//------------------------------//
// Changes. 
// Story: The Four Broken Souls Of Atera. 
// by Sylif Daring Doo 
//------------------------------//

______*Equestria, The city of Atera, Firefly's house, The Merchant district, 10:12 AM*______

Seth simply sat in shock, dumbfounded by the revelation that her home, the one place she felt safe and happy, was gone, she took a deep breath as felt her hands shake, she stared down at the blankets she was under.

Ren was silent, clearly intending to give her time to process this news, but right now all Seth wanted was for her to speak, anything would have been fine, so long as it wasn't silence.

After about five minutes of agonizing silence, Seth spoke. "How......long was I out?" She asked quietly.

"Seth.....are you sure you want to know that right now?" Ren asked out of concern.

The rabbit just nodded slowly. "Better to get the shock out of the way now." She muttered, though in truth she hoped that Ren wouldn't say.

"You were......in a coma for a month." Ren explained.

Seth blinked and looked at Ren, she then looked at her arms, just by looking at them she could tell that she was malnourished, and a growl from her stomach confirmed her hunger. "A whole month?" She asked out of disbelief. "Why am I here then? and not in a hospital?" She asked.

Ren bit her lip and looked away, her intent was to avoid the question, but Seth noticed the anger in her eyes. "They wouldn't keep you there." She said with barely contained hatred. "They gave us pills to keep you alive and that was it." She stated.

Seth blinked as she noticed the slight tremble in Ren's hands, she slowly placed her own hand on hers and smiled weakly. "Lets just......focus on one thing at a time, how uh, how is everyone?" She asked.

Ren seemed to be pleased with the change in subject. "Well, as you probably realized already, Storm is doing great." She smiled as she suppressed a laugh at Seth's grumble and mention of 'ridiculous' wake up calls.

"He and Firefly are back together, and he seems a lot happier, Syrin is doing just fine, she found work and even went out with a few different people." Ren continued.

"Shade was broken up when he heard that Denol had been badly hurt in the madness that night, when he recovered, he just went back to Night Wolf territory, leaving the Waterfall behind.....it closed a week later, Shade himself is still here, he's doing better now." She said.

"Alice was probably the most frantic out of us all, she was so tense for most of the month, between taking care of you, and her kleptomania flaring up, I was afraid she was going to go crazy." Ren said, she shook her head. "You would be so proud of her, she kept it together, if just barely." She added.

Seth said nothing and looked back down, she let out a small smile and spoke. "Ren, where are my clothes?" She asked curiously.

Ren stood up. "I'll go get them, try not to move around that much okay?" She asked as she walked out of the room.

Seth sat in silence for a few moments before grunting and throwing the blankets off, she then moved herself to the edge of the bed, she took a deep breath and got off the bed, instantly regretting her decision as she wobbled and nearly collapsed.

As such, she immediately got back under the covers and laid down, just as she did so, Ren came back in with a set of clothes.

Seth grabbed them and recognized them as her favorite windbreaker pants and purple tee shirt, she threw the shirt and pants on the bed, she looked at Ren. "Thanks......say, could you tell me where things are? like the bathroom for instance?" She asked.

Ren nodded and proceeded to describe the layout of the house, it was actually very similar to Seth's old apartment, the front door led to the living room, the kitchen was opposite that, and the four rooms were seperated, one connected to the living room, one was next to a bathroom in a small hallway, and there was another hallway that had four doors, one was another bathroom, one was a closet and the other two were bedrooms. "Wait a minute." Seth said.

Ren blinked and became silent as Seth spoke. "Where have you been sleeping?" Seth asked curiously.

Rolling her eyes, Ren answered. "Calm down, Alice and me shared a room." She replied.

Seth sighed and leaned back. "Does everyone know I'm awake?" She asked.

Ren nodded in confirmation. "I told them to wait until you were ready before giving you the welcome back party." She said as she reached over started to rub behind Seth's right ear.

Seth smiled a little bit, she then closed her eyes. "Mm.......i forgot how nice this was." She whispered.

Ren chuckled. "Well don't get used to it, I have to get to work, I have plenty of cases to work on." She said before standing up and walking to the door.

Seth smirked. "Before you go." She said.

The fox stopped and looked at Seth who motioned her over, she walked back to the bed and stood next to it. "Yea?" She asked.

"Come closer, I can barely move you know." Seth teased.

Ren leaned in closer, and Seth pulled her closer and planted her lips on the foxes, Ren was surprised but didn't fight the kiss.

Seth pulled out of the kiss and spoke quietly. "Go get em........also, can you tell the others not to jump me when I leave the room? I haven't pissed in a month." She whispered.

Ren smirked and walked to the door, she left and Seth lie in silence for a moment, she soon threw the covers off attempted to stand up again.

This attempt was better than the last one, as she felt like she wouldn't collapse at a moments notice, she took a deep breath and walked to the door.

When she reached the door, Seth felt nervous, because for the first time in a long time, she was in an unfamiliar place, she had no idea what to expect from this point on, she mustered her courage walked out of the room.

The rest of the house was bright compared to her room, Seth grunted as she shielded her eyes until they adjusted.

Once her eyes adjusted, Seth immediately searched for the bathroom, not truly caring about the details right now.

Seth learned that her room was in the hallway, she opened the neighboring door and discovered a bathroom, she stepped inside. "What the?" A few seconds later, Shade was flung out. "Aaaah!" He cried out.

The bathroom was larger than the one Seth used to have, there was a bathtub with a shower head, a sink with a cabinet, a medicinal cabinet mirror, and of course, a toilet.

After she closed the door and relieved herself, Seth walked to the shower and pulled the shower curtains down, she then began to fiddle with the temperature until she found what she was looking for.

Seth stepped into the shower and sighed in relief as the water pelted her fur, the water going down the drain was slightly brown due to the buildup of different things such as dust or sweat.

Once she was thoroughly drenched, Seth looked around and spotted a bottle of shampoo, she grabbed it and saw that it was three in one, shampoo, conditioner and body wash, she shrugged and poured it onto her hands.

Seth washed herself very thoroughly and soon, she exited the shower, upon exiting, she noticed that someone had popped in and placed her clothes on the sink's small countertop, and that there was a towel right next to her, she grabbed it and began to dry herself off.

After a few minutes, Seth threw the towel in a laundry hamper and walked to the mirror, she looked into the mirror and blinked in confusion.

Seth's burn mark around her left eye was gone, no......not gone, but lessened, she reached up and felt it, she winced at the still sore spot, she lowered her hand and grabbed her clothes.

After slipping her clothes on, she noticed that there was an odd patch of black on the left shoulderblade, she blinked at it but decided not to do anything about it.

Walking out of the bathroom, she was greeted by Shade who was leaning on the opposite wall with an annoyed expression. "Not awake for even an hour and you throw me out of the bathroom, I can tell you missed me." He said.

Seth just flipped him off casually. "You go a month without relieving yourself, then see what you do." She countered.

Shade gave a half nod and then gave a soft chuckle. "It's good to have you back Seth." He said before stepping away from the wall, he then motioned down the hall. "Feeling up to a reunion?" He asked.

Seth stared at the Night Wolf curiously for a few moments, examining him, and now that she was paying attention, she realized that he seemed a lot less scruffy now, while he still had the thick fur, he seemed to have trimmed it as well as cleaned up it greatly, he also had clothes that didn't seem permanently dirty, a pair of blue jeans and a brown hoodie, he still had his old beanie though, she soon spoke. "Who all is here?" She asked.

"Me, Alice, Karak and Syrin." Shade answered easily.

Seth sighed and nodded. "Just so long as I can sit down." Her stomach growled. "And get some food." She added.

Shade smirked and motioned for Seth to follow. "Come on." He said.

With that, Seth followed Shade into a large room that combined a living room and kitchen, much like her old apartment.

Upon entering the room, Seth heard an excited gasp followed by running, her eyes widened and she looked over just in time for Alice to throw her arms around her in a crushing bear hug. "Your awake!" The young rabbit said happily.

Seth gasped for air which went unnoticed by her litter sister, in reply, she quickly tickled Alice's right ear.

Alice yelped and released Seth, she back up and then laughed nervously as she twiddled her thumbs. "S-sorry." She whispered.

Seth looked around and saw Syrin looking up at her from her book, she smiled and nodded at her, the unicorn had let her hair grow a little longer, it now rested comfortably on her neck and she didn't look nearly as stressed out now, like a weight was lifted from her shoulders.

Seth returned the gesture, the walls of the living room were a pleasant faded blue and the floor was covered in a warm brown carpet, there was a couch, a sofa and a chair, all light blue in color, there was a decently sized table that could seat four behind the couch, her bare feet wiggled on the soft carpet and she examined the kitchen, it's walls were made of some kind of solid material, the floor was gray and white tile. from first glance, there was an oven, a refrigerator and a sink, as well as several cabinets.

Finally, Seth returned her gaze to her little sister, her fur was far cleaner than it once was, and she looked healthier too, she no longer had those dirty clumps of fur that she used to be unable to get rid of, and she also looked like she had actually slept longer than four hours, she was wearing a dark red tee shirt and a pair of black sweatpants, what surprised Seth though was that she was wearing a silver band on her right arm, she was nervous and occasionally looking up at her big sister.

Seth smiled and walked over to Alice, she then gave her sister a soft hug and spoke quietly. "Did you miss me my little pickpocket?" She asked.

Alice laughed quietly at the nickname. "Shut up Angel." She whispered in good humor.

When the sisters released the hug, Shade spoke. "Angel?" He asked curiously.

"It's a nickname Alice came up with when we were kids, it's basically my middle name Angelica." Seth explained.

Shade blinked. "And yet you hate it when people call you Sethy." He muttered as he walked to the kitchen.

Seth walked to the sofa and sat down, sighing in relief as she did so, her legs had started to feel wobbly, Alice sat down next to her and spoke. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"All things considered, im.....alright, starving, I feel weak, and I have a headache that won't go away." Seth replied as she leaned back with her eyes closed. "What about you sis? you still stealing?" She asked quietly, opening her left eye to look at her.

Alice smiled and crossed her arms. "Two weeks straight, I still get the urges, but I'm working on it." She replied proudly.

"Speaking of which.......did anyone manage to save anything from home?" Seth asked.

This time it was Shade who answered. "Alice managed to save a few things amongst the rubble, your footlocker for one, and that book of yours." He said.

Seth opened her eyes and looked at Alice. "They are in your room, don't worry." The younger rabbit answered.

With that, Seth became silent as she stared down at the floor, lost in thought, it was only a couple of minutes until Shade set some sandwiches on the coffee table for Seth, which she took wordlessly and munched on, not really caring what was in them.

Shade sat down next to Syrin and closed his eyes as he sat back, the only sounds in the room was Seth quietly eating.

Once she finished her first sand which though, she spoke. "You know, I can tell you all want to ease me in to this new place and all, considering the demon blood, but I'm not going to shatter into a vegetable, this silence is more dammning than anything else." Seth said as she grabbed the other sandwich.

"Yea, that would be the residual effects." Came Storm's voice, Seth looked over at him, the wolf was wearing what appeared to be dark purple and black pajama pants and a black tee shirt, he had his usual grin on his face as he walked over and sat down in the chair. 

Storm just chuckled as Seth flipped him off. "You missed it and you know it." He said teasingly.

Seth swallowed and looked at the demon. "I despise the mornings, so no.....I didn't miss it." She stated as she took another bite out of her sandwich, after a moment, Seth swallowed and spoke. "What do you mean residual?" She asked curiously.

Storm shrugged. "Simple, while you were in a coma, I took it upon myself to purge you of the demon blood, it took most of the month, but by now you will only feel the residual effects." He explained. "You can still sense intent, but it will mostly be a whisper, as opposed to the clear message that I can read, it shouldn't have any other effect though, so you should be clean in about four days." He added.

Seth nodded and returned to eating, she had the urge to vomit for some reason but she fought it down, she set the sandwich down and spoke. "How......how's Ren doing? she didn't say anything about that when I asked." She asked.

Syrin sighed and set her book down after marking the page, she looked at Seth. "It was hard for her, she was in your room so much and for so long we had to remind her to eat half the time." She shook her head. "It was hard on all of us, for a wide variety of reasons, it doesn't help that Ren was about to rip Terrance's throat out at all times." She said.

Seth stiffened at the mention of the doctor, she looked at Syrin. "Terrance as in....doc Terrance?" She asked nervously.

With a nod, Syrin spoke. "Yea, him, he made a deal with Shade that we would keep him informed on your state of mind." She replied.

When Seth's eyes widened her eyes turned to slits and her breathing became more erratic.

Alice was immediately in front of Seth, she held her sisters face and stared straight into her eyes. "Calm down!" She snapped.

Seth blinked, her eyes slowly returned to normal but her breathing remained the same. "You aren't going back there Seth." Alice whispered. "That's a promise." She added.

Even with Alice comforting Seth, it still took around twenty minutes for her to calm down, Alice and Shade had helped her back to her room once she had spaced out.

______*later that day, 6:45 PM.*______

Shade was currently leaning back on the couch without going into a reclined position, he was resting his eyes he heard talking behind him, he cracked on eye open and looked around.

Firefly had gotten home not long ago and properly met Seth for the first time, they spent most of the time talking on various topics, one of which involved Storm.

Ren got back around four and had immediately crashed on the sofa from exhaustion, effectively stopping anyone else from using it, and when she was asked to go to her bed to rest, she simply replied. "Piss off." Before closing her eyes.

Syrin simply sat on the floor reading while Storm was at work, he had gotten a job as the janitor at the local school, which he had simply grinned and said. "Imagine the parents reactions when their kids tell them about the 'demon' janitor."

Apparently he had no concern about losing his job, even though he stated that he held on to the ones he could get.

Alice sat next to Shade, clearly bored, as was evident by the slight twitch of her hands and right ear.

Shade smiled and closed his eye, soon though, he felt something warm lean on his chest, he opened his right eye and looked, he saw that Alice was leaning on him and smiling up at him, she had only recently gotten home, and didn't seem to care about changing clothes, she was wearing a dark blue long sleeved shirt and gray windbreaker pants.

He gave her a soft smile before wrapping his right arm around her, while using his left to gently rub her left ear. 

Alice said nothing but let out a satisfied sigh in reply, to which Shade soon felt cold and deadly eyes upon him. "Danger." He said to himself.

Shade carefully looked over his shoulder and saw Seth glaring at him with a hostile expression, he silently turned around and looked forward, he then stopped rubbing Alice's ear. "Why'd you stop?" Alice complained in a whisper.

"My hand is tired." Shade lied as he tried to rest.

Alice gained a gained a grin. "You know, why don't i just do this?" She asked as she repositioned herself so that her head was resting on his shoulder and her left arm was around his waist.

Shade felt the glare intensify behind him and he looked over again, and he was certain that if looks could kill, he would be six feet under right now.

Seth looked like she was ready to pounce, her eyes revealed her anger and Shade gulped as he looked forward again. 'Yea, probably should have mentioned this earlier.' He thought to himself.

_______*four days later, 10:01 AM*______

Shade felt like the world was out to get him for some reason, not only did Seth seem to want to attack him whenever he was with Alice, but the cold glaring only got worse after the sleeping arrangements shifted.

Ren had moved into the same room as Seth, which was good except for one thing.

Syrin apparently knew about Seth's glaring and decided to be funny, she and Alice swapped rooms, meaning that Shade was now in the same room as Alice every night, which seemed to tick Seth off to no end.

And that's how Shade ended up sleeping on the couch, and when Alice asked why, he told her exactly why. "Because I don't want to be murdered by your sister." He said.

That was followed by a very heated argument between the sisters, where Alice explained that she and Shade started dating five days ago.

And then Ren got involved in the argument and promptly ended it by stating very clearly that Alice hadn't opposed their relationship and that Seth should do the same, and give them some space, the older rabbit clearly wasn't happy about this, but didn't say anything else on the subject, what concerned Shade even more was that she hadn't glared at him since.

Shade had been woken up by Storm's wake up call, Alice woke up as well with a groan. "I swear, Seth gets better and he starts this shit up." She complained.

Nodding, Shade and Alice got out of bed so they could get ready.

Their room had faded green walls, and brown carpet, there used to be one dresser and a cabinet, but now it was two dressers and no cabinet.

As they left the room, they exited into the hallway, and they saw Ren leave the bathroom, she looked back at them and grinned. "Waters hot." She whispered before walking away.

Shade noticed that Alice's ears shot straight up and remained like that for a while, he raised an eyebrow. "I'll wait for you to finish." He said before heading to the living room.

The door behind him opened he heard footsteps, he just kept on moving.

Meanwhile, Seth was talking to Alice. "What happened?" She asked curiously.

Alice blinked and her ears relaxed. "I swear, I'm going to kill Ren......I'm going to kill her." She muttered as she entered the bathroom.

Seth was now alone in the hallway, with a confused expression. "What the fuck did I miss this time?" She wondered.

Shade smelled food cooking and he saw Storm making breakfast once again. "You know, if you don't let someone else cook, you'll burn yourself out." He said.

Storm chuckled. "I suppose so, fine, I won't cook for a week, not counting today of course." He replied before getting back to work.

Shade looked around and he saw Ren sitting in the chair, Firefly and Syrin on the sofa, he walked to the couch and sat down, he rubbed his eyes and stretched a little bit.

Seth was quiet and refused to sit next to Shade, so she sat down at the table behind the couch. "Hey Seth, do you if I ask you something?" Firefly wondered.

The rabbit looked at the Pegasus mare and shrugged. "Go ahead." She replied.

"What were they like? the slums?" Firefly asked curiously.

Seth sighed and leaned forward on the table, she rested her head on her arms. "It was the shining jewel of Atera, if you knew where to look, there were so many amazing shops and people there." She smiled a little. "Coming from someone who has lived on all sides, from rich to poor?" She chuckled. "The merchant and rich district are crap compared to that." She replied.

Soon though, Alice stepped into the living room as Karak finished cooking. "Just as a heads up, starting tomorrow I am taking a break from cooking, so good luck on food." He stated.

After they ate and cleaned up, Shade stood up at the same time as Seth, the rabbit sighed and sat back down. "Go ahead, i have no plans anyway." She said.

With a nod, Shade walked to his room and grabbed a clean set of clothes, he then walked to the bathroom and entered it.

While Shade took his shower, the others talked or did their own thing. "You really need to set up a second shower or bath." Seth observed.

"Thanks for agreeing with me." Syrin said as she walked to her room which was behind a door in the corner of the living room.

Firefly stretched and looked at Seth. "I would if I could afford it, this house isn't cheap, and neither is the space." She stated as she rested her head on the side of the couch. "Heck, I made just enough money to buy food and make payments, that's it." She added.

Seth said nothing as she rested head on her palm, her elbow resting on the table. "You feel up for exploring?" Ren asked suddenly.

Seth glanced over at Ren with a raised eyebrow. "Yea, that's smart, take the unstable basket case out to explore, it can't possibly go wrong." She said sarcastically, chuckling a little.

"I don't see what's so funny, getting some fresh air might do you some good." Ren replied.

Seth rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say ma'am." She said as she closed her eyes.

After seven minutes, Shade walked out into the living room and headed for the kitchen, Seth watched in curiosity as he quickly put together two sandwiches and grabbed three bottles of water. "Work I'm assuming?" She asked.

Shade looked at Seth and nodded before setting everything in a lunch box, he then closed it and walked to the door. "See you all later." He said.

"Before you ask, he volunteered for the Slums cleanup crew, he gets paid decently and he claims it's worth it." Ren stated as she stretched her arms.

Seth stood up and walked to the couch, she sat down and leaned back, her eyes closed.

While Seth had been hoping to get some extra sleep, Ren stood up and ruined this plan. "Come on Sethy, get up, we are going now." The fox said.

Seth looked at Storm and growled as he chuckled at the nickname. "Alright already, leave me be." She complained as she stood up.

"Let's get going then." Ren said.

With a grumble, Seth followed Ren to the door and the fox handed her something familiar, it was a gray beanie with slight burn marks in it.

Seth put the beanie on and Ren opened it, she walked outside as the rabbit followed, looking around.

Outside of Firefly's house was a neighborhood similar to the one from the Slums pocket dimension, only this one was larger in length.

Seth followed Ren begrudgingly and they soon reached a plain wooden door connected to a wooden building, Ren opened the door and walked inside, motioning for Seth to follow.

They exited out onto a street, but this entrance wasn't hidden or guarded, the Merchant district was far cleaner than the slums, the buildings looked newer and were not very dirty, another thing was the buildings also didn't appear to be made from a multitude of different materials.

Ren showed Seth that practically everything that was in their surrounding area, the shops, the restaurants, the bazaar were merchants set up and sold their goods, she even showed her a few apartments, which were actually triple the price for the same quality that Seth's old apartment was.

Ren even brought Seth to her preferred hangout on stake outs, a small building overlooking a public park, if it could be called that, it was small and the few trees that were there were dead.

"At least the grass is alive." Ren said.

Seth simply sighed as they walked away from the park. "I swear, there's no respect in that place." She muttered.

After about an hour of walking around, and a quick bite to eat, Ren and Seth headed back to Firefly's.

_______*later that day.*______

Ren sighed as she looked at Seth, they were both on the roof of the small building overlooking the park, and Ren did not like where this was going.

Seth had a bottle of water and a medium sized box of fries, she was sitting against the wall, her ears down behind her head as she munched on her fries, occasionally peaking out.

Shade and Alice were out on a date tonight, and Seth had clearly disapproved, which was why she had a small pile of walnuts next to her, Ren was here mostly to ensure that Seth didn't do anything to actually ruin the date......aside from pelt Shade with walnuts of course.

That did make for an interesting few minutes, as Ren tried to understand why Seth insisted that she buy a bag of walnuts, and now she knew why.

Ren sat down next to Seth and peeked over towards the park, Shade and Alice were at least a hundred feet away, which helped to reduce Seth's chances of hitting him with a walnut.

Seth grabbed a walnut and peeked over the wall, she then aimed and Ren spoke. "They are one hundred feet away at least, there is no way your are going to-" She went silent as Seth launched the walnut and about three seconds later Shade clutched his right arm in pain as he walked. "Who threw that!?" He called out.

Seth and Ren ducked behind the wall and Seth grinned. "Shut it." Ren said firmly.

Minutes passed by as Shade and Alice walked together, the Night Wolf was wearing a gray sweatshirt and matching sweatpants, he was also wearing a beanie to help keep his head warm.

Alice was wearing a dark purple skirt that stopped just above her knees, a dark gray shirt with a large cross on the back, and a silver bracelet on her right arm. 

The two were walking together for a while now and they just stopped in front of a fountain.

Seth watched them like a hawk as Ren spoke. "No matter what they do, don't do anything to stop it, they need to go at their own pace." Ren said calmly.

At this, the rabbit looked at her girlfriend. "Says the one saying that the water was hot! why the fuck did you pull that stunt anyway?" She accused.

Ren rolled her eyes and patted Seth's shoulder. "The reaction was priceless Sethy, I couldn't resist." She replied.

Seth growled and went back to watching. "You are very lucky that Shade doesn't understand what you were actually talking about, or we would have a body on our hands." She stated.

Ren said nothing as they watched for different reasons, soon though, Seth growled as Shade took Alice's hand and the two slowly danced, the park was now empty of all but two people, and the moonlight combined with the lamps illuminated the park very nicely.

Ren had one hand on Seth's back and felt the rabbit tense up when Alice suddenly jumped up, wrapped her legs around Shade's waist and her arms behind his back. "If they kiss, I will murder that wolf, i swear I will." Seth said with a growl.

And then the two kissed, and Ren quickly pulled Seth back before she could leap. "Motherfu-" Seth was about to shout out but Ren muffled her by using her hand to cover the rabbits mouth.

Ren quickly pinned Seth down and glared at her. "Knock it off." She ordered. "Your sister is old enough to make her decisions, stop trying to control that!" She added, anger in her voice.

Seth stopped struggling and her eyes showed regret for a moment, Ren removed her hand and Seth spoke. "That idiot is lucky he doesn't know what's going on." She mumbled.

Ren didn't release her grip, she kept the rabbit pinned down in case she tried something.

Seth waited for a few minutes before speaking. "So uh.......are you going to let me go at some point?" She asked. "Otherwise, take me home and tie me up, so we can have some fun." She stated.

Ren sighed and released her grip, she then leaned down and kissed Seth, the rabbit returned the kiss passionately and after a while they seperated.

Seth did notice Ren was still holding her down. "Seriously, can you just take me back and leave me for a while?" She asked.

Ren looked over the wall and saw that Alice and Shade were walking away from the pocket dimension. "You know what, we have the house to ourselves for most of the day, we can have some fun if your feeling up to it.......no sex." She added that last part when she saw Seth grin.

_______*five minutes later.*_______

Syrin was sitting across from Doctor Terrance at a café, she took a sip from her tea and looked at the chameleon. "In my professional opinion, I can safely say that we need more time and observation, has Seth said or done anything of importance?" He asked.

"Well...." Syrin started for a moment. "We were just sitting around and talking, your name came up and Seth panicked for some reason, why would she do that?" She asked.

Terrance took a sip from his coffee before answering the unicorn. "If I could answer that question, I would." He sighed. "When I first met Seth, the first thing she did was try to attack me, then we gave her some medication to help curb her anger, the next time I met her, she cowered in the corner, refusing to look at me, afterwards I wore a mask and covered my body." 

Syrin listened as the doctor took another sip. "Under the guise of Doctor Crowley, I was finally able to make even the slightest amount of progress, she talked to me in an incoherent manner consistent to trauma patients, I asked her why she disliked me, and she froze, she looked at me with frightened eyes and said that I was a 'lightbringer' sent to kill her." He shook his head while Syrin drank her tea.

"I was perplexed to say the least, but that was how our first two weeks were, I asked her about lightbringers and she told me about them with disturbing detail, I won't go into the specifics but she seemed to believe that i was one of them, and that I sought her death because she was nocturnal or something." Terrance seemed to space out while he drank his coffee.

Soon though, he changed the topic. "How is she recovering? i imagine that waking up after being in a coma for a month was a lot to take in." Terrance wondered.

Syrin finished off her tea and set the cup down. "She's......alright, all things considered anyway, she needs time to sort things out, but I think the largest blow was learning about the Slums." She replied.

"Are sure that was wise? telling her about that while she's in withdrawal?" Terrance asked.

Syrin sighed and looked up at the sky. "She was bound to find out sooner or later, we all agreed that it would be better to let her know and help her through it, than to let her find out through one of us letting it slip, it would be obvious anyway, considering where we were." She explained.

Soon enough, a Pegasus stallion with blue fur and a yellow mane walked up to them. "Hey folks, how are you doing over here?" He asked with a friendly tone.

"We are doing good." Terrance replied.

The stallion nodded. "Can I get you anything else?" He asked.

"just the check." Syrin replied.

With a final nod the stallion walked off into the café.

Terrance placed a hand into his jackets pocket and spoke. "Thank you for telling me this, I recieved quite an earful from my superiors when they found out I let you take Seth with you instead of to the center." He chuckled. "This should help clear the air a little." He said.

"What do you mean let us?" Syrin asked. "Ren was ready to tear your throat out when you showed up." She added quietly.

Terrance nodded. "I am well aware of that, I was just stating what is on the report." The waiter returned and gave them the check, which they both paid and the Doctor stood up. "I may not show it easily, but I do care about my patients, if you can, try to get Seth to talk to me, even if you all must be there, it would help me if I could actually talk to her for once." He said.

Syrin stood and looked at him. "I can't make any promises, if she asks me to drop the issue I will, I won't force her to do something." She said.

Terrance nodded. "I understand." He replied. "Until next time Ms Syrin." He said before turning to walk away.

"Just call me Syrin Doc." She said.

The Doctor nodded and walked off.

______*Firefly's house, twelve minutes later.*______

Ren sighed as Seth laughed like a maniac, at some point, the rabbit had snuck off with a small amount of money and bought some itching powder, she then proceeded to plant it on every set of clothing Shade had.

'I am doing nothing to ruin their relationship, so you can't say shit about a prank." Seth's excuse had been, and as much as Ren hated to admit it, it would be hilarious to see Shade scratching his armpits or his crotch at random moments throughout the day.

"Just don't do any pranks you'll regret later ok?" Ren asked.

Seth reached and put her arms behind her head, a large smirk on his face. "Yes ma'am, speaking of things I'll regret." She winked and walked to her room.

Ren chuckled and followed her girlfriend, well aware of what she wanted. "Be patient Angel dear." She teased.

Seth groaned. "Craaaap! I don't need you teasing me with that name too!" She complained.

Ren just smiled as she leaned in the doorway, watching as Seth opened the bottom drawer of her dresser. "Don't get too excited Seth, you don't want to get bored." She said.

Seth just flipped her off and Ren closed her eyes. 'It isn't perfect, but if she can have these moments of happiness, there's hope for her yet.' She thought.