I stepped out into the Academy grounds, feeling a little bit apprehensive as I left a small changing room in an auxiliary building, stepping into the courtyard. The sun shined brightly in the sky above me, and I squinted, shielding my eyes. There were people all around me, moving about their business as they walked, talked, or ran across the grounds.

It was a surreal feeling, transforming from Lux to... plain ol' Sienna. My costume had vanished into thin air, my strawberry blonde locks had been restored to its original dark brown coloration, and my skin was paler and less healthy than the healthy glow Lux had.

It felt almost like stepping into another dimension, and it was a bit jarring if I had to be honest.

I pulled up my hoodie, feeling the cool breeze brush against my face. The soft fabric of my clothing was comforting against my skin, and the weight of it made me feel a bit less self conscious.

But despite that, it was a bit disorienting, too.

It wasn't just the sudden change in my physical appearance or even how different the weather was, it was... everything.

The world felt so different, so foreign.

I sighed and looked up at the clear, blue skies, taking a moment to breathe it all in. The fresh air was crisp and clean, and the smell of trees wafted through the air. It smelled like nature and sunshine, which was a bit unnatural for an enormous northeastern city like Kaleidoscope City. The Cataclysm had changed the landscape a bit.

Juuust a bit.

I took another deep breath, trying to calm myself down and shake the weird feelings off.

I looked down at my phone, checking the time. It was a few minutes past ten in the morning, and I was supposed to meet Ichigo at noon. That gave me just a bit under two hours to figure out what to do next.

"Where are you, Al?" I whispered.

I sighed and tapped my foot impatiently. Maybe I was just being paranoid. Maybe he was just busy, and that was why he wasn't replying.

I hoped that was the case.

But in any case, it was probably a good idea to drop in directly at his dorm room and see what was going on. I was just a bit concerned about his safety. Granted, the Academic District was probably the safest area in the entire city. Even more so now, after what happened during that horrible night.

Still... I was worried. I just couldn't help it. It was plain uncharacteristic of him to stay up worrying about me, but go dead silent all morning.

So I started to make my way towards his dormitory. It wasn't too far, just a quick walk. I pulled my hoodie a bit more tightly around me and started to move through the crowd of people, feeling the cool breeze against my skin. I felt a bit better, and I was glad that I was doing something instead of just waiting for him to respond or moping in a second floor infirmary. But... I still had a weird feeling.

One of the powers I'd unlocked was a supernatural, elevated intuition, and that was screaming at me. I couldn't explain it. I couldn't justify it.

Something was off, and it was bugging me.

I walked up to the building where Al was supposed to be living. It looked like an older apartment complex that had been constructed specifically for student housing, with a big glass facade and a large, ornate door leading into the lobby. I swiped my ID card and stepped through, and the warm, dry air hit me.

It smelled like cleaning chemicals and stale air freshener, with just a hint of something that smelled like a mix between old books and stale coffee.

I quickly moved to the elevators and pressed the button for the seventh floor. As the elevator slowly made its way upwards, I felt a growing sense of unease and anticipation.

I didn't like it.

Something was wrong. I just had a gut feeling, but it wasn't anything concrete. Nothing I could pin down, really. Just... a bad feeling that was gnawing at my gut. A sense of unease and foreboding, like I was about to stumble onto something bad.

And then, as I arrived at his floor, it hit me.

It wasn't the same as when we had fought the monsters in the training field with Elysia, or even the times it'd pinged when I'd been in Refuge Zeta. This wasn't some kind of psychic connection between. This wasn't some sort of supernatural warning.

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This was a more... subtle kind of intuition, a vague sense of unease, and it had been there since I'd first started walking away with Twilight Aster.

But... I just didn't know what to make of it. What to think of it, or what it even meant. I just felt that... I needed to find Albert, right now. That there was something I was forgetting, something important.

I took a deep breath, and I pushed those thoughts aside. Whatever was happening, it didn't matter, because right now I had to make sure he was safe and sound. If something bad had happened, he might not have even gotten out of bed yet, considering how hard of a sleeper he could be.

If I knew Al well enough, he probably slept through all the phone calls and texts I sent. He could sleep through an earthquake if he really put his mind to it.

So, that's why I was here.

I took another deep breath and exhaled, arriving at his door and knocking.

"Hey, Al," I called, "you in there?"

There was a moment of silence, and I heard movement behind the door. It sounded like someone shuffling around, moving closer, but I didn't hear a reply. I knocked on the door again, a bit more insistently this time.

"Hey, open up! I need to talk to you, Albert," I said, louder. There was another pause and more rustling of movement, before the lock clicked, and the door opened slightly.

It swung open just a little, enough for me to peek through the gap. I caught sight of his familiar messy hair and the soft, dark eyes.

Relief washed over me instantly and I flashed a smile.

"Hey, buddy!" I exclaimed. "What's up?"

"Sienna?" Albert asked, his voice tired and scratchy. "Oh gosh, Sienna! I was so worried!"

He grabbed me in a crushing hug, pulling me tight to his chest. I squeaked, flailing reflexively as he squeezed me.

He was a full head taller than me, and nearly two and a half times my weight, but it wasn't a bad hug at all.

But still. He really doesn't know his own strength these days!

"Agh! W-Whoa, I'm alright, I promise! But I gotta breathe!"

"S-Sorry!" he stuttered, pulling back from me. "I'm sorry, I just... you had me so worried. When I didn't get a call or a text or a visit or anything for hours, I was afraid that... something awful had happened to you. And then I got a text from a private number telling me you were 'injured but stable' from a field exercise or whatever the hell that meant."

I chuckled. "Hey, it's alright. I was worried, too. You didn't call or text me at all this morning. Is everything okay? What's going on, Al?"

He sighed, shaking his head, and he looked like a kicked puppy.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm... I'm good. I just... well, had one of those one in a thousand freak moments of misfortune."

"What happened? You look okay," I said.

"I uh, dropped my phone in the toilet."

I blinked.

"Wait, wait, hold up," I said, raising my hand up. "You what?"

He sighed. "I don't know how, I just did, somehow. One moment it was in my pocket, the next, it slipped out and fell directly into the toilet. It didn't even hit the seat. Just went straight down. I mean, I had a backup phone packed just in case, but it's old and the battery's basically fried now too so that was also a dud."

I snickered.

He frowned, and I broke into a fit of giggles.

"What? It's not that funny!" he said, pouting. "I'm serious, it really did slip out of my pocket!"

"I know! That's what makes it funny!" I burst out, giggling uncontrollably.

Here I was letting my paranoia get to me, worried that he was in trouble or something had happened to him. But instead of that, he was just... being him.

He huffed.

"Come on. You've never lost a phone?"

"I mean, not in that way. But still. That's hilarious, dude. A toilet?!"

"I suppose it's a little funny," he muttered. "But yeah, I've been kind of on edge, and it made me a bit jerky when I went to wash my face I guess. I was just waiting for you to call, or show up or something."

He leaned back, rubbing the bridge of his nose, and opened his door fully.

"Alright, alright," he muttered. "But seriously, Sienna. How about we do this inside?"

I smiled.

"Sure thing, big guy."

I stepped through the door, following after him. The suite looked exactly the same as when we had dinner with Stella. It was clean, and the air smelled of lemon-scented cleaning products.

"So, uh, you're okay, then? You're safe?" I asked.

He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Well, yeah, I'm fine. What's up? You'd figure I'd be the one to ask that."

"Well, yeah, I guess." I shook my head, shrugging. "I don't know. I guess I'm just on edge too. I had a weird gut feeling about something, and then you weren't replying or answering, so I was just a bit paranoid."

He shrugged, sitting down on his couch. "Why don't you catch me up to speed? What's up?"

I nodded, taking a deep breath. I needed to focus on the positive. I needed to get the important things off of my mind and just move on. So, I sat down across from him and started talking.

"So, well... there's been a bit going on, and I don't even know where to start."

"Well, why not start from the beginning?"

I paused for a moment, looking away.

"Sooo, about the whole long lost sister thing?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, did something new come up? What about it?"

I grimaced. "Yeah, that's as good of an angle as any. Let's start from there..."