Mall

Dewey gives some serious thought to just continuing to walk away, but with a resigned sigh turns around. “...Fine, but at the moment I’m less concerned with any of that and more with... well, the reason anyone else would go to a fortune teller, I suppose. I feel like I’ve hit a mental wall on what to do about the Vagus, and if this will help me form a better plan than ‘wait until another one shows up and hope that I’m in the right place to help this time’, then I’m not to proud to admit it.”

"Oh, I see, I see. Mareena may have a few ideas on that front. And you, Sam?"

Sam seems interested in what Dewey said about a Vagus. "Well it's just that I have so much personal stuff to talk about and would like to have some feed back from someone as wonderful and smart as the Great Mareena,". "But what's this Vegas thing Mr. Dewey is talking about?". "Are they a new type of creature thing from over there?" Sam asks.

“Weren’t you at the meeting we had recently to talk about them?” Dewey flips through his journal, finding the page with everyone’s code names and confirming her name on there next to one.

"Oh, she might have just been like some Ivy creeping on the wall..." Mareena says. "We're talking about the aether-suckers. The leeches. The creature that caused that massive release of wind aether. Those things?"

“The very same.”

"Oh right sorry Mr Dewey and Great Merenna,". "Honestly that meeting was such a blur,". "I felt personally responsible for putting everyone in danger,". "If I never had such a big fear of snakes,". "I would have never put you or my very special....I mean best friend in danger,". "Plus just everything going on I just been felling down lately," Sam says a little upset. "But wait the leeches thing,". "Oh right they caused that huge wind storm that one day because they were defeated,". "Sigh how do you guys do it?" Sam asks Dewey and Mareena. "Oh umm I am kinda of going all over the place now,".

"No, no, no!" Mareena says. She holds up a finger. "That windstorm was because ONE Vagus was defeated. To be fair, it was a particularly plump Vagus that had absorbed most of the aether from the wind realm... but still, they can do quite a bit of damage, no?"

“Which is exactly why we can’t just wait for them to gorge themselves and come to us. The draining of aether from the Other World and the violent expulsion in ours puts everyone at danger. Unless...”
The gears begin to turn in Dewey’s brain as he looks back up at Mareena.
“You spend quite a bit of time in Hinoh’s library, don’t you? I don’t suppose any of the books you’ve read detail the finer workings of aether?”

Sam is a bit down trodden about the conversation. Sam feels out of her element and just seems to be getting in the way again. Sam looks for a chair to sit on and when she sits down just sighs.

"It's fine, Sam. Let Mareena see... Yes, she knows a thing or two about aethology. What did you have in mind? Something along the lines of releasing opposed elements?"

“One possible solution, but I was thinking more along the lines of what would happen if that kind of surge were released somewhere already devoid of aether. At the very least it would minimize the result to somewhere that already isn’t populated, but is it possible the aether may eventually be absorbed into its surroundings and restore that part of the Other World? Still, even if that could work we’d need a way to get them there.”

Sam sits there and does her best to take in the conversation. Occasionally, just looking at the floor and looking at Dewey and The Great Merenna.

"Oh, yes. The lack of aether is exactly the problem faced in some places in the Otherworld. And the huge loss of Wind aether in particular is a problem it is unlikely to recover from. It wasn't always barren between the zones, you know. But with how much aether has been absorbed by the Vagus? Unless you wanted to hunt them in their own turf you would not find enough. Sam, what do you think?"

Sam doesn't answer.

"Fascinating. Unfortunately, Dewey, the aether's so thin out in the wastelands where most of the Vagus are hiding full of their tasty, tasty aether that Soul Keys don't function properly correctly. Now, if you didn't rely on aether, say you were using some kind of mechanical suit... that would work. Or... if you were to drag along a source of aether. Can either of you think of what that might be?"

Sam shrugs she feels useless here.

"What about the guardians of each area?" Sam kinda of just throws it out there

“You might be on to something there. Mind you there’s several of them living here in town without any real impact, but then none of them have ever tried to take on their true forms here, have they? That’d be a pretty risky theory to test though, ‘Giant snake woman spontaneously appears in city streets alongside oddly dressed teenagers’ seems like the kind of headline we’d want to avoid.”

"Well what about the Soul things they posses is that just pure Aether?".

“Probably a safer way to test this, yes. Theoretically we could rent out a storage shed or something to attempt to utilize one in secret.”

"I only know of Grant, Aunt Hinnoh and Ms Tia do you know any more guardians?". Sam starts to think of more stuff as her mind starts to kick start a bit. "Plus I feel like we need something more then a simple storage shed,". "If we are going to test this theory of the souls,". "It would have to be spacious enough for multiple people to fit,". "Someplace secure and secluded enough to draw any unwanted attention,". "Not so much the robot ninja people,". "But just normal people who don't anything about the other world,". "But where could we go to test a theory preferably in the real world,".

Mareena waves her hand. "Oh, just about anywhere would be just fine. Off in the mountains, on the beach at night, up on a high roof... the school, for example. And if they can supply aether enough in this world for a lot of people to transform at once instead of just a handful, surely they could work in the wasteland... as Sam suggested." Mareena taps Sam on the nose.

Sam blushes at Mareena tapping her on the news. "I do have a question about though,". "What happens to a guardian if they lose their soul?". "Is there any adverse effects to them?". "Like if we ask Ms. Tia or Mr Grant to help this experiment,". "Could it kill them?". "Losing a soul sounds very damaging,".

“I doubt we would need to outright take it from them, if anything they’re likely the best suited to the job of harnessing them. Still, if this does end up posing any sort of risk to them then we’ll call it off immediately.” Dewey remembers something. “There’s one other guardian I know of who might be able to help, Death. Although it may be best to only have Tia and Grant try it first, that way we don’t have to worry about bringing more guardians here with us without drawing Mercia’s attention.”

"Death?". "Wait the skeletal guy in the robe and the huge sythe that shows up when someone dies?". *Wait how is that possible to meat the Grim Reaper without being dead?". "Isn't it dangerous to even meet the Grim Reaper?". "How did you survive the encounter?".

Dewey shrugs. “Nobody had to die, we just met her in the Dark Labyrinth. Despite the intimidating name, she’s surprisingly friendly.”

"Huh the Grim Reaper is a female?". "How can you tell whether a skeleton was male or female?". "Also Dark Labyrinth what was that place like?". "Wait where do you find the portal?". "Did you have to go to the graveyard to go there?". "That sounds creepy". "Also how is the Grim Reaper friendly,". "Isn't it suppose to be scary and imposing and just like the very image of death,". "Isn't Death also the best friend of Dracula". "And Dracula is that evil vampire lord that shows up when someone summons him in that creepy castle of his,". "Wait your weapon might be a holy whip of something,". "And he takes souls,". "Oh no this Death figure is gather souls to give to it's evil lord,". "Unless Dewey your not already dead by the Grim Reaper are you?". "Maybe your soul bonded with your soul key,". "And we are seeing some soul/ghost version of Dewey?". Sam seems more shocked then anything like she can't believe what she's hearing about Death.

"Her domain is connected to the hospital, and she's got no relation to any other 'Death.' It's just a nickname she picked up."

Dewey gives an annoyed sigh. “Exactly. The guardians aren’t a 1 to 1 with their mythological counterparts, at least not unless you think Tia is a Libyan queen cursed by Hera who now eats babies or that Mercia is a messenger of God.”

"I mean up until the Beach I didn't really know the real Tia,". "The she turns into a giant snake lady,". "Plus how old is she really,". "She seems to be as old as me and you Dewey,". "But she could be thousands of years old,". "Heck up until I seen giant scary snake form I though she was a somewhat normal high schooler like us,". "Also I don't really know much about Mercia really,". "Maybe she is really a messanger of God?". "No one really explained what's her deal anyway,". "Hell I still don't grasp any of this stuff,". "I just found out Tia who is my friend is also a giant half snake lady,". "And snakes are one of my biggest phobias,". "So honestly I don't even know what to think about half this stuff anymore," "Obviously you and Ms. Great Boss Lady Mareena know more then me about what's going on,". "I am just some clueless girl who happened to be at the right/wrong place,". "At the wrong/ right time,". "Still not sure about alot of things,".

"Tia? Oh, she's about your age, yes."

Realizing that what he just said had pretty much the opposite impact as he intended, Dewey atttempts a gentler approach. “We were all clueless kids in the wrong place at the wrong time at some point, don’t worry about it.” Dewey looks over at Mareena. “Although I am curious about exactly how you know that. Come to think of it, when did you meet Hinoh anyways? You were already there the first time I discovered the portal, not to mention those feathers have been here ever since the first time I came here.”

"Oh, Hinoh and I grew up together." Mareena hops off her table and into Sam's lap. "Of course Mareena knows all about Hinoh."

“...I’m sorry, what?”

For some reason Sam isn't as surprised as she should be. "She does seem awfully connected to that world,". "Ms. Great Boss Lady Mareena is the reason I got my soul key,". "I wasn't sure how she knew about the world,". "I just kinda of just figured she's been exploring it or discovered it first before any of us or something like that,".

"Nope! Born and raised."

"Oh so your like Tia and Grant then?". "Are you a guardian also?". ",Umm of course you don't have to answer if you don't want to," Sam says.

"No, not quite. They're both Guardians. Mareena's just Mareena."

Dewey takes a moment to mentally reboot after this discovery that answers a lot of questions he didn’t even have before all of this, then stands up. “Well, on that note I think this has been a rather productive day. I’m going to go home now, get some homework done and see if I can process all of this. We got a little sidetracked and you never actually read my fortune, but since I took up your time it’s probably only fair that I pay you anyways. How many materials would you usually charge for a fortune telling?”

"For general advice? Just 1." Mareena says.

Dewey hands her a razor core, then leaves while trying very hard not to run into anything on his way home.

Sam is just heavily blushing at the fact that Mareena is sitting on her lap and it's starting to Dawn on her.

"Bye, Dewey! Now. Sam. What's on your mind, hm?"

Sam is still heavily blushing as it dawns on her that Mareena is sitting on her lap. Sam then takes a couple of moments to regain her composure. Sam then lazily leans her head on Mareena's shoulder "Ms Great Boss Lady,". "I think you know why I am here,". "But is it right for me to be here,". "Like I said being a teenager is hard at times,". "Plus your someone I can always trust and someone I consider close,". "But I am just clueless and blind when it comes to everything,". "Your always trying to help me,". "You saw something when I just about given up on myself,". "You were always so kind and nice to me,". "Yet now at this time,". "Sigh physical battles are easy,". "But what about when your battles are inside your head,". "Inside your heart,". "I mean I always found it calming and relaxing around you,". "Like right now I just don't want to leave,". "But if you want me to leave I can,".

"Hm? Oh, why would I want such a comfortable cushion to leave?" Mareena pats Sam on the head. "Why don't you tell Mareena what this fight is about."

Sam snuggles a bit closer and becomes a bit more relaxed around Mareena. "Before I begin about this current issue there's one thing I want to tell you,". "Then again knowing you Ms. Mareena you might already know. I could have even told you but I might have forgotten,". "It's something I only tell those I trust completely and those I really care about,". "Let me tell you why I moved to Vitcity for real,". Sam tells Mareena about what happened. About being shy as a kid because of her hair. How she first met two girls that would later become her closest friends About the friendship with her two friends Sarah and Rachel as a kid. How Sarah and her eventually dated when they got older and Rachel was their biggest supporter. How her once best friend Rachel went from basically being her sister to ignoring her. Then to being her biggest bully. How Sarah tried to stick up for Sam. But Sarah would get hurt really bad by Rachel. Sarah ended up moving and leaving. Sam snapping on her former best friend. Sam having a record but not having charged pressed because of her dad's and Racheal's dad being former best friends. Feeling like a curse and burden. "I wanted to tell you this because well now you know about me,". "I made some great friends who accepted me despite learning about that,". "I feel like your someone I could trust to tell and I wanted to tell you before I said anything else,". Sam says to Mareena

Mareena just continues patting Sam's head. "So what's bothering you now?"

Sam looks into Mareena's eye before staring off into the distance.The thin on my mind is that one of my best friends is acting weird?". "I want to help her but I can't help her at all,". "I feel like if I push I will push her away forever,". "But is doing nothing the best option,". "But then the issues of not being to help someone dear to me comes up,". "And this feeling of powerlessness washes over me again,". "Making me feel so useless,". "Then there is the guilt I feel about coming here". "Should I have come,". "I mean your not a button or switch or some magic wand to make everything better,". "Should I really be coming here and trying to figure it out,". "Is it really fair?". "Sigh sorry if this whole thing is awkward or strange,". "Part of me wants to know if I should help,". "Part of me thinks leave everything alone,". "Part of me really likes being here,". "Sigh I know I just complicating everything,". "Your a wonderful Mareena,". "Great Wonderful Mareena probably be better if I never entered anyone's life,". "Or if I was just normal," Sam just sighs.

"Who exactly are we talking about?"

"Raine," Sam says

"Oh, Raine, hm? I see, I see. Tell me. How much do you really know about Raine?"

"Honestly, I am not really sure at all a anymore,". "It would be one thing if she was just acting strange around me,". "But apparently, she's been acting funny around her twin sister and everyone else around her,". "Almost like a whole new person, or maybe just a side she never showed,". "I use to think she was kind and sweet ,". "She was able to give me a kick in the right direction if I was being overly hesitate,". "But now she's just pushing it seems like she is pushing everyone away,". "Other then having a twin sister,". "I think she said her or mentioned her dad worked for some company,". "Being the president of the Floral club and surprisingly strong,". "Then again I myself had a secret I kept to myself and only shared when I felt comfortable sharing it,". "So I don't know what to think at this point,".

"Oh? You think sweet, innocent Raine might be keeping some deep, dark secret from you?"

"Oh no it wasn't just me,". "Someone who I imagine be much closer to me has no idea,". "Her twin sister Freya had no idea why Raine was acting so different,". "Like she asked me the day I was going around apologizing to everyone about the beach incident,". "Freya seeme less concern with me having a severe panic attack during a battle,". "And more if I knew what was going on with Raine,". "When I told her no she seemed disappointed,".

"She's just trying to make you not feel so self-conscious about it."

"Self conscious about the panic attack or the secret or both?".

"The panic attack. You never told Freya your secret, did you? She wants you to think it's not a big deal."

"I remember I told you, Floyd and Raine about my secret,". "I think that's all but not too sure if I told Freya,". I appreciate her not making me feel even more self conscious about what happened,". "I know no one is mad at me about what happened,". "The only person holding it against me is myself,". "In the end no one got seriously hurt,". "Yet that's a part of why I feel bad and guilty,". "The other world can be dangerous if your not careful,". "The soul keys I know are connected to our emotions,". "Yet in that moment when I saw Tia just everything went blank,". "All I could remember was almost being killed by a snake and then just well I lost it,". "Raine and the others there managed to help me through the battle,". "But after we defeated the worm thing,". "My emotions got the better of me and I collapsed,". "Like trying to fight the worm and my biggest fear was so draining,". "Thankfully everything turned out okay but what if it didn't,". "What if I got someone hurt again". "What if I got someone killed because of my weakness,". "Those thoughts still creep into my head.

"Oh, good, someone that's actually taking the Otherworld seriously. Most people don't seem to realize how easy it would be to get hurt. What a good girl you are."

"Thanks...I think,". "So does that mean I should give up completely,". "I found out first hand how dangerous fear and anxiety can be,". "Like how do I put it,"."It's like take it seriously but don't fear it,". "Treat the other world with proper respect,". "Don't be like hey this soul key let's me do awesome things let's go all out,"."I guess you seen people or others who don't treat the Other World with respect and take it lightly,".

"Oh yes. It doesn't tend to end well. Let me see... Do you want to give up on the Otherworld? Do you want to give up on Raine?"

No on both cases,". On the otherworld side I had a massive panic attack when I saw Tia in her snake form,". "And Tia is someone who's a friend at the very least who only turned into giant half snake to protect us,". "I asked her if she could help me overcome my phobia of snakes,". "Next time I want to be ready,". "So I don't faint if I see Tia in her other form,". "Or heaven forbid we encounter snake like creatures which given some of the crazy stuff I seen I wouldn't be surprised,". "I feel like I owe it to everyone and myself to help get over or at least keep it under control enough the next time I am over there,". "Also someone need to explain to Tia what a Phobia is,". "I did a rather poor job of it,". "I think I did,". "Raine it's more complicated I feel like,". "I know we are friends at least,". "But well if she's suffering I want to protect her,". "She may not be suffering because of me,". "How can I be a friend if I can't help her in her time of need,". "But if I pry to much into something it may just cause things to be worse,".

"Mmmm, it's true. Raine seems to have a guilty conscience. Give her another few days to stew and you could probably pry her secret out of her... but before you do, you should be sure you're ready to hear it. And, more importantly, that Raine's the one you really want to be with."