Dark Times at Hellview High!

NSZ · Post by **NSZ** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 8:55 pm

Chapter One:
Primal Eyes

‘Who on Earth thought it was a good idea to have the uniforms be primarily black?’

Pulling his shirt over his head, Jason Carter couldn’t help but wonder why a high school located on an island country near the equator would choose black and red for the uniform colors. The heat and humidity would be bad enough without the uniforms, but to wear what was essentially a heat magnet? It just didn’t make sense to him. But then again, a lot of things in Amoca didn’t make sense to him. The country’s complicated history with the rest of the world, Versilium crystals, and the fact that Versilium could have an effect on developing children and turn their hair and irises wild colors, even rumors of an immortal queen... The country was absolutely bonkers in his eyes.

‘At least they have the decency to have clip-on ties,’ Jason thought to himself as he finished getting dressed. ‘Okay, so that’s the morning routine done, so I guess I should be heading off to oh fuck.’ Jason had shot a quick glance at the clock and paled when he saw that he still had two hours before classes started, ‘Well, I guess I did wake up a tad bit early, hehe, whoops.’

He thought about the reason why he was up so early. It was a dream, a nightmare that tossed him out of his sleep, one that he couldn’t stop thinking about, and yet, to his frustration, couldn’t quite remember. The only things he could remember were that it was dark, and that there was a girl standing over him. What the girl looked like and why she was standing over him, those details were beyond him.

Considering he still had time to kill, Jason decided to head for the dormitory where he would be staying for the next four years. Many of his belongings had been moved in there yesterday, though he chose to spend his last night of freedom at home, by himself. His parents, his adopted parents, were archaeologists and were both currently out in the field. It didn’t bother him, Jason knew that they loved him as if he was their own, but it would have been nice to have one last night together as a family. After making sure all the doors and windows were locked, Jason finally mounted his bike and rode towards the school grounds.

It was unusually quiet on the road that morning, but then again, Hellview was a tourist city. All of the country’s theme parks, sports stadiums, movie studios, gambling centers, and convention centers were located here. Maybe all of the crazy yahoos weren’t out quite yet. Thinking about how crazy the roads could possibly get during the day, Jason was suddenly very glad that he had to live on campus. No need to get run over by some mom in a van.

He arrived on campus at 6:00, and suddenly his attention was directed towards the sky. The morning sun had finally reached the exposed Versilium deposits located in the east mountains and turned the sky red, ‘No wonder this place was named Hellview...’

“OI LOOK OUT!”

*CRASH*

Groaning, Jason looked around and noticed that the person he hit was wearing a red skirt, a telltale sign that meant that not only had he crashed into a girl, he had also crashed into a fellow student, ‘Shit. Definitely not how I wanted to start out here.’

The girl, however, was less dazed than he was, and suddenly gasped when she noticed a cup whose contents had now been spilled across the sidewalk, “MY COFFEE! Why don’t you watch where you’re going?!” She was now glaring at him, her purple eyes brought out by the morning sun.

Pulling himself up into a sitting position, Jason immediately began apologizing, “Sorry, I got distracted. I’m new in town, y’see, and well, the sky, I’ve never seen that sort of thing before.”

“You’re new in town?” The girl blinked as she took in that information, “Wait, are you that rumored new second year student?”

“Rumored?”

“Heh, I knew it.” The girl now stood up and extended her hand to help up Jason, “So, what’s your name?”

“Jason Carter.”

“Erin,” the girl pointed to herself, “Erin Connor, fourth year. And thanks to you, I now have to go buy another coffee.”

Jason sighed, “Look, I’m sorry about that, okay? How about I just give you the money to go buy a new one so you don’t have to pay out of your own pocket?” Erin nodded her head in approval, “Okay, so how much does a coffee cost around here?”

“Three dollars.”

Jason pulled out his wallet and scrounged the pockets, “Uh, I don’t have any singles, so here, have a fiver.”

“THANKS!” Erin snatched the bill and ran off.

Jason shouted after her, “Hey! I expect to see the change from that!” Suddenly he could hear the opening of a window, and that’s when he realized where he currently was. ‘Oh shit, I’m in front of the girls’ dorm!’

Out of the third floor window popped a girl with short black hair, “OI! WOULD YOU KEEP IT DOWN? SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO- *HRRRK*” The girl’s chastisement was interrupted by a sudden violent retching, as whatever dark contents were in her exited out her mouth and down the front of the building. Coughing as she regained her composure, the girl shot a glare at Jason before ducking back into her room, no doubt to head for the nearest bathroom.

Jason could barely comprehend what he had just witnessed, ‘Was that... Was that blood???’

Reluctantly electing to ignore what he had just seen on account of if there were indeed anything wrong with that girl she’d have plenty of help inside the dorm, Jason finally reached the boys’ dorm without further incident. To his surprise, the building didn’t give off the impression of a frat house. And that’s when a television crashed through a third floor window and plummeted to the sidewalk below, followed by a cry of “I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU, HOLLOWAY!”

Even more crashing noises were heard, and moments later a black and blue haired boy that appeared to be no older than Jason came running out of the front entrance of the building and ran straight past him, running as if Hell was on his heels, and indeed it was, as five other older boys came out running after him, one of whom looked to be covered in flour, and they too didn’t acknowledge Jason’s presence.

“Jack’s really gonna get it this time.” Startled at the sudden realization that there was someone behind him, Jason’s reactionary instincts took hold and cause him to take a blind swing at the silent sneak. “WHOAH!” The unidentified person caught Jason’s arm mid-swing, “Sorry if I spooked ya, man, I thought you heard me for sure.” The person was a tad bit shorter than Jason, had brown eyes, and black hair with silver streaks on the side, “The name’s Sal, Sal Gutierrez.”

Emitting a sighing laugh, Jason couldn’t believe that he was already introducing himself to another person before classes started, “Jason Carter, I’m new here.”

“Yeah, I know, ya look too damn normal to be from around here.”

“Do I stick out that much?”

“Well, yes, and the student body president is busy preparing for the First Years’ orientation so she told me to show you to your room when you got here, said I’d know you when I saw you.”

“Oh, well, thanks, I guess.”

“C’mon, I’ll take you up.”

“Up?”

“Yeah, up.” Sal was now grinning like mad, “Your room’s on the fourth floor.”

“The fourth-??” Jason looked down at his bike as the realization hit him, “Oh, man.”

-----

“So why’d the student body president ask you to deal with me?” Carrying his bike up the stairwell, Jason was honestly very curious about how Sal got stuck with him for the moment.

“Because we’re kin.”

Jason nearly lost his footing at the sudden odd response, “What?”

Sal chuckled, “Relax, I mean we’re both Americans, foreigners, strangers in a strange land.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, they snatched me up after they were constantly beaten by their rivals in Fortress City and Carver City three years in a row.”

Jason was a tad bit confused by the statement, “Say what?”

“I’m an athlete, Carter. These guys saw how good I was and chose to take a chance by asking me to move here. Best decision they made, in my opinion.”

Jason nodded, and suddenly recalled something, “Oh yeah, I read about you online.”

“You did? Shit, didn’t realize I was that famous.”

“Yeah, after you moved, your hometown began suffering defeat after defeat. They got humiliated to the point where they made a replica of you out of hay and set fire to it.”

Sal blanched, his being unaware of that last bit of info becoming greatly apparent, “Th-They did?”

“You didn’t know? The story got circulated a lot,” Jason then noticed Sal’s sudden paleness, “You okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine... Although I think I need to rethink my post-graduation plans...”

Realizing he had probably just put a dent in Sal’s ego, Jason tried thinking of another topic to talk about. And that’s when he remembered Sal’s rather unusual feature, “So, if you’re an American like me, then what’s with the silver streaks?”

“Oh, these?” Sal snapped out of his funk and was now gesturing to his hair, “Honestly, I have no idea. Six months ago I woke up, and they were simply there. No explanation at all.”

“Really?”

Nodding, Sal continued, “Yeah, even the doctors are stumped.”

“Could it be a side-effect of Versilium radiation?”

Sal chuckled, “Would you believe that that was the very first thing the docs checked for and ended up ruling out?”

Jason couldn’t help but whistle at the prospect of an unsolvable mystery. Typically, deviations of hair pigmentation only occurred in Amoca, and even then, that was only due to the Versilium radiation present throughout the island. To think that there was a person, a fellow American like himself nonetheless, that has undergone a change in hair pigmentation overnight without any identifiable cause... Well, it was amazing to say the least.

“Ah, here we are, fourth floor,” Sal opened the door and let Jason enter the hallway first.

“So, Sal, you’ve been here longer than I have, what do you think of the place?”

“The school or the country?”

“Ehhh.... Both. Both sounds good.”

“The school’s pretty nice. Having to live on campus takes some getting used to, but, shit, you get your own room, can’t exactly complain about that, y’know what I mean? The teachers are pretty awesome, especially Mrs. Landis, she’s one of the gym teachers.”

“Huh, I have her for Phys. Ed. Small world.”

“Lucky. I never got to have her as a teacher myself, but she supervises the dodgeball games. Even participates from time to time.”

“She certainly sounds interesting at least. So what about the students?”

“Oh they’re an interesting lot. They don’t care about their grades, or what they’re gonna do after graduation. They’re just living the lives they have now, making the most of it. If you ask me, we could learn a thing or two from ‘em.”

Jason couldn’t help but nod as he recalled how many of his former friends decided to ditch him to focus on studying material that wouldn’t even matter in a few more years.

“So, have you met anyone yet?”

“Well... I kinda ran into someone... literally.”

Sal was now chuckling, “Oh yeah, who?”

“Some girl named Erin Conner,” Jason was now scratching the back of his head, “She kinda freaked out because I spilled her coffee...”

“Yep, that sounds like Erin.”

“Yeah, anyway, she was throwing a fit about it, so I gave her a fiver so she could buy herself another one.”

“You gave her a fiver? Why?”

“Because coffee costs three dollars and I didn’t have any singles.”

Sal now broke out into laughter, “Three dollars?! Oh man, Carter, you got taken advantage of.”

“What? How?!”

“A cup of coffee only costs a buck here. And you gave her five dollars, HAH!”

Jason was now at a loss for words. First day at school and he was already robbed of his money, “I’m never seeing that money again, am I?”

Sal’s laughter died down, “Sorry pal, but I’m afraid not.”

Jason sighed, “Well, shit. So, what do you think about the country?”

Sal now bore a serious look, the laughter gone completely, “... I’m not gonna beat around the bush, there’s something weird about this country, and I’m not talking about the stuff caused by Versilium radiation. I don’t know what it is, but they’re definitely keeping quiet about it.”

“Figured as much. Every country has skeletons in their closet, no reason to think that this place is any different.”

“Yeah... Oh, there’s your room up ahead, Room 4-11. You got your room key, right?”

“Yeah, sure do, guess I’ll be seeing you later?”

“Probably, depends on if we have any of the same classes or if we both have gym at the same time. Right now I gotta go clean up.” Sal gave a quick wave of the hand and walked back to the stairwell.

“Well, later, Sal, and thanks!”

“Don’t mention it.”

-----

Now walking the hallways of the school, his bike now safely put away in his room, Jason eyed his schedule, doing his best to memorize it. “Okay, so Homeroom, History & Theology, lunch, Gym, Algebra, and then finally Homeroom again... seems simple enough, though I’m not really sure why Homeroom’s held twice a day.” ‘Maybe it’s to give students a chance to enjoy their evenings without homework,’ Jason mused, thinking the possibilities over, ‘Actually kind of makes sense considering that from what I’ve read, stuff like projects can only be worked on during class hours. Heh, I think I actually might like it here.’

Jason turned down another hallway, “So, Class 2-C, then... Should be down in this hallway...”

“Looking for Class 2-C?” Jason’s feet left the ground as it became apparent that someone managed to sneak up on him again, “Sorry,” the unidentified sneak cringed, “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

‘No, no, it’s okay; you’re just the second person to get the jump on me today...’

“Anyway, I overheard that you were looking for Class 2-C.”

“And just who might you be?” Jason asked the man. The man in question was carrying a backpack, had blond hair, orange eyes, and was barely taller than Jason was, ‘Probably a freaking Fifth Year.’

“Mr. Casey Landis-Earl. I happen to be the supervisor for Class 2-C,” the man grinned.

Jason paled and started to stutter repeatedly.

Mr. Earl chuckled and shook his head, “It’s okay, you didn’t know. Trust me, you’re not the first person to give me that reaction. C’mon, I’ll show you to the room.”

-----

Jason couldn’t believe what he was seeing in front of him, ‘Stadium seating? In a high school?!’ Leading upwards were five rows of seats divided down the middle by a stair case. Jason never would have imagined that a public high school would have such a thing, but there it was right in front of him, ‘What is with this country?’

“I can see that you’re surprised,” Mr. Earl snapped Jason back to reality, “I had just about the same reaction to the arrangements when I was starting High School. American cinema prepared me for nothing other than the same old desks, and yet, here we are... So how are you enjoying your stay in Amoca so far, Mr. Carter?”

‘Straight to the interrogation...’ Jason sighed, “It’s a nice country, nothing at all like what I had imagined.”

“And what were you imagining?”

“Well, I don’t mean any disrespect, sir, but I was expecting something with a bit more scars from the Liberation War...”

“Yeah, we managed to clean that up real well thanks to the Mai’Har.” Mr. Earl had taken out a newspaper from his bag and dropped it onto his desk, “Anything else catch your attention?”

“... Weeeellllll,” Jason glanced away from his teacher, trying to think of the best way to ask what was on his mind, but then shook his head, “Never mind, it’s a silly question to ask.”

Mr. Earl raised an eyebrow, “If you say so. I was honestly expecting you to ask about those immortal queen rumors.” He took notice of the surprised look on Jason’s face as he said those last words, “Heh, thought so. Tell you what, Mr. Carter, when I have time, I’ll tell you the story, but not right now, because class is gonna be starting soon.” And just like that, the warning bell rang, “Heh, speak of the devil,” Mr. Earl gestured to a chair at the front of the room, “Just take a seat right there, Mr. Carter. You can find yourself a proper seat once attendance is done.”

“Uh, yes sir.” Jason sat down, and waited as the classroom slowly became populated. The first thing he noticed was that there weren’t a whole lot of people in this homeroom; the second was that the girls outnumbered the boys, five to one, not including him. But what was really dominating his mind was what Mr. Earl had told him.

“Hey!” Jason flinched at the white-haired girl that suddenly took up his vision.

‘Make that six to one.’

The girl leaned in close enough to the point where Jason could swear that he could see stars in her disturbingly blood-red eyes, which were made even more disturbing by her cheerful face, as if she was staring at something amazing, “Are you new here? I mean, I don’t mean to pry, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen you around before and-”

Mr. Earl’s voice cut in, “Kara?”

The girl almost instantly shot up, “Yes, Uncle?”

‘Uncle?’

“Save the interrogation until after roll call, please.”

“Awww, but Uncle-” The girl stopped mid-protest as Mr. Earl looked up from his newspaper and gave her a questioning look, “Ohhhh, alright.” Defeated, if only for the moment, the girl made her way to the top row and, with a visible disappointed expression on her face, sat down and waited for her chance to question the new kid.

With the ringing of the bell rang, everyone quieted down, while Mr. Earl placed his newspaper away and stood up, “Good morning class!” A half tired, half uninterested ‘Morning, Mr. Earl’ was met in reply, although Jason noticed that the white haired girl was much perkier than the others, “It’s good to see you all again, I trust you all had a decent summer break?” Once again, Jason could hear the perky voice stand out amongst the dull reply. “Right then, let’s take attendance, shall we?”

“Natalie Brennon?”

The blonde-haired girl in the front raised her hand, “Present.”

“Casey Harper?”

The pink haired girl sitting next to Natalie raised her hand, “Here!”

“Jack Holloway?”

A very audible belch emanated from that same black and blue haired boy from earlier sitting in the third row, though now he had a black eye and a bandage on his nose.

“A simple ‘Here’ would have sufficed, Mr. Holloway.”

“Sorry, teach.”

Shaking his head, Mr. Earl let out a sigh before continuing, “Ciara Landis?” This time, there was no reply given, “Kara?”

“Yes?”

“Where’s your cousin?”

“Oh! Yeah, sorry, Uncle Casey, but Ciara’s out sick today. She says her stomach is bothering her.”

Jason flinched at the usage of female pronouns in reference to the absent student, ‘Seven to one?! Wait, did she say stomach problems? Oh no, I hope her cousin isn’t who I’m thinking it is...’

“Right...” Mr. Earl adjusted his glasses, “Kara Landis, unless I’m losing my mind, you’re obviously here.”

The white haired girl gave off a smile and giggled.

“Sylvia Mayhew?”

The purple haired girl sitting in the front raised her hand, “Here.”

“Alice Stein?”

The silver haired girl sitting in the second row raised her hand, “Present.”

“Melody Westin?”

The bluenette sitting in the second row merely raised her hand.

Mr. Earl placed the attendance sheet back down on his desk, “Excellent, we’re already off to a better start than last year.”

Jason couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow pondering what he could possibly mean with that statement.

“Okay class, before we begin, you may have noticed that we have a new student joining us, and I expect you to give him nothing less than the same respect you already give your fellow classmates.” Mr. Earl looked towards Jason, “Mr. Carter, if you would be so kind as to introduce yourself?”

“Yes, sir,” Jason stood up and took another look at those who were now his fellow classmates, “Uhhh, hi, my name is Jason Carter, I’m 15 years old, I was born in the state of Arizona-”

“Really?!” Kara shot up from her chair with a huge smile on her face.

Mr. Earl scolded the girl to sit back down, allowing Jason to continue, “Right, anyway, born in Arizona, my birth parents died in an accident half a year ago, and I ended up being adopted by Marshal and Miranda Carter.”

Seeing that Jason was done spilling his life story, Mr. Earl spoke up, “Thank you, Jason. Now class, do you have any questions for Mr. Carter?”

Jack Holloway’s hand shot up first, “Got any hobbies?”

“Well, let’s see... I like reading, writing, and drawing; I’m good at paintball; I’m absolutely terrible at sports; and I’ve got an interest in science-fiction.”

Another hand was raised, this one belonging to that pink-haired screwball, “So how long have you been in the country?”

“Well, I’ve been here for about a week now; I haven’t seen much outside of Hellview. Heck, I haven’t even seen much of Hellview to begin with. It is interesting, though, and I would like to see more of it.”

Seeing that no more hands were being raised, Mr. Earl clapped his hands once, “Okay, if that’s it for the questions, Mr. Carter if you would be so kind as to find a seat, we can let class resume.”

Turning back towards his classmates, Jason could see that Kara was motioning for him to sit next to her in the top row, ‘Might as well.’ As he made his way up, he could feel the stares of his classmates behind him as he passed each row, but chose to ignore them and sat in the seat to Kara’s left.

Kara leaned over, “So, Arizona, huh? What town?”

“I’d rather not talk about that.”

“Awww, why not?”

“Because there’s nothing to say about it, it’s an uninteresting dirt bowl in the middle of nowhere.”

“Uh-huh...” Kara could now tell that Jason would rather do anything other than talk about his hometown, “Hey, can I see your schedule?” She leaned over and snatched the piece of paper from Jason’s binder.

“Wha-Hey!”

“Awesome, we have History & Theology together!”

Jason rolled his eyes at this development, ‘Oh joy.’

“Oh?” Kara’s eyes shifted about the paper a couple of times, “You’re getting your math credits out of the way already?”

“What do you mean ‘already’?”

“Well, yeah, unless you’re gonna be an accountant, Calculus and Trigonometry are borderline useless, hence them being ‘College only’ courses,” Kara explained, “You basically signed up for the only two math classes required let alone available, Jason.”

“Y-You’re serious?” Jason paled, he had no idea that he signed up for the only two math classes in the school. He just assumed that the other classes were just restricted to upperclassmen, but nope, turns out they’re apparently a waste of time for high-school students. ‘I don’t feel so good.’

Kara noticed Jason’s paled expression and snapped her fingers in front of his eyes repeatedly, “Oi, oiiiiii, are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, fine, just peachy,” Jason tried to think of another topic to talk about, and then took notice of the empty seat between the wall and Kara, “So... Your cousin, I assume she’s gonna be sitting to your right?”

“Yep! She likes sitting next to the wall.”

“Well, what’s she like? I know I’m gonna end up meeting her tomorrow, but I’d like to know what to expect.”

“Weeeellllll, she kinda keeps to herself for the most part, there aren’t a whole lot of people that she gets along with...” Kara paused as though she had just come to a realization, “Y’know, she’s kinda like her dad in that way, now that I think about it.”

Absent-mindedly, Jason asked another question, “What’s she look like?”

Kara blinked, taken off guard by the question, “Uh, well, she looks normal.”

“Normal?”

“Well, yeah, normal ... compared to the rest of the world, anyway. She’s got short black hair, blue eyes, she stands a bit taller than me, and she looks grumpy all the time.”

‘Yep, sounds exactly like the person I saw this morning,’ Jason concluded, ‘I hope to whatever gods there are that she doesn’t recognize me.

-----

The rest of the day went by without incident, much to Jason’s happiness... Well, save for a shot to the groin during a game of dodgeball, but besides that, Jason couldn’t have asked for a better first day of high school. With no assignments for the evening, Jason enjoyed some alone time in his room, and for the first time in months, got to experience cable television. Amocan television, to his relief, wasn’t the brain-dead wasteland that had overtaken American television years ago, and, to his surprise, very open to foreign programs. Lying back on his bed, out of uniform, Jason couldn’t help but feel as though that he would grow quite used to life in Amoca.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason’s eyes shot open. The room, which before was lit by sunlight, was now dark, with only the glow of the television illuminating the room. Shooting a glance outside, he discovered that it was now night out, ‘Shit, when the hell did I fall asleep?’

THUMP

‘Is that thunder?’ From his window, Jason could hear that the wind had indeed picked up, so it could be that there was a storm on the way.

THUMP

This time the noise sounded odd, as though it was directly over his room, up on the roof. ‘Okay, I’m starting to think that this isn’t a storm.’ Once more the noise sounded, ‘Why do I get the feeling that I’m gonna have to check it out?’ Opening his door, Jason could see that the hallway was dark, with his dorm-mates still sleeping from the looks of things.

As he made his way to the stair well, the noises continued, and now Jason could tell that whatever was making these noises wasn’t stationary, and was in fact moving across the roof. ‘Maybe it’s a tree limb that snapped off?’ he thought to himself, ‘I mean, it is pretty windy, after all.’ Jason was now getting nervous, he had no idea what could possibly be up on the roof, and was now wishing he had stayed in bed.

“C’mon, Jason, don’t be a coward,” he said to himself, “For all you know, it could probably be a bunch of barrels.” Unfortunately, his attempt at encouraging himself went nowhere, ‘But why would there be barrels on the roof?’ “Fuck it, the sooner I check out the roof, the sooner I can go back to bed.” Jason opened the door to the stair well, and marched his way up, doing his best to ignore the noises now. ‘Y’know what? I’d bet anything that I’m getting hazed right now. Makes perfect sense, I mean, not only am I a new kid, but I’m also a foreigner. I’ve got a fucking bull’s-eye painted right on my face.’ Jason reached the door and began to turn the knob, ‘I’m gonna open this fucking door, and then I’m gonna get pelted with water balloons or silly string,’ the door opened, and out stepped Jason, now visibly irritated as he believed he had realized the truth, ‘Alright, assholes, let’s get this ov... er... with?’

Jason couldn’t believe his eyes. There was no broken tree limb, no loose barrels, and no group of hazing dorm mates. No, what was in front of him was beyond anything that he could’ve expected. It was the girl from his dream, he was sure of it, it was all coming back to him now. Even from here he could tell it was the same girl, with pale skin and dark hair. She seemed to have something on her arms, and whatever it was, it was just as dark as her hair.

And that’s when Jason saw it lying at the girl’s feet, and almost instantly his blood froze. He had no idea what it was, but it was large. Larger than a bear, longer than a crocodile, the thing was motionless. The body was completely black, and if his eyes were to be believed, it was darker than black. He heard the girl say something, and suddenly the thing broke apart, almost as if it liquefied, for the lack of a better word, and vanished into the girl. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that Jason’s mind was repeating the word ‘what’ over and over again.

THWAM!

And then the door to the stairwell slammed shut.

-----

Earlier...

It had been two hours. For two hours she had been chasing her opponent across campus, with the chase ending atop one of the dorms, and she was irritated, “Are you finally done running?” she asked the beast, which had replied with a guttural growl, “I should hope so, because I wanna get some fucking sleep tonight. I’ve had a bad enough day as it is, and the last thing I need is you Denizens making things worse.” The beast merely snarled, and readied itself into an attack position, “Oh really?” the girl chuckled, “Fair bit of warning, though, just because I’m in a skirt doesn’t mean I can’t kick your ass from here to the arctic... not that you’d last that long, anyway.” As if on cue, her hair became as dark as the beast she had been hunting, her skin turned pale, and finally the girl’s eyes turned silver, leaving the girl looking less like a normal human, and more like a ghost.

Suddenly the beast was hesitant, and the girl instantly took notice, “Not so confident now are ya?” she grinned, “You can sense it, what I am, what flows through my blood,” she took a step towards it, and the beast took a step back, “You know exactly what I’m capable of.” A black mass, of equal darkness as the beast, slowly emerged from her upper back and coated each of her arms, turning what were once thin and unremarkable, into something nightmarish. Now the beast knew fear. “Tell you what,” the girl said to the beast, “I can tell that you haven’t caused any problems yet, so I’m gonna give you a chance to leave with your life and crawl back to the Void, and you are gonna let me get a good night’s sleep. What do you say, deal?”

If the beast wasn’t insulted before, it sure as hell was now.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The girl rolled her eyes and emitted a sigh, “Thought so. Let’s get this over with.” She leapt out of the way as the beast lunged at her, narrowly avoiding getting pinned. “HAH! Is that all you-” the girl’s boasting was interrupted as the beast smacked her down with its tail, “Ow.” The beast lunged again, only to miss once more as the girl rolled out of the way. The girl got back up on her feet, her eyes burning with anger, “Okay, now I’m mad.”

She leapt, crashing her feet into the Denizen’s head, and caught the tail’s attempted retaliation. Morphing her left arm into a blade, the girl cut off a good length of the struggling appendage, and jumped back off, leaving the beast to howl in pain over its amputated tail. “It’s no less than what you deserve, and you can’t say that I didn’t give you the chance to leave with your life,” the girl tightly squeezed her prize, which melted away into the black mass covering her arms, “Now, let’s dance.”

In a flash, the girl was gone, and almost instantly reappeared on the beasts left, driving her fist into its skull. The girl continued running back and forth, taking swipes at the Denizen’s head, until a newly sprouted tendril knocked her away. Several more tendrils emerged from the beast’s back and flailed about wildly in a display of threatening intent. The girl blinked, “Ooooh, you’re definitely teaching me how to do that.”

The beast charged, all tendrils pointed forward like the horns of a bull; the girl, rather than easily sidestepping the brute, braced herself, and caught the tendrils that protruded forward the most. The momentum still pushed the two forward, and the beast snapped wildly, its opponent just out of reach of its jaws. The girl, still holding on to the tendrils, dug her heels into the roof, leaving marks behind as they were dragged along, bringing an end to the momentum, and brought the Denizen to a halt. Rolling her eyes, the girl sighed, “Oh come on, you have to do better than this.” Suddenly, she felt something coil around her waist, two of the free tendrils had wrapped themselves around her, and had started to constrict.

The girl, however, was left unimpressed, “Y’know, I was assuming that you would be a lot smarter, what with the knowing how to sprout tendrils and all. Ah well, you know what they say about assuming,” the girl smirked and clutched the tendrils that had a hold of her, “It makes an ass out of both me,” to the beast’s complete surprise, the girl was successfully tugging it forward, “AND YOU!!” With what could only be described as a primal roar, the girl managed to swing the beast over her head, crashing it head first into the roof.

The Denizen was dead. Its head and brain crushed on impact. A tad bit unceremonious and anti-climactic, but in fights between Darktypes and low-level Denizens, this was usually how they ended. The girl grinned, “Now, let’s see about that tendril ability,” the beast’s form then destabilized and was completely absorbed into her like its tail before it. Such was the way of things; the loser gets eaten, while the winner acquires abilities they didn’t previously have.

THWAM!

“What!?” Alarmed by the sound of a door slamming shut, the girl quickly spun around. Standing there, in front of the slammed door, was a boy. “Oh. Uh... Shit.” ‘Please tell me he saw nothing, please tell me he saw nothing,’ the girl fears were answered when the boy fell backwards, “Fuuuuuuuck!” Rushing over, the girl caught the boy before he could crack his head against the roof beneath him.

The boy looked into the eyes of the girl, “Those eyes...” and promptly passed out.

Sighing, the girl shot a look at the sky, “Oh god dammit... Wait a minute,” the girl glanced back down at the boys face, “You gotta be kidding, of all the people to stumble into this, it’s the new kid?! ”

-----

Jason woke up with a start, and looked around at his surroundings. It was morning, he was in his room, the TV was still on, with everything exactly the way it was yesterday evening, ‘Was... Was it all another dream?’ His head shook in disbelief, ‘Who am I kidding, it must’ve been. That kinda stuff just doesn’t happen.’ “Oh well, guess I might as well get ready for class.”

After a quick shower, there was a knock at the door, “Jay, you up?” It was Sal.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m up. Don’t come in, though, I don’t have my pants on.”

“Well hurry up and get dressed, the principal’s called for an assembly before classes start.”

‘Assembly?’ “What for?” Jay asked as he was pulling his pants up over his legs.

“Ah, somebody vandalized the roof of our dorm.”

“Vandal-!?” As the images of what happened last night returned to the forefront of his mind, Jason lost his balance and fell over, “OW! Mother-fucker!”

“Dude, you alright?”

“OW-how-how!”

-----

One mass assembly later, Jason’s mind was racing. There was no doubt about it now, what he saw last night was real, and he knew that whoever that girl was had seen his face. The problem, though, was that he had no idea who that girl was, so he had no idea who to watch out for, when suddenly the idea bulb appeared, ‘Wait, the girl had silver eyes, didn’t she? Considering I don’t recall seeing anyone with silver eyes during school yesterday, it can’t be a common eye color. So all I have to do is keep an eye out for a girl with silver eyes, it’s that simple.’

Sighing in relief, Jason cracked open a book to get some reading in before Homeroom started. The book in particular was about Amocan mythology, which got handed out in History & Theology as part of the course. While he wasn’t one for creation stories, Jason found it interesting how Amocan mythology has it that humans had merely developed rather than be created outright.

Jason attention was then shifted to the voice of Mr. Earl, “Ah, Ciara, feeling better today, I take it?”

‘Ciara? That’s Kara’s cousin, right?’

“Yeah, I’m feeling better,” he heard her reply, “Sure as hell not eating any of Kara’s cooking anymore. Almost vomited out my stomach.”

‘Yep, definitely the girl I saw yesterday morning.’

“That’s a little more info than I needed to hear... Just take your seat please.”

Jason could hear the girl walk up and sit down to his right, but didn’t take his eyes off the book in front of him, and yet, he began to feel uneasy for some reason. The furious scratching sound of a pencil in abuse came from where the girl was sitting, and Jason couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing to the poor utensil. Seconds passed, and the sounds of abuse ceased, ‘Well, at least that’s over.’

And then a folded up piece of paper slid into view, ‘Huh?’ Jason picked up the paper and unfolded it, and came to regret doing so almost instantly.

Written on the paper, in large chaotic lettering was the following:

I KNOW THAT YOU SAW

Jason’s brain raced again as it almost immediately tried to rationalize the situation, ‘Okay, okay, don’t panic, don’t panic, she could mean that she recognizes me from the other morning. I mean, what are the odds that the girl sitting two seats away from me is the girl from last night? And besides, Kara said her cousin looked normal. Normal people don’t have silver eyes the last time I checked,’ Jason slowly turned his head to face Ciara, ‘I’m sure if I ask nicely what she means, I’ll have nothing to... to...’

Jason’s blood froze, sirens began to go off in his head, and the world seemed to stop; it was as though he was in the gaze of a predator. Despite the blue eyes that were glaring at him, the paradoxically lighter black hair, and the healthy-looking skin, there was no mistaking it, Ciara Landis was the girl that he saw last night.

‘Oh.... Oh... OH SHIT!’

NSZ · Post by **NSZ** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 8:57 pm

Chapter Two:
Fallen Angel

White. That was the first thing Jason saw when his eyes opened, ‘Am I dead? I’m dead aren’t I?’ he let out a groan, ‘I always knew high-school would be the death of me.’ That’s when Jason felt the mattress beneath him, “Eh?” Focusing on the white above him, Jason realized that he was looking at the ceiling, ‘That is the whitest damn ceiling that I have ever seen... wait, so where the hell am I?’

Sitting up, Jason looked around at his surroundings. It was a mostly white room, with curtains and beds everywhere. If he had to guess, this was part of the Nurse’s Office. He was stationed near the end of the room, two beds away from a window, and at the opposite end of the room, near the door, sat a girl in a nurse’s uniform with what appeared to be a pad of paper. By that alone, he could tell that it wasn’t Ciara- ‘CIARA! That’s right, the last thing I remember before waking up to that ceiling was realizing that I was utterly fucked! So... How the hell did I end up here, anyway?’ He turned his attention back to the girl again, “Um, excuse me, miss?”

The girl stopped whatever it was that she was doing and looked up at him, her ruby eyes greeting him.

“Do you know how I got here... and why?”

The girl blinked a couple of times, before getting up and leaving the room.

Jason called after her, “Hey wait, you didn’t answer my question!” The only indication that she even knew he was there was that she responded when talked to, “Jeez, what am I, diced onions?”

Moments passed before another girl walked into the room. This person looked a bit older than the girl that had just left, and had pink hair in contrast to the other girl’s black hair, and judging by the white lab coat, this was the School Nurse. Clipboard in hand, she walked up to Jason, “Feeling better, Mr. Carter?”

“Um, yes ma’am, but... uh... what am I supposed to be feeling better from?” Jason asked the nurse as she sat down in the chair next to his bed, ‘And why do you look familiar?’

“You don’t remember?”

“Not really, no.”

“To put it simply, you fainted before classes started.”

‘Fainted?!’

“Is there any reason you could think of as to why you would faint like that?”

‘Think fast, Jason, don’t want to start a panic,’ “Well, I haven’t been sleeping good lately. I’ve been having some bad dreams,” ‘ ... Well, okay, that’s not exactly a lie, I have been having bad dreams since I arrived here.’

The Nurse grew curious, and readied her pen, “Really? Could you describe these dreams?”

Jason sighed, “Well, I don’t really know how to describe ‘em... It’s dark, I’m all alone, and before I know it I’m surrounded by these... things, these monsters.”

The Nurse raised an eyebrow, “Monsters?... I see... anything else?”

‘Yeah, a girl with inhuman powers appears, kills the monsters, and then turns her attention to me,’ “No, that’s just about it. I usually wake up at that point.”

“Hmmm... Interesting. Care to describe these monsters, Mr. Carter?”

“Uh, what’s with the Twenty Questions, Miss... uh, Miss?”

“Landis.”

‘ ... Seriously?’

The Nurse continued, “And here in Amoca, one’s mental health is just as important as one’s physical health,” she placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder, “I understand that back in the States, they’d sooner work you tirelessly just so they can get more funding, but things are different here. We care about our students. So please, all I’m asking for is a description.”

Jason mulled it over. She seemed to be genuinely concerned, but still, that surname... Sighing, Jason nodded, “Alright.” The pen was readied once again, “They’re a bit hard to describe. They don’t look like humans, and they don’t really look like any kind of animal on earth. No two looked alike physically, but many of them bore tendrils, and they were all black.”

“... Black?”

“Yeah, although they seemed to be a bit darker than black, if that’s even possible,” Jason then noticed that Miss Landis had stopped writing altogether and had a nervous look on her face, “Uh, Miss Landis?”

“Huh? OH! Sorry, it’s just that it what you’re describing sounds like the monsters in the stories we tell our children to scare them into behaving. Have you by any chance heard of these stories, Mr. Carter?”

“I’ve only been in Amoca for about a week, so I kinda doubt it.”

“Interesting... Well, while your pre-existing knowledge of our folklore remains a mystery, I don’t think we have anything to worry about for the foreseeable future. Any questions?”

“Two actually. Who was the girl that was just in here and left without answering my questions?”

“Hmm? Oh, that was Miss Petra Jiles, another student here. She volunteered her free time to help me in exchange for extra credit. You’ll have to forgive her, she’s a bit on the timid side when it comes to people that she’s not familiar with. Now what was your second question?”

“How did I get here? Like, who brought me here?”

Miss Landis smiled, “You have my niece to thank for that.”

“Niece?”

“Ciara Landis.”

‘Wait, what?’ Jason blinked in confusion, “Ciara’s your niece? So that means Kara’s your daughter, right?” Miss Landis nodded in confirmation, “Thought you looked familiar. Has she always been...”

“Hyper?”

“Well, I was gonna say “chipper”, but yeah.”

“She’s just a very active girl that lacks the proper means to expel all of that energy.”

“Hasn’t she tried out for any athletics?”

Miss Landis suddenly bore a look that said ‘Tried, got nowhere’, “She’s not interested.”

“Ah. So, can I go now?”

“Of course, I’ll see you out.”

Getting off the bed, the first thing Jason noticed was that Miss Landis looked rather young for someone with a kid in high school. In fact, she was giving off the same vibe that Mr. Earl was giving off, in that the youth she bore was unnatural. He started wondering if it was the same case with his gym teacher. ‘This country is really starting to creep me out,’ his mind raced with possibilities as he walked towards the front desk, ‘Vampires, maybe? But that doesn’t exactly explain what Ciara is, because I’m pretty sure she isn’t a bloodsucker. The fact that I’m alive is proof enough of that. Nor does it explain that thing that was lying at her feet... and got sucked into her body... Okay, mental note: don’t even bother trying to figure out what Ciara is, because I’m pretty sure I’m not gonna like the answer I get.’

Miss Landis stopped at her desk and motioned for Petra to grab the binder that was on the shelf behind her, “Here are your belongings, Mr. Carter. Though, I’m afraid you missed your first and second period classes,” she handed him his things, not realizing that he was taking History & Theology, which ate up two periods.

“Great, lunchtime. I’m starving thanks to that stupid assembly this morning.” Giving his thanks to Miss Landis and Petra for taking care of him, Jason left the Nurse’s Office, and closed the door behind him. ‘Children’s stories my foot,’ Jason thought as he walked down the hall, ‘she knows something about those things, and she ain’t talking.’ As the bell for lunch interrupted his thoughts, Jason could only shake his head in disappointment and head towards the cafeteria.

----

The lunchroom was predictably packed with hormone raging teenagers. Mercifully, the person that designed the building had enough sense and foresight to make the lunchroom spacious enough so that these adolescents wouldn’t throw down just because they were accidentally elbowed too many times. Suffice to say, Jason kept finding new reasons to be left unimpressed with the school system he left behind. Unfortunately, his disdain for the past 9 years of his life vanished when he remembered that he still needed to keep an eye out for that girl, ‘But still... why did she of all people take me to the Nurse’s Office?’

“Oi, Carter, over here!” Sal called and waved from the table he was at, getting Jason’s attention.

Jason made his way through the sea of teenagers, being careful not to bump into anyone and spill his tray, and soon found himself seated at the table Sal was at. Other than Sal, also sitting at the table was Jack Holloway, Nate “Bomber” Boudreaux (who he knew from History & Theology, and whose matching red eyes and red hair easily gave him away), some other student that Jason didn’t know, and... “Oh, for fuck sakes,” Jason groaned as he saw who was sitting across from him.

Erin Connor grinned, “S’up newbie? Run over anyone lately?”

Sal shot the girl a look, “Erin, lay off before I decide to rat you out for keeping all of those animals in your room.”

Erin now wore a fearful look, “You wouldn’t!”

“Try me,” Sal took a bite from his burger, “Now, why don’t you do what you said you would do and reimburse the guy already.”

Jason was confused, “Reimburse?”

“Alright, alright, chill,” Erin dug into her pocket and pulled out a ten, “Here, the money I conned out of you. With interest.”

“That’s one hell of an interest,” Jason quipped.

“Yeah, well, consider it an apology,” she then glanced at Sal, “And a bribe to not blab about my pets.” Sal could only give an uneasy apologetic grin in return.

Chuckling, Jack shook his head, “You need to keep your pets a bit more secretive, Erin, like I do.” It slowly dawned on him that he let slip that he had a pet on the premises when everyone at the table turned to look at him, “Wait... shit.”

“Pay up, Jacky-boy,” the unfamiliar student held his hand out expecting money.

“Fuck you, Kerry... Goddammit, me and my big mouth,” Jack pulled out his wallet and handed each person at the table five dollars.

“Oh, right, you two haven’t exactly met yet,” Sal gestured to the man sitting to his left, “Jason Carter, this is Kerry Moore,” Sal then gestured to Jason, “Kerry Moore, this is Jason Carter.”

“Oh, so you’re the new Yankee. I always knew you marked the beginning of an invasion, Sal, though I didn’t think they’d take a year to get the invasion underway.”

“For fuck sakes, Kerry, I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times, Yankees. Are. New Yorkers. I’m from California, and Jason here is from Arizona.”

Pausing pause from his corndog, Jack’s eyes shot up, “Arizona? Isn’t that where... uh...” he snapped his fingers in an attempt at remembering, “Shit, I forgot the name of the place. Eh, it’ll come back to me eventually, but I know something very bad happened in Arizona a couple of decades ago.”

Erin rolled her eyes, “Oh yeah, that narrows it down. It’s the United freaking’ States, Jack, it can’t go a week without something very bad happening somewhere, doubly so if it was a couple of decades ago... No offense, guys.”

“None taken.”

Jason then took notice of who had just entered the cafeteria, and quickly ducked down.

“Whoa, Jay, what’s spooked you?”

“Oh nothing. Just a very creepy girl that’s probably going to be in my nightmares for the next few weeks... I said that out loud, didn’t I?” A series of acknowledgments from around the table confirmed his fears, “Shit.”

Sal directed his eyes towards the front of the lunchroom, and saw who it was that had Jason spooked, “Oh shit, that makes sense.”

“Who’s he scared of?” Kerry inquired before sipping from his soda.

“Ciara Landis.”

The liquid that was in Kerry’s mouth suddenly found itself forcibly ejected and sprayed upon Jack in a spit-take, “Oh come on!”Jack then left the table to find some paper towels to dry his shirt off.

Kerry wiped off the soda that failed to leave his face, “What the hell did you do, new kid?!”

Jason sighed, ‘Well shit, time to half-truth it,’ “Well, for the past the past week I’ve been having some nightmares. To put it simply, she was in each and every one of them. This morning when she came to class, I recognized her, and then I fainted.”

Erin crossed her arms, “Huh. Thought I saw her carrying your butt to the Nurse’s Office earlier.”

Kerry had a quizzical look on his face, “Well, that seems a bit weird in my opinion.”

Sal shrugged, “Eh I sort of understand it. Ciara’s pretty dang spooky looking. I’d probably faint as well if I thought she was a nightmare of mine come to life.”

“Yeah, but she’s a real nice person when you get to know her,” Erin added, “I’ve known her for a few years now. She doesn’t have many friends, now that I think about it, just her cousins and I.”

Kerry leaned back, “Yeah, from what I’ve heard she’s got kind of a loner attitude. I can see why that she wouldn’t have many friends.”

Sal turned to Nate, “What about you, Bomber? You got any opinions on Ciara?”

Jason could only sit there as Nate thought long and hard about the answer that he was going to deliver. Clearly the man was deep in thought, and whatever answer he was going to give would give new insight on Ciara. ‘Maybe he knows something that can help me,’ Jason hoped.

Nate simply shrugged his shoulders, “Eh, I got nothing,” and went back to eating his pizza.

‘Welp, I’m screwed.’

Sal looked shocked, “Really, Bomber, nothing? That’s a first.”

“There are still many mysteries left in this universe, Sal. The Permian extinction, the downfalls of Venus and Mars, the mass vanishing at the Hellview Convention Center of 2034, shit we haven’t even figured out the Bermuda Triangle yet, despite claims to the contrary,” Nate stated, “Ciara Landis is just another mystery that has yet to be solved.”

Erin just stared blankly at Nate, “If that was a quip about how women are riddles that need to be solved, Bomber, I’m gonna crack a bat over your head.”

Jason raised his hand, “Question, why do you guys call him ‘Bomber’?”

“That’s simple,” Sal answered, “We call him ‘Bomber’ because... because... uh,” Sal glanced over at Erin who only offered up a shrug, and then over at Kerry, who, judging by the look on his face, didn’t quite know why either. “Hey, Bomber?”

“Hmm?”

“Why do we call you Bomber?”

“You guys should know, you’re the ones who keep calling me that, after all.”

Erin rolled her eyes and decided to get things back on topic, “Anyway, how do you know you aren’t just misremembering what the girl looked like?”

“Trust me, there’s no misremembering that face,” Jason then took a mouthful of burger.

“Either way, look, just because she bears some sort of resemblance to some girl in your nightmares, doesn’t mean she’s gonna cause you any harm, so there’s no need to go around fainting, newbie.”

“Fainting?” Jack returned just in time to hear the last couple of words Erin said, “Did you faint today, Jason?”

Erin now bore an annoyed look, “Jack, were you here when newbie explained to us why he fainted?” she inquired.

“What?”

“Were you listening to newbie’s story?”

“I was up looking around for paper towels.”

“So you have no frame of reference here, Jack. You’re like a kid who wanders into the middle of a movie and expects...”

“Erin, what is the point?” Jason asked, now that his mouth was free of food, “Look, just because she’s a nice person according to you means that I should just ignore that she was there? I don’t know about you, but rational people would probably view this as some kind of omen!”

“What the fuck is he talking about?”

“Forget it, Jack, you’re out of your element!”

----

Gym class. Jason knew that the odds of avoiding Ciara here were negligible, and the fact that his teacher was, from his guessing, the girl’s mother wasn’t calming him. She slightly resembled Ciara in her facial features, though her eyes were a darker blue than Ciara’s, and even though her hair was just about the same length and style, it was the same color blue as her eyes. And as he suspected, Mrs. Landis did indeed bear the same weird vibe that Miss Landis and Mr. Earl possessed, and that unsettled him greatly.

Mrs. Landis stood in front of the seated Class 2-C, and the same predatory smirk that graced her face yesterday did the same today, which, to Jason’s horror, meant only one thing, “Alright, class, because the weather decided to be wet and windy today, we’re doing dodgeball again.”

Jason cringed as he recalled yesterday’s below-the-belt shot, ‘Why must gym teachers be so cruel?’

“Now, today, it’s going to be a little bit different,” Mrs. Landis repeatedly tossed the dodgeball in her possession up in the air, “Rather than divide you up into two groups and pit you against each other like yesterday, as amusing as it was, you’re all going to be going up against Class 5-Q.”

To Class 2-C, those words were the equivalent of someone signing each of their death warrants.

“Fifth years?!”

“Oh god, we’re gonna die.”

“Yep, should’ve listened to dad and brought a cup. Bye-bye manhood.”

“Aren’t there laws against this sort of thing?”

“Well, it could be worse... Don’t know how, but it could.”

“Is it too late to write a will?”

With a flick of her wrist, Mrs. Landis instructed her class to stand up and get ready, before leaving to bring out the ball cart. And suddenly Jason’s view was once again taken up by Kara, “GAH! Stop that!”

“Stop what?”

“Filling my vision with your face without warning.”

“How else am I supposed to get your attention?”

‘What are you, an anime character?’ Jason’s brow twitched in annoyance, “There’s this little thing called ‘poking’, have you heard of it?”

“Ciara says I should keep my hands to myself. Oh! Speaking of which, have the two of you met yet?”

“I fainted before Homeroom start...” Jason then noticed the little error of Kara’s question, “Wait, you should know that we haven’t met yet, weren’t you at Homeroom?”

Kara’s eyes shifted from left to right, and began to stammer, “I... uh... slept in.”

“...Uh-huh,” Jason wasn’t sure if she was lying or if she was telling the truth.

Kara kept up the conversation, “I told her about you after classes ended yesterday.”

“Had a feeling you would.”

“Mmm-hmm, she said you sounded interesting. She also said that she saw you before classes started.”

Jason blinked a couple of times in confusion, “... Wait, what?”

“Yeah, she was sick yesterday, and a couple of people were making a lot of noise outside the dorm, so she popped her head out the window to tell them both to be quiet...”

“And that’s when... she... vomited...”

“Yep! She was kinda embarrassed, and wants to know if you could keep quiet about it.”

If he wasn’t confused before, Jason sure as hell was confused now, “How does she even know that that was me standing there?”

“No offense, Jason, but you kinda stick out like a sore thumb around here.”

“... Point taken.” Jason’s mind went over the information just given to him, ‘Is it possible that I was misremembering the girl’s look? I mean, if what Kara says is true, then that note was Ciara trying to get my attention about yesterday morning... But, if what Kara says is true... then who was it that I saw last night?’ And then another though occurred to Jason, ‘Or I simply dreamed the whole thing up. After all, they never did specify what was done to the roof. Hell, for all I know, it could’ve been someone dicking around with graffiti... Fuck, that probably is what happened. Stupid overactive imagination, giving me a fucking heart attack.’

The sound of a whistle being blown snapped Jason back to reality, where he noticed that Mrs. Landis had already returned and had distributed the dodgeballs evenly on both sides of the room, “Alright, listen up, while I expect nothing but gratuitous violence from the lot of ya, I want to remind you all that this isn’t the Versilium Wars. There are rules. Rule number one, no stepping over the divider. Rule number two, if you’re hit in the foot, you’re out. Rule number three, if you catch a ball, then the person that had thrown the ball is out, and two of your team are sent back in. Have I made myself clear?” She didn’t even wait for a response when she gave them the go ahead to cut loose.

The game had just started and Jason was already dodging the balls thrown by the fifth years. He could see that two of his classmates were already out, along with one of the fifth years. ‘Okay, Jason, just stay on your toes. Do not stand still even for a second. Stand still, and you’re an easy targ... Is that Sal and Kerry on the other team?’ Sure enough, on the opposite side of the room were the two fifth years that Jason was just eating lunch with, and the two of them seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was at that moment that Jason realized that his body had stopped moving, ‘Oh crap.’

It was also at that moment that Sal had thrown a fastball, and realized too late that he was throwing it at Jason, and that the ball was leveled at his head.

‘Welp, looks like I’m going back to the Nurse’s Office.’

Before it could make contact, however, the ball was suddenly knocked out of the air by another ball.

‘Who the hell?’ Jason immediately looked to where the savior ball was thrown from, and standing there, already with another ball in hand, was Ciara Landis.

The fifth years paused their assault on the students of Class 2-C; half because they had already thinned the second years down to Ciara and Jason, and half because they ran out of balls to throw. Little did they realize that they were doomed to failure. The radio, which before had only been playing awful pop music (much to Mrs. Landis’ chagrin), faded to static, before giving way to some much more fitting hard rock. Ciara grinned, and lightly tossed the ball she held up in the air repeatedly, “Alright, let’s rock.” The fifth years were so focused on the radio freaking out that they didn’t even realize that Ciara had begun her counterattack until one of them was nailed in the back of the head.

It was a curbstomp to say the least. As soon as Ciara let a ball leave her hand, she went for another one, and any of the fifth years’ hopes of catching them were dashed as they were thrown at such angles that catching them was impossible. In less than a minute, Sal found himself to be the last man standing, “Um... well... shit.” *THWONK* The dodgeball bounced off Sal’s forehead, and back into Ciara’s hands, and Sal was promptly on his ass.

The sound of Mrs. Landis’ whistle blew once again, “And the winner is Class 2-C!”

----

As far as Jason was concerned, school was over after Algebra. Second Homeroom was entirely optional to attend, and right now, Jason had more important things on his mind than sitting in an empty room when he could be back at the dorm, wondering what the ever-loving hell he was going to do now. Entering the main lobby, he saw that both Sal and Kerry were on the couch with ice-packs applied to where they were each hit by Ciara. On Sal, it was his forehead, on Kerry, it was where it counted.

“That girl has a mean arm,” groaned Sal.

Kerry nodded in agreement, “Yep.”

Jason did his best not to chuckle at the two fifth years’ misery, and headed into the kitchen to grab something to drink. What he wasn’t expecting was what he could only describe as a miniature rocket, “What the hell?” Jason was about to remove the object from the counter when suddenly...

“Don’t touch that, please!”

Jason spun to his left where he saw two students entering through the kitchen entrance, carrying what looked like to be a rather large bag of baking soda, the boy holding the front end was already in his casual wear and had black hair, the boy holding the back end looked similar but was shorter in size, “Uh, you two need any help?”

“No, no, we’ve got this, don’t worry,” said the boy holding the front end, “Carefully, now, Ernesth, the counter’s just a couple of more feet away.”

The boy holding the opposite end of the bag groaned, “Remind me again, just why did we need a bag of baking soda this big?”

“We want the rocket to work, now don’t we?”

“Don’t we have a couple of months to go before we even need to start worrying about that?”

“Like my father always said,” the first boy groaned out as he lifted the bag up onto the counter, “Never put off ‘til tomorrow, what you can do today!”

Jason raised an eyebrow, ‘And who the heck was the loon that told him that?’

The unnamed boy swiftly turned around, “Right, sorry if I startled you. My name’s Marcus King, and my partner here is Ernesth Harris. Say hello, Ernesth.”

“Hello.”

“Hi, uh, I’m Jason Carter.”

“Oh, you must be that new student from the US.”

“Word really gets around here, don’t it?”

“Indeed it does. So I’m assuming you’re wondering just why we’ve commandeered the kitchen counter.”

“Kinda crossed my mind, yeah.”

“Ernesth and I are building a rocket for the school’s science fair.”

“The science fair?”

“Mmm-hmmm.”

“The one that’s not taking place until May?”

“The very same.”

“Was this your idea or his?”

Marcus scoffed at the question, “My idea of course.”

“Would you believe that this is him trying to hide the fact that he has a high IQ?”

“Quiet, Ernesth. My IQ does not concern Mr. Carter.”

“Of course it doesn’t,” Ernesth muttered under his breath.

Jason’s eyes shifted left and right, he was beginning to feel like he was dealing with real-life representations of Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb. Not wanting to be caught in the middle should things start to get... well... shout-y, he snuck over to the fridge to acquire the soda that he originally came in for, quietly snuck back out, and made his way up to his room.

Closing the door behind him, Jason breathed a sigh of relief, and took a seat at the desk next to his bed. He sat and stared at his binder for a few seconds before opening it and dumping the contents onto the desk. Littered across his desk were notebooks, homework sheets, textbooks, a note-card that fell to the floor- ‘Wait, a note-card? What the hell?’ Picking up the note-card, Jason could see that there was something written on it, ‘Wait, don’t tell me, it’s from Ciara,’ and sure enough, written on the note-card was the following:

GIRL’S DORM. ROOM 3-13. COME SEE ME BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY OR I’LL COME SEE YOU. –CIARA LANDIS

Jason raised an eyebrow, ‘Hmmm, do I go?’ Almost as if the Gods themselves were giving him an answer, there was a loud boom that came from downstairs, followed by raised voices.

“God DAMMIT, Marcus!”

“There’s fucking baking soda everywhere!”

“OKAY, maybe that WAS a little too much baking soda. SO WHAT?”

“SAVE THE PIZZA!”

“FUCK THE PIZZA, MAN, SAVE THE FLATSCREEN!”

----

Jason knocked on the front door to the Girl’s Dorm, trying his best not to start laughing again. The entire ground floor of the Boy’s Dorm was covered in baking soda, thanks in no small part to Ernesth pouring the baking soda into the rocket too early. Among the casualties were one microwave, one dishwasher, one oven, one refrigerator, one stereo system, one DVD player, three gaming consoles, four laptops, and one 55” flatscreen (curiously, though, one of the students was able to salvage a pizza), and, of course, everyone that was on the ground floor at the time was completely coated in baking soda. It was a humorous sight to say the least.

The door swung open, and standing there, towering over him, was Petra. ‘Damn, she’s taller than I thought,’ Jason’s face took on a blank expression, “Um... Hi, Petra.”

No reply.

“Um... I’m here to see Ciara Landis, so... um... Am I allowed in?”

No reply.

“She wanted me to come see her, so can I please come in?”

No reply.

‘Lady, beautiful you may be, but you are working my nerves here.’

Suddenly, a familiar voice called from somewhere in the lobby, “Oi, Petra, who’s at the door?”

‘No, wait, I take it back, now my nerves are getting worked on.’

Erin was now standing in the doorway, “Oh for fuck sakes, newbie, I already paid you back. What are you doing here?”

Before he could say why, Petra beat him to the punch, “He says he came to see Ciara.”

‘Oh, so she does speak!’

A devious grin spread across Erin’s face, “Oh, so you’re taking my advice then, newbie? Heh, while I’m glad you’re working towards getting over your paranoia, give me one good reason why I should let you in.”

Jason got his reason out before Petra cut him off again, “Ciara told me to come see her.”

“HAH!” Erin slapped her knee, “Now that’s a good one, newbie. Like Ciara would seriously ask for a boy to come see her. I’m gonna need some proof of that.”

‘It wasn’t really ‘asking’ as much as it was ‘come see me, or I come see you’,’ Jason pulled out the note-card from his pocket and handed it to Erin, “Here.”

“What’s this?”

“My proof.”

“Heh, yeah right,” Erin read the note-card, and as soon as she finished, her skin rapidly paled, and went wide-eyed in shock.

“What is it, Erin?” asked a concerned Petra.

“This is Ciara’s handwriting.”

“What?!” Petra slightly bent over to read the note-card, and she too then rapidly paled and went wide-eyed.

Seeing that both girls weren’t exactly in any position to deny him entrance, Jason squeezed past them, and made his way up. With each step, he couldn’t shake the sense of dread that overcame him when he entered the stairwell, and this irritated him, ‘Goddammit, Jason, man up. Do not let your imagination get to you. What you saw was only a figment of your stupid imagination.’ He quickened his pace up the stairs. There was nothing for him to fear now, and he wasn’t going to let his imagination get the better of him.

“Well, here it is. Room 3-11,” Jason stared at the door that was standing in front of him, hesitant to knock, “Might as well get this over with,” Jason knocked on the door, “Ciara?”

No reply.

Jason knocked again, “Ciara? It’s Jason. You wanted me to come see you, remember?”

Still no reply.

Jason shook his head in annoyance, and then glanced down at the doorknob, ‘Oh come on, Jason, there’s no way in hell this is going to be unlocked .’ Jason turned the knob, and, much to his surprise, the door opened, “... I need to stop jinxing myself.” Stepping inside, Jason was greeted by a rather surprising sight. Movie posters lined the walls, and shelving units were home to various DVDs, video-games, and action figures. On the right side of the room, opposite of the bed, was an entertainment center, complete with a TV, a DVD player, and a game console. Now, Jason was imagining Ciara to be a lot of things, but the absolute last thing that he expected was that she was a geek.

“Didn’t see that coming,” closing the door behind him, Jason looked around the room once again, and this time noticed an MP3 player on the nightstand. Jason almost immediately recalled something one of his old friends used to say, about how you can learn a lot about a person through the music they listen to, and right now, if he wanted to get a good idea as to who Ciara is without actually talking to her, this would be the best way to go about finding out. Sitting down on the bed, Jason grabbed the device, put on the headphones, and turned it on.

‘Okay, let’s see... Metal, metal, rock, hard rock, alternative rock, hard rock, alternative rock, nu-metal, video-game soundtrack, alternative rock... Should’ve seen this coming in all honesty,’ he thought to himself. He pressed the button to go forward another 10 times and each time he was greeted by guitars, but when he pressed the button again, his ears were greeted by music he didn’t expect, ‘What?’ This song was different than the others, it was soft, there were no guitars, and no heavy beats. And the tone was different as well, whereas the other songs were basically music to kick ass to, this song sounded almost... sorrowful.

Had Jason been paying attention, he would have heard the door next to the entertainment center open.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Ciara’s voice cut over the song, causing Jason to jump.

“GAH! Nothing, nothing, I swear!” He shot up to face Ciara, only to almost immediately dart his eyes towards the ceiling, “Sorry!”

Ciara snatched her MP3 player from him, “It’s not nice to mess with other people’s belongings you know... Why are you looking at the ceiling?”

“You’re, uh...” Jason had no idea how he was going to get the words out of his mouth.

Ciara took a step closer to him, “I’m what?”

‘Oh dear god this is the definition of agony,’ Jason’s face turned red from embarrassment, “You’re not wearing any clothes!” It turned out the reason why Ciara hadn’t heard him when he knocked on the door was because she was in the shower, and at the moment, she was wearing naught but a towel.

“Huh?” Ciara glanced down at herself, “Oh, um... Give me a minute,” Ciara grabbed a pile of clothes that were sitting on the bed (how the hell Jason missed those, he may never know), and went back into her bathroom, closing the door behind her.

It was right about then that Jason’s legs gave out and dropped him right back onto the bed. The minutes passed as he silently tapped his foot as he waited for Ciara to come back out of the bathroom, thinking about how bizarre his meetings with Ciara have been, ‘Is it always going to be an awkward moment whenever we see each other?’

The door to the bathroom opened back up, and Ciara, now fully clothed, turned towards Jason, “Alright, you and I need to talk.”

Getting up from the bed, Jason nodded in agreement, “Yeah, Kara said you wanted to talk to me.”

Ciara raised an eyebrow, “She did?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about your little accident yesterday morning, you have my word,” Jason held his hand out, “And I apologize for being so noisy, so I hope you forgive me.”

Ciara eyed the hand that Jason had extended, before meeting it with her own hand to shake in agreement, “Apology accepted.”

‘Oh, thank god, that is what she wanted to talk about. That’s one hell of a weight off my back,’ Jason smiled in relief, “Great, now if you’ll excuse me, I need to head back to my dorm. They kind of need my help cleaning up an accident.” And with that, Jason turned and headed for the door, ‘Looks like I owe Erin an apology. To think that I was this paranoid over nothing.’

Jason suddenly found himself unable to go any further.

“Wait.” Looking back, he could see that Ciara was still holding his hand, “We still need to talk.”

Jason could only crack a confused look, “About?” ‘Christ, does she want a boyfriend or something?’

“Last night.”

Jason’s blood became ice at those words, “Wh-what?”

Ciara’s eyes bore into him, “Last night, on the roof,” her grip on his hand tightened, “You were there. You saw.”

Jason’s heart was now going at speeds unprecedented.

“How much did you see?”

Jason gave no answer, as his tongue had shriveled up.

“Well?”

His entire vocabulary vanished from memory.

Ciara was getting irritated, “How much?”

“I... I...” Jason couldn’t find any words, his brain having failed him.

“HOW MUCH?!”

Jason still couldn’t find the right words.

Snarling, Ciara lifted Jason up by the neck and slammed him against the door, his feet not even touching the ground. Jason could only watch as Ciara changed right in front of his eyes. Her skin was now pale. Her hair became paradoxically darker. The blue in her eyes vanished, replaced by silver. There was no doubt about it now. Ciara Landis was the girl that he saw last night.

As he struggled in Ciara’s grip, Jason’s brain screamed at him, ‘FOR FUCK SAKES, ANSWER THE GIRL, YOU STUPID ASS!’ and now, when he needed them most, he finally found his words, “I only caught the absolute end of it, I swear!”

Ciara stared at him for what may as well have been a minute, before dropping Jason, “Did you tell anyone?”

“No,” Jason shook his head, “I told absolutely no one. I’m the only one who knows, I swear it.”

Ciara smirked and raised an eyebrow, “Well, I wouldn’t say that.”

“What?”

“You’re not the only one who knows.”

“I’m... not? There’s other people?”

“Yep.”

Jason was flabbergasted, “Who? Who the hell else could possibly know about this?”

“Well, here at school there’s Kara, whom you’ve met; Aunt Alexis, whom you’ve met as well... sorry about making you faint, by the way; Uncle Casey, whom we both have as a teacher; and of course, my mother, whom we both have for gym.”

Jason didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Anyway, Aunt Alexis told me about your nightmares... I’m guessing you want to know what those monsters were?”

‘Oh my fucking god, I can’t believe it, answers!’ Jason nodded his head.

“Thought so,” Ciara sighed, “They’re called Denizens.”

“Denizens?”

Ciara nodded in affirmation, “Nasty, horrible monsters that hail from The Void.”

“So... what are you?”

“Me?” Ciara pointed at herself, “I’m a Darktype.”

Jason could only shake his head at the implication that he was supposed to know just what a ‘Darktype’ was, “... The fuck is a Darktype??”

“Darktypes are humans imbued with the power of Denizens, like me.”

“How?”

“Well, I was born like this, as were my mom and dad.”

“WHAT?”

“Oh, yeah, my parents are both Darktypes as well, so is Aunt Alexis... Not entirely sure about Kara though...” Ciara scratched her head as she wondered about her cousin.

“Is Mr. Earl a...?”

“Oh, no, don’t worry, he’s human.”

‘Okay, this is getting a bit much, and something’s bugging me here,’ Jason thought to himself before shooting his hand up, “Question!”

“You’re kidding me with the hand up... What is it?”

“Why are you telling me all of this? I mean, just before, it seemed like you were aiming to kill me!”

“Sorry if I was a little rough, but I needed to know if I could trust you. You told me the truth, therefore I can trust you.”

‘How can she tell that I was... forget it, I get the feeling that I don’t want to know,’ Jason shook his head, “But, why do need to trust me? Trust me for what?”

“Well, how do I break this to you?” Ciara quizzically looked at the ceiling, “Those nightmares that you’ve been having? That means that Denizens are going to start coming after you,” she paused when she saw that Jason had paled, no doubt his brain was screaming in terror, “BUT, you’re not entirely doomed.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” Jason asked skeptically.

“Because,” Ciara now bore a toothy grin, “I’m gonna be your goddamn bodyguard.”

NSZ · Post by **NSZ** » Sat May 23, 2015 5:31 pm

Chapter Three:
Papercut

Jason was at a loss for words, “BODYGUARD?!” Okay, well not exactly, but he was having a difficult time processing everything Ciara had just told him. “Now wait just one goddamn minute here, it’s one thing to be told that I pretty much accidentally stumbled onto you being a freaking... superhero or something,” he took notice of Ciara raising an eyebrow and smirking at being called a superhero, “But being nonchalantly told that my life is in danger? WHY? I haven’t even been in this country for a month! Why would these... things, these monsters, Denizens, whatever the fuck they’re called be targeting me?”

Ciara glanced about the room as she contemplated her answer, “Honestly, I haven’t a clue,” she delivered with a shrug of her shoulders, “Your guess is as good as mine, Yankee.”

Jason wanted to slap her right then and there, “Okay, first of all, fuck right off with that Yankee shit, I’m from the US, not the fucking Federation, I have a conscience, thank you very much. Secondly, what makes you think that I even want a bodyguard, let alone one that had me pinned against the wall not two freaking minutes ago?”

“You’re not gonna let that go, are ya?” Ciara crossed her arms, “Look, Carter, I get that you’re having a difficult time understanding this, but trust me, you’re gonna want someone looking out for ya. Being hunted down by Denizens is no laughing matter. If they catch you, you’re done for.”

“Define ‘done for’, because I’m really not quite caught up with what makes them so damn bad.”

“Obviously,” she rolled her eyes, “When I say ‘done for’, I’m underselling it. When one catches you, it’ll consume you. It’ll absorb you into its being to invigorate its own life-force. There would be absolutely nothing left of you to even bury,” she failed to notice Jason blanching, and continued to hammer the seriousness in, “Of course, that’s if, and only if, the Denizen in particular isn’t twisted enough to possess you and turn you into a puppet. And trust me, you DO NOT want that to happen, because not only will you be a slave to the Denizen’s will, your soul will be absolutely destroyed by the process. Have I made myself perfectly clear?”

Jason quickly nodded.

Ciara clapped her hands, “Good, you can go back to your dorm now,” she waved him off, but after a few moments she noticed that Jason wasn’t budging. “Um, are you okay?”

Jason shook his head.

“I went overboard, didn’t I?”

He nodded.

“Dammit, not again...” Ciara’s face met the palm of her hand, and with a sigh, she gestured to her bed, “Wanna sit down?”

Again, Jason nodded, this time moving to the bed and taking a seat.

“Look,” Ciara sat down next to him, “I know that was a lot to dump on you at once, but you need to take this seriously, and I sure as shit wasn’t gonna wait until you have two close calls to give you that speech. It peeves the fuck outta me when that crap happens in cartoons.”

For three minutes an uneasy silence fell upon the room. Ciara began to worry that she had instigated some sort of highly subtle panic attack, and that she would soon have to scramble for a small brown paper bag.

“Have you... ever...?”

Ciara turned her head to look at Jason, “‘Have I ever’ what?”

Jason swallowed, “Have you ever lost someone?”

Ciara’s eyes widened at the question, before returning to normal as she slowly turned her head towards the floor, “... Yeah...”

“Was it someone you knew?”

Ciara’s right hand clenched up into a fist, “Yeah.”

Deciding not to press further, Jason took a deep breath, and did some thinking. He wasn’t in a good position at all. In fact, most people would probably say that he was thoroughly fucked. But, then again, most people wouldn’t have the benefit of meeting someone that would actually protect them. ‘Look’s like there’s no other choice,’ Jason shot up from the bed, “Alright, I’ve come to a decision.”

Ciara raised an eyebrow, “Huh?”

“Like you said, you’re gonna be my bodyguard, and I’m just gonna have to accept that.”

Ciara’s eyebrows slanted downwards in suspicion, “You one-eightied on that idea quickly. What gives?”

“You said it yourself; I’m fucked without a bodyguard, and I’m not gonna wait until I’m face to face with a Denizen to take you up on your offer,” Jason shot a glance to the side, “Even if it wasn’t really an offer.”

Ciara opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a joyful voice, “Hey, Ciara, you’re not gonna believe what I found out by the Boys Dorm!” That voice was Kara’s, and from the sound of it, she was making her way down the hall, “So I was walking back from class, when I saw that there was something going on by the Boys Dorm, apparently someone made a baking soda bomb and accidentally detonated it on the ground floor, and I saw this pizza box just sitting there on one of the outside tables. It didn’t look like it belonged to anyone, so I just helped myself, ya want any?” The door to the room opened, and Kara stepped in, with Jason just standing there like a deer caught in the headlights, “Hey, do you know why there’s like 25 other girls just standing there in the main entrance? They’re kinda blocking it, and I’m pretty sure that’s a fire hazard and...” Kara then noticed that Jason was present, and smiled “Oh hi, Jason, what’s up? Want some pizza? It’s ~pepperoni~,” the girl carefully waved the box under Jason’s nose.

“... Eh, fuck it. Why not?” Jason sat back down next to Ciara, who was still trying to comprehend just what the hell her cousin was talking about.

“Yay, pizza party!”

“Now hold on, don’t I get a say in this?” Ciara protested.

“Nope, now scoot over, Enzengar’s on!” Kara sat down to the left of her cousin, grabbing the remote to turn the TV on.

“Wait, what’s Enzengar? It’s not some shitty vampire show, is it?” Jason asked, as he grabbed a pizza slice from the box.

“Nope,” Kara flipped through the channels until landing on the one she desired, made present by a rather colorful opening title sequence.

“Mighty Guardian Enzengar,” Ciara chimed in as she grabbed a slice of her own, “It’s like one of those super robot shows from Japan. It’s about a girl who pilots a giant robot and defends a city from giant monsters, prehistoric or otherwise. It sounds simple, but it’s actually a bit more complicated than that.”

“How complicated?” Jason asked.

“Not too complicated, but I’m lazy and I don’t feel like explaining it.”

“Huh.”

“Don’t worry, though. It’s a good series, lots of laughs and action... when it’s not tearing your still beating heart right out from your chest and laughs in your face as your crying out an ocean because something very bad just happened to a beloved charac-OW! What the fuck, Kara?” Ciara clutched her side as her cousin drew back her elbow.

“You were going off again.”

“Was I?”

“Yep.”

“... Sorry about that,” Ciara sheepishly grinned as she scratched the back of her head with her free hand, “I’m just very invested in this show.”

“I can see that,” Jason replied, “So, uh, do I have to watch any of the other episodes before diving?”

Suddenly Kara was once again in his face, “EEEEEEEEEEEEH? YOU’VE NEVER SEEN ENZENGAR BEFORE?!”

“I thought we established that?”

“HOW HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN ENZENGAR?!”

“Well, for starters, he’s not native,” Ciara chimed in, “Now can you please get off of me?”

“Eh?” Kara looked down and saw that she was indeed leaning over to the point where she was laying on her cousin, “Oops, sorry, Ciara,” and immediately sat up straight.

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t really mean that?”

“Are you ever gonna let the sneaking into your bed thing go?”

Jason nearly choked on his pizza slice, “What?!”

“Nothing,” Ciara replied, “Now shut up and eat your pizza.”

Aside from the television, the next few moments were filled with nothing but silence as the trio sat there watching TV while eating pizza.

Silence that was soon ruined by Kara.

“So, Jason, why are you in my cousin’s room?”

----

How long have I been running?

Doesn’t matter, I just have to keep moving.

Gotta find my way out.

Where am I?

Shit, what was that?

Pick up the pace, dammit, pick up the pace.

Don’t look back.

Never look back.

Why’d it get quiet?

What was that?

Wait

Where’d that shadow come from?

Oh no.

Oh no.

nononononononononoNONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO-

Jason woke up to the sound of his alarm clock buzzing, ‘Oh man, what the fuck was that?’ Jason had his fair share of nightmares throughout his life, but the one he had just experienced? That easily took the cake, ‘I guess I must still be on edge from the other night.’ After a quick shower, Jason quickly donned his uniform and went downstairs to the lobby, where he saw that Kerry and Sal were discussing something, “Morning, guys!”

“Morning, Jay,” Sal replied.

“Mornin’, Carter,” Kerry followed, though not with the same enthusiasm as Sal. In fact, it seemed as though Kerry had something on his mind. And from the look on his face, it was bugging him.

“Anything wrong?”

Sal interjected, “No, nothing, nothing’s wrong.”

“Sal,” Kerry gave Sal a look.

“There’s probably nothing to worry about, you’re probably just making a big hoopla about nothing.”

“Sal, ask him.”

Sal put up his hands, “Alright, alright, I’ll ask him, god,” he turned to Jason, “Did you see Jack at all yesterday after coming back from class?”

Jason shook his head, “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“Jack’s dog was making a ruckus this morning. When Mr. Halwort opened the door, it looked like the room hadn’t been touched since yesterday. And from the look of it, Angy didn’t get let out at all last night,” Sal glanced at the stairs, “Now, I’ve only been here for a year, but I know Jack. Letting Angy out is one of the first things he does when he gets back from class.”

Kerry raised an eyebrow, “Wait, you knew about Angy?”

Sal turned back to Kerry, “Everyone knew about Angy, Kerr. We just didn’t have the heart to tell Jack that he did a poor job disguising the dog.”

“Well, shit, now I feel like an ass for taking that money...”

“Anyway, Jay, are you sure you didn’t see Jack at all yesterday evening?”

“Like I said, I didn’t see him.”

Sal scratched the back of his head and sighed, “Oh boy. Well, if by any chance you do see him, be sure to tell him that Mr. Halwort wants to speak with him.”

Jason nodded uneasily, “Yeah, I’ll be sure to do that.”

“Thanks,” Sal slapped Jason’s shoulder in appreciation, and turned to leave with Kerry, “Catch you later at lunch!”

“Yeah, lunch, right,” Jason stood there in the middle of the main lobby, silently contemplating what he had just been told, ‘Okay, no need to panic, if I had to venture a guess, someone probably locked Jack in a bathroom in retaliation for a prank or something, it’s probably nothing... I hope.’ Shaking his head, Jason exited the building, and was unexpectedly greeted by his bodyguard, who was standing against the building, arms crossed behind her head.

“Morning, Jason.”

“Uh, m-morning, Ciara... what brings you here?”

“I’m your bodyguard, ya dingus, why wouldn’t I be here?”

“I just didn’t expect that you’d actually be... y’know, adamant about it.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re using ‘adamant’ wrong, but whatevs,” she lightly pushed herself off the building, “Ready to head off to class?”

“We’re not waiting for Kara?”

“She just jumped in the shower when I left, so no.”

Nodding in understanding, with his binder clutched at his side, Jason followed Ciara down the street to the school building, “So, uh, I just wanted to say thanks.”

“Thanks? For what?”

“For taking me to the nurse’s office yesterday.”

Ciara chuckled, “Oh, that, yeah, I wasn’t expecting that you would faint like that. Ya gave Uncle Casey one hell of a scare.”

“Oh yeah, because scratchy hell writing, and a look that would petrify gorgons is totally a sign of friendship,” Jason deadpanned.

“I’m not a people person, what can I say?” The grin that spread across her face was a clear indicator that she wasn’t joking.

“Clearly,” Jason responded, “So, um, what’s the deal with your cousin, anyway?”

“Huh?”

“You mentioned something about sneaking into your bed?”

“Oh, that,” Ciara rolled her eyes, “For a while, Kara would sometimes sneak into my room whenever she had a nightmare.”

“What’s so bad about your cousin coming to you for comfort?”

“It’s not so much her seeking me out for comfort, and more how we tended to wake up.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Sometimes I’d wake up with her arms and legs around me. The last time she snuck into my room was the summer before we started High School, I woke up and... well... Puberty kind of hit Kara like a runaway freight train that year.”

Jason went wide-eyed, “Oooooooh.”

She stifled a laugh, “I know I really shouldn’t laugh about it, but she couldn’t muster up the courage to be in the same room as me for over a week after that incident.”

“I’d be embarrassed as hell too if I had an accident like that... So, did you ever wake up to find yourself to be the one doing the cuddling?”

Ciara’s face turned red in clear embarrassment, and she slapped Jason upside the head, “None of your goddamn business!”

“Ow, dammit, that stings!” Jason’s rubbed a hand over the area where Ciara’s hand had made contact, ‘God, she hits hard.’ Jason turned his attention to his surroundings, and suddenly realized that it was unusually dark, and that the street lights were still on, “Hey, Ciara?”

“Oh for fuck sakes what now?” the girl growled.

“What time is it?”

“Seven o’ clock, why?”

“Why the hell does it look like it’s still four in the freaking morning?”

“It’s storm season,” she replied nonchalantly.

“What?”

“Storm season,” she repeated.

“How the hell does that answer my question?”

“Versilium radiation fucks with local weather patterns, makes storms more intense, causes greater storm cloud buildup... or something... I don’t know, I ain’t a meteorologist.”

“You’d think that’s something they’d teach you guys early on in school...”

“Hey, it’s not my fault the presentations made me doze off.”

‘Oh dear god, I’m a dead man, aren’t I?... Huh?’ Jason blinked as he saw someone storming their way towards them, “Hey, ain’t that Erin?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, it is,” Ciara then raised an eyebrow, “Uh-oh.”

“What?”

“She looks pissed about something.”

“What?”

“NEEEWBIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!”

“Yep, she’s definitely pissed about something,” Ciara took a couple of steps away from the target of Erin’s ire.

Jason stared at her in disbelief, “What happened to being my bodyguard?”

“Only against Denizens,” she grinned, “Humans are your own problem, Carter.”

“You are the worst bodyguard ever,” Jason growled through his teeth, “Of all time.”

“Newbie, you little shit!” Erin grabbed Jason by the neckline of his shirt and pulled him down to her level. Now, to most people, the sight of an argument between two individuals with a near foot in height difference would be considered hilarious, especially if the shortest of the party is the one that’s red in the face and yelling like a drill sergeant. These people have obviously never been in such a situation, “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Right now? I think I’m a cosmic plaything.”

“Well, aren’t you the Mr. Funny Guy,” she glared, “Well, boy, do I have something funny for you.” From her pocket, Erin pulled out a water bottle, naturally filled with water, of course, quickly removed the cap, and poured out the contents onto Jason’s head, “This is for making me miss Enzengar last night!”

As Erin stormed off, Ciara tried her best to not laugh. Unfortunately, her best was not good enough. Jason just stood there, resigning himself to his current condition, “Go ahead, laugh it up. If Mr. Earl asks why I’m wet, I’m directing him to you.”

----

“Jack Holloway?” Complete silence met Mr. Earl’s call, causing him to look up from the attendance sheet, “Jack?” Again, he was met with silence, “Huh. Mr. Carter?”

Jason’s head shot up from its resting spot, “Uh, yes, sir?”

“Did you see Jack at all this morning? Is he sick?”

“Well, no, sir, that’s the thing, no one’s seen him since classes ended yesterday.”

Mr. Earl grew a concerned look on his face, before shrugging and resumed attendance, “Ciara Landis?”

“Wish I wasn’t, but here.”

“... Kara Landis?”

“Here!”

“Sylvia Mayhew?”

“Here.”

“Alice Stein?” Silence once more greeted him, “Alice Stein?”

The door to the classroom suddenly swung open as the absent silver-haired girl entered, “Sorry if I’m late. Had to go out in order to get some breakfast.”

“That’s alright, Alice, I just reached your name anyway. You’re in the clear.”

“Thank you, Mr. Earl,” the silverette smiled and made her way to her seat.

“Melody Westin?”

“Here.”

Mr. Earl placed the attendance sheet down, “Alright, well, that’s Oh for Three. Maybe tomorrow you’ll all be here, eh? Oh well, not like I can do anything about it now anyways, carry on.”

As Mr. Earl pulled out a newspaper, Ciara looked down towards the second row and raised an eyebrow, “Huh.”

Jason glanced over to his bodyguard, “What?”

“That’s the first thing Melody has said since we introduced ourselves when we were First Years.”

“Right? That’s gotta be an omen or something,” Kara chimed in.

“So she likes to keep to herself, big deal.”

“No, Jason, you don’t get it,” Ciara leaned back in her seat, “That was literally the first thing she’s said since last year. Freaking Petra talks more than her.”

“Still not seeing your point here.”

Ciara face palmed, “Sol, spare me from the stubbornness of Americans.”

“Sol?”

“Chieftain of the Gods, She who was first after the Arcane Beasts, Goddess of the Sun and life itself. You’d know that if you paid attention in History & Theology yesterday.”

“Oh yeah, sure, ignore how you made me faint yesterday, by all means, please.”

“I thought you were over that?”

“Why would I be over that so soon?”

Ciara shrugged, “I’unno, you seem to be the type of person who forgives very easily.”

“... I’m not that obvious am I?”

“Didn’t think you’d actually admit to it, Jason, but hey, props to ya.”

“I hate you.”

“Oh, quit whining, you’ll be over it before you know it,” Ciara smiled.

“I refuse to comment on that,” Jason pulled a textbook out of his bag, “Now, what page did we get to yesterday in History & Theology?”

“We got to page 55.”

“Thanks,” Jason opened the book to where it was originally left off and continued reading from there, all while keeping an eye on the classroom door, just in case Jack were to come waltzing in late.

----

“So he didn’t show up for homeroom?” Sal asked.

“Nope. Never turned up,” replied Jason as he set down his soda.

“What about afterwards?”

“He’s not in my History & Theology class, so the only way I’d know if he’s still around is if he’s there for Gym class... Which I doubt.”

Kerry shook his head, “I got a bad feeling about this, Sal. It’s not like Jack to just up and leave like this.”

“Yeah, but what can we do about it?” Sal took a bite from his apple, “All we can do is just sit and wait for him to eventually turn up.”

A new voice from behind suddenly interjected, “Sit and wait for who to show up?”

“Gah!” Jason spun around to see who had snuck up on him this time, being greeted by a girl whose identity was unknown to him. She looked to stand about 5’6, had silver eyes, and pale golden hair. The silver eyes threw Jason completely off. Had Ciara decided not to reveal herself, and left Jason to his paranoia of the people around him, he’d be quick to assume that the girl standing in front of him was the girl he saw that night on the roof.

Sal gave a slightly irritated sigh, “Jesus, pres, don’t sneak up on people like that.”

The girl smiled in embarrassment, “My apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you,” she extended her hand out to Jason, “You must be Jason Carter, the new student from the United States. I’m Emily Blake, Student Body President, how do you do?”

Jason shook her hand, “Just fine, thank you. Did you, uh, need me for something, Miss Blake?”

The girl laughed, “Just Emily is fine, and no, there’s nothing you need to do for me. I heard about that fainting incident you had the other day, so I wanted to see how you were adjusting to school here.”

“Oh, I’m doing fine, in fact that had nothing to do with my trying to adjust. Really, it’s like school back home, only nowhere near as...”

Sal interjected, “Teeth-grindingly horrible?”

“Not the words I was looking for, but yeah. I think it really helps that the teachers aren’t out to...”

“Crush and destroy our hopes and dreams and force us into careers involving small cubicles?”

“Thank you, Sal.”

“Oh my,” Emily blinked in disbelief, “Was your country’s education system that horrible?”

Jason shrugged, “From what I’ve been told, it’s actually been improving since the end of the Liberation War.”

Sal snorted, “I’ll say there’s been improvement when they stop acting like factories churning out product.”

Emily smiled, “Well, you know what they say, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’ It’s nice to hear that you’re adjusting well, Jason. I’ll talk to you again sometime, okay?” With that, she waved goodbye, and walked off.

Jason turned back to his tablemates, “So that was the Student Body President, huh?”

“Yep,” Kerry clicked his tongue, “This is her second year in that position. Not sure whether or not she’s got nerves of steel, or if she’s just insane enough for the position.”

“What do you mean?”

“No one who’s ever been Student Body President has ever sought reelection,” said Erin, “The position is just too stressful,” she took a sip from her soda and slightly spun the drink in her hand, “The guy who had the position the year before her stepped down because he feared that he was on the verge of hitting the, and I quote, ‘Terminal Freak-Out Point.’”

“Huh, poor guy,” Jason shook his head before taking a sip from his soda.

And suddenly Ciara’s voice came from behind him, “Anyone I know?”

*PFFFFFFFFFF*

“Whoah! Watch where you’re sprayin’, Jay!”

Erin raised an eyebrow, “Oh, hey, Ciara, what’re you doing over here?”

Ciara sat down next to Jason, whose face was currently buried in his hands, “Well, I’d sit where I’d normally sit, but Kara’s helping Uncle Casey set up a club booth in the gymnasium for club signups later, and I ain’t eating by myself.”

“Club Signup Day is today?” Erin asked, to which Ciara confirmed with a nod, “Fuck me, I almost forgot!” She quickly gathered her things and got up, “See you losers later; I gotta go find Petra to discuss which club we’re joining!”

Kerry watched as she ran off before turning back to his tablemates, “Why do we let her sit with us?”

Sal shrugged, “No idea, but if it’s Club Signup Day, then I guess helping the Debate Club set up is why Bomber ain’t here.”

“Debate Club?” Jason paused, “Don’t you mean ‘Debate Team’?”

Ciara shook her head, “Nah, calling it a team would imply that there’s actually a career in debating.”

“So what the hell do your politicians do, then?”

“Work, duh.”

Sal and Jason glanced at each other as they both found it very hard to come up with a retort.

----

It would be an understatement to say that the gymnasium was packed with students and staff alike. Along each wall were booths for the various school clubs, each booth having the club supervisor and two club members stationed in wait for potential new members. It was unlike anything Jason had ever seen, “Bowling Club, Anime Club, Breakfast Club, Newspaper Club... Was arranging the club booths in alphabetical order out of the question?”

“Eh, it is what it is,” Ciara replied as she made her way through the sea of people with Jason following close behind.

“Heeeeey, Ciara!” The distinct voice of Kara rose above the chatty crowd, catching the attention of both Ciara and Jason, “Over here! Over here!” The two spun around in search of where the voice was coming from.

“Shit, do you see her?”

“No, not ye- What the?” Jason blinked a couple of times in disbelief, “Uh, Ciara?”

“What?”

“Found her.”

Ciara turned her head to where Jason was looking, and sure enough, hugging the top of a wooden sign-support pole, waving like the innocent screwball she is, was Kara. It took Ciara all the power within her to refrain from leaving a hand-shaped welt on her own face, “Let’s get over there before someone else sees her and I die from second-hand embarrassment.”

“How do you know that someone else hasn’t already seen her?”

“The fact that I’m still breathing is a pretty damn good indicator, now move,” Ciara pushed Jason towards the booth her cousin was stationed at, using him as a makeshift cowcatcher to plow her way through the crowd, “COMIN’ THROUGH!”

“Wha- Ow! Watch it! Hey! Oof!” Jason could only verbally protest as he was pushed through the sea of other students. He couldn’t use the heels of his shoes as makeshift brakes as Ciara had him lifted just off the ground, but not to the point where anyone would actually notice, and his hands were too busy trying to keep him from falling out of his shirt. Several elbows to the gut later, they had reached the booth where Kara was stationed at.

“Hey guys,” Kara dropped down from the pole she was clinging to, “What kept ya?”

“There’s a sea of students in here, Kara, if you haven’t noticed,” Ciara gestured to the mass of adolescent humans behind her, “Now, I’m guessing that there’s something you wanted?” Kara nodded, “Alright, what is it?”

“Well, I was wondering...”

“Yes?”

Kara gave off a slightly embarrassed chuckle, “Can you and Jason sign up for my club?”

“What.”

“Please? The other members graduated last year and now it’s just me, and if the club doesn’t don’t get new members then the club is gonna get dissolved and replaced with something silly like knitting, and I’ll have failed my promise to the others that I would keep the club alive, and-”

Ciara stuck her hand over Kara’s mouth, “Breathe, motor-mouth, breathe.”

As Ciara calmed her cousin down, Jason glanced at the sign placed above the table, ‘Paranormal Research Club?’

Another voice caught his attention, “Oh, Mr. Carter, Ciara, nice to see the two of you over here,” Jason turned his head to see Mr. Earl approach the table with a cup of coffee in hand, “I assume you two are interested in joining up?”

Ciara glanced to her side, “Uh, well, y’see, Uncle Casey...”

Jason cut in, “Sure, why not?”

Ciara shot her eyes toward her charge in confusion, “Eh?”

“I got nothing else better to do with my free time,” Jason gave a shrug of his shoulders, “And besides, it’ll probably help keep my mind off of my... uh... predicament,” he gave a cautionary glance to the crowd around him as he finished.

Kara could barely contain her joy, “That’s great!” Diving behind the booth, she dug out the signup sheets, handing one to Ciara and Jason each, “Just fill these out, and you’re in.”

As Jason signed the paper handed to him, Ciara kept darting her eyes from the paper in her hands and her cousin, “Now wait just one dog-gone second, I didn’t...!” Ciara was suddenly taken off-guard by her cousin’s sudden donning of the dreaded puppy eyes.

“Please, Ciara?”

Ciara cringed, ‘Oh god dammit, not the puppy eyes, Kara, anything but THAT!’

“C’mon, please?” Kara leaned in towards her cousin, puppy eyes now turned up to eleven .

‘Sweet mother of Malness, has she been practicing or something?!’ “Alright, alright, alright, alright, I’ll join! I’ll join!” She snatched a pencil from the table and scribbled her name out, “Just dial down the puppy eyes for Sol’s sake!”

In an instant, the face that always got its way vanished, “Yay!”

Jason raised an eyebrow and turned towards Mr. Earl, “Are they always like this?”

“Kid, you have no idea.”

Jason could only stare at the two cousins, wondering if he would know them long enough to get wrangled into their strange brand of crazy. It was then that he took notice of something that failed to warrant a second thought previously; that the cousins, while they were similar in build, and, strangely enough, facial structure, they looked as if they were polar opposites. Kara was white and red, Ciara was black and blue. Jason began to wonder if anyone else picked up on that, when he heard Sal announce his arrival, “Hey, Jay.”

“Oh hey, Sal. What’s up, thought you’d be hanging out with Kerry right now?”

“Eh, he took one look at the crowd and bailed.”

Mr. Earl raised an eyebrow, “I assume that this ‘Kerry’ already has his club credits met?”

Sal nearly jumped when he realized he was standing next to a faculty member, “Uh, yeah, I guess. I don’t think he would’ve bailed otherwise, Mr... uh...”

Mr. Earl extended his hand out, “Earl. Mr. Casey Landis-Earl. Nice to meet you, Mr. Gutierrez.”

Sal shook the hand with caution, “You know who I am?”

“I’ve seen some of your matches. Your style of fighting slightly reminds me of my brother-in-law’s style.”

“... Your brother-in-law?”

“James Denim.”

Sal blinked as he registered the name, “James Denim? Wait... You couldn’t possibly mean Jimmy Denim, the youngest man to ever go undefeated in his entire career as a fighter, the Marauder from the North, that James Denim?”

Mr. Earl grew a proud smile, “The one and only.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, and looked back toward the cousins, to see Ciara roll her eyes and make a gagging gesture, ‘How’s that for irony?’ He turned his attention back to Sal and Mr. Earl, “So, uh, who’s Jimmy Denim.”

“The man’s a fucking legend in the fighting community,” Sal replied, “Youngest person to ever hold a winning streak for his entire career.”

“How long was that career?”

“Three years.”

“That... doesn’t seem long at all.”

“Three years, dude. You know how many days there are in a year?”

“Good point. So what made him retire?”

Sal paused and scratched the back of his head, “To tell you the truth I have no idea. I know it had to do with an arm, but I’m not exactly positive of the details. No one is, really,” he turned his attention to Mr. Earl for an answer.

“An extraterrestrial monster ripped his left arm right out of its socket early into the Liberation War,” Mr. Earl calmly answered.

Both Sal and Jason paled and went white-eyed.

“But don’t worry, he got a cybernetic arm as a replacement, so it’s all good, aside from the early retirement.”

Life slowly returned to Jason first, “Riiiiight ... So, um, Sal, what brings you over here anyway?”

The question snapped Sal back to reality, “Uh, well, you see, the thing is...”

“You don’t have your club credits met, do you?”

“Got it in one.”

As if on cue, Kara instantly appeared next to him with a pen and sign-up sheet in hand, “Just sign this, and all your troubles will be over!”

Sal took both items and glanced over the sheet, “Paranormal Research Club? Eh, whatever, when in Rome,” and signed on the dotted line.

Ciara raised an eyebrow, “People still say that?”

Kara looked over the newly signed document, and suddenly gasped when she got to the name, “NO WAY!” She turned her attention towards Sal, a look of astonishment adorning her face, “You’re Sal Gutierrez! The Sal Gutierrez! The Lecter of Amoca!”

Jason raised an eyebrow and blankly stared at Sal, “The ‘Lecter of Amoca’?”

Sal sheepishly grinned, “It’s just a nickname, I swear.”

Kara stepped closer to Sal, “I’m a big fan of yours, Mr. Gutierrez, ever since your first game against the Carver City Raiders last year!” Stars suddenly appeared in her eyes as she clasped her hands together, “The game had gone into overtime, our team had just scored a point at the cost of our quarterback, and it was looking as though the Raiders were gonna score one as well! They were on their fourth down, and they were within distance of the end-zone. The ball was snapped, but instead of tossing or handing it off, their quarterback decides to rush, and it looked as though there was no one to stop him! And then just before he hits the end-zone, BOOM! You came in from the side and slammed into him so hard you knocked his mouth-guard out! That was one of the most amazing things I ever saw! I’ve been attending your games and wrestling matches ever since, I’ve even started up a petition to get you a rematch with that jerk that cheated in his match against you last year!”

‘Yeah, that’s not weird or anything,’ Ciara thought to herself.

“Uh, thank you?”

Kara suddenly produced another pen and paper, “Can I have your autograph?”

“Kara, you dunce, you already got it!”

“The sign-up forms have to be turned in, Ciara, I can’t keep them,” Kara shushed her cousin, “So may I please have an autograph, Mr. Gutierrez?”

“Well, I don’t see why not, a fan’s a fan after all,” Sal took the pen and paper from Kara’s hands, signed the paper, and handed both items back to her, “Here you go.”

Kara gripped the sheet of paper, and began to rapidly hop in place like a jackhammer in excitement, “Eeeeeeeeeeeee!”

Sal turned to Mr. Earl, who was now sitting behind the booth, and gestured towards Kara, “Is that normal?”

“For her? If anything, she’s keeping it toned down because she’s in public.”

Sal blinked a couple of times as those words registered with him, “...Huh.”

“Um, excuse me?” A new voice announced its presence, causing the group of five to turn around

“Hi, Miss Petra!” Kara quickly waved.

Petra gave a weak smile in return, “Hi, Kara.”

“Is there something we can do for you, Petra?” Mr. Earl inquired.

“Um, I was wondering if you had an opening in your club?” She replied, “All of the other clubs that I wanted to join have been filled up, and this club seems to be the only one with open spots left.”

“Of course there is!” Kara proclaimed as she handed Petra a pen and sign-up form, causing Mr. Earl to look over the table in confusion wondering when his had niece reached for the table.

As Petra signed the paper, Sal remembered something, “Didn’t Erin say she was gonna join a club with you?” He asked, “What happened to that?”

A dark aura suddenly began emitting from Petra as she slowly turned her head towards Sal, her eyes blank in unbridled fury.

Earlier...

Petra clutched the boy’s collar, “What do you mean there’s no spots left?!”

“Sorry ma’am, but the last spot just got taken!”

She began shaking him, “Who was it? Who’s the deadbeat that took my spot?!”

Amidst being shaken, the boy managed to point a finger at the person who was the source of this problem. Following the finger, Petra was shocked to discover that it was Erin who had taken her much desired spot, and who was now sweating like bullets. “Erin,” Petra near demonically growled, “You knew how badly I wanted to get into the Anime Club, and yet you betray me like this?”

“Um... well... you see... Gotta go, see ya!” Erin darted out of the gymnasium, leaving behind a very frustrated Petra, who then slammed a fist down onto the booth in fury, breaking the table in half.

Now...

The intensity radiating from Petra would be enough to petrify Medusa, so it’s no wonder Sal stood motionless as her gaze was fixated on him. “Let’s just say,” Petra began, “that Erin made a very, very, very poor choice.”

Sal gulped, “I’ll take your word for it.” He instantly began shaking as Petra took her eyes off of him, ‘What the hell was that?’

Jason held Sal’s shoulders in an attempt to stop him from shaking, “I guess we won’t be seeing Erin for while,” he said under his breath.

“So is everything in order?” Petra asked Kara.

“Yep, you’re in, Miss Petra,” Kara threw her hands in the air dramatically, “Welcome to the Paranormal Research Club!”

“Save the theatrics for the first club meeting, Kara,” Ciara dismissively waved, and began walking off, “I’m heading back to the dorms, later.”

“Hey!” Jason called after her, “What about the rest of our classes?”

It was Mr. Earl who answered him, “Classes for the rest of the day are cancelled for Club Signups. You and Sal can head on back to your dormitory if you want. Kara and I, however, have to remain here for the remainder of the day, just in case we get anymore potential inductees.”

Jason blinked, “Oh, well, okay then,” he turned to Sal who was still shaking, “What do you say, Sal, wanna head back to the dorm, see if Jack turned up yet?”

Sal nodded, “Yeah, that’s a good idea, let’s go,” he turned around and fast-walked out of the gymnasium, with Jason quickly following behind.

As the two exited the building, Jason began chuckling, “So what the hell was that about in there?”

“Dude, you have no idea, that girl was radiating evil.”

“You sure you weren’t just stunned by her beauty?”

“Am I gonna have to kick your ass?” Sal inquired, “If I recall, you still haven’t gotten hazed yet.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop,” Jason threw his hands up in surrender, and laughed it off. The two continued their way towards the boys’ dormitory, passively greeting anyone they passed by on the way there, when he noticed that Sal had suddenly stopped and was looking over at the forest that bordered the campus.

“What the hell?” Sal left the sidewalk and made his way towards the wooded area.

Jason followed after him, “What is it?”

“There’s something over there by the edge of the forest. Near the old trail,” he specified. Upon reaching the item that caught his eye, Sal picked it up.

“What is it?”

“... It’s a backpack.”

‘Backpack?’ The words made Jason tense up, “Any idea whose it is?”

Sal opened the bag to find nothing in it, and then proceeded to investigate the outside of the bag for any clues, “Uh, let’s see,” he then found what he was looking for, and started to regret having done so, “Found some initials.”

“What are they?”

“J. H.”

“’J. H.’?” Jason repeated the initials that were spoken, “Now wait a minute, you don’t think that this is Jack’s backpack, do you?”

“Yep.”

“Okay,” Jason took a deep breath, “So what do we do now?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sal rhetorically asked, “We go in looking for him.”

“Go in?” Jason asked, “You mean go into those dark-ass woods, by ourselves, with no means of defending ourselves, and hope to whatever deity that’s watching over us that well somehow miraculously find Jack?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“THAT IS THE STUPIDEST FUCKING PLAN THAT I HAVE EVER HEARD!” Jason howled, “How in the fucking hell do you even expect us to find Jack anyway!?”

“Simple,” Sal merely pointed towards the ground, “We use those.”

Following Sal’s finger, Jason saw what he was pointing at, “Footprints?”

“Yep, it rained last night, and this backpack’s soaked from it. If Jack’s still in there, we’ll find him easy.”

“Alright, but how the hell do you expect to keep track of the tracks? Like I said before, it’s dark as hell in there.”

Sal pondered for a moment, before the look of realization graced his face as he snapped his fingers. He opened up his bag, and dug out something that Jason didn’t quite expect him to have on him.

“Sal?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you carry around a flashlight in your bag?”

“Well, like my dad always said, ‘Always be prepared.’ Now c’mon, we’re burning daylight,” Sal motioned for Jason to follow him as he started down the old trail.

Jason rolled his eyes, and followed after him, “Pfft, daylight. Sure, if you can call it that.”

----

Just as Jason had said, it was dark in the woods. Dark enough to the point where they may as well have been trekking through them at night, ‘Actually, no, scratch that. If this were night, I doubt we’d be able to see shit even with the flashlight.’ “Okay seriously, why is it so dark? It’s like, one-thirty in the afternoon, does it always get this damn dark during storm season?”

“It didn’t get this bad last year.”

“Seriously?”

“Oh, definitely. Honestly, if you asked me for my opinion, I’d say that the gods were pissed about something.”

“The gods? You mean you seriously believe in the Amocan pantheon and that stuff about Amoca being from a different universe?”

“Jay, our ancestors were created by an alien snake monster with a god complex, and for some reason, this island’s inhabitants were the only humans to not fall under her influence during the Liberation War. Now what does that tell you?”

“Fair enough,” Jason stumbled over a downed branch, and realized something, “Hey, wait, I thought you didn’t take History and Theology?”

“Oh, I did.”

“But you didn’t recognize Mr. Earl.”

“Well, he was supposed to be the teacher, but he got sick, so we had a substitute for the semester.”

“The entire semester?”

“Yep.”

“What the hell did he get sick with?”

“No idea.”

The two continued on, the footprints leading them deeper into the forest. The only comfort in the darkness was that the birds were still chattering; although, some of the bird calls were entirely unfamiliar to Jason, and their near primal crowing ended up making him jump more than once.

“Relax, Jay, it’s just a Necrornitha.”

“The FUCK is a Necrornitha?”

“Picture an eight-foot tall, flight-capable Terror Bird.”

“... Okay, first you tell me to ‘relax’, and then you say ‘eight-foot tall, flight-capable Terror Bird’. You need to pick your words more carefully, Sal,” groaned Jason.

“Seriously, dude, it’s okay. We got nothing to worry about, because you see how thick that canopy is? Ain’t no way they’re making it down to us.”

“Still, who builds a school near a Terror Bird gathering spot?”

“Every country has their morons, Jay,” answered Sal, “This place ain’t no different.” Sal then came to a stop and looked at a large tree to his right.

“What is it?”

“The tracks seem to indicate that Jack climbed up into this here tree.”

Jason gazed upwards, and could only whistle at the tree’s massive size, “Why the hell would he climb up there?”

Sal shrugged, “Maybe he’s got something hidden away up there?”

“Like what?”

He shrugged again, “Dirty magazines, maybe. Drugs, booze, animals, how the hell should I know?” Sal sighed in frustration, and gazed upwards, noticing what looked to be an open area where the trunk branched out into three main limbs, “One of us is gonna have to climb up there.”

“Acrophobic.”

Sal sighed once again, “Figured,” Sal put the flashlight back in the bag and began climbing up, “Stay here, I’ll be back down before you know it.”

“Yeah, like I’m really gonna go wandering off without a light,” Jason snarked as he watched Sal make his ascent at a quick pace. Truth be told, Jason started to get nervous as Sal put distance between the two of them. Being alone in the dark, in a foreign forest, which was teeming with god only knows what was not his idea of a good time. The distant rumbling of thunder quickly reminded Jason that it could start raining again at any moment, “Hey, hurry up!” he called up, “I don’t want to be out here when it starts raining again!”

“Do you wanna be up here doing this?” Sal shot back, earning no reply, “Thought so. Now can it, I’m nearing the spot now. The last thing I wanna do is fall from here.” Hoisting himself up onto a thick branch, Sal was now on level with his destination, and carefully scooted himself over to it. Pulling out his flashlight once again, and began to look over the area.

“Find anything?” Jason called up.

“No, not yet,” Sal replied, “Sure looks like someone was sleeping up in here, though.”

“It was probably a giant squirrel or something. C’mon, let’s go back.”

Sal rolled his eyes as he searched through a small pile of collected leaves, and froze when he felt something leathery, “Wait a minute,” Sal called down, “I think I’ve got something.” Sal carefully lifted it out so as not to drop it in excitement. His stomach sank when he realized just what it was that he was holding.

“What is it?” Jason asked, to no reply, “Sal! What is it?”

“It’s Jack’s wallet.”

Jason blinked, “No shit?”

“No shit,” Sal called back. He stared at the wallet for a few moments before putting it in his bag. He was about to make his descent when he noticed what looked to be a piece of torn cloth near the opposite edge of the tree, “Hey, Jay?”

“What?”

“Can you check to see if there are any tracks leading away from the tree?”

Jason flatly stared up at Sal, “Oh yeah, sure, just let me break out my night-vision goggles from freakin’ hammerspace.”

Sal rolled his eyes, “Hang on, hang on, jeez,” he began digging through his bag again and pulled out another flashlight. “Catch!” Sal dropped the spare flashlight down to Jason.

“Catch what?”

*THWONK!*

“OW!”

Sal cringed, “You were supposed to catch it with your hands, Jay, not your face.”

Jason rubbed the impact spot that was on his forehead, “You carry around TWO flashlights?” he called up, “Who the hell carries around two flashlights on their person?!”

“Would you please just look to see if there are any more tracks?”

Jason picked up the flashlight and switched it on, “Alright, alright, give me a minute.” He first looked in the direction they were already heading down, but saw no tracks leading away. There was no point in looking back the way they came, so Jason circled around the tree, where he was greeted by, ‘Oh great, another path,’ he groaned internally, though he quickly brightened up as he saw tracks leading away, ‘And bingo,’ “Found some!”

“Great, be down in a moment!” With minimum effort, Sal made his descent and regrouped with Jason. “So,” he began, “Jack went deeper into the forest from the looks of it.”

“Yeah,” Jason nodded in agreement, “But it’s the ‘why’ that’s bugging me. I mean, look at this path,” he gestured at the unkempt, pitiful excuse of a trail that lay before them, “It’s in worse shape than the path that we just came in on, and on top of that, it was blocked off by a freakin’ tree!” Jason paused as he thought about what it was that he just said, “Wait, how long has this trail been here? What does it even lead to?”

“Let’s worry about that later. Right now, we gotta find Jack,” Sal patted Jason on the shoulder and started off down the beaten path, with Jason following in swift order. The brush and canopy grew thicker the further they went, indicating that they were traversing deeper into the forest. The path itself was terribly unkempt. In all honesty, it was difficult to tell where exactly the path ended and the actual forest floor began, the only indicator being that the brush hadn’t completely swallowed it up. It was old, and yet... It still looked as though it was being used, but by whom? There was something else odd about the path as well. There were no winding curves, no turns, and no forks, the path only went straight ahead. For what mad purpose Jack had gone this far in, they could only imagine.

Jason could feel his skin crawl, “Christ, this place is giving me the creeps.”

Sal glanced around while keeping his flashlight on the path, “Yeah, I know what you mean. This place doesn’t look like it’s seen human presence in a long-ass while.”

Jason freaked out when he noticed a spider on his arm, and quickly swiped it off, “Why the hell would Jack come this far in? Is he nuts?”

“Don’t know, but I’m seriously considering kicking his ass when we find him.”

“If we find him, you mean,” Jason corrected.

“Hey, none of that negativity. You gotta have hope in these...” Sal suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“What?”

“The tracks. They stopped.”

“What?”

“They end right here.”

Jason pointed his flashlight to where Sal’s was aimed, and sure enough, Jack’s trail had suddenly stopped, “Well, that’s disconcerting.”

“Look around, maybe he went off the path for some reason,” Sal began sifting through the brush on the right side of the path, with Jason moving to check the left.

As Jason pushed aside leaf and branch, he couldn’t help but revisit the same thought that’s been eating away at him, “Hey, Sal, why would Jack just up and leave like this?”

“I’m not sure. I know he had a difficult time last year, maybe he just didn’t want to go through all that again.”

“Any other reasons?”

“Maybe he pissed someone off? Maybe he was irked we weren’t taking his nightmares seriously? I don’t know.”

Jason flinched, ‘What.’ “Um, could you repeat that?” His voice cracked as he continued sifting through the brush.

“What, the nightmares? He was having them for the past couple of weeks. Something about shadow monsters or something. Everyone just laughed him off. He described them so weirdly, too. Like, they were shadows without bodies, only they weren’t shadows.”

Jason gulped nervously as Sal went into further detail about the nightmares that Jack had. ‘Coincidence, it’s gotta be a coincidence, it has to be a coincidence,’ Jason turned over a large leaf... And found a shoe, ‘Oh fuck.’ It was then that Jason realized that it had gotten dreadfully quiet, ‘Oh fuck.’ “Sal?”

“Yeah?”

“Sal... I think we need to get out of here,” Jason then noticed something out of the corner of his right eye. Slowly turning his head, Jason could see that there was something standing on the path directly ahead of them, and that something was dark, “Sal, we need to leave right fucking now.”

“But we haven’t found Jack ye...” As Sal turned to face Jason, he froze when saw the thing standing on the path ahead of them. It was black, obscenely so.

It took a step forward.

“RUN!” Jason yelled as he grabbed Sal’s arm and hauled ass.

Sal didn’t need to be told twice as his legs quickly went into gear and began carrying their own, “What the fuck was that?”

“No time to explain, just run like hell!”

Sal nodded internally and kept running. To his surprise he was barely keeping up with Jason; looking up, he could see the pain on Jason’s face as he was clearly pushing himself to his limits, ‘His legs must be burning like hell right now.’ The two ran as though the devil itself was behind them, which, in their mind, it probably was. They were soon past the tree that hid the unkempt trail, and were closing in on the edge of the forest.

“I think we’re gonna need some help!”

Sal nearly stumbled at Jason’s proclamation, “Help?! Who’d be crazy enough to help us in this mess?!”

“Uh, I know a person.”

----

Ciara sneezed. It wasn’t a cold sneeze, an allergy sneeze, or the kind of sneeze you experience whenever you do any sort of cleaning. No, this was a sneeze that came out of nowhere, and to Ciara, that only meant one thing, ‘There’s someone talking about me, isn’t there?’ Rolling her eyes, Ciara tossed her school uniform into the laundry hamper, and threw on her workout uniform. Gloves, sports bra, tennis shoes, and track pants. That was all she needed for a trip down to the weight room in her opinion, and if anyone got distracted, be it boy or girl, that was their problem, soccer moms be damned.

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK*

*KNOCK-KNOCK*

‘The hell?’

“Ciara, it’s Jason, open up!”

Ciara sighed, ‘Never a dull moment...’ She walked to her door, and grabbed the handle, “Alright, what’s the hubbub, bub?” She swung the door open and was greeted by, not just Jason, but Sal Gutierrez as well. Sal was downing a water bottle, while Jason seemed to be fixated on the bag in Sal’s possession.

“How much shit you got in that thing, anyway?”

Ciara blinked, “Uh, guys?”

Both Jason and Sal’s eyes shot forward, to humorous results.

*PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT*

The water that had entered Sal’s mouth now found itself being sprayed down the hallway.

Jason, on the other hand, turned beet red, “Guh...buh-buh-buh...”

Ciara rolled her eyes and stepped to the side, “Get in here, both of you.” The boys complied. Closing the door behind her, Ciara turned to face the two, “Alright, now, could one of you kindly explain to me what this is all about?”

“Jack Holloway’s dead,” Jason put it bluntly.

Ciara blinked as her brain registered the statement, “I’m sorry?”

“A Denizen snatched him up sometime last night in the woods.”

“Whoah, wait a minute, what’s a Denizen?” Sal asked.

Ciara shook her head, “Not possible.”

“What?” Jason nearly shouted, “What the fuck do you mean ‘Not possible’?”

“I already killed a Denizen two nights ago. It’s still too soon for another Denizen to start staking claim to this area.”

“Bullshit! I saw it, Sal saw it, and I’ve got Jack’s fucking shoe!” Jason held up the hand that had been holding the ownerless shoe since its discovery.

Sal stared, “You’ve been carrying around that shoe this entire time? But seriously, what’s a Denizen?”

“Shut up, Sal!”

“You found that shoe?”

“Yes.”

“Out there in the forest?”

“Yes.”

“And both you and Sal here saw the Denizen?”

“Yes.”

Ciara carefully took the shoe from Jason’s grasp, and stared at it. It was definitely Jack’s shoe, there was no debating that, and that only meant one thing, “Oh no.”

“Okay, seriously, what the fuck is a Denizen?”

Jason turned to look at Sal, “You know those monsters from Jack’s nightmares? Yeah, well, those.”

“Wait,” Ciara interjected, “Jack was having nightmares?” She turned to Sal, “How long was he having these nightmares?”

“Oh, for a couple of weeks, why?”

Ciara froze.

“Oh god, you’re speechless,” Jason put his hands up to his face, “That’s not good is it?”

“But that’s not possible,” Ciara started, ignoring Jason’s concern, “That would mean that two Denizen’s shacked up in the same territory. That doesn’t happen. That could only happen if... if... Oh no.”

“What what what, what do you mean ‘oh no’?” Jason’s concern-o-meter was now off the charts, “It could only happen how?”

Ciara breathed in deep, “It could only happen if there were Darktypes nearby calling the shots.”

“Oh,” Jason paused, “That’s bad isn’t it?”

“Considering that any Darktypes that aren’t related to me have it in for my family after what my dad did to their precious Shadow Empress, saying that it’s “bad” is kind of underselling things.”

“Shadow Empress?”

“Okay, seriously, what the hell is going on?” Sal asked once more.

Ciara stared at Sal, “Oh fuck, right, you’re still here. Um, you weren’t supposed to hear any of that, so... um... If you could just forget all that, that’d be great.”

“Forget what? You keep naming all these things and I have absolutely zero idea what the hell they are! I somehow know less than I did before entering this room!”

“That’s the spirit!”

Sal stammered for a bit, before settling on a frustrated groan and facepalm.

“Ciara, I think we should let Sal in on this.”

Ciara stared blankly at Jason, and then put him in a headlock and pulled him off to the side, “Are you high?” Ciara kept her voice at a harsh whisper.

“What?”

“We can’t drag him into this!”

“Considering he’s already involved, I don’t think it would be considered dragging him into this.”

“We don’t even know if we can trust him! For all we know, he’s a Darktype!”

“I was deep in the woods alone with him,” Jason protested, still in a headlock, “If he was a Darktype, I’m pretty sure I’d be dead!”

“You guys know I can hear you, right?” Sal chimed in, “Room ain’t that big.”

Ciara let Jason free and sighed, “Fine,” she then turned to Sal, “I’m going to show you something, and what happens afterwards depends entirely on your reaction. Ready?”

Sal took a deep breath, sat down on the bed, and nodded, “Hit me.”

And so, Ciara shifted. Her hair was the first thing to change, in a paradoxical way, from black to something even darker. Her skin followed suit, changing from a healthy skin tone to something ghastly, pale, and just off-white. And at last, her eyes changed from their vibrant ice blue to the cold silver that Jason had become somewhat familiar with. As the transformation completed, Ciara stared down at Sal, and carefully studied him. While the pace of his breathing had altered slightly, she could detect that he was keeping his fear in check. He was reliable. “You passed.”

Sal blinked in surprise, “I did?”

“Yep. I’d say congrats, but really, I question the sanity of any normal people who’d want to get involved in this,” Ciara smirked, “So, what do you want to know?”

Sal pondered for a moment as he tossed possible questions around his head, before settling on an answer, “Tell me everything.”

While Ciara hadn’t exactly been expecting that answer, she wasn’t taken off guard by it, “Alright,” she shifted back into her normal form, “Let’s go see Uncle Casey.”

NSZ · Post by **NSZ** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 8:48 am

Chapter Four:
Sacrifice

Casey Landis-Earl slumped in his couch. He was tired. Dead tired. He can typically put up with teenagers on any given day, but there’s just something about Club Signup Day that just makes him want to smash his face against the nearest keyboard. Although, to be completely fair, being in public around people that he wasn’t related to or familiar with also made him want to smash his face against the nearest keyboard, ‘Why did I become a teacher again?’ On the bright side, though, the Paranormal Research Club he supervises got saved with the signing up of five new members, those being his honorary niece Ciara, her charge Jason Carter, his friend Sal Gutierrez, Alexis’ assistant Petra Jiles, and one other person that he wasn’t expecting, one of the school’s more intellectual types, Ernest Harris.

Earlier...

Casey stared at the black haired teen that stood in front of the booth. The gymnasium had already began to empty out, but this teen was staring at the sign that hung over the booth, as if he was eyeing each pen stroke it took to write out the club name. Casey had let Kara run off a few minutes prior, and now he was beginning to regret it. If Kara were here, she’d be already in this kid’s face, bludgeoning him with word after word after word until she either made him run off (like she did seven other people earlier) or until he signed up just to make her stop, ‘C’mon, kid, either sign up or walk away. I wanna get back to my shack.’

The teen continued to stare at the sign, before finally speaking, “Are you familiar with the unsolved case of the 124,000 people that disappeared from the Hellview Convention Center back in 2034?”

Casey blinked, “Uh, yeah. Who isn’t?” ‘I still have fucking nightmares about what I saw there that night.’

“Kind of figured you would. I guess it is a well known mystery,” the teen continued to stare at the sign, “Weird how no one knows what happened even after all this time.”

‘Correction, nine people, including myself, know what happened. It’s just in this country’s best interest to never find out what happened that night.’

The teen spoke again, “Are you familiar with the bizarre ritualistic murders that started up months after The Visitor was slain and the Liberation War ended?”

Casey was staring flatly at the teen now, “... Yes, I’m familiar with the murders.” ‘Kid, you are dredging up memories that are better left buried.’

The teen finally took his eyes off the sign and looked at Casey, “How about the Ezekiel Davis case?”

Casey could feel his heart drop and his pen snap between his fingers. The Ezekiel Davis case was, on the surface, a simple house fire incident that left Mr. Davis an orphan. Casey had his own reasons to look into the incident back when he was 17 in 2048, and... Well, let’s just say he wouldn’t be associated with this club if it weren’t for what he discovered.

“Ah, so you are familiar with it!” The teen now bore a smile on his face, “That’s a relief, I was worried that this club was gonna be supervised by someone who didn’t take the subject seriously,” the teen picked up a pencil and filled out a sign-up form, “Name’s Ernest Harris. Consider me a member, Mr...”

“Earl,” Casey stared, “Casey Landis-Earl.”

“Oh, the History & Theology teacher, now that is a surprise,” the teen placed the pencil back down and began walking away, “I’m looking forward to what your club has to offer, Mr. Earl. See you later!”

Casey blinked in confusion, and came to a decision, “I need a fucking drink.”

Now...

As he stared at the bottle that was in his possession, Casey could only think about how that teen managed to unnerve him in less than a minute. He felt a bad feeling slowly creep over him as he thought about the three events Ernest brought up. It couldn’t be possible that he was aware that they were...

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK*

“Eh?” Casey sat down his wine cooler, “Who could that be?” Getting up from the chair, Casey composed himself and walked over to the front door. “Who is it?” he called out.

“Uncle Casey, it’s Ciara, open up,” Ciara’s voice replied.

Casey raised an eyebrow. ‘Uh-oh,’ he thought, ‘Is it me, or did she sound concerned?’ Opening the door, Casey was greeted by not just his honorary niece as he had assumed, but Jason Carter and Sal Gutierrez as well, “Uh... Club meeting isn’t until tomorrow, guys.”

Ciara shook her head, “Not why we’re here, Uncle.”

“Then why...”

“Jack Holloway’s dead.”

Casey went blank-eyed, ‘The first time you actually come visit me here, and you lead off with that?’ Quickly looking to make sure no one was around to see, he motioned for the trio to enter the building, “Alright, inside, all of you.” As the three teens entered, Casey cast one last glimpse around the area, shut the door, and directed his attention back towards the teens, “Feel free to take a seat,” he said as he sat back down in his chair, “I get the feeling we’re gonna be here for a while.” Sal sat in an unoccupied chair, while Jason and Ciara sat down on the couch. Casey eyed his beverage and sighed, “Okay, what happened?”

Jason and Sal looked at one another to see who would be the one to explain, with Sal silently being appointed the explainer, “Well, you see, Mr. Earl, Jack didn’t come back to the dorm last night, and today, when Jason and I were heading back to the dorm, I saw Jack’s bag laying there by the edge of the woods, at the start of an old trail. Jason and I followed a trail of footprints that Jack left behind that lead into the woods, and we ended up finding his wallet up in a tree, and later found his shoe after the footprints suddenly stopped. That was when we saw... it. That thing,” he looked to Ciara, “What’d you guys call it, a Denizen?” A nod from Ciara affirmed his guess.

Startled, Casey turned to his niece, “I thought you already took care of the Denizen that was around here?”

Ciara sighed, “It’s a different Denizen, Uncle.”

“How long has this Denizen been hanging around?”

“According to Sal, Jack was having nightmares for a couple of weeks.”

“Oh great,” Casey placed a hand on his temple, “I assume that Jack was living on campus this past summer?” Sal nodded, “Well, that’s just fantastic,” he groaned sarcastically.

Jason raised a hand, “Uh, question.”

“You’re kidding me with that hand up right now.”

“What exactly do nightmares have to do with Denizens?”

Casey sighed, this was going to be difficult to explain, “Well, y’see, it’s complicated. A Denizen, when deciding to go on the hunt, shoots out a burst of telepathic energy. This energy will sometimes float out there for days, until it finds a brain wavelength that it... likes, for the lack of a better term,” he waved his hand around as he made a mental note to come up with a better word to use, “The energy then buries itself into the target’s subconscious. The target then begins to manifest symptoms of infection, those symptoms being recurring nightmares, and the closer the target is to the Denizen, the more frequent the nightmares” Casey noticed that Jason flinched upon mentioning the nightmares, “The nightmares will usually be comprised of things like locations, real life locations. The nightmares repeat constantly until the target, in a fit of desperation, seeks out the location from their nightmares to prove to themselves there is nothing to fear, and when they do, it’s game over. The target gets consumed and their conscience gets absorbed into the Denizen’s own.” He walked over to where he sat down his bottle earlier, and picked it up to take a sip, “Think of it as a... demented form of fishing.”

Sal summed up what Jason was thinking pretty nicely, “Yee-ikes. Is that their only method of getting prey, or...?”

Casey took another sip, “They can hunt like other predators, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“But wait, how do you know about this?” Jason inquired.

“My Aunt Selene told me.”

“Oh... Wait, how would she...?”

“Anyway, that’s beside the point,” Casey cut Jason off and placed his drink back down, “This Denizen, did it see you two?”

Sal nodded, “Yeah, it saw us, no doubt about that.”

Casey slapped one hand onto his face and shot the other into the air, “Oh great, even more good news!” He sighed loudly and spent the next dozen seconds tapping his forehead with his knuckles, leaving the room silent. “Is there anything else?” he finally asked, “Because I feel like there’s something else. Ciara would’ve been here by herself if there wasn’t.”

Jason and Sal looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed, “Uh...”

“Well...”

“Y’see...”

“It’s kinda like this...”

Casey could only stare as the two boys tried to get whatever it was that was on their minds out into the open to no avail. It was just a back and forth of unsure filled pauses and uncomfortable head scratching. In all honesty, it was a tad bit amusing to him. After years of needing to be a serious adult, seeing this reminded him of those simpler times he shared with his brother and cousin back when they were all younger... The irony of considering those dark and violent years being simple to the comparatively peaceful days of today was not lost on him.

“Oi!” Ciara’s voice interrupted Casey’s reminiscing, “Why the hell are you two staring at me?” Sure enough, both Sal and Jason had turned their eyes towards her.

“You ask him!”

“Yeah, it’s less awkward if you do it.”

Casey raised an eyebrow, “Ask me what?”

Ciara groaned in frustration, “They wanna know the whole story, Uncle.”

“The whole story?”

“The whole story.”

“Oh,” Casey flatly exclaimed, “One second.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a smart phone and dialed in a number, “Hello, Ames? It’s Case... Look, can you drop by? It’s kind of important... How important? Uh... well, we’ve kind of got a situation here... Uh, hello? Hello? Amy?” Casey held the phone in front of him, “She hung up.”

*BOOF!*

Suddenly the living room was filled with blue smoke.

“Whoah!”

“What the fuck?!”

“Goddammit, my living room!”

Meanwhile, Ciara didn’t even bat an eye. She was used to these sorts of things by now. What she wasn’t used to, however, was the idea of a boy jumping into her lap in fright, ‘I swear to god, if this become a recurring thing...’

----

As the smoke dissipated, it became clear that there was a new individual standing in the room, and Casey swiftly addressed his new guest, “Amy, what the FUCK?!”

The intruder, now identified as Amy Landis, could only answer with a simple, “What?”

“What? What do you mean “What?” You poofed into my living room, that’s what!”

“You said that we’ve got a situation, I assumed that meant you wanted me over ASAP.”

“That doesn’t mean drop what you’re doing and magic your way over here!”

“Oh come on, what’s the harm? It’s not like there are any New Realmers here or anything.”

Amy then suddenly heard a voice cut in, “Hey, that’s discriminatory terminology used against those not born of Amocan descent!”

Which was swiftly followed by another voice that sounded suspiciously like one of her students, “Sal!”

“Well, it is!”

Spinning around, Amy was quick to confirm that the second of the voices did indeed belong to one of her students, who currently was curiously being held in her daughter’s arms like a cartoon character, “Ciara, sweetie, why is Jason Carter in your lap?”

“You spooked him.”

There was a small moment of silence before Amy, realizing her mode of entrance, reached up to scratch the underside of her jaw with her index finger, as a sheepish grin spread upon her face, “Ehehehehehe, I guess I did do that, huh?”

“I swear to god, you’re more like a teenager now than when you were a teenager,” Casey quipped.

*ZAP*

“OW!” Casey flinched at the shock he received from the miniature lightning bolt that shot forth from Amy’s right arm, “Did you jus... ARE YOU HIGH!?”

Amy blinked, “What?”

“HELL-O,” he all but howled, “Did you already forget that there are people present that are not members of this bizarre family?!”

“Oh come on, what’s the harm? They saw one spell cast, they can handle another.”

“Okay, fair, but right now I think you might be putting too much on their plates.”

“Beg pardon?”

Casey directed to Sal, “You see him? He knows about the Denizens.”

“WHAT? HOW?!”

“It’s a long story,” both Jason and Sal groaned out.

“Casey,” Amy turned to face the blonde, “What happened?” And so Casey told her everything, about Jack Holloway’s absence, to the eventual discovery of his fate. Needless to say, Amy was not happy, “Those bastard servants of hers have been in hiding ever since Aaron killed her all those years ago, why the hell are they making a move now?”

“No idea, but right now, that’s besides the point.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jason and Sal,” he motioned to the two boys, “They wanna know the story.”

Amy flatly stared at Casey for what seemed like minutes, “No.”

“Amy.”

“No, Casey. They do not need to know.”

“Hey, look,” Casey grabbed Amy’s arm as she began to pull away, “I don’t know if you fully understand this, but they are involved now. Jason was already being targeted before, but now both of these boys are in the deep end. They can’t live normal lives now until this is resolved once and for all. Don’t you think they at least deserve to be up to speed with this family’s history and why things are the way they are?”

“Casey...”

“Aaron would agree with me on this. We both know that.”

“... You’re right,” Amy nodded in reluctant agreement, “You’re right. He’d want the story told.” Both adults then turned their attention back to the students, “Do you want to tell it, or...”

“Oh by all means, if it’s anyone’s story to tell, it’s yours,” Casey clapped his hands together to get the teens’ attention, “Alright, boys, you’ve got your wish. Mrs. Landis here is going to tell you everything you want to know.”

Jason, who had earlier left the protection of Ciara’s lap, raised his hand, “Before we start, can I ask a question?”

Amy shrugged, “Go ahead.”

“This might sound a little awkward, but, uh, was that seriously just magic you used?”

Amy blinked as Casey stifled a laugh, ‘Of course that’d be the question that gets asked first.’ Putting a smile on her face, she answered honestly, “To answer your question, Mr. Carter, yes, that was magic you just saw. I’m a Witch, and by extension, so is my daughter, though she has yet to manifest anything greater than that shock I gave Casey.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Ciara groaned as she buried her face in her palms in embarrassment.

“No problem, sweetie! Now, where do I begin?” Amy took a seat as she wondered where to start the story off, “Well, I guess it’s obvious where I should begin. It all started with a Sorceress who desired one thing: To rule the world. While her name has since been long forgotten by time, her actions have had drastic impact on the worlds of both our native world, and yours. The Sorceress was a powerful one, and was particularly gifted at creating Sentinels.”

“What’s a Sentinel?”

“A Sentinel is a Demon that’s summoned and bound to a suit of armor. Basically, they’re like those animate suits of armor that get fought in fantasy games. Now, as I was saying, she had a knack for creating Sentinels. One day, while attempting a summons, she had made a minor error while creating her summoning symbols, and instead of bringing forth a Demon, she instead brought something... far worse. She had opened a window to The Void and brought forth a Denizen. She had no idea of her error, for at first, things were normal. The Denizen was bound to the armor, and was subsequently subjugated and given a post within her fortress to guard. And then the gears of fate began to shift, for one day, the Sorceress put her plan into motion. She sent out a marauding band of Sentinels to wreak havoc and conquer the surrounding villages on the island.

One of these villages was the home of the Landis family, namely the two sisters, Valerie and Nel. Nel was a warrior, so she partook in fighting the marauding Sentinels, using a family heirloom, Void Breaker, an enchanted sword that was said to have been used by Sol herself to cut through The Void. It was thanks to the sword that the Sentinels were defeated. The village elders, in fear of retribution, ordered the villagers to evacuate to the coastal citadel, and, from there, to the mainland. Nel, however, refused to flee. Instead, she set off to the Sorceress’ fortress on the other side of the island, to put an end to her plot. Nel... She was a hero at heart, through and through. Valiantly, she fought her way through beast and Sentinel, until she arrived at her destination, where she would meet her final foe, the bound Denizen. After a long, harrowing fight, she managed to destroy the armor, but where the Demon would immediately perish, the Denizen survived, albeit barely.

The Denizen, now free of its bindings, was being pulled back into it’s native realm. It needed an anchor.”

Sal put two and two together, “Whoa, now, you don’t mean that...”

“It went for Nel.”

Jason could swear at that moment he heard a faint distant scream of pain and anguish, and suddenly felt pressure being applied to his hand. Taking a quick glance, he saw that Ciara had a hold of it, ‘Sheesh, she’s probably heard this before. I can’t even imagine how difficult it is for her to listen to this.’

“Instead of becoming an Infested, though, something else happened. Something much, much worse. Nel and the Denizen became one, in both conscience and spirit. The Denizen’s evil influence proved too great, and Nel’s valiant heart turned black. And so was born the enemy of all mankind, the Shadow Empress, the first Darktype. It is unknown how and why this happened, given no other Darktypes have been born this way, but it’s possible the spell may have had something to do with it. And with the spell having bound her to the Sorceress broken, her first act... was assimilating her former master. Having acquired the Sorceress’ power, she took control of the Sentinel army and eventually gained control over the island.

Slowly, the Shadow Empress’ influence grew. Civilians taken prisoner were turned into Darktypes by her hand, made into her servants, and the Shadow Empress’ thirst for power, personal and otherwise, only grew. Searching through the old Sorceress’ texts, she found a nefarious ritual, one that would increase her power. One day, she left her kingdom and entered the mainland, where she caught the eye of a young King Osric Valian of Llaria. The King was stricken by the Empress’ beauty, unaware of her true nature, and wedded her. Nine months later, Princess Ada was born, and the Empress feigned her death to illness, returning to the island she had conquered, and waited for her daughter to come of age.

A little over 16 years passed before a great Black Dragon, the Shadow Empress in disguise, laid siege to Llaria and abducted the Princess. The King, in response to his daughter being taken, and seeing his kingdom lie in ruins, ordered a march unlike any other. The remaining soldiers and populace, led by their King, were to march across the country, amass others to their cause, and launch an attack to retake the island and lay low the evil that thrived there. Sent ahead was a group of volunteers led by Knight Commander Amelia Keplan, their purpose was to inform the other kingdoms of the march and, if possible, acquire their support. Notable members of this group were Guinevere Earl, of Amelia’s knights, her younger brothers, Brendon, a court Mage, and Declan, the Princesses’ personal servant who had disguised himself as a guardsman to partake on the trek against his siblings’ wishes, and the two sibling bandit hunters, Gaelen and Kyra Landis, Valerie’s children.”

Jason and Sal perked up, “Valerie’s kids?”

“You mean she managed to get off the island?”

Amy nodded, “By the grace of the Gods, she did. She managed to get out on the last boat before the coastal fortress came under siege.”

“Did she ever...?”

“Find out what happened to her dear sister?” Amy shook her head, “No, and I don’t think her heart would have been able to bear it if she learned the truth. Now where was I?”

“You were on the Volunteers,” Jason replied.

“Ah, right, thank you! The Volunteers set out with those six along with seven other guardsmen, but along the way they were joined by the mercenary, Jared, and the Witch, Sera. The Volunteers’ duty was to visit the other kingdoms and acquire aid for the impending assault on the island. The route they had been given would’ve taken them to Galphain, Maracaus, and Amarak, but in the end they had only managed to receive effective aid from Maracaus.”

“Why only Maracaus?” Sal inquired.

“Galphain had been unknowingly taken over by bandits that were in the service of the Shadow Empress, though the Volunteers managed to put an end to that... with aide from a rampaging Odontotyrannos, of course.”

“An Odontowhat?”

“Odontotyrannos,” Casey clarified, “Think of it as a ceratosaur larger than a T. rex, with one large nasal horn adorning its snout.”

“Okay, so Maracaus was overtaken by bandits,” Jason said, “What happened to Amarak then? Why couldn’t they get aid there?”

Amy and Casey shared an uneasy glance at each other, unsure how to respond to Jason’s question. Amy sighed and decided to just put the truth out there, “It turned out that Amarak had been long overrun by Lamias.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Lamias?” Jason asked.

“Yes.”

“As in those “half-snake, half-girl” creatures?”

“Yes.”

“...”

“You okay, Jason?” Casey asked the student.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good, I just,” Jason put his hands up to his face, “I just need a moment to properly process what you’re telling me here.” He leaned back, took a long deep breath, exhaled, and removed his hands, “Alright, go on.”

“Ooookay,” Amy turned to Sal, “Do you need a moment as well, or can I go on?”

“By all means, I’ll scream internally later.”

Amy slowly nodded, “Riiiiight ... Having acquired the aid they sought, the remaining members of the Volunteers regrouped with the newly amassed coalition at a harbor town. Battle plans were then drawn, and from there the stage was set. The morning after, they set sail for the island, where they would arrive two days later. There would be no rest however, as their first order of business was to secure the coastal citadel that had thus far managed to stay out of the Shadow Empress’ grasp. This was no easy task, as Sentinels had already taken half the city, but with the aid of the Witch, Sera, the task wasn’t impossible, but even then, three days were needed to rid the city of the animate armors.

This victory was the first blow that was dealt to the Shadow Empress, and the coalition, now bolstered by the guardsmen that still remained in the city, decided they needed to continue the momentum. The next morning, they marched on the Shadow Empress’ fortress and launched their assault. While the overwhelming majority of the army fought outside the fortress proper, a group consisting of King Osric, the Volunteers, and Osric’s longtime friend and ally, the former King of Galphain, Lucas Laerdan IX, managed to get inside to rescue Princess Ada and slay the malevolent matriarch.

The group would wind up getting separated. Knight Commander Amelia stayed behind to hold off one of the Empress’ agents, a Vampire assassin, and the two Kings elected to fend off the Black Knight, a title bestowed only to the Empress’ greatest warrior. This left the fate in the world in the hands of the Earls, the Landises, a mercenary, and a Witch. They fought their way deeper into the fortress until they had finally reached the throne room, miraculously interrupting the ritual the Empress had planned.”

“What was the ritual?” Jason inquired.

“The Shadow Empress desired naught but one thing: power, something she had gotten a thirst for after assimilating the Sorceress. The ritual she had uncovered was a horrific one.”

“How bad could it have been?”

“The Empress planned on assimilating her daughter to acquire the power she possessed.”

“Wait, why the need for the fancy ritual?” questioned Sal, “Couldn’t she already do that?”

“Well, no, actually.”

Jason and Sal glanced at each other, and Jason spoke up, “Say wha?”

“While Denizens are able to prey on each other, they are unable to prey upon any direct offspring they may bear, and since Darktypes are part Denizen...”

“The ritual made it possible, then,” Jason surmised, “Wait, why the hell would a Sorceress be in possession of that kind of spell?”

“You must understand, until the Denizen that would one day become the Shadow Empress was summoned, The Void was considered naught but myth to the world. The ritual was not created for their purposes.”

Sal nearly shot from his seat at the implication presented, “You mean to tell us that this ritual was meant to be used by humans?” He turned to his junior, “What the fuck did I get myself involved in, Jay?”

Jason tugged at his own shirt collar and slightly adjusted his sitting position, “Well, no sense in stopping the story now, what happened next, Mrs. Landis?”

“A battle between the forces of good and evil, naturally. The Volunteers emerged victorious. Sera cast the Shadow Empress back through the window to The Void she was summoned from, and quickly closed it so the Empress could never return, liberating the island. However, despite the victory, all was not well. The Shadow Empress, enraged at her defeat and just before her banishment, placed a curse on the swordsman who bested her, on Gaelen, a curse that would make all future generations of his family experience tragedy, a curse that would remind the family of its placement whenever a new generation was born to the house.”

“How would it do that?”

“Births in the family would go in a certain order. The firstborn would be a girl, the second child would be a boy, and it would repeat in that order if more children were born to the name.”

“Sheesh,” Sal’s body slightly shook, “And she did this to her nephew.”

Amy shook her head, “She had no way of knowing that she had cursed her own blood, although I doubt it would’ve mattered much. She wasn’t entirely there in the head thanks to her condition. Now, back to the tale, the Shadow Empress and her forces had been defeated, but not without loss. Many valiant soldiers lost their lives, Knight Commander Amelia had vanished despite the Vampire assassin having been slain, and King Osric had been mortally wounded by the Black Knight, which was itself destroyed in furious retribution by Lucas. Once being reunited with his beloved daughter, the King, knowing his days were numbered, gave his daughter one final gift: His blessing.”

This elicited sounds of confusion from both Jason and Sal.

Amy chuckled, “It was a poorly kept secret amongst the castle staff that Ada and Declan fancied each other. The King played ignorant, waiting until the day his daughter would come asking for his blessing. Osric was a lenient King, he felt that a marriage without love was worthless, and yes, I’m aware of the irony there, so rather than set up his daughter with a suitor of either royal or noble blood, he waited until she picked someone herself. Osric managed to cling to life long enough to see his daughter be wed in the citadel, and passed away two days later.”

Jason had a puzzled look on his face, “Why’d they get married there?”

“I mentioned that Osric ordered his ruined kingdom evacuated, right? The plan was that, once the evil of the island was struck down, he’d establish a new kingdom there. And seeings as the island’s Lord had been slain early in the siege, there wasn’t much standing in the way of that.”

“And all those soldiers from the other kingdoms?”

“The kingdoms that Osric intended to seek aid from were massive and could afford to part away with some of their soldiers. Maracaus, for example, was on par with cities like New York or Tokyo. Amarak and Galphain were said to be even greater.”

Sal whistled, “Damn.”

“And to think Amarak got overrun...” Jason shuddered at the thought, “Okay, so the Princess and Declan got married... Since the King was on his deathbed, the new kingdom was placed in their hands?”

“Yes, under the rule of Queen Ada and King Declan, the new kingdom was established, the kingdom of Amoca.”

Silence followed for what seemed like minutes before being broken by Jason, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Landis, my ears might need cleaning. Did you just say that the kingdom they established was Amoca? As in this Amoca?”

“Know any other Amocas?”

“To be fair, no, but how?!”

“On the night of the wedding ceremony, it was said that the heavens exploded into a variety of fantastic colors. The astronomers in those days were experts, and in the nights that followed they saw that the constellations that adorned the night sky were completely unfamiliar. For better or worse, the fledgling kingdom of Amoca had been transplanted into your world during the 15th century.

Now, you would think that with all that’s happened, the threat of the Shadow Empress was over, but life can be cruel. During the 18th century, on his deathbed, Siegfried, the Heretic, prophesized that one day the Empress would return, that she would bear yet another daughter, and that the blood of Gaelen’s Heir would be spilled to complete the dark ritual. Centuries passed without incident, and then in 2010 the Versilium War started up. For two years, this island was occupied by Chinese forces who sought control over the Versilium deposits. It was during this time that Matthew Landis rose to prominence. Matt was a founding member of the Sixth Volunteers at the young age of 16, alongside childhood friends Travis Earl and Jesse Burnside, and was one of the most infamous combatants during the war. After the war ended in 2012 with Amoca emerging victorious, Matt became re-united with his siblings, whom he had been separated from since he was a young child. For once, he was happy. And then the Order of the Serpent tried to take that happiness away from him.”

Jason and Sal both paused at the mention of the organization that had managed to divide their country into two.

“First, they killed Matt’s older brother, Thomas, during an attempt on his life. Then they targeted his oldest sister, Selene, and tried turning her into an abomination. The attempt failed, but Selene disappeared, and for the longest time she was presumed dead. This sent Matt into a rage, who then took off to raise Hell the only way he knew how, targeting the Geonova Industries laboratory that was located on the island. Anyone with a working brain could tell you that Geonova was nothing more than a front for the O.S. Matt broke in, and, deep inside the facility, discovered the thing that would change his life from that point on. Floating there, in a stasis tube, was a girl around his age, slightly smaller, with darker than black hair, and silver eyes.”

The description caught Jason off guard, ‘Is... Is she describing what I think she’s describing?’

“Over the tube was a plate that read ‘Project: Lilith’, and on the tube was a label that read something far less ominous, ‘Anne’. Anne was a science experiment, created for the sole purpose of killing the one who would bring end to The Visitor, who the O.S. mistakenly believed to be Matt due to a misinterpretation of Siegfried’s prophecy, hence the attempts on his life. Anne was created combining human DNA... with that of a Denizen’s.”

Jason and Sal both shouted, “WHAT?!”

“They had uncovered the remains of an unidentified creature preserved in ice out near the Empress’ old fortress. An early experiment of hers where she tried to create more beings like her. The first efforts were mere Infesteds, which she destroyed, and later efforts gave her something better than an Infested, but something that was still closer to a Denizen than a Darktype like herself, which she mostly destroyed save for a few she used to guard her fortress.

Now, Anne was a man-made first-generation Darktype, made to be nothing more than an emotionless tool to kill, but Matt had managed to stumble upon her before they could start programming her to become said emotionless tool. As far as anyone outside the O.S. is concerned, Matt rescued an innocent girl that day... though, really, it was more like the other way around. Just because you can easily fight your way in, doesn’t mean you can easily fight your way out. I can only imagine Matt’s face when Anne stepped in to protect him, heh,” Amy smiled as she pictured what it must’ve been like for the couple.

“Anyway, after finishing his business at Geonova, Matt brought Anne back home, just in time for the wedding between Travis and Matt’s sister, Kate, and Matt would go on to marry Anne a few months later. Travis and Kate would have three kids: Samantha, Erik, and Casey, here,” Amy grinned as she thumbed at the blonde standing next to her, “Matt and Anne would have two of their own: Alexis and Aaron. Years passed without incident, it seemed as though those dark days were finally behind them. And then it finally began to crumble with the Hellview Convention Center incident of 2034, as Alexis was among those who had vanished without a trace. And then a year later, Anne succumbed to illness and sadly passed away. Things finally came to a head the year after that for the remaining Landis family after the O.S. attempted to kidnap Aaron. They failed, but they managed to get away with his classmates.”

“Jesus,” Jason inhaled.

“Matt went into a rage he thought he bid farewell to once he met Anne. That rage would be the end of him, as he stormed an O.S. hideout alone,” Amy paused for a moment as a solemn look grew on her face, “Aaron was then taken in by his aunt and uncle, and grew up with his cousins. For the longest while Aaron had anger in him, anger that threatened to boil over and burn him out like it did his father, but thankfully, the Liberation War provided him a means to viably let that anger loose. And once the war ended, he was happy for the first time since before Alexis vanished.

And then his heritage finally began to catch up with him. I mentioned before that Alexis was reported amongst those who vanished from the Hellview Convention Center back in 2034, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that the math doesn’t add up regarding her age. That’s because she didn’t go missing, she was pulled into the future. It was sometime in the middle of the Liberation War that blood samples were being screened for a project that never got off the ground. Imagine everyone’s surprise when the name Alexis Landis popped up on the screen. Somehow, a sample of Alexis’ blood had been put into the selection pool, so it was decided to finally figure out just what happened.”

Sal got curious, “Well, what happened?”

“We, the Seventh Volunteers, were sent back in time using a device called the Gate, and we one simple goal: grab Alexis and get the hell out. What was supposed to be a simple mission, turned into the long night from hell. As soon as the sun ducked below the horizon, and the night painted the sky, Denizens swarmed the convention center.”

Silence befell the room as Jason and Sal struggled to find the proper words that weren’t vulgar.

“You New Realmers have a saying, that the road to Hell is paved with the best intentions. We assume it occurred during the 19th Century, when an Alchemist, someone who uses both science and magic in the Old Realm, tried to revive his dead children who had died to sickness. Rather than open the door to the Everlasting City, he instead tore open what we call The Fracture, a portal to The Void. The Alchemist miraculously survived, though he wound up in an asylum when he tried to inform the authorities. The reason why The Fracture went unnoticed for so long was because the portal’s unstable, it’s constantly fluctuating in-and-out of existence, and it won’t stay in one place. We don’t even know where it is currently, but on that night, The Fracture had settled directly over the convention center,” Amy shuddered, “The problem was that there was no way The Fracture could have been able to handle that kind of load without collapsing again. Someone had to be there to widen it and keep it stable, someone of great power.”

‘Oh, I got a bad feeling that this means exactly what I’m thinking it means...’ Jason drew the conclusion himself, “She returned, didn’t she? The Shadow Empress?”

Amy nodded, “We didn’t realize it at first, but shortly after the Liberation War ended, a ceremony was being held in Aaron’s honor by the newly crowned Queen. The ceremony was crashed by the sudden arrival of a new Black Knight. Aaron managed to drive her off, but afterwards, Denizens started popping up more regularly, and then the murders started happening.”

Sal raised an eyebrow, “Murders?”

“The ritual required the blood of 100 people to be spilled,” Amy stated, barely paying any mind to the color draining from Sal and Jason’s faces, “Those were a long few months. The problem was that she wasn’t the one committing the murders, she was using a proxy, so it was impossible to actually track her down. We didn’t even know what she looked like or what name she was going by. We were fighting an uphill battle, for all intents and purposes, and then we finally got a break in finding out the identity of the proxy, Ezekiel Davis.”

“We figured if we could pinpoint when and where Zeke was corrupted, we could narrow down the list of people that could have been the Shadow Empress,” Casey added, “So I did some digging, and that digging led me to a suburban township a few miles outside Carver City. As soon as I got there, something felt off, and when I questioned the locals, I found out why. Overlooking the town from atop a hill were the skeletal remains of this large old house that had burnt down over a decade ago. One local I talked to said he knew exactly what happened there, why the building burnt down. Zeke and his parents had moved into that house shortly before summer began, his mother apparently having inherited it, as well as the live-in staff. Weeks after moving in, his dad died in a work-related accident, and shortly after that, his mother starts acting funny.

Turns out the house was haunted by a Wraith, an evil spirit that is pretty much bad news all around. I’d go into further detail, but I think I’ll save that for a future club meeting. Anyway, as things slowly escalated, Zeke met this girl, and that’s apparently when everything went insane. It culminated in the house burning down, with the servants and Zeke’s mother along with it. Zeke nearly suffered the same fate alongside them, but was rescued by the girl. The local told me he knew the girl since they were both kids, and that she had begun to act strangely just days before Zeke and his family moved into the house. I realized then that this is the break we were looking for and pressed for the girl’s name. I got it, alright, and almost immediately wished I hadn’t heard it.”

“What was the name?”

“Aurora Deckard.”

Sal calmly exhaled and began to rock in his seat while chuckling, “Y’know, for a minute there, I thought it was gonna be something significant.”

Amy sighed, “Aurora Deckard’s my mother.”

Sal was so completely caught off-guard by the statement, he flinched and nearly flipped the chair over backwards. Jason on the other hand, merely placed a hand over his mouth.

“At the time, we thought we still had the upper hand by keeping Aaron’s identity as Gaelen’s Heir a secret, but it turns out it was all for nothing,” Casey glumly stated, “Aaron and Amy found out they used to be close childhood friends, which meant that the Shadow Empress was aware of his identity all along. Anyway, things came to a breaking point when Zeke killed the detective who was working with us and Amy disappeared. We were at each others throats, blaming each other for what had happened. And then Aaron received a message from Zeke, a callout, telling him to meet him at an old chapel.”

“That’s so obviously a trap though! He didn’t actually go did he?” Jason asked the two adults, the embarrassed looks on their faces telling him everything, “Oh god, he went, didn’t he?”

Casey shrugged, “My cousin’s not that bright, what can I say? But yeah, he went, alone. Inside the old building, he found Amy bound to a chair, and that’s when Zeke confronted him. The two then fought, and judging by the damage done to Zeke, it was one hell of a brawl. Aaron won, by way of making Zeke stab himself. And then, just when he turned to free Amy...”

“My mother appeared behind him and stuck her arm right through his chest,” Amy finished, “I barely remember what happened after that, what with getting assimilated and all. Not a fun feeling.”

“And I wasn’t present for any of it. By the time the rest of us got there, the only thing there was Zeke’s dead body.”

Jason and Sal locked their eyes onto Amy, both boys terrified to make any sudden movements. Ciara, however simply groaned, “Oi, don’t you think you should at least summarize what happened afterwards rather than leave the story off on that downer note?”

“No need to be testy, sweetie, I was gonna tell them,” Amy reassured.

“Before or after they dove out the window?” Ciara asked, “And stop calling me ‘sweetie,’ I’m in high-school,” she quickly added.

“What, I’m not allowed to terrorize the students? Anyway, despite taking an arm through the chest, Aaron survived,” At that moment Amy could swear she heard the gears in the two boys’ brains grind to a complete halt, “Aaron’s a Darktype, much like his Mother, it was highly unlikely that my Mother would’ve been able to kill him that way. The most it did was put him out of commission for an hour. Besides, the ritual’s exact wording was that blood needed to be spilled, and you can spill a person’s blood without killing them. Aaron then chased down my Mother to her old Fortress, where he first had to fight his way past her Black Knight, who, as it turned out, held no loyalty to her supposed master, and forfeited the fight. All that was left, was for Aaron to defeat the being that had ruined his family’s life.

I don’t know the exact details of the fight, only bits and pieces that Aaron felt okay with telling me, but I do know the outcome, otherwise I wouldn’t be here telling you this. He somehow found a way to free me from my Mother’s hold, to reverse the ritual. This took my Mother off-guard, and provided Aaron the opening he needed to cut her down. All that remains of her legacy now is her old Fortress, her bloodline... and the few hundred Darktypes that hold hope for her return. For over a decade they’ve left our family alone, kept to themselves. But clearly something’s changed, someone’s decided to make a move, and I’m afraid that the two of you have gotten caught in the middle.”

Jason and Sal calmly processed the information they were given, “Fuck me, I should’ve stayed in bed.”

“Sal, that’s my line.”

----

The clouds had since parted, clearing the skies in time for sunset. The orange-red skies painted the ground below, giving everything the illusion of bearing an orange-ish glow. Ciara’s seen this scene more than enough times, so she didn’t particularly take note of it. As she walked back to her dorm, she thought about Jason and Sal, ‘I’ll admit, those two took it better than I thought they would,’she grinned to herself, ‘I’m surprised Mom kept it so general. Was honestly expecting her to bring up Great Uncle Zack, though I guess that would’ve been too much at once.’

“Heeeeey, Ciara!”

Ciara was snapped from her thoughts by the sound of Kara, who was running up to her, “Hey, Kara, what’s up?”

“Where’ve you been? Uncle Casey let me go 25 minutes after you guys left, so I went back to the dorm but you weren’t there,” Kara then took notice of the clothes her cousin was wearing, “Did you go to the weight room? But, no, wait, then you’d be coming from the other side of campus...”

Ciara flinched, ‘Shit, that’s right, I was gonna go workout. Damn boys getting themselves into trouble.’“Relax, Kara, just had to go see Mom and Uncle Casey about something.”

“About what?”

“Oh nothin’ important,” Ciara replied, “Jason and Sal just wanted to know the story behind our family, nothin’ big.”

Kara nodded in understanding, “Oh, okay.” ‘Nothing to worry about, Kara, Jason and Sal just wanted to know the story behind our family... wait a minute... Jason AND SAL?!’ Kara nearly tripped over herself as that last name rattled in her brain, “Ciara why would Sal want to know our family’s history? Ciara,” Kara took on a more accusatory tone, “You didn’t get Sal involved did you?”

Ciara gave her cousin a flat look, “Did I get...? No, I didn’t get him involved! Sal got himself involved! And wait a minute, why do you automatically assume that I’m the one who got him involved? You know darn well it could just as well have been Jason.”

“Nah, Jason seems too nice.”

“... Are you saying I’m not nice?”

“Well you did make Jason faint, after all.”

“Don’t act as though I do it on purpose,” Ciara scolded her cousin.

“Maybe if you stop acting like a scary unapproachable person, I would.”

“Bah!” Ciara rolled her eyes at the thought, “If I ever become the sociable type you have my permission to kill me.”

“You’re always so negative,” Kara sighed, “So, what happened that resulted in Sal getting involved?”

Ciara stopped in her tracks, motioning for Kara to lean in closer, “Look, don’t freak out or anything, but Jack Holloway’s dead an...”

Kara’s eyes shot open, “JACK HOLLOWAY’S *MRRF*?!” She was silenced as her cousin clamped her hands over her mouth.

“Loudmouth! Announce it to the whole damn world, why don’t ya?”

Kara nodded and brought her voice down a couple of notches, “Jack Holloway’s dead? What happened?”

“What do you think? Denizen.”

“But I thought you...?”

“There’s another one, out in the forest.” Ciara looked around to double-check no one had started eavesdropping, “Remember the Darktypes our parents would warn us about, the ones that served the Shadow Empress?” Kara nodded, “There’s a good chance that some of them might be on campus.”

“Eh?! But why would they be making a move now?”

“No idea, but stay on your toes from now on,” Ciara laid a hand on Kara’s shoulder.

“And here I was hoping our time in high-school wouldn’t turn into an anime,” Kara sighed.

Ciara glanced away from her cousin, “I think we’re a year late to prevent that.”

“Eh?”

“Nothing,” Ciara brushed off the question, “So, Petra catch Erin yet?”

“Well, she hadn’t when I went looking for you, no,” a smile then grew on Kara’s face, “But who knows? Still plenty of time in the day left!” The lawn of the girl’s dorm building soon came into view, and from the looks of it, there was a crowd gathered around the sidewalk. “Aha! See? I told you!”

The crowd was rather big, comprised mostly of the girls living in the dorm, though there were some boys in attendance, mostly tutors or those getting tutored. As Ciara and Kara pushed and nudged their way to the center, they saw that everyone had circled around two people, both of them girls. One of the girls was standing near a storm drain and was next to a tarp-covered wheelbarrow, a smirk of impending retribution plastered wide on her face. The other girl was tied to a chair, bound and gagged, and was desperately seeking freedom. It was Petra and Erin. “Oh goddammit,” Ciara facepalmed, “Do I even wanna know?”

“So, Erin, it has finally come to this,” Petra said to the bound girl, “The punishment you’ve earned for your betrayal!”

Ciara rolled her eyes and sighed, “Of course.”

“All you had to do was apologize to me, and we could’ve avoided this whole mess, but no, you felt the need to run off and hide without even explaining yourself. And look where that got you: gagged and tied to a chair, with me having to teach you a lesson,” Petra shook her head, “You knew I wanted in that club, it was all I ever talked about since summer began! And yet you just couldn’t help yourself.”

Erin only glared as Petra moved the wheelbarrow closer to the storm drain, “In all honesty, though, this probably should have been done after you swindled money off of that transfer student.” As she removed the tarp, the aroma of coffee grounds filled the air, and Erin began to struggle as her face took on a panicked look, “Oh sure, you paid him back, but that doesn’t really discourage bad behavior now does it?”

“Oh for fuck sakes, don’t tell me she’s gonna...”

“Say goodbye to your coffee, Erin!” Petra announced as she swiftly tilted the wheelbarrow, spilling its contents down into oblivion. The eyes in Erin’s skull practically shot forth from their sockets as a muffled scream erupted from her mouth. She began to struggle more violently in an attempt to free herself, which ended abruptly as the chair she was tied to fell over backwards. The crowd broke out into laughter as Erin fidgeted in vain, and soon began to disperse, Petra leaving along with them.

Ciara felt one of her eyebrows twitch, “Okay, Kara, let’s get out of here.”

“Shouldn’t we help Erin?”

“She got herself into this mess, she can get herself out.”

“But...”

“No ‘buts’!” Ciara exclaimed as she made her way into the dorm building, with her cousin following close behind.

“Miss Petra’s kinda scary when she get mad, don’t you think?” Kara mused, “She didn’t always used to be that way.”

“Yeah, I remember when we first met her last year,” Ciara recalled as they entered the stairwell, “She used to live with her parents abroad, right?”

Kara nodded, “Yeah, I think that’s right. I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like.”

“Heh, I can,” Ciara scoffed, “Someone like Petra living out there amongst New Realmers, being surrounded by adolescent New Realmers? Attention was probably drawn to her size a lot.”

“Didn’t she also win three high-school beauty pageants?”

Ciara closed her eyes, “Yeah, but it probably didn’t help at all,” she guessed, “If anything, it probably drew more attention to her. That was probably the last thing she wanted.”

“Especially since my eyes betrayed my true nationality,” Petra said to the two.

“Yeah, especially since her eyes betrayed her...” Opening her eyes, Ciara craned her head up to see that Petra was at the top of the stair set looking down at them. “Uh, hi, Petra,” Ciara sheepishly grinned, her face turning red in a rare case of embarrassment.

“Hi, Miss Petra!” Kara joyfully waved from behind her cousin.

“Hello, Kara,” Petra responded, “So, talking about me, I see? Nothing bad, I hope.”

“Nah, nothing like that,” reassured Kara, “Just talking about how you’ve come a long way from where you were when you first came here!”

“I was a bit of an introvert back then wasn’t I?” Petra mused, “I was so nervous that school here would be just like it was over in the States, with everyone staring at me. Imagine my surprise when no one even batted an eye .”

“Still took some coaxing from my Mom to get you to make some friends,” Kara reminded her.

Petra chuckled, “Yeah, I suppose I do owe your Mother that. If it wasn’t for her, I’d still be eating my lunches in the Nurse’s Office.”

Ciara raised an eyebrow, “I’m still surprised that your parents gave you the okay to move back to Amoca by yourself.”

Petra shrugged, “My parents might be odd to the point where they make the Addam’s family seem completely normal, but they know how to act when their daughter’s being negatively affected by her surroundings.”

Kara tilted her head, “Who’re the Addam’s family?”

“A fictional family from a mid-20th century American sitcom,” Petra clarified, “Anyway, I’ve got homework to do, see you guys at the club meeting tomorrow,” she waved off as she went through the door to the second floor, which was where her room was located.

The two cousins waved in return, and resumed their ascension to the third floor. As they entered through the floor’s doorway, Kara noticed that her cousin seemed slightly bothered, “Something on your mind, Ciara?”

“Huh? Oh no, don’t worry about it, Kar,” Ciara tried reassuring her cousin.

“Don’t be silly!” Kara hugged Ciara from behind, “We’re cousins, practically sisters given how inseparable we are, you can tell me anything! Is it a boy?”

*THUNK*

“Ouchie!” Kara covered the spot on her head that Ciara had seen fit to introduce to her friend, Mr. Fist.

“No, it’s not a boy,” Ciara shook her hand to ease the pain, “And don’t hug me like that in public. Stuff like that can lead to awkward rumors.”

“How awkward?” Ciara gave her white-haired cousin a knowing glance, which caused her to go beet-red and nearly duck her head into her shirt, “Oh! S-so what is bugging you then?”

“Nothing!” Ciara nearly shouted, “It’s just... It’s just having to hear about my Grandmother again... and all that horrible stuff she did.”

“Oh, that’s right, you would have had to hear the story again,” Kara frowned, “But, wait, why didn’t you leave earlier, then? If all Jason and Sal wanted was to know the story, you could’ve just dropped them off and went on with your plans. Why’d you stay if you knew you were going to hear it again?”

“I don’t know,” Ciara groaned, “Maybe I force myself to listen to it so I can make sure I never turn out like she did.”

Kara smiled and placed a hand on her cousin’s shoulder, “Well, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re already doing something she didn’t.”

“Oh really? What?”

“You’re using your powers to protect people,” Kara pointed out, “Think about how many lives you’ve saved.”

“But what about the people I’ve failed?”

“Don’t weigh yourself down by thinking about that,” Kara now had both hands on Ciara’s shoulders, “You’re a good person, Ciara, and everyone in this family knows that. No one thinks you’re gonna turn out like Nel did. Look, I miss Lacey as much as you do, but we’re not Gods, we can’t change the past. All we can do, all you can do, is to make sure what happened to her happens to no one else if it can be helped. Now, I want you to make me a promise.”

Ciara raised an eyebrow, “A promise?”

Kara nodded, “I want you to promise me that you won’t force yourself to listen to those stories about Nel anymore.”

Ciara blinked a couple of times before stifling a laugh, “Okay, I promise, I won’t force myself to listen to those stories about my Grandmother anymore.”

Kara pulled Ciara in for a hug, and after a few moments, released her cousin from her grip, “There, feel better now?”

“A little, yeah,” Ciara scratched the back of her head, “Sorry about hitting you.”

“It’s alright,” Kara reassured, “Wanna go watch Welcome to Limbo?”

“Sure, if you’ll supply the popcorn,” Ciara replied, “Wait... don’t we have homework to do?”

“... We get homework?”

NSZ · Post by **NSZ** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:28 pm

Chapter Five:
Welcome to Hell

It was Friday, the day every student looks forward to, the last day of the week before the weekend, and for the students of Hellview High, this particular Friday was the day when clubs received their new members. Exiting their dorm building, Jason and Sal walked down the sidewalk to where their club meeting would be held, which, coincidentally, was the same building that Mr. Earl called home. Though both boys found this odd, they didn’t think much off it, as Ciara had explained to them why Mr. Earl lived on campus earlier at lunch. As they walked, they began discussing peculiar things they’ve heard about how clubs are operated at Hellview High.

“You’re kidding!”

“I swear to whatever deity that’s out there that I’m not kidding!” Sal exclaimed, “I’m telling you exactly what I heard, if you get kicked out of a club, you get smacked in the face with a fish!”

“After everything I’ve heard in these past few days, that’s the most ridiculous thing that I’ve ever heard.”

“How is it ridiculous?”

“Sal, who the hell is gonna have a fish just lying around on the off-chance that they end up having to kick someone out of their club?” Jason was damn near laughing at this point, “And what kind of fish are we talking about here?

“Look, it’s just a rumor I heard, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jason brushed it off, “So... You talk to Kerry yet?”

Sal shook his head, “I’m still wondering what the hell I’m supposed to tell him. I mean, I can’t exactly go up to him and say “Hey man, hate to break it to ya, but the person you view as a little brother got eaten by some abomination from a place that supposedly makes Hell look like paradise.” What the hell am I supposed to tell him, Jay? I can’t exactly lie about this, but if I tell him the truth, chances are I’ll get a nice new hole where my face used to be.”

“Well, maybe you won’t have to tell him anything.”

Sal raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“Well, Mr. Earl said he was gonna go talk to the principal about it, which means that the principal is at least aware of the family’s history. They’ll probably go to the proper authorities that are supposed to handle stuff like this, and from there they’ll probably make up something about him dying of exposure or something.”

“Dying from exposure? In one night?”

“Yeah, you’re right, what the hell am I thinkin’?” Jason smacked his own forehead, and stared at the sky for a few seconds before a thought came to the forefront of his mind, “Hey, Sal?”

“Yeah?”

“What are the odds of Mr. Earl being a direct descendant of Declan Earl?”

“No doubt about it. I think it was his great-great-great grandfather that splintered off from his family and renounced his claim to the throne after his father disapproved of a relationship he was in,” Sal recalled. “That splintering probably saved the bloodline seeings as the coup happened less than ten years later.”

“Uh-huh...”

“Why, what’s on your mind?”

“Well, this was bugging me all night, but if Mr. Earl’s a direct descendant of Declan, and Declan married Princess Ada, then wouldn’t that mean he’s also a direct descendant of the Shadow Empress?”

The look of realization hit Sal’s face like a frying pan, “Oh goddammit, Jay, don’t talk about stuff like this, it’s just gonna make me paranoid, and I’m paranoid enough as is.”

Jason shrugged and they continued walking, “Do you think they told us everything?”

“Nope,” Sal replied, “Mrs. Landis was definitely keeping things general seeings as she didn’t even bring up the splintering of the Earl family.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Jason kicked at the sidewalk, “Still can’t believe that Lamias are a thing...”

“Oh god,” Sal felt his skin crawl, “How the hell does that even happen?”

Jason shrugged, “No idea. Still... Makes you wonder just what else inhabits that Old Realm of theirs.”

“It’s probably a fantasy kitchen sink,” Sal chuckled.

“A what?”

“A fantasy kitchen sink, y’know, a fantasy setting inhabited by creatures from multiple different religions,” Sal tried explaining, “I did some digging last night on the internet, both Lamias and Odontotyrannos are from Greek mythology here, though Odontotyrannos seems to be somewhat obscure,” a puzzled look then graced Sal’s face, “Ironic considering who it was it faced against.”

“Who was that?”

“Alexander the Great.”

“Alexander the Great? Wait... You don’t mean THAT Alexander the Great?!”

“Yep, the man who would conquer the known world apparently faced off against a dinosaur-like monster during one of his campaigns.”

“How the hell does that fade into obscurity?”

“Shit happens,” Sal shrugged, “And hey, who knows, we might learn more about their Old Realm in this club.”

“Speaking of the club, did Ciara mention where we’re supposed to enter?” Jason asked, “I get the feeling it ain’t gonna be the front door this time.”

“You remember that big attachment opposite the garage? That’s where the meetings are held. Weren’t you paying attention when she was going over this at lunch?”

Jason’s face flushed red, “I was too busy enjoying a pizza.”

Sal rolled his eyes, “Oh come on, the pizza ain’t that good.”

Jason gave Sal a light slap to the shoulder, “Hey, you’ve had a freakin’ year to get used to the pizza around here. Me? It’s like my tongue’s been graced by divinity.”

Sal began to chuckle awkwardly, “Uh, mind rephrasing that, Jay?”

“Sal, you know what I meant.”

A large grin grew on Sal’s face, “Am I gonna have to start leaving the room whenever you’ve got pizza on your plate?”

Jason slapped a hand to his forehead, “Fuck sakes, California.”

“Maybe put on some slow tunes for ya?”

“That’s it, I’m gonna make you eat sidewalk!” Jason howled as he made a grab for Sal, only to miss as his target dodged and took off running, with Jason following close behind. It was an interesting sight, a Second Year chasing a Fifth Year, not many could claim to have seen such a sight before, especially when said Fifth Year is an athlete known for sending opponents to the Nurse’s office.

The chase would seem to be short-lived, however, as the quickened paced brought the two to their destination sooner than they expected. Not wanting Sal to escape punishment, Jason went to cut across the lawn to cut Sal off before he reached the door...

“SHIIIIIIIIIT!” *THUD!*

Only to trip on a stray lawn ornament. Sal could barely contain his laughter as Jason simply laid there face-down on the grass, fingers, arms, and legs twitching in clear irritation, “Pfft, you okay, Jay?”

The reply came in the form of a low, muffled groan, “Fucking lawn gnomes.”

Sal snorted, “C’mon, I’ll help you up,” he grabbed Jason’s hand and pulled him up, “You gotta be more careful. I mean, who wants to be the guy whose cause of death was ‘tripped by a lawn gnome’?”

“Who the hell leaves a lawn gnome out in the middle of the yard?” Jason once again groaned as he dusted himself off.

“No idea,” Sal shook his head, “We should probably tell Mr. Earl that someone was messing with his stuff before he accidentally runs over it with a lawnmower, though.”

“Yeah,” Jason nodded, “C’mon, let’s head inside before I remember that I’m trying to put the hurt on you and do something crazy.”

The claim elicited an amused scoff from Sal, “No offense, Jay, but I don’t think you’re the kind of guy that can do anything noteworthy, let alone crazy.”

“Laugh all you want, one of these days I’m gonna do something that’ll leave you speechless.”

Sal rolled his eyes and walked to the door, “Look, if you manage to pull something completely insane off, I’ll pay you 50 bucks.” Opening the door, Sal motioned for Jason to enter, “After you.”

The room they entered was rather large, raising the question as to what purpose it used to serve if not a garage. In the center of the room were multiple rectangular tables and chairs, no doubt for the club members, and at the front was a large whiteboard, but what caught Jason’s eye was a row of lockers standing up against the wall on the far left. They looked rather large, much larger than the size of what he recalled high school lockers allegedly were back in the States. Lockers for club supplies, maybe? But then what sort of supplies would necessitate so much space?

A familiar voice interrupted, “Hey Sal, hey Jason.” Snapped out of his thoughts, Jay directed his attention to the source of the voice. Already sitting at one of the tables, leaning back in his chair, was Bomber.

“Hey Bomber,” Sal responded in a perplexed tone, “What are you doing here?”

“What’s it look like I’m here for? I’m here for the club meeting.”

Sal’s eyebrows slanted in a confused manner, “I thought you were already part of a club?”

“Yeah, I got kicked out,” Bomber flatly replied.

“Kicked out?”

“Yeah, the guys in the Debate Club threatened to give me the boot if I centered yet another debate around how magnificent an actor Marlon Brando was. Turns out they weren’t bluffing.”

Sal promptly slapped a hand across his forehead and groaned, while Jason raised an eyebrow at the implication, ‘“Yet another” debate?’ he thought to himself, ‘How many debates can you center around an actor who’s been dead for 60 yea... What’s that smell?’ Jason’s nose sniffed the air quietly, and detected a damn near familiar scent, “Hey Sal?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you smell fish?” At that moment Jason could swear he saw Bomber slightly sink into his seat.

“Ernest, once again I must protest this nonsense!” A familiar voice all but shouted from outside.

Recognizing who the voice belonged to, and remembering his last encounter with the two, Jason could only groan, “Oh goddammit, now what?”

Entering the building first was Ernest Harris, with an amused look on his face, followed by a rather irritated looking Marcus King, “I heard your protest the first time, Marcus, and I’m gonna tell you now what I told you then, I’m gonna be a member of this club, and there’s nothing you can do to change my mind.”

Marcus scowled, “For the love of... You are an intellectual, man! An individual such as yourself being a member of this... this... this farce of a club is downright criminal! If you were a weak-minded simpleton, I’d understand, but...” Marcus was interrupted by the sound of Sal clearing his throat, “Hmmph, even a man such as yourself should know better than to join this sham, Gutierrez.”

Jason could swear at that moment that the temperature in the room dropped by about 50 degrees.

Sal’s right eyebrow twitched like mad, “You got something you wanna say to me, Mr. Intellectual?”

“Oh shit,” Bomber could sense what was coming.

“Because if I recall correctly, you were the one who managed to cover the entire ground floor with baking soda,” Sal retaliated, “The entire ground floor. I didn’t even know that was fucking possible! I’m still scrubbing that shit out of my hair, by the way. So the next time you accuse someone of being of lesser intellect, keep in mind just who it was that hilariously miscalculated the amount of baking soda necessary for their damn science project, got it?”

Marcus stammered as he struggled to find the correct words to fire back with, but realized that this was an altercation he wouldn’t emerge triumphant from. “I don’t need to take this,” he made his way back towards the entrance, “Come find me when you come to your senses, Ernesth. Mark my words, you’ll all feel foolish for joining this joke!” He exclaimed to the group before storming out, right past Ciara, Kara, and Petra.

Sal greeted them as the three walked in, “Hey girls.”

“Hi, Sal!” responded Kara.

“The hell crawled up his ass?” Ciara asked as she gestured back towards the door Marcus had just exited.

“Eh, Sal chewed him out,” Bomber replied as he leaned his chair back onto its rear legs and began to slightly rock it back and forth.

Ciara slowly nodded, “Uh-huh, right.” As she walked over to Jason, she stopped suddenly and began sniffing the air.

Jason raised an eyebrow, “Uh, is something wrong?”

“Anyone else smell fish?” She asked bluntly, at which point Bomber accidentally rocked the chair too far backwards and fell over.

“Alright, everyone, take a seat,” The voice of Mr. Earl instructed as he entered the room. He looked disheveled, as though he had quickly shaken off the feel and look of professionalism the moment he left the school building. It was clear that yesterday’s news was bothering him. Stopping at around the middle of the whiteboard, Mr. Earl picked a marker and began writing something out before suddenly stopping and looked behind him, “Uh, Kara, you’ve already gone through orientation, so I want you stationed at the phone, okay? If anyone calls, I want you to call up Erik, Aaron, or Amy and give the job to one of them.”

Kara nodded in understanding, “Okay, Uncle.”

As Kara got up from her seat and walked to what looked to be an office, Jason raised an eyebrow and quietly wondered just what Mr. Earl meant by ‘job’.

“Monsters, deeeeemons, prowlers of the night!” Mr. Earl loudly proclaimed after clearing his throat, “Yes, the creatures of the Old Realm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey HAHA!” He finished with a boastful laugh, which quickly faltered once he noticed the puzzled looks on the club members’ faces, and realized they didn’t get the reference, “Jeez, tough crowd,” though he was relieved to see Ciara quietly snickering, indicating that his part in her and Kara’s upbringing was thankfully not wasted.

“You may be quietly asking yourself just what the hell am I talking about, but worry not!” He continued, “I believe the book you all will be receiving will answer some of your questions,” he walked over to a stack of books sitting on the right side of the room and picked up the one sitting on top, “Gods, Men, & Monsters: A Traveler’s Guide to the World, written by Ulric, the Wanderer.” Picking up the stack of books, Mr. Earl began handing them out, “From now on, this book will be your field guide, your lifeline in sticky situations.”

Bomber raised an eyebrow at Mr. Earl’s choice of words as he was handed a book, “Uh, field guide?”

Petra voiced her concern as well, “Lifeline?”

“Sticky situations?” Sal absent-mindedly added while flipping through the pages of the book he received, stopping and going wide-eyed when he landed on a page with an image depicting a large, green, one-horned, theropod-like beast.

“Is there something you neglected to tell us before we signed up, Mr. Earl?” Jason asked.

“Relax,” Mr. Earl reassured the group, “You won’t even be encountering most of the things in that book,” he continued as he directed his attention to the whiteboard and resumed writing whatever it was he was writing, “The most you’ll probably end up seeing are ghosts... and maybe an occasional wraith.”

“God dammit, Uncle,” Ciara quietly sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Beg pardon?” Ernesth all but squeaked.

“Well, yeah,” he turned his attention away from the whiteboard once again, “It’s called the Paranormal Research Club. Wouldn’t be much of a paranormal research club if we didn’t go out into the field at all.”

Jason turned his attention back towards those lockers on the far left, ‘Those must be equipment lockers then.’

“And besides, it was all there in the sign-up form.”

“Oh come on, no one reads the fine print!” Sal exclaimed.

“Why the hell would I put something like that in the fine print?” Mr. Earl questioned, “What do I look like, a businessman? It’s all right there in the main body.” Bomber quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out the sign-up form the main office had supplied. “I’m gonna need that when you’re done with it,” Mr. Earl stated.

Bomber felt a vein pop up on his forehead as he found what Mr. Earl was talking about, “Son of a... he ain’t kiddin’. It’s right here in the second paragraph.” Bomber then heard the screeching sound of multiple chairs being shot backwards and felt the presence of multiple people hovering over him.

“None of you actually read the form before signing up? C’mon, I know people don’t ever read the Terms & Conditions thing, but this is ridiculous,” Mr. Earl stifled a laugh.

Sal was not amused, “Give us one good reason why we all shouldn’t just walk out of here?”

“You get paid.”

“How much?”

“$25.”

“A day?

“What? No, of course not. Per hour.”

Silence fell over the room for what seemed like eternity, before finally being broken by Petra, “What’re the hours?”

“Well, you’ll be on call from... Any of you attend afternoon Homeroom?” Mr. Earl asked, who got his answer in the form of everyone shaking their heads, “Right, so during the week you’ll be on call from one in the afternoon until about 10 at night, and you have weekends and holidays off.”

Ernesth blinked, “That’s... That’s $1,125 a week.”

“How often do you guys typically get called?” Jason asked, only to receive a blow to the head by Ciara, “Ow, what was that for?!”

“What’re you trying to do, turn this into an anime!?” She yelled, “Asking how often this place receives calls is just begging for things to get turned up to eleven!”

“Alright, alright, forget I said anything.”

Mr. Earl stifled another laugh, “Well, to answer your question, Jason, not a lot, actually.”

Sal scratched his head as he pondered something, “So, wait, does that mean an entire day can go by without any calls and we’ll still get paid for that day?”

“Yep.”

“FUCK,” Sal exclaimed as he ran a hand through his hair, “Man, I wish I knew about this club last year.”

“So I take it you’ll all be staying then?” Mr. Earl asked with a bemused look on his face.

“Looks like it,” Jason surmised as everyone went to return to their seats, “Wait, shit, what about our parents?”

“Well, naturally, I was gonna contact your parents, but for some odd reason, I haven’t been able to get in contact with any of them,” Mr. Earl explained, “So I’m pretty much gonna have to rely on your honest opinion on how your parents would feel about this.”

Sal scratched the back of his head, “Well, if what Jason told me about what’s going on back home is at all accurate, I’m guessing that I’ve been pretty much disowned, so I’m basically my own man now.”

“Sorry to hear about that, Sal, but good to hear that you’ll be staying on board.”

“I’m pretty much my own person as well,” Petra spoke up, “What with my parents being back over in the States and all.”

“Yeah, and the Carter’s aren’t really around much, so I don’t think they’ll mind me being part of this,” Jason added.

“Well, that’s good to hear... I think,” Mr. Earl raised an eyebrow in slight concern, “Mr. Harris, Bomber, what about you two?”

“Eh, my parents won’t mind,” Bomber shrugged.

“Same.”

Mr. Earl clapped his hands together, “Excellent!”

Ciara cocked her head, “What, you’re not gonna ask me?”

“Ciara, you and I both know that your parents wouldn’t be able to object to you participating in this club in good conscience,” Mr. Earl deadpanned, “Now, I think we should get back to orientation, don’t you agree?” Mr. Earl turned his attention back to the whiteboard once again and finished what he had been writing. Turning back to face the club members, he stepped aside to let them view what was now on the board. On the left side of the board, written in bold blue marker, in all caps, was the word GHOST. On the right, written in bold red marker, similarly in all caps, was the word WRAITH. “Alright, first things first, let’s get you familiarized with what you’re gonna be mostly facing during your time here in this club. Who here can tell me the difference between a ghost and a wraith?”

Petra raised her hand, “A ghost is the spirit of a person who has passed on and hasn’t moved on, for some reason or another.”

“And a wraith is...?”

“A wraith,” Petra continued, “is a spirit that was never alive to begin with, brought into being entirely from negative emotions.”

“Negative emotions such as...?”

“Fear,” she answered, “Wraiths are brought into being primarily by fear.”

“Correct!” Mr. Earl exclaimed as he wrote down the key difference between the two entities under their respective sides, “Wraiths practically feed off of fear, and will sometimes harass the person they feed from by invading their dreams in order to amplify the amount of negative emotions. Now, that’s not the only difference between a ghost and a wraith. Do you know what that other difference is, Miss Jiles?” Petra paused for a moment before shaking her head, “Does anyone here know?”

“I KNOW!” Kara’s voice loudly emanated from the office.

“Anyone other than the person that was already a member of this club?”

“Awwwww.”

“Anyone? No one? Bueller? Another difference, boys and girls, is how they manifest themselves,” Mr. Earl stated, “A ghost will always remain in its ethereal form. A wraith on the other hand, should it feed on enough negative emotions from a targeted person, will be able to manifest themselves a physical body, which would typically be based on whatever fear it feeds from,” he added to the board, “Now, what’s the A#1 fear in the world?”

Ciara raised her hand, “Clowns?”

“Bingo! Everyone’s terrified of clowns, and anyone who says they aren’t is either a liar or is possessed, so it would only be natural that the most common type of wraith are harlequins and jesters. Second most common type of wraith are arachnid-based, followed by snake-based. This leads into the third key difference, their means of possession. Now, a ghost will simply slip inside you, and take your body for a joyride. Nothing drastic. A wraith...” Mr. Earl paused as a disturbed look graced his face, “What a wraith does is a bit more disturbing. The physical form of a wraith is basically a suit, that then envelops the person it had been feeding off of. This act is basically the wraith completing its “lifecycle”.”

“The fuck happens to the person possessed?!” Jason’s voice cracked.

“Well, they’re kept alive,” Mr. Earl answered, “Not much use in attaching yourself to a host if you’re gonna immediately kill the host, y’know? But honestly, nobody’s entirely sure what happens in those moments immediately after the person is enveloped, all we know is that something inside them snaps. A person possessed by a wraith is a very dangerous individual. Those possessed by the animal-based ones behave as though they were little more than beasts. Those possessed by the clown-based ones, however, keep their wits about them, for the most part anyway. There are even instances of those particular ones manifesting supernatural abilities.”

The room became swallowed up in silence once again, and once again it was broken by Sal, “And you expect us to handle wraiths with what, bad language?”

“Well, to be completely honest, I don’t expect you to handle people that have been possessed by wraiths, I only expect you to neutralize wraiths that have yet to possess a host, but if you find yourself in that kind of situation, I want you to drop whatever it is that you’re doing, abort the operation, get the hell out of dodge, and leave the possessed individual to the professionals.”

‘Professionals?’ Jason slouched in his seat, ‘Aw fuck, this club’s only the tip of another iceberg, ain’t it?’

“Okay,” Sal slowly nodded, “So, how do you expect us to neutralize hostless wraith’s then?”

Mr. Earl gave a quick tilt of the head, “Well, a wraith that has taken physical form will typically disguise itself as a small object, like a stuffed toy or a doll, so all you need to do there is just tag it, bag it, and burn it.”

“With what?”

“Any steel container will work. Just toss it in there with any kind of accelerant, strike a match, and boom. Bye-bye wraith. But be warned, that only works if they’re still weak and not yet ready to complete their lifecycle.”

“That’s fine and all, but how do we find them?” asked Bomber, “If they disguise themselves like you say they do...”

Mr. Earl smirked, “Glad you asked!” He walked back over to the table where the stack of books were, and picked up a peculiar looking device. The device looked to be just over a foot long, bent at a slight angle, with a cylindrical handle giving way to a rectangular box that seemed to have a display screen, and an antenna at the front. “Behold!” He proclaimed, “The Ethereal Energy Meter! Designed, in part, by yours truly, this little device can detect even the faintest traces of ethereal energy. She’ll practically glow in the dark if you put her in front of any disguised wraiths,” Mr. Earl placed the device back on the table, “Now, are there any other questions?”

The group looked around at each other, some with half-raised eyebrows, but it was clear they had no other questions to ask, “Excellent,” Mr. Earl clapped his hands together, “Now, one other thing before I leave you to your own devices, since this club is now predominantly comprised of new members, we’ll be undertaking some team-building exercises tomorrow, so if you could all show up here at around... noon, that’d be fantastic.” With that, Mr. Earl ducked back into his office, allowing Kara to come back out and sit with her friends.

“So, Kara,” Ciara addressed her cousin, “How come you didn’t mention that we’d get paid?”

“You never asked!”

“Y’know, Kara,” Sal butted in, “You could’ve used that as a selling point to get more people to sign-up if you were so worried about the club’s future.”

“Oh yeah,” Kara droned as though the thought had literally just came to her, “I guess you’re right!”

Ciara slapped a hand to her forehead and groaned.

----

The next day...

Leaning his head against the window, Jason watched as the scenery passed by. He was currently sitting in the back row of what he could only describe as being a bomb-shelter on wheels. Driving this six-wheeled monster was Mr. Earl, sitting in the navigator seat was Kara, in the row behind them was Bomber, Petra, and Ernest, and sitting in the very back with Jason was Sal and Ciara. And there were still two vacant seats. ‘Is this thing even street legal?’ He silently asked himself.

The sound of Sal’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, “So, Ciara.”

“Yeah?”

“How big a fan of mine is your cousin?”

Ciara raised an eyebrow, “You saw her turn into a jackhammer when she got your autograph, right?”

Sal blinked as he remembered what transpired on Thursday, “Okay, yeah, fair enough, but am I gonna have to, like, be ready for anything in case she asks me out?”

“Yeah, I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

A surprised look graced Sal’s face, “What? Why?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Sal, it has nothing to do with you, and I’m sure Kara would jump at the first chance to ask you out on a date, hell, she’d practically be over the moon about the fact that you’d be open to the idea of it, but she has reasons not to.”

“Such as?”

Ciara cast a glance ahead of them to make sure no one was eavesdropping, “Carter?”

Jason turned his head slightly, “Yeah?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

Jason pulled himself away from the window, “... Did you seriously just ask me that?”

“Right, anyways,” Ciara motioned for the two boys to lean in, “I’m gonna give it to you straight, Sal, the reason why Kara’s not gonna be asking you out anytime soon is because you’re her idol.”

“Since when has someone being an idol stopped them from getting asked out?” Jason quietly asked.

“Sal, you mentioned that James Denim’s your idol, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Mom and Uncle Casey kinda left some things out back on Thursday, mostly things that happened after Dad slew... well, slew my grandmother. Anyway, before all that stuff started, Aunt Sam was a huge fan of Jimmy’s, and now? Now they’re going through a divorce.”

Sal blinked, “So why did your Uncle mention he was his brother-in-law?.”

“He probably mentioned it in hopes that you would ask for something like an e-mail, phone number, home address, stuff like that.”

“Why?”

“Uncle Casey kinda hates Jimmy’s guts. Anything to put a thorn in Jimmy’s side, he’ll do it. That divorce is kind of a nasty one.”

“How nasty?” Jason inquired.

“The only reason the divorce hasn’t been finalized yet is because they absolutely cannot be in the same room as each other.”

Jason blinked, “Oh.”

Sal cringed, “Damn, that bad?”

“It started around the same time Travis and Auntie Kate were going through their divorce.”

“Wait, those two split as well?”

Ciara nodded, “Yeah, like I said, you guys got left in the dark on some things.”

“How bad was their divorce?”

“Well, let me put it this way, Aunt Sam and Uncle Erik both changed their last names from Earl to Landis, and Uncle Casey’s in the process of doing the same.”

Jason leaned back in his seat, “And here I thought stories with dark lords and brave heroes were supposed to have happy endings.”

Sal looked perturbed, “Well, it certainly sounds like Kara has her reasons.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, “You almost sound disappointed, Sal.”

“Maybe a little.”

Ciara was taken a little off guard, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on there. If my cousin were to actually ask you out, like right this minute, you’d actually say ‘yes’?”

“Is that a prob...”

“You barely even know her!” She quietly hissed.

“Isn’t that the point of a date, to get to know someone better?”

“Shut up, Carter,” Ciara quickly elbowed Jason before turning her attention back to Sal, “Why the heck would you be so ready and willing to go out on a date with my cousin?” She asked, “Doesn’t an athlete like you have a line of fangirls in wait?”

“Actually, no, I don’t,” Sal flatly stated.

“Oh come on, you’re a fucking star on the wrestling and hand-egg...”

“Football.”

“Whatever, the ball’s shaped like an egg and it’s mostly passed around by hand, that doesn’t matter, you’re the guy responsible for the athletics department’s turnaround,” Ciara poked his chest, “How the hell do you not have fangirls fawning all over you?”

“My reputation has kind of made me... unapproachable.”

“How so?” Jason questioned.

“Look, I may have been born in 2046, but I know who Hannibal Lector is, alright? ‘The Lecter of Amoca’ isn’t a freakin’ term of endearment.”

“2046?” Ciara blinked, “That would mean that you were...”

“Born the year before everything went absolutely apeshit with the arrival of The Visitor?” Sal finished for her, “Yeah, I know.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jason waved a hand, “I think we’re getting off-track here, who’s Hannibal Lecter?”

“A psychiatrist,” Ciara answered.

“Oh, so...”

“Who’s also a cannibal and a very awful, awful person in general,” she finished.

“Oh,” Jason turned his attention to Sal, “How the hell does a guy like you get slapped with a nickname like that?”

“I may have sent some guys from opposing teams off the field in stretchers,” Sal answered.

Jason gave a quick shake of the head, “And? The stretcher shit happens all the time in pro-football, I don’t see pros getting branded with nicknames like that.”

“And I also may have sent an asshole to the emergency room last year.”

“But how do you get nicknamed after a can... ni... bal...” Jason leaned back towards his window and blinked as the pieces fell together, “Did you...?”

Sal raised his hands in defense, “Hey, the jackass was trying to pull a sleeper hold on me, but wasn’t doing the move right at all. Had I not taken that chunk outta his arm, he probably would’ve killed me.”

“Oh yeeaaaah,” Ciara quietly droned, “I recall hearing about that, had no idea that was you, Sal.”

“You’re not freaked out by that?” Sal and Jason asked in unison.

“... Have you two met me?”

Jason’s face turned red in embarrassment while Sal sheepishly grinned and scratched the back of his head, “Yeah, good point.”

“How’d you not get expelled?” Jason quickly switched the discussion back to Sal.

“Footage from a security camera proved that I was acting in self-defense.”

“Oh, okay... But wait, if you were proven innocent, how the hell did you end up getting branded with that nickname?”

Jason and Ciara both stared at Sal for what seemed like forever until he finally cracked, “Alright, alright, there were other fights.”

“And?”

“And the guys who instigated these fights ended up having... accidents happen to them afterwards.”

“Accidents?” Jason parroted, “What kind of accidents?”

“Spills down the stairwell, falling off ladders, electrocutions, and this one guy somehow swallowed his own tongue.”

“So people think you’re a psychopath because a bunch of asshats got karma’d on?” Jason surmised.

Sal gave a quick nod, “Yeah, pretty much.”

“But, wait, you’ve got a bunch of friends, we all sit at the lunch table, so why’s Kara so special? You can’t be that unapproachable.”

“Jason,” Sal sighed, “I made friends with those guys before I got branded with that nickname, they knew the accusations were bullplop, you’re new here so you had absolutely no idea who I was, and Ciara probably couldn’t be less interested in school gossip even if she tried,” he tried to keep his voice down, “Kara’s the first person since then to actually have stars in her eyes upon meeting me in person. The first person since then to excitedly ask me for an autograph.” He turned his attention to Ciara, “Look, Ciara, you’re right, I don’t know a whole lot about your cousin, but just basing things on that first meeting alone, I get the feeling that I might just actually like her.” Sal closed his eyes, leaned back, and sighed again, “But who am I kidding, Jimmy Denim turning out to be a prick probably ruined my chances before I even knew I had any.”

Ciara was taken a little off-guard by the quiet outburst, and suddenly understood where Sal was coming from, “Hey, don’t worry, she’s just afraid that she’ll end up like Aunt Sam and have her heart broken,” she reassured, “Who knows, if you show that you’re absolutely nothing like Jimmy Denim, maybe she’ll open up and ask you out for that date,” Ciara nudged Sal in the ribs.

The vehicle then slowed to a stop at the opening of an open area. The familiar noise of the gears being shifted into park was quickly followed by Mr. Earl shutting the engine off. “Alright,” he exclaimed enthusiastically, “We’re here, everyone pile out and take a few moments to stretch.”

Climbing out of the bomb shelter on wheels last, Jason groaned as he felt some joints pop, “Ugh, how long were we on the road?”

“An hour and a half, at least,” Ciara quickly answered as she stretched her arms.

“That was a fast answer, how do you know?”

“The school’s half an hour away from the city, and you saw what weekend traffic’s like in Hellview so I don’t think I need to point out how long it took to get through the city, and we live about 10-15 minutes outside of the city.”

Jason stopped upon hearing that last part, “Wait, ‘we live’?”

“Huh? Yeah, this is Landis property. Remember that fork in the road on the way up here? Going right would’ve taken us to my house.”

“That must be nice,” Sal groaned as he leaned back, emitting a loud groan as he felt his back pop, “That monster is not meant to be ridden in for long periods of time.”

Ciara shrugged, “It’s the vehicle that the Seventh Volunteers used back when they were active, so of course Uncle Casey’s got some sentimental attachment to it.”

“Doesn’t mean he can’t spring for something more comfortable, though,” Jason replied.

“Hey, don’t be knockin’ my baby!” Mr. Earl’s voice shot back, “My brother and I spent nine months making her into what she is today!”

A familiar voice interrupted, “And yet neither of you sprung for anything comfier than what you put in there. Seriously, get something that doesn’t make you feel like you’re going to war each time you make a run to the grocery store, Aaron and I’ll gladly spring for it!”

Turning to see who the new arrival was, the group was taken a little off guard by who it was that was walking up to them. “Mom?” Ciara voiced her surprise.

Amy Landis saw her daughter amongst the group and smiled, “Oh hi, Ciara.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, y’know, just finishing setting up the playing field.”

“Playing field?”

“So it’s set up like it was when we were younger, yeah?” Casey asked.

“Don’t worry, Case, Aaron helped a little,” she responded, only to receive a scrutinizing stare, forcing her to relent, “Okay, so he helped a lot.”

Blinking, Ciara gave a slight tilt of her head, “Dad’s here?”

Amy gave an apologetic look, “Sorry, sweetie, but you missed him. He had to make a run into town and left 10 minutes ago.”

“Oh... okay,” Ciara frowned and cast a glance downwards, silently damning the traffic they had encountered on the way here.

Jason blinked; catching that Ciara hadn’t made an issue about being called ‘sweetie’ in public, ‘Is she okay?’

“Uh, Mrs. Landis?” Jason was snapped from his thoughts by Sal’s voice, “What are you wearing?” Taking a second look at Ciara’s mother, Jason noticed that she was wearing some sort of armor plating over her clothing, “And what did you mean by ‘playing field’?”

Amy raised an eyebrow, “Didn’t Casey tell you guys ahead of time?”

“All we were told was that this was gonna be some sort of ‘team-building’ exercise,” Bomber answered.

Turning her head, Amy directed a flat scowl towards Casey, “Seriously? You didn’t tell them what they were going to be doing out here?”

“Wha-wha-wha- wel- well well well...” Casey stammered as he realized that he indeed neglected to inform the club just what they were going to be doing before hauling them out here.

Amy facepalmed. “Ugh, you are the worst assistant ever,” she groaned, much to the surprise to the club members, “Anyway, kids, long story short, the team-building exercise is paintball.”

“PAINTBALL?!” The group shouted in unison.

Amy then unslung the rather authentic looking paintball gun she somehow had hidden behind her back, “Now, who knows how to use a gun?”

NSZ · Post by **NSZ** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 9:25 am

Chapter Six:
Razors Out

Jason once again inspected his armor. The sunlight that managed to break through the thick canopy was practically reflecting off of its cobalt blue color. Minor indentations were strewn about, as were some scuff marks indicating previous use at some point in the past. He wondered who it could have previously belonged to.

“Checking out that armor of yours again?”

“Huh?” Jason snapped out of his thoughts to see that Sal was talking to him, “Yeah, I’m just used to wearing nothing but normal jackets, actually having armor feels a little weird.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel,” Sal then tapped his helmet, “These helmets feel a bit awkward as well.”

“Right? Can’t breathe too heavily else the visor fogs up.”

“Why do we even need helmets anyway?” Sal asked, “Masks I can understand, but a full on helmet?”

“Hey, Mr. Earl,” Bomber called forward, “Remind us what the strategy is again?”

The club had been split into two groups, girls against boys. Mr. Earl’s armor was red, Bomber’s was orange, Sal’s was steel, and Ernest’s was your everyday, standard, ordinary blue. “It’s simple,” Mr. Earl answered, “It’s nothing more than a game of Search & Destroy, find the enemy and wipe ‘em out.”

“So whose bright idea was it to set this up in a manner that allows the defending team to have the high ground?” Jason questioned, “Kinda puts us at an extreme disadvantage, even if we have an extra body.”

Bomber gave a quick look back and shrugged, “Hey, the Chinese managed to nearly wipe out the Sixth Volunteers on Bunkerhead, so you never know.”

“Uh, Bunkerhead?”

“It was the hill where the Sixth Volunteers set up their home-base,” Sal answered, “And it wasn’t the Chinese, Bomber, it was the OS,” he corrected, “And the difference between us and the OS, aside from having wildly different moral standards, is that they had armor and air support. What have we got? Four guys and an Ernest.”

“Hey!”

“Ernest, you looked down the muzzle of your gun, I’m allowed to take a potshot.”

“How many people were on the Sixth Volunteers?” Jason asked, wondering why armor and air support was needed.

“At the time of the massacre?” Sal rhetorically asked, “There were about 25 people.”

“They were short one person,” Ernest added, “And that one person could have made all the difference in the world.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, “Who were they missing?”

“Jesse Burnside,” Ernest answered, “If he hadn’t gone MIA, there’s no doubt that not only would the Sixth Volunteers not have experienced the losses they did, but they would’ve won as well.”

“How many of them died?”

“Out of the 25 present members of the Sixth Volunteers, only 5 survived the night,” Ernest replied, “There’s a reason why the battle is referred to as the Bunkerhead Massacre.”

Jason stumbled on a branch, “How the heck could one person prevent something like that?”

“Well, y’see,” Ernest started, “Jesse Burnside was a little special.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He was a pyromancer.”

“... I’m sorry, what?”

“A pyromancer, someone who can create and control fire,” Ernest clarified.

“And this guy didn’t single handedly bring the war to an end because...?”

“Because, according to testimonies written by the surviving five, Jesse absolutely did not like to use his powers,” Ernest answered, “In fact, I don’t think he ever used his powers during the war.”

“So how’d they know he was a pyromancer?”

“Pyromancers all have one thing in common that makes them easy to identify, they all have black hair and amber eyes.”

“Alright, cut the chit-chat back there,” Mr. Earl called back, “We’re right outside enemy territory, don’t want announce our presence, do ya?” As he approached a large sandbag barrier, Casey crouched and slowed his pace, motioning for the others to crouch and hold their positions as well. As soon as he was situated right up against it, he quickly peeked over the top, checking to make sure the coast was clear and that the girls had not yet reached this point. Determining it was safe, he quickly ducked back down, “Alright, fall in.”

Quickly the four moved up to Mr. Earl’s position, lining up and taking up positions along the barrier behind him. “Alright, the area ahead looks to be clear, so here’s the plan,” Mr. Earl started, “There’s a wall up ahead. If I had to guess, I’d say about 50 feet away. I’m gonna go first, and you guys are gonna wait until I give you the okay to move up, got it?” Getting his answer in the form of nods, Mr. Earl continued, “Okay, so this is gonna be the order: Sal, you come up first, followed by Bomber, then you, Jason, and then lastly Ernest.”

“Why am I last?”

“Because you’ve been stomping your feet around as though this was the Riverdance,” Mr. Earl gave another quick peek over the barrier to double-check, and quickly ducked back down, “Okay, here we go. Wish me luck,” he slapped Sal on the shoulder before quickly running out into the open and moved for the wall, with the quartet of boys peeking over the barrier to watch...

Five...

Ten...

Fifteen...

Twenty...

Twenty-Five...

Thirty...

Totally unaware that he was in someone’s scope the moment he broke cover.

BRAK!

THWAK!

The sound of a paint pellet impact sharply echoed throughout the area, and Mr. Earl spun having been knocked off balance before hitting the ground.

“SON OF A BITCH!” The quartet exclaimed in unison.

“SNIPER! GET DOWN!” Ordered Sal, pulling down Bomber as he himself ducked.

“Fuck, man, Mr. Earl just got picked off like it was nothing!”

“I know, Bomber, I saw. Keep your shirt on,” Sal said slightly annoyed, and leaned over to peek around the side of the barrier. He saw Mr. Earl getting back on his feet, and saw a massive paint splotch on his right shoulder. He was out, no doubt about it.

After picking up his weapon, Casey took off his helmet; a dejected look was plastered across his face. “Boys,” he called out, “Avenge me! Aveeeeeeeeeenge me!”

Sal watched Mr. Earl march back towards the shack where they all geared up at, and thought what he said was rather odd, ‘Was that a movie quote or something?’

“What do we do, Sal?” Bomber asked him.

“Why are you asking me?”

“Because you’re the one in charge now.”

“Says who?”

“You, the moment you ordered us all to hit the deck.”

“... Oh, right,” Sal paused, “Anyway, I got nothin’ right now, why don’t you ask Jay for ideas?”

“Iiiiiiiiiiiii can’t,” Bomber said in embarrassment.

“What do you mean “you can’t”?”

“I can’t ask him.”

“Why not?”

“Because Jason’s not here.”

“Oh, okay,” it took Sal a few seconds for what Bomber said to truly register in his brain, “WAIT, WHAT?” Quickly spinning around, Sal saw that Jason was indeed no longer present, “Ernest!”

Ernest perked up, “Yes?”

“Where’s Jay?”

Ernest shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“When did he leave?”

“I don’t know!”

Bomber slowly turned to face Ernest, while Sal simply sat there and stared at him, “You don- What do you mean you don’t know? He was in front of you, how can you not know when he left or where he went???”

“Ernest, I swear to god, when the time comes, I am using you as a meat shield.”

The three boy’s attention was quickly drawn to the sound of their radios crackling to life as Jason’s voice emanated from the devices, “Hey, Sal, you copy?”

Grabbing his radio, Sal nearly smashed it against his helmet as he hurriedly pulled it up to his head, “Jay? Where the hell are you?”

“About 20 feet right of your position, and maybe 10... 15 feet forward. Don’t poke your head up, though, she’ll probably pick you off.”

Stopping himself from peeking just as Jason was warning him not to, Sal sighed, “You got a position on the sniper?”

“Nope, but I know how we can get it.”

“You got a plan?”

“Damn straight.”

Sal paused and gave a glance to Bomber and Ernest, “Alright, let’s hear it.”

“I left my helmet over there by you guys, you see it?”

“... You ditched your helmet?”

“Do you see it?” Jason repeated.

Slightly pushing Bomber aside, Sal saw that Jason’s helmet was indeed sitting there on the ground, “Yeah, I see it.”

“Any big branches laying around close by?”

“Uh, hold on,” Sal scanned the area, spotting a particularly long, thick branch at the opposite end of the barrier. Snapping his fingers, Sal motioned for the branch to be passed over to him, “Yeah, got one.”

“Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do,” Jason stated calmly, “You’re gonna put my helmet on the stick, raise it up, and let her shoot it, but don’t raise it up so high that’ll make the bait obvious. From that I’ll hopefully be able to get her position.”

“Got it,” Sal sat the radio down, “Bomber, hand me the helmet.” Taking the helmet into his possession, Sal did as Jason instructed and placed the helmet on the stick. As he readied himself to raise the helmeted stick, he picked up his radio again, “Okay, Jay, keep your eyes peeled. Since you came up with this plan, you should know that we’re only gonna have one shot at this.”

“Let her fly.”

Carefully, Sal raised the stick and waited.

BRAK!

Sal flinched, but realized that the sound of impact never occurred. ‘No impact? She missed?’

BRAK!

THWAK!

The stick was jerked out of Sal’s hand. “Please tell me you got her position, Jay?” Sal spoke into the radio.

“Beautiful work, Sal, I got a visual of the sniper nest.”

“Damn well better have,” Sal mumbled under his breathe.

“Now comes the fun part.”

“The “fun part”?” Bomber questioned, “Oh, I do not like the sound of that.”

“Who’s got those paint bombs?”

Bomber groaned as he lifted his radio, “That would be me.”

“Okay, Bomber, you’re gonna be working your way over to me. Be sure to keep your body flat to the ground, though, else risk getting spotted.”

“What have you got in mind, Jay?”

“Hate to be a ball-buster, but we’re gonna need live bait this time around. Someone to run decoy. Someone that’s loud, obnoxious, and presents an obvious target, yet hard to hit. When the decoy makes a run for it, Bomber’s gonna live up to his nickname, and bomb the shit out of Little Miss Sniper. Let me know when you’re ready.”

“A decoy that’s loud, obnoxious, and an obvious target?” Bomber quietly repeated, “Where are we gonna find something like that?”

CRUNCH!

Both Sal and Bomber flinched thinking they had just been shot at but realized it wasn’t the case at all, as the sound seemed to originate from right beside them. The two slowly turned their heads to see Ernest snacking away on a bag of chips. “Bomber, you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

“Yeah,” Bomber nodded, “Where’d he get the bag of chips?”

Sal paused for a moment before shaking his head. “You better get moving,” he told Bomber while giving him a quick pat on the shoulder.

“Right, wish me luck,” Bomber gave a half-hearted salute before crawling off.

Setting his bag of chips aside, Ernest watched in confusion as Bomber slowly left, “Uh, where’s he going?”

“Ernest, how fast can you run?”

“Pretty fast, why?” Ernest soon himself crouched at the edge of the barrier, waiting for the order to break cover and make a run for the wall that Mr. Earl had failed to reach, “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Don’t forget to run in a serpentine pattern and be sure to scream in order to gain her attention.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

Sal chuckled and raised his radio, “We’re ready over here.”

Twenty feet away from Sal and Ernest’s position, Jason picked up his radio and acknowledged Sal’s transmission, “Good, now let’s hope this goes off without a hitch.” Placing his radio back down, Jason turned to face Bomber, “Well, they’re ready, how ‘bout you?”

“Can we go over where the sniper nest is again?” Bomber asked.

Jason nodded and pointed in the direction that Bomber would be running, “Y’see that overly dark patch of leaves that stick out like a sore thumb once you actually pay attention to them? That’s where she is.”

Seeing where Jason was pointing, Bomber saw just how high up the platform was, “I have to toss a paint bomb up there?”

“What, can’t you do it?”

“Oh, no, I can do it, it’s just that these things have more than a little weight to them. Toss it too early after pulling the pin and our sniper friend will probably have enough time to bail out after hearing the ‘thunk’ it’ll make after landing.”

“Soooo, you’re ready, right?”

“Yeah, I’m ready, let’s get this show on the road.”

“Excellent,” Jason picked his radio back up, “Alright, we’re all ready over here. On my signal, send that decoy running.” Jason paused and sighed to ease the tension building up inside of him, “3... 2... 1... Now!”

Jason and Bomber turned to see the brightly armored Ernest run out from hiding screaming like a madman.

BRAK!

Missed.

BRAK!

Missed.

BRAK!

Missed.

BRAK!

Missed.

“GRRRR, DAMN IT, HOLD STILL!” an unhelmeted Petra shouted as she suddenly stood up, tearing away the camouflage, and continued firing at Ernest.

“... Okay, this is going way better than I was expecting,” Jason slapped Bomber on the back, “Now’s your chance, she’s distracted, go!”

Bomber broke out into a run towards the tower, never taking an eye off Petra just in case he got caught within her peripheral vision. He’d have to thank Ernest for playing the role of a living target later. He continued to haul ass until he was right up against the tower, where he took the opportunity to catch his breath. Bomber gazed upwards, slowly backing away from the structure. Petra was up there, still firing away at Ernest. She must’ve reloaded her weapon at some point if she was still firing.

Grasping a paint bomb from his belt, Bomber lightly tossed the object up and down. A smirk grew on his face as he pulled the pin, and drew his arm back, readying himself to toss the harmless device. With a minor grunt, he launched the bomb up onto the platform, where the thunk was thankfully masked by Petra’s continuous fire, which gave Bomber some pause, ‘Geez Louise, Ernest still hasn’t gotten hit?’ As he began running back to where Jason was, he cast a glance over to where Ernest would be, he saw that the boy wasn’t running for the wall at all, but was instead running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Slapping a hand to his forehead, Bomber shook his head, ‘Well, it’s not what he was told to do, but it got the job done.’

POOMF!

A cloud of purple smoke suddenly erupted from the top of the sniper perch. Petra’s orchid armor was now coated a dark purple, and since she wasn’t wearing her helmet, well, it kinda goes without saying. “Dang it!”

“Sorry, Petra!”

“You better hope this stuff washes out, Bomber!”

----

Amy Landis lowered her binoculars, and sighed, “Well, Petra’s out.”

“Told ya you shouldn’t have put her out there by herself,” her daughter called up to her.

Amy sighed before dropping down from the tree branch she was perched on. Her teal armor glowed in the sunlight, a sharp contrast to the armor her daughter was wearing, a deep black that seemed to absorb all light that touched it. Neither mother or daughter bothered to comment on how fitting it was. “Alright, alright, you were right and I was wrong,” Amy relented as she straightened out.

“See, was that so hard to admit?”

“You’ll understand the pain when you have kids of your own,” Amy grinned.

“If! If, dammit, if!” Ciara quickly corrected her mother.

Amy stifled a laugh and ruffled her daughter’s hair, “You’re so easy to tease.”

“Mooooom,” Ciara swiftly yanked her mother’s hand off her head, “Please, I’m in high-school now.”

“Just my way of letting you know that I love you, sweetie,” Amy pulled her daughter in for a hug.

“Ugh, what would your teenage self think if she saw you like this?”

“ Sweetie, if my teenage self saw me like this, she’d be celebrating over Mother’s failure,” she smirked, “Getting a new lease on life tends to change one’s outlook on the world, you know.”

“You sure it’s not just because you wanna be a better mother than yours was?” Ciara absentmindedly let slip, causing her to immediately wince.

Amy released the hug and frowned.

“Mom, I... that was a stupid thing for me to say, I’m sorry,” Ciara apologized, “I know you only want what’s best for me, for me to have what you didn’t, but sometimes... I don’t know. I don’t know how to put it into words.”

Amy’s smile returned, “It’s called being a teenager. It’s natural to feel the need to rebel against your parents,” she reassured her daughter, “Just, promise me you won’t go to the lengths I tried going.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I think you’re an awesome mom,” Ciara offered.

“It does, actually,” Amy pulled Ciara in for another hug, Ciara grunting in surprise, “Still gonna dote on you though.”

A smile grew on Ciara’s face unseen, ‘Wouldn’t have it any other way.’

In an act of moment ruining, the radio then sprung to life with the sound of Kara’s voice, “Snow Bunny to Wicked Witch, over.”

Sighing, Amy once again broke the hug and grabbed her radio, ignoring her daughter’s attempt to refrain from laughing at the mention of ‘Wicked Witch’, “Kara, I thought we agreed no codenames?”

“Awwwwwww, but it adds to the experience!... Over.”

Amy shook her head and rolled her eyes, “Is there a reason you’re radioing in?”

“I’ve got four little piggies working their way up to me. What are your orders, over?”

“Do you really need me to tell you what to do? Wait for them to get close enough and rain hell on them, got it?”

“Roger, roger! Snow Bunny out.”

“Think we should head down there?” Ciara asked.

“I’m sure Kara can handle herself, sweetie.”

“Actually, I’m more worried about the guys. You know how Kara gets.”

----

Jason wiped the sweat off his brow. It had been 15 minutes since they had dealt with Petra. 15 minutes of trekking uphill on an Amocan afternoon while in gear. Jason was suddenly feeling very glad that he didn’t bother reclaiming his helmet. He groaned, “Ugh, why’s it gotta be so damn warm?”

“At least we’re in the shade,” Sal told him, “I’d probably be downed by heat exhaustion if we were doing this out in the open.”

Jason nodded, “Hey, you got any water on ya?”

Sal raised an eyebrow, “What’s wrong with your canteen?”

“Accidentally popped it open when I was crawling away to that vantage point of mine,” Jason sheepishly grinned.

Sal rolled his eyes and handed his canteen over to Jason, “Be sure to leave some for me, a’ight? Don’t be a damn fish.” As Jason took a quick swig, Sal gave a quick scan of the area to make sure it was still safe.

“Y’know, I never took Petra for the sniper type,” said Bomber, breaking the relative silence.

“Why not? She’s quiet enough,” Ernest quipped.

“Clearly you’re not part of her circle of friends.”

“What, you mean she chooses to be the silent type?” Sal asked.

“I saw her be pretty chatty with Erin back on... Wednesday, was it?” Jason added.

“We’ve only been in school for a week, how can you not be sure?” Bomber inquired.

Jason gave him a flat stare, “I’ve kinda had other more important things on my mind.”

“Like what?”

KR-CHK!

Everyone froze as the sound registered in their minds.

“SHIT!”

“FUCK!”

“MOVE!”

“Huh?”

BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK!!

Sal dove to the left, while Jason and Bomber dove to the right, all three taking cover behind the safety of exposed boulders, narrowly avoiding the barrage of paintballs that rained down towards them. Ernest however...

THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK-THWAK!!

Ernesth never knew what hit him as multiple color splotches suddenly sprang up all over his body. He was practically coated in multiple layers of paint before the force of the rapid impacts knocked him down on his back. His falling did not bring an end to the firing, however.

BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK!!

“Son of a bitch!” Sal yelled.

“REALLY? A MACHINE-GUN?!” Bomber screamed over the continued fire.

“I guess the Landises take paintball very seriously!” Sal screamed in reply.

“A MACHINE-GUN?!”

“You see what it did to Ernest?” Jason called over to Sal.

“Yeah, turned him into a piece of Modern Art!” Sal hollered with a laugh.

“SNIPERS, I GET! PAINT BOMBS, I CAN UNDERSTAND! BUT A FUCKING MACHINE-GUN?!”

“BOMBER, WE GET IT, IT’S A MACHINE-GUN, MY GOD!” Sal threw a stick at his teammate to silence him. It suddenly became quiet, but Sal wasn’t willing to risk poking his head out to check if the coast was clear. They were in a bad spot, pinned down, no doubt about it. He had to come up with something quick, and then he heard the sound of the machine-gun being quickly reloaded, and the firing resumed.

BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK!!

Sal smirked, “Alright, listen!” He called over to his surviving two comrades, “The next time she reloads, scatter!”

“What?!” Jason yelled incredulously.

“She’s trying to keep us pinned here long enough for her teammates to arrive!” Sal explained, “If that happens, we’re done for! So again, next reload, every man for himself, got it?”

“Got it!”

“Bomber?”

“YEAH, I GOT IT, FUCK!”

BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK!!

The forest grew quiet again, this was it. “NOW!” Sal yelled as he and the two others bailed from their respective spots of cover and high-tailed it out of the weapon’s firing area.

Kara frowned at the sight of the boys taking advantage of her reloading the machine gun to make a break for it, ‘Well, that’s not very nice,’ she thought to herself, ‘Now I have to hunt them down.’ Picking up her radio, Kara called Amy, “Snow Bunny to Wicked Witch, over.”

“What is it now, Kara?” Amy’s voice replied.

“One piggy down, three piggies escaped. Beginning pursuit of one of the piggies now, over.”

“Thanks for the update Kara, and good luck with that,” Amy responded, “And, Kara, try not to traumatize whomever it is you’re chasing after, okay?”

“Roger, roger! Snow Bunny out,” Kara put her radio away and climbed out of the pit. Glancing to the left, and then to the right, she pondered which of the boys she’d track down. Glancing back towards her right, she smirked, and skipped off in the direction that Sal went, humming as she did so.

----

‘Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!’ Bomber screamed internally as he continued running. He had no idea where Jason disappeared to. Sure, Sal said every man for himself, but that didn’t mean they actually had to follow that particular order. Logically, he should’ve dropped everything and run back to the base shack, but nope, here he was, continuing to move forwards.

He called out, “Jason?” This was admittedly not one of his finer moments.

All this running was exhausting, and it sure as hell didn’t help that he was running uphill. No wonder he was breathing so heavily. Wait, shit, he was breathing heavily! His visor was beginning to fog up! Slowing down to a walk, he struggled to get his helmet off so his vision could remain unhindered. And then Bomber felt something get caught between his legs, “WHOAH!” Tumbling down a small embankment, he felt his helmet fly off and his weapons leave him. As he slowly stood back up, he shook off the dizziness as he tried to regain his sense of direction, only to realize the embankment he tumbled down had a twin, and he had no idea which side he came in from, “Crap.”

“Well, well, well,” he heard a familiar voice call from above, “What do we have here?” Looking up to his right, Bomber saw Ciara standing at the top of the embankment, “This must be my lucky day.” Sliding down the embankment, Ciara began slowly advancing on Bomber with a menacing glint in her eye.

“Stay back,” Bomber pointed a trembling finger, “Or else I’ll... I’ll...”

“You’ll what?” Ciara smirked, “You’re unarmed, Bomber. You’ve got nothing.”

Bomber saw something out of the corner of his eye. His gun? Making a quick grab for the object, and with a confident smirk pulled it up and aimed it at Ciara.

Ciara didn’t seem phased at all, “Pfffffffffffffft, AHAHAHAHAHA!”

“What’s so funny? People aren’t supposed to laugh when they have a gun pointed at them.”

“Might want to double-check your “gun” there, Rambo, AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Confused, Bomber cast a glance downwards to see what Ciara was talking about. ‘.............’ His confident smile instantly deflated when he saw that the object in his hands wasn’t his weapon at all. It was a safety cone. And based on the state of it, it was also the object that caused him to go tumbling in the first place.

Ciara’s laughter died down, “Oooo, right, now, where were we?” Ciara rhetorically asked, “Oh, right, your elimination.”

“Uhhh,” Bomber’s whole body began trembling, and in his panic he did the first thing that came to his mind, he swung the cone, hitting Ciara across the head... An act he immediately regretted, ‘OH GOD NO WAIT I DIDN’T WANT TO DO THAT! DO-OVER! DO-OVER!’ A look of absolute murderous intent spread upon Ciara’s face as she turned her head back to face Bomber. It was in that moment that Bomber knew he was done for. As Ciara reached over to grab him, he slowly backed away and held up the cone in a defensive manner, “Protect me, cone!”

----

The sound of a soft explosion followed by one of the most unmanliest screams to have ever been screamed echoed throughout the forest, much to the concern of Mrs. Landis. Casting a cautionary glance to her surroundings, she lifted up her radio, “Whose scream was that?”

“Snow Bunny to Wicked Witch, can confirm that the scream did not originate from either myself or my target, over.”

Amy’s eye twitched at her niece’s insistence on giving her the ‘Wicked Witch’ call-sign.

Ciara’s voice followed, and from the sound of it she was having difficulties trying to suppress a laugh, “Wasn’t me, but I can’t say the same for my target.”

Amy sighed, “What’d you do?”

“Nothing that can be proven in a court of law.”

Kara’s voice then popped back in, “See? That’s what I’m talking about when I say that you scare people! Over.”

“Oh, what do you know!”

The sound of a branch snapping drew Amy’s attention. Swiftly crouching, she turned her radio off and slowly began to make her way over to the sound’s source. Peeking from behind a tree, Amy spied Jason slowly progressing his way through the forest. Clearly, the previous two ambushes have placed him on high alert. Carefully, she unslung her weapon and aimed at the boy...

BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK!

Jason ducked as he ran to avoid Mrs. Landis’ fire. “C’mon, Jason,” she called out, while reloading, “Just hold still and we can call it a day!”

“Nope,” he called back, “Not gonna happen!”

“You’re only making this more difficult for yourself!”

“Joke’s on you, I like a good challenge!” Jason boasted, continuing to evade shots. Twenty feet ahead of him looked to be a fake village. If he could get to it...

BRAK-BRAK-BRAK-BRAK!

Multiple paint pellets smacked into the tree he was taking cover behind, causing Jason to return fire out of reflex.

“Putting up a fight now?” Amy ducked behind a tree, “Oh, if only you applied this kinda effort into the dodgeball games!”

Jason gave an exasperated sigh, ‘Low blow.’ He darted from his cover, laying down a suppressing fire for himself as he rushed towards the fake village.

Amy growled in frustration, ‘This should’ve been easy. What gives?’ Chasing after Jason, she focused on closing the distance between them first, and shooting him second. Seeing Jason reach the fake village’s border and duck behind a wall made her growl in frustration again, “DAMMIT!” To her surprise, though, Jason held his weapon out and began to fire blindly in Amy’s general direction, forcing her to dive and crawl up to the very same wall Jason was using for cover for the same purpose. “I don’t suppose I can talk you into surrendering, can I?” Amy offered her surprisingly competent adversary once the firing stopped.

“You guys take this game way too seriously!”

“What can I say, we in the Seventh Volunteers bonded over this game.”

“I’m not even referring to you! You’re comparatively normal to Cold Sniper Petra and whoever the hell that was on the machine-gun. The person manning that thing turned Ernest into an abstract painting!”

“... Okay, so Kara does tend to take this game a little more seriously than others, I’ll admit.”

“THAT WAS KARA?!”

“You sure I can’t talk you into surrendering?” Amy offered again, with no reply this time. “Jason?” She called out. Throwing caution to the wind, she slowly moved to the opposite side of the wall. To her surprise, Jason was gone, “Dammit,” she groaned, “Don’t tell me I lost him?” Glancing downwards, she noticed that his weapon was lying there on the ground, “Now why would he ditch his weapon?”

“Probably because I ran out of ammo for it,” Jason answered. Swiftly turning her head towards the source of the voice, Amy saw Jason standing atop the wall, brandishing his sidearm. He smirked, “A little trick I picked up from my friends back in Arizona.”

Amy smiled and resigned herself to what was about to happen, “Well, shit.”

----

Sal leaned against a tree in an effort to catch his breath and wiped the sweat from his brow. It had been 10-15 minutes since he last saw Bomber and Jason, since hauling ass away from the machine-gun nest, and a good 5 minutes since ditching his helmet. He really hoped the Landises didn’t care about what happened to the helmets, because he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to remember where it was that he dropped it. He cast a cautionary glance around the surrounding area. Sure, he knew he was well out of range of that machine-gun, but for the past few minutes he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched.

‘Ah, fuck it,’ Sal internally groaned and pulled himself away from the tree, and turned to face the direction he came from, “Alright,” he called out, “Come on out, show yourself.”

The giggling he received in reply made the hair on the back of his neck raise, “Now why would I want to do that?”

‘Behind me?!’ Sal spun around to come face to face with... ‘Nothing? How can there be nothing?! She sounded as though she was right next to me!’ Sal blinked, ‘Wait, who am I fighting here anyway? Think, Sal, think... Okay, You can immediately rule out Petra because she was eliminated by way of Bomber living up to his nickname... Sounded a little more high-pitched than Ciara, so it couldn’t’ve been her... not to mention, I don’t think she’s the giggling type, so that definitely rules her out... Mrs. Landis?’ He thought about the possibility over for a moment, ‘Nah, she’s not that higher pitched than her daughter... Wait,’ Sal paused as the realization hit him, ‘That just leaves...’ “Kara?” He audibly finished.

“~Hiiiiiii, Saaaaaal~!”

Sal flinched as he felt the hairs on his neck stand up again, “Real cute, Kara, now where are ya?”

“Now why would I tell you that?” Sal spun around again, again coming face to face with nothing. It just didn’t make sense! It sounded as though she was right on top of him, and yet she was nowhere to be seen, “I think it’s much more fun watching you figure this out for yourself!”

Sal was beginning to feel like a slab of meat tossed into a predator’s enclosure, ‘Oh great, she can see me, but I can’t see her? So fucking help me, if she somehow has armor that makes her invisible...’ Sal felt the urge to scream in frustration.

“It would’ve been so much easier for you if you just stayed in my line of fire back there at the pass, but now we get to have fun, isn’t it great!”

‘That was her manning the machine-gun!?’ Sal grimaced as he continued to glance around, ‘Boy, Sal, you sure know how to pick ‘em.’

“C’mon, you haven’t found me yet?” Kara goaded with a disappointed tone, “You’re supposed to be smarter than this!”

Call it weird, but Sal couldn’t help but feel hurt, ‘She’s right, I am supposed to be smarter than this. Think, Sal, think, where could she be? She’s not behind you, beside you, or in front of you. That just leaves...’ Sal wanted to kick his own ass right then and there for overlooking the obvious, “ABOVE!” He cried out as he dove forward, twisting himself around to see that Kara was indeed perched on a relatively low-hanging branch.

“Yay, you figured it out!” Kara cheered, keeping her balance on the tree limb, “Now, you’re probably wondering ‘Why didn’t she shoot me when she had the chance?’”

Sal blinked, “Actually, now that you mention it, why didn’t you shoot me when you had the chance?”

Kara maintained her smile, “Well, you see, the answer to this is very simple!”

Sal waited for Kara to deliver her answer, but was confused when the answer never came, “And that answer is...?”

Kara dropped down from the branch, and raised up her arms in a dramatic manner, “It’s more fun this way!” Sal felt an eye twitch as he resisted the urge to empty the magazine on her then and there, “Oh come on, you gotta admit that this’ll end up being way more memorable than me simply shooting you in the back.”

“I’m not sure how to react to that,” Sal then noticed something rather peculiar, “Wait, where’s your gun?”

Kara blinked, “My gun?” She went to grab her primary weapon she thought she had slung on her shoulders, only to discover that it wasn’t there, “Hehe, whoops,” she sheepishly grinned, “Must’ve left it back at the foxhole!”

‘What is this girl I don’t even...’ He then noticed the empty holster where the sidearm should be, “Don’t tell me you left your pistol back there as well?”

Kara looked down at the vacant holster, “Oh hey, wow, would you look at that?”

‘Kara, please...’ Sal pinched the bridge of his nose before getting back on his feet. “Okay, look,” he walked up to Kara and placed a hand on her shoulder, “I don’t feel right about shooting an opponent that’s unarmed, so tell you what, I’ll let you run back to that little foxhole of yours, retrieve your weapons and come back so we can do this properly, how’s that sound?”

Kara tilted her head to the right, “Now why would I wanna do that when I’ve got you right where I want you?”

“Huh?” Sal blinked.

“Oh, come on,” she then tilted her head to the left and smirked, “Do you really think I’d actually forget my stuff back at the foxhole?” Noticing that Kara was making slight nodding gestures towards the tree she just dropped from, Sal cast a glance up to the branch she had been perched on and froze. Leaning against the trunk was Kara’s primary, with her pistol lying beside it. “Like I said, Sal,” Kara raised up a hand, letting Sal take notice of the grenade pin that was on her index finger, “This way’s a lot more memorable than me simply shooting you in the back.”

The look on Sal’s face was one of shock, “Okay, I’m not even mad, that’s impressive.”

POOMF!

----

Jason paid no conscious mind to the faint distant sound of a paint bomb going off, but in the back of his mind, he knew he was the only member of his team left, and the only thing he had on him was a pistol with a mere four pellets remaining. Maybe if there wasn’t a stupid rule about taking a downed combatant’s equipment, he’d feel a little bit safer, but as it stands, things weren’t looking up for him. But hey, maybe he’d get lucky? Jason internally scoffed at the notion, ‘Yeah, right, and maybe my birth parents are still alive.’

“I take it since I can’t raise my mom or cousin on the radio that it’s down to just the two of us, eh?” Ciara’s voice came from behind him.

Sighing, Jason turned to face her, “I guess so,” Jason held up his sidearm, “I’m down to just this pistol, how ‘bout you?”

Ciara patted her sidearm, “Same, but I get the feeling that mine at least has the benefit of having a full mag.”

“You’d be right,” Jason admitted, regretting his choice in shooting Mrs. Landis twice.

“So, who’d you eliminate?”

“Your mother,” Jason quickly replied.

“Heh, not everyday you hear that phrase in that context.”

“Who’d you eliminate?”

“Bomber,” she replied casually.

“Was that who was screaming earlier?”

“Yep.”

“What’d you do to him?”

“I kinda scared him into backing up onto a paint mine, which kinda spooked him into running into a booby trap... And I might’ve used up all the ammo for my primary gun on him out of anger.”

Jason blinked, “Okaaaaaay... So how do you wanna do this?”

Ciara thought it over for a good few moments, before a devilish smirk graced her features, “Oh, I’ve got an idea.”

“Oh yeah, wha- HEY!“ Jason immediately shut up the moment Ciara charged towards him. He raised his pistol, firing off two shots that missed as Ciara ducked down.

Now standing facing to face, Ciara grabbed Jason by the wrist, forcing him to aim straight up as he spent his final two rounds, “Looks like you’re out of ammo!”

“That’s cheap!”

Ciara snickered, bringing Jason’s arms down, using them as leverage to swiftly lift herself up. Planting a foot on his chest, Ciara let go of his arms and kicked off, knocking Jason slightly back as she backflipped away from him.

Jason was understandably a wee bit flabbergasted, “DID YOU JUST FUCKING DO A FLIP OFF OF ME?!”

“What’s the matter, Carter? Afraid of getting a little... physical?”

“With you? Yes.”

Ciara feigned being hurt by Jason’s answer, “Oh, you wound me, Carter. Now why don’t you be a good little boy and hold still.” She went for her sidearm, but Jason was already mimicking Ciara’s prior action by rushing towards her. She didn’t get a single shot off, as the gun wound up getting knocked out of her grasp, much to her shock and surprise, “Hey, you actually kicked the gun out of my hands!”

Jason’s eyes widened as his brain properly registered that he did indeed just kick Ciara, “Uhhh... Hey!” He dove after Ciara as she moved to retrieve her weapon. She had just grabbed a hold of it, when he practically landed on top of her, his hand taking grasp of the weapon as well, “Oh no you don’t!”

“Dammit, get off!”

“Nope!”

“Let go!”

“Nu-uh!”

“My god, how old are you?” Ciara growled. She then lifted herself, as well as Jason, up off the ground with minimal effort. Throwing her arms back, she swiftly bent over as she brought them forward again, sending Jason over and onto his back. And yet he still had a hold on the pistol, ‘Persistent...’ Ciara felt her finger on the trigger and tried her luck.

BRAK! BRAK! –

“WATCH where you’re aiming that thing!” Jason shouted as the shots came dangerously close to hitting a rather sensitive area, “That area’s not exactly protected, y’know!” Letting go of the pistol, he leapt back up, spinning back around just in time to point the pistol away from him as Ciara once again pulled the trigger.

BRAK! BRAK! BRAK!

Jason smirked, “One round left, Ciara.”

“Yeah?” Ciara scowled, struggling to rip the pistol out of Jason’s grip, “Well let me tell you where that last round’s going, Car...” Ciara’s words trailed off as she suddenly felt something under her foot give way. It was at that very moment that both adolescents remembered that they were currently at the top of a rather large hill. Ciara blinked and gave off a nervous giggle as she lost balance and began falling backwards.

“Ciara!” Jason abandoned his grip on the gun to grab hold of one of Ciara’s arms, only to wind up getting dragged down along with her. The forest was filled with the sounds of sticks and twigs snapping, armor banging against armor, and the grunts and groans of the duo as they tumbled their way down the steep incline. Naturally, Jason was beginning to wish that he hadn’t abandoned his helmet. After what seemed like an eternity of turbulent rolling down the hill (in actuality though, it was more like 30 seconds), the two finally came to a halt at the base, battered and tired. “Let’s never... Do that... Again,” Jason moaned out between breathes.

Ciara cracked a smile, “You know... You didn’t have to try and stop me from falling.”

“Heh... Would you believe me if I said I was... afraid you’d get hurt?” Jason waited for what he figured would be an inevitable response along the lines of Ciara berating him for thinking she’d get hurt from the fall, but was met with nothing silence, “Y’know... normal people would find the gesture... I don’t know... touching.” It was then that Jason felt the unfamiliar feeling of weight pressing upon his midsection. Opening his eyes, he saw that Ciara was currently sitting on him, gun pointed directly at his chest plate.

“Well, I have to admit, that was actually rather... fun, but I think it’s about time that we end this, don’t you agree?” Ciara smirked.

Jason closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

CLICK!

‘Huh?’ Jason slowly opened his eyes to see that Ciara had a confused look on her face.

CLICK!!

CLICK!!

CLICK!!

Ciara grunted in annoyance and raised the sidearm for closer inspection, “Okay, what the hell?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Stupid gun won’t shoot,” Ciara grunted as she kept pulling the trigger.

“... Is it out of ammo?”

Ciara gave him the eye, “Now why the hell would it be out of ammo? I only fired...” Ciara paused as she recounted each time she pulled the trigger in her head, and came to a startling realization.

Seeing the shock on Ciara’s face, Jason became a tad bit nervous, “Uh, Ciara?” Ciara stared at her sidearm for a few good moments before suddenly breaking out into laughter. Judging by how she slapped her free hand to her forehead, it was genuine laughter. Naturally, this left Jason even more confused, “Are you feeling alright?”

Ciara’s laughter slightly dwindled as she nonchalantly dropped the sidearm, “Hahahaha, oh, I’m just fine.”

Jason felt like he was missing the joke, “What’s so funny?”

“How many shots did I fire at you when you were on the ground?”

“Uh, two?”

“Heh, you really didn’t notice?” Jason shook his head, “You drowned out the third shot when you were yelling at me to watch my aim.”

Jason glanced to the side as he recalled those few minutes prior, “I did?”

Ciara nodded, “You realize what this means don’t you?”

“Uh, you’re out of ammo?”

“Besides that,” She flicked Jason’s forehead, “Think, ‘Why is Ciara out of ammo’?”

“Uhhhhh...”

“Because you made me waste those last three shots with that little stunt of yours,” Ciara poked him in the chest for emphasis, “You got the better of me.”

Jason’s eyes widened as the realization hit him like a falling brick, “Um, you’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad? I mean, sure I’d be mad if you beat me through absolutely cheap means, but I can’t be mad at this,” Ciara noticed that Jason began to look a little uneasy, “What’s eating you?”

“You’re, uh, you’re still sitting on me.”

Ciara blinked and glanced down, and discovered that not only was she was indeed still sitting on him, she was actually sitting on a rather conspicuous spot, “WHOAH!” Ciara was off of Jason in an instant, shuddering at the thought that she was sitting where she was, “Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross...”

Jason slowly got back on his feet, his body still slightly sore from the tumble down the hill, “So, uh, what do we do now?”

“Go on with our lives and pretend that never happened?”

“What? No, not that, I mean, if I’m out of ammo, and you’re out of ammo, what the heck happens now?”

Ciara only gave Jason a smirk in reply.

----

“A DRAW?!?!”

Jason’s ears rang as seven people shouted the exact same thing at once. He and Ciara had agreed that since they both had run out of ammunition, they could no longer continue the match, and decided to head back down to the equipment shack, ending the game in a draw. Upon arrival, Jason could barely contain his laughter as he discovered what had become of Bomber and Sal. Like Ernesth, Bomber was also coated in paint and had what looked to be a safety cone stuck on his head (tightly, judging by how Mr. Earl was apparently struggling to get it off him).

Sal, on the other hand, seemed to fair much better, being only covered in a layer of bright pink. Curiously, Kara was the same way, though she seemed to be rather happy judging by the fact that she was humming. Jason would have to ask Sal what happened sometime later. It was about then that Mrs. Landis asked the returning pair who won, leading to where they were now.

“A DRAW?!?!”

Jason’s ears rang again, and Ciara groaned in annoyance, “Is there a parrot around here? Yes, it was a draw. Why is this such a big deal?”

“A draw?” An unfamiliar voice announced its presence, “Heh, had I known that this little game of yours was gonna turn out like this, I would’ve stuck around.” Jason noticed Ciara perk up a little, as though she knew who the voice belonged to. Out from behind the shack walked someone who Jason didn’t recognize at all. He was taller than Jason by about four inches, and his hair was red, though it was a brighter shade than Bomber’s. A warm smile graced the man’s features as he raised an eyebrow, “What, no hug for your old man?”

A joyful smile grew on Ciara’s face, and rushed over towards the man, “Dad!”

Aaron Landis let out a groan of surprise as he was nearly knocked off balance as his daughter slammed into him, and was pulled into a bear hug, “You missed me that bad, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Ciara loosened her grip on her father, “Sorry for not coming home for the summer.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Aaron patted his daughter on the back, “If I recall, you wanted to see if you could handle living on campus year-round.”

“Yeah, and it nearly drove me up a wall with how boring it got,” Ciara rolled her eyes.

“Well, campus life ain’t for everyone. I mean, I know I wasn’t cut out for it.”

“Dad, you were expelled.”

“Over absolutely bullshit reasons, but let’s not argue over semantics,” Aaron gently nudged his daughter away from him and looked over the group, “So, these are your club mates, eh?”

“Yeah, the guy covered in the same pink paint as Kara is Sal, the girl covered in purple paint is Petra, the other guy coated in many colors is Bomber, don’t ask why there’s a safety cone stuck on his head, kind of a long story, and other the guy who looks like he got vomited on by a painting is Ernest,” Ciara pointed out her compatriots.

“And him?” Her father gestured towards Jason.

“Oh, that’s just Jason.”

“Jason, huh?” Aaron stared at the boy in question for a few seconds before turning to Casey and Amy while directing a thumb towards Jason, “Ain’t that my old armor?”

Casey paused from trying to pry the safety cone off Bomber’s head and glanced over at Jason, “Huh, so it is.”

“Do you need any help with that, or...?”

“No, no, I’ve got it all under control,” Casey reassured his cousin as he resumed his efforts, “I’ll have this thing off in no time.”

“You said that 20 minutes ago,” Bomber groaned.

“So, what’d you have planned after this?” Aaron asked.

“Well, we were gonna have another round,” Casey answered, “But since that particular round lasted as long as it did, I guess we’re gonna have to head on back soon.”

Jason could swear that he saw Ciara subtly flinch at the notion. Her father must’ve caught it as well, and placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, “There wouldn’t be any problem with Ciara coming back home for the remainder of the weekend, would there? I mean, come Monday, she can just hitch a ride back to campus with Amy.”

“Oh yeah, sure it’s totally fine. In fact, it’s absolutely okay for students to return home for the weekends, didn’t Kara come home during weekends last year?”

“Actually, no, she didn’t,” Aaron replied while casting a glance towards his sheepishly grinning niece who was now scratching the back of her head.

“I didn’t want Ciara to be alone?”

Ciara felt an eye twitch, “And yet you ditched me for the summer... But really, it’s okay if I come home for the weekends?”

“Of course!” Her father reassured..

Kara suddenly appeared between the two like a weed sprouting from a sidewalk, a large smile plastered across her face, “Can we bring some friends over?”

“Uh...”

“GREAT!” Just as quickly as she sprouted up between her cousin and uncle, Kara ducked out, and was already once again standing next to Sal.

Aaron turned to face his wife as she walked up, “Did I just get railroaded into okaying a sleepover?”

“Looks like it,” Amy gave her husband a friendly slap on the back, “Ciara, get your stuff ready, we’ll be leaving soon. Same goes for you, Kara!”

Ciara nodded and walked off, tapping Jason’s shoulder to follow her, “C’mon, dummy, you’re coming home with me.”

Jason nodded absentmindedly before blinking in realization, “Wait what?” Before he knew it, he was out of his armor, and was watching Mr. Earl, Bomber, Petra, and Ernest shrink in the distance from the rearview mirror of Mr. Landis’ car.

“So, Jason, Sal,” Aaron addressed the two boys, “Amy tells me that you two got yourselves involved, mind telling me how that happened?”

“Nightmares.”

“Stuck my nose where it didn’t belong.”

“Heh, ‘Stuck your nose where it didn’t belong’,” Aaron gave a slight shake of his head, “Don’t be so hard on yourself, you were worried about your friend and you went looking for him, that’s brave, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“So you already know, then?”

“Of course I do, my wife told me,” Aaron replied nonchalantly, “When she got home that night, she immediately went for the bottle and wouldn’t stop talking about how you two bozos went and got yourselves roped into this mess.” He chuckled as his wife kneed the back of his seat.

“... Jack wasn’t really my friend, he was more like a friend-by-association, an acquaintance, really,” Sal clarified.

“I don’t see how that changes anything. That only means that instead of going into those woods to find a friend, you went in there to find someone that’s basically a stranger,” Aaron raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly, “Hell, if anything, that makes what you did that much braver.”

Jason could see Sal slowly nod in agreement in the rearview mirror, and couldn’t help but slightly frown, ‘Goes out of his way to help someone he’s barely familiar with, and yet he’s stuck with the title of ‘Lector of Amoca’...’

“So, Jason, how’d you wind up meeting my daughter?”

Jason blinked and turned to face Mr. Landis, “Huh?”

“I mean, I get that nightmares played a part in it, but for the most part, you and my daughter have been pretty mum on how you two met, so how’d you meet?”

“First time, second time, or third time?” Jason quickly replied only to get a swift elbow to the gut by Ciara.

“What?”

“I mean... well, y’see Mr. Landis...”

“Please, call me Aaron,” Aaron interrupted, “Mr. Landis was my dad.”

“Well, okay... Aaron... I guess I met your daughter by complete accident. It was the night after the first day of school,” Jason explained, “I had just been woken up by what I thought was just the TV, only to hear weird noises coming from the roof. I decided to check it out, thinking it was some sort of hazing prank or something, only to discover the aftermath, when Ciara...” Jason paused as he tried to come up with a way to describe what he saw, “I guess, ate the Denizen.”

“Ate?” Aaron cast a glance at his daughter, “Something about that Denizen interest you, pup?”

‘Pup?’

“Goddammit, Dad,” Ciara shrunk in her seat as she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, “Yeah, it had an ability that I wanted.”

“Which was...?”

“Tendrils.”

“Sweetie, you already possessed that ability,” Amy chimed in from the back.

“Not to the degree that you and Dad do!” Ciara spouted, “I mean, the longest I’ve been able to conjure up is, like, what, two feet in length?”

“Oh, now, what about when you and Kara were both five and Kara had just fallen out of the old tree in the backyard?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah!” Kara joined in, “Even though we were still both tiny, I remember that tendril being longer than two feet.”

“It was probably only that long because I was scared,” Ciara grimaced, “And you remember how I ended up getting sick the next day because Uncle Zack said I overexerted myself by doing that.”

‘...Uncle Zack?????????’ Jason blinked. He wondered if Sal caught the slip as well.

“Okay, okay, I think I understand where you’re coming from,” Aaron relented, “Manage to manifest any yet?”

Ciara shook her head, “No, not yet. Haven’t had time to practice.”

“Well, when the time comes, remember not to push yourself too hard, okay?” Aaron quickly rustled his daughter’s hair to minor protest, “So, anyway, Jason, you stumbled upon my daughter, then what happened?”

“I fainted.”

Aaron snorted, “Damn, pup, I always knew you’d one day knock the boys off their feet, but actually making them faint is a little ridiculous, don’t you think?”

“Urgh, Dad,”Ciara slapped her father on the arm.

Mercifully, whether it be for the passengers or the driver who found himself becoming increasingly more battered, it wasn’t much longer until they reached the Landis household. The house, a large multi-floored building with an attached garage on the left, was covered in dark gray paneling, and bore black shingles atop the roof. Jason counted numerous windows facing the street, six on the second floor, one large window popping out from what was presumably the living room, and a few windows between the front door and the garage.

The car stopped in the driveway and was put into park. “Alright, here we are,” Aaron stated, “Home sweet home.”

“Hasn’t changed a bit,” Ciara softly said with a smile, and began nudging Jason for him to get out of the vehicle.

As everyone piled out of the car, Jason glanced around at the property itself. The asphalt driveway was faded with cracks scattered about, the lawn had large tree on the right of the property, the lawn itself looking as though it was a few days overdue for a trimming, and the mailbox was curiously slanted over at an angle, indicating that it had been struck at some point prior and had yet to be returned to its proper position. To be frank, Jason didn’t quite know what to make of the property.

“Uh, Dad?”

“Yeah, Ciara?”

“Is Aunt Riley stealing ice cream trucks again?” Ciara directed a thumb towards the house across the street, which, sure enough, had a conspicuous ice cream truck parked in its driveway.

An embarrassed look graced Aaron’s face, “Actually, that’s, uh, the same one she stole before you shipped off to high school,” he ignored the raised eyebrows of his daughter and their two guests, “Right, well, first thing’s first,” he addressed the group, “Kara, ... uh...” Aaron pointed a finger at Sal, “What was your name again?”

“Sal.”

“Sal, right. Since you two are both currently pink from the chest up, you two need showers. Sal, since you’re a guest, you get to go first.”

Sal nodded, but quickly realized that there was a problem, “Wait, what about clothes?”

Aaron blinked, “Uh... Well... shit.”

Amy rolled her eyes and groaned, “Ugh, let me worry about finding clothes for the boys to wear for tonight and tomorrow, okay?”

“You’re a lifesaver, Amy,” Aaron pecked his wife on the cheek, and then turned his attention to his daughter, “Now, Ciara, since I get the feeling you’re gonna be bringing Jason home a lot, how ‘bout you give him the tour of the house?”

Ciara mimicked her mother’s actions, “Dad, please, it’s not like we’re going out together or any...” Ciara was interrupted by a loud roar emanating from Jason’s gut, earning him a scrutinizing gaze, “... Seriously?”

“Uh, heh,” Jason scratched the back of his head, “What’s for dinner?” The scrutinizing gaze continued, “Oh come on, I only had a PB&J before we left. I didn’t even get to have breakfast because I woke up late!”

“I guess I can order up a few pizzas from Riley’s,” Aaron shrugged, “How’s that sound?”

“Pizza sounds good,” Ciara answered bluntly, “Now can we get inside already before Jason decides to resort to cannibalism?”

“Alright, alright, alright, alright,” Aaron moved to the front door with the group following close behind. Holding open the screen door, he knocked on the wooden door twice before opening it and entering the house. “Hey, Lex, we’re home,” he called out, “Hope you’re in the mood for pizza tonight, because we’ve got some guests staying over.”

Jason stepped through the doorway and took in his surroundings. The carpeting was a dark navy blue, while the walls where a shade lighter. A few feet in front of him, there was a simple round wooden table with a ceiling fan hanging directly above it, and further behind it was the start of what looked to be a hallway, as well as an entranceway to another room that looked to be the kitchen from what he could see. Next to the entranceway were two sets of stairs, the one on the left going down, and the one on the right going up. To the right of that was the living room, though curiously, the floor of the living room area seemed to be lowered by a couple of feet. There were two chairs, a large L-shaped couch, a coffee table, and what looked to be a 55’ flatscreen TV sitting opposite of the couch by the window.

“Oh, uh, hello!” A familiar voice greeted them. Casting a glance towards the sound of the voice, Jason saw Kara’s mother standing in the kitchen entranceway.

“Hi, Mom!”

“Hi, Aunt Alexis.”

Ms. Landis blinked and began looking back and forth between her little brother and her niece, “Aaron, am I imagining things or is that Ciara standing there?”

Ciara rolled her eyes, “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I was a butt last year for not coming home at all. I’m sorry, there, okay?”

“Not to interrupt this family moment,” Sal clasped his hands together, “But some of us would really like to jump into the shower.”

“Right, right,” Aaron ran a hand through his hair, “Sal, you go and head on upstairs, the bathroom will be the first door you see.”

“Thank you,” Sal nodded in gratitude before making his way upstairs.

Amy sighed, “Well, that’s my cue to go and dig through those old clothes of yours, Aaron,” she then turned to Jason, “You got any preferences?”

Jason shrugged, “I’m fine with whatever.”

“Good answer,” Mrs. Landis patted his shoulder before heading upstairs as well.

A few seconds of silence passed before Ciara slapped a hand onto Jason’s shoulder, startling him, “C’mon, let’s get this tour done with already.”

As the two made the same trek up the stairs as Sal and Mrs. Landis did before them, Jason could hear Aaron instruct Kara to find a stool to sit on until Sal was finished with his shower, which triggered a thought in his head, “So, uh, do Kara and her mother live with you guys?”

“Yep, it’s been that way since we were born,” Ciara confirmed as she reached the top of the stairs, “Dad’s joked about saying that the original intention was to raise us as siblings, but I don’t see how that’d even work.”

“Well, you do kinda look similar...”

Ciara raised an inquisitive eyebrow, “Really?” Jason nodded as he joined Ciara at the top of the stairs, “Huh, I don’t see it... Now which side of the hall would you like to be introduced to first?”

Jason turned his head to the right, then to the left, then back to the right before coming to a decision, “Uh, left? Left. Left sounds good.”

“Heh, left it is, then!” She directed a thumb at the door next to them, the muffled sounds of a shower in progress coming from within, “I don’t have to point out that this is the bathroom do I?” Jason shook his head, “Good.” The first room Ciara showed Jason was the first on their left. It was a decently sized room, though judging by the bed sheets, posters, and other items, it seemed that this room already had a claim staked on it, “This room was Uncle Casey’s back when the Seventh Volunteers all lived here,” Ciara explained, “Before he took that teaching job, he would sometimes crash here when he was feeling too lazy to walk home.”

“He lives within walking distance of here?”

Ciara nodded, “Yeah, he owns the house at the end of the street.”

“Oh,” Jason slowly nodded, “Any other relatives of yours living on this street?”

“Yep, on this side of the street, there’s Uncle Erik who lives two houses down, and my Great Aunt Kate who lives next door. My Great Uncle Zack and Great Aunt Selene live across the street from Uncle Erik.”

“So what about this “Aunt Riley” you mentioned earlier? I don’t recall your mom mentioning a Riley in that story she told Sal and I.”

“Ah, well, she’s not really my Aunt,” Ciara explained, “She’s actually my Dad’s Godmother. And before you ask, yeah, she’s old, but you’d never guess by looking at her.”

“... After everything I’ve seen and been told, I’m just gonna nod my head and roll with it.”

“Smart choice,” Ciara chuckled, “Anyway, Aunt Riley lives right across the street. The house next to her belongs to Uncle Dante, Uncle Casey’s Godfather, and Uncle Markus, Uncle Erik’s Godfather. They’re just roommates, in case you’re wondering.”

Jason slanted an eyebrow, “Huh... So, what about your Aunt Samantha, where does she live?”

Ciara frowned, “When her relationship started getting really bad, she moved back in with Auntie Kate. I think that’s when Mr. Denim had finally burned all the goodwill he had with Dad, Casey, and Erik, because that’s when Dad kicked him out. Forcefully.” She sighed shortly before forcing a laugh, “I’m sorry, I’m probably being real depressing right now, aren’t I?”

Jason shook his head, “No, not at all.”

“Heh, thanks,” the following two rooms Ciara showed Jason were the former rooms of her Uncle Erik and Aunt Samantha. While Erik’s was in a similar state as his brother’s, the room that was Samantha’s was bare and empty, a testament to how bad the situation truly had been. Ciara stared into the room and simply shook her head, “C’mon, let’s move on before I actually do get depressing,” she slapped the back of Jason’s shoulder and walked over to the room across the hall, “This room is Aunt Alexis’.”

This room definitely looked lived in, Jason observed. The walls were painted light purple and numerous bookshelves lined them, the bed was a mess with bed sheets twisted about, and the glass sliding door was open, allowing air to pass through the screen door.

...

‘Wait, what?’ Jason blinked, making sure he wasn’t just seeing things, “Uh...”

“Yeah?”

“Why does your Aunt’s room have a sliding door?”

“It leads out to the balcony, duh.”

“Balcony?”

“Yeah, it’s a big one that pretty much stretches across the back of the house and connects with the balcony that was built on top of the garage.”

“Is that safe?”

“It’s been there for over a decade, it’s fine,” Mrs. Landis’s voice called out.

Jason directed his attention to his left, noticing that the door at the end of the hall was open. From what he could see, the walls were white, the bed sheets were in similar disarray as Alexis’, and there indeed was a sliding door leading out to what seemed to be the top of the garage, “Huh...”

Ciara rolled her eyes, “Yeah, that’s my parents’ room.”

“... Isn’t that a little awkward for your aunt when your parents want to... y’know?”

“Don’t worry, we give her a heads up a day ahead of time,” Mrs. Landis called out again, “She usually ends up crashing at Riley’s.”

“Moving on,” Ciara grabbed Jason’s arm and pulled towards the other end of the hall, to the right of the bathroom. The first door she gestured to was on the stair side of the hall, “This is one of the guest rooms, so don’t expect much.” She opened the door and gave Jason a look inside. White walls, gray bed sheets, brown dressers, and a simple window greeted his vision. Overall, it was a very plain room.

“Yeesh, you weren’t kiddin’.”

Ciara motioned for Jason to follow once again, towards the door directly across the hall, “This is the other guest bedroom. It’s a bit more interesting than the other one, mostly due to the balcony.” The door opened, and Jason was greeted with the sight of gray walls, blue bed sheets, black dressers, and a sliding door that obviously led out to the balcony.

“Yeah, I’m definitely calling dibs on this room.”

Ciara smirked, “Good choice,” they took a few steps towards the next door down, “After all, it’s right next to mine.” Grabbing the doorknob, Ciara paused mid-turn, “You, uh, remember those figures that were back in my dorm room, right?”

Jason raised an eyebrow, “Huh? Uh, yeah, actually, that was quite a bit of toys you had in there. I’m surprised you managed to convince your parents to let you take your whole collection with you”

Ciara scratched the back of her head with her free hand, “Ehehehe, ‘whole collection’, right.” The door was slowly pushed inwards, and Jason’s eyes widened. It wasn’t the overall layout or style of the room that surprised him, no, he hadn’t even noticed what the room actually looked like. What surprised Jason was the sheer number of shelves holding so many action figures that it made what Ciara had at her dorm look small in comparison.

“I... I...”

“Yeah, the stuff at my dorm room is pretty much what I got a hold of last year,” Ciara paused, “Now that I think about it, I should probably start moving them here since we’re coming back here on weekends...”

The shock of it all wearing off, Jason glanced at the layout of the room. Directly in front of him, against the left wall, which he could make out as being black, flanked by hanging shelves, was a simple computer desk with a closed laptop, hanging on the wall above it was a Mighty Guardian Enzengar poster. Two dressers were on the opposite wall, also flanked by hanging shelves, as well as posters hanging above, though these ones were for things he wasn’t familiar with, Welcome to Limbo and RWBY, ‘The heck kind of name is that?’

To his immediate right was the bed, black bed sheets neatly made, indicating the bed’s lack of use for over a year. That’s when Jason’s eyes found themselves drawn to a row of peculiar objects that were placed against the pillow. He noticed that they seemed to be the four girls on the RWBY poster, but what perplexed him was the fact that the objects on Ciara’s bed seemed to be...

“Oh, hey,” Ciara beamed, “my RWBY plushies!” She leapt over to the bed and snatched up the black and red one, pulling it into a hug, “I thought I lost these when I moved into the dorm!”

Jason was officially lost for words, “Uhhhhh...”

Ciara quickly remembered that she was in the presence of people, snapped out of her little trance, and carefully placed the plushy back down onto her bead. Turning back towards Jason, her face became serious, “You saw nothing, got it?” Jason quickly nodded, “Good.” She then grabbed Jason and hauled him out of her room, closing the door behind her, “Tell anyone about what you saw in there, and you’ll be begging me for mercy.” Ciara then walked over to the door across the hall, “Alright, last bedroom of the house, no prize for guessing whose it is.”

The door opened an- ‘Oh for the love of...’

Ciara raised an eyebrow as she took in the sight of dozens of crowded shelves, “Huh, Kara’s collection’s certainly got larger...” The room was pretty much similar to Ciara’s, save for there being no door that opens to a balcony, and pink walls and bed sheets as opposed to black. “Okay, so that’s it for the bedrooms, let’s head back downstairs,” Ciara shut the door and motioned for Jason to again follow her, only to stop as her mother walked out of the guestroom that Sal would be sleeping in with a pile of clothes in hand.

“Hold it,” Mrs. Landis instructed, and handed Jason the pile of clothes, “These are yours. Sleepwear and clothes for tomorrow.”

Jason eyed the pile that was handed to him and raised an eyebrow, “Hold on, is there underwear in here?”

“From a pack that was just bought this morning, don’t worry about it” Mrs. Landis clarified before turning her attention to her daughter, “So he picked the room next to yours, huh?”

“You overheard that, huh?”

“Mothers hear everything, sweetie” her mother gave a smile before turning around to walk back to her room, “Well, keep doin’ what you’re doin’, don’t let me stop ya.”

Ciara rolled her eyes and cast a glance over to Jason and the pile of clothes in his hand, “Eh, we might as well get changed now.”

Jason’s head swiftly turned towards her, “Huh?”

“Don’t look as me as though I’ve grown a second head,” Ciara resisted the urge to slap Jason upside the back of his head, “We had a pretty active day. Even if we don’t need a shower, we’ll probably feel a heck of a lot better if we change out of the clothes we’re in right now.”

Jason gave a quick tilt of the head and nodded, “Can’t argue with that, really.” Ciara gave a quick pat to Jason’s shoulder as she went back to her room and shut the door behind her. Jason then returned to the guestroom that he had claimed as his, shut the door behind him, and tossed the clothes onto the bed. From what he could tell, Mrs. Landis had supplied him with a gray t-shirt and a pair of black gym shorts to wear for the night, and a white t-shirt, a black overshirt, and a pair of blue jeans for tomorrow. He removed his shirt, shoes, and pants and quickly replaced them with the shorts and gray t-shirt, and ended up deciding not to put his shoes back on. Ciara was right, he did feel better.

Exiting the room, he saw that Ciara was already waiting for him. Curiously, Ciara was wearing a black tank top with a large pink heart in the center of it (that curiously looked like it had ears, eyes, teeth, and a nose), and white pajama bottoms with pink roses on them. He noticed that she didn’t even have socks on. She noticed that he had finally exited the guestroom, “Ready to resume the tour?”

“Yep.”

“Good,” she went ahead of him, “let’s get this done and over with already.” No sooner than Ciara had said that did the bathroom door open, and out walked Sal, who had nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

Sal turned red in embarrassment, “Um...”

“Oh for cryin’ out...” Ciara forcibly pointed at the guestroom that was Sal’s, “You’ll find clothes in there.” Sal kept a grip on the towel and gave a slight bow in thanks and ducked into the guestroom. Ciara placed both hands on her face and shook slightly, “Acelon help me, if we get interrupted on more time up here, I’m gonna scream.” Thankfully the two managed to return downstairs without further interruption. “Oi, Kara,” Ciara called over to her cousin who was sitting on a stool in the middle of the living room, “The shower’s free for use.”

“Thanks!” Kara hopped off the stool, and rushed upstairs to get cleaned up.

Ciara looked back towards Jason, “I guess you’ve already worked out that that’s the living room over there. Don’t ask me why it’s lowered like that; Dad never gave me a straight answer about it.” Ciara proceeded to show Jason the rest of the first floor, starting with the kitchen, which connected to the dining room, and the game room, all three of which had sliding doors to the outside. The hall that was to the left of the kitchen entranceway led to a shower-less bathroom, a weight-lifting room, and the garage... which for some odd reason had the washing machine and dryer, which left Jason wondering what was in the basement if not those. When they got to the basement...

“Holy hell, you guys have a home theater down here!?” Jason could hardly believe the sight before him. Four rows of theater seats were to his right, about 12 seats in total, and on the opposite side of the room was a massive screen that looked to be 150” in width.

A large grin had graced Ciara’s face, “Yep.”

“So I’m guessing that door we passed on the way down here was the door to the projector room?”

“Yep.”

“So, where do you keep the movies then? In the projector room?”

Ciara shook her head and directed a thumb at a door on the left, “We keep the movies in there.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, “A whole separate room for movies?”

“Yep.”

He blinked, “That’s silly, how many movies could you possibly have?”

If it was at all possible, Ciara’s grin would’ve grown larger as she opened the door, and flipped on a light switch, “Why don’t you just see for yourself?”

Biting his lip, Jason glanced back and forth between the open doorway and Ciara, slightly hesitant to look inside out of worry that it’ll be just as nuts as the rooms of her and her cousin. Taking a deep breath, he walked over and peered inside, and felt his jaw drop at the sight before him, “Oh... my... shit.” Within the room were four columns of DVD shelves, with three stands in each column, and to top it off, the stands seemed to be double-sided as well. “My brain needs a minute to process this,” Jason slouched over slightly, placed his hands on his legs, and took a couple of deep breaths, “How the hell can your family afford all this stuff?”

Ciara shrugged as though this was all no big deal, “My Dad saved the world twice. That kinda shit tends to net ya a bottomless bank account, ya know?”

Jason let out a slight chuckle as he could only concede to that point, “Good point. So I take it that this concludes the tour?”

Ciara nodded and gave Jason a light pat on the back, “Yep, that’s it.” She nudged Jason out of the way, shut the lights off, and closed the door, “C’mon, let’s head back upstairs.”

As soon as they got back upstairs, Jason made for the couch and slumped as he sat, Ciara taking a seat a few cushions away from him, seating herself in the corner and picked up the remote. Hearing his stomach growl again, he turned to his guardian, “So when do you think the pizza will get here?”

Ciara, flipping through channels, cast a glance at the clock on the wall behind them, “Should be here pretty soon actually, depending on whether or not my Dad made the call as soon as we started the tour.”

Jason nodded, and noticed that there was someone currently absent, “Hey, where’s Sal?”

The absentee’s voice responded from down the hall that lead to the garage, “I’m just giving myself a tour of the place, hope you don’t mind,” Sal then walked into view and stopped at the top of the basement stairs. He was now wearing a brown t-shirt and gray gym shorts, “Don’t forget that I’m kinda in your charge as well.”

“Trust me, I ain’t gonna forget that easily,” Ciara waved him off.

Kara’s voice suddenly called from upstairs, “Hey, is the pizza here yet?”

Ciara rolled her eyes and sighed, “No, Kara, it’s not.”

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK*

Ciara felt an eye twitch, “... Y’know, I really don’t like it when the universe decides to correct me.”

“Mr. Land... er, Aaron, pizza’s here,” Sal called out into the kitchen.

“Comin’!”

As Aaron exited the kitchen and walked towards the front door, Kara’s voice once again called out from upstairs, “Yay, pizza’s here!”

Ciara’s eyes widened as she heard thundering footsteps coming down the stairs, and quickly spun to face the stairs, “Oi, Kara, no running down the...!”

“Whoops!”

“Oh, you dunce,” Ciara slapped a palm to her forehead and readied herself for the thud that would accompany her cousin hitting the floor, while Jason, sitting where he was, could only watch.

Sal, however, was quick to act, throwing his arms out to catch the falling girl, his right arm catching her shoulders, and his left grabbing hold around her waist. Though caught, Kara’s momentum still wound up dragging Sal down slightly, putting the two in something of a dip pose, with their faces being mere inches apart. Neither party said a word as they were lost in each other’s eyes.

“Damn, Sal, buy her dinner first,” Jason broke the silence, prompting both Sal and Kara to turn as red as Kara’s eyes, and Ciara to howl in laughter. The two quickly separated, the red not leaving their faces as they sat down on the couch, Kara to the right of her laughing cousin, and Sal to the left of Jason. “If it helps any, I think your chances with her shot up by quite a bit,” he whispered to Sal.

Sal balled up a hand into a fist, “You like being able to chew, right, Jay?”

Meanwhile, over at the front door, Aaron had just finished paying and sent off the delivery boy, and there were currently twelve boxes on the table, “Alright, kids, grub’s here. There’s three cheese pizzas, three pepperoni pizzas, and six orders of cheesy breadsticks with marinara sauce.”

Jason blinked, “Isn’t that a bit much?”

“Whatever you don’t eat tonight will still be there tomorrow, so,” Aaron shook his head, “no, not really. Anyway, don’t let me stop you all, plates are on the table, so grab one and dig in; if you want something to drink, there’s water, lemonade, and soda in the fridge.”

Ciara, having finally settled on a station to watch, was the first to jump up from the couch, followed by Kara, then Jason, and lastly Sal. As they lined up at the table, grabbing their plates, Kara finally took notice of what it was that her cousin was wearing, “Oh, hey, I thought you lost those when you moved to the dorms?”

“Nope, turns out I simply forgot to pack them,” Ciara grabbed a slab of breadsticks and a sauce cup from one of the boxes before moving towards the pizza, “Even found my plushies.”

“That’s great!”

Sal blinked, “Uhhh, plushies?”

“It’s something that we’re no doubt gonna have to keep quiet about,” Jason replied, “I think they’re from a show called RWBY or somethin’.”

“Ruby?”

“RWBY, spelt r-w-b-y,” Ciara corrected, “It’s an animesque cartoon that’s older than our parents.”

“Really?” Jason was caught off guard by the claim, “When’d it start up?”

“It started in 2012 with the uploading of the Red trailer.”

“Damn, that’s old!”

“I’m gonna pretend that I didn’t hear that!” Mrs. Landis called from the kitchen, making Jason jump slightly.

“Must be a pretty good show if it’s still getting new fans,” Sal commented.

Ciara grabbed two slices of pepperoni, and gave a soft smile, “Yeah, well, I guess you could say that the show means a lot to me.”

----

Ciara sat in silence as the movie played in front of her. It was going on 1:30 in the morning, and everyone else had gone to bed two hours ago, leaving her the only one left up... Well, her and her plushie of Ruby Rose that she went and grabbed an hour ago, but that’s beside the point.

Suddenly a groan came from behind, “Oh god why?”

Spinning around in surprise, she saw that Jason was standing there at the foot of the stairs, rubbing his hands over his eyes, probably in response to the glow of the television bearing down on his night-adjusted eyes, “Hey, you okay?”

Jason grunted as he slightly shook his head ‘no’.

“Bad dreams?”

He nodded.

Ciara sighed, and glanced down at her plushie that was seated next to her left. Turning back around to face the TV, she picked up the plushie and placed it in her lap. “C’mon, dummy,” she motioned for Jason to sit next to her.

Jason, in a half daze, did just as he was asked, sitting in the spot the plushie once occupied

“Wanna talk about it?”

Jason shook his head, “I barely even remember it. It was bad, though, I know that much.”

“Whatever’s marked you must want you pretty badly if you managed to get a nightmare after only two hours of sleep,” Ciara observed.

Jason groaned.

“Sorry,” she flinched realizing what she had just said, “Probably wasn’t the best thing to say with your situation being what it is.”

“It’s fine,” Jason shrugged it off before casting a glance at the occupant of his guardian’s lap, “So who’s your friend?”

Ciara blinked in confusion before realizing what it was Jason was referring to, “Oh, the plushie,” she held up the stuffed toy with both hands, “This is Ruby Rose, one of the main protagonists of RWBY. I guess you could say that I’m a big fan of hers.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, “How so?”

“Well, for starters, my pajamas are pretty much a replica of the pajamas Ruby wore in the show,” Ciara clarified, “My mom made them for me.”

“Geez, you weren’t kidding when you said that show means a lot to you.”

“You have no idea.”

“... Try me.”

“Eh?”

“Why does that old show mean so much to you?”

Ciara was taken aback by the question, “You really want to know?”

Jason nodded.

She sighed, “It’s... not exactly a happy story. When Kara and I were five, we were climbing that old tree we’ve got in our backyard. We had climbed up pretty high, too, when Kara slipped and began falling to the ground below,” Ciara looked towards the floor, “I was so scared in that moment that I had reached out, thinking that maybe I could still grab her hand, and before I even realized it, a black tendril had shot forward from my arm and wrapped around Kara’s midsection, stopping her just feet above the ground. That was how I discovered my abilities,” Ciara paused, “and I was fucking terrified of them. I mean, I was five years old, my biggest worry was supposed to be whether or not I’d get ice cream for dessert, not freaky genetics kicking in. No matter how much my Dad asked me to try them out, I refused to use my powers. I didn’t even want to acknowledge that I had them.”

“What changed?”

“This might sound hard to believe, but... back then, when we were kids, Kara and I had a friend. Her name was Lacey Miller. The three of us were practically inseparable, always playing together. Hell, I think Lacey spent more time at our house then she did her own,” Ciara’s face took on a look of sadness, “And then, one night when we were 10, it all came to an end. A Denizen attacked the house when my parents were out... and it ate Lacey.”

Jason’s eyes widened, and he instantly recalled what Ciara had told him the evening she became his bodyguard.

“Kara was screaming her head off, and I was just frozen there on the floor, too fucking scared to do anything. If Uncle Casey didn’t arrive and scare it off, Kara and I would probably be dead.”

“... What’d your parents tell Lacey’s?”

Ciara shook, “There wasn’t anything they could tell them. Denizen and Void related incidents are Top Secret, so a story was cooked up about an OS related kidnapping, and the worst part is, they bought it. I wanted so badly to let them know what really happened to Lacey, to put their minds to rest, but I couldn’t... and it’s not like I can do it now anyhow, they died in a traffic accident three years ago.” Ciara sniffled slightly, “I pretty much shut myself off from the rest of the world after that night. I would sit up against the wall during recess, and I’d just go straight up to my room when I got home from school. I wouldn’t even play with Kara.”

Ciara shook her head, “And then one day, my Dad plucked me from my room, and sat me down on the couch, and played the Red trailer,” a smile crept up on her face, “I was almost instantly enamored,” Ciara fidgeted with the plushie, making it do a mock dance of sorts, “Here was this girl with dark hair and silver eyes killing monsters that, to little 10 year old me, were no different then the thing that ate her best friend. My Dad then asked me if I wanted to see the rest of it, and I was practically begging him to show me what else there was, which led to me being shown Volumes 1 & 2,” she snorted, “He wisely held off on the other volumes until I was 13, though. I don’t think little 10 year old me could’ve handled how dark Volume 3 got.”

‘What.’

“But even with having only seen those two volumes I knew I wanted to be like Ruby, to kill monsters and make things better, so that what happened to Lacey wouldn’t happen to anyone else, so at that point I was pretty much begging Mom & Dad to teach me how to fight, and that pretty much leads us to where we are now.”

“Wow, I... Ciara, I don’t know what to say...”

“You don’t need to say anything, Jason,” Ciara smiled, “If anything. I should thank you for listening. It actually felt good telling someone all this.”

Jason returned the smile, “Glad I could help.”

“Anything else you’d like to know?”

Jason took a few moments to think of something, not expecting Ciara to throw out such an offer, “Back in the car, you mentioned something about overexerting yourself, does that mean what I think it means?”

“That I have limits? Yep,” Ciara nodded, “Though I’ve gotten stronger and more used to my powers, I’ve still got some issues.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I’ve got to be careful when manifesting a new ability or else I’ll wind up making myself sick, like that morning where you saw me vomit out my window.”

Jason chuckled, “I had a feeling ‘Kara’s cooking’ was a cover for something. What’d you manifest that made you sick?”

Ciara held out her right arm and shifted it into a massive blade from the elbow down, “Got this from a Denizen I nailed two weeks ago.”

He blinked, “Cool.”

The Darktype shrugged as she recalled the manifestation, “Eh, it may look cool, but it’s kinda impractical to use in a fight.”

An idea popped into Jason’s head, “You said you ate that last Denizen because you wanted a better tendril ability, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“What if you tried to mix and match your powers?”

“What, you mean like manifest blades on the end of any tendrils I’ve got?” Ciara scoffed, “This isn’t a videogame, Jason. I don’t think these powers work like that.” Ciara leaned back against the couch, “Y’know what kind of weapon I’d really love?”

“What?”

“A scythe,” she answered, “Maybe something like Crescent Rose.”

“Crescent Rose?”

“It’s the weapon Ruby uses,” Ciara clarified, “It’s also a customizable high impact sniper rifle.”

“A what?”

She smirked, “It’s also a gun.”

----

Amy Landis stretched her arms as she got out of bed, the light of the morning sun greeting her. Glancing over at the clock, she saw that it was 9:30 am, and smiled, ‘Oh, the joys of sleeping in.’ As her husband was still sound asleep, she quietly snuck out of the room, and made for the bathroom to take care of her morning business, taking care not to wake anyone else. Once that was done, she headed downstairs, and saw that the TV was already on.

She remembered that her daughter was the last one up when everyone else went to bed, ‘Did she even go to bed at all last night?’ Noticing that the TV was still on the same station it was on last night, she paused, ‘I guess that’s a ‘no’ then.’ She sighed, ‘Guess I’ll have to have a talk with her later.’

Stepping down into the pit that was the living room, Amy placed both her hands up to her face and felt a smile creep up as she was caught entirely off guard by the sight before her

There, on the couch, was her daughter, sound asleep, Ruby Rose plushie situated in her lap and hugged by her right arm, and her head resting on the shoulder of Jason, whose own head was leaned over and resting on Ciara’s, their hands nearly entwined, and were both smiling.

Amy resisted the urge to squee in joy as she bounced in place, ‘Ooooh, where’d I put that camera??’

NSZ · Post by **NSZ** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 9:26 am

Chapter Seven:
Die

“Remind me again, why are we sitting out here in the afternoon sun when we could instead be, I don’t know, inside?” Bomber inquired. It was Monday, mandatory classes had ended, and Mr. Earl had called for a PRC meeting, which, for whatever reason, was being held across the street from the club building.

“Because, Bomber,” Casey started, “there’s been something fishy going on with that property for the past two weeks, and I intend to find out what it is.”

“So why are we hiding behind a bunch of bushes?” Bomber asked, “And where are Petra and Ernest?

“Sometimes the key to catching supernatural activity, Bomber, is to not let it know you’re watching,” Casey momentarily glanced away from his binoculars, “And as for why Petra and Ernest aren’t here, Ernest said something about having to help Marcus with that science fair project of theirs, and Petra was given a mountain’s worth of math homework.”

Jason quickly lowered his binoculars as he remembered that Petra was in his math class, “... Wait, we get homework?”

Ciara looked over to him and rolled her eyes, “Gods above... what classes are you and Kara going to??”

“Is something gonna happen soon?” Sal spoke up, “Because I gotta leave for football practice in, like, ten minutes.”

Bomber sighed, “Okay, I get the idea behind us having to hide, but doesn’t having an obvious trap sitting out there in the open kind of defeat that purpose?” The trap in question was your standard box trap, with one end propped up on a stick that had a string wrapped around the bottom of it, “In fact, why do I get the feeling that this has less to do with the supernatural, and instead Mr. Earl’s just making us help with pest control?”

Mr. Earl glanced suspiciously from side to side, “... You’ve got no way of proving that.”

“You’re using salad as bait!”

The bushes up against Mr. Earl’s residence suddenly shook, “Shhh, quiet,” Sal shushed them, “Something’s comin’.” The bushes rattled two more times, and the tension rose. Numerous thoughts raced through the minds of the six, when out hopped a standard, ordinary, everyday rabbit.

Most of the group groaned in disappointment, while Bomber shot a blanching Mr. Earl a look, “Supernatural, huh?”

Kara, however, seemed to be rather overjoyed at the sight of the rabbit, “Oh my god, I don’t believe it!”

Ciara looked at her cousin as though she had just lost her marbles, “Kara, it’s just a rabbit.”

Kara shook her head, “It’s not just any rabbit, though, it’s the Biology department’s pet rabbit, Mr. Fluffles! He escaped from his cage three days ago.”

Bomber raised an eyebrow, “Mr. Fluffles? Who’s the jackass going around naming rabbits ‘Mr. Fluffles’?”

Ciara’s eye twitched, “Bomber, did you just call my cousin a jackass?”

“... Hey, uh, Sal, you wanna switch spots with me?”

“Fuck you.”

Jason rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the rabbit, noting that it was now nibbling away at the salad. That was when he noticed something rather peculiar next to the trap, “Hey, where’d that lawn ornament come from?”

Those words got the rest of the group’s attention almost immediately. The lawn ornament in question looked to be one of those lawn gnomes one would buy at a lawn care store, and it was nearly as big as the rabbit. “You might have some supernatural goings on after all, Mr. Earl,” Sal spoke up, “Could be a ghost moving your lawn ornaments around just to mess with you.”

“That’s a wonderful theory, Sal,” Casey commented, “Only there’s one problem.”

“Oh yeah? What?”

“I don’t own any lawn ornaments.”

As if on cue, the gnome sprouted six tiny limbs, four legs and two arms, and a large tooth filled maw, and immediately beset itself upon the helpless mammal.

Kara snapped her binoculars in half and shrieked, “MR. FLUFFLES!”

“SON OF A BITCH!”

Mr. Earl, remembering that he held the string that would spring the trap, quickly yanked away the stick that held up the box, trapping the small monster. Leaping to his feet, the teacher/club supervisor sprinted over towards the now rattling box, “Sal, Bomber, help me lock up this box!”

Bomber blinked and turned to Sal, “He’s joking right?”

“Considering how much we get paid per week, I doubt it,” the athlete gave Bomber a quick slap to the back and went sprinting after Mr. Earl.

“Oh right,” Bomber slowly nodded, “I forgot that we get paid.”

As Bomber took off after Sal and Mr. Earl, Jason turned his attention to the two cousins. Ciara was currently leaning over Kara, who had fainted at the sight of the rabbit getting attacked by... whatever the hell that thing in the box is, “Is she gonna be okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Ciara reassured him, “... I hope.”

“Well, it’s not like this is the worst thing she’s ever seen, right?”

“No, but it’s definitely the goriest thing she’s ever seen, so it’s probably going to rank up there,” Ciara stressed.

“Oh,” Jason glanced around and scratched the back of his head, “Any way to snap her out of it?”

“Nothin’ a tub of Neapolitan ice cream won’t fix,” she smirked as she patted her unconscious cousin’s head, “I’m gonna have to stop at the store to get some, though. Wanna come with?”

“You sure it’s okay to just take off like this?”

“They’ll be fine.”

“JANE, STOP THIS CRAZY THING!!” The sudden yell caused Jason to turn his attention towards Mr. Earl’s property just in time to see the man being swiftly dragged across the lawn as he clung tightly to the box with Sal and Bomber chasing after him.

Jason raised an eyebrow, “Uh...”

“It’ll be fine,” Ciara reassured him before carefully picking her cousin up and handing her over to Jason, “You can carry her, right? Good.” As Ciara walked away, Jason was caught off guard by how light Kara felt, and immediately tried to recall whether or not Ciara was this light as well. “Oi, you comin’ or what?” Ciara called out when she saw that Jason was simply standing there.

“Ah, yeah, coming,” Jason hurried off after her, being careful not to lose his balance or trip. As Mr. Earl, Sal, and Bomber increasingly shrank in the distance, Jason glanced around and took notice that some of his fellow students seemed to be decorating some of the buildings as though they were preparing for something, “Is there some kind of event or something going on this week?”

“Eh?” Ciara glanced over to see what Jason was talking about, as though she wasn’t even paying attention. When she laid eyes upon what he was talking about, she shrugged, “Eh, looks like they’re prepping for Founder’s Week early.”

“Oh,” slightly nodded before realizing he had no idea what Ciara was talking about, “What’s Founder’s Week?”

“Founder’s Week is during the first week of October, and is when we honor and celebrate the founding of this country, those who died... and the defeat of my Grandmother.”

Jason couldn’t help but wince, “Eeeeeugh, that’s... wow, yeah, that’s pretty rough.”

“Nothing like an annual reminder of how much of a monster she was,” Ciara scowled, “Yeah, it’s a pretty stressful week for me. Homecoming being the week before doesn’t help, either,” she finished with a roll of her eyes.

Jason slowly nodded, “Really? So, you’ve been in High School a year longer than I have, are pep rallies as obnoxious as cable TV makes them out to be?”

Ciara smirked and gave off a minor chuckle, “Well, let me put it this way, I’m making it a point to skip the next four.”

“That bad, huh?”

“It’s a waste of time that could be spent watching Enzengar.”

“Or RWBY.”

“Yeah, or...” Ciara stopped herself mid-sentence realizing what Jason was up to, and delivered a light punch to his shoulder, “You’re lucky you’re carrying my cousin, Jason, otherwise I’d give you one hell of a case of dead arm.”

“I’m just messing with ya, take it easy,” he smirked, “So which show do you like more, anyway? I mean, I’ve heard you give both shows nothin’ but praise.”

“Dammit, you’re really gonna make me choose?”

“Can’t be that difficult, can it?”

“Well, Mighty Guardian Enzengar has the benefit of having a consistent animation budget larger than a handful of granola, and giant physics-breaking robots fighting giant prehistoric monsters is always a plus, but RWBY gave me a character that I can relate to, even if it’s just a little,” she explained, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think Alice Valentine is awesome, but Ruby Rose just speaks to me more. Tone, though, is a way different story. If I were to ever have a kid, I would have zero issues with sitting them down and letting them watch the entirety of Enzengar if they were 10.”

“Didn’t the episode I watched with you and Kara have a monster get gored by a drill?”

“I never said I’d be a good parent.”

Jason shook his head, “I fear for the world... So where exactly is this store exactly?”

“North side of campus,” Ciara answered, “Haven’t you been over there, yet?”

“Well, if I’m asking...”

“Did no one seriously give you a tour around campus?”

“Was I supposed to get one?”

“Ugh, that damn Blake is unbelievable.”

The way Ciara referred to Emily Blake with such disdain caught Jason’s attention, “Does something about the student body president bother you?”

“It’s... complicated, Jason. You wouldn’t understand.”

“... Wanna talk about it?”

“No,” she stressed, kicking a rock with enough force that it went sailing into the air, and, based on the sound of shattering glass in the distance, apparently broke a window, “Find a different subject to talk about, one that won’t ruin my good mood.”

“Touchy subject, got it,” Jason made a quick mental note to not pry further, “So, any other shows that you like other than RWBY and Enzengar?”

Ciara seemed to welcome the question as she clearly began to mull it over, “Well, there’s Welcome to Limbo, and I’m definitely a fan of Outcasts.”

“What are those about?”

“Well, Limbo’s about a guy who dies but can’t get into Heaven because he wasn’t a bible thumper, but can’t be sent to Hell because he wasn’t an active sinner, so instead he’s sent to live amongst those like him in the infinite realm of Limbo, where he winds up meeting a certain group of rebel Angels.”

“Huh, sounds bizarre.”

“It is, but it’s an interpretation of New Realm religion and mythology, so that can be expected. It’s worth a watch, though. Lucky for you it wrapped up last spring and the complete series box-set’s coming out in November.”

“Hmm, is it on any streaming service?”

“Heh, hate to break it to you, Jason, but nobody in Amoca has trusted streaming services since the Great Server Crash of ’45.”

He scowled, “Great.”

Ciara placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder, bringing them both to a stop, “Tell you what, seeings as Kara and I already have our sets on preorder, how about I pick you up a set as well?”

“... You’d do that?”

“Yeah, sure, why not,” they resumed walking, “I mean, if we’re gonna start hanging out with each other, we’re gonna have to find things to bond over, otherwise this is gonna be miserable.”

“Huh, makes sense,” Jason slowly nodded in understanding, “So what’s Outcasts?”

“Superhero show,” Ciara explained, “Revolves around a girl who winds up getting superpowers and decides to become a hero. The problem is that she lives in a society that outlawed any super humans that aren’t affiliated with the government, which obviously only created more problems than it fixed.”

“Y’know, I think I caught an episode of that a couple of days before school started.”

“Really?” Ciara became curious, “What’d you think of it? Based on that episode alone, I mean.”

“It was... weird?”

She suddenly snorted, “Oh god, you caught one of the weird episodes? Did it have Celia in it? Those are always weird episodes.”

“That depends, is Celia a psychotic lesbian cyborg?”

“That’s her,” Ciara shook her head in amusement, “Man, you got thrown into the deep end.”

“So it’s not always that weird?”

“Well... not usually... I mean, there are some episodes that earn it its late night slot, but it’s not like... Um...” Ciara trailed off when she realized that Jason was now staring at her, ‘Conversation’s getting weird! Abort! Abort!’ “Anyway, anymore nightmares recently or was that one you had over the weekend it?”

“N- Whoah, whoah, whoah, wait a minute, what the hell’s with that change of subject?”

“What, can’t a bodyguard ask how her charge is holding up?”

Jason rolled his eyes, “Well, since you’re asking, no, I haven’t had any other nightmares other than that one. Besides, I doubt that nightmare was even related since I can’t even remember it.”

“Probably, don’t wanna take any chances, though,” Ciara kicked a rock out of her way, “Better safe than sorry.”

He sighed, “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.” After a few more minutes of walking, Jason suddenly came to a stop, doing everything in his power not to drop Kara in shock, “Ciara?”

“Yeah, Jason?”

“You didn’t say that the north end of campus was basically its own shopping district!” He could hardly believe the sight before him. Directly in front of him seemed to be the grocery store, while to the left seemed to be an arcade, a movie theater, a pizza joint, and a book & video store, while to the right was a clothing store, a supply store, and a laundry mat.

“You sound surprised.”

“Surprised?! Of course I sound surprised! This is the kinda stuff you’d typically find on a college campus, not a freakin’ high school campus!”

“Jason, you realize that we kinda, y’know, live on campus, right?”

“I... I... I... Can we just get Kara her ice cream before my brain walks out on me?”

Ciara snickered, “Y’know, maybe it was a good thing that you didn’t get that tour after all.” As they entered the building, Ciara grabbed a cart and pulled up alongside Jason, “Here.”

“Ciara, you do realize that I can’t carry Kara and push the cart at the same time, right?”

“What? No,” she shook her head, “I mean put Kara in the cart,” an impish grin spread upon her face, “unless, of course, you wanna walk through the store carrying her bridal-style. Although, I get the feeling that Sal might have a thing or two to say about that.” Kara was almost instantly deposited into the cart, causing Ciara to give off a short laugh, “Oh, Jason, you’re so easy to tease,” She then slapped him across the back, “Now c’mon, let’s go get that ice cream.”

The store was, for the most part, vacant of customers, which thankfully lessened the amount of stares Ciara and Jason had received as they pushed Kara towards the frozen foods section, all the while Jason had a million questions on his mind pertaining to the campus’ miniature shopping district.

Ciara just so happened to pick up on the storm that was brewing in Jason’s mind, “You’re wondering how a bunch of jobless high school students are able to shop for stuff, aren’t you?”

“Am I that obvious?”

“You got your student ID on ya?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jason dug his wallet out from his back pocket, and pulled out the small plastic card, “What about it?”

“Well, first of all,” she snatched the card out of his hand and smirked, “Heh, nice picture, Jason.”

“I’m not the most photogenic guy, what do you want from me??”

Jason was given a pat on the back, “Relax, I don’t mean anything by it. Beside, my Dad says the photographers make them look terrible on purpose so that they can double as mug shots.”

“Heh, good one... You are joking right?”

“Partly,” Ciara clarified, “They used to do that back when my Dad was going to school, but that was all part of a corrupt system that got dismantled during the Liberation War. Anyway, see this barcode?” She pointed at the bottom of the card, “Each and every student has a temporary bank account that gets refilled at the start of every month.”

“Oh.”

“Eh, can’t blame ya for not knowing that, you weren’t here for First Year Orientation, after all.”

“So what happens if you’ve still got money in your account when the month ends?”

“It gets treated like a bonus. Upperclassmen tend to end up accumulating loads of money by the time they graduate.” Ciara then brought the cart to a stop in front of a glass door, “Alright, ice cream... Now where is the Neapolitan... I swear to Sol they keep hiding it every time they restock... Ah! There it is!” She swung the door open and pulled out the tub of multi-flavored ice cream.

“Great... Now how do we wake Kara with it?”

A devilish grin spread upon Ciara’s face as she lifted her unconscious cousin’s shirt slightly, exposing her belly, “Watch and learn, Jason.”

“Wait, you’re not gonna do what I think you’re gonna...”

Ciara pressed the tub of frozen food down on Kara’s exposed belly.

“Yep, you did.”

Kara’s eyes almost immediately shot open, “YOW!” Ciara couldn’t stop herself from laughing as her cousin rocketed out of the cart, and laughed even harder when Kara landed back in Jason’s arms. Kara, however, wasn’t exactly amused, “That wasn’t very nice!”

“Relax, Kara. Here,” Ciara tossed the container to her cousin, “You wanted to get ice cream anyway, right?”

As Kara stared happily at the frozen treat in her grasp, she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Glancing upwards away from the ice cream, she saw the deadpan look on Jason’s face, “Oh hi, Jason. You here for ice cream, too?”

“No, Kara, I’m not,” he sighed, “Can I have my arms back?”

Kara, realizing that she was indeed being carried, fidgeted slightly and looked back towards Jason, “Do I have to?” she innocently asked, “I’m actually kinda comfy here.”

Jason delivered a look, “Kara.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll walk,” Kara hopped out of Jason’s arms and placed the tub of ice cream into the cart, “Are we grabbing anything else or is this it?”

“Just a couple of more things,” Ciara replied as she opened the freezer door once again, pulling out yet another tub of ice cream, the flavor of which was rather unexpected.

‘Strawberry?’ Jason raised an eyebrow.

“You want anything, Jason?”

“Uh,” Jason snapped back to reality, “Chocolate’s fine, if they’ve got any.”

Ciara gave a quick nod and reached back into the freezer, pulling out the flavor Jason had chosen and dropped it into the cart alongside her ice cream, “Now do I need to tell you where you can store that, or do you already know?”

“Don’t worry, I know,” Jason reassured her. The day after Ciara had become his bodyguard, he had discovered that beneath the countertop where the TV was placed were two cupboards that were a mini-fridge and a mini-freezer respectively. It was a surprise to say the least.

“Good, now come on, I need to grab some soda, then we can leave,” Ciara grabbed the cart and began to pull it along, Jason and Kara following suit. Unsurprisingly, the brand Ciara had picked out was one that Jason was unfamiliar with, but what really caught his eye was the label on the box.

“Caffeine free?”

“Huh?”

“Uh, nothin’, just didn’t expect that you drank caffeine free soda,” Jason explained, realizing he was caught speaking out loud, “Honestly expected the opposite.”

“Well...” Ciara looked down the aisle both ways and leaned in towards Jason, “You know how spiders get drunk off caffeine like people do alcohol? Yeah, it’s a little like that for us Darktypes.”

“Oh,” Jason winced slightly, “That sucks.”

“Yeah, it really does.”

“So no coffee? Like ever?”

Ciara smirked, “Yeah, I’m gonna be a real fun morning person when I grow up.”

“But you’re not even a morning person now,” Kara interjected.

Ciara clicked her tongue in annoyance, “I’m gonna ignore that.”

----

Purchasing the items came and went without incident, and after exiting the store the trio returned to their respective dorms, Ciara mumbling something about homework. Upon entering his room, Jason quickly threw his ice cream into the mini-freezer, turned on the TV, and sat down on his bed. As he flipped through the channels, it slowly dawned on him that with his friends no doubt busy with other things, he was alone for the first time since the first day of school. A realization that made him want to remove his brain from his skull and smack it around, “And here I was having a good day. Thanks, brain, you unbelievable asshole.”

Lying down, hands clasped behind his head, Jason closed his eyes and began to think back over the week he had experienced, and couldn’t help but feel amazed at all that had transpired within that timeframe... And then his mind drifted to how much of a 180 it was from the week before school started. He only spent Saturday night and the entirety of Sunday at the Landis household, and yet there was no mistaking that he felt more warmth and love there than he did during that whole week at the Carter residence.

Jason sighed.

He missed his parents.

He missed his brother.

He remembered one summer morning when his brother woke him up at five in the morning by dumping a bucket full of ice water on him. Dad had a cow over the mess that was made while Mom was too busy laughing her ass off to join in on the scolding, something about it reminding her of the old days. The smile that had crept onto his face quickly vanished and was replaced with a scowl as he remembered that was the day they went out to the Grand Canyon, the last weekend of their last summer together.

It was then that Jason realized that he could no longer hear the television. He opened his eyes to look over at the TV... at least, he thought he did, because the sight he was greeted with was nothing but pitch darkness, “Oh for fuck sakes, I better not be blind now,” he groaned, “If I’m blind, I’m punching out whatever deity I meet first.” Cautiously, he moved his hands to be in front of his face... and was shocked to see that... well, that he could see them period. Clear as day, even. Jason chuckled nervously, “Okay, now I’m concerned.”

Slowly, he reached his hand out and felt around for the edge of the bed, only to have his concern deepen when not only could he not locate it, but it felt as though he wasn’t even in his bed anymore. As he slowly got to his feet, he was predictably greeted with even more darkness, but he could at least see his body... somehow. Looking around, he couldn’t identify a light source of any kind, and a slight sense of dread began to build up, “Y’know, this is beginning to feel very familiar.” His mind raced as he tried to figure out just what all this reminded him of, when his ears picked up the approaching sounds of low growls, snarls, and hissing. It was then that he realized just why this was all so familiar, this was his nightmare, the one he had the night before school began.

“Oh great, Ciara didn’t say anything about recurring dreams,” he emitted a groan when the realization suddenly hit him, “Hey, wait, if I know that I’m dreaming, that means I can make this dream fuck off and come up with something better, right?” Jason was familiar with the risks of lucid dreaming, but right now, the potential threat of sleep paralysis seemed to be a much better option in comparison to this. As the encroaching horde of Denizens slowly closed in, Jason shut his eyes, “Okay, okay, okay, okay, breathe, Jason, calm your nerves. You are on a beach, the sun is shining, the water’s perfect, there are dozens of people... and I just realized that I’ve never been to a beach, but I can pretend, dammit!”

Hoping that he would be greeted with the surroundings that he conjured up, Jason slowly opened an eye, only to have both of them shoot open as he saw that he was still in the darkness, with the Denizens even closer than they were before, the untraceable light reflecting off their jet black bodies, “Oh for fuck sakes, of course lucid dreaming would fail on me, why wouldn’t it?!” Spinning around, Jason could feel a chill crawl up his spine as he realized that he was surrounded... and he stopped as he realized that he had just felt something, ‘Okay, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to feel anything in dreams!’

He pinched the underside of his arm near the armpit to confirm his fears.

“OW!... Oh fuck,” The horde began to close in, “Oh fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck-” The horde’s advance suddenly ceased as a humanoid figure suddenly dropped in from out of nowhere in front of Jason, one that he knew, based on that dreadful nightmare, had to be Ciara. As Ciara turned around to face Jason, he managed to get a good look at the bizarre clothing she was wearing. It was almost as if it was from another age, very regal, yet... Sinister? He then noticed that her silver eyes seemed to be curiously studying him, almost as if she... didn’t recognize him... Jason suddenly had a very bad feeling.

With a squint of her eyes, Ciara titled her head, “You?”

‘THAT’S NOT CIARA’S VOICE!!’

Jason screamed in terror as he fell out of his bed and dropped face first to the floor below, groaning in pain from the impact. As he picked himself up, he realized that he was back in his room, and a quick glance at his alarm clock showed that it was now five in the morning. To say that he was confused would be understating things a little. Having finally caught his breath, Jason could only say the three words that were understandably on his mind, “What the fuck!?”

----

“So that thing from Monday was a Mimic?” Jason turned away from the shelving unit to look at Sal. It was now Wednesday, and while Tuesday came and went without incident, today was different, as the Paranormal Research Club had gotten its first call of the year. At the moment he, Sal, Ciara, Kara, and Mr. Earl were at a small residence on the east side of town investigating what sounded like a potential wraith haunting.

“Yep,” Sal nonchalantly replied as he slowly waved his EEM over a shelving unit on the opposite side of the garage, “Mr. Earl thinks there might be a witch on campus other than Mrs. Landis.”

“Oh great.”

“Yeah, and that’s not all either. I did some reading up on Mimics the other night, in that book Mr. Earl handed out, and a Mimic can only be created by using the blood of a Lurker.”

“And I’m supposed to know what that is?”

Sal looked over his shoulder, “Haven’t you looked through the book yet?”

“If I’m asking what a Lurker is, do you really think I’ve gotten around to looking through the book yet?”

“... Fair enough. Anyway, think, like, a freaky cross between a frog and a crocodile that’s the size of a large bear.” Jason stopped what he was doing and slowly turned to look at Sal, who could only shrug and nod, “Yeah, turns out the Old Realm is a wee bit crazier than being a mere fantasy kitchen sink. Anyway, this thing is basically an ambush predator that preys upon anything smaller than it, and tends to swallow its prey alive and whole.”

“That’s just fucked up.”

“Believe me, it gets worse.”

“Oh god, do I wanna know?”

“Well... To summarize, they can shape shift into anything they’ve eaten, including people.”

“Oh fucking great, you mean to tell me that there might be a person on campus who isn’t who they say they are?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, Jay.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s... difficult to explain, you’re better off just reading what’s in the book.”

“Goddammit, Sal, I’m looking over my shoulder enough as is, I don’t need you adding to my paranoia!”

Sal shrugged, “Hey, you’re the one who asked.”

Jason stammered trying to come up with a retort, but ended up sighing in defeat, “Yeah, you’re right.” Turning back to the shelving unit, he noticed that his EEM had slowly begun to glow brighter, “Whoa, hold on.”

“What?”

Slowly waving the device back and forth to confirm his suspicions, Jason grinned as the device glowed brighter whenever he waved it towards the right. Taking a cautionary step back from the unit, Jason grabbed the walkie-talkie from his belt, “Yo, I think I got something over here in the garage.”

“We’ll be right up,” came Ciara’s reply.

As Jason placed his radio back, Sal tapped his shoulder, “Want me to get the bin out of the truck?”

“Yeah, that’d be a good idea,” Jason nodded, “Go get it, I’ll keep watch here in case it tries anything funny.”

Sal grinned and sprinted off, “Be back before you know it!”

Just moments after Sal left the garage Ciara, Kara, and Mr. Earl entered, “Got something, Mr. Carter?”

He nodded, “Yes sir, I do. Wouldn’t have called you guys over here if I didn’t.” Taking three steps to the right, Jason backed up once more when the EEM began glowing brightly, “It’s there, behind those boxes.”

“Sal’s getting the bin, I’m guessing?”

“Yep.”

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense, Jason, pull it out.”

Jason glanced back and forth between the shelving unit and Mr. Earl, “Don’t I need, like, some kinda protection or something?”

“Don’t be silly, it’s not like you’re its target,” Casey waved the concern off, “You’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you have Jason, so yes I’m sure.”

“Well, if you’re sure...” Stepping towards the shelving unit, Jason slowly reached in, nudging aside two boxes, and felt...

“Careful!”

Casey’s exclamation nearly made Jason jump clear right out of his skin, “What the hell?!”

“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” Casey’s shit-eating grin disappeared when Ciara quickly slugged him hard on his left arm in retaliation, and judging from the pained look on his face, it hurt pretty badly. Clutching said arm, Casey began walking away, “I’m gonna go help Sal with the bin.”

“You’re unbelievable,” shaking her head in equal parts disappointment and embarrassment, Ciara could only sigh as Casey exited the garage, “Well, go ahead, Jason, if that wraith tries anything, I’ll protect you.” Realizing that both her cousin and her charge were giving her stares, she cleared her throat, “That sounded a lot less mushy in my head.”

“Well, I appreciate the offer if it means anything.”

“Just pull the fucking wraith out already and stop making this weird.”

“Okay, okay, jeez. Guy tries to express gratitude around here...” Once again reaching into the shelving unit, Jason felt around for the suspected intruder, and raised an eyebrow when he felt something fuzzy, “I think I’ve got it.” Taking grasp of the object, Jason slowly pulled it out into view... and was perplexed by what he was holding, “Uh, is this it?”

“What’s the EEM say?”

Holding the device over the small, innocent-looking, brown bat plushie, Jason could only raise an eyebrow as the device glowed wildly, confirming that this was indeed the wraith, “This is it, apparently... I feel like I’m being pranked.”

Kara clasped her hands together, “D’aaaaaaw, it’s so cute!”

“Cute?” Ciara gave her cousin a concerned glance, “Kara, did you get beaned in dodgeball today?”

The sound of clanging metal quickly got their attention, as Sal and Mr. Earl returned carrying a canister and a steel bin, “We’re back!”

“Took you long enough. Did you get lost and have to ask for directions?”

Sal cast a glance towards the side and mumbled, “I might have had some trouble with the lock...”

Casey placed the gas canister down, “Is that the wraith, Jason?”

“According to the EEM, it is.”

Casey approached Jason and took hold of the wraith for inspection, “Interesting, you hardly ever hear of people with chiroptophobia nowadays.”

“Chiropto-what now?”

“Fear of bats,” Ciara clarified.

“It’s kinda small, don’t you think?” Sal observed.

“Don’t be fooled, this little guy’s close to reaching maturity,” corrected Casey, “Another week and this little guy here would be ready to bond with Miss Harker, and go on to cause a lot of problems for us.”

Jason raised an eyebrow as a thought popped into his head, “Sooooo... what would it make her do, exactly?”

“Quite simple really, it would...it would... um,” Casey paused from inspecting the immature wraith and blinked, “That’s a good question actually.”

“You mean you don’t know?”

“You know how I said how chiroptophobia’s a rare thing in Amoca, right? Well, this is kinda the first bat-based wraith I’ve ever encountered.”

Sal scratched the back of his head, “So, what, you’re flying blind here?”

Casey gave Sal a disgruntled look, “I’m ignoring the pun, but yes, I really don’t know what to expect from this.”

“Okay, well, what do the other kinds of wraiths do?”

“Well, clowns spread chaos, and animal-based wraiths like spiders and snakes basically act on their predatory instincts, at least the wild ones do anyway. The Davis case was... rather odd.”

“So, what, this thing would make Miss Harker do what exactly? Eat all the bugs in the country? That doesn’t sound very threatening, if you ask me.”

“Actually, the only bats on the island are fruit lovers,” Kara corrected.

“That just raises further questions!”

Casey took a closer look at the small wraith, “I don’t get it either; a fear of bats is something so easily conquerable. What could have caused her to have such an intense fear?”

“Maybe she saw a vampire or something,” Ciara absent-mindedly let slip, only realizing what she said when the room became dead silent, “Whoah, hold on here, I’m just spit-balling.”

“Be that as it may, I think you might be onto something, Ciara,” Casey held the wraith away from him, “Elder vampires are said to have been able to take the form of monstrous bats. It’s possible that Miss Harker might have actually seen such a Vampire one night, igniting her fear of bats.”

“Oh great,” Jason facepalmed, “As if I didn’t have enough things to worry about.”

“I’m pretty sure vampires would still be the least of your worries, Jay,” Sal reminded him, causing the Arizona native to groan.

Kara quizzically tilted her head, “So would Miss Harker turn into a vampire, then?”

“I don’t know, I don’t wanna know, and I don’t wanna be the guy responsible for creating a new type of vampire through negligence if so,” Casey replied and started walking towards the back exit, “Jason, grab the gas canister and bring it out back, please? Sal, same with the bin, if you could.”

As the five-person team relocated from the garage to the backyard, Jason couldn’t help but feel slightly anxious, “So this’ll kill it, right?”

“Can’t kill what wasn’t alive to begin with.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Hasn’t failed on us yet.”

Ciara rolled her eyes and grunted, “Saying that is just asking for a failure to happen.”

“... Shit, anyone got a piece of wood?”

“Don’t worry about it, Uncle Casey,” Kara reassured, “I’m sure this one will go just fine!”

Sal flinched and froze mid-step, “You mean one of these have gone wrong before?!”

As Ciara and Jason also came to a stop as Kara’s slip of the tongue set in, Kara sheepishly grinned, “Did I say that out loud?”

Casey promptly applied the palm of his hand to his face and groaned, “Thanks, Kara.”

“Do I even wanna know?” Ciara questioned.

“Last year we had an incident where a targeted individual accidentally laid eyes on the wraith that was stalking them, and the wraith was far enough along in development to the point where the subsequent freak-out was enough to... send the wraith into maturity.”

“How far enough along was it?” Jason asked out of concern.

“Let me put it this way,” Casey tightened his grip on the wraith in his hand, “I am very glad I asked Miss Harker to remain in her room until further notice.” Determining they were far enough away from the house, Mr. Earl slightly nodded, “Alright, let’s burn this puppy.”

Sal dropped the bin, sighing in relief, “Finally, I thought we’d never get around to it.”

Casey immediately dropped the small wraith into the steel container and turned to Jason, “Alright, Jason, douse it.”

As the Second Year began to unscrew the canister’s lid, a thought quickly came to mind, making him pause, “Uh, with how much?”

“Make it drown,” he delivered a light kick to the container, “I want this to be a thorough burning.”

“Got it,” Jason proceeded to pour the entirety of the gas canister into the container, much to the concern of his co-workers.

“Okay, I know the man said drown it, but I’d like to at least keep my eyebrows, Jay.”

Shaking loose the last few drops of gas, Jason gave Sal a flat stare, “So don’t be the one who lights it, then. This isn’t rocket science.”

“We’re fucking around with fire and gasoline, I’m pretty sure this qualifies as rocket science in some third world country.”

“Alright, alright, enough with the bickering,” Casey interrupted and pulled out a lighter, catching Kara’s eye, “So who wants to do the honors?”

Before Kara could so much as make a move, Ciara snatched the lighter from her honorary uncle’s hand before her cousin could, “I’ll do it.”

“Awwwww,” a visibly disappointed Kara deflated.

“Too slow, Kara,” Ciara playfully stuck her tongue out at her cousin, completely forgetting that she was in the presence of people that weren’t her family.

Sal leaned over to Jason and whispered, “Pay close attention to this, Jay, we might not ever see something like this again.” Jason could only muster up an unamused look in return.

“So what do I do anyway?” Ciara asked Casey.

“Just light it and drop it in, simple really.”

Ciara raised an eyebrow, having not expected such a blunt answer, “You sure you’re okay with me destroying your lighter?”

“Oh don’t worry about it, lighters like that cost nothing,” he shrugged it off, “I’ve got a drawer full back on campus.”

Ciara’s eye twitched at the amount mentioned, “Those weren’t supposed to have gotten distributed out amongst us club members by any chance, were they?”

“Don’t be silly,” Mr. Earl scoffed, “What on Earth could you guys possibly need lighters fo-Oh... right.”

The Darktype could only shake her head, “Mom’s right, you are terrible.”

“That cuts deep,” he whined.

“It’s true, though,” Kara innocently added.

“Kara, not you too?!”

“Well, you didn’t hand out lighters last year, either,” she pointed out, causing the assistant club supervisor to face fault in response.

Ciara gave off an amused sigh and shook her head, “As much as I’m enjoying this, we should probably start wrapping things up here.” Flipping open the lighter, Ciara ignited it, and grinned, “You guys might wanna back up a little.” Kara dragged their still ground-bound Uncle away to a safe distance, while Sal and Jason had already taken cover behind a picnic table, “Alright then,” Ciara licked her lips, “Fire in the hole!”

They couldn’t tell which howl was louder: the fire quickly roaring to life as the lighter was dropped into the gas, or the screeching wail of the wraith as it was destroyed. Once the noise subsided, Jason carefully poked his head up, clearly shaken by the screams, “Please tell me they don’t all do that.”

“Thankfully, they don’t,” Mr. Earl replied as he finally picked himself off the ground, “Most of them tend to go rather quietly.”

Ciara turned away from the now diminished flames, “Have any tried taking you with ‘em?”

Casey blinked, “No, but I’m gonna be paranoid about it now that you’ve raised the possibility of it happening... So thanks.”

“Anytime,” Ciara smirked as she walked away from the container and over to Jason and Sal, “So what now?”

“Well, now comes the boring part,” Mr. Earl scratched the back of his head, “Trying to come up with a way to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” He sighed in frustration, “And this one’s gonna be hell to figure out, I can already tell.”

Kara tilted her head, “How come?”

“Well, if it was a simple bat-based wraith, I would’ve recommended Miss Harker to check out the bat exhibit at the zoo, but this particular case isn’t that simple.”

Sal nodded in agreement, “How the hell do you make someone not have a fear of vampires?” The group became silent as they pondered potential solutions to the problem, turning frustrated as nothing immediately came to mind.

“Should just show her some New Realm vampire movies, that’ll cure her,” Ciara jokingly suggested, something that was apparently lost on Casey as his eyes widened, and slowly turned to face his niece, “Gods above, I was kidding.”

“No, no, I think you might be onto something,” Mr. Earl grinned, “It’s so obvious, I’m ashamed I didn’t think of it myself..”

Jason and Sal shared a glance, with the latter shrugging, “I don’t get it.”

“Well, it’s quite simple really,” Mr. Earl explained, “We just simply get Miss Harker to watch some foreign vampire films.”

“How the hell is that supposed to help?”

“Well, no offense, but you guys only made like, what, six good vampire movies?”

Jason opened his mouth to rebuke Mr. Earl’s claim, but quickly realized that the man had a point, “Okay, yeah, fair enough.”

“Great,” Ciara clapped her hands together, “While you deal with that, I’ll be in the truck.”

Sal nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I’m just about ready to head on back to campus, too. Gettin’ kind of hungry, actually.”

A low growl emanated from Kara’s mid-section at the mere thought of food, causing her to blush in embarrassment, “Ehehehe, seconded.”

Mr. Earl nodded in understanding, “Right, well, you all head on over to the truck while I put this out and talk to Miss Harker.”

The four students did as they were told, making their way back through the garage to the driveway, and were surprised to see a new vehicle parked next to Mr. Earl’s truck. Not quite as surprising, however, was the person standing next to the car, “Hi, sweetie!” Amy Landis greeted.

“Oh, hey, Mom,” Ciara blinked, standing there while the others simply gave their quick greetings and got in the truck, “What are you doing here?”

“Stopped by the club building to see what everyone was up to,” she replied, “Bomber told me you guys got your first call of the year, so I decided to see how you were faring... So how’d it go?”

Ciara shrugged, “Eh, kinda boring, really. Jason found the wraith, I burned it, and that was it.”

“Trust me, you want it to remain boring,” Amy smiled.

Ciara raised an eyebrow out of caution, “What are you so happy about?”

“I’m gonna be taking the camera in to get some pictures developed later,” her Mother responded, “Let’s just say that I got a very cute picture that you will be very interested in seeing.”

Before Ciara could ask just what exactly she meant by that, the sound of plastic banging against metal cut her off, announcing the arrival of Mr. Earl, “Oh hey, Ames, what brings you out here?”

“Just thought I’d see how you were all doing.”

“You got bored again, didn’t ya?” The blonde asked as he walked past the bluenette towards the back of the truck, quickly storing away the items that had been in his grasp.

“You’ve got no way of proving that,” Amy fired back, “So, anyway, my daughter says that this case wound up being pretty routine, is that right?”

“Yep.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” the club founder relaxed, “Are you all finished here?”

“Almost,” Casey replied, before starting to walk back towards the house, “Just gotta talk to the client first then we’ll be on our way.”

“The sooner the better,” Ciara made her way to the truck, “Seriously, we’re hungry here.” As she was about to climb inside, she snapped her fingers as she quickly remembered something, “Oh, right, nearly forgot, Uncle Casey forgot to hand out lighters during orientation, and, according to Kara, he forgot to do so last year, too.”

Amy blinked, “... Is that so?” Casey froze. It may have been in the upper 70’s, but he could swear it became as cold as the arctic the moment Amy slowly turned her gaze back on him and grabbed his collar, “Keys.”

“But...”

She tightened her grip on his collar, “Keys, now.” The keys were understandably handed over quickly, with Amy releasing the blonde’s collar in return, “Thank you,” she then turned and walked towards the truck, “Sal?”

Sal poked his head out from the backseats, “Yes?”

“Do you have your driver’s license?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Good,” she tossed the keys to him, causing Sal to nearly fall out of the large vehicle trying to catch them, “You can drive yourself and the others back to campus.”

Sal blinked, “What about Mr. Earl?”

“Don’t worry about Casey,” Mrs. Landis reassured, “I’ll see to it that he gets back home. He and I are going to have a long talk about responsibility.”

Sal couldn’t help but shudder as he felt a chill crawl up his spine as Amy returned her attention towards Mr. Earl, putting him in a headlock as they walked back into the household. Once the front door closed, he felt safe enough to move, climbing into the driver’s seat and starting the engine, “Alright, you heard the lady, let’s get out of here.”

As the truck slowly back out of the driveway, Ciara leaned over to her cousin, “So, any ideas on what to do for food?”

Kara’s stomach once again roared at the mention of food, causing her to slump slightly, “Gaaah, I have no idea what I want.”

“Y’know, I think we passed a burger joint on the way here,” Jason commented, “Think we can stop by there?”

“Yeah, I could go for a burger, myself,” Sal nodded, putting the truck into drive, “How about you, Kara?”

“I’m game,” she replied, answering almost a little too quickly.

“Sweet, next stop: Food!”

----

“Hey, Bomber?”

Sighing, Bomber paused from reading the magazine in his hands and glanced over the top, “What is it, Ernest?”

“You ever wonder why we’re here?”

“Because Mr. Earl said some people had to stay behind in case any more calls came in?”

Ernest blinked, “Actually, I was kinda going for that whole meaning of life thing, but I was wondering about that, too.”

“What’s there to wonder about?” Bomber rhetorically asked, “Mr. Earl said it was a four person job, and you, Petra, and I just so happened to get stuck with house-sitting duties. Not exactly rocket science. Though, given your track record, that’s probably a good thing. I still have no idea what happened to that pizza of mine.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird though that he picked Ciara, Jason, Kara, and Sal specifically?”

“Well, Kara I can understand, she’s our club senior, of course she’d be brought along to show them the ropes, but otherwise I don’t see your point,” Bomber finished with a shake of his head.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how buddy-buddy those four are?”

“So they hang out with each other, big whoop. Friends tend to do that, Ernest.”

“Really? You think it’s perfectly normal for someone to ask for a sleepover with people after knowing them for less than a week?”

Bomber mulled the thought over. Ernest had a point, it did seem odd that both Jason and Sal had been invited over to the Landis residence when they’ve only known Ciara and Kara for a few days, “Okay, I’ll admit that’s kinda odd, but I’m still not seeing the bigger picture here.”

“Well, what if Mr. Earl is... y’know?”

“What? Like playing matchmaker or something?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Ernest, that’s ridiculous.”

“Is it, though?” He asked, “Jason managed to fight Ciara to a standstill back on Saturday, so he’d probably be a good match for her, and we’ve no idea what happened between Sal and Kara.”

Bomber rolled his eyes and was about to return his attention to his magazine when a thought suddenly popped into his mind, “Why is this even bugging you?”

“Would you believe me if I said I was worried about someone’s well-being?”

“Whose well-being would you have to be worried about? I’m pretty sure the cousins can handle themselves.”

“Against the Lector of Amoca, though?”

Bomber slowly turned towards Ernest, an eye twitching all the while, “Excuse me?”

“Oh come on, you’ve heard the stories, haven’t you?” Ernest continued, not noticing Bomber’s growing irritation, “The guy’s a hazard! I mean, I’m not Mr. Earl, but I sure as hell wouldn’t try setting up one of my nieces with a guy that has a reputation like that.”

Bomber slammed his magazine down onto the table, startling the Third Year, and loomed over him, “Ernest, unless you actually know Sal, I highly advise you to keep your mouth shut about him, got it?”

Ernest quickly nodded, “Got it.”

A third voice suddenly chimed in, “Am I interrupting something?”

“Hmm?” Bomber redirected his attention away from Ernest towards the voice’s owner, and was met with a familiar face. “Oh hey, Kerry,” Bomber greeted, “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been a bit busy,” the long-haired boy explained, “Is Mr. Earl around?”

“Um, no, he’s out on business at the moment,” Bomber replied, “Right now it’s just me, Petra, and Rocket Boy here.”

“Oh come on, would you let that go?!”

“Not a chance in hell,” Bomber glared, “So what’d you need Mr. Earl for?”

“Well, it... kinda has to do with why I’ve been busy for the past few days.”

“Which is...?”

“I’ve been looking for Jack.”

Bomber winced, “Oh, right.”

“It’s alright,” Kerry put a hand up, “I know you guys were simply tolerating his presence because of me. Anyway, I wanted to see Mr. Earl because I found something in the woods yesterday, on this old as hell trail.”

“Really? What was it?”

Kerry dug into his back pocket and pulled out a small, dirty object, “I found Jack’s wallet.”

“Gods above... Kerry, I am so sorry.”

“Again, it’s alright.”

“There’s something I don’t get, though,” the Fourth Year placed his hand on his beltline, “What does this have to do with the Paranormal Research Club?”

“I also found some... strange tracks where I found his wallet,” Kerry explained.

“Oh.”

Kerry put the wallet back into his pocket and turned to leave, “Well, if Mr. Earl ain’t here, I guess I’ll deal with this myself.”

“What do you mean?” Ernest asked.

“I know that trail leads to a large clearing with an old vacant cabin,” Kerry explained, “If something nabbed Jack, it probably stashed his body there. I’m gonna bring it back, and if I’m lucky, I’m gonna bash the brains in of whatever it was that got him.”

Before he could leave, Bomber grabbed his arm, “Whoah now, you’re not seriously thinking of going up there alone are you?”

The Fifth Year glanced back, “And what if I am?”

“Look,” he said calmly, “I know you wanna crack some skulls, I get that, but blindly charging into the situation ain’t gonna help. You have no idea what might be up there. You came here to get help from the Paranormal Research Club, and just because Mr. Earl ain’t here doesn’t mean we’re gonna turn you away.”

“So... you guys will help?”

Bomber let go of Kerry’s arm, “Well, yeah, tackling the unknown is pretty much in our job description.”

A smile crept onto Kerry’s face, “That’s good to hear. I’ll be in my truck out front when you guys are ready,” he finished with a slap to Bomber’s shoulder before exiting the building.

Ernest blinked a few times, and looked around the room as though he was completely lost, “Um, what just happened?”

“We just got ourselves a job, Ernest,” Bomber grinned.

“Whoah, wait a minute, time out,” the black haired boy shook his head, “What happened to holding the fort down until the others got back?”

“Just because I understand why Mr. Earl gave us house-sitting duties doesn’t mean I agree with it,” Bomber explained as he walked over to the office room, “Hey, Petra!”

Petra suddenly rolled out on an office chair, “Yes?”

“Ernest and I are heading out on a job, wanna come with?”

Her eyes narrowed, “Aren’t we supposed to stay here in case anyone else calls?”

“Oh come on, Mr. Earl said it himself that calls are few and far between. Don’t you wanna earn that paycheck?”

She frowned and glanced to the side, “I would feel a lot better about that paycheck knowing that I’ve earned it...”

“Great, now c’mon, Kerry’s waiting out front for us.”

Nodding, Petra stood up and moved to follow Bomber, only to realize something, “Wait, where are we going exactly?”

“Kerry says that there’s this old cabin in the woods, and if we’re taking his truck, we’ll probably be going up that old jeep trail over by the campus entrance, why?” He turned back to look at the fellow Fourth Year only to see her writing a message out on the white board, “Oh.”

“Just in case the others come back when we’re gone,” she explained as she finished writing it out, placing the cap back on the marker, “C’mon, let’s go.”

The time it took to get from there to the old cabin was 15 minutes, and those 15 minutes were mostly filled with silence. The clearing was large, just as Kerry had said, and to say that the cabin indeed looked old would be underselling things; a decaying building made out of weathered lumber covered in moss and vines, with a broken porch swing lying atop a rotting porch, broken windows, and a roof that was just as perforated with holes. Bomber sneezed as the smell of mildew suddenly flooded his nostrils, “Aw jeez, anyone got any masks? This is gonna be miserable otherwise!”

“Ask and you shall receive,” Petra responded as she handed Bomber the item he requested.

“Oh, thanks. []Hey wait[/i], where...?”

“I spend a lot of time in the Nurse’s Office, Bomber, masks like these aren’t that hard to come by,” she pulled out three more surgical masks from her back pocket, handing two to Ernest and Kerry, while keeping the third for herself, “Don’t want anyone getting sick now, do we?”

As Petra put her mask on, the three boys looked amongst themselves, and shrugged before putting the masks on, following her lead. “I don’t suppose you have any gloves on you as well, do you?” Kerry asked.

She shook her head, “We’ll just have to be sure to wash our hands thoroughly when we get back.”

“Right,” Kerry walked around to the bed of his truck, pulling out a steel bat and a large, boxy flashlight, “Time to get to work.” The porch loudly creaked and groaned as the four students gathered around the front door of the cabin, almost as it was voicing its displeasure of being used after so long. Kerry, having placed his bat up against the side of the building, tried to turn the doorknob, only to grunt in annoyance when it wouldn’t move, “Dammit, locked.”

“Welp, we tried, let’s go!” Ernest quickly turned around and tried to leave, only to be stopped in his place as Bomber grabbed hold of his collar.

“Just wait a damn minute, would ya?” Kerry requested, “Now look, we ain’t callin’ it quits just because the doors locked. With an old building like this, this door’s gotta be weak as hell, so maybe with a few kicks...”

*THWACK*

*THWACK*

With a resounding crack, Kerry finally kicked the front door of the cabin in, stirring up all sorts of dust. Bat and flashlight clenched in hand, he slowly entered the building, followed by Petra, Bomber, and Ernest, being dragged in by his collar. Cobwebs were strewn about, chairs were knocked over and broken, a couch seemed to be torn in half, the fireplace was smashed, and on the opposite side of the room there was an axe embedded in the wall. Kerry whistled as he took the sight in, “Looks a lot worse on the inside than it does on the outside.”

Petra blinked in disbelief, “Is that an axe?”

Bomber nervously gulped, “So, um, where do we start looking?”

“Well, the ceiling’s too high for an attic,” Kerry thought it over, “Let’s check all the rooms first, if we find a door to a basement, we’ll check down there last.”

Bomber nodded, “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

----

“Look, I’m just saying, if you’re a pop idol, you have no business covering rock music,” Ciara bluntly stated before reaching into her bag for more fries.

“That’s a little narrow minded, though, don’t you think?” Jason questioned.

“Eh, I dunno,” Sal chimed in, “Her argument does kinda make sense.”

Jason could practically feel the sweatdrop form, “How the heck could you make any kind of sense out of that?”

Sal could only offer up a shrug in return, “I’unno, but she does have a point. When it comes to rock, there are messages and attitudes that just get lost when forced through a pop filter, y’know?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Jason relented, “You have an opinion on this, Kara?”

Kara paused from sipping away at her drink, and shook her head, “No, I’m just wondering how we even got on this topic to begin with.” The other three glanced amongst themselves, the looks on their faces making it painfully clear that they too had forgotten what it was that had gotten them on this topic, something that did not go unnoticed by Kara, “You guys forgot, didn’t you?”

“So what do you think the others are up to?” Jason quickly changed the subject.

“They’re probably relaxing like normal people,” Sal guessed, “After all, they don’t have the looming threat of Denizens hanging over their heads. They can afford to relax.”

“Why you gotta be like that?” Jason deadpanned as Sal pulled into Mr. Earl’s driveway

“Sorry, I guess this is just eating away at me more than it is you,” Sal apologized as he put the vehicle into park and switched off the ignition, “Now how ‘bout we get inside, I got homework that needs doing.”

Ciara threw up her hands, “Finally, someone else who gets homework in this school!” She opened the car door and hopped out, “Was beginning to think I was losing my mind or something.”

“I still don’t understand how you’re getting homework and I’m not,” Jason asked, sliding out after her, “We are in the same math class, right?”

“Why do you think I’m so damn confused??”

Kara hopped out of the truck after them, “Maybe the teacher doesn’t like you?”

“For her sake, that better not be it.”

Sal finally exited the vehicle as well, “Oh come on, that kind of stuff doesn’t actually happen, does it?” The look Ciara directed at him was one that had a definite story behind it, causing Sal to quickly and cautiously backtrack “Or maybe it does and I’ve just never noticed it?”

Ciara rolled her eyes and resumed walking towards the door, “Whatever.”

Jason leaned over to his fellow American and whispered, “Nice save.”

“Oh shut up, do you have any idea what it’s like to be on the wrong side of those eyes?”

He blinked and quickly nodded, “Yes, actually, I do.” He leaned in closer, “As a matter of fact, I’ve been pinned up against a wall by her, so trust me when I say that I know that feeling.”

The Fifth Year raised an eyebrow before pressing a finger to Jason’s forehead, pushing him away slightly before picking up on what he had said, “Wait... she pinned you against a wall?”

Jason quickly picked up on where Sal was going when he saw the smile appear, “Dude, no.”

Before Sal could follow through with whatever it was that he was going to say, they were quickly interrupted by the girl of interest, “SON OF A BITCH!!” Ciara was quickly joined at the doorway by her three compatriots, all wondering what the commotion was about, with Sal and Jason immediately paling as they saw what was written on the white board across the room. ‘OUT ON JOB. HELPING KERRY SEARCH FOR JACK HOLLOWAY. OLD JEEP TRAIL. CABIN IN THE WOODS. BE BACK LATER. –PETRA.’

Both boys quickly echoed the Darktype, “SON OF A BITCH!!”

Kara, however, was a bit lost, “... I don’t get it.”

“You big dummy, the woods are where Jack got snatched!” Ciara shouted, “Those idiots are walking into a fucking death trap!”

“Oh.”

“Damn right ‘oh’,” she glared before pushing her way back outside, “Kara, get on the phone and call Mom, and tell her what’s happening!”

“Wait, what are you gonna do?”

“What do you think? I’m gonna save the lives of four morons!”

Sal quickly passed her and went for the truck, “And I’m gonna help ya.”

The Second Year paused mid-stride, “What the shit?”

“I’m the only one here who knows how to drive, and driving is probably the only way we’re getting to them in time unless you can run faster than a speeding vehicle.” he opened the vehicle door and hoped into the driver’s seat, “Now do you wanna sit here arguing, or do you wanna be a hero?”

“Like I can really argue with that?” Ciara’s brow twitched as she ran over to the passenger side and climbed in. As Sal started up the engine, the two of them suddenly heard one of the back passenger doors open and just as quickly slam close. Turning around, both were flabbergasted as they saw Jason buckling up, “And just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“What’s it look like? I’m going with you guys.”

“Excuse me?”

“I ain’t staying here sitting on my ass, that’s for sure.”

Before Ciara could retort, Sal interrupted them while quickly pulling out of the driveway, “Guys, I hate to interrupt this little marriage spat of yours, but now is NOT the time to argue!”

The Darktype crossed her arms, groaning in defeat, “Fine,” she glanced back at Jason, “But so help me, if you die, I’m gonna kick your ass.”

Jason didn’t quite hear this, however, as his mind was focused on something else, “... MARRIAGE SPAT?!”

----

“I don’t get it!” Kerry paced back and forth in the cabin’s den; he was, to put it bluntly, rather livid, “I don’t fucking get it!”

Bomber tried his best at calming his friend down, while Petra and Ernest watched from their spots on the divided couch, “Look, Kerry, we’ve basically ransacked the place, I mean we searched every nook and cranny. I’m sorry, man, but Jack ain’t here.”

“So where the fuck is he then, Nate?!” Kerry shouted, “If an animal snatched him, it would’ve dragged him here. If a fucking deranged psychopath got him, they would’ve stashed his body here, so where the fuck is his body?! People don’t just vanish off the face of the fucking Earth, y’know!”

Bomber calmly took in a deep breath, “Yes, I know that, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s not here. We should just go back and...”

“And what, leave it to the fucking cops?” The Fifth Year glared, “Those assholes don’t even know where to look!”

“And we do?”

Kerry suddenly gripped Bomber’s collar and yanked him close, “If you’ve got something to say, then say it.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Ernest and Petra had suddenly scrambled to get higher on their seats, “What the fuck are you guys do...”

Kerry bit the side of his tongue as his chin smacked down hard against the floor. Something had wrapped around his right leg and quite literally pulled his feet out from under him, and was now violently dragging him towards the front entrance. In the chaos, Kerry had managed to grab hold of the doorframe and held on for dear life, “SOMETHING’S GOT A HOLD OF ME!”

Bomber snapped out of his stupor and raced over to Kerry, wrapping his arms around his waist and propping his feet up against both sides of the doorframe. Looking at what was wrapped around the Fifth Year’s leg, and seeing the blood seeping through the coils, Bomber saw that it wasn’t simply wrapped around it, but was cutting into it as well. Small, razor-like protrusions lined the appendage on all sides, and as the coils tightened, they no doubt dug further into Kerry’s flesh causing him to scream. Bomber’s eyes ran the length of the tendril, following it back to its owner, the sight of which nearly made him lose his grip on Kerry.

The beast stood upright on digitigrade legs and bird-like feet, and a thick tail swayed slightly back and forth. In place of hands, two whip-like appendages sprouted from the forearms, the left appendage being what was currently savaging Kerry’s leg. Knobby protrusions sprouted from the creature’s shoulder blades, as though they were once wing nubs that had long since scabbed over, and a thick neck ended in a very slender reptile-like head. What possibly shook Bomber the most, however, was the beast’s color, something darker than black, as though he was looking into the dark impossible depths of space.

He turned towards the other two club members, “Petra, find something to cut this thing off of him! Ernest, get your ass over here and fucking help me!”

While Petra was quick to get to work, Ernest, however, wasn’t exactly springing into action, “Uh, you sure I shouldn’t be helping Petra with her task instead?”

“ERNEST!”

“Aw jeez, alright, alright!” Ernest ran over and wrapped his arms around Bomber’s waist, Kerry still screaming all the while, “Do we try pulling back and hope it loses its grip?”

Bomber shook his head, “No, not yet, not until Petra’s ready, Kerry’s leg will just get more messed up if we do it any earlier. How’s it coming back there, Petra?”

Petra quickly returned to their side, axe in hand, “Will this do?”

“Yeah, that’ll do!”

Kerry, however, went wide-eyed when he caught glance of the weapon in Petra’s grip, “YOU BETTER NOT MISS WITH THAT AXE, LADY! JUST BECAUSE I AIN’T AN ATHLETE DOESN’T MEAN I AIN’T ATTACHED TO MY LEGS!”

“I’ll try not to,” she replied, “You guys ready?”

“Yep,” Bomber nodded, “Alright, Ernest, now pull, pull!” The two boys groaned as they slowly dragged Kerry back inside the house, recovering him inch by inch. What ensued was a fucked up game of tug o’ war, with the life of a high school student hanging in the balance. After what seemed like an eternity of nearly lost grips, negative progress, and agonized screams, they had finally managed to pull Kerry all the way back inside, giving them their opportunity, “Petra, now!”

The Fourth Year swung down, and hit her mark, just missing Kerry’s foot, with the sudden removal of the opposing force causing the three boys to fall to the floor, though Kerry was quick to sit back up, gripping his torn up leg while groaning in pain, “FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK, goddammit, OW!”

I’AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

“That thing don’t sound happy,” Ernest commented.

Bomber rolled his eyes, “Thank you for the astute observation, Captain Obvious.” He sat up, “C’mon, help me get Kerry away from the door. Petra, you keep watch, okay?” The two boys grabbed Kerry by his shoulders and dragged him over to the couch, being careful not to further damage his injured leg. Propping the Fifth Year up against the broken furniture, Bomber turned his attention to the boy’s leg, “Okay, Kerry, we gotta take care of this now, alright?”

“Fuck, man, just do something, I’m bleeding here!”

“Well, what do you want me to do, man?” To Bomber’s surprise, Kerry began swinging at him agitatedly, “What?”

“Fucking hit me!” He shouted, “This shit hurts, dammit, knock me out!” Bomber threw a half-hearted swing, hitting Kerry across the jaw, leaving him unamused, “Oh you fucking wimp, HIT ME!” This time Bomber delivered, knocking Kerry out with a much heavier blow.

“Nice hit,” Ernest bluntly commented.

Bomber nodded, shaking his hand to relieve the pain, “Hurt like Hell, though.” He finally turned his attention to the thing coiled around the lower half of Kerry’s leg, “Hey Petra?”

“Yes?”

“Do I take this thing off of him or what?”

“That depends,” she replied, “is it simply coiled around him, or is it cutting into him?”

“Uh, definitely the last one.”

“Then don’t even think about removing it,” she ordered, “Take that thing off of him and he’ll just lose more blood.”

“Don’t even bother, got it,” Bomber nodded, only to panic when the black appendage completely dissipated, “Or I can just go fuck myself, that works, too!”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing, I didn’t even touch the damn thing, it just disintegrated on me!”

“Dammit, Bomber!”

Bomber stammered as he tried to figure out a way to fix this, and saw a white sheet lying over in the corner, “Ernest, hand me that sheet!”

“Since when did you know how to dress a wound?”

“Just shut up and hand me it!”

“Uh, guys?” Petra’s worried voice interrupted them, “Take a look outside...”

The two boys turned around, and were left speechless by the sight they were seeing. Furiously, the creature gnawed away at the damaged appendage, eating away at it until it reached the base arm. Bomber was ready to heave, “Gods above, that’s disgusting.” The arm then began twitching wildly, and with a sickening squelch, much to their shock and horror, a new appendage sprouted forth, “Come the fuck on, that’s a load of bull!”

“What do we do, Bomber?”

“How should I know??” He nearly shouted as he returned his attention to Kerry, beginning to wrap up the wound.

“You got us into this mess!”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting this!”

As Bomber and Ernest squabbled, Petra kept her eyes trained on the monster. Movement behind the beast quickly got her attention, and what she saw left her speechless, “Uh, guys? Am I just seeing things or is that Ciara walking into the clearing?” The two boys paused from their bickering and looked to where Petra was pointing.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me...”

Ciara tuned out the shouts telling her to get away and get help. She knew help was already on its way, but she could smell the blood in the air; she knew matters needed attending to now, and truth be told, she had been wanting to tear into something for the past few days. After checking over her shoulder to make sure that Sal and Jason were staying out of sight as they slowly made their way to the cabin, she cracked her knuckles and focused on the Denizen that had it’s back turned to her, her forearms quickly becoming covered in the darker than black material that betrayed her heritage, “Oi, you!” As expected, the Void native turned to face her. Though she was standing a good 35 feet away from the beast, she could see the drool drip from between the needle-like teeth that lined the Denizen’s jaws, “Well,” Ciara readied herself, “aren’t you’re an ugly one?”

I’RA’A’A’A’A’A!!

Ciara rolled out of harm’s way as one of the tendrils shot forth, slamming down into the ground in an attempt to strike her, “What’s the matter, huh? Can’t take a compliment?” The Denizen shrieked again as Ciara got to her feet and started running towards it, leaping as the beast made a sweeping motion with the other tendril, “You’re gonna have to do a lot better than that!” Ciara’s knee slammed hard into the side of the beast’s head that staggered it for a moment before it recovered, taking a few quick snaps at the Darktype, forcing her to duck and roll out of the way.

Again, the Denizen attempted to strike Ciara with its whips, missing with every swing. “C’mon, blind people have better aim!” Ciara taunted the beast, adding further insult by running circles around it, “I mean really, how the hell did you even survive until now?” She then lunged onto the Denizen’s back, sprouting two tendrils from her shoulder region to grab hold of the two shoulder protrusions, and began to repeatedly swipe at its head.

Back over at the cabin, Petra couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. The monster was one thing, but seeing Ciara engage the creature in a fight... to sprout tendrils... ‘This is absolutely insane,’ she thought to herself as she leaned further onto the left side of the doorframe.

Bomber’s voice suddenly drew her out of her stupor, “Petra what’s going on out there, you’re being awfully quiet. Did Ciara run for help, or what?”

“Uhhh...”

“So that’s a no then, got it,” Bomber finished wrapping up Kerry’s leg, “Alright, Ernest, what kind of belt do you have on, normal or the stretch kind?”

Ernest’s eyebrows rose in response to the bizarre question, “Uh, stretchy, why?

“Hand it over.”

“What the fuck, why?!”

“Because I need something else to tie above his wounds to slow the bleeding,” he explained, “otherwise this makeshift bandage is gonna get ruined quickly.”

“Why don’t you use your own belt?”

“Mine doesn’t have enough notches to get that small.”

“Why don’t you ask Petra?” Ernest questioned, only to receive a flick to the ear in return, “Ow, what the-?!”

“Ernest, never ask for a woman to take off her belt,” Bomber reprimanded, “Now hand it over.”

Ernest groaned in frustration as he undid his belt and handed it to Bomber. As Bomber placed and tightened the belt just above Kerry’s wound, Ernest noticed a silhouette move outside the boarded up window, “Uh, guys, I think we’ve got company.”

Alarmed, Bomber looked over to Petra who now had her back pressed up against the wall as she gripped her axe tightly, nodding in understanding. Their ears picked up the sound of the porch groaning under footsteps that drew closer and closer. A shadow appeared in the doorway, and the Fourth Year sprang into action, jumping in front of the doorway and swung her axe, only to realize too late her error as Bomber simultaneously let out a shout, “NO!”

*THUNK*

The axe embedded itself in the doorframe, having missed its intended target entirely, as Jason dropped straight onto his ass at the mere sight of the axe before it was even swung. Sal slowly leaned into view, “Nathan Boudreaux and party, I presume?” The three students sighed in relief, with Petra removing the axe, tossing it aside, before wrapping her arms around Sal for a quick hug, “I see you guys have been having fun without us.”

“You guys scared the shit out of us!” Bomber wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Oh yeah, sure, say that while there’s still a monster outside, thanks,” Sal deadpanned while helping Jason up to his feet.

“Is he gonna be alright?” Petra asked, noticing that Jason was a bit shaken.

“He’ll be fine; right, Jay?” Sal gave a quick slap to Jason’s back, eliciting a quick scream from the boy.

“GAAAH!”

Sal then patted Jason’s shoulder, “See? Just fine. Now come on, let’s get you guys outta here.”

“Kerry can’t walk,” Bomber announced.

“What?!” Sal pushed Jason out of his way as he rushed over to his friend’s prone body, shocked to see his right leg wrapped in a bloody bandage, “What the hell happened to his leg?”

Bomber gave him a flat stare, “You’ve got three guesses and the first two don’t count.”

Sal blinked, slightly embarrassed by the stupid question he had just asked, “Good point, but why’s he unconscious?”

“He, uh,” Bomber scratched the back of his head, “kinda told me to knock him out.”

“Told you we should’ve brought up the truck,” Jason butted in.

“Don’t start up with me!” Sal warned before once again returning his attention to Kerry, “Can he be moved, at least?”

“I think so?” Bomber shrugged, “You gotta remember that I ain’t a medic.”

Sal sighed and cast a glance back out the front doorway, just in time to see Ciara get thrown off the Denizen, only to quickly recover and tackle the beast to the ground, moving to repeatedly punch it in the face. It was right about then that Sal noticed something about the Denizen that made his blood run cold. He moved over to Jason and tapped him on the shoulder, “Uhhhhh, Jay?”

“Yeah?”

“Is it me, or is that Denizen different than the one that we saw last week?”

Kerry’s truck suddenly crashed through the ceiling, with Sal, Jason, and Petra diving out of the way to avoid being crushed, “SON OF A BITCH!”

“Where the hell did that come from?!” Ernest screamed.

M’RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOORRRRRR!!!!!!

The thunderous roar almost seemed to answer the boy’s question. Pressing a finger to his lips, Sal motioned for everyone to stay down and keep quiet before crawling over to the window on the right. Taking a peek outside, Sal paled when he saw the beast that was standing a few feet away from the porch. It was large, to say the least. Though it stood like a gorilla, it was still larger than Mr. Earl’s truck. Its head resembled that of a crocodile’s, though far more blunt and thick, and was adorned with a triangular crest, its shoulders were akin to boulders, and its arms were suitably massive as well. He could make out that each hand was adorned with three claws and a thumb, the legs were short with four claws on each foot, and the tail was short and ended in a bulbous stinger-like structure. He recognized it almost instantly as the beast he and Jason saw the week before.

Sal turned away from the window, “Oh god.”

“What is it?” Petra inquired.

“There’s another one,” Sal stated, causing Jason to quickly crawl over to him and look out the window as well, just in time to see the Denizen take off in a charge towards his protector... who was still struggling with the first Void native.

Ciara’s arm shifted into its bladed form as she prepared to deliver the finishing blow, only to pause mid-swing when she heard Jason scream her name. Glancing up, her pupils shrank as she sighted the beast that was rapidly closing ground like a charging rhino, “Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me.”

M’RAOOOOOR!!

The impact sent Ciara sailing, tumbling away from the Denizen she had come so close to slaying. Disoriented, Ciara shook her head and glanced around to regain her bearings. Below her was the ground; looking left she saw the razor-whip Denizen getting back on its feet, screeching and slamming its whips into the ground in fury. To her right... “SHIT!” Ciara rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being trampled by the brute, narrowly avoiding being struck by the tail as well. Ciara was barely able to get back on her feet before the first Denizen began its barrage, dodging strike after strike after strike, ‘Shit, she ain’t letting me get behind her as easy as last time... Wait, fuck, where’d the big guy go?!’As if to mockingly answer her question, the larger Denizen grabbed her right leg from behind, howling as it slammed her into the ground numerous times before tossing her aside.

Jason had had enough. Springing to his feet, he was nearly out the door until Sal pulled back in and slammed him against the wall, “Are you nuts?!”

“Let me go, god dammit!” Jason struggled under Sal’s grip, “They’re gonna fucking kill her!”

“And what do you think is gonna happen to you if you set foot out there?” Sal questioned, “Newsflash, Jay, you are nothing more than a puny, squishy human just like the rest of us in this cabin. Those things will fucking make mincemeat out of you!”

“If she dies, I’m a dead man anyway!”

As Sal and Jason squabbled, Ernest looked over at Bomber and asked the one thing no one should ask when in a bad situation, “Man, I ask you, can it get any worse?”

Bomber slowly turned his head towards Ernest, stunned that he would dare ask such a question, “Did you just ask what I think you just asked?”

Kerry’s truck suddenly ignited.

“Oh shit!”

“Everybody out now!” Sal ordered, and made a quick grab at Ernest who immediately tried to dash out the door, throwing him back to Bomber and the still unconscious Kerry, “Ernest, since you just had to go and tempt fate, you can help Bomber carry Kerry out of here!” The students vacated the doomed cabin in an orderly fashion, quickly taking cover in the bushes, “Alright, is everyone okay, is anyone hurt?”

“I’m fine,” Bomber called out, “Kerry’s still out cold, though.”

“Same here,” Petra voiced, “I mean, I’m okay not that I’m... forget it, you know what I mean.”

“I’m good,” Ernest announced.

Sal gave him an annoyed look before sighing and shaking his head, “Jay, how ‘bout you, you alright?” No reply, “Jay?” Sal looked around and discovered that they were short one Second Year, “Where the fuck did Jay go?!”

Ciara groaned in pain as she picked herself up off the ground. Getting back on her feet, she was almost instantly backhanded by the larger of the two Denizens, knocking her off her feet and sending her sailing once again, this time with her landing at the feet of the razor-whipped Denizen. The sleeker Denizen merely circled her before stepping to the side, seemingly to allow the brute to finish her off itself. Ciara could only get onto her hands and knees before the Void native began its charge, its final charge. Ciara watched as the beast closed the distance between them, ‘Well, I guess this is it. I’m dead.’

The roar of a familiar sounding engine disagreed with her, however, as Casey’s truck slammed into the side of the brute, with Jason at the wheel. “HOW’S MY BUMPER TASTE, ASSHOLE?!” Jason screamed as he slammed down on the horn twice, his foot not easing up on the gas at all. The beasts’ arm suddenly sprang up from in front of the grill and slammed down on the hood, its claws digging in for a better grip, “Oh shit!” Slowly, the brute hauled its upper body onto the hood, and snarled menacingly at the Second Year, not paying any attention at all to where the student was steering the vehicle. Jason’s look of fear, however, gave way to one of confidence, “You think you’re tough, huh? Well, let’s see how you handle this!” The beast howled as Jason sped along, slamming the truck into a tree.

Ciara snapped herself out of the confused state she was in, and hauled herself to her feet, with the first Denizen none the wiser, “Now,” she grinned, “let’s try this again.” As soon as the Denizen turned around, Ciara pounced once again tackling the Void native to the ground. She shifted her left arm into its blade form, and with one swing, ended the Denizen’s pitiful existence via decapitation, and all but collapsed as the corpse dissipated beneath her.

Jay threw the truck door open and all but fell out of the vehicle, hand pressed against his head. It would seem that despite all of Mr. Earl’s intellect, the one thing he forgot to install in this truck of his was an airbag, as his aching forehead would prove. Thankfully, he didn’t slam his head too hard, but he was still rather disoriented. After stepping a considerable distance away from the vehicle, he dropped to his knees, and took in his surrounding. The birds where singing, the trees where rustling, Sal was screaming... ‘Wait, what?’

“JAAAAY!”

Jason’s eyes shot open at the sound of Sal screaming his name in bloody murder, and spun around quickly, winding up face to face with the brute, having dislodged itself from between the tree and Mr. Earl’s truck. The Denizen’s growl became a snarling howl as it raised its right hand to strike Jason dead. The only thing Jason could do was close his eyes, await the inevitable, and hope the imminent beheading would be painless.

*SCHUNK!*

......

‘Am I dead? I’m dead aren’t I?’ Slowly opening one eye, Jason was startled to see that the brute was still standing there, mouth open, arm still raised, and yet it stood completely still. Suddenly the Denizen collapsed, allowing Jason to see that it had been cut in half through its midsection by a familiar looking blade. He looked to his left expecting to see Ciara standing right there, but was at a loss for words when he kept turning his head, following the length of the black tendril the blade was attached to, all the way to where Ciara was situated after slaying the first Denizen, where it met her shoulder blade, “Holy shit.” Once the blade and tendril retreated back into his bodyguard, the Arizona native stumbled his way over to her, and sat down beside her, “You okay?”

Ciara slugged him in the arm, “Just what the hell were you thinking, you dumbass?! You could’ve been killed!”

“First of all, oooow,” Jason clutched his now aching shoulder, “Second of all, you weren’t doing so hot yourself, y’know.”

“I didn’t need your help,” she grunted.

He shook his head, “Didn’t look that way from where I was standing.” With a heavy sigh he looked away from his protector in frustration, only to jump slightly when he felt her hand on his shoulder.

Ciara sighed, “Maybe you’re right, I dunno. It’s just... you had me scared there.”

“Well... that makes two of us.”

Ciara cracked a smile, “You were actually scared for me? Awww, I didn’t know you cared!” She began to laugh only for it to quickly turn into a coughing fit.

“Ciara?!”

“Relax,” she coughed one last time before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Jason taking notice of the familiar looking black substance that now stained it, “I just overexerted myself saving your butt, that’s all. I’m gonna be feeling like absolute hell tomorrow, though.” Glancing to her right, Ciara noticed a familiar car pull into the clearing, “Oh hey, would you look at that, the cavalry’s finally arrived. Better late than never.”

“Yeah,” Jason couldn’t help but nod in agreement, and quickly remember something that brought a smile to his face, “Hey, Ciara?”

“What?”

“So much for life not working like a videogame, am I right?”

Ciara raised an eyebrow in confusion, “What do you mean by...?” Her eyes widened as she suddenly realized just what it was she did in order to save Jason, and their discussion back on Saturday night. Ciara didn’t know who started laughing first between the two of them, she only knew that it was the best laugh she had in a long while.

----

“Of all the stupid actions that I have ever seen, this has got to be the absolute dumbest!” Mr. Earl shouted at the three teens lined up against the side of his truck, his raised voice drowning out the roar of the fire engine hoses that were dousing the cabin, “Nathan, what in the actual Hell were you thinking by coming out here without supervision?”

Bomber slouched as look of guilt spread across his face, “I... I didn’t think...”

“No, you clearly didn’t!” Mr. Earl cut him off, “Do you realize what would’ve happened had Amy not told the others to go on ahead and return to campus? Do you realize what would’ve happened had Ciara not been here to save your asses?? All four of you would likely be dead!” Casey saw Bomber sink lower, and sighed, “But, had you all not gone with Kerry, he’d most certainly be dead,” he turned his head to see the boy in question get loaded into an ambulance, “As bad as it sounds, he’s very lucky he got out of this with an injured leg.”

“Do you think he’s gonna be alright?” Petra asked.

Casey gave a slight shake of the head, “It’s too early to tell at this point. They need to check how badly messed up his leg is first, but don’t be surprised if he comes back after a couple of weeks with some jacked up robo-leg. He’ll live, though, and that’s what matters.”

A voice from behind suddenly interrupted the chastising, “Uh, excuse me, Mr. Earl?” Turning around, Casey saw that Sal was standing there, looking like he needed something, “I hate to interrupt a well deserved chastising, but you wouldn’t happen to have a bottle of water on hand, would you?”

Without taking his eyes of the Fifth Year, the teacher gestured to the back of his vehicle, “There’s a cooler in the back.”

“Thanks.”

Over at Mrs. Landis’ car, which was within audio range of Casey’s ranting, Amy ran a hand through her daughter’s hair, “How’re you feeling?”

“Same as I did five minutes ago, like shit,” Ciara groaned, leaning against the backseat, her legs hanging out of the open door, “and I’m probably gonna feel worse tomorrow.”

Amy delivered a sympathetic smile, “Well, after a day like today, I think you’ve earned some rest.”

“I think I’m gonna be too busy vomiting my guts out tomorrow to get any actual rest, Mom,” Ciara deadpanned.

“Yeah, you have a point there,” the bluenette sheepishly grinned, “Hmmm... why not take the rest of the week off?”

Ciara stared at her mother as though she grew a second head, “Are you seriously suggesting that I skip school Friday?”

“Well, if you’re gonna miss tomorrow, might as well take Friday off as well, am I right?”

“Mom, you’re a teacher.”

“And unlike some teachers, I actually give a damn about whether or not our students are up to snuff. Especially if that student is my one and only daughter,” Amy smirked as she ruffled her daughter’s hair, “So what do you say, wanna head home?”

“What about Jason?”

“Good question,” Amy leaned over slightly to address the boy sitting on the other end of the seat, “Hey, Jason, you wanna play hooky for a couple of days?”

The sheer bluntness of the question nearly caused Ciara to drop out of the car, ‘So blunt!’

“Yeah, sure whatever,” a few seconds passed before Mrs. Landis’ words truly resonated, resulting in him quickly snapping his head around in shock, “Wait, what?”

“Too late, you already said yes.”

“But you’re a teacher!”

Amy blinked, “I literally just had this conversation with my daughter...”

“It’s still a valid point,” Ciara interjected, “And besides, what about Sal?”

“What about me?” Sal suddenly announced his return, walking up to the vehicle with a bottle of water in hand that he handed over to Ciara, “Here, this should probably help make you feel a bit less shitty.”

“Thanks,” Ciara gave a slight nod before unscrewing the cap to take a sip.

“So, what’re you guys talking about?”

Mrs. Landis replied before Jason and Ciara could give it to him straight, “Ciara’s gonna be missing the next couple of days of school on account of overexerting herself today, and since we’re approaching the weekend, I figured I might as well take her home now.”

“Oh, well, that sucks,” Sal was taken off guard by Amy’s explanation, and suddenly the implication hit him, “Wait, so what’s Jay gonna do? Is he going home with you guys?”

“I guess!” Jason sharply replied.

“Isn’t that basically hooky?”

Amy waved it off, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll come up with an excuse for him. The real question, however, is you.”

Sal shook his head, “I got a game on Friday,” he explained, “Can’t exactly participate in that if I miss classes, y’know?”

“Hmm, fair enough,” Amy crossed her arms and nodded, “You think you’ll be okay by yourself for the next couple of days?”

“Oh yeah, sure. It’ll be a bit boring what with Kerry being laid up in the hospital for the time being, but I think I can make due,” Sal scratched the back of his head, “Besides, I don’t think you guys need to worry about me as much anymore.”

Ciara raised an eyebrow, “Huh?”

“What do you mean by that?” Amy inquired.

“Yeah, that big bastard that Ciara cleaved in two? That was the one Jay and I saw last week,” Sal elaborated, “Hasn’t he said anything about that?”

Ciara proceeded to turn around and cast a puzzled glance at her charge, who was visibly confused about being put in the hot seat, “Don’t look at me like that, I was too busy getting the two of us out of there to make a mental sketch of it.”

Amy couldn’t help but shake her head in minor amusement before the departure of the ambulance caught her attention, allowing her to catch the arrival of a vehicle she wasn’t familiar with, though she had a strong feeling about who the occupants were, “Uh-oh... Case?”

“What now?” Casey stepped out from behind his truck and saw the approaching car, “Oh shit. Uh...” He turned his attention towards the three students still lined up against his vehicle, “You three, if anyone asks about what happened here, do not, under any circumstances, mention Ciara,” he then began to walk away towards Amy’s vehicle, “I promise that I’ll explain later, okay?”

As the car came to a stop mere feet away from Mrs. Landis’ own, Jason turned around in his seat to get a better look at it. The car looked as though it was out of an old cop film from the 1980’s; sleek, two doors, white with chrome trim, a small spoiler on the trunk, and it looked as though it could go from zero to 60 in about six seconds. As the engine shut off, the driver-side door opened first, and a man emerged. The man had brown hair with blonde highlights, dark gray eyes, a five o’clock shadow, and seemed to stand about as tall as Ciara’s father. He was wearing a mahogany red t-shirt, gray cargo pants, steel-toed boots, a black flak jacket, black fingerless gloves, and a light tan handkerchief around his neck.

‘This guy can’t be real,’ Jason thought to himself as his eyes laid upon the weapon holster at the man’s waist, ‘Seriously, he looks like he jumped out of an action-horror game, I mean who dresses like that?’ The passenger door opened next, this time with a woman emerging, and compared to her partner, she dressed much more sensibly, wearing a red button-up shirt, a black jacket, a black skirt, dark colored stockings, black dress shoes, and a black choker around her neck. She seemed to stand about as tall as Mrs. Landis, and, much to Jason’s surprise, had short black hair and amber eyes, “Hey, Ciara, isn’t black hair and amber eyes the defining traits of a pyromancer?” He looked over to his protector for confirmation, only to see that she was looking out the window as well... and was slightly red in the face for some reason, as though she knew exactly who this woman was, “Uhhh... Ciara?”

----

The pyromancer walked up to Amy and Casey, pulling out a badge and ID, “Detective Amber Ashburn, Precinct 13. There was a call made about a disturbance in this area?”

Casey meekly raised his hand, “Yeah, I was the one who made the call. I’m Casey Earl.”

“And I’m Amy Landis,” Amy introduced herself.

Detective Ashburn smiled and shook Mrs. Landis’ hand, “Sorry about the wait. Traffic can be murder in this city,” she turned her attention towards the still blazing cabin, “It seems there was quite the party here, may I ask what happened?”

“A group of kids from the nearby school came up here looking for a missing friend, and got attacked by an animal,” Casey explained.

Ashburn glanced at the burning cabin once again, noticing the frame of Kerry’s truck in the flames, “And what kind of animal is able to send a truck sailing into a building?”

“Certainly no animal from around here, that’s for sure.”

The unidentified male detective spoke up, “And what do you mean by that?”

“You familiar with the Tear Phenomenon? Rifts between dimensions tearing open and depositing any sort of lifeform that gets caught in them?”

“Don’t patronize me, I know what the damn Tear Phenomenon is.”

Detective Ashburn raised an eyebrow, “So you’re suggesting that they were attacked by an extra-dimensional predator then?”

“Stranger things have happened,” Amy chimed in.

“That is true,” Ashburn relented with a slight nod of the head. “Hmmm, well, if it was an animal attack, there’s not much we can do, but I’d still like to look around the area, if you don’t mind.”

“Go right ahead, not like we can do anything to prevent it.”

“Oh, I’m sure that you two could still order my partner and I to leave. After all, you are both members of the Seventh Volunteers, even if it has been disbanded,” Detective Ashburn delivered a knowing grin before walking off to survey the area, “If this was indeed an animal attack, this won’t take long at all, I promise.”

As the two teachers’ heads turned to follow Miss Ashburn as she passed them by, her partner spoke up, “Ehhhh, I wouldn’t worry. If there’s so much as a single track of this alleged extra-dimensional predator of yours, we’ll be out of your hair in no time.”

Casey turned to face the still unidentified detective, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I caught your name, Detective...?”

“Walker,” he answered, eyes narrowed, “Detective Noah Walker.”

“Walker...?” Casey paled as unpleasant memories flashed before his eyes, memories from darker times, of numbers etched upon the foreheads of the dead, of a man corrupted by darkness, and of a detective who lost his life for getting too close to the truth.

The sound of snapping in quick succession snapped him back to reality, “Helloooooo, Earth to Casey, you there?” Amy suddenly slapped him across the face, “Hey!”

“Ow! Son of a- What?!”

“You were zoned out for like two minutes!”

Detective Walker opened his mouth to say something but was quickly interrupted by the return of Detective Ashburn, “We can leave, their story checks out.”

Detective Walker scowled, “You’re kidding.”

“I’ve got the pictures here if you want to see them,” Ashburn held up her phone and waved it slightly, causing her partner to give a quick bash to the roof of his car in frustration. Detective Ashburn turned to face Amy, and bowed her head slightly, “I apologize for any inconvenience my partner and I may have caused you. If there’s anything we can do...”

“No, no, that’s not necessary, heh,” Amy sheepishly waved off the offer at first, but the sound of the blazing cabin regaining strength made her rethink her rejection, “Actually, now that I think about it, and I hope this doesn’t sound insensitive, but is there anything you can do about... y’know,” she gestured to the burning building, “that?”

Detective Ashburn took one long look at the burning cabin and smirked, “To be perfectly honest, I was worried you wouldn’t ask.” As the pyromancer held up her right hand, her irises glowed brightly and the flames suddenly began to dance in a peculiar manner, as though some unseen force was now manipulating the blaze. The firemen attempting to douse the inferno jumped back in shock and surprise when a pillar of flame suddenly shot upwards in a corkscrew-like manner, reaching heights of nearly 30 feet into the air before curving back down and rocketing towards Miss Ashburn, colliding with her outstretched hand. Detective Ashburn’s smirk grew as she felt the warm energy course through her body like her own blood. After what seemed like minutes, the mesmerizing display ended as the last of the flames entered the detective’s body, leaving behind nothing more than a charred, wooden ruin, and a scorched, warped frame of metal.

As Detective Ashburn drew her hand back and inspected in mild amusement, Casey spoke his mind, “So... I’m guessing since we’re still bothering with firemen that not all pyromancers are capable of doing that... that... whatever it was that you just did.”

Detective Ashburn turned to face him, her amber eyes still glowing, “You’d be correct in assuming that, Mr. Earl. Being able to absorb flame is a rare gift, even amongst us pyromancers.”

Walker rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance, “That’s fantastic. Amber, if you’re just about done showing off maybe we can head on back? That’d be great.”

Amber shot a quick glare at her partner as he ducked back into the vehicle before returning her attention to the two teachers, giving a quick bow, “I apologize for my partner’s rudeness. He’s normally not like this.”

“Ah, no, it’s fine,” Casey scratched the back of his head, “I’m... sure he has his reasons.”

“Thank you,” she glanced back towards the vehicle, “Anyway, I best get going before my partner continues to embarrass me. Thank you again for your cooperation.” As Detective Ashburn turned and headed back to the car, she overheard a quick exchange between the two teachers that made her smile.

“I want one.”

“Amy, no.”

Quickly re-entering the car, she delivered a cold glare to her partner, “What is wrong with you? Do you even realize who those two are?”

Noah just stared out the windshield, eyes focused on the two teachers, “Oh, I know damn well who they are.”

Amber felt her jaw slightly drop, stunned by Noah’s answer, “You knew who they were and yet you still acted the way you did?” Noah cast a glance at his partner for a few moments before digging into his pocket, he retrieved his wallet, pulled out a small photo, and handed it to his now perplexed partner, “Who’s this?”

“My Father,” Noah explained, “he died while working on a case involving the Landis family 16 years ago.” Carefully he plucked the photo out of Amber’s grasp and returned it to its place inside his wallet, “That family has more skeletons in its closet than a mausoleum, and the truth behind my Father’s death is one of them, and I want answers.”

The pyro stared at her partner before sighing in annoyance, “Well you aren’t going to get answers by brooding like a stereotype,” she handed him her phone, “Here.”

“What’s this?”

“A picture of the tracks that I found,” Amber answered, “Notice anything peculiar?”

Walker held the phone closer to his face, trying to notice anything out of the ordinary, and shrugged in defeat, “I got nothin’.”

“There’s two sets of tracks,” she clarified, causing her partner to quickly raise the phone right up to his eyes, “Don’t you think those kids would’ve said something about there being two extra-dimensional monsters? It seems like an odd thing to omit.”

“Son of a... So what are you proposing?”

“How about we keep a close eye on them for a couple of months, see what happens?”

Noah smiled, and handed his partner’s phone back to her, “I like the sound of that.” He dug into the top front left pocket of his flak jacket, pulling out a cigarette, and placed it between his lips, “Can I get a light?”

Detective Ashburn rolled her eyes at the request, one she’s heard far too often, but snapped her left fingers anyway, creating a small flame that danced about her thumb and index finger, and lit her partner’s cigarette. After rescinding the flame, she remembered something important, “By the way, I almost forgot, you’re not gonna be seeing me much for the next couple of days.”

“Why?”

“I’m scheduled for some photo shoots tomorrow and the day after.”

Noah slammed a palm to his forehead and groaned, “Ugh, I swear, Amber, you are the only Detective I know who’s not satisfied with just being a Detective.” Placing his hand back down to his side, Detective Walker stared straight ahead out the windshield, and noticed the two teens staring out of the rear window of the car in front of them, “Heh, check it out, we got a couple of birdwatchers.”

Amber looked up from her phone and immediately saw what her partner was referring to. Locking eyes with the girl on the right, she smiled and waved, her smile growing in amusement as the girl’s eyes widened in surprise followed by her quickly ducking out of sight.

Noah let out a quick laugh, “Hah! She’s definitely a fan of yours, alright.” This time he was noticed the glowing glare his partner was directing at him, making his hair stand on end, “Geez, relax, it’s a joke. You know I don’t like it when you glare at me when your eyes are all glow-y and shit,” he started up the car as he relented, causing the glare to go away, “What the hell do you do with all that pent-up energy, anyway?”

Amber gave a smirk, “All that you need to know is that if I actually told you, no amount of cold showers would be able to relieve you.”

----

It was midnight. Most of the students on campus were either asleep, and those who weren’t either were up in their rooms studying, or watching television while afflicted with insomnia. As campus security retired an hour ago, the campus grounds themselves were completely devoid of activity... save for one individual. Avoiding the streetlights, the figure dashed across the street and down an unlit alleyway. Determining that they were safe, the individual pulled out a phone and dialed in a number, “It’s me, I’m making my report now... The girl has manifested a new ability... There was a slight incident and the boy was placed in danger,” the individual suddenly held the phone away from them for a quick moment as the person on the other end started yelling, “Yes, I’m aware that the boy is important, as well... No, he’s not injured... There were two Denizens... Yes, it’s highly likely that they were related to the insurrectionists... Yes, the girl killed them both... There’s a slight issue, however. There were witnesses, the other club members. They were looking for a missing friend of theirs... Yes, it’s highly likely that he was devoured... No, they have no idea that their little club has been infiltrated... No, I don’t believe that they’ll be a problem. They’re only kids, after all...

The other? No, she hasn’t displayed any signs of awakening yet, I’m afraid... She wasn’t present at the incident... There’s something else you should know, though... Two Detectives arrived on the scene, a man and a woman... The man bore the name ‘Walker’... Yes, I’m aware of the significance of that name... Yes, he might prove to be a nuisance in the future, but that’s not the problem... The woman, his partner, she’s a pyromancer... Amber Ashburn... Yes, that’s correct, the model... Yes, I’m aware that this means that we can’t touch her partner... Yes, it’s highly likely they suspect something is up, we’ll need to be careful in how we proceed... No, I’m not giving orders, I’m just offering up suggestions... Because we can’t afford a pyromancer on our asses, that’s why...No, that’s all I have to report... One last thing... When you deliver my report to the Shadow Empress, do remember to give her my regards this time.”

NSZ · Post by **NSZ** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:29 pm

Chapter Eight:
Crow

Jason slowly opened his eyes and looked over at the alarm clock, sighing in relief when he saw that it read 4:50 AM, ‘Another nightmare-less night, thank god.’ He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of that nightmare from earlier in the week, if he could even call it a nightmare. Sitting up, he thought about the “nightmare” some more, how he could still remember it far more vividly than he had any right to, how he was able to feel pain... and her. That woman. That woman in her purple and black garb who looked so much like Ciara but wasn’t. There were differences, of course, as Jason recalled her hair reaching down to her shoulders, along with her being a bit taller, but if that woman hadn’t said anything, Jason would have been none the wiser, and that fucking terrified him.

As he slowly got out of bed, a sudden bright flash and a house shaking crack gave away today’s weather forecast. “Hmmm, nice weather for monster movies,” he half-yawned, stretching his arms up over his head before walking over to the dresser, ‘Should probably jump in the shower now before Ciara gets up. No telling what sort of state she’ll be in after yesterday.’ Grabbing the bundle of clothes sitting atop the dresser, he exited the bedroom, and slowly shuffled over to the bathroom. He shielded his eyes as he flipped the light switch, flooding the room with, what was for a moment, blinding light, and closed the door behind him. The shower was done and over with in eight minutes, as Jason wasn’t one to let things like shower thoughts distract him, especially when he was showering in the home of another person.

Having dried off and gotten dressed, Jason instinctually reached for his toothbrush, only to immediately pause, ‘Wait a minute... Did I even remember to grab my toothbrush yesterday?’ Glancing down at the countertop, he counted four toothbrushes: two belonging to Ciara’s parents, one belonging to Kara’s mom, and, of course, Ciara’s. Naturally, this meant only one thing, in that he forgot his goddamn toothbrush, ‘God. Fucking. Dammit.’ He slid a hand down his face, ‘Alright, no need to panic. I’m sure there’s still some spare toothbrushes,’ Jason thought back to last weekend when he and Sal didn’t have their toothbrushes when they were brought over to the Landis household. Opening the drawer where the toothbrushes were last time, Jason became alarmed when he saw no spare toothbrushes waiting to be used, ‘Ah shit.’

“Okay, don’t panic, it’s just a toothbrush after all,” Jason began to think over his options, ‘Okay, so my options are to either not brush my teeth today, or...’ He blanched as the second option popped into his head, ‘Use someone else’s toothbrush... Oh boy.’ He immediately ruled out the toothbrushes belonging to the adults, which obviously just left only one toothbrush, “Ciara’s... Well, I mean... It’s not like she’s going to be using it today if she’s going to be bedridden, and it’s not like she’d be able to find out, right?” Despite reassuring himself that nothing bad would end up happening, as soon as he picked up the toothbrush, he suddenly felt the feeling that he had just invited doom upon himself.

Though he was already rinsing his mouth out with mouthwash before he knew it, something in the back of Jason’s mind couldn’t shake the feeling that Ciara had used the toothbrush last night, ‘Oh I hope there won’t be any negative health repercussions from doing that.’

*SPIT!*

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Jason gazed at himself in the mirror, and forced a grin, “Look at you. To think that you haven’t cracked after everything that’s happened.” ‘Mom would be proud.’

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK*

“Jason, are you almost done in there?” Mrs. Landis’ voice came from the other side of the door.

“Uh, yeah, sorry! Be right out.” Upon opening the door, Jason gave a minor startled jump once setting his eyes upon Mrs. Landis, who was now sporting black hair and silver eyes, “BAH!”

This startled reaction in turn startled Amy as well, “Gah, what?!”

“Your hair and eyes, they’re different!”

“Eh?” Amy blinked in minor confusion before realizing what Jason was talking about, “Oh wait, right, you haven’t seen me like this at all yet, have you? Didn’t Ciara mention that black hair and silver eyes were universal Darktype traits?”

“No.”

“Oh. Well, they are. It’s the natural state of any awakened Darktype.”

“... Is this the part where I get another massive amount of exposition dumped on me?”

“Fuck no; it’s going on five in the morning. Now get out of my way,” she growled, pushing Jason to the side as entered the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her, leaving Jason to wonder if that was actually Mrs. Landis and not just Ciara fucking with him as he descended the stairs.

Flipping the light switch that was at the bottom of the stairs, the living room slowly became illuminated by the ceiling lights. Taking a seat on the couch, Jason grabbed the remote, switching on the television, “I wonder what passes for morning entertainment here?”

“... –ight’s standoff erupted into conflict shortly after midnight, as the Federation terrorists clashed with members of Section 13...”

“Of course,” Jason sighed, “news.”

“... –flict ended after 20 minutes with light casualties. One terrorist, however, is in critical condition after being thrown out of a fourth story window by an unidentified third party.” Jason leaned forward as the feed switched to pre-recorded footage of the terrorist being tossed out the window and a blurry unidentifiable person in black running up to the window frame, pausing and zooming in on them. Curiously, it almost looked as though the individual had a sword strapped to their back, “While it is currently unknown what sort of affiliation this person bears in relation to the terrorists and Section 13, as Section 13 Field Commander Erik Landis could not be reached for comment, it is currently believed that this unidentified individual is responsible for the disabling of the hijacked Moa and Ogre units that were in the terrorists possession, allowing Section 13 to storm the building...”

“Heh, looks like Uncle Zack got caught on camera,” Jason flinched, quickly turning his head to see a grinning Aaron standing behind the couch, “Mornin’!”

“Guh... good morning, Mr. Landis.”

“Didn’t I tell you to just call me by my first name?”

“Sorry, kind of a hard habit to kick,” Jason sheepishly smiled, ‘Even if the person I’m talking to doesn’t look any older than 20...’

“I’m just saying, it makes me feel old,” he walked off towards the kitchen, “You okay with pancakes and bacon?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, that’s fine,” Jason responded, turning his attention back to the news broadcast, only to see that they had changed stories, ‘Ah well, not like I was gonna stay on this station anyway.’ Taking grasp of the remote again, the boy began flipping through stations until he landed on the station Ciara had it on last weekend. Given that this station frequently aired old movies and television shows, both foreign and domestic, it was no surprise to him that it was currently airing some Japanese show from the 1970s, “The Return of Ultraman, huh? Eh, might as well.” As time passed, the sounds coming from the kitchen were relegated to background noise as Jason became fixated on the show, when the sudden noise of someone clearing their throat got his attention.

Turning his head, Jason saw Mrs. Landis, now looking like how she usually looked, standing behind him, gesturing towards the kitchen, “Breakfast is ready.”

“Ah, thanks,” Jason stood up and proceeded to follow Mrs. Landis. Setting foot inside the kitchen, Jason saw that Mr. Landis was already sitting down at the table with a plate of his own, cutting into the stack of pancakes on his plate, which seemed to slightly annoy the matriarch of the household, judging from the audible growl that emanated from her.

“Would it kill you to at least wait for our guest, hon?”

Aaron paused just as he was about to insert the food stuck on his fork into his mouth, casting quick glances between it and Jason before slowly moving the utensil away from his mouth, “Aheh, sorry, it’s just been a long while since this house has seen any new faces. I think you and Sal were the first ever since... well... I don’t think it’s my place to say.”

Noting the look on the man’s face, Jason almost immediately figured out what he was referring to, “You mean Lacey?”

As soon as that name left his mouth, both adults stared at Jason in disbelief, with Amy speaking up first, “Where did you hear about...?”

“Ciara told me,” Jason replied, “Last weekend we were talking and it kinda just... led there.”

“She actually told you about that?” Mr. Landis carefully placed down his fork, as though he was having difficulties processing what he had been told, “That... huh.”

“Well, it’s not like we can control who our daughter talks to about it, and if anyone has the right to decide who to talk to about it, it’s her.” Amy said as she grabbed a plate of her own out of the cupboard, “However, I’m a little shocked that she opened up to you about that, Jason, considering she had only known you for just under a week.”

“Uh, thanks... I think,” the teen replied, grabbing a plate of his own as he lined up behind the woman, unsure whether or not he should take what she said as a compliment.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mean anything personal by it,” Amy reassured as she placed a stack of pancakes onto her plate before sliding over to the bacon, “It’s just that she hasn’t even talked to us about it, and we’re her parents, so forgive us if we’re a bit perplexed.”

Jason nodded in understanding as he filled his plate when a thought suddenly came to him, “Did you ever ask if she wanted to talk about it?”

Aaron blinked, “Never really thought about that, I’m not gonna lie.”

“Seriously?”

“Let me put it like this, kid,” Aaron clasped his hands together, “When I was around Ciara’s age, my guidance counselor would not leave me the fuck alone. I mean, really, a missing sister and two dead parents? What washed out therapist wouldn’t want to crack open that kid’s head to see what was brewing inside? So I made it a point where if I ever had kids of my own, I’d let them approach me if they wanted talk about something that was bothering them instead of pestering them to talk about things they probably don’t want to talk about.”

“Well, what if they did want to talk about it but couldn’t get it off their tongue unless someone asked them?”

Aaron opened his mouth to reply, but a look of realization suddenly graced his features, “... I’m gonna be completely honest, I did not think of that.”

Amy rolled her eyes in response to her husband’s answer as she sat down at the head of the table before returning her attention towards the young American, “Speaking from experience, Jason?”

“No.”

The suspiciously swift natured delivery of the answer was all too familiar to the witch, but rather than press the boy about it, she opted to let it slide, “Well, if you ever need to talk to someone about something, anything at all, we’re here for you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” Jason joined the two at the table and was about to dig in when the other adult of the household came shuffling in, brushing the sand out of her eyes.

“Mmmmmnyaaaaaah,” Alexis’ arms raised above her head during her yawn, and Jason could almost swear that he saw a fang peek out, “Good morning...”

“Mornin’, Lexi,” Aaron greeted his older sister, “Have a nice sleep?”

“Food now, talk later,” she droned as she pulled a plate out of the cupboard, almost immediately moving to fill it with an amount of food that was noticeably larger than the portions of her brother and sister-in-law.

Amy shook her head in amazement, “Sixteen years and I still have no idea where you put it all.”

A thought suddenly popped into Jason’s head as he gave a quick glance at the ceiling, “So, um, is Ciara gonna be joining us for breakfast?”

“Nah,” Aaron waved the question off, “After yesterday, she’s probably gonna be feeling like absolute garbage. She’ll probably be spending the whole morning either sleeping or running to the bathroom.” As if on cue, a thud came from upstairs, quickly followed by the sound of running footsteps and a slamming door, “Speak of the devil, it’s started.”

“How long is that gonna last?”

“The vomiting? Usually should only last for the morning, but then again, what happened yesterday was a little bit unprecedented...”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Amy reassured her husband, “She’s a strong girl.”

Aaron smirked and nodded, turning his attention back towards his plate, “Yeah, that’s true, Pup’s always been quick to rebound, even when it came to chicken pox.”

Jason paused from eating his bacon, “Uh, question?”

“Shoot.”

“Why do you call her ‘Pup’?”

Aaron began to stutter nervously, as though the story behind the nickname was a little too embarrassing to tell, “Well, uh, heh, where do I start with this?” He seemed to muse over the subject for a few moments before snapping his fingers, “Ah! Are you familiar with Nekomas at all?”

“Uh, Nekomas?”

“Cat folk,” Aaron clarified, “The girls are easily identifiable due to the cat ears atop their head.”

Jason’s jaw dropped in shock, “Those are real?! I thought those were just popular headbands that some girls liked to wear!”

“Oh, they’re real alright.”

“... So what do Nekomas have to do with Ciara being called ‘Pup’?”

“Well, you see... Y’know what, it’s easier if I just showed you. Stay here, I’ll be right back,” Aaron got up from his seat and headed into the game room, returning just a few short moments later with a picture frame in hand, handing it to the young Arizonan, “Here, have a look at this.”

The photograph was of two individuals, a man and a woman, both dressed in wedding garb, and both looked to be in their early 20’s. The man had black hair, red eyes, and a minor scar beneath his left eye, while the woman had violet eyes, dark indigo hair, and, to Jason’s surprise, fuzzy cat-like ears atop her head. Casting a quick glance down at the golden plaque beneath the picture, he read off what was inscribed, almost having to do a double-take when he recognized the names, ‘Matthew &... Anne Landis?!’ He glanced up back towards Aaron, “These are your parents. So, that means you’re...?”

“Half Nekoma, that’s right.”

“But your sister doesn’t have any cat ears!” Jason exclaimed as he pointed to Alexis’ normal looking head.

“Our dad had a rare genetic defect that suppresses magicked traits,” Alexis tiredly explained, “It lasts for a couple of generations before vanishing.”

“Uhhh, ‘magicked’?”

“Nikolai, the Mad was a dick,” the nurse bluntly stated before biting down on more bacon.

‘And I’m supposed to know who that is?’ Jason felt a sweatdrop form, “Okay, so what does this Nekoma stuff have to do with you calling Ciara... Wait...”

A wry grin appeared on Amy’s face, “Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe he’s put two and two together.”

Jason gave Aaron a very confused look, “Shouldn’t you be calling her ‘Kitten’ or something like that instead then?”

Before Aaron could say anything, Amy cut him off, “You should’ve seen the look on his face when Erik finally corrected him about it. The look on his face when he realized he’d been using the wrong term for eight years was priceless!”

“You know, I’m beginning to regret this whole conversation...”

“You wouldn’t be regretting it so much if you’d just swallow your pride and call her by the correct term,” Alexis chimed in before sticking a forkful of pancake into her mouth.

“Don’t you have a job to get ready for?”

“Don’t you?”

“I don’t leave for another hour and a half, you and Amy leave in less than 20 minutes!”

Alarmed, Alexis shot a glance at the clock and nearly fell out of her chair, “5:40?! Aw crap, I gotta get ready!”

As his sister ran out of the room and back upstairs, Aaron couldn’t help but call up after her, “You know you’re allowed to swear in this house, right?” He received no answer as he heard the door to the bathroom upstairs slam once more, “I don’t get her sometimes...”

“Ugh, 5:40 already?” Amy groaned in disgust, “Who in the Three Tiers do I have to please to get out of going to work today?”

“I thought you liked pelting kids with dodgeballs?”

“I do, don’t get me wrong,” Amy leaned back in her chair, “It’s just that there are some airheads in my Fourth Period class that’ve been lollygagging around as though it was Homeroom and not class time. Yesterday I gave them a warning that if they did it again, I’d force them to run laps until they collapsed from exhaustion. If that happens, Lexi and I are going to be crashing at Casey’s tonight.”

“Tonight? Shit.”

“Something wrong with that?”

Aaron scratched the back of his head, “Well, I’m kinda gonna be staying over at the office tonight...”

“What?! Why?”

“It’s a secr-” almost immediately Amy shot up out of her chair and grabbed her husband by the collar, the irritation obvious in her eyes, “The Board liked my pitch!”

Amy blinked in confusion as she let go of her husband, “What?”

“I’m working on a new show,” Aaron readjusted his collar, “I pitched it to the Board, they liked it, gave me the go-ahead, so me and some of the guys I picked from the story and art departments are staying overnight to iron out the details.”

“They gave you your own show?”

“That info doesn’t leave this room, got it?” He turned to the Arizonan, “Jason?”

Jason was caught off guard by being suddenly brought back into the conversation, “I wasn’t even paying attention, but okay.”

Amy sighed and glanced at the boy, “Well, hopefully those girls took my warning seriously, or else I’m gonna have to call someone to check up on you and Ciara tonight.”

“Aren’t we both a little old for a babysitter?”

“Not a babysitter,” the witch clarified, “Just someone in the neighborhood that’ll check in on you two for a bit just to make sure you’re not doing anything... ill-advised.”

It didn’t take very long for Jason to figure out what Mrs. Landis meant by that and turn beet red.

----

Time passed and before Jason knew it, Amy and Alexis had left, basically leaving him alone with Ciara’s father. If the gradual feel of unease that was growing in his chest was any indication, this had the possibility of becoming very awkward. He could hear the door to the upstairs bathroom open, followed quickly by the perfectly timed running footsteps that no doubt belonged to his protector as she ran to the newly freed bathroom, and the slamming of the bathroom door. “Looks like I got out of there just in time,” Aaron observed, “Take all the time you need, kitten!”

“OH NOW YOU DECIDE TO CALL ME BY THE CORRECT TER-*HRRRRK*!”

“Please tell me you got that into the toilet?” From what Jason could hear, the only response Aaron received was a low growling, “... I’m gonna walk away now before I get the sink thrown at me again.”

‘Is it just me or did he sound way too unfazed by that possibility?’

“So what’s on TV, kid?” Aaron inquired as he descended the stairs, snapping Jason out of his thoughts.

“Umm,” Jason scrambled for the remote, frantically pressing the info button to tell him just what it was that he was watching, because he sure as hell wasn’t paying attention, “Kotetsu Jeeg... Whatever that is.”

Mr. Landis vaulted over the back of the couch, seating himself next to Jason, “Ooo, count me in. I’ve still got some time left before I have to leave, and I’m a sucker for super robot shows, especially the classics.”

“That explains so much,” Jason remarked as he recalled all the robot action figures from Ciara’s room both here and back at the dorm.

“Yeah, I guess my love for these shows did kinda rub off on Ciara a little, but it’s something we can bond over, so I’m not gonna complain,” he shrugged, “What about you?”

“Huh?”

“You and Mr. Carter have anything you two bond over?”

Jason shrugged, “Honestly, I have no idea. After they registered me for school, Dave and Lisa just took off. I think they’re currently in Africa somewhere.”

Aaron had no idea what to do with that curveball of a response, “For real? That sucks. I mean, who the hell adopts a kid and just ditches them?”

“Eh, I ain’t too bothered by it,” Jason slumped, “I was living on my own for just over a year before the Carter’s came along, so I’m a bit used to it, as horrible as that sounds.”

“... If you don’t mind me asking, how’d you lose your parents?”

“I was at home when it happened,” The boy sighed as he recalled the memory, “Mom and Dad had gone to pick up my older brother, Drake, from detention, and on the way back, a big truck ran a red light and t-boned their car. Dad and Drake had died instantly in the collision, while Mom died on the way to the hospital. They never caught the driver.”

Aaron placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder in understanding, “From one orphan to another, you have my sympathies. If you ever need somewhere to stay, don’t be afraid to call this place your home away from home, okay?”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind, thanks,” though he didn’t show it on the outside, on the inside, Jason was smiling, ‘Maybe this morning won’t be so bad after all.’

“So, changing topics to something a little more light, what do you think of Ciara?”

‘Mouth? Meet foot. Foot? Mouth. I’m sure you two will get along just fine.’ “Well... I think she’s kinda neat. She’s been surprising me just about every other day since I met her.”

“Y’know, I was kidding, but to tell you the truth, that’s honestly relieving to hear.”

“Really? Why?”

Aaron craned his neck around to glance up the staircase before leaning in close to the young Arizonan, “Don’t let Ciara know that you know about this, but while you immediately went off to bed after eating dinner, she stayed up for a while before falling asleep on the couch again. When I went to wake her up so she could go to bed, she said something.”

Jason blinked, “She said... What? What? What’d she say?”

“Your name.”

Jason stammered as he processed the answer, “M-m-m-m-m-my name? My name?”

“Mhm,” Aaron nodded, “I’m not gonna beat around the bush, Jason, you’re the first friend she’s made since Lacey. It may have only been a couple of weeks so far, but I can already tell that you’re doing her some real good just by being around, so it’s a little relieving to know that you don’t mind her company.”

“Do I say ‘thanks’ or ‘you’re welcome’ to that?”

“No need to say anything at all, kid,” the elder Landis slapped Jason’s back in a friendly manner, “Just keep doing whatever it is that you’re doing... The ‘bringing levity to my daughter’s life’ thing, not the ‘crazy stunts that’ll end up getting you killed’ thing,” Aaron’s wristwatch suddenly began beeping, causing him to sit up in annoyance, “Seriously? I thought I had more time.”

“Work?”

“Yep,” he stood up, “As much as I’m excited about the fact that I’m finally getting my own show, I really don’t care for the all-night planning sessions that happen whenever a new show gets green lit, or as we like to call them at Red Lens, “jam sessions”.” Walking over to the door, he grabbed a jacket from the coat tree and car keys off the table, “There’s enough money on the table for some pizzas and sides when you get hungry, and the number & menu for Riley’s is on the bulletin board right here above the table. Just be sure to order enough so that Ciara has plenty to eat as well, okay? She’s not gonna be doing bathroom trips all day long. When she finally stops, she’s gonna be really hungry, so keep that in mind.”

“Uh, yeah, got it.”

Taking hold of the doorknob, Mr. Landis swung open the door and turned back to look at his daughter’s charge once more, “Y’know, there’s just something about you that’s familiar. At first I thought it was because you were wearing my old armor, but it’s definitely something else, and for the life of me, I just can’t pin down what it is... Well, be seeing you tomorrow, kid. Later,” he mock saluted as he stepped out, closing the door behind him.

----

Another hour passed by and it seemed that the morning cartoon slot was finally over as the opening credits for an old black and white monster movie started up, “Hmmm, I can either sit here and await whatever low budget horrors this film is gonna subject me to, or I can check out the Landis’ video selection and take my pick... Decisions, decisions,” he finished with a note of sarcasm before he got up and made his way down into their library. As he walked amidst the massive collection, Jason began to notice certain titles popping up on other shelves, ‘Oh, I get it now. Each member of the family has a section of their own. Heh, that’s actually a lot easier to take in than just them just having this massive ‘fuck you’ of a collection... which I guess they still technically have... Y’know what, never mind.’

Taking note of all the anime on the shelf in front of him, he quickly guessed that he was in Ciara’s section, “Jeez, I can’t even begin to imagine how much money she spent on this stuff. Then again, from what I’ve heard, there’s a better market for this stuff here than back in the States, so who knows.” As his eyes drifted from animation to live action, he saw a title that quickly caught his interest, “Savage Isle?” Pulling the case off the shelf, Jason glanced at the cover, which seemed to be a possible scaled down version of a theatrical poster it may have had. Golden lettering spread across a black background at the very top which faded into a fiery red further down the image, contrasting against the painted imaged of two giant reptilian monsters duking it out, with a battleship in the foreground firing on both behemoths. Flipping the case over, he read the promotional blurb that hovered above the synopsis, ‘Shipwrecked on a lost world of prehistoric monsters!’ “This might be interesting... When was this made?” Shifting his eyes further down the case, Jason saw the date, ‘1958? Oo boy, that’s a risky date. I hope the effects are at least good.’ Once back upstairs, Jason popped the disk into the player and hopped back onto the couch as the movie started up.

By the time the end credits began to roll after about 100 minutes, Jason had found a new film to add to his list of favorites, “Okay, I don’t know if that was just due to my low expectations, but that was actually kind of awesome... and surprisingly violent for a 50’s movie.” Jason glanced at the clock, his face falling when he saw it was still only 9:40, “Oh god, this is gonna be one of those long days, isn’t it?” Picking the case back up, he noticed that there was mention of a three hour long documentary & retrospective dedicated to the film included on the bonus disc, “Might as well. By the time I’m done with that I can order lunch.”

During those three hours, Jason kept a mental tab of how often Ciara ran to the bathroom, and by the time the documentary was finished, he had counted six times, basically one trip every half hour or so. He had no idea if that was normal, and despite the earlier reassurances, he was a little worried, “I should probably check on her... Just to see if she’s okay.” Quietly, the adolescent boy ascended the staircase, and carefully tiptoed his way over to Ciara’s room. He gently knocked on her door, “Ciara? You up?” Slowly, Jason opened the door, silently thanking whoever was listening that the hinges didn’t squeak like the ones back at his old house. As he leaned into the room, he saw that Ciara was sound asleep, eyes shut tight, and right arm clutching that stuffed toy of hers, ‘Okay, I was expecting a lot of things when I got up here, ‘cute’ wasn’t one of them’

Casting a glance around the room, the boy realized he hadn’t exactly been in Ciara’s room. To him, it was still effectively an unexplored area, and truth be told, he was rather curious about the figures displayed on the shelving units. As soon as he set both feet inside Ciara’s room, a chill ran up his spine, as if to warn him that this was not a good idea. If it was a warning however, Jason elected to ignore it, ‘I’m already in, no sense in getting cold feet about it now.’ Silently he walked over to the shelving unit situated by the sliding glass door, and was caught off guard to discover that the figures were actually posed in different positions throughout a mock miniature cityscape as opposed to just being on display. He immediately recognized Enzengar on the top of the unit, as well as the monster it was keeping at bay by the neck, Elragon. Eight other monsters were situated along with them, some locked in combat, some minding there own business terrorizing the miniature city, and another was approaching the giant robot from behind.

“I didn’t think cartoons received extensive toy lines like this anymore,” Jason quietly observed as he saw that the lower shelves were basically the same story, save he was only able to recognize two of the monsters amidst the chaos that ran rampant on the five shelves. Looking to his left, Jason glanced at the shelving unit that sat next to Ciara’s dresser, and saw some far more familiar monsters from a franchise that has lasted for over one hundred years, as well as some monsters that seemed to be from that show he was watching earlier. Looking over to his right, Jason saw figures of Alice Valentine in both her civilian attire and pilot garb, along with figures of the four girls on the RWBY poster that hung over the shelving unit. Below were variants of the four girls as well as other characters that seemed to be from the same show, the main antagonists from Mighty Guardian Enzengar, more robots, and some monsters that looked to be from Savage Isle, “Can’t imagine how long it took to accumulate all of this.” Deciding he’s seen enough, Jason turned to leave the room...

Only to see Ciara sitting up and staring at him in confusion, “Jason, why are you in my room?”

“Ummm...” ‘Better think fast, man,’ Jason noticed by the look in her eyes that she was still in a bit of a tired daze, “You were running to the bathroom a lot, so I came to make sure you were alright?”

“Oh, okay,” Ciara blinked a couple of times, “So why are you in my room?”

‘... Fuck,’ “I kinda got curious about your collection... sorry.”

The sigh that came from Ciara sounded more like that of disappointment rather than irritation, much to Jason’s surprise, “Next time, just ask, okay?”

Jason raised an eyebrow, stepping over to Ciara, reaching to place a hand on her forehead, “Are you sure you’re alright?”

She batted his hand away, and laid back down, “I’m fine. Seriously. I just need some sleep and I’ll be back up on my feet, so scram.”

“Well, if you’re sure, I’ll get out of your hair.”

As Jason began to leave the room, Ciara called out after him, “Jason?”

“Yeah?”

“If I end up having to eat cold pizza, I’m tearing your arms off.”

“... Got it,” Jason gave his best poker face as he shut the door behind him, but on the inside he was sobbing over how he was gonna have to wait until dinnertime to eat. As he descended the stairs, he pondered over the dilemma now in front of him, “So now what am I going to do? Dig up some more movies to watch? Eh, maybe not, I get the feeling that’ll get old quick...” As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he cast a quick glance to his left and saw a bookcase in the corner, “Or I can do some reading, that’s a good way to pass the time,” he then directed his eyes towards the window, “and it’s a nice day out to boot.” Stepping over to the bookcase, one title in particular immediately jumped out as though it was taunting him, “Gods, Men, & Monsters, huh?” Sighing, Jason immediately plucked the book from its spot, “I mean, might as well... I haven’t even started reading my copy yet.”

Opening the book, Jason got a head start on reading as he carefully navigated himself towards the back of the house. It didn’t surprise him that the book started off with humanity, and it was less surprising to see that it contradicted the textbook handed out for History & Theology, ‘Aaaand we have a creation story... I wonder if I’ll get points deducted for citing this book for answers instead of the one handed ou-’

THUD!

Jason failed to notice that the sliding glass door was still closed, “Stupid absurdly clean glass!” Stepping back from the door, Jason rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing in irritation, “I am so glad that none of my friends back in Arizona saw that, I’d never hear the end of it.” Jason slid the glass door open, and breathed in the fresh air, observing the skyline of Hellview in the distance. During the day, it looked like just about any other city, but at night, it would explode into a myriad of bright and beautiful neon colors. If it was at all possible for it to snow on the island, the city would look downright magical. Jason shook his head at the thought as he shut the sliding door behind him, “It’s gonna be a long time until I see snow again.”

Sitting himself down on a chair, Jason picked up where he left off, learning about the humans of Theos, along with their offshoots created by mad sorcerers. From their complicated history with the Giants on the northern island of Brenne, to their servitude towards and eventual revolt against the Arch Drakes, Ulric seemed to have touched on everything up until the events on Amoca that led to the creation of the Shadow Empress. After humans came the other races of Theos: the Giants, the Goblins, the Cyclopes, and the Lizardmen; and after them, the bestiary. To Jason’s surprise, the first entry wasn’t that of a dragon, some unclassifiable horror, nor was it that of an evil spirit. Instead, the portrait that hovered above the text was that of a simple crow, ‘Well, that’s interesting... A symbol of both foolishness and bravery, and has also come to represent vagrants and outcasts to the point where they themselves came to be referred to as Crows, huh?’ Jason couldn’t help but smirk.

Before he could read any further, he heard the sound of two car doors being closed coming from the front, ‘Someone’s here?’ Closing the book, Jason hopped up from his seat and hurried back inside, being mindful not to foolishly run into the glass door again. As soon as he entered the living room, a series of knocks rattled the front door, forcing Jason to set the book down on the coffee table instead of placing it back on the book shelf, “Be right there!”

Swinging the door open, Jason was greeted by the sight of a young man with black hair who was facing the other direction in a black jacket with a bright red outline of a dragon head on the upper back along with gray pants, and a young woman with dark purple hair and vibrant violet eyes in a blue blazer and a red dress, who judging by her proximity to the door was the one who knocked, “... know why they don’t just get an- Oh, hello, you must be Jason!” She extended a hand outwards, “I’m Selene Landis, Aaron’s aunt”

Though Jason managed to accept the handshake, he failed to muster up any words in response, “Uhhhhh...”

With a sheepish grin, Selene used her free hand to rub the back of her head, “Heh, sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have led with that given how I probably don’t look any older than Amy, but I really am Aaron’s aunt.” As soon as the handshake was finished, she gestured to the man behind her, “My silent companion here is my husband, Zack. Say hello, honey.” The man didn’t respond, prompting Selene to elbow him in irritation, nearly knocking him off balance, “Zack, hey, quit daydreaming! This is the boy Kate was talking about on the phone.”

Zack spun around quickly, allowing Jason a better look at him. The combination of black hair and red eyes made him seem similar to Aaron’s father at first, but Jason began to notice the differences between Zack and the man in the picture: a slightly slimmer head, shorter hair, and his eyes were slightly bigger, which, contrary to the picture of Matt, had an air of innocence about them. Even though Jason only had a very small frame of reference, the man in front of him was not at all what he pictured, “Uh, nice to meet you, sir.”

Zack just stared at the Arizonan for a moment before speaking, “Y’know, I’m not gonna lie, you look a lot less crazy than I thought you’d be after hearing about how you rammed a Denizen with Casey’s truck.”

Selene burst out into a fit of nervous laughter before slamming a heel down on her husband’s foot, “Please forgive my idiot husband, he’s still not entirely used to interacting with people. May we come in?”

“Yeah, sure, come on in,” Jason stepped to the side, allowing the pair entrance to the house. Once they entered, Jason shut the door and cast a glance at the clock and performed a double-take, “Holy crap, it’s already going on four?”

“I take it you must have been in the middle of reading this when we got here,” Selene observed as she picked the book up off the coffee table, “I’m not surprised, it’s got a notorious reputation of being a time-killer.” She noticed her husband hobbling into the kitchen, “What’re you looking for, honey?”

“An ice pack for my foot, what else?” Zack bluntly stated, soon followed by the sound of one of the fridge doors being opened and shut after a couple of seconds.

Selene rolled her eyes in response, “Oh you’re fine, quit complaining.”

A yawn suddenly came from upstairs, prompting Jason to turn around and see that Ciara was coming down the stairs, still in her pajamas, ‘She’s just getting up now?’

“What’s all the ruckus about?” Ciara tiredly asked, not really registering that her great aunt was present.

An apologetic look graced Selene’s face as she turned to face her grandniece, “Ah, I’m sorry, Ciara, we didn’t wake you did we?”

“Not really, I’ve been awake for five minutes,” Ciara rubbed some of the sand out of her eyes, “Wait... Auntie? What’re you doing here?” Before she even picked up on the sound of rushing footsteps, she was suddenly snatched up from behind and was being swung around, “GYAH!”

“Hey munchkin!”

Ciara almost immediately realized who it was, “Uncle Zack!” As soon as the spinning stopped and she was set down, Ciara slugged her great uncle in the shoulder before pulling him into a quick hug, “What are you doing here? I thought you and Aunt Selene were busy with the Section 13 stuff?”

“We heard about yesterday’s incident and wanted to see if you were okay,” Selene explained, “I mean, taking on two Denizens at once, Ciara? That’s dangerous for someone as young as you.”

“In my defense, it started off as a one on one fight,” the girl pointed out, “I didn’t know about the second one until I got blindsided.”

Selene sighed, “Well, try to stay aware of your surroundings from now on,” she cast a glance at Jason, “because you’re not always gonna have someone there to bail you out.”

“Well, not with a massive truck to ram things with, anyways,” Zack deadpanned, earning him a lighthearted jab to the gut courtesy of Ciara’s elbow. “No, but really, that was a real gutsy move, kid,” Zack gave a slight nod in approval as he reached over and patted Jason on the shoulder.

“Um, thanks.”

“Y’know,” Ciara spoke up, “if we’re gonna talk about stuff, how ‘bout we all take a seat instead of standing around like a bunch of dummies?”

As everyone sat down, however, there was another knock at the door, and Jason couldn’t help but question the timing, “Really? Nobody get up, I got it.” Swinging open the door once again, this time Jason was visibly greeted by a man with very dark blue hair and green eyes, wearing a slate gray t-shirt and lighter gray pants, and bore a similar build to the male Detective from the other day, “Can I help you?”

The man directed a thumb towards the car parked in the driveway, “Is Zack here?”

“And you are...?”

The man snorted in slight embarrassment, “Oh, right, where are my manners?” He put a hand forth, “I’m Erik, Casey’s brother. I take it you must be Jason?”

Jason’s eye twitched as he shook the man’s hand, “Boy, my name is sure getting around...”

“Only to those in the know, so don’t worry,” Erik reassured, “So is Zack here or no?”

“Uh, yeah, he’s here,” Jason nodded, “Did you want to talk to him?”

“Kinda did, yeah.”

“Right, sorry, come on in,” Jason stepped aside allowing Erik entrance.

As he entered, Erik leaned over and whispered to Jason, “So, uh, your name wouldn’t happen to be spelled with a soft ‘G’ would it?”

“Huh? Why the hell would it be spelled like that?”

Erik shrugged, “This family doesn’t exactly have the best of luck when it comes to acquaintances whose names start with ‘J’...”

“What?”

“Ah, Uncle Erik, hi!” Ciara waved to her honorary uncle, “What brings you by?”

“Saw Zack’s car in the driveway, and I kinda wanted to talk to him.”

Zack stood up, putting his hands in his pockets, “If this is about last night’s mission, I’ve been wanting to talk to you about that as well.”

“Okay, good to hear,” Erik nodded in approval, “Now how ‘bout we take this discussion outside?”

With a mock bow, Zack gestured his arms towards the backyard, “By all means, after you.”

As the two exited, Jason sat down and gestured in the direction the pair went, “Uhhhh, are they gonna be alright?”

Selene just brushed it off, not displaying any concern whatsoever, “They’ll be fine. They’re just gonna have a minor disagreement regarding last night’s clusterfuck of an operation.”

Ciara leaned in curiously, “Oooo, what happened?”

“Well, one of Erik’s trusted inside sources informed him of a group of Federation terrorists hiding out in the docks, armed only with small rifles, two Moa units and an Ogre. Zack was supposed to be in and out with little difficulty.”

“So what happened?”

“Let’s just say that Zack has very good reason to believe that Erik’s trusted insider was compromised, as rather than there being simply two Moa and an Ogre, there were four Moa, two Ogres, and a Scorpion.”

Ciara tilted her head and her brow furrowed in confusion, “Where’d they get that kind of hardware?”

Her great aunt shrugged, “No idea. All I know is that the situation became more hectic than it was supposed to be, some shit ended up having to get covered up, and I’m kinda miffed that I missed out on all of it.”

Jason became understandably confused by the last remark, “Huh?”

“Oh right, you don’t know. Zack’s the one Section 13 sends in when things need to be done quietly,” Selene then pointed a thumb at herself, “I’m the one they send in when Section 13 wants to truly wreck house.”

“... What do you mean by...”

RIIIIIIIIIING!! RIIIIIIIIIING!!

Jason whipped his head around, startled by the ringing phone, “Boy this house sure is popular today!” Getting up, he marched over to the phone and plucked it from the receiver, “Hello?”

“Yo, Jay?”

“Sal? How’d you get this number?”

“Kara told me.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess that does make sense...” Jason went into another room, “So what’s up?”

“Just called in to see how you and Ciara were doing, you two feelin’ alright?”

“Oh yeah, we’re fine. Ciara’s definitely feeling better now, though I think her sleep schedule’s gonna be a bit shot for a bit...”

“Heh, sounds like Mrs. Landis made the right call having you guys play hooky Friday.”

“Yeah, real good call on her part... So, uh, how’s everything going over there? Y’know, with the rest of the club...”

“Oh, yeah, they, uh... they got the same talk we got, although Mrs. Landis couldn’t stay long, apparently she has to punish this group of girls from one of her classes for slacking.”

‘Welp, looks like Ciara and I are on our own tonight,’ “How’d they take it?”

“Oh, about as well as you’d expect.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Well, shit, man, can you blame them? They all came this close to dying yesterday, and Kerry’s gonna lose a leg.”

“Shit, really?”

“Apparently it got mangled pretty badl-”

“Is that Carter on the other end? Give me that!”

“Wha- HEY!”

“Uh, Sal? You there?”

A female voice suddenly shouted into his ear, “CARTER!”

“Gah! Petra, hi!”

“What the heck!? Keeping quiet about those things in the woods, we could’ve been killed!”

“Whoa, wait a sec, why am I getting the third degree on this?!”

“Because I need to yell at someone, or else I’m gonna go nuts!”

“So yell at Sal then!”

“I already did!”

“Give me that!” Jason heard Sal roar as he presumably wrestled the phone back, “Jay, we’re gonna have to talk later, right now the others are still a bit on edge.”

“Yeah, I getcha. Talk to you later, Sal.”

----

“- So then Aaron kicks Mr. Brenner into his chair, but he ended up kicking him so hard that the chair ended up speeding straight out the damn window,” Erik couldn’t help but smile as he recounted the time where he, Casey, and Aaron decided to pay the old principal of Hellview High a visit on the basis of his ties to the OS, “Now keep in mind, this is a sixth floor apartment, so he’s pretty much dead the moment he cleared the window, and me and Case just slowly turn to look at our idiot cousin, while Aaron just looks at his foot, all three of us wondering where the fuck all that strength came from, because this was before any of us really knew anything about Denizens and Darktypes, and then we hear the crash! All three of us rush over to the shattered window and see that the guy ended up falling right on top of a car parked out on the street.”

Jason took a sip of water, “Then what happened?”

“The three of us just looked at each other, started screaming, and ran out of the building,” Erik remarked, “I’m pretty sure that was the first time any of us actually killed another human being instead of an alien monster, though I’m not gonna lie, it was probably a little cathartic for Aaron.”

“Why did he get expelled, anyway?”

“Okay, you’re familiar with the US’s anti-bullying policies that actually favor the bully and punish the victim, right? Well, for a while, that shit was a problem here,” Erik explained, “Casey was constantly targeted by bullies back in high school. One day Aaron just grabbed a plastic bat and went to town on them, and the rest is history.”

“And considering what happened afterwards, it was a damn good thing he got expelled,” Zack interjected, only to get slapped upside the head by his wife, “Ow! Wha-?”

“As beneficial Aaron’s expulsion may have been in the long run, let’s try not to paint being expelled as something that’s good,” she warned. Casting a glance outside, Selene noticed that the sun was dipping below the horizon, “Well, as fun as it is sharing these stories, I think it’s about time we started heading out.”

“Ah, yeah, it is getting late, isn’t it?” Erik observed as everyone began to stand up.

Once all the goodbyes were exchanged, the two teens saw their elders to the door, and watched as Erik walked home, while Zack and Selene returned to their vehicle, pulled out, and drove to the end of the cul-de-sac where they pulled into a driveway of what was presumably their house, which got Jason to raise an eyebrow and turn to Ciara for answers, “Uhhhhh...”

“Uncle Zack can be a bit lazy, sometimes.”

“Okay then.” Just as the two were about to head back inside, another vehicle pulled into the driveway, “That must be the food.”

“Finally,” Ciara exclaimed, “I’m starving!”

As Ciara rushed into the kitchen to get a plate ready, Jason waited for the delivery person. As they approached with the food, he was able to see that unlike last week, this particular delivery person was a girl, and his eyes became drawn to the cat ears atop her head. She was a Nekoma, there was no doubt about it. “Sorry, I’m late,” the delivery girl apologized as she approached, “Traffic’s murder at this time of day- WHOAH!” She lost her balance as a foot hooked a notch in the pathway, and the food escaped her arms, “Oh no!”

Before the food hit the ground, however, a bright blue glow encircled the items and held them in place, “Seems I arrived just in the nick of time.” Turning his head towards the source of the voice, Jason was met with another stranger: A woman who seemed to be in her late 20’s, with very light blue hair and emerald green eyes, wearing a violet suit and skirt. As she approached, pulling the food to her as she did so, the woman turned her attention to the delivery girl, “Are you alright?”

“Um,” the delivery girl nodded, “yes, ma’am.”

“That’s good to hear,” she turned her attention to Jason, “And you must be Mr. Carter.” She proceeded to eye him up and down, as though she was scrutinizing him, ‘Hmmm... There’s something familiar about this boy...’ “I’m Katherine Landis. You’ve already met my two sons.”

“Oh, um, hi. I’m guessing you’re the one Ciara’s mom ended up calling?”

The woman nodded, “That would be correct. I’m here to make sure you don’t do anything unwise to my grandniece.”

The delivery girl’s ears twitched, “Eh? Grandniece? You look a bit young to have a grandniece...”

“I’m a witch who used an eternal youth spell,” Kate explained.

“Oooooh, okay.”

“Now if you don’t mind, I should probably get this food inside before it gets cold.”

Jason nodded slowly and stepped aside, “Uh, right.” As the older woman entered the house, Jason turned his attention towards the delivery girl, “So, uh, should probably get around to paying you, huh?”

“Ehehehehe,” the girl smiled and scratched the back of her head, “Yeah, that’d be nice,” her face then fell slightly, “Though I’m guessing I’m not gonna get a tip this time...”

Stepping back inside, Jason grabbed the amount of money on the table that was needed and stepped back outside, handing the money to the delivery girl, “Alright, that’s $30.”

“Thanks,” the delivery girl nodded as she began to walk back to her vehicle.

“Whoah, hold on!” Jason’s call stopped her in her tracks, “Don’t you want your tip?” Almost immediately she was standing back in front of him, an eager smile plastered on her face, “Heh, that’s what I thought.” Digging into his wallet, Jason pulled out the desired amount of money and handed it to her, “There you go.”

The girl looked at the amount handed to her, “... But this is twenty-”

“Everyone has a bad day sometimes,” Jason shrugged it off, “Seriously, take it, it’s your-” Jason was suddenly pulled into a hug, and he could almost swear that the girl was purring.

The hug was just as quickly broken up, and the delivery girl ran back to her car, “Thank you!”

Jason smiled and and waved before heading back inside, shutting the door behind him. Entering the kitchen, he saw Ciara finish talking with her great aunt, “Nice save out there, Miss Landis.”

Kate raised an eyebrow, “Hmmm?”

“Y’know, the stuff about you being a witch that used an eternal youth spell,” Jason elaborated as he grabbed a plate.

“That wasn’t a save,” Kate nonchalantly revealed, “I was being completely honest.”

“Eh?!” A look of shock and surprise befell Jason, and Ciara couldn’t help but smirk in amusement as she walked past him, “You’re serious?”

“Indeed, I am.”

“But... Why?” Jason couldn’t help but question, “Like, I can imagine that Darktypes don’t really have a say in the matter, but why would you put yourself through that?”

“Because I’m terrified of growing old,” Kate replied, “The thought of having my body slowly deteriorate and fail on me until I either die of a heart attack or in my sleep?” She shook her head as she felt her skin crawl, “Don’t get me wrong, I simply made it so that I can no longer age. I still fear dying, but I at least want to go out on my own terms.”

Jason nodded slowly in understanding and began filling his plate, “There was this saying my Mom once told me, ‘If you don’t fear death at least a little, then are you really living?’ I guess I kinda got worried that you made yourself 100% immortal or something, sorry.”

As Jason exited the kitchen, he completely missed the look of stunned shock on Kate’s face, ‘I know I’ve heard those words before. That boy couldn’t possibly be...’ Silently, she went into the game room and immediately turned her attention to the wall of photos on her right. Her eyes darted from photo to photo, desperate to find the picture she was looking for, when after what seemed like an eternity searching for it, her eyes finally fell upon it, ‘There you are.’ Pulling the picture off the wall, Kate pulled the picture in close. It was a group photo, one taken during The Liberation War, not long after the rescue of Alexis. In it was herself, Travis, Markus, Dante, Riley, Samantha, James, Erik, Casey, Amy, Alexis, and Aaron... as well as one other person.

Held in the arms of Aaron was a girl other than his future wife, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, herself a foreigner, not unlike the boy Kate’s grandniece was now protecting. The witch shook her head, freeing herself of any doubt, ‘Never could I have imagined that of all the people fate would guide to us, it would be your son...

Jane Crow.’

Toho Kingdom

Dark Times at Hellview High!

Dark Times at Hellview High!

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Re: Dark Times at Hellview High!

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