Viktor threw open the door to the Little Wooden Shack and marched in, bellowing as loud as he could. "SYDNEY! HARDIN! ANDREA!"

"Sheesh, Vik," Andrea said, coming from the kitchen with a mug of ice cream in her hands - better portion size, and easier for her to hold onto. "Are you trying to make us all deaf?"

"Vampire! Sydney! Kit! Missing! Hardin! All of you! Bastian!" he panted, waving his hands at her wildly.

Andrea raised an eyebrow, set her ice cream down and did a double take as she saw Flik come in behind him. "Translation?" she asked him, pointing at Viktor, who was still babbling incoherently. At this point, Laguna and Kain had come into the room as well, wondering what was going on.

"Kit's gotten all of us into a big mess," Flik said. "Though it's not exactly entirely her fault. It just kind of spiraled out of control." He attempted to explain about the disappearances and Rian's arrival, and concluded with Bastian's request that they all come to the castle.

"Me too? This is bizarre," Andrea replied, shaking her head. "You all know I don't want to get involved in these things unless I have to..."

"You probably don't have a choice," Viktor told her, hands on his knees as he bent over, still trying to catch his breath. "Listen, is Sydney here?"

Hardin emerged from Joshua's room just in time to hear the question. "I haven't heard anything from him for several hours," he muttered, seeing as no one else was answering. "But then, we're not on the best of terms at the moment."

"He went outside a while back, after talking to Kain," Andrea added. "But... he doesn't seem to be here now. Kain?" She shot him a questioning look, but the dragoon shook his head.

"It's probably my fault," Hardin said with a sigh. "I was extremely harsh with him last night."

"And he deserved it," Flik quickly pointed out.

"Ok, no time for arguments," Viktor interrupted before they could say anything else. "We need to get Andrea to the castle and try and find Kit and Sydney."

"Hmmm." Andrea shook her head in exasperation. "Is this really something that requires me? I mean, you all know I don't like to... well, you know."

"Yeah, we do," Flik agreed. "But Bastian seems to think you'll be needed."

"That serious, huh?"

"Yes."

"Darnit." Andrea sighed and picked up the mug of ice cream again, returning to the kitchen. "Guess this goes back in the freezer for later..."

Hardin had taken in the conversation in silence, but now he spoke up. "...Is Sydney in danger?"

The concern in his eyes was earnest, and Flik sighed a little. "I wish I could tell you otherwise, but... yes. He's in a lot of trouble, and if we don't find him soon, I'm not sure what might happen."

"It's bigger than just him, though," Viktor put in. "This entire world is going to pieces, thanks to this vampire woman. If we don't figure out where she is, and do something about her quickly, well, it won't be pretty. Or ugly. It won't be, at all - at least that's the impression I got."

"...Vampire woman?" Hardin looked alarmed. "Gods, what does she want with Sydney?"

"What does anyone want with Sydney?" Viktor pointed out.

Hardin flushed, but his face grew grim. "...Is that all?"

"That's all she wants with him, yeah," Viktor told him. "She's up to something more, but-"

"Then it's none of my business."

Everyone stared after Hardin as he turned away. "Are you serious?" Flik called after him as he went to his room.

"Maybe he wants to be with her," Hardin growled, looking back at them. "Did you ever think about that? Did you ever consider that he'll sleep with anyone he pleases without a care for anyone else? I ended it after Syl - it's none of my business anymore."

The door slammed behind him, and Flik winced. "All right... I wasn't anticipating that kind of reaction." He gave Andrea a pleading look. "Can you do something about that? We could really use his help, and we don't have the time to sit down and talk this all out."

"Nope, that's not the way I do things," Andrea told him. "I may already have to invoke certain privileges, and I'm not going to take it even further." Her matter-of-fact demeanor softened a little. "Things should happen naturally with him - he deserves that much, after all he's been through."

"Yes, that's all well and good," Flik said impatiently, "but we don't have time! You've got to come to the castle, and fast - we can't wait around for Hardin to realize he's wallowing in self-pity!"

"Flik," Viktor said, raising a hand in a calming gesture, "don't worry about it. You just take Andrea to the castle, and I'll stay here, try to talk some sense into Hardin. And once I do, we'll go look for Sydney ourselves, okay? One less thing for you to worry about."

"Well... all right, that makes sense," Flik agreed, then turned to Andrea. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I suppose... gah, I can't believe Kit dragged me into this," she muttered, cleaning her glasses on her shirt before turning to the other inhabitants of the shack. "Hmm... someone's gotta stay with Josh - he probably shouldn't come along," she said with a grin. "Kain, I'm assuming that's not something you'd be interested in..."

"Certainly not."

"Heh, didn't think so. So it's either James or Laguna..." She looked over the two of them. "Laguna, how about you come with me? I don't think we'll necessarily need more manpower on our team, but I know you haven't forgotten what you learned in your army days..."

"Sounds cool to me." Laguna rolled up his sleeves, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "I haven't seen any real action for awhile - this could be fun!"

James gave an enormous sigh of relief. "Whew - I wouldn't want to go anywhere near a vampire... Wheee, I'm gonna challenge Josh to a Pokemon battle!" he cheered, forgetting the serious matter and rushing off to the bedroom.

"...Yeah..." Flik said faintly. "I... think I'm glad he's not getting involved with this."

"And what about me?" Kain asked, reasserting his presence. "I'm not staying with the kid, I'm not going with you..."

"If Vik doesn't manage to convince Hardin to help him look for Sydney, he can't very well go alone. You give him a hand," Andrea instructed the dragoon. "Even if Vik does convince him, well... if things are as serious as they sound, another fighter might come in handy, particularly one who knows how to deal with demons of jealousy and greed."

Kain nodded slowly, a slight smile crossing his lips. "I guess you could say I'm familiar with that sort of thing. Guess it's time I put on the armor again..." he muttered, heading back to his room.

"So..." Looking back and forth from Flik to Laguna, Andrea gestured to the door. "Let's get going."

As they left, Flik looked back over his shoulder at Viktor. "Vik...? Be careful, okay?"

Viktor gave him a grin. "Hey, I'll be fine. You take care too."

"Well, with Andrea along, I don't think I need to worry... she doesn't like to fiddle with things, but she will when she deems it necessary," Flik reminded him. "But you and Kain and Hardin... you'll be on your own."

"Not a problem," Viktor told him, his expression softening a little. "I'll be careful. If we can't pull this off, then this world might get all messed up, remember? And... well, I don't like thinking about that... because if anything happened, then we wouldn't be together."

Flik stared at him a moment, then his lips parted in a wondering smile as he crossed the room to where Viktor stood. "For such a pain in the ass, you can be the sweetest guy sometimes..."

Leaning down as Flik tilted his face up, Viktor kissed Flik gently. "I'll come back to you, Blue Lightning - count on it."

"I'll be ready and waiting, bear."