Emira had fought her discomfort during all of the drive. She had forced herself to smile so as not to tarnish the joy that made Kipo stomp in her seat. It wasn't an easy task and sometimes her eyes just couldn't lie. Fortunately, DT was sitting with their sister and laughing with her, taking her attention away from the front seats.

Every now and then Emira had observed Edric out of the corner of her eye and he seemed to be facing the same anguish as her. It had been this way for two hours now, since they had wanted to wake DT with a joke. It was the twins who got shocked...

The Blight twins had woken up quite early. Hugo still resting in Emira's room, they had shared Edric's while DT and Kipo dozed off on the sofa. So when the twins left the bedroom and saw the changeling's head resting on the couch, Edric had subtly signaled his sister to remain silent as he tiptoed into the living room. Seeing how her brother was taking a deep breath, Emira assumed he was going to wake the sleepers with a loud scream, but any sound died on Edric's lips when he saw DT's face. The male twin turned pale until he seemed anemic. Panicked, Emira had joined her brother, but she had to put a hand to her mouth to stifle the screams that inspired her to see what she saw.

The Blight twins pretty much knew how their friend's powers worked. DT was not turning into someone else as you might think. Without going into detail, it was more of a kind of market paper disguise that came to surround their real body. But maintaining this disguise required concentration. For example, when DT was asleep, they would automatically return to their true appearance.

When DT collapsed in front of the door with Hugo on their back, the twins panicked and immediately led them into the bedrooms so they could rest. Then, the next morning, DT woke up at dawn, completely panicked imagining what had happened to their sister. So when the twins walked into the living room for their joke, it was the very first time they had seen their friend's real appearance. And they weren't ready for that...

DT's face was a pure carnage. Strewn with scars of all shapes. Some were long cuts while others were large bulges of a darker color, like severe burns. There was even a particularly terrifying wound on their left eye, a cut starting at the upper eyelid and going up to the hairline. The scar was so large that it kept the eye from closing completely and a small area of ​​white remained visible.

The twins knew, or at least they thought they knew... For years DT had told them how they took on the appearance of Kipo or Hugo as soon as their mothers got angry. The changeling could not replace their siblings during the experiments because the DNA would denounce them on the spot, but for all that was simple violence, they took all the punches. However, DT had always refused to go into details. They reassured the twins by saying that they were removing the scars. But at that moment, the Blight twins finally understood all the horror of the Weaver basement, and also what had prompted DT to run away despite the terror their mothers inspired in them...

On the arms that hugged Kipo's small sleeping body against them, DT had absolutely horrible burns, so terrible that it was no wonder they would not disappear. On each arm, three black lines, one inch wide to half an inch digging in the flesh. There were "the scars that won't go away". These brands that would forever distinguish DT's disguises from their siblings. What had prompted them to flee, knowing that they could no longer protect them...

Both Edric and Emira were quickly back to their room, knowing they weren't supposed to see this. DT did not hide these marks for no reason...

The twins stayed on their bed, silently digesting what they had seen, for easily 15 minutes, before hearing Kipo laugh. Only then did they return to the living room. They greeted DT and Kipo as happily as they could. Kipo, true to herself, had vigorously waved to them. DT on the other hand, had only addressed a weak 'hi' to them. The changeling had returned to their usual face and created a black long-sleeved sweater to hide their arm. However, the sad look they gave the twins revealed the truth. DT knew. They knew that the twins had seen the secret they wanted to hide from them...

"Is it here?"

Kipo's candid voice pulled the twins out of their thoughts. Indeed, the car had just entered Brightmoon's parking lot. Edric was the first to return to his jovial smile as he turned to the back seats.

"Yup! This is where we work to make children happy. And you too will have fun with the others."

Kipo got out of the car and ran excitedly to the building, DT at her heels.

As Emira unbuckled her belt, she felt her brother's gaze on her and looked up to see Edric with a serious look he only rarely took.

"Don't forget to smile, sis."

Smile... That was Edric's answer to all the problems. Replace worries with laughter and fun. In general, Emira did not entirely like this approach and preferred to get to the bottom of the problem to support those who needed help. But this time she had to admit that her brother was right. Kipo had dreamed of freedom for years. The day when she could finally have fun without fear had finally come and they had no right to darken her happiness with their worries. So when the Blight twins got out of the car to join their friends at the entrance, they both had a big smile on their faces.

After a short walk down a short hallway, the small group came to a large double-leaf door that the twins openned without hesitation. They then found themselves in a very large room where twenty children aged from 3 to 7 were having fun in small groups. Some were drawing, others were assembling structures with wooden blocks and a few had gathered in front of a TV to watch a cartoon. None had noticed the arrival of the new group.  Tought, with the noise of twenty toddlers, all talking and laughing at the same time, the door opened and closed without being heard. The Blight twins were used to this spectacle and had a very specific way deal with it. Raising their hands to the ceiling, they smiled and let out a loud cry, using their illusion magic to materialize their words as color bubbles above their heads. 

"GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!"

This entrance which characterized them so well attracted the attention of all the children present and almost every of them was in a hurry to join them. Only one or two timid remained behind.

"Hi Ed!"

"Hello Emy!"

"You play with me?"

Without a doubt, they were all delighted to see the twins. And the twins were delighted to see them too. They made mirages of balloons, strange animals or even fictional characters. It was obvious that they didn't see it as work and enjoyed it a lot.

Suddenly, a small pink flash appeared near the twins and a young woman with a slightly tanned skin and pink hair appeared in front of them.

"Hello Lokies! Ready for the day?"

"Hi Sparkles" Edric replied, laughing.

"I hope you wont mind but we brought  friends" Emira added, smiling.

Sparkles, or her real name Glimmer, looked behind the twins and finally saw the two surprise guests.It only took Kipo's adorable smile two seconds to melt the animator's heart.

"Hi you!" Glimmer smirked, teleporting in front of the little one with an angelic smile. "What's your little name sweetie?"

"I'm Kipo!" she replied, looking at Glimmer with stars in his eyes.

"And I'm her sibling. The name's Double Trouble."

The changeling had accompanied their presentation with a bow worthy of a prince, drawing a laugh from their sister and a smile from the young woman.

"Nice to meet you two! So Kipo, you came to have fun?"

"Yup!" replied the little one, nodding happily.

"Great!"

Glimmer then turned for a moment to speak to Emira.

"The older ones are outside with Scorpia and Perfuma. Could you take care of here until I get back?"

"Sure thing!"

Reassured, Glimmer put one hand on Kipo's shoulder and the other on DT's, assuming they would like to take a look at how their sister was doing before they left.

"Hang on. Here we go!"

There was another pink flash and the three of them found themselves in the outer courtyard. This time there were easily 30 or 40 children. Most were grouped together in a soccer game but some seemed to be playing cat a little further.

Having noticed the arrival of Glimmer, a woman moved away from the football field to come to greet them. She was sturdy, had short white hair, and was a scorpion-type Terrian.

"Hi Sparkles. Do we have a new friend?"

" Yes. Here is Kipo."

Scorpia leaned down so that she could look the little one in the eye and gave her her best smile. It wasn't a grin like the twins', or an excited smile like Glimmer's. It was simply a calm, tender smile that could reassure anyone.

"Hello Kipo. You can call me Scorps. Do you want to come and play soccer with us? You can also go and play cat with the others. The blonde lady with them is Flora."

"I wanna try soccer!"

Kipo was already rushing towards the field, laughing. She seemed in heaven.

Scorpia hastened to follow her as DT watched them tenderly.

"Do you mind if I stay a bit to watch them?"

"Not at all" Glimmer replied. "I have to go back to my group though. See ya!"

Glimmer teleported and DT went to a seat to watch their sister having fun with kids her age for the first time in her life.

The courtyard was quite large, as was the building. Without being huge, the entire property was almost the same size as a standard elementary school. It wasn't all that surprising when you knew Brightmoon was actually an foster center. During the summer, they hired a few students to act as animators and turned the place into a day camp. This maneuver had two purposes. The first was to raise funds to offer various goods to the orphans. The other was simply to allow children who resided at the center full time to socialize with other children. It was a way of breaking down the barriers that most orphans developed with strangers and also made it possible to sensitize the children not knowing their situation.

In general, animators like Glimmer or the Blight twins looked after the younger ones. All smiling and funny, they offered fun to everyone. For older children, trust was sometimes more difficult to establish, especially for orphans. It was for this reason that the permanent employees of the center were in charge of the older groups. Scorpia and Perfuma, nicknamed Flora, were both 25 and had worked at the center since graduating. The couple had tender hearts and the children adored them.

DT didn't know about all these details. They only knew what Edric and Emira had told them, that Brightmoon was an foster center where other children could come and have fun during the summer. But as they saw Kipo laughing with all her heart, stringing together passes with her team, they knew this place was perfect for her.

Kipo even seemed to have befriended two girls in particular already. One had dark skin, long black curly hair, and wore a thin gray jacket with a wolf's head on the back. The other had pale skin, short dark blue hair, and wore a much warmer jacket.

DT may not know their names, but Scorpia who was in the field, saw a beautiful friendship starting between Kipo, Wolf and Frosta.