Alexander sighs as he idles in the kitchen, drinking a cup of tea while Fae has been preparing the transport circle in the middle of the living room. Starlight is sipping coffee next to him with a concerned look on her face.

"That's your fifth cup this morning alone... Anyone would think you're nervous about heading into a mostly unexplored realm of limitless magic and familiars..?" She states, with a slight nervous chuckle.

"I am... I don't expect it to be easy but I fully believe it'll be dangerous with Ventus... I don't know the kind of reputation he has in his home." Alexander explains finishing his mug before putting it in the sink.

Starlight hums idly while feeding Stephan with her magic making him a light turquoise colour, "What about the radio communication we had to set up next to the sofa? Who's going to coordinate all that?"

Alexander walks back through to the living room, Starlight following with the slime in her hands, "I was hoping you'd do it, to be honest."

Starlight laughs for a second before wearing a deadpan expression, "You're an ass leaving me behind to deal with your responsibilities."

"Someone has to cover for me while I'm in there... Better you than other people. How long will the transport circle be, Fae?" Alexander asks as the girl stands up, brushing herself off.

"W-well, it's practically done. You just need to activate it now and jump I suppose... The spellwork is solid but without having done this before, I can't promise any results." Fae explains with a light sigh before Alexander pets her head making Starlight squeeze Stephan a little.

Taking a couple of steps back, Alexander uses his snap technique to start channelling Ventus' magic to the transport circle, making it glow. Within a couple of seconds, a portal opens up above the circle in the form of a swirling mass.

"Right... Wish me lu-" Before Alexander could finish his sentence, Starlight pushes him through the portal before throwing Stephan to Fae who fumbles the slime a little.

"Hold down the fort for us~" She states, jumping through herself, shortly after which it closes.

Fae stands there in the middle of their dorm, looking around then down at the slime in her arms, giving a light sigh. "Oh, dear..."

Meanwhile, Twilight is being held in one of the ritual rooms below the Nightmare Force dorm of operations. Shackled by shadow cuffs and her horn nulled by the shadow ring Maestro placed on it when capturing her. Still attempting to magic her way out, it only ends up fizzling and dying due to the ring making her sigh. After several more attempts at the same action, the mare notices a small light heading in her direction from where she was brought in. Upon getting closer the approaching figure is revealed to be Edward.

"I'd ask what you're doing here, but the more pressing question in my mind right now is... A towel? Really? That was your on the spot disguise idea? Just from looking at that other woman it was plain to see you lacked the same style... Not exactly sure what's up with your uniform either." Twilight asks and explains with a deadpan unimpressed expression.

It pained Edward to see Twilight in such a dilemma, however, he couldn't reveal his colours just yet, not knowing if the room was being monitored or not. Looking around, he tried to see if there are any cameras around the ceiling or corners of the room. "It will all be explained at a later time, but for now, I'm sure you have questions for me other than the ridiculous disguise," Edward explains leaning against the wall.

"Oh, I figured that appalling disguise was the most pressing... The other potential questions make me a tad angry when thinking about them considering how many days and sleepless night both Tara and I spent looking for you, only to now learn you wear the colours of the Nightmare Force... When you consider these factors, you wonder if any answer would satisfy at all." She states before looking away, clearly extremely annoyed at Edward.

'Yep, she's mad....' Edward thought and chose his words carefully, "Well, when your stuck in a dark room where time seems to be... Non-existant, I don't think that I did feel the amount of time passing during the time I was missing." He explained, "After being convinced by Shadowfright, that I may have my revenge on Alexander, she wanted me to confront my... Nightmare self so to speak." He uses his earth magic to make a stone stool to sit upon, "I suppose you can put your thoughts together, Twilight or would you like for me to explain more?"

"So, instead of talking about it like proper friends... You decided revenge was a better route? Against Alexander of all people? I confess this disappoints me as I thought there was a stronger vibe to your friendship than this... Especially when he, himself, have been toiling on a way to make it up to you." Twilight explains, sighing as she stares in front of her at the wall.

"To be honest, if Alexander would've told me from the beginning that he had a Familiar that was banned causing me to not having one, then we wouldn't be in this mess." Edward says putting his hand over his heart, "Broken trust is what caused me to turn Twilight, I still..." He paused, frowned and cleared his throat, "I didn't want you to get involved, but my colleague thought it was a good idea." He smirks, "However, now I think it is a good one to lure either Starlight or Alexander. One will come after the other."

"From how I understand things, he promised his family not to tell anyone, would you betray your families trust so easily? I don't agree it was right not to tell you because of what happened at the year 2 summoning. From where I'm sitting, one of you is risking his life to fix something they consider precious to them, while the other is content to throw it away. I was actually growing really fond of you and the bond you shared with each other..." Twilight sighs even deeper, herself feeling betrayed as Edward casually sits on his stool.

'Kinda punches you right in the box, doesn't it? I bet she feels really betrayed right now watching you throw away the very ideal she's the princess for.' The voice snickers with an amusing sigh as they continue to watch the exchange.

It was dissolving in front of Edward, his potential relationship, Alexander's bond, and he's getting close to the point of no return. 'Shut it, Eddy.' He thought as his vision was welling up with tears, "When you had your trust upon someone for that long you see him as a brother, not a friend." Tears are now streaming down his cheek, "When you have a girlfriend who understands you and cares for everything you do, you become even more open." The ground shakes for a bit, "Then that girlfriend starts a war with your family... Then your 'brother' tells you a crushing truth... You feel helpless." The shaking stops as he gets up, "Not anymore..." He looks at Twilight and walks up to her. His hand cups her cheek as he whispers towards her ear, "I'm sorry, I'll try to make this right..." Pulling away, he wipes his face on the way out and closes the door behind him.

After Edward leaves, a pair of narrowed white eyes appear in the darkness, followed by a curved wicked smile that soon vanishes.

Author's Notes:

We're trying to stay on a roll, hopefully, the quality is still good. Trying to write and shuffle around things that are going on isn't easy, but we're trying our best. We hope you continue to enjoy!