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The students were talking a storm two weeks after the incident with Melody. They were surprised to find that Cor Fortium's Angel would no longer be attending school and had moved back to her original home and that the Ultimate Girl Crush was covered in bandages. Rumors began to fly around as to what had happened between the two to result in this, but they weren't the worst of the gossip. A majority of that gossip was surprisingly not about Blake or Aria; it was focused on Layla and Amber, who had become the recent centerpieces of attention to the school after the Ire attack that Blake wasn't apart of. Blake couldn't help but to laugh out loud in their dorm room after hearing about that. She had been invited to their room to sleep over for a few days since Blake was in no shape to walk all the way to her apartment when the dorms were right across the campus.
"You two, a couple! Oh my God I can totally see that!" Blake guffawed, rolling on the floor. Amber had groaned from Blake's teasing, being the one to tell her multiple times to shut up as Layla had blushed for every time it was brought up.
"Come on Blake, quit the teasing," Amber kicked Blake lightly. Blake finally calmed herself and got up, rubbing her right leg where she had been kicked.
"Fine, fine. Done teasing," Blake finally announced, "But still, you two are so close you two might as well be, you know." Blake meant it as a compliment to their close friendship, since she had mentioned it before. Back then the two had laughed it off and admitted it happily, but this time they remained silent. The air suddenly became quiet and tense, and Blake couldn't quite understand why. What was stranger was that the two mentioned were stealing glances at one another this time, looking away the moment the other caught them looking.
"Um, am I missing something here? Like a signal or something?" Blake asked jokingly, trying to ease the nervous air. Amber shook her head at Blake, looking over to Layla with a smile as if nothing was wrong. Layla caught onto Amber's warm gaze and felt a bit more at ease, smiling in return.
"Oh yeah, I'm going just... shut up now," Blake said aloud to no one in particular. Something's definitely happened to them, she noted, I wonder what it is. She never did get her answer until night fell. Amber opted to sleep on the couch outside so Blake could take her bed, much to the latter's dismay, but Blake had a feeling that neither one was going to get any sleep tonight. They didn't have to attend school for about three weeks, but only showed up earlier today to talk to the principal about taking those weeks off to recover. The principal had agreed, which was why they weren't too busy working on make-up assignments from the days they had already missed. In fact, those assignments were excused altogether; the Melody incident had made the news and made the teachers have a change of heart from piling them with work after such an experience. The only condition was that the three girls self-studied as they rested for those three weeks to catch up to the rest of the class.

Layla stirred from her bed, trying to relax and let sleep overtake her. Unfortunately, her nerves were unrelenting, worry causing her heart to hammer loudly in her chest. The talk about Amber and her were getting to her, and she wasn't quite sure of how to take things. Even though this was much better than the treatment from middle school, but the rumors were still giving her anxiety. And when she stepped into the living room for some hot coco to help her relax, she found that she wasn't the only one. Like that one night before, Amber had already made her a cup and set it on the kitchen counter, fresh and steaming with a few mini marshmallows floating inside. Layla sighed; Amber really knew her too well.
"It's about the rumors, isn't it?" Amber asked warily, offering Layla a seat on the couch. Layla nodded absentmindedly. It was useless to really ask since she was sure they were restless for the same reasons. Amber didn't look as though she stayed up for Layla's sake either. The girl was deep in thought, her mug glowing faintly with the color of her aura.
"Can we talk about this? About us?" Layla asked quietly. Amber held her mug to her lips, pausing just before taking a sip. The question looming on both of their minds was finally out in the open: what were they? They were friends, but at the same time things weren't the same as before. Something about them felt different now, and neither one could figure out what exactly changed. They didn't hate each other yet they felt awkward around each other. It was almost as if they were strangers just getting to know each other all over again, something that Layla didn't want to have to go through.
"What can we really talk about? We haven't changed, that's for sure," Amber smiled, trying to dismiss the topic, "I mean, they're just rumors. We know they aren't true. Right?" Layla kept silent. That much was true; they hadn't changed. At least, in Layla's mind, she hadn't changed. As for Amber, Layla felt a different story. Amber was much more reserved and considerate. She hadn't really lost her playful side or her goofiness; they were still very prominent when they were having fun together at school. What changed was after school had ended and they would return home. Amber would become reserved and considerate of her, unlike before where her playfulness would disregard whatever Layla would be doing at the time. Layla was okay with her antics back then, but now she sort of missed them. Amber was constantly awake late at night, sometimes muttering things that Layla could only faintly catch. One of those things that constantly caught her attention was that Amber would mutter her name in her sleep. She would sometimes utter it with a warm smile on her face, and there were other times where she would repeat it over and over again in fear while trapped in a nightmare. Layla never brought up these things, but they worried her greatly some nights.
Amber was almost exactly the same way. She thought to herself that she didn't change, yet felt as though Layla was somehow different. Nothing about her had personally changed, but she was now much more like a pillar of support constantly by her side. Amber recalled many of the times where she had been worried about the Ires coming after Layla while she was fighting against a horde either by herself or alongside Blake. On that note, Amber got the sudden realization that her feelings towards Blake had changed. Just one summer ago she had thought of Blake as this legendary person that she couldn't hope to ever know or talk to. Yet, a few months into the school year, and Blake was considered a comrade in arms as well as a best friend outside of fighting Ires. Now her attention had set on her best friend, someone that she had known ever since her middle school days. Had it not been for Layla's constant support... Amber couldn't imagine going through this Guardian thing alone without Layla being there for her as someone to lean on and talk to. And just behind the bedroom door, eavesdropping on the two girls lost in thought, was Blake.
Blake had listened in on their conversation out of sheer curiosity. She didn't expect things to be this heavy, especially about the two of them. It was no laughing matter about how close they were. To Blake, the girls seemed like two peas in a pod - inseparable under any pressure and any cost. Even now, Blake could sense that there was something going on between them. She could only wonder what it could be.
"I... I'm just," Layla began speaking again, "I'm not sure what happened between us, Amber. All that we know is that something definitely changed. I don't know what it could be, but I know it's there." Amber set her cup on the coffee table and closed her eyes. A small sphere of her aura formed in her open hands, and Layla could feel the warmth radiating from it. Amber opened her eyes slowly, glancing over her aura sphere with caution. The small ball of light was as warm as it was dangerous. It represented her strength, her power to protect those she cared for. Loved ones. She recalled her fight with Melody, specifically to when they first met. Melody's mocking rang through her ears as clear as that day.
"How cute. Protective of your loved ones, are we?" Melody's voice haunted her. Somehow, those words stuck to her. She thought that at that moment her mind was going towards Blake and how much she wanted to help rescue the one that she had admired for so long. It shocked her to find that her mind immediately went to Layla. Amber felt stronger with the sense to protect Layla from Melody than to rescue Blake from Melody's torture, and that change startled her. This very feeling was what made her feel as though she was estranged from Layla.

During the awkward silence in the living room, Blake watched over the two from behind a slightly ajar bedroom door. The air around them was no longer the same as when she had first met them; it used to be so comfortable and friendly, but now it felt tense. What happened while I was gone, Blake wondered. They never really let this kind of thing get in the way during serious moments, but Blake could easily recognize that it was something that bothered them. Is it because of me, Blake asked herself, or the Ires? Either way, it has to have been for a recent reason. Blake sighed; she knew that the stress of their roles as fighters against Ires was going to affect them. More so now that they realized that not all Guardians and Knights were going to be friendly. Too bad it had to be them, Blake solemnly reminded herself. She had only known the two girls for about five months now, yet she felt as if she had known them for the longest time. Seeing them act like this was almost heartbreaking, a far cry from what they used to be like.
"I wish I could say what it was," Amber was saying as Blake listened in once more, "For me, I feel like... I've changed, for sure. When Blake went to talk to Aria at the rooftop that day, I thought that I would feel something, since that's how I'd always been, but," Amber scratched her head, "I felt as though it was just another interesting piece of gossip, like Blake was just a friend I knew that just so happened to be in a juicy rumor. I didn't find myself to be jealous like all the other students in school; I was just nonchalant about the whole thing. And then when we found that Blake had been kidnapped, I felt worried, but not to the point where I was frantic to find her again. I don't know what changed about me, but something has and it's scaring me." Layla shifted herself to sit closer to Amber, leaning against the girl's shoulder. Amber's new reserved personality was nice, but the positive goofiness was almost nonexistent for her anymore. Whatever was bothering them was affecting them greatly, and that meant that they needed to figure it out soon before it's too late.
"All I can say is that you've changed. But for better," Layla said, crossing one of her arms over Amber's body in a lazy hug, "You're not constantly about every little thing that Blake's done now, that's for sure. But you've... how should I put this? You seem more... reliable and protective. Especially when it comes to me now." Amber unconsciously flinched ever so slightly at that last statement. It was the same feeling as before when Melody mentioned it; that warm fuzzy feeling of happiness when Layla was around and the constant state of worry when she knew Layla was facing some sort of danger, be it Ires or other things. There's no way, Amber dismissed her thoughts, there's just no way.

"I see. How interesting," a hoarse voice mused, giggling aloud, "I expected some bonding time between Guardian and Knight but this is also plesant." Layla and Amber immediately stood up in alarm, looking around the room. Blake, too, was taken aback by the sudden voice. She burst out of the room and rushed over to Layla and Amber quickly, her aura flickering faintly around them like electricity.
"Blake," Layla tried to say something.
"We'll talk about this later. Focus," Blake muttered quickly. The black aura surrounded Layla in a familiar fashion as it had before, forming into the armor and gun she had grown to be accustomed to. However, Layla did notice a slight change; a pinkish wristband that encircled her right hand. She looked to the aura's owner, who didn't pay her any mind as of yet. Seems she didn't notice, Layla thought.
"Show yourself!" Blake called out to nothing. The voice laughed.
"You know, Knight, you're going to look like a madwoman if you yell in a room in the middle of the night," the voice mocked her, "Besides, why bother, when I'm right here with you."
"What?" Amber couldn't believe it. She searched around the room for a possible entry point. The front door was still closed and locked, which meant that the windows...
"Where are you looking, my sweet Guardian?" the voice whispered to her ear. With a cry, Amber jumped away. Layla and Blake looked and jumped away as well when they found a humanoid creature standing there. It was dressed in a white suit and tie, with a white fedora to match. Its eyes glowed blood red; the same eyes of every other Ire Amber had seen and destroyed. It cackled wickedly despite having no mouth for it save for fangs that spread wide for the three girls to see.
"Pleasure to meet you," the Ire greeted with a bow, "Have you prepared your graves?"