Seven days have passed since The Coordinator was last seen. A couple hours have passed since the veil over Munich has started retracting towards its city hall. Several Dream Catchers have stepped into the ruins available as of now while few have disappeared within to take pictures of and observe the phenomena. This war between five Dream Catchers and two independant forces ended in a loss. Both sides remain strong and within the shadows while also creating public distress and mistrust in law and order as suspicisions of them being aware of such power rose to the top. Elena has gone into a coma and won't wake up no matter what. Phantom has forgotten everything prior to this incident and now goes by the name of Liam. Hellfire is still recovering from wounds sustained in battle through dark magic. Sylvia has disappeared and left her orphanage to fend for themself. Daisy is recovering from the after effects of the drugs used in battle. Raven is currently unresponsive and shutdown on a mental level as his plan went up in flames.

Alpha, Franky, Emma, and Prometheia were sitting within Elena's apartment, her living room. With Elena lying in a hospital away from all this, they anticipate any sort of news quite anxiously. Franky, trying to ease their minds, called Ben over to cook a meal for them.

"Pardon the intrusion," Ben said awfully formal as he placed his shoes within the apartment while carrying two plastic bags of groceries and snacks. "How are you guys doing? And what about Elena? I've heard that she's been found a couple hours ago."

"You told him, Franky?!", Alpha asked frantically as civillians are supposed to know.

"Well... It's not like he'd tell anyone else. And we're brothers, so why not..."

Quite nonchalantly, he entered the kitchen as he's rather unfazed by pretty much anything by now. Not only has Franky told him about what it's like to be a Dream Catcher, but also has he transformed in front of Ben, taken him into battle to fight a Demon, and given him some of the Devil Seeds he has collected within his carrier as a Dream Catcher.

"Anyways... So how are you guys doing? Everything alright as (clears throat) “Dream Catchers”?" Rather sensitive to the way they must feel right now, curious, and concerned, he shuffles into the living room distributing the snacks he had bought for them. "Tub of ice cream for Alpha, a coffee for Emma, and gum for Franky... and a cheesecake for you and Prometheia!"

"So you even told him about me?!", Prometheia said as she pushed open the door within her human form.

"As I said, I-"

"How'd you even know that I like cheesecake?"

Franky ignored her as he got himself a knife to slice the cake with. Alpha, Emma, and Prometheia started eating as the last few days have been quite stressful. Franky aided Ben in the kitchen, an unusual sight to behold.

"Oh? Franky spending time helping out? Never thought I'd-" Alpha couldn't help but comment on that.

"Shut up and eat already or I'll shove the cake down your throat."

Light banter as is supposed to be... Emma feels a little left out considering how she joined this group just a week ago. But she didn't sweat it as that was to be expected. A little used to sliding into the background, she kept quiet and didn't speak up. Even with her white hair in braids and the obvious stylistic choice in glasses, she still ends up being unnoticed. She still-

"Hey, Emma? Do you dislike spicy stuff? And what about allergies?", asked Ben.

Wondering whether or not she should answer earnestly, she hesitated a little bit. "No, I actually like it really spicy," she said speaking up for the first time since she's joined this group. Emma felt a little warm as the loneliness subsidized a little.

"You know that I don't like spice!", said Alpha. "I'm not that good with spicy things. Can't you just leave it be and add some spicy condiment to the rice later?"

"It tastes better this way. But maybe I can make it a little less spicy and seperate your portion from the rest of your meal?"

Alpha pouted and agreed. Ben was right. There was just something about the way he added spices that made food better that no one else could replicate. Adding just a little bit of what he called the “secret ingredient” made it way better.

Even within this cozy little group of nice individuals, there lied uneasiness within the air. Recent news haven't been great. People have been accusing each other of being just like these “evil people that only bring chaos through unholy means”. People were snapping pictures of anything that may look suspicious. Families with loved ones that disappeared within the past few weeks to the past few decades were being harassed under the suspicion that they too are among those they despise. Though nothing has escalated so far, it is bound to do so especially with the way how passive and dismissive politicians have been so far.

"I wonder if everything is gonna turn out okay?", Prometheia worried. The ones around her were unsure what exactly she meant. She wouldn't elaborate but the others could only conclude that this alludes to the civil unrest and Elena's condition.

"Well let's cheer up! It's not like the world is gonna end! Plagues far bigger than this, natural disasters, and wars far more gruesome than this didn't end the world, right?", said Alpha in an attempt to cheer them up. "And look at the way Elena and the rest handled this despite fighting with so little support! Elena even survived crises far worse than this. Everything is gonna turn out fine as long as we press on, right Ben?"

"Of course. It will take some time until the general populace adjusts but they will. It's bound to happen." Ben agreed with that statement as he wanted to hold on to hope. Finally finished with cooking up something that could fill their bellies, they relaxed within the living room.

Sylvia's disappearance was a rather hard-hitting one. The children within would be separated from the outside world until they were fifteen. And even then, they didn't have free reign in interacting with the outside world until they were eighteen. Dismissed at twenty, there only were three kids within that orphanage somewhat capable of leading the people within and taking care of this place. Forseti and Bailey were the only ones capable of guiding these children. Though most of the Bavarian Council showed hostility to Elena, Sylvia still believed she was a good person deep down even going as far as to tell them where Elena could be found. For now however, they need to take care of the children and make sure they aren't distressed. After spending a week of avoiding the truth, they can't hide it any longer.

"I'm sorry but... Sylvia has," said Forseti. Straightforward yet still a little hesitant, he relayed the message to all the kids that had gathered in the assembly room. It was a horrible day as it rained within the domain and the children having anticipated her return that never came. "Maybe... She's presumed to be killed in action!", he quickly blurted out holding in his tears.

"It's fine Forse, I can take care of the rest, okay?", said Bailey as her partner started sniffeling while the kids broke out in panic, tears, and even anger. Though Bailey was only 18 while Forseti was 17, they now had to take care of thirty kids. As all of them possess the potential to become great natural born magicians, they would be mishandled by the state. Since all of them are orphans through accidents, parents abandoning them, or their parents dying, they had nowhere else to go. Some of them are just three years old yet still were well aware of the fragility of life and the way death worked.

Forseti wiped away his tears. "But!", he said as he mustered up his strength to look at them with confidence. "We'll still press on, look for Sylvia, and figure out a way to deal with her absence since that is exactly what she would have wanted!"

The others looked up and started stifling their cries, their tears, and their snot.

"We'll definitely find out what happened with her and become stronger, right!", Forse yelled at the top of his lungs smiling as tears ran down his face.

"Exactly. I know this may be hard and difficult times definitely are up ahead, but we'll press on, right?", Bailey said as several toddlers ran up to them demanding a hug. This room felt empty without Sylvia. Located beneath the basement, it was a central room with no light reaching in or out. Almost heavenly, it consisted of a mysterious light up high, somehow far away but also close. Herein no one could access their powers, or really hurt anyone. With thirteen gates, one of which lead to the elevator that could get them down here and with the rest locked behind yet to be seen mechanisms, this place felt holy but also ominous. The silver and gold wall ornaments speaking of scriptures and tales they couldn't grasp were a puzzle to them.

"We should head back up. We-"

"We're not!" Bailey was interrupted by another kid. Infuriating the brawniest kid there, she braced for impact. Grabbing her by the collar she was rather calm despite the threat at hand.

"Calm down, Ikari! Getting worked up won't get us far!", said Bailey trying to ease his hold onto her.

"What are you going to do about this?! The oldest is 18 and barely interacted with anything past the orphanage and we have someone as young as 2 here! Who will take care of the rest, huh?!" Ikari, though led astray by rage, was reasonable. His complaints were valid and surprisingly on the nose for a sheltered 15 year old boy. "Money and medicine comes from the outside world. Without Sylvia we'll run out! The rest can head back up but we're gonna talk about this! Right now!"

Forseti held onto two others while ordering another child, Pell, to take care of the others and come back down if there are any issues of note for he does not know when they'll be getting back up.

Sitting back down to the roundtable, a table that holds a holographic layout of the mansion and maybe even more, they started discussing everything Ikari deems necessary to be discussed right now. Forseti, Bailey, Ikari, Peter, and Rita were the oldest and the ones most trustest with dealing with something as grand as that. With Ikari as the youngest of the bunch, his opinions usually wouldn't hold that much weight yet they were respected and held high.

Peter rested his feet on the round table trying to have a relaxing time while there. Rita got worked up as she was a stickler to rules while Forseti grew anxious of Sylvia returning and seeing his feet rest on the table. Ikari yelled at Peter to get his feet off the table only to yell at Rita for being stuck up. Bailey quietly observed as the others struggled to hold a proper conversation.

"Shut up!", she yelled at the top of her lungs trying to get everyone's attention. The others finally adjusted accordingly and stopped acting out.

"We need to get this done today. I think our top priority is getting everything ready. Food and water is provided within this domain. Medicine can last for another two months. Right now we need to leave the Dawn House and get to the outside world, right? We should learn as much as possible, right?"

She was right. They knew how to take care of all the farm animals. They knew how to grow food. They knew how to get water. They knew nothing about the outside world and as such need to explore it thoroughly. However, that would be impossible until they figure out how to get to the outside world. Not only was it forbidden to even attempt to leave but also was it forbidden to look for ways to do so. Sylvia always just took a few of them outside in the blink of an eye without ever showing them how it was done. As such, they'll have to look around even within parts forbidden to them.

Daisy was doing rather well and maybe even suffered the least out of the whole team. The only side effect that remains is fatigue. Aside from her pride, nothing is broken and her team still has her back. It was the mental turmoil that was bothering her far more than anyone else. Living with the five Dream Catchers she considered family and always led into battle, she seems to face quite a few challenges every day since she has returned home.

Genjo especially has been an issue to her mental well-being as all he did was bicker and complain about Elena's incompetence. With the confirmation that she's returned physically fine, he's even more aggravated as he believed that she should be dead.

"Absolutely unbelievable!", he said as Soul/Lerone relayed the news. Marine/Marin was trying to calm him down. After her little battle with Hyperion and Emma she can't help but feel as if Elena hadn't been as incompetent Genjo makes her out to be. "How come she gets to live when all she does is mooch off Hellfire and cause trouble to others? And she's supposed to be the next council leader too!"

Rouge, Lerone, and Daisy simply stood by. Getting up to make herself some tea, Daisy was somewhat upset about something she didn't want to talk about. Lerone and Rouge simply tried to ignore Genjo as they turned on their TV to play on the console.

"I mean look at her! She probably can't even speak up when others are trying to beat her to death. She likely spends every day trying to gain sympathy from others playing the “Oh help me! I'm so weak!”-card! I mean how else would she recruit those three excellent rookies?" Genjo kept yapping about the way he disliked Elena and it got on everyones' nerves. Especially now, at times of so much tension and dismay, is it hard to keep his voice down. It's understable that he still may hold a grudge for Elena's supposed sin, but it's also ludicrous to have that one mistake be the sole thing that defined her.

"If it weren't for her we wouldn't have to intervene in a part of the country we're not responsible. And even if we have to, at least send in proper reinforcements!", he uttered. Lerone couldn't stand that claim and bothered to at least correct him on that.

"You're wrong. They send issues out to anyone that could be involved and anyone that could potentially deal with the outpour of Demons that may occur. As far as I know, the report says Elena had proposed it and Raven had carried that order out."

Slightly disgrunted and at a loss for words, he quickly picked himself back up and claimed, "The person doing the report probably was documenting it wrong. Something to do with human error I guess? I mean it likely was Raven that proposed it. It just shows how much more capable he is than her! Even comparing them is an insult to Raven!"

Taking a short breather by heading into the kitchen and grabbing himself a cup of water, he started blabbering to Daisy genuinely worried about her well-being.

"Are you okay? You've seemed so strained lately?", he asked genuinely concerned.

"It's nothing," she said. "I think it's just that-"

"Is it because of Elena?"

Baffled by the conclusion he has drawn, she was left speechless. His obsessive yet deep hatred was just an unknown factor she couldn't handle. It was hard to grasp what exactly was making him cling on to something like this. Daisy herself had stopped blaming Elena and was reconsidering on the way she had treated someone that once was her best friend.

"It's always her fault. If it weren't for that fucking cursed child no one else would have to suffer from such losses. If only she hadn't been-"

"What's your fucking issue?!", Daisy demanded to know. Getting right into his face she spread spit and anger as she uttered these words.

"I mean she-"

Daisy couldn't take it anymore and simply had to let it all out. Even Marine got up to do some damage control but to no avail. "Let's just calm down and relax, okay?", she said attempting to calm everyone down.

Daisy ignored her and went ahead with her grand confrontation. "Why do you have such a hate boner for Elena?", she asked as her first question, still rather calm for someone that was about to go off the rails and unleash fury that had been building up for two years.

"You know that! She's the reason why-"

"No, she's not. We could have just told her what was up with my stupid fucking domain! Hell, where were you that day? Hm?!"

Genjo hesitated as he himself didn't know what to say. "I was here. You know I was just a rookie at the time so I-"

"Yeah? Maybe had you been there, your “brother” would have lived. I'm pretty sure he'd be pretty fucking disappointed that you turned out to be this awfully bitter person that can't get by on his own. Maybe it shoud have been you!"

"What?", Genjo asked as he trembled and stepped back.

"Maybe you should have died instead!"

Tears started streaming down his face as he ran out of the house. Marine followed after him as Daisy tried to hold her tears in. Rouge was visibly upset as Lerone tried to contain his anger.

Daisy wasn't the only one dealing with a dysfunctional group. Phantom, or rather, what once was Phantom, was revealed to be a kid at the age of 17. People couldn't grasp that someone as young as him was leading over a part of Bavaria while going on missions overseas every once in a while. His amnesia sadly is permanent as the only memory that remained was someone calling for his name, Liam. So far, everything else seems lost. The ones he had entrusted to reign over that part of Bavaria were baffled and didn't know how to deal with this. As he had led them for five years, they wondered how they didn't notice or whether or not they simply didn't want to notice just how young their leader was. Harpocrates, 23, and Lamia, 20, were currently within an alley discussing important matters just a few meters away as he was preoccupied with a butterfly.

"Who would have thought that our master would be so young. I honestly wasn't expecting that at all," stated Harpocrates. His voice rough and a little disgruntled felt ashamed to have given someone this young the duty to do all kinds of things.

"Yeah and now he's... He's just a kid preoccupied with his own mind," Lamia said as she gestured at Liam staring at the butterfly in awe.

"Issue is... His domain was our headquarters and mine isn't exactly fit for discussing matters in so I've rented a studio just five minutes away from here. We should continue talking there."

Grabbing Liam by his hand like he would a child, Liam gladly followed and said, "I'm sorry for being such a burden... It's just that I currently can't recall anything. What was your name again?"

"It's Harpocrates. Don't worry. It's fine."

Finally arriving at the studio, they let Liam do whatever in another room as they kept discussing things.

"It's really such a shame. He had so much knowledge and leadership capabilities that I believed that he could beat the Top 100 Dream Catchers even if he's far weaker than them. Just what exactly did he face in there that would reduce him to... to this." Rather disappointed by Liam's loss of memories he wonders whether or not there's any way to let him be his old self but Lamia had something else in mind.

"I think it's great," she boldly claimed.

"What?"

"If he really is a child then that means that we've been pushing him to do all this for what? To maintain the status quo? This allows him to start over as a blank state. At least he was luckier than that companion of his. It's almost like there's a god that has it out for her," Lamia said rather sad.

"Elena, huh? She really has been unlucky. Not only do most know her as some kind of cautionary tale of incompetence but also does death and failure follow her everywhere she goes. I've talked with her once on behalf of Phantom and she was really nice and understanding as to why he couldn't come to an agreed meeting. She starts as a Dream Catcher and loses her mentor, is then transferred to another one of these awful facilities, meets a new bunch of friends she loses in a horrific event, gets sent back to Germany to be taken in by new friends, only to be abandoned not long after gaining these friends for an accident she can't really be blamed for."

Harpocrates respected Elena. Both him and her had struggled to get as far as they did. Unlike her, he had Phantom who taught him how to grow stronger than before while Elena remained with the experience of a rookie Dream Catcher having to figure everything out on her own. He fears that the death of the rookies she's trying to raise may ultimately break her if that ever were to occur.

"They're really strong," they said in unision.

"To honor them and their difficult journies we should respectfully take over and deal with whatever issues may arise within their absence," Lamia declared rather proudly. They held great respect for people like these and people like Calamity even when their knowledge on them was rather shallow.

"I'm sorry but I won't be able to lead this part of Bavaria." Harpocrates had something he had to get off his heart. Though it pained him to do so, he still wanted to go along with his plan.

"I'm gonna leave and adventure. Maybe I'll find some other place where I can peacefully live out the rest of my life but it won't be here."

Lamia was shocked as she never expected someone as diligent and duty-driven as Harpocrates to leave. She insisted that he stay here and deal with this as she doesn't trust herself to be a good leader.

"I simply cannot stay here. I just want to venture out to space or do anything else."

"But I can't lead the Dream Catchers on my own! How exactly am I supposed to deal with all this alone?", she exclaimed.

"You can. You have to stop doubting yourself and carry on. I believe that you can be just as great as Phantom or maybe even bring the change he needs."

Entrusting Lamia with everything, he believed that she was fit of becoming a part of the Bavarian Council. Renting this studio only for one hour, his time to depart and leave this world on a hunch that life may exist outside of earth was coming close. With one final hug to Lamia and one final mission to Liam, he could leave right away.

Standing in front of Liam he looked at him and wondered what he was thinking. Was he confused? Was he afraid? Happy? Sad? Or maybe even relieved? No one knew. Not even Liam. The only thing he did is that he had to do one more thing.

"Hey, Liam. I want you to do what you want. So I have to ask you this: What do you want to do right now?" Harpocrates held back his tears.

"I want to see how that girl... how Elena was doing. Can I do that?"

Harpocrates took his arm and had him hold out his hand. Giving him a strip of paper, he hugs Liam and departs never to be heard of again. Saddened yet happy, he hoped that Liam live the life he deserves.

Raven didn't have the luxury of being surrounded by loved ones. No one was on his side and no one really cared about his well-being. Rather quickly, he was capable of getting back up and heading straight toward the mansion, The Eleven Plagues headquarters. No one greeted him on his way in. The others simply awaited him in the meeting room waiting to be released from his grasp.

Therein, the meeting room, he found a collection of eleven chatting away and talking to each other like friends and aquaintances would. As soon as he entered, they all got back to their seats all behaving professionally not uttering a word. One of them, the one Franky had met when he partook in that tournament, got right out of the fanciest seat and positioned himself right next to it.

"I'm sorry for not welcoming you upon your return as we hadn't expected you to be released so early. As promised I've prepared every-"

"It's fine. You can sit in that seat. I can find another one." Raven was strangely... kind? Prior to this incident, he wouldn't tolerate these things. Prior to the battle against The Coordinator, he wouldn't treat anyone with kindness, at least not on purpose.

Fetching himself a wooden chair from another room, he squeezed between his “throne” and the seat of the first plague. He sighed as he held his head up with his hands and had just one thing he wanted to tell them but had no idea how to do that.

"Is something wrong, sir?", asked 7th Plague: Hail and Fire. He only referred to her as her title or her humber. He didn't even know her name yet she showed concern.

The others were bracing for impact as they expected him to lash out at them for a small mistake. Expecting it any second, 4 and 7 were the only ones showing concern. What took them by surprise was Raven suddenly breaking out in tears let alone seeing his face while doing so. He couldn't bear to look at any of them as he knew that he had wronged all of them.

"I'm sorry!", he cried. "I'm sorry for treating all of you the way I did these past years! I'm sorry for putting you through so much! I'm sorry for being so harsh at you!"

The others didn't know what exactly they should do. They didn't know how to handle the situation as Raven himself had forbidden them from crying. He had forbidden them from raising their voices as well but also forbade them from getting out of their seats during a meeting.

"I'm sorry for being so selfish! I'm sorry for being such an awful person! I'm sorry for taking advantage of you!" He kept going on about the things he is sorry for.

"I'm sorry for feeding you still alive frogs, gnats, lice, and locusts! I'm sorry for forcing you to get diseases! I'm sorry for giving you boils! I'm sorry for subjecting you to days within a dark chamber! I'm sorry for reminding you of the deaths of your loved ones! I'm so sorry!"

His tears, spit, and snot streamed down his face as he struggled to look up at them.

"I'm sorry..."

People know of where he had learned to become the person he is today and as such started feeling pity even if they resent him. Gently approaching him, the 7th plague placed a hand on his shoulder. Though a couple years younger than Raven, she understood that what he said was genuine. As the one that went through the harshest training to become one of the Eleven Plagues, she still patted his head as gently as possible.

"It's Ana, short for Anatoly," she said.

"Huh?"

"My name is Anatoly. Thank you for opening up to us. It must have been hard dealing with all these repressed feelings for such a long time, right?", said Ana. Her voice was soft yet firm and cofident. Her gaze was gentle as she had known what it's like to break down after repressing ones feelings for so long. Number 4 also stepped closer and aknowledged his struggles while the youngest, number 11 who was referred to as “Clone”, the one that sat in his seat, hugged him.

"Mine is Theo. Number 4's name is Fox," said number 11.

"We understand. You probably went through a lot, right?", spoke Fox. Having been the one that witnessed Ana's breakdown, he fully understood what it's like for one's emotions to boil over. Number 2; 3; 8; and 9 were shocked and felt sorry for Raven while not knowing what to do. Number 1 remained indifferent. Number 5 and 6 resented him yet remained quiet. Number 10 walked out of the room trying to cool his head off as he outright hated Raven yet felt something different when he saw Raven break down. Still, he had to leave the room to not beat Raven out of anger.

Finally, the 2nd-ranked, the one who held power over all of Europe's Dream Catchers was meeting with Calamity, and, to his surprise, the Authority of Stars. Having heard of his deeds committed in Munich, he still was open to talking with the one that had brought attention to the world of magic. Thinking about taking the blame for Raven's mistake, he went into this conversation emotionally loaded yet level-headed. It was time to rethink how the world and the status quo works for his sake and the sake of all that can fight Demons.