The next day…

It was quiet inside the large empty lobby of the GPAT building, so much so the golden retriever manning the front desk was able to just boredly scroll on his phone. The busiest part of the morning had already passed with everyone signing in before going off to do their usual duties. Georgie was left alone with just his reflection on the clean white floor, the silence echoing every little noise.

BOOM!

The sudden slamming of the front entrance rang out louder than it would otherwise, making him jump in surprise. Georgie reached for the building phone to call in help but stopped mid-action as he saw a familiar pink feline standing in the doorway, looking a little crazed from where he sat.

"Oh no...that was louder than I wanted it to be." she said, startling herself as well. Her already messy fur stood up slightly more in the process.

Amity took a deep breath before rushing over to Georgie and unlike the day before she had a genuine smile on her face this time. However as she approached deeper shadows under her crystal blue eyes became apparent. That coupled with her hair knotted and messy even if in a ponytail to tame it didn’t hide the fact that she looked like a mess.

A very happy mess, but a mess.

She stopped in front of the desk, bouncing slightly in excitement. "GEORGIE!" she exclaimed. "How are you today?"

Georgie jumped a little shocked, not expecting this level of energy from someone that looked so exhausted. "Uhh....goood? Can I-uh, ask you something Amity?"

"Sure, what is it?" she replied.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking very concerned.

"I'm better than okay! I'm fantastic!" Amity answered happily. "Why?"

"Weelll..." Georgie began, looking at her up and down. Silently noting the wrinkled clothes from yesterday, the bags under her eyes, and earbuds to distract herself from outside thoughts. "You're still in yesterday's clothes and you're..."

Amity's excitement seemed to lesson when he spoke. "And I'm?"

"Looking a bit frazzled." he continued. 'Not to mention took precautions for your ability...that only happens when things are bad.'

He tried not to say that last part to avoid upsetting Amity, however by the shifting of her expression it was obvious she had peaked into his thoughts. Whether intentional or not it was hard to tell.

"Maybe you should go home," Georgie spoke sincerely. "I'm sure Riley will under-"

"Oh no, I wasn't called in today! That's not why I'm here or why I look 'frazzled' as you put it." Amity interrupted him.

"It isn't?" he asked.

Amity shook her head, a smile returning to her face however not at the same intensity as before. "I think I found evidence!"

"Oh really? They'll want to hear that, especially after yesterday." he replied.

"Exactly! Wait..." she said excitedly but paused as what Georgie said registered after a second. 

"I thought they were satisfied with the answers I found yesterday?"

"They were, I was just saying..." he stammered. "They uh...they"

"It doesn't matter, I need to sign in." Amity waved the subject away.

She reached for a pen in the yellow cup that Georgie had set near the edge of desk, however she had to stop as the cup was empty. The golden retriever quickly realized the dilemma and dug into a drawer on his desk for a replacement pen.

"Sorry, I guess someone took the last pen." he said, handing her a new one.

"No problem, thanks!" Amity replied as she signed her name in.

Georgie forced a smile, still unsure about the feline's mental state being good. "I hope you have a good day, Amity."

"Thanks, you too!" she replied happily, putting the pen in the cup.

She walked around the front desk and toward the door just as she had done yesterday, only now with a more cheerful bounce in her step. Georgie waved goodbye and turned around to face the front once more.

'I really hope she's okay...' he thought worriedly.

Inside the office Amity was being greeted much the same way as yesterday however much like with Georgie it was accompanied with concern. It made her realize that she really did look a lot worse than she initially thought before leaving her apartment. Well that or she took too much time to groom herself on normal days and should probably be more lax with it.

'But that wouldn't make sense.' she thought. 'I really shouldn't try to get delusional, I'm already a walking zombie just by the reactions, I don't need crazy added.'

The feline came to accept she was having to make justifications and assure everyone that bothered to ask, even with how annoying it was quickly becoming. Thankfully some anima took her word for it, meanwhile the ones that still seemed skeptical didn't push further.

Either way it made the journey over to Scarlett run smoother than anticipated, considering Georgie's interaction was longer than necessary.

Upon reaching her friend's desk, Amity unceremoniously dropped her bag on the desk. The sudden loud thud it created made the focused raven jump in surprise. This caused her fingers to slip and for whatever she was working on, on the monitor to get potential typos and errors.

Scarlett looked down at the bag in confusion. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked and looked up at the culprit that brought it. "Amity? What're you doing here? You weren't called in today."

"I know I know, but I had to come!" Amity responded.

"You HAD to come? What makes you think that?" she asked, concern in her voice.

'She looks so tired, I bet she's not sleeping again.'

"I'm fine, I was just busy finding everything." Amity answered, catching the concerned thoughts. "And when I get home I'll take a nap, I promise!"

Scarlett sighed, thinking how stubborn cats were. "What were you busy finding?"

"EVIDENCE!" she answered triumphantly.

Not far away but unknown to Amity and Scarlett a canine with sharp ears and a hard demeanor had begun to eavesdrop on them. The sudden announcement of evidence for something peaking his interest as he passed by, his ear angled toward them as he pretended to go about his business.

Scarlett's eyes went wide at Amity's announcement. "That is a reason to come in, what is it? Does it have a significance to the trio?"

"Nope!" she answered with such glee and conviction it caught Scarlett off guard. 

"What? But you said..." the raven began.

Amity reached into the bag and pulled out a binder as she spoke. "It is evidence, but not to the most recent case. It's about my sister, she's alive, Scarlett!"

'Sister?' the dog wondered.

Amity shook her head, mentally brushing the eavesdropper's thoughts away. Getting quite tired of picking up on unwanted thoughts so often. Suddenly it occurred to her that the music that she had turned on in her ears before leaving had gone silent.

'No wonder I'm getting unwanted thoughts.' 

The pink feline pulled out her phone and once again turned on some music so only her own thoughts could break through to her with such ease. While doing this Scarlett was just quiet with a look of pity on her face, as if thinking Amity had let her grief finally get to her. Amity took a deep breath to try to ignore it as she continued her explanation.

"I was watching the news last night and right as I was about to change to something more relaxing, they showed a video!" Amity explained.

The raven leaned over as Amity switched to a page on her phone and showed it to her. "The video of the cat terrorizing the town?"

"Yes!" Amity replied. "I remembered how Layla was sent there to check out that weird foggy wall that surrounded it, so I decided to watch. Ya'know, to see if there were any changes to the wall or some hints to it."

Scarlett nods. "I recorded it for that reason myself."

"Well when they played the video, it had nothing about the wall...but it did have HER!" she exclaimed.

Amity went to the photos on her phone and pulled up the picture she had taken of her TV while watching the news and with that showed Scarlett it side by side with a small travel binder that Amity had put pictures of Molli in. 

"It's Molli!" Amity grinned. "My sister is alive! And with her magic crystal too!"

Suddenly interrupting their conversation was a loud throaty cough. The two turned to see what looked like a dog choking on water as he had a cup in his hand, he hit his chest roughly trying to recover. "I'm fine..." he croaked.

Before either woman could see if he was okay or ask if he was eavesdropping he left. Thankfully for him too that they were too preoccupied to care enough to follow. Amity immediately turned back to what she was showing Scarlett before the interruption, first by zooming in on the crystal in the news story photo.

"I mean...look, the crystal is a staff now but that probably just makes it easier for her to carry around." Amity explained.

"Amity." Scarlett said sadly.

"Would've helped when we were little I think, since it looks to have more use now...ha!" she continued.

"...Amity." the raven repeated.

"Now I know what you're gonna say; AMI it's just a cat with a magic staff! That could be ANYONE!" Amity explained, not noticing her friend's tone shift.

Noting it didn't work she nodded, unsure what to say at the moment. Thinking 'poor Amity, she's finally lost it.'

"HOWEVER! Magic staffs don't exist and Molli was the only recorded case of a cat with ice powers EVER...or as far as I know." Amity happily continued after getting a response. "So I recorded the news as well, but also found other sightings of this same cat! I'm sure if we find her I can-"

"Amity!" Scarlett finally snapped, standing up.

The sudden anger seemed to snap the excited feline out of her ramblings as she fell silent. Scarlett set the travel binder down, pictures and all, before speaking. However instead of anger like her outburst made it seem, she spoke gently and with care.

"I know you're just trying to dull your pain." Scarlett said, trying to choose her words carefully. 

"However, you can't just latch onto random tabbies you see, it isn't healthy."

"But...that's why I found other sightings." Amity tried to assure her.

Scarlett shook her head slowly.  "No Ami, you have to understand. What you went through, what both you and your sister went through." she looked back up at the pink feline, her expression pained and full of worry. "Children don't usually survive that kind of thing. You have to understand that."

"I already tried to do something...anything to help you, years ago when I came on." Scarlett sighed solemnly. "I looked at your file, to try to figure out something to help...but there is nothing, Molli is just gone."

Amity sniffed, tears forming in her eyes. "But Scarlett, Molli was one of a kind...her crystal was one of a kind. Please."

"Amity.." Scarlett said softly.

"Please Just ask. Show them the evidence. Please." Amity began crying, but kept her voice clear. "I have to try, I can't be the only one that sees it!"

The raven walked around the desk quietly and embraced Amity who stood with her arms crossed and her head down as she begged. "I can't be...someone has to, I know someone else does."

Amity fell quiet as she felt arms wrap around her and for a moment just stood there quietly crying, when she did eventually lean into Scarlett tightened the embrace. Scarlett didn't know the right words to tell her, but still wanted her to know she wasn't alone. 

'It's okay, just let it out.' Scarlett thought. 'You've needed this for years...'

Around them Amity could hear the sympathetic murmurs and pity filled thoughts as everyone saw her break down. Oddly enough it hurt more than the annoyed outliers in the building, it was embarrassing. Such kind thoughts and even though they let Scarlett handle it solo, it still felt awful to be watched like this.

…and Scarlett knew this.

Nobody wanted to break down in front of a bunch of strangers even if they had their friend right there with them. Too many judgemental anima walked around alongside any sympathetic onlookers. Scarlett wished there was something-anything for her to do, but saying anything aside from agreements would make things worse.

"Alright Amity." The raven eventually spoke. "I will."

"You will, what?" Amity sobbed, trying to calm down.

"I'll take your evidence and see what the higher ups say about it," she explained more clearly. "However I can't promise anything beyond that."

Amity broke away, still crying but was able to crack a smile. "Will you really?"

"Yes...I will." she answered.

"Oh Scarlett, thank yo-"

"IF!" Scarlett interrupted Amity. "You promise me you'll see Mr Dewly in return....as a patient."

Like clockwork her smile fell when she heard that, though thankfully her tears had begun to dry up by then. She wasn't expecting this to be an ideal situation at all but this was her chance to get actual help.

"...fine." the pink feline sighed.

"Thank you, Ami." Scarlett replied, smiling gently. "I worry about you, you know?"

"I know." Amity said. 'I'm fine though....just tired.'

"Anyway thank you for doing this; I'm sure the higher ups will see something as well!" she continued. "So, I'm sure you won't get too much flak for it."

"Hopefully." Scarlett mumbled.

However skeptical Scarlett was and how lowkey Amity agreed, she still was feeling better. Now, she knows her sister isn't dead AND someone is going to help her find Molli! With Scarlett, GPAT is sure to reopen the case and look into what happened all those years ago.

"I'll make an appointment with Mr Dewly right now!" Amity announced.

Before Scarlett had a chance to respond, her pink friend had trotted off, already focused on her phone as she left Scarlett alone with her "evidence". The raven sighed and grabbed the things that Amity left behind on her desk- which was just the binder along with a few stray pictures that'd been printed out on normal sized paper- and began the trek through the large office area.

 With Amity and Scarlett's disruptive conversation over, everyone had already begun to return to their duties and go about their day. Everybody except a tan canine, he has since drank all his water and now watched Scarlett head to the elevators.

At the stainless steel doors of the elevator Scarlett turned to see if Amity was still there in the offices. When there was no sign of the bright pink feline she turned around and went right back over to her desk.

'I hate to lie...but if she thinks it's just dismissed, she'll drop it. Right?' she thought, setting stuff down. 'Can't do anything at that point when nobody is listening.'

"Ms Rose."

Scarlett stiffened in surprise and turned around to see that same dog had come up to her. "Lennart? I mean...sir, can I help you?"

"I overheard you and Amity," he stated simply.

"You and everyone else..." she cringed. "How much did you hear?"

"I heard how you're planning on bothering the higher ups with the ramblings of a civilian," he replied.

"I don't want to...I mean, I'm not - even if Amity would be hurt and..." she trailed off, wondering if what she was doing was a good idea.

'What if I'm the one wrong and she'll just double down if she thinks nobody is listening?'