“Alright, I’ve finished,” Lee said. She waved her hands and thin network of lines formed a world map, upon which a few dozen random spots were brightly illuminated in violet light. Every few minutes, one of the lights blinked out and reappeared in a random location.

“Shiny,” Kraid said. “I assume you’ve already filtered out all the power plants, ley line hubs, and other concentrations of magic?”

“Naturally,” Lee said, offended at the implication she’d forget something so basic. “I also cleared Vell’s magical concentration. Otherwise the map would look like this.”

She snapped her fingers, and a bright white light appeared in the Pacific that entirely whited out Australia, along with most of western Asia and North America. She snapped her fingers and dismissed the light again.

“Damn.”

“Is there a reason that dot in Japan is the same color Vell’s was?” Kraid asked, pointing to one of the illuminated dots that had yet to move. There was another, violet dot right next to it, dueling for space.

“Because it’s the same kind of magic. That’s Kim. Now, look at this.”

Lee waved her hand, and the multiple dots started to branch out, extending into a spiderweb of purple light that stretched the entire globe, all of which inevitably connected to the single white dot.

“Kim is being used as a battery,” Lee said, all but confirming Joan’s earlier hypothesis. “All these different entities are sharing her magical energy among themselves.”

“Do we know for sure it’s Kim? What if it’s...something else.”

Vell didn’t want to say it out loud around Kraid, but there was another entity with magic similar to what was in his rune. If someone had gotten their hands on Quenay…

“It’s Kim. Or at least I have very good reason to believe it is. I’ve identified most of these entities. Fairies, Genies, the Cintamani stone, roots of Kalpavriksha trees...and one wish-granting fish.”

“Didn’t Kim know a talking fish?”

“Yes. And last night, before...everything, I had a conversation with it as well. I think it was egging me on, in retrospect. Trying to create a situation that would emotionally compromise Kim, make her more likely to wish for something the Wish Fish could manipulate.”

Vell pursed his lips and looked between Lee and Harley. That added a whole new layer to their ongoing tension.

“And the plot thickens,” Kraid said. “I like it. Emotionally manipulate a bunch of vulnerable children to seize ultimate power. Sounds like something I’d come up with. Except I wouldn’t be granting anyone else’s wishes.”

“Noted, you’re a bastard,” Lee said. “Thanks to an earlier encounter with a genie, we know that wish magic can be parasitized. I’d say that’s what happened with Kim. Granting a wish to her created a bond between them, allowing them to manipulate the source of magic in her rune and parasitize it. I’d wager in turn that they’re draining small amounts of magic from other people who’ve made wishes, further empowering themselves.”

Kraid carefully eyed the map, and watched as a small ripple of power traveled through the spider web. He focused on that as Lee continued.

“So what’s the end game?” Joan asked. “They can’t be dumb enough to not notice reality falling apart at the seams.”

“Well, I’m still only guessing here, but if they reach a certain threshold of power before reality falls apart...they might be able to put it back together. In whatever shape they want.”

Vell expected a comment on the dramatic pause, but Harley stayed silent. That worried him almost as much as the prospect of reality falling apart.

“Okay. We need to do something about that, then.”

The magic web flickered again. All the energy started to flow in one direction.

“Maybe we can have Kraid reboot more people,” Joan suggested. “Then we could have multiple teams splitting up, do more damage. Your roommates, Freddy, those chicks Harley hangs out with...”

Kraid noticed the magic web flicker again. It was starting to get suspicious, but he wasn’t quite ready to finalize a hypothesis just yet. He needed more info.

“I think getting to Kim first is better than a divide and conquer approach,” Lee suggested. “Her power is the source of all this. If she disconnects, it all falls apart.”

“I know how to teleport,” Kraid said. “But it’ll take about half an hour to set up.”

“Then get started! Take us wherever that is,” Harley said, pointing to the white spot on the map.

“Wait! Not there!”

“Oh yes, not there, let’s just drop off at Mount Fuji instead, do some quick sightseeing before we prevent the literal collapse of reality,” Kraid said. “Look, Harlan, I feel like I know what this fish’s plan is, and even I’m not keen to sit back and let him reshape reality in his own image. I like reality, it’s fun to ruin.”

“I know, I know, but our best chance is to find Hawke first.”

“The cowardly kiwi?” Kraid scoffed. “Why? You have something you need screamed at and run away from?”

“No! We’ve got to disconnect Kim and the Fish, and our best chance to do that is Hawke,” Vell said. “He’s Kim’s best friend.”

“Can’t Kraid just do his evil flaming hand thingy and change her back?”

“Even if he does that, the original version of Kim is the one who made the wish in the first place,” Vell said. “If she just gets right back into the wish, we’ve accomplished nothing. We can’t just change her back, we have to change her mind.”

“Can’t you do that?” Harley said. “You still got that weird connection to her.”

“That’s exactly why I can’t,” Vell said. “If this is what I think it is, and she wished to be more normal, or more human, our connection would just make things worse. Hawke can get to her in a way none of us can.”

“Or I could just kill her,” Kraid said.

“No! God, no, really,” Lee said. “You kill her and that could just send all of the energy in her rune straight to the Wish Fish.”

“Okay, okay, no murder,” Kraid said. “Unless things go south, in which case, maybe murder. So where is this guy, if we need him so badly?”

“I don’t know for sure, but my guess would be New Zealand,” Vell said, a suspicion Lee soon confirmed with a simple tracking spell.

“Okay, great! Looks like we get to take a one hour diversion with the fate of the world at stake,” Kraid said. “If you guys are the heroes, I have no idea how the world has survived this long.”

“We manage,” Vell said. “Prep the teleportation spell. I’ll get us there when the time comes.”

“Oh, you are really lucky I don’t want this Fish usurping reality,” Kraid said. “I’ve killed people for ordering me around like that.” But hey, this plan of yours actually seems like it might work. Knock on wood.”

After delivering a particularly spiteful glare in Vell’s direction, Kraid tapped his knuckles against a nearby wooden desk, then retreated to prepare for teleportation. With about half an hour to kill, Vell figured there was nothing to do but wait and catch his breath. Joan had other ideas. She snatched him right out of a chair and pulled him into the hallway outside Lee’s dorm.

“Okay, half an hour to kill, time to get the band back together,” Joan said. “What’s your plan for Lee and Harley?”

“Uh...let them be adults and talk to each other?”

“Newsflash, Vell Harlan, they’re not talking to each other at all! That’s not going to work!”

“We’ll have time for that-”

“Later? There might not be a later, Harlan,” Joan said, emphasizing every word by shaking Vell’s shoulders. “Obviously Harley and Lee could get over it with time, but we don’t have time! Reality as we know it is probably ending within the next couple hours, Vell, we need our trio of freakishly competent world-saving freaks in top form.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Look, they’ve always gotten along,” Vell said. “They’ll work things out.”

“Yes, I know, they’ve always gotten along, that’s why things are so bad right now, Vell,” Joan said. “They literally have no idea how to disagree with each other. That’s why they need a neutral intermediary, like you, to help smooth things out.”

“You are frighteningly sure of this,” Vell noted.

“I’ve been in therapy, Vell,” Joan said. She quickly flashed her therapist’s business card as if it was a police badge. “I’ve learned a lot of techniques for handling interpersonal conflict.”

“Okay. I’m still not entirely sure this is necessary right now, I mean, neither of them is going to get let the world end over an argument.”

“And what if their argument is part of ending the world? Remember what Lee said about Wish Fish egging her on? This whole argument is part of why Kim got tricked into making a bad wish! Because her friends were fighting. If you show up with Lee and Harley still giving each other the cold shoulder, you’re screwed, Hawke or no Hawke.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, ‘oh shit’ is right,” Joan said. “Get in there and do your thing.”

“I mean, I can get them talking, but I still, think, uh-”

“Enough with the ‘uh’,” Joan snapped. “You know what your problem is, Vell?”

“I feel like you’re about to tell me.”

“Yes I fucking am! Your problem is you think you’re just along for the ride,” Joan said. “You think you’re just the random guy who got stuck with that rune, who made friends with Lee and Harley, who gets dragged into all these adventures. But you’re not! You just keep letting things happen to you, when you can and should be the reason things happen.”

Joan temporarily released her grip on Vell’s shoulders to point an emphatic finger right in his face.

“You are Vell fucking Harlan, and I would bet my life that you are one of the smartest, kindest, bravest people on earth. Just now, with this trip to get Hawke? You convinced fucking Alistair Kraid to do something he didn’t want to do. Do you know how hard that is?”

“Very very hard, actually,” Vell said. “In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have ordered him around like that, he’s definitely going to try and kill me later.”

“He was probably going to do that anyway, he’s super evil,” Joan said. “Focus! Get in there and fix this. Like I said before. It’s not just Harley and Lee. It’s Vell and Harley and Lee. Take some initiative and be the friend they need you to be. The best friend they could ask for.”

“I, uh...I don’t know what to do,” Vell admitted.

“You will.”

Vell tugged at the collar of his shirt and pulled himself away from Joan. She gave him a quick push towards the door to really get him going.

“Thanks, Joan.”

“Don’t thank me. You’re the one doing all the real work,” Joan said. “Just be confident. That’s the only thing you’ve ever been missing.”

Vell took one more deep breath and walked back into the dorm, nearly walking into Harley as she went the other way.

“Oh, hi,” she said. “I was just gonna take a walk, get some air.”

“Uh...no.”

Harley tilted her head at Vell.

“What?”

“I said no, you’re not,” Vell said. He had no idea if this was right, but he kept going anyway. Confidence. Fake confidence, but confidence. “Get back in here.”

He grabbed Harley by the arm and dragged her back into the dorm room. She got progressively more and more confused right up until the moment Vell parked her right in front of Lee.

“Uh, Vell-”

“Sit down.”

For reasons unknown to her, Harley slammed her butt into the nearest seat. She had never seen Vell like this. He pulled up a chair, placing himself between the two and just to the side, forming a tight triangle.

“We are all staying right here, and nobody is leaving -not even to go and save the fucking world- until we talk through this thing between you two.”

“Is this really necessary, Vell?” Lee said, entirely bewildered by this sudden change in his behavior.

“It is to me,” Vell said. “Because you’re my best friends. You’re each other’s best friends. And...I don’t want to live in any reality where that isn’t true.”

Saying that managed to get Lee and Harley to make eye contact for the first time all day. Vell counted that as a win. Just like Joan had said, deep down, that they didn’t want to be mad at each other. They just didn’t know how to bridge the gap they’d created. Hopefully Vell could give them something to build off of.

“Do I need to start?” Vell asked. “I can start.”

“If you want,” Harley said slowly. The fact that this was happening at all confused her, so she had no idea what to do.

“Okay. Lee, I know you know that you overstepped and did something Harley specifically asked you not to do.”

“Of course.”

“And Harley. You know that Lee was just trying to help you, right?”

“I know, but- there are other ways to do that.”

“Okay. Lee, why didn’t you use any of those other ways?”

“There weren’t any that I saw,” Lee protested. “I couldn’t just sit around and wait for a solution to show up out of nowhere. Someone had to do something.”

“Why?”

“Because Pradav was a psychopath, you can’t just leave someone like that unchecked,” Lee said.

“Your dad’s a psychopath, but your whole plan with him is to wait,” Vell said. “Why wouldn’t you let Harley do the same thing with her psychopath?”

It was very weird that all three people in the room had a dedicated psychopath, but they ignored that for now.

“Because...I know how terrible it is trying to live under the thumb of someone who just wants to hurt you.”

“And you didn’t want Harley to have to live like that either.”

“No. No one should.”

“Harley?”

“Oh shit, is it my turn?” Harley said. The deflection fell flat. “I...uh, I’m sorry. I thought of Pradav as just being my problem. I didn’t really see how much it could upset you.”

It didn’t excuse anything, but what Harley had chalked up as a sudden, irrational outburst now seemed a lot more rational, at least looking at it from Lee’s perspective.

“You asked her to do things your way without ever really explaining why, or what you planned to do,” Vell said. “Lee trusts you, but she was worried about you too.”

“Even so,” Lee interjected. “I shouldn’t have done that to Pradav. I was scared. I felt like I had to protect you. I was wrong.”

“You were worried about me,” Harley said, though she was just now realizing it. “I get it. I’m not exactly setting a good example. I think I’ve said I want to kill or hurt most of the people who cross us. It’s just me trying to joke, but...still.”

Lee took a deep breath, clasped her hands, and chose to take charge of the conversation for a moment.

“Harley, can we talk about that? About the way you treat a lot of our ‘enemies’? And Joan?”

“Okay. I think I can see where this is going,” Harley said. She leaned back and sighed heavily. “We always talk big about-

“Before we get into this,” Vell interrupted. “Lee, you can be guilty of getting pretty aggressive too, at least when it comes to your parents.”

“I...yes, I’ll admit that,” Lee said. Harley had been planning to bring that up herself, but in a much less tactful way. “I suppose I won’t try to lecture you in general, but...Joan is my friend. I’ve chosen to trust her. Care about her. When you treat her like she’s some kind of villain, I feel like you’re questioning my judgment. Undermining me.”

Hearing that caused Harley to sink into her seat, arms crossed. She’d never considered that.

“I don’t need you to trust her, or even like her. That’s your choice to make,” Lee said. “But please just respect that she is my friend, and show her some basic courtesy.”

“I...sorry. I guess I have been too hard on her. I’ll give her a big hug when this is all over, promise.”

Lee’s nervous hand-wringing slowed, but did not quite stop.

“And I’m sorry I made you feel like I doubted you. I just worry about you sometimes,” Harley said. “All the time. You have enough shitty people in your life. I got a little overzealous in trying to protect you from one more.”

“I know. And I have relied on, and appreciated, that care for a long time,” Lee said. “You’re half the reason I’ve been able to grow as a person. But I also need to make my own decisions. To grow beyond you.”

Harley had been doing a commendable job keeping a straight face through the entire conversation, but hearing that cracked her facade. Genuine heartbreak showed on Harley’s face for a moment, and that broke Lee’s heart in turn.

“But not grow away from you,” Lee insisted. “I don’t want that. Ever.”

Lee nervously folded her hands in her lap and averted her eyes, as did Harley. Vell stepped in to ensure the moment of tension was only a moment. He leaned forward, between the two of them, and lowered his voice to just a whisper.

“Are we all ready to hug it out?”

Apparently the answer to that was yes, because Vell got snatched up out of his chair and into a group hug so tight he felt his back pop. Lee buried her face in his shoulder and tried to use it to hold back a sob of relief.

“Don’t ever let us fight like that again.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever have to,” Vell said. This group hug felt a little bit different, a little bit tighter, in a way that reassured him.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, I’ll be finding new ways to annoy you guys soon,” Harley said. She squeezed both of them as hard as she could once and then pulled away. “Speaking of new things, Vell, where the fuck did that come from? No complaints but like, holy shit.”

“I got a pep talk from Joan,” Vell admitted.

“Huh. Now I actually want to hug her, hot damn.”

“Well, get to it then, you promised,” Vell said.

“Actually, hold on a moment,” Lee said. “There’s something we should talk about, looper to looper.”

“What’s up?”

“Well, today is a disaster, but there’s no classes today, and therefore no loop,” Lee said. “But even if we stop the Wish Fish as soon as possible, there will be damage to the fabric of reality, doppelgangers everywhere, wishes rearranging the natural order. The long-term consequences will be unimaginable.”

“Oh yeah, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Harley said. “This is why you’re in charge, you know.”

“I do know,” Lee said with a smile. “But I think the solution is simple. As part of facing Wish Fish, we simply need to trick him into granting a wish for our school to have classes today.”

“Which’ll put the loop back on, and take us to the start of the day, no harm done,” Vell said. “Good plan.”

“Fuck I love being on a team with you guys,” Harley said. She turned to Lee specifically. “I don’t know what I was thinking these past couple hours, you’re awesome.”

“Try not to forget it this time,” Lee said. “And also, I can tell you’re trying to flatter me on purpose. Keep it up.”

“You got it! Any other important business for us, oh best and smartest and sexiest leader ever?”

“No, we’re done,” Lee said. “Now, I believe you owe Joan a hug.”

“Okay, that’s probably going to be awkward.”

“Yes, it will,” Lee said. “But you promised.”

“I did,” Harley said, before walking out of the room, hugging arms at the ready.

In the empty dorm room, a desk drawer rattled and then rolled open. A single scorched-black knucklebone rolled itself across the room, under the door, past an awkward hug, and out into the quad, before flying upwards and rejoining the scorched skeletal hand of Kraid.

“Finally,” Kraid said to himself. “Thought they’d be in there forever talking about their fucking feelings.”

He had powered through the disgusting emotions and come out the other end with a prize. The three idiots were planning to restart that loop of theirs using the wishes.

Kraid had a similar idea.