey milk I continued to cry till I fell asleep."

This time, it was Melita's turn to blink. "What?"

"Nothing!" Theo said at once, biting his tongue before he could run his mouth and prolong his agony. However, he knew the damage was already done when the corner of the girl's lips tipped up and a giggle escaped from her. She gasped a bit, staring at him wide eyed but like a dam breaking open, Theo hung his head down low in shame when laughter bubbled out of the her.

"You babble when you get nervous." Melita said a while later, nodding while Theo sighed. He resisted the urge to tell her 'No klank Sherlock' but held himself back. It was not her fault that he babbled like a drunkard with one too many shots. Plus, if Hugo heard him say that, as her Scabbard, Theo being his friend may not save him from being fried to a roasted duck.

"Ah yea, sorry about that."

"No it's fine." Melita replied while beaming him a kind-hearted grin. "I think that helped break down the awkwardness we had just now."

"If you say so." Theo said back but he could tell she was right. The tension in the atmosphere dissipated away and now he found it easier to talk to her as the nerves in his stomach soon ceased to exist. Perhaps his babbling curse had can do some good after all.

"Do you have any siblings?" Theo found himself say. For a moment, he watched her frown before she shook her head.

"No, why?"

"Your eyes remind me of someone I know." Theo said without thinking. "He has one blue eye and one black eye too. But in his case it's the reverse."

This time, the girl's frown lingered. While astonished with the reaction, Theo was about to ask if he said something wrong when she beat him to it.

"You are the second person to say that."

"...Really?" Theo asked, feeling a little stupid as he said so. However, Melita didn't seem to mind as she nodded.

"Before I accidentally went to the train, I met a stranger who said he has a classmate with eyes like mine." Melita said. "At first I thought it was coincidence as heterochromia, while rare, is something that exist. But now that you said it... I wonder..."

Theo couldn't think, but he felt his mind spinning in excitement.

"Did he say that guy's name?" Theo asked, heart in his throat. It couldn't be, could it?

"No he didn't." Melita said and Theo's mood plummeted. "Even if he did, I don't remember. It was about half a year ago. Why? Is that person a friend of yours?"

Theo didn't feel like being secretive, so he told her about Drake, how he met him through a magician that lead them to an abandoned area that was now their safe haven. He told her about how they hit it off straight away and came there almost every day to see the magician and his tricks. He told her about Drake, who was good with his feet in soccer and could shoot the ball with frightening accuracy, how he always let out a war cry whenever he was giving a finishing kick which earned him the nickname 'Dragon'.

As he said all of this, Theo felt a little blue, missing his childhood friend more and more, but at the same time he felt the weight on his shoulder's lightened. He hadn't told anyone about Drake, the magician or their sanctuary other than his own mother and he only shared bits and pieces of it to Oracle.

He hadn't even told it to Hugo, who has been his friend for a good couple of months. However, the elf never shared anything personal, so Theo respected that by doing the same. Even so, it felt good to talk it over with Melita.

Theo felt his cheeks flame when he noticed he revealed all of this to a girl he just met. No doubt, he must have bored the girl with all this information, but to his disbelief, Melita was smiling throughout the entire conversation. She showed no indication that she was disinterested with the fraction of his backstory, nor did she stop him from continuing.

"He sounds like the bestest friend I could ever ask for." Melita said once he finished his tale, making him smile.

"He really is but sadly I lost contact with him for a long time now."

"A pity." Melita added to which Theo could only nod in agreement.

"Anyway." Theo began, looking for another subject when a question popped in his mind. "What kind of special ability do you have?"

"Special... ability?" Melita said with a hint of uncertainty in her tone.

"Yea." Theo said, shrugging. "This cabin is for special kids. I can do weird magic, Hugo, while not his fault, has poison running in his veins and Psyche..."

Theo faltered. Could he say that his Scabbard was a Shadow? Was that a secret? Or something that everyone knew already? No, Hugo wasn't aware that Psyche was a Shadow, a Necronite, till that Phantom attack four days ago. Did Theo have the right to tell though? Melita seemed like a sweet girl with no bitter bone in her body. Though, will Psyche like that?

"... She's pretty powerful in her own special way." Theo finished, not quite happy with his wordings but satisfied nonetheless.

"U-Um... it's weird I guess." Melita said, shifting in her spot again as her eyes darted everywhere. Theo bit his tongue. Once again, he made her feel uncomfortable. How to make up for that now?

"...Believe me, I seen weirder stuff here." Theo said as he thought about the Oracle with the white box in his head and the humans who turned to wolves in the morning and a Lillin in the night.

Nevertheless, this seemed to shake Melita out of her insecurities as she glanced at him, not looking away .

"I can sort of... dispel magic." She said, her voice just above a whisper. "T-That's how Hugo doesn't look so sick anymore. I am dispelling his curse just by... being there."

A heartbeat, then two.

"You dispel magic." Theo repeated while feeling numb. A haunting suspicion came to mind as he recalled how Hugo stiffened at one point in a History Lesson or how he always seemed to avoid describing Melita whenever Theo brought her up. Thinking back, it made sense now and while Theo had no problems with what he deduced, he still felt unsettled as something did not sit right with him. He soon figured out why.

"Like... Like the Golden Child?" He asked, just to make sure.

"That's what the Phantoms and Shadows called me." Melita said, looking away and that's when Theo felt out of touch with the Reality he was in. He was lost in a sea of his thoughts, confused and frightened.

The Golden Child, she was a girl that Alazne met in her time and now, there she was again, in Theo's timeline. Like Theo, Melita looked nothing like the Golden Child Alazne knew, but at the same time, Theo wondered if Melita was a reincarnation of her or not.

That scary looking fish teacher had said it was impossible for two reincarnated souls to meet. Perhaps Melita just happened to be the Golden Child? The history teacher did mention that Golden Children appeared once in aeons or so. Still, to meet one again in his present life, Theo couldn't help but feel this whole thing, fate itself, being manipulated somehow, that tragedy was repeating itself all over again. It felt wrong but...

It felt right too. Why?

Author's note: Sorry for the loooong wait guys. I've been busy with school and oh God my health has been down in the drain these days. I have to eat like six pills a day now (both mental and physical) and its wearing me out. That's not excuse to why I am late update though I suppose. So I wrote three part chapters instead of two. Also, since I couldn't have the chance before, I would like to dedicate this chapter to Beautifully-mixed for doing a book review of this and rating this as fantastic (sorry that this is super late though.) Your review really made up my day and still do now.

Oh, and don't forget to vote!