Seth felt most at ease hiding amongst a crowd of people. The bustling noises and overwhelming crowds of the city around him acting as a comforting blanket, shielding him from the eyes of the Academy. Each individual going about their day as if there wasn’t a wanted criminal using them as a convenient method of escaping the authorities.

Of course, there was a wanted criminal currently using them as a way to escape the authorities, a fact that would become apparent to them very soon as the Academy officers chasing said criminal shoved their way through the crowd, shouting commands and threats at both criminal and civilian alike. Predictably, this did nothing but send the crowd of mostly well-behaved individuals into a panic, causing trouble not only for the officers who caused the panic, but for Seth as well, who did not do so well when the camouflage he used randomly decided to stop playing along with him.

Realizing that the crowd had outgrown its usefulness to him, the fear and anxiety transforming it into more of a living weapon than a comforting shield, Seth started pushing his way towards an alley that looked mostly deserted, trying not to get himself injured along the way by flailing bodies. Unfortunately, as soon as he managed to escape the claustrophobic grip of the panicking crowd, the officers he had been hiding from immediately spotted him. Quickly darting into the alley, Seth knew he didn’t have much time before the officers managed to break free from the crowd themselves and catch up to him.

“Hey, Shade? Think you can stall those guys real quick while I think of a way to get us out of this?” Seth spoke aloud to seemingly nothing. In lieu of a verbal response, the intangible being he was speaking to simply created a barrier out of some kind of material that was pitch black, creating the illusion that the space had simply been deleted, blocking the entrance to the alleyway. Seeing that he had been given a few minutes to breathe and plan, Seth let his body fall against the left wall of the alley, sliding down to sit on the surprisingly clean floor.

This was one of the richer cities in the Academy, located on Yin the third closest planet to the Academic Hub. The people were here more sheltered and more arrogant than those found on planets further away from the Academic Hub, which made them that much easier to fool, placing too much trust in folks who could blend in with their rules and etiquette. Really, all Seth had to do to keep his cover here was make sure he was unrecognizable. Unfortunately, he had left figuring out a disguise for himself till the last minute and ended up being recognized by a random local, who immediately called the local Academic Department of Military and Police to come and arrest him.

Malaya was going to give him an earful when he got back to headquarters.

If he got back to headquarters.

[So? Are we going to just sit here and let the cops catch us? Or…]

The voice rang through his head, a rather irritating experience if he was being honest. Having someone elses voice in your head wasn’t something he felt he would ever get used to, despite having had around two years to adjust to it, especially when that voice belonged to such an irritating individual.

[I could say the same thing about you, ya know? ‘Wow look at this idiot, always walking around in his stupid little body and getting himself into stupid little situations and then yelling at me like I’m the one being dumb.’]

“At least I have my own body to be dumb in, you have to borrow mine for your dumb decisions,” Seth snapped back, out loud, to the voice that only he could hear. “Anyways, yeah, to answer your question, I did think of a way to get us out of here. I don’t really want to do it though.”

Briefly, Seth closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, taking a breath in to prepare himself to use that damn-

[Ooh, so we’re using the scarf? :3]

Sitting back up abruptly, Seth glared at the cat shaped thing that had suddenly appeared in front of him, calmly staring at him with what seemed to be a smug smirk on its face.

“You couldn’t have, I don’t know, let me actually finish saying my idea out loud? Why do you always have to do that creepy mind reading thing you do? You know, just because we’re bonded doesn’t mean we have to share everything all the damn time. Also, why do you sound so excited, do you delight in my misery that much?” He yelled, at the cat, who continued to stare at him with its smug little face, looking really nothing like a cat at all.

[First of all, I didn’t even read your mind this time actually, using that scarf is simply the only logical choice here, also, I’m excited because it’s fun to use. It’s not my fault that you don’t enjoy it. Second, its funny that you think the mind reading is creepy, and yet I seem to recall that just yesterday you read my mind to find out where I hid your-]

“OK! Ok. That’s- That’s enough, we don’t have time for this.” The boy stood up from where he had been resting, reaching for the scarf tucked snugly around his neck. It was an odd accessory, all things considered, as it was rather bulky, covering up most of his face. The outside of it was adorned with three clocks, each frozen at a different time, and down the ends of it, if you looked carefully, you could see several layers of gears scattered through the thread. Carefully, Seth began to wind the clocks, delicately calculating in his head how far he would need to travel. As he was finishing up the final few turns, there was a sudden loud explosion near his feet, launching him back further into the alley.

It seemed that the time Shade bought them had run out, the Academy officers pursuing them had managed to find a way around the barrier at the end of the alley, and were now launching an attack from above.

[Times up, kid! Activate the scarf!]

Scrambling up from where he had roughly landed, Seth quickly and rashly wound the final gears on the scarf. He then turned away from the commotion and stuck his hand into the air, reaching into the fabric of the space around him and tearing through it roughly. It made a terrible noise, an awful squelching squealing sound, incomprehensible fluids bleeding out on to his arms and splattering over the floor. He never really could get used to this part, the feeling of digging into something alive, of crawling into the flesh of the universe, painstakingly pulling himself through the claustrophobic tunnel of living space till he reached his destination. It always felt dirty, immoral, and disgusting.

The things one did to survive. The things one hurt to stay safe.

Seth really hopes he never has to use this damn scarf again.

As the universe began to stitch itself back together behind him, he knew better than to hope for such impossible things.