[Headquarters, Nomi's mind]

It was a busy day for Fear. He had been counting the days until the parade, and though Joy had remarked that Politics Island was humming vibrantly, something still worried him. Dream Productions had undergone a severe remodeling in recent days, and several of the Core Memories had spontaneously started to change colors. None of that was supposed to happen. Something big was coming, and Fear dreaded it would be like that day Sadness personally went out of Headquarters to demolish Family Island with her bare hands.

He looked at the central console, where Sadness and Joy were collaborating in Nomi's speech before the parade. Anger added a more colorful note at the end, and everyone was pleased. Nomi went to change clothes and try a new hairstyle, and Fear started browsing through recent memory spheres to try to figure out what was going on.

There was that memory of the woman in white shooting herself. It had been revisited in Headquarters every day. Disgust had demanded to know where that had come from. It was Fear's color, but he knew he hadn't made it. He was distracted by the sirens of Romance Island as Amanita made a dirty joke, which was promptly stored as a greenish-yellow sphere. He sighed. Romance Island had worked more efficiently and loudly since the fall of Family Island, but Sadness was not completely satisfied with that change, and he agreed.

He took the dead woman's memory back to its shelf and bumped into Fear.

"Huh? Who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm Fear."

"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Fear too."

"That can't be."

Both emotions stood in silence. Nomi's Fear glanced at Joy, who was busy photographing the parade, and he could notice another Joy in the corner mumbling something about diamonds.

"Guys? Something's happening here."

But he couldn't speak loud enough to catch everyone's attention. The image of a man looking straight at Nomi had dragged Fear to the central console. Confused, he automatically shut down all systems, but before the lights went out, he caught a sight of something impossible, something no manual had ever mentioned.

Outside Headquarters seven other Headquarters had emerged, each with their own islands and Trains of Thought. Their emotions could be visible through the windows, all looking at each other in disbelief.

But then Nomi fell unconscious, and Fear found himself alone.