Gale-Amenos-Hurricane flipped through the screen, looking for her friends as Kipo sank deeper and deeper into uncomfortableness. She stared at the dark figure across from her, clutching the notebook she'd taken back out in her hands.

It wasn't confirmed, she reminded herself, it was just a theory. But if it was true... and too many things made sense for it to not be true... Kipo couldn't ignore it. Those flowers that everyone had gathered, why does he want them? They're definitely not an offering for him... so what else could he use them for?

Kipo couldn't really begin to guess, but she'd assume that the guy who destroyed their town and then disguised himself as a person who wanted to help was not the kind of guy to use them for anything good.

So the question remained: what could she do?

"Here they are," Hurricane told her, and despite herself, Kipo leaned forward to see. Her eyes widened when she saw that Mira wasn't among them. What happened to Mira?

"No..."

Kai and Tulip stood in the road, in the same crossroads they had been in when everyone first split up. They both could see their town on the horizon, still being attacked by that violent storm. It'd be a miracle if anything was left, and Tulip wondered if they'd still try and make their home there, or if they'd have to go somewhere else.

"Tulip!" Mabel cried, tears in her eyes. "Kai!"

Despite feeling horrible, Tulip smiled, turning around to wave at the approaching group. Mabel's face lit up with relief, and she ran forward, full sprint, and enveloped the two of them in a tight hug, knocking them over.

"We were so worried about you!" Mabel wailed, covering up the sounds of both Tulip and Kai's groans of pain. "We're so glad you're okay-!"

"Mabel, please, I think my leg is-," Tulip cut herself off with a groan of pain. Mabel blinked up at her, before slowly getting up, seeming to properly see Tulip and Kai for the first time. She gasped.

"Your leg-!" Mabel looked at Kai and her expression changed to one that was even more horrified. "Your eye-!"

"What happened to you?" Fei Fei asked them, sounding concerned. The rest of the group: Fei Fei, Coraline and Luz, had finally caught up.

"My leg is broken," Tulip told them. "And Kai's eye..."

"I hadn't seen that coming," Kai cut in, before wincing. "Ow."

"What?" Fei Fei asked. Tulip shook her head, looking up at them... before pausing.

"Hey... where's everyone else?" she asked slowly, and practically everyone looked away. Even Six seemed reluctant to break the news, which was particularly odd. She never seemed careful with these things before. She was watching Luz, mostly.

"I... we lost them," Fei Fei finally admitted. "We don't know what happened to Kris and-Um... well, I saw Anne... die... and we all saw what happened to Mira, too."

"You mean-," Tulip cut herself off, unable to say it. "Yeah... we thought so."

"We should have gone back to check-," Kai mumbled miserably, but Luz shook her head.

"What, no!" she cried. "In your condition..."

Kai rolled his eyes, but quickly remembered that the action was incredibly painful.

Coraline frowned down at him. "We need to get you both bandaged up. That's painful!"

"That's an understatement," Tulip sighed, before holding up her flowers. "We have all of these, right?"

Luz, Mabel and Fei Fei held up theirs. Tulip noticed burn marks on Fei Fei's fingers, but decided not to mention them.

Coraline tilted her head. "Now what do we do with them?"

As if one que, Tulip suddenly noticed something from the corner of her eye. She looked over, and her eyes widened.

"Hey, isn't that-?" she pointed out to the side of the road, to a small little house standing in the field.

"The cabin!" Mabel cried. "Kipo's in there!"

Without waiting for anyone else, Mabel raced towards the cabin, holding her flowers tightly. Tulip watched her go, and wondered how exactly this person was going to help. The storm was still tearing apart their town, even though they had their flowers already, what was left?

Luz stepped forward, holding out a hand to Tulip. Tulip remembered at the start of this quest, when Luz had said she wanted to go with Anne, because they had history, somehow. Tulip suddenly winced. Anne had promised to hang out later, but now... that was impossible, and they never got to hang out at all because she didn't get to go with Anne and Fei Fei. Tulip felt her stomach sink.

Still, Luz didn't seem angry, and when she smiled at Tulip lightly, Tulip tried to give a small smile back. Both their expressions were pained, but neither said anything as Tulip accepted the help, letting Luz support her as she pulled Tulip up. Coraline held their group's flowers now, along with Six, who, surprising, had not complained. It was like she had been completely replaced by a nicer version of herself.

Meanwhile, Fei Fei was helping Kai. He didn't need any help to walk, but he was still shaky, and had a hard time seeing in front of him, so Fei Fei helped lead him to the house.

Kipo jolted, suddenly realising what was going on. Her friends were coming here, right at this moment probably.

It was far too soon. Kipo didn't even know what to do yet! She stared at the dark figure in front of her, but Hurricane didn't notice. All his attention was on the screen, and he looked... eager, for lack of a better word. Or maybe Kipo was imagining it. Maybe she was imagining her friend's voices outside the door, too, but they were coming, and at most, she had a few seconds to do... something. What was he going to do with those flowers?!

"What are you going to do with those flowers?" Kipo asked out loud, wondering if some of her panic showed on her voice. It might've, because Gale gave her a strange look as he glanced up at her.

"I'm going to offer them to that god so we gain his favour," Gale replied evenly. Perhaps too evenly.

Kipo's mind flipped through all the questions she wanted to ask, most she knew could be easily deflected, and others that had been already 'answered' before.

"But how exactly?" Kipo finally asked, leaning forward. Gale's eyes narrowed at her, perhaps seeing some desperation on her face.

"...It's a ritual," he finally told her. "You'll see it."

"But-?"

"Relax," Gale snapped. "You'll see it soon. And if you're worried about it, don't be, I know what I'm doing."

Kipo lowered her eyes, frustration bubbling in her gut. She was getting nowhere, and though she was scared of the consequences, there was nothing she could do by being subtle anymore. In her hands, she continued clutching the notebook in her hands, until finally, she accidently tore a bit of it. Gale narrowed his eyes, clearly wondering what that was.

"That wasn't what I meant," Kipo said slowly. A knock sounded at the door, and Gale nearly got up until Kipo fixed him with a stare that kept him in his seat. "What do you want with the flowers, Gale? Or should I call you Anemos? Or is it Hurricane?"

Gale stared at her, and in a way that was worse. This was the confirmation Kipo had been waiting for, and the realisation was just as bad as Kipo had thought it was. She couldn't even say anything when Gale turned to the side, calling out to the door.

"Come in," he said, and the door opened.

Kipo turned in her chair to see Mabel burst in, with Fei Fei, Tulip, Kai, Luz, with Six riding on her shoulders, and hiding her face in Luz's neck, and Coraline following behind more closely. Kipo winced at Tulip and Kai's injuries. She has seen them on the screen, of course, but in person, she could see their exhaustion and pain even more closely.

Another thing to blame the person across from the table for.

Mabel brightened at the sight of Kipo, but her face fell at the sight of Kipo's horrified expression.

Gale stood up in front of her, his shadow following him wherever he went. The newcomers took a couple steps back, staring up at him with wide eyes. Kipo hadn't even seen Gale stand up before, and he towered over everyone, almost to the ceiling.

"There's not much time," Gale told them. "Here, give those flowers to me, and I'll use them to get that storm away."

"Who are you?" Coraline asked him, tilting her head as she stared at him suspiciously.

"I'm the one that's been helping you," Gale told them. "Along with Kipo. Just gove that flower to me, as I've said, there is not a lot of time-."

"Don't listen to him!" Kipo suddenly cried, standing up suddenly and knocking her chair away. "He's been lying to us! He's the one that's been attacking our town and now he's pretending to help us! He tricked us! He tricked... me...."

Mabel, who had been offering her flowers to Gale, quickly snatched them back, but Gale hardly noticed. He was staring at Kipo.

"You do understand the mistake you're making, right?" he asked her. He sounded confused. "I need those flowers, and I'll do whatever it takes to get them?"

"What do you even want with them?" Kipo cried. "What are you going to do with them?"

Gale's next words sounded like they were said through gritted teeth. "It's none of your concern. Just give me the flowers! You know what'll happen if you don't..."

Mabel, Fei Fei, Kai, Tulip and Coraline looked from Kipo to Gale and back. . Kipo gave them a sympathetic look. She knew they were on her side, Gale had practically convinced them himself that he was evil, but they were uncertain. Kipo could understand, because she felt like that, too.

Kipo still couldn't completely believe Gale was evil. If he was, if he HAD been tricking them all this time, then what was the point of this? What was the point of everyone who had died to get those flowers?

"Don't tell me that!" Kipo shouted. There were tears in her eyes now, and she sniffled as she shouted at him. "Gale! Why did you make us do this?!"

Gale had the nerve to roll his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was level and calm. "Don't you see what I'm telling you? You don't have a choice here other than give me the flowers, or die. There is no other option."

Mabel stepped forward, and her face was scrunched up. Tears were beading up in her eyes, but there was only anger in her eyes as she glared up at Gale. Her hands were clenched tightly, and the hand that held the red flowers were nearly crushing the beautiful things.

"If you're so powerful, why didn't you go get them yourself?!" Mabel shouted at him as he turned to look down at her. She held up her flowers at him, shaking her fist. "Why don't you just take them from us?!"

Gale tilted his head at her, and the cabin suddenly seemed to get darker as he glared at her, seemingly getting bigger and scarier. A sudden wind picked up in the cabin like a small tornado. Like before, the wind didn't affect the tables or the chairs, but Kipo could feel it tugging at her, and she could feel it lifting her off her feet. Across the room, Kipo could see the others getting pushed off their feet as well.

The only ones not affected were Mabel and Hurricane in the middle of the room. Gale glared down at her, while Mabel stared back up at him defiantly. Her hair whipped around her face and her clothes fluttered around her, but Mabel's feet seemed to be bolted to the floor by pure will alone. She wasn't moving.

When Hurricane spoke next, his voice was cruel and devoid of any of the personality that Kipo had been talking with for so long. "Fine then. I might as well."

"NO!!" Kipo shouted. Without thinking, she leapt at the monster, changing her arms to the jaguar paws as she tried to grab him. But it was like trying to grab smoke, and it completely evaded her grasp as she fell through it, landing with a thump on the other side beside Mabel, who stopped her staredown at Hurricane to glance. Hurricane hardly seemed to notice as the wind around him picked up even more and he descended on Mabel like a storm.

"Mabel!" Tulip shouted, trying to lift a hand, but the wind was now so forceful that no one could stand up against it, and it knocked everyone down to the floor. Fei Fei tried to crawl forward, but it was like trying to move against a solid wall. It didn't let any through.

In the middle of the storm, Kipo moved closer to Mabel, trying to hang on as the wind whipped around them. By now, the storm was too much for anyone to handle, and it had forced Mabel down to her knees. But she still glared up at Hurricane, even as his beady eyes stared back. Mabel showed no fear in her eyes or face, and Kipo would be proud of her if she wasn't too full of other, horrified feelings.

The shadow bared down on them, and Kipo held up her transformed forearm in a defensive position, shielding Mabel. But her arm was shaking, because Kipo didn't know how she was supposed to stop something like this...

Suddenly, a random flash of inspiration hit her, and Kipo fumbled in her jacket pocket, trying to find the thing. She brought it out just in time, raising it just as the shadow fell on them, leaving them in inky darkness.

Amazingly, the knife hit something, and almost immediately, the darkness fell away, as did the wind and the danger. It all fell away, like a fog that had been lifted, and it revealed a person on the end of the knife, staring down at it in shock. A normal person, a young man with shaggy grey hair that fell around his head wildly and light, almost white skin. This was... a person Kipo might find in her burrow at home.

Kipo's mind spluttered, unable to fully understand it. Was... this Hurricane?

Slowly, the man looked up to glare at Kipo in a way that was familiar, but also new.

"So you were poking around my stuff," he spat. Agonizingly, he eased himself off the knife, clutching his wound with a pinched expression. He glared at everyone in the cabin as the darkness slowly returned, surrounding him. "None of you understand this. None of you truly understand the horror of this world."

Now the darkness surrounded him once again, hiding the human and turning him back into the thing he was before, whatever that was. His eyes fixed on the flowers.

"You'd do the same," he snarled, and then his shadow seemed to explode, leaving every inch of the cabin covered in shadows. Kipo shielded herself and Mabel, but it didn't matter, because soon, the shadow was gone, taking with it the cabin, the flowers, Hurricane... and the storm over their town.

Kipo lowered her arm, feeling the dirt underneath her feet, and she looked over at her friends to say... something (she had no idea what she COULD say...), but whatever words she had were stuck in her throat when she saw Six peering at her with an intense glare.

Six's eyes drifted over to the knife.

"Where do you get that?"