Well, at least this arrival at the castle was less painful than his last had been, Hardin told himself with resignation as he knocked upon the huge door. This time it was not raining, and he was not on the verge of collapsing from fatigue and depression, though he was a bit worried. Sydney usually told him when he was going to be at the castle for awhile... and he seemed to be blocking Hardin's scrying again, because he couldn't find him no matter how hard he concentrated. Although he'd said he trusted Sydney, after his state last night and most of the day, he wasn't happy with Sydney vanishing now.

Almost before he'd lowered his hand from knocking, the door swung open. "Hardin!" Selphie exclaimed. "I saw you from the window while you were on the way - how's it going? Everything cool? You look a lot better than last time I saw you..."

Smiling self-consciously, Hardin rubbed a hand over his jaw, remembering how things had been when he'd left less than a week before. "Things are much better, thank you... I'm sorry I was such a bother."

"Oh, puh-leeze," Selphie said, rolling her eyes at him. "Don't go getting all woe-is-me-I'm-such-a-terrible-person on me now! Last time you had a reason, but everything's better now, right? C'mon in."

"Well... sort of."

He followed Selphie as she bounced back inside and up the stairs, pausing to wave at Marie in the kitchen, who turned to look at the two of them. "Ah, you again! We just finished dinner, there's some left if you'd like-"

"No, no thank you," he replied, already feeling better just from the more generally upbeat feel of the castle's residents. "I'm just here for a moment, really - but I should mention that little Joshua thinks your cookies are wonderful."

"Thanks - if you bring him by sometime, we've always got plenty to go around!"

"So, what brought you out here?" Selphie asked as they moved on. "Here to tell Viktor to get his butt home, or what?"

Hardin chuckled. "So he's here too, is he?" He couldn't say he was surprised - ever since that night, Viktor had been walking around with a huge grin on his face, which didn't make it hard for Hardin to guess what had happened after he'd left. Despite the tension between them, it was good to see a relationship work out right for a change. His and Sydney's certainly wasn't going so well, though he had to admit it had been nice to see Sydney actually express a desire to have him near the previous night... however brief.

"Yeah, been up in Flik's bedroom all day till dinner... I'm not gonna ask." Selphie gave him a wink. "You're not here to drag him back, then?"

"No, actually I'm looking for Sydney... has he been here?"

"Nope, not that I know of..." Selphie paused and tilted her head in thought for a moment. "He wasn't at dinner, anyway... not like he ever eats much to begin with. He could be in his room..."

"I don't think so," Hardin said, growing more concerned. After Sydney's strange behavior last night, he'd fallen asleep from exhaustion, and then had spent most of the rest of the day lying in bed or restlessly pacing around their room, irritably telling Hardin to stop hovering whenever he asked if he was all right. If he was simply going to sit and brood in his room, it would have made no sense to go to the trouble of coming to the castle to sit and brood in a different room. Unless, of course, Hardin had been bothering him more than he realized. "...Though it wouldn't hurt to check, I suppose."

"Something wrong?" Selphie asked curiously as she turned to follow him up the stairs, seeing his slight frown.

"Yes, but I'm not sure what it is," he admitted. "If I may ask... what happened here yesterday? He came back from the meeting very late and very upset."

"He didn't look real happy when he showed up here, either," Selphie told him with a helpless shrug. "I mean, he grouched at everyone just as much as Syl, and then nothing that I know of happened at the meeting, but afterwards he went and freaked everybody out of the library."

"Hmm." That didn't provide any helpful information - except, of course, that this meant it could have been something he'd done, Hardin thought, rather than something from elsewhere. That wasn't very comforting.

The faint sound of laughter drifted down from somewhere above, accompanying the sound of footfalls on the steps, and Hardin recognized the voices immediately. Viktor was pulling a laughing, protesting Flik down the stairs by one wrist, but Flik halted and stopped laughing instantly when he saw Hardin and Selphie. "...Uh oh," he muttered.

Hardin frowned, puzzled. "What do you mean, 'uh oh'?"

Flik swallowed. "...Nothing, I guess," he said, shrugging his shoulders casually. "So... what brings you here?"

"...What did you think brought me here?" Hardin asked, growing curious, particularly as Viktor looked as though he didn't have a clue what he was talking about either.

"What makes you think that I..."

Hardin eyed him with suspicion - he was beginning to get a very bad feeling about this. "I don't appreciate being lied to, Flik. And you're a poor liar. What's going on?"

Seeing the tension growing between the two, Viktor did what came naturally to him - providing a distraction. "I know - you came to walk me home, isn't that it?" he suggested, shooting him a grin and looping an elbow around his. "How sweet! But Flik offered to carry my books home from school, so you're out of the running."

It didn't work on Hardin this time. "Stop the clowning," he told Viktor, pulling his arm away and glaring at Flik. "Something's going on here, and I want to know what it is. Especially if it has anything to do with Sydney."

"Way to go, Blue Lightning," Flik muttered under his breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if his head ached. "Listen, Hardin - I have no place getting involved. I inadvertantly played a part in the last crisis, albeit a small one... but that's done. That's been dealt with, this is no longer any of my business, and I have absolutely nothing to say about it."

"About what?" Hardin was getting angry now, and he practically growled the words at Flik. "He came home a complete mess last night, he spent most of today brooding and looking miserable, and then vanished. If you know anything about where he might be or what I can do to help him, and you don't tell me, I'll..."

His hand drifted down out of habit to where the hilt of his sword would have been if he'd worn it, and similarly out of habit, Viktor took note of the motion and stepped in front of Flik protectively, a grim look upon his face. "Don't even think about it, Hardin."

"Hey, hey, guys!" Selphie exclaimed, running between the two of them and holding up her hands to separate them. "C'mon! Love and peace? Okay?"

"Yeah, Vik..." Flik began, taking Viktor's arm and pulling him back. "This isn't going to solve anything. You know it too, Hardin."

"I don't care." Ignoring Selphie's protests, he brushed past her and Viktor to face Flik. He towered over the younger man, and for once chose to use his height to its full advantage, glaring down at him. "Just tell me - do you know where Sydney is?"

Flik shook his head slowly. "No. Honestly, Hardin, I really don't have a clue."

"Do you know why he would have been so upset last night?"

With a sigh, Flik looked down at the floor. "...I'm not sure. I have an idea, but I'm really not sure - and it's none of my business," he repeated firmly, looking Hardin straight in the eye.

Flik wasn't going to back down, Hardin realized. He would have been impressed, if he hadn't been so concerned. If only he had Sydney's powers of persuasion and heartseeing, he thought helplessly. "...Flik, please," he said softly, trying his last resort. "Viktor and I talked about you a bit... it sounds to me as though you have someone you care about too. You must understand - what if this was Viktor who'd simply disappeared, obviously upset?"

"Not likely," Viktor muttered, but they ignored him.

Flik sighed again. "Listen, Hardin," he began, "even if I'm right, it wouldn't help you f..." His voice trailed off suddenly

Seeing the way Flik turned away, Hardin knew he had just had a breakthrough, and an unpleasant one from the look of things. He seized on it instantly. "What is it? Where is he?"

"...I really don't know. I just had an idea, that was all, and I'm probably wrong." When Flik turned to face him again, there was pity in his eyes. "Hardin... believe me, I understand. You love him, you're worried... I understand all too well. That's why I don't want to say anything - it would just... no good would come of it, only trouble. Trust me, you don't want to know."

"Whatever the implications," Hardin stated, meeting that blue gaze steadily, "I'd rather be hurt and know that he's all right rather than simply sit and wait and hope in uncertainty - it's how I've lived for years now, being hurt. I... I honestly don't mind."

After a moment's pause, Flik nodded. "I can find out for you without telling you, I think," he told Hardin. "If you'd just wait here... I'll go check. He's probably not there anyhow, so it's nothing to worry about."

Hardin nodded, relaxing a bit at the partial victory. "Thank you... yes, I'll stay here."

After Flik had gone, Hardin was left alone with Viktor and Selphie, both of whom appeared just as confused as he was. "Uhm... I think I better get back to Astala and Milo..." Selphie said finally, giving Hardin a look of confused exasperation as she rushed off. "I hope Sydney's okay..."

For once, Viktor didn't have much to say, and Hardin was left to think about what Flik had said. Where could Sydney be, that Flik was so intent on not telling him? Of course, he could find out easily, he thought... and his curiosity was too strong to resist.

Concentrating on Flik's presence, still slightly unfamiliar, the scene came into view - a long, dark corridor with a single door at the foot of a staircase. He'd never seen that part of the castle before, and he watched curiously with his spirit's eye as Flik hesitantly knocked on the door. "Go away, Flik," an irritated female voice came from inside.

"I'm not here to make conversation," Flik replied. "Hardin showed up."

There was a long pause. "Let the cowardly bastard come, then, if he even has enough balls to hit a woman. I really don't care." Hardin knew that voice, just a little... but he couldn't quite place it. Particularly not when his thoughts were racing down all the worst possible tracks.

Flik's next words didn't ease his mind. "He doesn't know anything at all, and I didn't tell him - he just wants to know where Sydney is. Is he with you?"

"Hah." The voice sounded disgusted. "Now? No. Now just get the hell out of here, Flik."

"All right. Thanks, Syl." he said, turning away from the door. Inaudible to human ears, but perfectly audible to Hardin's enhanced spiritual senses, as he left he added under his breath "...For making everyone's life a lot more difficult."

Hardin didn't even crack a smile at the all-too-true remark - he was too busy panicking over what he'd heard only moments earlier. He's not with her 'now'...? When would he ever be with her, and... why? His mind had a single answer to that, considering what the other girls had said about Sylvia, and he didn't like that answer at all.

But then, Sydney did have a tendancy to take up with... questionable individuals. He himself had been one when they'd met. Perhaps... perhaps they'd become friends?

On the other hand, Hardin knew how seldom Sydney used that word, and exactly how he meant it when he did.

Searching desperately for some kind of confirmation, one way or the other, Hardin stopped his scrying of the hallway, and instead focused on the other side of the door. The young woman was lying on her back upon the bed, red hair spilled across the tattered sheets and one hand raised to her throat. Her fingers absently caressed a twin pair of scratches at the base of her neck - recent wounds, but already well on their way to healing.

Hardin cut off the scrying there; he needed to see no more. He had acquired the same scratches many a time.

Flik returned only moments later, and gave Hardin a relieved smile. "Good news - he wasn't where I thought he might be. There's nothing to worry about... I'm sure he'll show up before long, either here or at your place."

Hardin nodded slowly, his face blank. "Thank you."

He didn't even notice Selphie and Milo trying to bid him farewell, or Marie's offer of a plate of cookies for Joshua, as he left the castle to return home.