*At the same time Taeyeon was trying to get stronger*

Tiffany had picked up the black, glowing rock and returned home completely alone. She was used to returning home to an empty house now, but there was something about tonight that felt colder than usual. For a while, she could live peacefully without constantly thinking about her grandmother every time she glanced around the house, but now the guilt was returning and slicing through her heart once again. “What the hell is wrong with me? Why can’t I stop thinking about her? It wasn’t my fault! It wasn’t!” She tried to reason to the voice that would not stop hassling her about her grandmother’s death.

“It was your fault child! Everything that happened that night was all because of your selfishness from your breakup with your previous lover. It’s all your fault!” The voice hissed.

“NO! Never! Get out of my head.” Tiffany grabbed the sides of her head, thrashing at the voice for throwing the blame on to her. As if she had returned to that night when her grandmother passed away, she began to relentlessly barrage the wall with her fists. No matter the pain she felt, no matter how much blood spewed from her bare knuckles, she continued to smash her fists against the brick wall.

Her hands now were quivering helplessly, but the pain of her bloodied knuckles still failed to mask the damage of her grandmother’s death. “Even now child, you fail to overcome your blame. You’re weak! Helpless and will never save your grandmother!”

“ you! I’m not weak! I can save anyone, I can help anyone!!” Tiffany screamed at the wall.

”You can scream all you want child, but it will never change a thing. I can see it in your mind, you don’t even want justice for her death.”

“I’d do anything to bring her to justice.” Tiffany reasoned.

”Anything you say?”

“Yeah, if I had the power, I would do any…” Tiffany was cut off.

“If you had the power, would you kill him?” Tiffany had never thought of murder. It had never crossed her mind until now, but it was obvious she would never do that, right? A life taken doesn’t justify another death, does it? Tiffany questioned. “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind,” Tiffany whispered.

“Then blind the world child. The blinder the world is, the less pain you’ll see, the less loss you’ll experience. I can give you the power, to blind this world.” Tiffany wasn’t in her right mind. She wasn’t thinking about any consequences to her actions, all she could think of was bringing justice to the scum of this earth. She began to agree with the mysterious voice, the world was filled with criminals and felons who wanted nothing more than to destroy the lives of others. She knew they were out there, she knew how cruel the world could be and if she could get the power to defend the earth from those scumbags, she would take that in a heartbeat.

“Show me,” Tiffany demanded. The black stone’s glow grew ever brighter, piercing through the seams of her backpack.

“Hold the stone and I promise to reveal absolute power to you!” Tiffany gently picked the stone up with her trembling hands and witnessed as black streams of light were being released. “This… this is like her… except black.” Tiffany stuttered.

“Yes child, you are also one with the magical arts. And you will become a hero, a greater hero than Vermilion, one who does not shy away from truly punishing the evils of this world!”

*The next morning at Tae’s house*

Taeyeon had realized how reckless she was being when it came to being Vermilion. Sunny was completely right like always, she had to take it seriously and if she didn’t her loved ones could get hurt from her immaturity. From now on, she swore to handle her magic with true responsibility, where she would fight as if everything was at stake and that everything she did was crucial. Obviously Sunny still didn’t completely agree she was telling the truth. Although Sunny knew Taeyeon meant her words, she needed to see it for herself. She had to make sure Taeyeon truly meant her words, because every time she had been on the battle field thus far, she always reverted to her smart , arrogant persona.

Sunny had slept over at Taeyeon’s house and they were both ready to head off to a regular school day. Of course, though, the first stop on the agenda would be straight to McDonald’s to see her one true love. “Do you have everything Sunny?” Taeyeon asked.

“Yeah, I got everything. Thanks for the hospitality Shinju. It was great staying over here.”

“Even though I’m not a mind reader Sunny, I know how terrible this apartment is, but thanks for the kind words.” Shinju laughed.

“Well, we should head off. See yah Shinju.” Taeyeon and Sunny both waved their goodbyes and started their journey off to McDonald’s to see the pink princess, but to their surprise, she had not decided to appear. Taeyeon didn’t want to leave as she knew the girl would sometimes be late to show up at McDonald’s, but it already been two hours of waiting and still no sign of the girl. “Tae let’s go. She’s probably already at school.”

“She never ditches me,” Taeyeon said sternly.

“I understand you’re hurt Tae, but think about it this way. She could’ve been killed yesterday so she probably has a lot on her mind right now and as a result, she forgot to take her morning trip to McDonald’s.” Taeyeon wanted to continue arguing so they could continue their wait, but Sunny had already started moving away when she finished off her statement.

When they arrived at school something was strange, everyone was looking at Taeyeon as if it was the first time they’d seen her before. Taeyeon was used to getting stared at by now, but the way it was this time was much more different than usual. Sunny also noticed the strange vibes from the crowds and focused hard on reading a few minds as she passed by the hallway. “She looks fine… did they broke up?”  

“Hmm, Taeyeon looks normal, why did Tiffany look so dark?”

“Maybe they’ve broken up? Do I finally have a chance w