by Saless
Chapter 79

Tiffany and Mike took seats on the couch where Erica was holding Sarah on her lap again and trying to calm her nerves. "We need to do something to distract us until it's time to go." Erica said. Mike nodded and started up one of Sarah's favorite games. Soon the two of them were playing away. For once Sarah wasn't dominating the game, because she kept getting distracted when Erica ran her fingers through her hair.

Tiffany watched them and felt just as separate from them as she had when she was watching them from the shadows. She was starting to feel depressed about that and wondered if she should go, but then she remembered that she was still pretending to be watching the others. She didn't notice the shadows pulling in around her.

Sarah felt Tiffany's mood darken before she lost contact with her, so she redoubled her efforts and finally beat Mike. "Tiffany, do you want to play?" she asked. Erica gave her a quick surreptitious hug to show she agreed with what Sarah was doing.

"Uh, I don't really know this game." Tiffany said. She could tell that she wouldn't last a minute against either Mike or Sarah.

"What games do you know?" Mike asked.

Tiffany looked through the games available and shrugged, "Just the sports ones, I guess."

"I guess you're up against me then, Mike would annihilate you on those games!" Sarah said. Mike handed her his controller and they started playing. By the time Jill got back they were fully into their game, which was a close one.

Tiffany won their game, barely, and they were both tired out from it, so Mike and Erica took a turn. "So, Tiffany, what happened to your hair?" Sarah asked as they watched the game.

"I don't know. Maybe it's another Shadowkin thing. My hair just changed color on its own. My eyes, too." Tiffany replied.

Sarah took a closer look at her and nodded, "That's right, your eyes were blue. Now they're lavender. I wonder what would happen if you dyed your hair? Would it be uniform in color, or would it still shade from dark to light, only in whatever color you dyed it?"

"I don't know; I haven't tried it yet. My skin is also a lot lighter. It looks like I've never seen the sun before, now." Tiffany said.

"Oh yeah, that's right! Is that all because of this Shadowkin thing?" Sarah asked.

"That's what Vash thinks. He didn't know what kind of changes Shadowkin go through, but he knew there were some, and that they weren't severe." Tiffany replied.

"Well that's good. I'd hate for you to have to go into hiding because you changed too much." Sarah said with relief evident in her voice.

"That's why I'm against Erica getting a chrysalis." Jill said. "It would be beneficial, but the drawbacks if she changes visibly outweigh the benefits, in my opinion."

"I wonder if that chrysalis would do me any good." Tiffany wondered.

"Considering you changed physically because of your powers, I wouldn't recommend it. I think there's an even greater risk of it conflicting with your powers than there is for Mike and I." Jill replied. "Besides, even for Erica there's a chance she could change a lot from it."

"I don't know about that. In the game only one person had visible changes, and he was one of the bad guys. The way it was depicted it was like good people didn't change their appearance, but some of the really bad people did." Tiffany said.

Sarah looked thoughtful as she said, "That's right, isn't it? Only Barabas and Muro had visible differences; and Muro only in the alternate ending. In the final cut scene Konoko was normal looking, even though her transformation should have been complete or nearly so. That makes me feel a little better about it."

"Good!" Erica called over her shoulder as she returned Mike's serve. "Because I've decided to get a chrysalis!"

Jill frowned and then shrugged, "You already know how I feel about it, but it's your choice. I just hope you're all right about it."

"So you were there when I played through the game for them to see?" Sarah asked Tiffany.

Tiffany nodded, "Yes, I saw it. I followed Mike and Jill back through your portal so I could talk to Vash after that."

Jill went out to let Vash in a few minutes later, returning soon after. "So what did you find out?" she asked once she'd seated herself.

A great deal. Perhaps the most important bit of information I gleaned from his thoughts is that he does not believe in magical or psychic phenomena. Despite what he's seen, though that isn't as much as we feared. He can't really see inside the apartments from where he's set up his surveillance devices. He's been relying on Tiffany for that and spending most of his time talking to other people and investigating what little physical evidence he has. Vash replied.

"What physical evidence does he have?" Mike asked after putting the game on pause.

There's the evidence at the site of your training, but that isn't much. Thankfully the ground there is too rocky for him to find any tracks. He believes the damage was done by someone practicing with some kind of explosives, even though he's found no trace of any. He also has the remains of John. His people haven't been able to identify the material the ashes are made out of, and they have no trace of John in them. The only connection he has is a recording of John's disintegration. How he can reconcile that as a natural reaction, I don't know. Vash said.

"He has a recording of that?!" Jill exclaimed. Then, after some thought, she said, "How many copies exist of that recording?"

I don't know. Vash replied.

"Are you thinking of destroying the recording?" Mike asked.

Jill shrugged, "It might be helpful. Though we'd have to do it in a way that looked accidental or we'd just make him even more interested than he already is."

"What about who he works for?" Tiffany asked.

He works for an agency called the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I got the impression you would know what that means. Vash said.

"Yeah, we know what that means." Erica agreed. "I was hoping he was just a cop, it would have made things easier. How are we going to get the FBI off our backs?"

"I don't suppose you got any ideas about that from your time with him?" Jill asked.

I'm not sure. Apparently he's not very happy with this assignment, though he is less displeased than he was at first. John's death has piqued his interest somewhat. If we could somehow convince him there's nothing interesting going on here, or at least that we're involved in, I think that would work. But I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Vash said.

"Can he really arrest me, or all of you?" Tiffany asked fearfully.

I'm not sure. But I gathered that he doesn't really have any evidence to work with. The video could prove that the ashes are the remains of John, but most wouldn't believe it and would probably assume it was faked. Even he isn't sure it's not faked. I think he was just trying to scare you. Vash replied.

"Well it worked!" Tiffany said.

"I think you'd better play along with him until we figure something out." Erica said. "If he approaches you again, just say you didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

"Okay." Tiffany said doubtfully.

"What's his name, anyway?" Sarah asked.

His name is Marvin Garner. Vash said.

"Maybe Dad can help us figure out what to do. But I'm not sure if I could give him enough information without revealing our abilities." Erica said.

"Do you think he could handle it if you did?" Mike asked.

"And what about me?" Sarah asked. "How would he react when he found out I'm a girl now?"

Erica snorted at that, "You know Dad better than that! He loves you! Mom too! And they're both really supportive of the rights of LGBT people, so I'm sure they could handle your being a girl now, and us being engaged. Though it might be a bit of an adjustment at first."

"Well, since Sarah's not going to change back, maybe that's something you should tell them. Then if we decide to ask for their help they won't have that hurdle to overcome." Jill suggested.

Erica nodded, "Yeah, I think I'll do that. Don't look so tense, Sarah, they'll be fine! You'll see, they're infinitely more accepting of people than your parents are!"

Sarah tried to relax, but there was simply too much going on in her life right now for that.