Ethiopia, Libya, Russia, England, China, Pakistan… Just how many places had Chihiro checked off of her list of Kaos's plausible locations? She lost count by this point, and it ground on every nerve of hers. She was sure she'd traveled across half the globe, and the list of places where Kaos certainly wasn't grew longer and longer with every trip. Seriously, how hard is it to find one obnoxious evil portal master? She'd certainly like to know!

Regardless, though, she did at least enjoy traveling the globe, seeing the sights, meeting people she never would've crossed paths with otherwise, and that was the balm that soothed her otherwise quite irritated mood.

It lifted her spirits enough that when she arrived in the neighborhoods of Mountain View, she was prepped and more than ready to go Kaos-hunting! She was a bit nervous about going to a bigger city, but the moment she stepped foot from her warp start and out of the alleyways, she found herself right at home. Though it wasn't nestled deep within the forest's heart like Treasure Lake was, the streets full of passerby diving in and out of restaurants and shops alike were close enough to the cities and towns around her little corner of the world.

To her left, a couple devoured the burgers they pulled from a restaurant with the strong scents of warm, juicy beef; to her right, a girl and her friends rambled something about applications and homecoming dances as they raced each other down the streets. Someone walked their dog down another place, kids played hopscotch on the sidewalk, someone wove between passerby and phone conversations alike… It bustled with life in a way that felt like home!

Chihiro wanted to just drink in it, but a firm shake of her head reminded her of the mission at hand. She had to look for Kaos, but not just that, no. She slipped her hand into her jacket's pocket, and the feeling of paper against her fingertips reminded her of what she was also here for. Chihiro's eyes flickered, and another trip found its way to the forefront of her memory.

It was a few weeks ago, and during one of her weekends, Chihiro took a tour of a couple other cities in California. She'd slipped into a local news place that was still unlocked, for she figured that maybe their records would have some trace of odd going-ons she could link to Kaos. Teleporting in with a snap of her fingers, Chihiro drew her invisibility cloak over her head and scurried in. She assumes that most of the staff left for the night, but security cameras were still a thing, and she could never be too careful.

Her invisible sneakers clacked against the polished marble tiles, but her eyes illuminated with night vision as they scanned the insides of each room: offices, break rooms, storage closets—computer room! Ah, there's the ticket! Surely, all those computers were chock-full of footage for upcoming news broadcasts, and perhaps one of them had some clue as to where Kaos was!

Chihiro teleported in and hopped from computer to computer, combing through the files for whatever she could possibly scrounge up. She caught plenty of news reports, from a successful charity drive at a local college, the lost mascot of a local store finally being found after helping itself to a farmer's crops, reports on sports games, and, uh, some stuff that got a little too graphic for her to want to linger on it for more than a few seconds.

However, none of it actually brought her to Kaos, so Chihiro sighed and rolled back in the latest office chair she took refuge in as she combed through endless rows of seemingly-identical footage. The glowing lights of the computer screens melded in her mind with the scent of hand sanitizer, and the sounds of…

Mumbling? Crap, someone else was here!

Chihiro absconded from her seat without a second thought, and quickly twirled around the corner as she tried to locate the voice's source. A late-night employee? Security guard? Janitor?

"Jenny… I…"

Chihiro's eyes flickered, and she poked her head over the monitors to find someone slumped over their desk. It was a gangly young adult in business casual, probably some employee on the night shift. With how they slumped over their desk, they probably fell asleep on the job, too.

"Phew, safe!" Chihiro cried as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Huh? Someone here?"

Yeah, Chihiro spoke too soon. That person rose from their desk, turned around—and glanced straight at Chihiro! Her heart skipped a beat, but when this person reacted little, Chihiro tugged on her shirt to find her invisibility cloak tight in her grasp. That's right, she had the invisibility cloak! Guess they couldn't see her.

"Huh, guess it was a ghost." The person let out a pained, sardonic chuckle and an offhanded wave. "I guess you're the ghost of all my bad decisions, and you're gonna haunt me now?"

Chihiro raised a brow. The pain in this person's voice didn't seem to come from anger or sarcastic humor; no, it was a genuine sorrow that leaked out through playful jabs. Curiously, she sneaked closer. This person's pale skin may have been flush with life, and their bleach-blond hair carefully manicured to complement the stubble formings of a mustache and beard's beginning, but the bags under their haunted brown eyes showed the pain within them.

"Yeah, I'm the ghost of all your bad decisions, and I'm here to help you make better ones," Chihiro said as she took a seat across from the person. "So, what's been going wrong."

The person gave her a questioning glare, yet seemed to shrug it off. "Wouldn't you know, since you're my ghost and all?" Twisting their chair around, the person shielded themself from Chihiro's invisible gaze. "The sleep deprivation must be getting to me. Well, I've still got a few hours before I can clock out. Might as well talk."

The person hunched over their chair, and the faint light of the sleeping monitor glazed over their face. A sigh curled around their lips, and their thick eyebrows drooped over their eyes in a way that almost seemed to haunt them.

"Spent the first eighteen years of my life stuck with parents who only valued me as a trophy and nothing more, couldn't do anything that wouldn't get me into Harvey University once I turned eighteen, hell, it was a miracle they even let me get my license! I couldn't go a day without them berating me because I got a ninety-nine instead of a hundred, or because I dared to have friends and a life outside of them, and then Dad would come home screaming because he had a bad day at work and yell at me and Jenny for god knows what.

"I was sick of it! I couldn't take it anymore! Moment I turned eighteen, I snatched my stuff, jumped into my car, and drove as far as the gas would take me. I thought I'd finally be free, but nothing's gone right even once! I'm stuck in a place I barely got with nobody I know, that lucrative paid internship that begged to get me works me like a dog for peanuts, the water's busted in my apartment and my landlord still won't fix it, I was late for work this morning and got mud all over my best shoes, my shirts are fraying, the food in the fridge is probably going bad as I speak…"

Chihiro blinked as this person went on and on about their tale of woe. It seemed that all the big and little things piled up into a heap of misery, and it left Chihiro completely baffled. She didn't even know what to say!

"That, that's rough, buddy," Chihiro sputtered when the person's miserable monologue started to peter out. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear that a lot."

The person sighed, and somehow managed to slump down even further in their sorrows and chair alike.

"But, even with all this crap going on, I'm still more worried about my little sister. Jenny's still stuck with my parents, and I'm sure she's suffering. I always tried to take the brunt of their bull for her sake, but now that I'm gone…"

The person whimpered, and tears crawled down their bag-ridden eyes. They buried their face in their arms before it got obvious.

"I just, I don't know what to do! I can hardly sleep at night thinking about how miserable she must be, but I can barely take care of myself! There's no way I'd be able to take care of her on top of that!"

The person sniffled, and though they tried their best to mask their sorrows, it was futile. The way their voice cracked, how their back shuddered, how their limbs seemed about to give out, all of it told Chihiro this situation rattled them to the core.

"I just wish I could talk to her one more time. I just want to tell her that I didn't forget about her and I'm gonna get her out of there soon, I promise, but how am I going to do that?"

Chihiro let out a hum and her fingers scratched against her chin. Normally, she was only supposed to look for Kaos and scramble, but still, this person was clearly beleaguered by so much pain and guilt! She couldn't just sit around and watch while they suffered! She had to help them, and it wouldn't hurt just to do that, right?

"Well, how about you write her a letter?" Chihiro spoke up at last. "You write a letter for Jenny, tell her everything you want her to know, and I'll give it to her!"

The person blinked as they withdrew from their arms, and gave the space Chihiro occupied an odd look. "Man, the sleep deprivation's really getting to me."

They said that, yet they withdrew a pen and a sheet of paper from their desk as they wrote away. Their shaky hand struggled to grasp the pen at times, their tears blotted the paper and ink, but still they wrote away as the minutes seemed to slow to a crawl.

Chihiro even got up and paced around a few times, for her legs started to fall asleep on her. She wasn't going to judge though, seeing as how this person had a lot on their mind. Finally, as she reclaimed her seat for the third time, the person pushed the letter across the desk.

"It's done. My folks are all the way back in Mountain View, so are you sure you can deliver this?"

"Sure can!"

The person withdrew into their desk as they slumbered once more, perhaps slightly relieved of their guilty conscience, and Chihiro hummed as she picked up the letter…

But then, Chihiro pulled herself out of her memories, and once again she found herself in the busy streets of Mountain View. Her hand idly brushed against the letter's paper form, tracing around a disc-like protrusion underneath it.

"Man, sounds like they're both going through a lot," Chihiro idly remarked. "I hope this can make things a little easier for them both, especially since I worked all night on it!" Chihiro shook her head. "Before I do that, I've gotta found out where this Jenny girl is."

Well, figuring out where she'd probably be was easy enough. Chihiro "borrowed" her mother's Bookface account to do some searching while she was on the phone, and through some careful detective work, determined where Jenny's school was. She'd probably still be there at this point, and Chihiro imagined that she wouldn't leave until the last minute if her family situation was anything like the letter described.

So, she had time, but she still had to figure out how to get to the school in the first place. Unfortunately, the Bookface page for Jenny's school did not come with directions. Chihiro tried to scan the streets for any vague signs of the school's distinct red brick or wing-shaped monument on the horizons to no avail. The streets were so packed with passerby and shops that she could barely even see above the hill!

"Well, guess I'd better ask a local for directions."

Chihiro pressed through as she skimmed through the crowds, scanning for someone who might know where the local school is. She passed by a portly man who looked like a teacher, but he was on the phone, so she went for a mother wrangling some unruly children, but she was busy too. Chihiro sighed as she passed them by, but quickly stopped as the sounds of grunting and struggling labor caught her ears.

Pushing past a gaggle of high schoolers, Chihiro turned her attention to where someone stumbled out of what seemed to be a local grocery store while they carried way too many groceries than they could hold!

They looked about her age, though their frame was a bit ganglier compared to hers, and their peach-colored skin was dusted in freckles everywhere it was visible: face, arms, legs... Their sky blue eyes accentuated their hair, which was kept in a singular mop with a long cowlick in the front and a long, curved ponytail in the back, and sweat dripped down the brim of their long nose. They donned a bulky aqua scarf that loosely draped over their white and aqua polo-tee, well-loved and faded denim shorts, and white socks that matched sky blue sneakers with clouds and suns adorning their sides in vinyl.

Wait, why was she standing here and detailing their looks? Those groceries they carried were halfway to tipping over!

The kid let out a cry as some of their bags tipped over, and Chihiro slid in with a yelp! Thankfully, she managed to leap in just in time to catch them, but not so thankfully, she got sidewalk-burnt. Owch.

"Safe!" Chihiro sputtered as she forced herself back up. She carefully brushed off the grocery bags just in case, and held them out to the kid. "I guess these are yours?"

"Yeah, thanks!" the kid sputtered. His voice was high and boyish, which confirmed Chihiro's suspicions that he was, indeed, about her age. "If you hadn't gotten those, I'd have to make another shopping run! Hey, hate to ask a stranger favors and all, but do you think you could help me take this stuff home?"

Chihiro chuckled, a bit amused by his nonchalant attitude. "No problem, you looked a little… Burdened."

"Thanks! I'm Liam, by the way."

"Name's Chihiro!"

The two walked side to side across the pathway, and Liam whistled a tune along the way.

"Hey, what're you doing around here anyways?" Chihiro asked.

"I'm just getting stuff for dinner tonight," Liam remarked as he swung one of the bags over his shoulder. "You?"

"I was headed to North Wind Middle School." Chihiro situated the bags she held. "Need to give something to someone there."

"Hey, that's right across the block from my place! Talk about getting lucky, right?"

Chihiro let out a chuckle, one Liam met with a similar hearty guffaw. His freckles accented the wide grin on his face, and his ponytail and messy bangs seemed to dance in the breeze with his scarf. His laughter soon faded, and he hopped along the sidewalk as the light danced around him.

"So, you get all the groceries yourself?" Chihiro couldn't help but take a quick glimpse down at the stuff in her bag. It was bags upon bags of cookies, cheese curls, boxes of candy, maybe one or two boxes of microwaveable pizzas… Yeah, she probably didn't need to ask; the contents of his grocery haul alone were evident enough of the answer.

"Yep! My folks work all the time, so I kinda just take care of myself," he said with a lot more glee than Chihiro would have probably expected, "and that means I can do whatever I want! I've had pizza and candy for dinner and ice cream for breakfast all week, and instead of getting nagged about my homework, I get to go to the arcade and play games all weekend!"

Chihiro let out a chuckle at his excited tone, for she'd been independent enough that his excitement was almost novel. Getting excited about things like pizza for dinner and weekends at the arcade almost seemed a tiny bit small compared to all the adventures she'd had, but she supposed it would be nice to be that free for an ordinary kid. Sometimes, she had to remind herself that most didn't have the kind of freedom she held.

"But you know, I'm starting to get a little bored of just running around here." Liam let out a wistful sigh as he watched an airplane cross the skies in the distance. "I wish I could travel all across the globe the way my parents do! They're pilots, and they go flying all over the place! They've been to France, China, Spain, Turkey, and Italy, and that's just this week alone!"

Chihiro was tempted to say she'd been to all those places as well, but quickly shut her mouth before the flow of conversation caused her to let slip about something she shouldn't have. After all, normal people weren't supposed to know about magic and Skylands! So, instead, she let Liam take the floor, and he indulged her on all the sights his parents told him about over phone calls, from how the world seemed so small across the skies to the beautiful jungles and cities they'd cross. It brought back vivid memories of her trips, and she almost got lost in them!

"Oh hey, here's my place!"

But soon, they came to a stop in front of a nice-looking, two-story house with a porch decorated in souvenirs from all across the globe. Liam dropped his groceries on an artisanal bench as he unlocked the door, and quickly stowed his own bags inside. He hopped out quick as the wind to snatch the other bags from Chihiro's hands before she could even blink, and disappeared into the hallway.

"Just walk straight up, and you should be at the school! I know because it's my school and I walk there all the time! See ya!"

"See you, Liam! Nice meeting you!"

The door slammed to a close, and Chihiro hopped up as she traversed the sidewalks. Sure enough, Liam was right. Within a few minutes, Chihiro found herself at the gates of a massive school with a large, stone wing statue place in the heart of its sidewalk. A plaque to the side of the gate read "North Wind Middle School", marking Chihiro's arrival and the beginning of her mission.

With a snap of her fingers, Chihiro's invisibility cloak emerged from the last place she'd hidden it (no need to keep track when she could magically summon it), and comfortably draped itself across her form. Thankfully, nobody was in the way to see her. She supposed most of the students and faculty left already, and this would hopefully make her search easier.

Another snap of her fingers and Chihiro teleported inside the school halls. The whole place was painted in cheery blues, and murals of sunny skies and rainbows hovered along endless rows of lockers and doors. Chihiro didn't linger on them for long, for she instead jumped from pristine, almost stained glass-like window to window as she peered through each door. She met with endless classrooms and empty offices, broom closets and cafeterias, but finally stopped at one.

Inside, there appeared to be some kind of library, and more importantly, there was a person inside! Sobbing, faint but just loud enough to be heard, echoed from within, and it sounded like a young voice. That had to be a student!

Chihiro carefully pushed the door open, and made sure that it wouldn't alert whoever sat inside. She crept towards the sound of the crying, and found another kid close to her age curled around a book as they sat at a table. Their medium-length, golden blonde hair draped over their back like a blanket, and their pale hands twitched with soreness.

Chihiro gasped, immediately discarding all pretenses of sneakiness as she dashed over to the table and quickly took a seat across from the kid. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked. "Why are you crying? Did something happen at school?"

The kid gasped and quickly leaped up in their seat. Their blue eyes were red with exhaustion, and their golden blonde bangs cascaded over their forehead in wavy petals. Their face, the nose, those eyes… This had to be that person's sister! There was no doubt about it! Even with some slight differences in colors or features, she was an echo of that person's looks!

The girl winced, and tugged at the red, floral-print tank top she layered over her white sweater. She clearly didn't expect company, or for anyone to even ask her what she cried about.

"It's okay, I promise I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. It's just, you seem so upset."

The girl sniffled. "School's gonna close soon, and, and, I'll have to go back home and see my parents, and they're definitely gonna yell at me! I, I only got a ninety-six on my test today, and they hate it when I get anything that isn't perfect! They yell at me no matter what I do, even I try to do everything they want! It's like they hate me!"

The girl buried her face in her sweater's arms, her book completely forgotten.

Chihiro winced and gently placed a hand on the girl's arms. "They don't sound like very good parents."

"It, it's not that they're bad people or anything, I shouldn't have said that. They just, they have a lot of hopes for me, and they're really upset because my brother ran away from home and they have no idea where he is. They're just frustrated, that's all."

"Even if they're frustrated, they shouldn't be taking it out on their kid!"

"But they're all I have!"

The girl startled as she leaped upwards, but quickly withdrew into herself.

"I'm so busy doing all the stuff that they want that I don't really have a lot of friends, and I barely see the ones I do have. My family's all I really have, and now my brother's gone and I don't have anyone else. Nobody besides…"

The girl stopped herself, for Chihiro flung herself forward and wrapped her in a tight hug. Chihiro didn't know what came over her, but the pain felt way too familiar, and she couldn't take it!

"That's not true, I promise." Chihiro wrapped her cloak around the girl like a blanket, and gently tucked the girl's head into her shoulder. The feeling of tears stained her shoulder, but she dismissed the uncomfortable feeling of wet cloth; this girl needed comfort more. "I promise, there's people out there thinking about you and waiting for you. You're not alone. You don't have to take what they say just because they're your parents."

The girl blinked as she withdrew from Chihiro's hug, and a curious look crossed her tear-stained face. "Wait a second, I don't think I've ever seen you around here before. Who are you?"

Crap, her cover! Chihiro gasped as she jumped back, and her hand slipped to where the letter still laid in her pocket. She quickly whipped it out, and her heart stilled as she handed it to the girl.

"You're Eugenie Woodrow, right? I have a letter here from your brother."

"From Leon?"

Eugenie blinked, stuck in a stupor. Perhaps she wondered if this was some kind of dream, some kind of mirage, as she hesitantly took the envelope from Chihiro's hands. Her fingers traced circles and paths around its paper, like she believed it would disappear from her grip the moment she opened it. However, she finally worked up the courage to gingerly open the envelope, and slowly withdrew Leon's tear-stained letter.

"'Dear Jenny,'" Eugenie read, her fingers trembling the whole time she spoke. "'I probably shouldn't ask how you're doing, since I know things are probably bad right now. I'm sorry Mom and Dad are being as harsh on you as I know they are, but more than that, I'm sorry for not telling you I was leaving sooner and not taking you with me. Truth is, I've been planning to leave for a long time now. Things were just getting to be too much, and I had to get my freedom the first chance I got, or else we'd both be screwed.'"

Eugenie winced a little as she said the last bit, like it was the kind of language her parents strictly forbade, but still regained the courage to speak.

"'I drove somewhere far. I can't say where, because if Mom and Dad find this we'd have trouble, but I can at least say it's well past home. I've managed to get myself a job and an apartment, but things have been a little tough right now. I'm still trying to get enough money so that I can live kind of securely, because right now, things are not great.

"'For now though, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for pushing all this on you. I swear I haven't forgotten about our promise. Once I'm doing better financially, I'm going to get you out of there, I swear. I'll fight… them in court if I have to!'"

The way Eugenie hesitated at them confirmed to Chihiro that this was definitely not what Leon wrote.

"'I know I'm asking a lot, but just hang in there for me. No matter how long it takes, I'm going to get you away from Mom and Dad, and you'll never have to worry about them ever again. Remember, even if I'm not here with you, I'm always thinking about you, and I'll always be with you in spirit. You'll get through this, I promise.

Love, your brother,

Leon.""

Huh, that seemed a lot more put-together than he looked when he was writing it, but either way, it seemed to be just what Eugenie needed. She hugged the letter like an old friend as she sobbed, barely sniffling out half-words and Leon's name. She definitely needed this, but Chihiro felt that she could get her a little more.

"Your brother's right, you know," Chihiro said. "I've met a lot in people in situations like yours, and just as many of them pulled through. Things might be hard right now, but they'll get better. I promise." Chihiro dove into the envelope still in Eugenie's hand and rummaged through it. "But, until then, I have a little something extra for you two."

Chihiro felt something warm and vaguely metallic across her fingertips, and quickly yanked out a round disc. Placing it on the desk, she rubbed her finger around the rim, and a faint glow flickered from its heart. The glow built into a bright light as both Chihiro and Eugenie witnessed it, and soon, out leaped a bright screen! It showed a run-down apartment in blue tints, and at its heart… Leon!

Leon sputtered and nearly jumped out of his bed. "What the—"

"LEON!" Eugenie cried, shoving herself in the screen's view.

"JENNY?" Leon's eyes fluttered with a vacant, confused expression.

"This is a special communicator!" Chihiro explained as she popped inside with a wave. "You can use it to talk to each other whenever you want, just until you can see each other in person again!"

"Wait, what's going on here? What's—"

"Leon, I got your letter!" Eugenie cried. "Where did you go?"

Leon pursed his lips shut, but finally chuckled as a smile, a genuine one, crossed his face. His shock from earlier melted away as he and Eugenie got caught up; he discussed his internship and the city he now called home, and Eugenie talked about the books she read in the school library recently. For once, they both seemed so happy!

With her job done, Chihiro tucked her cloak so as to shield her entire form from view, and turned her attention to a security camera that glistened in the corner. A snap of her fingers, and the lens glistened as the footage magically erased herself. Can't have any evidence, unfortunately.

With that taken care of, Chihiro left the library and turned a curious eye at the halls. Surely, she could probably squeeze in a quick Kaos hunt while she was here, so she ran down the halls as her cloak fluttered in a faint breeze.