Momoko cracked open her eyes to her brightly lit room. With a groan, she fumbled for the alarm clock on the nightstand by her bed. It was afternoon already. With a second groan, she shut her eyes and flopped back on her pillow, turning from the clock in disbelief. She never slept in so late! Last night must've taken more out of her than she thought. A feathery mass tickled her nose.

Her eyes snapped open to meet a pair of golden ones staring at her through red fur. She screamed, catapulting herself from the bed. She barely felt the impact when she hit the floor, scrambling to get up and crawl away from the bed. She clung to the curtains, clawing her way to stand up.

"Momoko." The childish voice rang clearly through the room, freezing her in place. "Momoko, relax. There's no reason to freak out."

She could feel herself tremble as she turned her head to stare at the thing on the bed. It was about the size of a softball, covered in tufts of wispy red fur, featureless except for the large round eyes fixed on her. She could feel goosebumps crawling across her skin.

Her voice cracked as she pushed words out. "Was that you? Is that voice coming from... whatever you are?"

"Of course." The fluffy ball tilted. "I'm not too thrilled about this form, though. You are a stubborn girl. After all of our time together, I thought you'd trust me mew—I mean, more."

Momoko's knees gave out on her, and she slumped to the floor. The fuzzy thing was talking.... No mouth or anything, but it was talking.... To her..... in English.

"It's always the same." The thing sounded frustrated. "Humans think they can handle things that challenge their concept of reality, but once it's actually in front of you, you melt into crying babies."

"I'm not crying." Momoko retorted, her mind numb. "W-What are you?"

The thing scooted to the edge of the bed, knocking some red shards onto the floor. Momoko reached out, brushing her fingers across the intricate lines on the piece closest to her before picking it up. There was no warmth left, but she recognized the texture of the exterior surface, even if the other side of the shard, as thin, white, and crisp as an eggshell, was foreign. She glanced at the other shards across the floor.

"Got it now?" the thing on the bed purred.

She nodded, forcing herself to look at the fur ball directly. Her egg had hatched.

She licked her lips, running her hands down her shorts. "Okay... okay.... The egg was an egg, and you're what came out.... And this is all real, right?"

The thing stared back.

She shook her head. "Oh man, this is.... I mean.... I'm struggling, okay? How do I know you are real—I mean, I don't even know what you are."

It snorted. "How dense can you be? Have you forgotten already what Midnight told you? I am phlox."

"Midnight..." Momoko chewed her lip. "Did that really happen, then?"

"Of course." The phlox blinked. A strange thing, as it seemed the fur just swallowed the golden orbs of it eyes and released them again.

Momoko stared at it with morbid fascination. "D...do you have a name—or is your name Phlox?"

It titled, looking at her sideways. "You definitely are dense. Phlox is what I am, not a personification. Of course I have a name. It's Flere."

"Flare." Momoko repeated automatically.

"Close enough." It blinked again.

"Okay.... So... may I—can I—er, can I touch you?" Momoko felt flustered as Flere stared back at her. "Just to make sure you're actually, like, a real thing?"

"Okay." It finally answered.

Momoko kneeled by the bed and tentatively brushed its fiery fur with her fingers. It was just as feathery soft as it looked. She picked a spot and gently poked it, her index finger sinking into warm fluff. Flere jittered, making a purring noise as its eyes disappeared into the fur. It was pretty cute. A little talking pom-pom. Momoko flexed her fingers, giving the top of it a little scratch.

"Yes, yes, that's nice." Flere purred. "Yes, that will do."

As she pet the creature, and idea popped into her head. "You talked about Midnight... and what she said about Phlox—what are you, exactly?"

"She didn't tell you?"

"Well, no. It was all kind of strange. I thought I hallucinated the whole thing."

"Well, maybe you should go see her again."

"I don't know how to find her."

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't try."

"Does she really have the answers?"

"I have no idea, I just hatched. It just sounds like a good idea."

It did sound like a good idea. If she could find the strange blonde woman again, maybe she could get some real answers about what was going on and what she was supposed to do with a little puff ball like this. Mind made up, she started getting ready. With the afternoon ticking by, she'd need to hurry to get going before Sylvia stirred out of her study. Explaining away an egg was one thing, hiding a little impossible creature that talked was a different matter altogether.

She paused in brushing her hair. "We need to find you a hiding space."

"What do you mean?" Flere lazily rolled across the top of her sheets, its purring tapering off.

"I mean, I can't let anyone to find you. I don't even know what you are—what if someone freaks out and takes you into a lab or something for them to dissect you?"

Flere snorted. "Absurd. You wouldn't let that happen. Anyway, it's not like you can leave me here."

"That's what I'm talking about, finding a spot—wait, what do you mean I can't leave you here?"

"Well, we're bonded, Momoko. Physical distance is harmful to us. We need to protect each other."

She was surprised to have all her suspicions about the headaches and the egg summed up and confirmed so easily.

"Okay..." she furrowed her brow. "Then we've got to come up with some way to hide you in public..."

She tapped her fingers on her chin. "You're small enough I could fit you into my purse... but would that be safe? Could you breathe in there?"

"Let's not do that." Flere squinted.

"Okay.... What about..." Momoko's gaze landed on her accessories organizer. "Maybe I could wrap you in a ribbon as a headband?"

She groaned. "No, that would look kind of weird-- It doesn't look like you have little paws or anything, so I can't ask you to grab onto something..."

"I have teeth!" Flere chirped. "I could grip onto something that way."

Momoko blanched. "You have a mouth somewhere under that fluff?"

A split appeared horizontally beneath the yellow eyes, showcasing rows of very fine, sharp teeth.

Momoko shuddered. The ball looked like a creepy kid's toy like that.

"Wait! That's it!" Momoko jumped up, pulling open the organizer's drawer. She rummaged around until she found a spare keychain she was thinking about getting rid of.

"Here, this rubber ring was designed to hold the M-band 3 remote, but it should work."

She slipped the ring around Flere, and it disappeared in the fluff. She picked it up by the keychain, and it seemed to cradle the creature well. "If you start to feel like you'll slip out, just bite down."

Flere just stared at her.

"....are you biting down right now?"

'Of course I am.' The response echoed in her ears, and she nearly dropped Flere.

"You..." she could feel the blood drain from her face. "You can talk in my head?"

'It works both ways. Maybe you should practice, since it might weird people out if you walk around talking to yourself.'

Momoko rushed to get ready, trying to push the absurdity of it all from her mind. Flere humming in her head did little to alleviate any of it, though. This was crazy. She churned over in her mind how she could find Midnight again. The only thing she could really think of was to return to the place she first met the strange woman. I mean, that was really the only lead she actually had.

A light knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts. She glanced up as Sylvia's head popped in, disheveled and uncombed. Her guardian looked like she had just pulled herself off the couch.

"Afternoon." She eyed Momoko groggily. "Are you just now getting up, too?"

Momoko's brain quickly shifted gears, trying her best not to look at her "Keychain" on the bed.

"Uh, yea... Grisla kept me out pretty late last night."

Sylvia nodded sagely. "Well, I'm going to make some coffee if you want some."

"No thanks; I'm heading out." Momoko shot her a rueful smile. Coffee actually sounded really good.

She scooped up her purse and hoped Sylvia would disappear before she had to pick up Flere and figure out where to attach it, but her guardian still stood in the door frame, a puzzled from on her face.

Momoko paused. "What is it?" she tried to keep her voice light. "Problem with the research?"

"No, I was just thinking you've been acting a little odd lately. Is everything okay?"

"Of course." She lied, trying not to be conspicuous as she scooped up the red fur ball. "Anyway, I'm always odd."

Her guardian laughed, but it didn't quite meet her eyes. She knew Momoko was dodging.

"How about I pick you up your favorite treat from Mama-san's today?" Momoko kissed her on the cheek.

"That's where you're headed in such a rush?"

Sylvia's eyes landed on Flere in Momoko's hand, and Momoko realized she was holding her breath.

She forced out a short laugh. "I have an errand to run first, but I'll be on that side of town."

"Ah." Sylvia nodded, and her eyes passed right on over the "Keychain" to the hallway. "Daifuku would be nice, this project has been rather intensive. Maybe we should do dinner together tonight, too? I feel like we haven't talked in a while."

"Sounds good." Momoko pushed past her, calling back as she hit the steps. "It's a date!"

She let out a sigh of relief as she made her way to the front door. If Flere hadn't raised Sylvia's suspicions, no one else should look twice at it. Momoko made her way to the subway station. A cab ride would save her a lot of walking, but she didn't want to risk it in case things got weird.

A 30 minute ride and nine blocks later, she found herself back in front of the crumbling excuse of a building on Broad Street. She took a deep, calming breath.

'This is it?'

"Yep. Shall we knock?"

Momoko climbed the concrete steps and banged on the rusty metal door. She waited a couple of seconds, then banged again. Still no answer. She tried the door handle, and this time it creaked open.

"Yes!" Momoko huffed, and pulled the door open.

"Hello? Ms. Midnight?" she called into the semi-dark, but the only response was a shuffling of dust. She could feel the emptiness of the building. She entered, searching for the long hallway full of books, but after combing the abandoned office for a while, she admitted defeat to herself.

"There's no one here."

'Dead end, then?' Flere sounded as disappointed as she felt.

"It was a long shot anyway." Momoko shrugged, heading for the door. She pulled it open to the bright afternoon, and took a seat on the stairs.

'Now what?'

Momoko sighed, looking around. There wasn't really anything else on this street but some old closed shops and run down houses. This street was a lost cause long before the earthquake condemned it.

A police car barreled past her, sirens blaring, and screeched around the corner at the end of the block.

"Maybe...." Momoko massaged her temples, trying to think of something. "The library?"

'You think you'll find her there?'

"Well, no... but maybe we could do some research there. Figure out more about the cataclysm, and see if we can find out more about, I dunno... demons and stuff."

'It's not a bad idea.'

Another police cruiser blared past, screeching to a stop where the other had turned. Several shouts came from that direction as the officers climbed out of the car.

'What's going on?'

"No idea..." Momoko watched the officer that had been driving use his visor to call for backup.

'Maybe we should get out of here.'

"Hey!" the other office from the car began waving his hands, walking towards her, shouting. "You need to get out of here!"

Momoko was about to comply when a cruiser sailed through the air, past the visible car, and both officers hit the ground. Momoko stared at the crushed metal body of the car as it crashed into a house, bringing the structure down.

'We should go!' Flere's voice cried urgently.

Momoko registered the message, but her feet refused to move, she felt frozen in place.

Through the cloud of dust from the collapsed house, the sound of bullets being fired finally motivated her body to do what Flere and her brain were begging it to do. Her heels turned and she ran as fast as she could down the sidewalk, only glancing back one to catch a glimpse of a large brown thing break away from the dust cloud with a flurry of bullets chasing it.

'Run faster!'

Her feet met the desperate pitch in her companion's voice, and she cut across the street, ducking into a narrow alley between houses, jumping a fence, and then cutting across another street before she stopped to catch her breath. Her lungs burned and her heart pounded in her chest as she worked through what she had seen.... Something human-like erupted from that dust cloud, and the police had shot it. That was totally crazy. Things like that were things you see in movies, not in real life.

She glanced at Flere, trembling on her purse. She scooped it up and held it to her heaving chest. Maybe her dreams weren't too far off from the truth... maybe she was going crazy... but the world was keeping up.