#The longest total lunar eclipse | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the-era-of-shadow · 10 months ago

Text

The Day The Moon Died Act II - The Wave of Black

Case 01: The Eternal Highschool Lovers

Chapter 4: School's Out!

Written by Lunar Eclipse & Ash Rose

Cover Art by Ash Rose

CW/TW:

A Lot (Swearing, heavy fictional religious themes, kidnapping, mentions of child death, mild terrorism, themes of the loss of control over one's self, mentions of blood, depiction of a volatile mental breakdown)

Summary:

The Black Arms' rally had been a complete and total success, and the group began to grow immensely in the weeks following it. To tell the tale of its spread in full, follow these three separate, and yet connected tales - cases of the Black Arms' effect on PetalBloom, and see for yourself the damage that had been done.

Notes:

I hope you're fucking ready for this chapter because this is the longest single piece of writing we've ever made and A Lot Happens in it btw if you're not in the mental state to handle a potentially devastating cliffhanger please prepare yourself before reading, take care of you ❤

[Act 1]

[Moonlight Interlude I]

[Previous Chapter]

[Next Chapter]

-☆☆☆-

“Wait! I’m confused!” Garrick announced suddenly.

“Why so?” Widow inquired, wondering if there had been a detail that she had accidentally left out in her retelling so far.

“Uhm, I dunno if I missed it, but… What’s Mini Mayhem’s plan again?” Garrick clarified.

“Oh yes! Their plan! I did indeed not go in depth about it for now.” Widow admitted, feeling relieved that there had been indeed no accidental forgetfulness on her part - none that had gone unnoticed, at least. “You see, Garrick,” She then began to speak again, gently placing her hand on her dear young son’s head. “Since the members of Mini Mayhem enact their plan later in the story, I figured it’d become boring if I had to describe the plan out twice! So instead, I decided that I’d leave the planning part out for now, so that when I show the plan in action, it’s all brand new information!” She explained.

“Oooooh, okay! Sorry for interrupting you, Mama!” Garrick responded.

“No need to apologize, Gare-Bear. You’re just being curious, as any child your age ought to be.” Widow said to him reassuringly, using the opportunity she had with it already having her hand on his head to give Garrick a loving ruffling of their hair.

“So does that mean we’re gonna see the plan play out now?” Garrick asked.

“Well, actually… Your question had got me wondering if I had forgotten anything important going on around this time of the story, and I just realized that right around now - in the Schoolhouse, in fact, took place a moment that forever impacted the advancement of us Black Arms’ biology-” Widow started to respond, though she was interrupted part-way through.

“DID SOMEONE SAY ADVANCEMENT OF BLACK ARMS BIOLOGY??” A voice that had not been among Widow’s audience before, but still incredibly familiar all the same, hollered excitedly. It seemed that Widow’s words had a sort of summoning effect to them without her realizing.

“Well well well, aren’t you quite late to the party, Eclipse~?” Rouge said teasingly.

“Party? Are we already at Station Square?” Eclipse wondered, very genuinely seeming to be out of the loop.

“No, I think we’re still a ways away. I believe that Rouge has just used another one of those “turn of phrases”!” Widow answered.

“Oh, right. So what are you all up to?” Eclipse asked. “Must be something rather significant - if not because of the crowd accrued here, then certainly by the rush Yuki had to return here after dropping off some supplies to me!” They then added, beginning to speculate.

“Actually, it’s Leanni right now.” Leanni quickly budged in to correct.

“Oh, is it? My mistake!” Eclipse replied.

“Ah well, it all began as a conversation between Rouge, Shadow and I. Then one thing led to another and here we are, passing the time until we reach Station Square by me telling the story of the Black Arms’ founding!” Widow explained, summarizing quite a lot.

“Oh, that’s where that was coming from.” Eclipse remarked.

“Come again?” Rouge asked, once again entering the conversation.

“I had heard someone telling the story through the hivemind, but I had figured that it was just my memories of Master Death telling me such tales playing in my mind to keep away boredom.” Eclipse told without hesitation.

“Sounds reasonable enough!” Widow remarked. “So then you probably know that we’re at the part of the second rally, the one held in the refurbished Schoolhouse?”

“The rally where a recently assimilated member of the Black Arms who had just so happened to have been an animal caretaker in their day to day life was invited on stage alongside Lord Black Doom himself, having with them a baby Petal-Scaled Dragon that was demonstrated on stage to be introduced into the hivemind by Lord Doom that night, thus ushering in the assimilation of more of PetalBloom’s fauna, creating the ancestry that would lead to the modern non-bipedal Black Arms subspecies of the modern day, such as the descendants of Petal-Scaled Dragons themselves, the Black Hawks and Black Volts, while at the same time opening up the collective mind of the hive to the idea of assimilating more lifeforms into the Black Arms beyond the life present on PetalBloom itself, which would be later cemented during the Black Arms leaders’ trial held in the Twilight Cage and would go on to become a massive part of the evolution of the Black Arms into what we are today, up to and including its involvement in the discovery of our new home, the original Black Comet? Yes, I am aware that’s where we are! Why, aren’t I glad I came just in time to hear you talk about it loud and clear then!” Eclipse answered quite… extensively, to say the least.

“I feel like about a quarter of that would have been enough to get the point across, Wikipedia Article.” Harazuki heckled teasingly, as siblings do.

“Well maybe I am a “Wikipedia Article”! So what? Articles on Wikipedia are carefully curated by multiple experts on the topics of the articles - experts that have dedicated their lives to not just learning about their field, but to teaching others what they’ve learned! Just as I have!” Eclipse argued passionately.

“Pretty sure by the way you’ve explained it, that’d make you a Wikipedia article moderator, not an article in of itself, which is what I called you!” Harazuki said smugly, pointing out the error in Eclipse’s argument.

“Getting rather pedantic here, aren’t we? Well two can play at THAT game! I assume what you meant to say by calling me a “Wikipedia Article” is that my response to Madam Widow’s question was worded like an article on the history of Black Hawks and Black Volts. However, that would make it more accurate to say that I sounded like I was reading a Wikipedia article, not that I am one!” Eclipse retorted.

“Well you clearly knew what I meant!” Harazuki claimed.

“What if I didn’t? What then? You need to be exact when calling people nicknames!” Eclipse theorized.

“That’s just a hypothetical!!” Harazuki fumed.

“Is it?” Eclipse asked, grinning smugly.

“YES! OBVIOUSLY IT IS!!” Harazuki answered, becoming frustrated.

By now, the two of them were not just butting heads in the metaphorical sense, but also in the literal, physical sense as well. They had become so engrossed in proving “who’s right” that they seemingly had forgotten that there was anyone else around. That is, until someone decided to step in and break the two’s feud apart.

“ENOUGH!” Shadow commanded, stepping in between the two to hold them off from each other as her voice boomed with annoyance. “Both of you, knock it the fuck off, won’t you?? Can’t you see how long you two are having to make my mother wait to continue telling the story with this petty bickering??” They pointed out.

Harazuki pouted and crossed her arms, while Eclipse covered their face with their hand and looked away from both Harazuki and Shadow. Either way, it was clear that the both of them realized Shadow was right, and felt deeply embarrassed for letting a moment of sibling rivalry get the better of them.

“Hara.” Shadow then began to speak again. “There was no need to tease Eclipse just for being passionate about the biology of the Black Arms.”

Harazuki silently nodded and sat back down.

“And Eclipse, even if it was unneeded, Hara’s comment towards you was something you could have - and should have - just brushed aside and ignored. There was no need to turn it into a whole big argument.” Shadow added.

“Right. With a reputation like mine, I can’t afford to be petty. I understand that now.” Eclipse admitted before also sitting down. “I’m sorry for that, Hara.” They added.

“Yeah, same here…” Harazuki sighed.

“Ah, wonderful. Especially from you, Shadow! You handled that just as a leader should!” Widow remarked.

“O-Oh, uhm… Th-thanks…!” Shadow sheepishly accepted the compliment, the pride and joy from it growing within her being able to be felt all throughout the hivemind.

“You know… I think I’ve finally moved on from the whole thing - but when Eclipse becomes all passionate like that, I think a part of my heart still flutters because of it…” Relic muttered in admittance only to Rouge.

“... Ya know what? I get it.” Rouge whispered back.

The two girls quietly giggled to one another about their remarks, but then, suddenly, Rouge seemed to get the idea to try to catch Eclipse’s attention.

“Hey..! Clip..!” Rouge said as loudly as she possibly could while still maintaining a whispery tone.

“Hmm?” Eclipse hummed.

“How come you’re sticking around? Aren’t you still busy with Relic and I’s assimilation chambers?” Rouge inquired curiously.

“Oh, I’ll just be here for this one little part. Besides, the chambers are almost complete, anyways.” Eclipse explained.

“Are they really?” Relic asked, her excitement almost causing her to break her whisper.

“Well would ya look at that? We’re well on our way to becoming full on Black Arms~.” Rouge remarked.

“I know..! Aren’t you excited?” Relic exclaimed.

“Yeah, I guess I am...” Rouge admitted.

“The hivemind at work~.” Eclipse stated.

“... Yeah.” Rouge nervously agreed. “Say, where are the Dark Arms? Surely they would want to learn about this stuff too, right? Rhygenta at the very least.” She then asked, changing the subject.

“They’re off being busy with their own little project… That’s what they told me, anyway.” Eclipse answered.

“You mean you don’t know what they’re up to?” Relic voiced in concern.

“I'm afraid not. All I know is that they plan for it to be complete by the end of the night.” Eclipse explained.

"The end of the night? Like… during the Firework Show at Station Square?" Rouge questioned.

“That is what they said.” Eclipse simply responded with a shrug.

Suddenly, the three’s conversation was interrupted by the sound of Shadow clearing it’s throat, in an attempt to once again return all attention to Widow.

"Oh, right. Sorry hun, sorry Mrs. Widow." Rouge apologized.

“My bad, Shadow. Let my excitement for tomorrow get ahead of me!” Relic admitted.

"My apologies to the both of you, sincerely." Eclipse said.

“Oh, it’s alright! You gave me enough time to figure out where to continue from.” Widow revealed, which seemed to make Shadow feel a bit embarrassed. “Thank you for caring about me though, Shadow.” She added, which did seem to make them feel better.

-☆☆☆-

The once dense bunch of Black Arms that had filed into the Schoolhouse together about a few hours ago had now settled, being spread throughout the building in bunches by the hivemind's directions, orchestrated by the Black Arms leaders who were somewhere within the building itself. Each bunch had a job to do, an assignment given, for once everything is completed, the leaders promised that a second rally, one even greater than the first, would be able to commence.

And then there was Latté.

Completely alone, she paced one of the many hallways of the schoolhouse, far too haunted by her own thoughts to be able to follow the hivemind's directive. Completely alone, that is, until Latté noticed Vladmira making their way through the same hallway. At first the sight had stunned her. What was Vladmira doing out here? Weren't the Black Arms leaders busy with their own plans elsewhere within the schoolhouse? She had wondered to herself. It was then that anxiety had struck her, swinging at her swiftly with mighty power. The question of why Vladmira would be here was one that Latté envisioned an answer to quite quickly, regardless if it was correct or not. They must be here because they noticed I'm not doing anything, she figured. She felt bad for not being productive, truly, she did. She just was so terribly worried.

"Worried? What do you have to worry about, Latté?" Vladmira asked her through the hivemind, spooking the young lady despite their gentle tone.

"O-oh, well, if I must confess… then it is Uni that I'm worried for." She answered, perhaps a bit more formally than she needed to. Even though she and Vladmira had been friends for a while before the founding of the Black Arms, Latté's formed a sort of habit of seeing them as "above" her, as a leader.

"That doesn't surprise me, nor do I blame you for that. It certainly must be quite troubling for you to have someone you hold so dearly refuse to stand by you at a time like this." Vladmira said to Latté, understanding the girl's woe, even if they themself have not experienced such a thing for themself.

"It definitely is… And it's not like she has abandoned me! I know she very clearly wants us to be reunited!" Latté explained further.

"That too, I have noticed. When we were retrieving Death last night, you saw her pursuing you, yeah?" Vladmira noted.

"How could I not? Even if I didn't see her, I could certainly hear her..!" Latté responded, throwing in a joke to hopefully lighten the mood for herself. Vladmira chuckled at the joke, which certainly did help in that. "If she's determined enough to have me to chase us down in the dead of night, there's no doubt she'll chase us down again. I would be pretty surprised if I didn't see her again today." She then continued.

"Oh, definitely. In fact, I feel like you could use that to your advantage." Vladmira suggested.

"In what way?" Latté asked.

"I… don't know quite yet. I tried to plan something out for you with Death earlier, but he just said that he thinks Uni is a lost cause and that you should focus on other things." Vladmira admitted.

-☆☆☆-

"Oh wow, Death really just… never changed, did he???" Harazuki remarked, interrupting the story.

"Heh, I've certainly heard that one before." Eclipse chimed in.

"And yet, here I am." Shadow quipped, just being unable to help herself from doing so in the moment, despite her frustrations earlier.

"Why am I not surprised to hear that…? Oh, it's because I knew him too well to expect anything else." Widow said, joining in on the criticism of Black Death to make a segue back into the story.

-☆☆☆-

"Oh wow, so helpful of him." Latté remarked sarcastically.

"I know, right? What would we ever do without him?" Vladmira replied just as sarcastically, shaking their head.

"Well, if Death isn't going to help you, then why don't I? I know Uni better than anyone else in all of PetalBloom - even herself. Besides, I bet if she sees that I'm just as determined to be with her as she is to be with me, then maybe she'll realize that us Black Arms aren't just heartless, mindless monsters that want to destroy everything!" Latté then suggested, being serious now.

"Exactly! Sure, we do like destroying things, a lot, it's very cathartic - but we still care about people! That's why we're doing this in the first place! We care about each other and all the people on PetalBloom that have been hurt by Madam Moonshine's puritanical bullshit, so we're gonna burn her order to the ground and build a chaotic utopia on its ashes!" Vladmira blurted out in a passionate ramble. "But anyway, you're on to something there, I think!" They added, getting back on topic.

"You really think so?" Latté asked.

"Definitely." Vladmira confirmed.

"Cool! Guess we can start making a plan after I'm done doing whatever it is you guys wanted me to do originally, right?" Latté then inquired.

"Oh uhm, well, we don't… have anything for you to do, actually." Vladmira answered awkwardly. "As I said, the plan to get you to go get Uni fell through because Death doesn't believe in anyone except for Doom and maybe himself every once a week, and it was pretty last second so uh. Your schedule is blank." They elaborated.

"So that's why I didn't hear anything! I just thought I was so lost in my worrying about Uni that I accidentally drowned the hivemind out! Well I'm glad that wasn't the case." Latté remarked, feeling relieved. "So we should start planning now, right?"

"Better now than late-" Vladmira began to respond, but was interrupted when something took Latté's attention away from them. "Hey, where are you going-?" They asked, but their question was quickly answered as they turned their head to where Latté had gone.

In a hallway connecting to the one Latté and Vladmira had been traveling down, there stood a lone young Bloomian, one that hadn't been in the schoolhouse before this moment according to the Black Arms' knowledge.

"Hey! What are you doing here??" Latté said to the Bloomian in a tone one would use to address a friend who you run into unexpectedly.

"Yeah, I thought you told us you weren't gonna be able to make it!" Vladmira added, sounding delighted to see the young Bloomian.

"I did - I thought that I wouldn't have the chance to sneak out with the Mini Mayhem meeting planned today! But the craziest thing happened!" The Bloomian explained, immensely piquing the interests of Latté and Vladmira.

"Crazy enough to get you here against the odds? Despite all the supposed distancing from us that your buddy Kuel had you all do last year?" Vladmira questioned.

"Most certainly! Latté, you're really gonna like this!" The Bloomian promised.

“... No way.” Latté uttered in disbelief, already having put two together in her mind.

“Yes way!!” The Bloomian exclaimed, feeling the hope and joy sparking within Latté’s ever widening eyes.

“Now how in the hell did Uni “The Word of Madam Moonshine and Priestess Waning Are Never To Be Questioned” Bishop end up teaming up with Mini fuckin’ Mayhem of all groups???” Vladmira questioned the Bloomian curiously, just as taken aback as Latté.

“Honestly, from what I understood - it was entirely happenstance! While we were bunkering down in our HQ, Kuel overheard the sounds of you all heading to the Schoolhouse and decided to go and investigate - curiosity and all that - and he just so happened to notice Uni just about to go chasing in after you guys! They stopped her, and talked her into going in to retrieve you and Mocha as a team!” The Bloomian explained.

“Well doesn’t it suck for him that you’re playing double agent, then? Probably made a whole plan and everything… Only for it to all go so terribly wrong…~” Vladmira assumed, an evil grin appearing on their face as they spoke.

“That’s the thing! I want the plan to go as she had wanted! I want to get the chance to find Latté and Mocha - which I’m already halfway there on, go back to the others one by one telling them I found the two - while bringing them into the hivemind along the way - so that once we all get back to where Kuel and Uni will be, they will be too little to fight our influence, and Latté and Uni will be reunited in the hivemind! With bonus points for the restoration of Mini Mayhem’s affiliation with the Black Arms!” The Bloomian retorted excitedly, renewing Latté and Vladmira’s shock with just how exact and detailed their plan was.

“You… seem to have yourself under control then…” Vladmira remarked. “But there’s… A problem - just a little problem, really should only be a matter of a time constraint really.” They added, almost as if they had completely forgotten about whatever it was that they were referring to until this exact moment.

“What would that be, exactly?” The young Bloomian asked.

“Weeeeell… The other Black Arms leaders and I had planned it to be a surprise, but… At the end of tonight’s rally, we’re planning on taking everyone outside and reenacting the explosion of the original schoolhouse that Widow and Sen pulled off last year… And if you’re still in the process of going through your plan when that happens…” Vladmira revealed, causing Latté and the other Bloomian to look quite nervous.

“That… wouldn’t be very ideal…” Latté muttered. The Bloomian shook their head in agreement.

“But hey, there’s still time for both of us to adjust our plans. We could do ours later, you could make things quicker on your end-” Vladmira began to say, but Latté interrupted them part way through.

“Or… I could use that to my advantage! I mean, if I did, by whatever means, save Uni’s life, that too could make a big effort in showing that I still love her!” She theorized.

“I suppose it would, but don’t make that your main plan, alright? Us Black Arms have made it a bit of a personal rule that we don’t kill kids. To take away the life of a young soul just as Moonshine and her constituents stole ours would be to completely undermine our goal - our message.” Vladmira warned, their tone deeply serious.

“That would be most preferable, yes. But if something unfavorable must occur in pursuit of our mission, then it simply must happen.” Troubling words seeped into the hivemind suddenly, spoken by a very familiar voice.

“I’d prefer it if you’d at least try being an optimist every once in a while, my love.” Vladmira remarked, chastising the young man who had spoken such skeptical words.

“You imply that I’m being a pessimist.” Death surmised.

“Yes.” Vladmira affirmed. "Because you are."

"No, I’m not. I’m just being realistic.” Death argued before taking off further into the hallway, leaving Vladmira behind with Latté and the other Bloomian.

Latté and the Bloomian looked at one another in concern, which Vladmira clearly noticed.

“Don’t worry about him, you two. He doesn’t know Uni and Mini Mayhem the way you two do.” They told the two of them, trying to be as comforting as they possibly could be.

Despite Vladmira’s comforting words however, Latté still couldn’t help but to become haunted by her worries once again. The young Bloomian must have picked up on this, because they spoke just as the feelings started to return.

“I know it’s probably a tall ask, but could I by any chance be in charge of the explosions? Would probably lessen our chances of a tragedy occurring.”

“Hmm. definitely sounds reasonable. I’ll have to…” Vladmira began to respond, but got distracted when they noticed that Death was lingering at the end of the hallway, as if waiting for something, or someone, even. Vladmira called out to him and asked about such things rather than completing their reply to the young Bloomian.

“Indeed I am. I’m waiting for you.” He answered rather vaguely.

“Me?” Vladmira questioned.

“Yep. The reason why I’m here is because Doom told me to go find you, actually.” Death explained only slightly.

“And the reason for that would be…?” Vladmira quiered.

“We’re having a leaders meeting back at the lounge in about five minutes.” Death finally revealed.

“Is that so? Then perhaps I can bring these two along to tell the others about their concerns with our finale for tonight?” Vladmira suggested, gesturing to Latté and the other Bloomian.

“Concerns? What would their concerns be?” Death asked as if he hadn’t just been lingering in the background of the conversation going on.

“Ugh. I’ll tell you while we make our way there since you didn’t care to listen while you lingered around.” Vladmira remarked as they made their way towards the lounge that Death spoke of.

“Hmph, of course you’d do that… Now those two have to come along, it’d seem.” Death groaned in response as he followed from behind. A giggle given by Vladmira basically confirmed his theory. “You’re lucky that you’ve captured my good side…” Death stated, his face nearly completely bright green.

“I could see Uni and I having an exchange like that, I won’t lie.” Latté speculated.

“What an absurd comparison. What Vladdie and I have is a relationship like none other in the entire universe. You certainly don’t understand it.” Death objected, rolling his eyes rather dramatically.

“I dunno… I see it.” Vladmira noted with a cheeky smile.

It didn’t take very long for the four of them to reach the “lounge” that Death had spoken of, which turned out to be the main teacher’s lounge, situated in the dead center of the schoolhouse. When they reached the lounge, they were met with Sendrir and Widow standing at the doorway like a pair of guards.

“You two do know that the whole thing of the lounge’s location being a secret is more so to encourage the usage of the hivemind for communication rather than for explicitly keeping anyone out, right?” Death implored of the two rather snidely.

“Of course we do. Are you aware of the fact that Doomie told us to stand out here to make sure you came back with Vladmira on time?” Widow replied, annoyed by Death’s assumption.

“Whether or not any of us are aware of all that, we are all aware that the meeting’s about to start, yeah?” Sendrir added light heartedly, stepping in to break the tension between Death and Widow. Her tone of voice sounded a lot more cheerful than it did the last time Latté saw her, which made her happy to see.

“Of course I am, since I did my due diligence to force the info outta Death.” Vladmira remarked, causing Widow to chuckle. As Vladmira spoke, Sendrir seemed to notice Latté and the other young Bloomian standing just behind them.

“Hey! Looks like Death and Vald brought guests! Two of ‘em!” She announced to the others as she peeked her head into the room.

“It wasn’t my idea, make no mistake! Those two being here is all Vladmi-” Death insisted, though was cut off before he could finish speaking.

“Is that so? Quite marvelous! Now I will not be the only one who brought an extra!” Doom exclaimed, which clearly caught both Death and Vladmira off guard - though in different ways, it would seem.

“B-But when they told me they wanted to bring these two lovely brethren of ours along, I knew that it would be a great opportunity to hear what our followers want!” Death added to his previous statement, backtracking on his dissociation from the affair.

"What a kiss-ass..." Lattè whispered to the other Bloomian through the hivemind, and gritted teeth, somehow.

“Something like that, I suppose.” Vladmira replied, Latté managing to pick up on the fact that they were rolling their eyes as they spoke despite their irises blending into their sclera due to their coloration. It was an ability she picked up on from being close to Uni for so long, as Uni too had eyes like that.

Another thing Latté picked up on as she entered into the teacher’s lounge was an immense feeling of excitement coming from the Black Arms leaders. Whatever the reason - or reasons - may be, it made Latté happy to see, and even happier to feel for herself. Though she just couldn’t help but wonder where such excitement was coming from, so in search of what the culprit could be, she started to look around the room investigatively. In her search, she found multiple possible causes.

At the side of Ms. Lillian, Latté saw the youngest Black Arms Leader; Tsunami, who she had thought would end up stuck at home and rendered unable to attend, much like the young Bloomian by Latté’s side.

By the icebox, grabbing each other drinks, were Widow and Sendrir. Vague memories of the conversation between the two of them and Doom came back to Latté as she saw them.

At the table in the center of the lounge was Doom, and sitting next to him was who Latté assumed to be the guest that she had overheard him mentioning having brought along; an average height looking Bloomian man she assumed to be in his mid twenties age-wise. He dressed rather typically for an adult Bloomian, aside from a thick pair of gloves that grabbed Latté’s attention - or maybe it wasn’t the gloves themselves, but rather what stood on top of one of the gloves that actually caught her gaze. A rather young yet still majestic looking Petal-scaled Dragon standing politely on the guest’s finger, looking even from afar to most likely stack up pretty closely to Latté herself in height.

-☆☆☆-

“Oh, it would have most likely done so! It was believed that ancient Petal-scaled Dragons could grow to be around fifteen feet as adults! Even baby Petal-scaled Dragons like the one in the care of Lord Doom’s guest were on average eight feet when standing up in such a way, according to my research. With Bloomians themselves being on average eight to nine feet tall themselves, and Latté being a still developing teenager during these events, there’s no doubt that she and the dragon would have been similar heights!” Eclipse suddenly interjected.

“Oh fuck I think I’m falling in love again.” Relic muttered, beginning to rather heavily blush.

“Eclipse, I think you’re gonna kill her if you keep being so filled with information.” Rouge remarked jokingly.

“Oh, sorry. Sometimes I just can’t help myself, you know?” Eclipse said earnestly.

“No no, no need to apologize, dear…!” Relic insisted despite the fact that she was trying to cool herself off in between writing down what Eclipse had said in her journal.

“Oh, I think I know how I can make things better~!” Rouge proclaimed just before giving Relic a kiss on the cheek.

“Well now I don’t feel b-bad for blushing, at least….!” Relic stammered out as she fell back onto the floor, her face completely bright green.

“Would you look at that, her blush is completely green! It’s as if she is already fully a Black Arms!” Eclipse pointed out.

“Well she better not be! The two of us still gotta get our assimilations done by you!” Rouge jested, poking Eclipse’s arm playfully.

“And the lack of need for such would completely throw off my schedule!” Eclipse added light heartedly. “Speaking of schedules, I’m sure that everyone’s would be affected if we continued to mess around here, so Rouge, you make sure Relic gets all she needs into her journal, and let Widow’s tale continue!” They added.

“Oh, uhm, you bringing up schedules and stuff reminded me of something I wanted to tell you, but we can talk about it later.” Shadow said to Eclipse.

“Are you sure…? I think I remember what you’re talking about Shadow… I think Eclipse would be very interested…” Relic managed to say while still being a blushy mess.

“No no, I can hear it later.” Eclipse insisted. Widow nodded in approval.

-☆☆☆-

Once everyone was seated at the table, Ms. Lillian began to pass out plates of cookies to each person seated.

“I hope you weren’t made to come up short with the treats because of our sudden arrival.” The young Bloomian seated next to Latté said to Lillian, sounding guilty.

“Oh no, don’t fret a single bit darling. I anticipated that something like this would occur. That’s why Sen and I made sure to make extra cookies just in case.” Lillian responded kindly.

“Wait, Sen helped make these cookies?” Latté inquired.

“She most certainly did!” Lillian answered.

“Even though it sucked, at least I gleaned some class action cooking and baking skills from being locked up in my old man’s restaurant all day everyday my whole life!” Sendrir added.

“Most certainly! These cookies are delightful - thank you, you two.” Doom said cheerfully.

“You’re very welcome dear.” Lillian replied.

“Consider it a thank you from me for this morning.” Sendrir added, much to Lillian’s confusion. “I’ll explain once the meeting starts.” She promised.

“I’m surprised you were able to make it, Tsunami!” Vladmira remarked. Latté nodded, admitting non-verbally that she had been thinking the same thing.

“Why do you think I told you two to leave her behind last night? Did you assume carelessness on my end? Well I assure you it was not.” Death proclaimed.

“So you did have a plan… Nice going, sweetheart.” Vladmira confirmed.

“Of course I did! I knew that our parents wouldn’t be surprised by me sneaking out in the middle of the night - I do it all the time. But Tsunami is a different story! If she were to have gone with us last night, our parents would have surely been suspicious of that.” Death responded confidently.

“So instead, we relied on them being okay with me going to school! I got ready for the day, they saw me going to the schoolhouse, then I talked with Death over the mind-link thingy so he could tell me where you all were! Yayayaya!” Tsunami added with pride. Latté could tell by how much Tsunami’s signature cheer tugged at the other leaders’ heart strings that they had missed the young girl very very much.

“I’m very proud of both of you.” Lillian said to Death and Tsunami, giving the both of them pats on the back for their masterful planning.

“Thank you grammy!” Tsunami replied. Death nodded.

“I do believe that settles things on pre-meeting matters… Let the meeting commence!” Doom announced. “With what matter shall we begin~?”

“May I begin, Doomie?” Widow immediately proposed. “Well, Sen and I, but I’m sure you know what it would be regardless.”

“Ah! Yes! Of course!!” Doom beamed approvingly.

“Alright, what’re you three keeping from the rest of us?” Vladmira asked playfully.

“Whatever it is, they seem rather excited about it..!” The young Bloomian remarked.

“Well, you see…” Widow began.

“Widow and I are girlfriends now!!!!” Sendrir continued excitedly as she hugged Widow tightly.

“I’m still dating Doomie by the way, just so we’re clear!” Widow added.

“We simply added Sendrir to our wonderful relationship…!” Doom concluded.

“Yay!! Everyone has love!! Yayayaya!” Tsunami cheered.

“Ah! What a wonderful way of breaking through yet another one of this world’s rigid expectations, sir!” Death exclaimed.

“Would it be rude of me to say that I honestly saw this coming…?” Vladmira implored.

“Of course not!” Sendrir replied happily.

The meeting was off to a wonderful start, at least in Latté’s eyes. Everyone was happy for Widow and Sendrir. But despite this, she couldn’t help but feel worried about Uni again. The Bloomian sat next to her gave her an understanding glance, and the two were just about to silently agree to volunteer to speak next. But before they got the chance, Ms. Lillian raised her hand to speak.

“What matters do you wish to bring to the table, Lillian?” Doom asked inquisitively.

“I have two, actually, if that’s alright.” Lillian admitted.

“I shall allow it.” Doom said.

“The first of my concerns is with my dear grandchildren, Death and Tsunami. I know very well that they cannot stay with us permanently, not for now. If they stay with us for too long, their parents are bound to become suspicious again.” Lillian explained.

“I know that feeling.” Sendrir confided.

“I suppose the question would be… How long is too long?” Death suggested. Tsunami nodded in agreement.

“That’s what I was wondering too. I have no doubt that this second rally of ours will run a decent ways into the night, and it would be a shame for two of the organizers to have to leave early.” Lillian stressed.

��Maybe you could tell their parents after the rally’s over that they had to stay late at school for an extracurricular event? That’s seemed to work for us Mini Mayhem members quite a few times in the past!” The young Bloomian beside Latté proposed.

“That might work. I’m just a bit concerned on account of their father. My daughter Shelby and I are rather close, as you probably inferred from my speech at the first rally. Her husband and I on the other hand… We tend to butt heads more often than not.” Lillian responded.

“I don’t know if this would help tonight but maybe we can try to get them to be a part of the Black Arms? Maybe then they wouldn’t mind Death and I staying out for rallies like this!” Tsunami suggested, her voice somewhat muffled by the many cookies she had shoved into her mouth.

“If we did manage that, I think the chances of them being lax on you two would be a lot higher than a “maybe”.” Lillian remarked.

“I’m not sure how possible that would be, though.” Death retorted.

“It wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?” Tsunami argued, still having some cookies in her mouth.

“We’ll see. But let’s get back on focus to the here and now.” Lillian said, taking a bite of one of the cookies on her plate. “And pace yourself with the cookies, Tsunami.” She added.

“Okay!” Tsunami replied, immediately shoving another handful of cookies into her mouth.

“Who’s to say our father will even be home when we get back? He has quite the habit of coming home quite late. The extracurricular excuse would most certainly work for our mother, and we would already be home by the time he would typically come home, so he’d be none the wiser.” Death pointed out.

“Well what if he does come home before you two do?” Lillian questioned.

“You get our mother pitted against him if he questions the extracurricular claim. Accuse him of demonizing you. Works for me.” Death answered.

“That settles it then.” Lillian concluded with a nod.

“And what of your other concern?” Doom asked Lillian as a reminder.

“Oh, yes. While I very much appreciate that my home is seen as a safe space by so many of the Black Arms, I fear that I’m running out of room for everyone to sleep! I would like it if we could funnel some funds together to buy some hammocks for the cabin.” Lillian requested.

“We most certainly can do that!” Doom replied. “Though, there is a curiosity I now have.” He added.

“Oh?” Lillian inquired.

“Widow, my dearest. With your prowess for creation, would you perhaps just so happen to know how to make hammocks yourself?” Doom asked his beloved girlfriend.

“Oh, I’m uh… afraid not.” Widow revealed. “But I’m definitely willing to learn!”

“I suppose we will have to settle for buying hammocks for now like Lillian had originally planned, then!” Doom surmised.

“For now.” Widow added. “In the meantime, I’m willing to bring the mask shop back to raise funds for the hammocks!”

“Ooh! Maybe Sen and Ms Lillian can bake more of these cookies and we can sell them around the schoolhouse, too!” Latté suggested.

“Ehhh… I don’t think I’m quite ready yet to be in the kitchen again for business purposes…” Sendrir admitted, clearly looking uncomfortable with the idea.

“Oh, that’s okay!” Latté replied assuringly.

“Thanks, kiddo.” Sen responded back.

“Can we go next?” The Bloomian beside Latté spoke up, not wanting the opportunity to pass them again.

“Please?” Latté added, making sure that the two of them didn’t come off as impolite.

“I do not see why not.” Doom answered approvingly.

“Thank you!” The Bloomian said.

“From what I know, Uni is heading to the schoolhouse as we speak, with the intent to track down Mocha and I. I believe that if I am able to in some way show her that I want to be reunited with her just as much as she wants to be reunited with me, she just might be able to see beyond the viewpoint she’s been made to look through all her life.” Latté testified.

“Is she coming alone?” Widow asked.

“No, she’s chosen to ally herself with Mini Mayhem for the time being.” The other Bloomian explained. “She’ll be arriving with at least Kuel by her side, though if my plan doesn’t have the chance to play out how I want, she could have more by her side by the time she finds Latté and Mocha.” They elaborated.

“And what is your plan, exactly?” Death questioned.

“And what’s Mini Mayhem’s plan? While we're on the topic.” Widow added.

“I’m glad you asked.” The Bloomian replied.

Even though it was now a few hours after the high noon of PetalBloom's central star, to Uni, it somewhat felt like no time had gone by at all. As once again she stood just a little bit aways from the entrance to the Schoolhouse with Kuel at her side.

"It's quite funny how much things can change in a single day." Kuel suddenly spoke. "Just this morning we were rivals, but now… We are allies."

"Don't let it get to your head - this is just so I can find Latté and Mocha. A means to an end, and nothing more." Uni replied bluntly.

"How kind." Kuel remarked sarcastically, to which Uni rolled her eyes.

"We don't have much time, let's go." Uni told him as she started to advance to the entrance.

"Right. The quicker we meet back up with the others, the quicker we rescue Latté and Mocha." Kuel agreed, following Uni.

"The classroom at the end of the first hallway, right?" Uni asked Kuel for clarification as she opened one of the doors to the Schoolhouse.

"Right on." Kuel responded, opening the other door that was on the left of the one Uni was opening.

As the two entered the building, its complete and utter emptiness caught the both of them off guard.

"... Where the hell is everyone?" Kuel blurted in shock.

"They must all be congregated farther into the building." Uni surmised, pushing down her feelings of uneasiness. "Must have figured someone would try to interrupt their little get together."

"They're hiding from us…!" Kuel assumed, slamming their fist into their hand.

"In a sense, probably. My guess is that they figured that the longer the distance any opposing party would have to travel, the more likely they are to either give up or become too tired to fight against them." Uni elaborated.

Despite her reasoning, the sheer lack of people in the hallways still unnerved Uni - and seeing that the same rang true for the classrooms didn't do her worries any good.

Uni decided it'd be better just to not give such details any mind, and instead kept her focus on Latté. Even though Kuel and her were to be meeting up with the other Mini Mayhem members before setting out for her and Mocha, she figured it wouldn't hurt to at least try to keep an eye out for any sign of where Latté may be from just the building itself. Very quickly, it seemed like everything else faded from Uni's view, her eyes glued onto a thin track leading to her girlfriend, as if she were almost able to sense out Latté's location. No, not almost. Definitely. Uni didn't know what it was that she was feeling at that moment, but it was Latté's, whatever it was. The emptiness of the hallways created a sort of vacuum effect, funneling this strange sense straight into Uni without interruption. A part of her questioned what this sense was, what it was that she was feeling, if it was a gift given to her by Madam Moonshine in this moment, chosen to bring Latté and Mocha salvation in that moment, or if it was something else, something perhaps a bit more… unfavorable? But another part of her wanted to completely abandon all reasoning that her mind could conjure up for her as to what was happening, or to try to prove it as a mere illusion, and to just simply follow what her gut feeling was telling her, what her heart was telling her, what this feeling was telling her-

"Uni!" Kuel called out to her, breaking the trance-like state that had taken Uni. "Where are you going, the classroom where we're supposed to be meeting at is right here!" He continued, pointing into the classroom that she was standing next to.

"Oh, uhm, right. Guess I got distracted." Uni sputtered, feeling embarrassed for what had happened. In fact, she'd probably start feeling downright paranoid about it if it weren't for the current mission going on.

Looking into the classroom, Uni was surprised to see only Katrien in there, with no sign of Kæ'Mirah or Rehkloos, and by looking over at Kuel, it was clear that he was surprised too - as well as a bit angered.

"Katrien." They spoke, calm for now, but still a bit harsh sounding.

"Oh, you're here." Katrien noted, turning to face Kuel and Uni as if nothing was amiss.

“Yes. But it seems that Kæ’Mirah and Rehkloos aren’t.” Kuel pointed out. “Where are they?”

“Well, we split up to cover more ground in our search for a pathway to Latté and Mocha. Just as you had told us to.” Katrien explained casually.

“But we were all supposed to meet back up here. You remember that part too, don’t you?” Uni interjected, clearly having said exactly what Kuel was thinking, given by how he looked at her after she spoke.

“Seems that they are running late then.” Katrien answered.

Kuel and Uni looked to one another and silently agreed that this wasn’t going anywhere, and unilaterally decided to drop the subject.

“That teacher’s desk you seem to be eyeing there has scratch marks on it.” Uni said to Katrien, changing the subject with the first thing that came to her mind.

“Indeed. I noticed them all throughout the classrooms. Their presence indicates a… struggle of some kind. Marks left by fingernails dragging for dear life as their owners are taken… Somewhere.” Katrien replied, elaborating on what they correctly assumed to be Uni's train of thought.

“Do you think that…?” Uni began to say, but Katrien cut her off.

“That the teachers that arrived at school today were kidnapped?” He said.

“Yes, exactly that.” Uni confirmed.

“... Why would the Black Arms be doing that?” Kuel questioned.

“To find that out is the reason why we kept ourselves apart…” Katrien stated, which confused Kuel and Uni.

“I thought you said that Kæ’Mirah and Rehkloos weren’t back yet because they were running late?” Kuel pointed out.

“I misspoke earlier. Apologies.” Katrien briefly explained, which seemed to be enough for Kuel to accept, but Uni wasn’t as convinced.

“Well, we might as well go find Kæ’Mirah and Rehkloos.” Kuel suggested as he began to leave the classroom.

“You and Uni go ahead on that matter. I wish to keep looking for where the teachers may have gone…” Katrien told them.

“Alright, I’ll leave it to ya man!” Kuel replied, approving the adjustment to the plan.

Uni followed behind Kuel slowly, eyeing the classroom and Katrien with suspicion for as long as she was able to.

“Something on your mind?” Kuel asked her, seeming to notice Uni’s behavior.

“Don’t you think it’s suspicious how casual Katrien was about diverting from our plan?” Uni questioned.

“Suspicious?” Kuel echoed with concern. “Are you implying that he’s switched sides or something??” She added, almost sounding offended by the unsaid accusation, which ticked Uni off a bit, but she tried to not let it show.

“... Maybe.” Uni admitted. Uni’s attempt at hiding her anger must have come out sounding some variety of hurt, because Kuel immediately went for a softer approach afterwards.

“Look, I know that at a time like this, it’s easy to be paranoid. But I assure you, us Mini Mayhem members are loyal until the very end!” Kuel promised, clearly attempting to comfort Uni.

“Except when it comes to the Children of The River, right?” Uni remarked cheekily.

“R-Right!” Kuel agreed. Though he tried not to show it, Uni could tell that Kuel was at worst taken aback by and at best impressed by Uni’s momentary teasing of them. “We took an oath the day the original schoolhouse was destroyed that we would never align ourselves with them ever again!”

Such a declaration should have been comforting for Uni to hear, but she still felt unnerved, haunted by her suspicions. Without thinking, she asked Kuel if they could go look for Latté on their own instead of trying to track down Kæ’Mirah and Rehkloos.

“Not a chance. We need their scouting information to have better odds at finding Latté and Mocha." Kuel responded. “Or at the very least I do. If you really need your girlfriend that badly, then you can go do your own thing, I guess.” They added sarcastically.

“So much for sticking together, huh?” Uni remarked. “Pretty hypocritical of you to let me go like that when you were stressing earlier today that me going in on my own would be a death sentence.”

“True, true, but I just figured you’d be used to hypocrisy, being a member of Moonshine’s clergy and all.” Kuel replied. “You should know better than to speak of things you don’t know about.” Uni retorted nonchalantly.

“I’d argue I know some things about it…” Kuel scoffed. “By the way, and not to be rude, but are… you acting more like me on purpose?”

“I’m… acting like you?” Uni asked, completely confused, as she hadn’t noticed any significant change in her behavior. Sure, she was cracking a bit more jokes, teasing Kuel a bit too, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary, was it?

“Kinda.” Kuel responded simply.

“... Well it’s not on purpose if I am. Though I’d like to argue that I’m just… letting myself be a bit looser. Since we’re on better terms and all. Allies, right? That’s what you called it.” Uni argued, not at all helping her case. Honestly, she started to notice where Kuel was coming from. Just fifteen minutes ago, Uni insisted that Kuel and her were not allies, that teaming up with him was a means to an end. But now she’s saying the opposite? It was almost like there was an odd disconnect between her words and her mind. Like her words were a shield to hide what was going on in her mind. He noticed how I was diverting from their plans, my heart forever set on my sweet Latté. She’ll grow suspicious of it. They’ll cut me off from the plan, I have to prove it to him that I’ll play along.

… What? Suspicious of what? “Play along”??

“We need to go find Kæ’Mirah.” Uni ordered, needing a distraction from all this. Kuel nodded, seemingly unaware of the turmoil in Uni’s mind as he trusted her judgment - which felt like it was becoming cloudier and cloudier by the minute.

As she and Kuel ventured deeper into the schoolhouse, a sign of life within the building could finally start to be heard. It sounded just like the meeting at the Yasmin Cabin that Uni had run into last night, and also just like the rally at the Riverbed Plaza last week. Either way, it sounded like a huge grouping of people, and it sounded like it had something to do with the Black Arms. At least, that’s the vibe Uni got from it.

Uni slowed her pace slightly to attempt to possibly make any sense of the noise - or even possibly sparse out Latté and/or Mocha among it. Kuel however kept moving at the same pace he always had, it was almost like they couldn’t hear what Uni was hearing. But why would that be the case? To Uni’s knowledge, it wasn’t like Kuel was hard of hearing in any way. So what would be the reason why she can hear the noise but they can’t-?

It’s not hearing, but sensing.

… Right! That sense she’s been feeling! That must be it!

That means Latté must be wherever the noise is coming from! Or Mocha too, maybe even both?

Uni still thought it a bit strange, what with it’s sudden appearance and strength, but she had no doubts about the fact that it would help lead her to Latté and Mocha.

For now, she settled her concerns about it by seeing it as a gift from the gods. An empowerment to her unwavering determination, even. Priestess Waning referred to her determination as a gift that morning, so that must be it!

Without any explanation to Kuel, Uni zoomed on ahead to where she felt the sounds were coming from, fueled by a newly found confidence provided to her by this gift of sense.

“Uni! Wait!” Kuel called out to her, trying his best to keep up.

Only a couple of seconds later, Uni, and then Kuel, reached the entrance of the schoolhouse’s cafeteria. It was there that they also found Kæ’Mirah, standing in front of the doors to the cafeteria, having a bite to eat.

“Uni! Kuel! Fancy running into you two here!” Kæ’Mirah remarked, clearly going for a momentary bit; pretending that she ran into the two of them rather than being a part of the plan. But neither Uni nor Kuel laughed.

“Joking around so you can hope to get away with being late on our plans? An interesting play - I’ll take the bait, only because we’re in a bit of a rush.” Kuel responded in a strict tone of voice. “It’s nice to see you, Kæ. Do you have any info on where Latté and Mocha are, by chance?” She then asked.

“Mocha yes, Latté no. I also have snacks if you want.” Kæ’Mirah answered.

Well, Uni was feeling hungry…

Uni went up to Kæ’Mirah and took one of the foil-wrapped snacks she was holding. Inside the wrapping seemed to be some sort of hand pie.

“Wait, where did you get those?” Kuel questioned Kæ’Mirah as she was handing the hand pie to Uni.

“The Cafeteria.” Kæ’Mirah replied simply, pointing to the cafeteria just past the doors behind her.

“And who in the cafeteria gave you them?” Kuel questioned her further.

“Mocha! She told me that her friend’s grandma made them!” Kæ’Mirah answered nonchalantly. The mention of Mocha in relation to the hand pie made Uni even happier to have it - as if it had been intended for her all along. As she bit into it, she felt a warmth much like when napping with Latté and Mocha during a cold afternoon surge through her body.

“H-Hey! Hold on, Uni!” Kuel exclaimed as they watched Uni eat the hand pie in record speed.

“Hmm?” Uni hummed, already having the final bite in her mouth.

“Uhm…” Kuel began to respond, seeming to hesitate greatly at first. “Didn’t you… Uh… For no particular reason… Say something about the Black Arms eating flesh? Back when you had that meltdown earlier?”

Uni took a moment to register his words, a feeling of dread spreading from deep within her, but then eventually fading. Not fading away, per say. Just fading.

“Was that just… Something you had said in a moment of panic, or-?” Kuel continued, but Uni cut her off.

“Last night… While I was searching for Latté for the first time… The first place I checked was the home of Lillian Yasmin, as I had heard about quite a few Black Arms taking residence there. I didn’t find Latté there, but what I did find was… A terrible bloodbath, orchestrated by Widow and that mysterious lover of hers… They were torturing one of the guys from the church, and when they were finished with him, they chopped him up into pieces and tossed them into a pile to be… Eaten… It was horrifying and grotesque… And yet…” “I just couldn’t look away…!”

“I just… I couldn’t… I just couldn’t… I..”

Uni’s body began to shake, muttering that last sentence on repeat. Kuel held her, trying to calm her down, but after a few minutes, Kuel seemingly gave up on trying to gently coax Uni back to reality, and went back to their old reliable - smacking Uni upside the head to get her to snap out of her daze. But instead of being upset and confused like she was the last time he had done that, she simply thanked him, wiping her now bleeding nose with her arm.

“Hey now, Uni… Look on the bright side! At least that gives you a good bit of insight into their tactics! You know better than any of us what lengths they’re willing to go to!” Kæ’Mirah said optimistically. Almost… too optimistically. Uni started to feel her senses go off again, but instead of guiding her to Latté, she now started to feel a terrible aura around Kæ’Mirah, one that felt distinctly… Black Arms-like in nature.

But she didn’t want to believe that the members of Mini Mayhem could possibly be falling to the whims of those demonic monsters. Besides, Kuel promised to her that they’d never side with the Black Arms, no matter what.

As she had looked away from Kæ’Mirah, trying to block out her senses, she looked back at the arm she had used to wipe her nose, which was now barely even bloody, despite it having only been at most thirty or so seconds since the bleeding began. The blood on her sleeve was still fresh, and it had the slightest, strangest glow to it, as if bioluminescent.

It reminded her a lot of when Archæsis uncovered the wings that had sprouted from Latté’s back the day before. She remembered how the blood that flowed from where the wings had sprouted glowed just like that, though more brightly. It wasn’t something that Uni took note of originally, but now, it was the only thing she could think of as she stared at her arm.

It was pretty, the way the blood on her arm glowed. It almost seemed to glow brighter the more Uni stared at it, but that only made it more beautiful. It glowed like a full moon, it glowed like Latté’s gorgeous face.

Oh how Uni yearned to see that face again, to be with Latté again. She’d do anything to have Latté back at this point. Absolutely anything.

“Kæ’Mirah, fetch Mocha and find Latté. Uni and I will go on to the rest of the schoolhouse.” Kuel’s voice cut through Uni’s internal monologue, shocking her with the thought of her having to wait even longer to reunite with Latté.

No.

No!

She was sick and tired of people keeping her away from her beloved Latté, Kuel being the most guilty of this themself.

An indescribable anger filled Uni’s head, taking her over like a parasite. She refused to be stopped again. She will reunite with Latté! And she’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen! Even if that means-

… Even if that means…

No…!

She couldn’t…!

And why was her mind even telling her to hurt Kuel in the first place? To kill him, even?? “If she has to”, no! She shouldn’t have to!

What the fuck is wrong with me?? She thought, finally getting up from the floor and facing Kuel.

She immediately noticed how uncomfortable Kuel looked. Apologetic as well. Like she was also considering something unthinkable.

“... But that wasn’t the plan…” Uni croaked out, fighting against the anger trying to eat her from the inside.

“I know.” Kuel responded plainly, sounding like he wanted to elaborate upon his thoughts, but was too choked up on the words to do so. “But… It’s close enough. We split into groups, we reconvened, we’re gonna get Latté and Mocha.” They finally added.

“If… If Kæ’Mirah is going to go find Latté… Where are we going?” Uni asked Kuel.

“We’ve still yet to check in with Rehkloos.” Kuel answered, a sense of calm and even confidence returning to her voice. “I’m sure she’ll have the answers we need.” They continued, almost accusatory towards Rehkloos.

Just the utterance of Rehkloos’ name sent a shiver down Uni’s spine. One that was as powerful as it was unexplainable.

“You… You feel it too now, don’t you?” Uni asked, starting to figure that she and Kuel were finally on the same wavelength.

Kuel didn’t respond, seemingly brushing away Uni’s question as one would to a discomforting thought. He refused to look Uni in the eyes.

“... I’m sorry…” Uni muttered out from somewhere deep within her, not even knowing why she said it.

She was in too deep to understand the sorrow those words carried.

The journey to finding Rehkloos was a painfully long and silent one, the dread both Kuel and Uni felt keeping either of them from being able to speak.

When they finally did reach Rehkloos, she was sitting on the teacher’s desk of the last classroom down the hallway that was furthest from the entrance.

In this hallway, there was a door that led outside.

Before the two of them had entered the classroom, Uni had managed one little thing to say to Kuel. She had noticed that he looked deeply uncomfortable as they had entered the hallway, and had decided to ask them why.

This was the hallway that Kuel’s brother had left from just before the destruction of the first schoolhouse.

That was his answer.

“Hello Kuel, hello Uni!” Rehkloos greeted them. Casually, as if nothing was amiss.

That was the first thing that set Uni off. Immediately, she felt distrustful of Rehkloos. This distrustfulness led Uni to discovering the second thing of suspicion quite quickly. In one of Rehkloos’ pairs of hands, Uni noticed a box of matches. In fact, it was the exact same brand of matches that were given to her last night by the stranger Uni had run into while looking for Latté. Uni decided she wouldn’t bring it up just yet, but she made sure to keep that information in her head for later.

“Have you guys found Latté and Mocha yet?” Rehkloos asked, still playing innocent.

“Nope. I sent Kæ’Mirah out to do that.” Kuel answered her bluntly.

“Oh..? Why so? That wasn’t part of the plan - wasn’t Uni supposed to find them?” Rehkloos wondered. Though she was clearly trying to sound concerned, Uni could still hear the annoyance that laid within.

“Why not? Surely you wouldn’t be against diverting from the plan, since you clearly already have! You, Kæ’Mirah, and Katrien were supposed to meet back up at the time I specified so that we could convene as a whole! And yet, here Uni and I find you three, still separated!” Kuel responded with unfiltered fury in his voice.

“Didn’t Katrien already tell you why we separated again?” Rehkloos questioned, her annoyance towards how the situation was unfolding starting to reveal itself more.

“How’d you know that, Rehkloos?” Kuel inquired.

“I… I… It was just an assumption, okay?! I’ll tell you the reason then!” Rehkloos reacted, losing her cool. “We split back up because we didn’t want to give the Black Arms a chance to ambush us! We figured we could fight more of them off if need be if we were scattered around the schoolhouse, that way they’ll never be able to pin us all down!”

“... What kind of idiot do you take me for, Rehkloos?” Kuel bellowed.

“E.. Excuse me??” Rehkloos hissed.

“Have you ever read a single horror novel before?? Or even a little kids’ scary story?? Because if you have, you’d know that splitting up in a dangerous situation is the worst thing to do!! Do you know how many stories have the characters being picked off one by one until only the main female lead is left because they were all split up???” Kuel challenged her loudly, not hesitating to get up in her face as he did.

“Hey, by the way.” Uni spoke, mimicking the out-of-place calmness that Rehkloos had moments ago. “What’s with the matches?” She asked.

“Wh-what the matches are for? I-isn’t it obvious?? I wanted to be able to light any lanterns in the schoolhouse that weren’t already lit yet!” Rehkloos claimed, sounding almost offended by the question.

“... Is that so?” Kuel uttered, joining in on Uni’s blow to Rehkloos’ facade. “Then tell me why all the lanterns in the schoolhouse are already lit while that box you have there looks unopened?”

“Ho-how’d you know what an unopened matchbox even looks like??” Rehkloos questioned, trying in vain to keep the mirage of innocence going.

“Because I’ve seen that brand before - some guy gave me a box of them last night while I was looking for Latté.” Uni answered. “You know what I also see?”

“What?” Rehkloos replied.

“Your eyes. They look rather… glassy, don’t they?” Uni remarked with a knowing grin.

There’s nowhere for her to hide now.

Rehkloos looked stunned, unsure of how to respond.

“Why… I do agree with that observation, Uni! Good work-!” Kuel added, being cut off by Rehkloos dragging him closer to her, making sure they got a good long look at those glassy eyes of hers. Kuel managed to break free of her grasp, but then instantly fell to the floor once out of her arms.

Uni rushed up to her, asking him profusely if they were okay.

“Head…. Hurt… Can’t… Think…” Kuel muttered weakly.

At that moment, the words that Kuel had said earlier to Uni resonated with her. Mini Mayhem was split up, and now they’re gonna be ambushed if her and Kuel don’t try to do something to fight back.

So Uni did something.

She picked Kuel up and prepared to make Rehkloos have to fight for whatever her plans were to succeed.

“Last one to Latté and Mocha is a sore loser~.” Uni snidely remarked before taking off out into the hallway.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE!!” Rehkloos cried, following her.

By now, Uni had finally begun to truly understand what was happening to her. This sense of hers, though most certainly of divine origin, was not a gift, but a curse, and it was certainly not from Moonshine.

Despite this knowledge, Uni still made use of it, though now on her terms, using the pathway to Latté that was laid in front of her as a path to make Rehkloos give chase along, relying on it to make detours that would catch Rehkloos off guard and create more distance between the two girls without taking Uni too far from where Latté was. At this point, there were only two things that Uni wanted - to be with Latté, and to make sure that Kuel would be safe. Uni figured it was too late for her, that she had no hopes of escaping the schoolhouse with her sanity and wavering loyalty to Moonshine intact, but maybe, just maybe, she could use the last bit of will she had left in her to keep Kuel from suffering the same fate as her.

This was a plan that Rehkloos clearly was not a fan of. All throughout the chase, she whined on and on about how no one ever cares about her and what she wants.

“Not everything is about you and your happy little love life, you know!!” Rehkloos hollered to Uni at one point. “You might get to have your happily ever after with Latté, but have you even considered what’ll happen to me if my plan doesn’t come to fruition?! I’ll be a failure! A failure in the eyes of the Black Arms leaders!! In the eyes of everyone!! They’re all relying on me!! They need me to succeed!! They need me to WIN!!!”

“What happened to no one ever loving you, hmm?” Uni asked her.

“They don’t love me YET! But they will!! They’ll honor my name for all of eternity once my plan is enacted!! Once all of you are under their command!!” Rehkloos manically responded.

“Oh for fucks sake…” Kuel groaned, finally awakening. “Rehkloos, you’re doing it again… You’re… You’re acting just like your mother…”

That remark of Kuel’s seemed to be the final straw for the already furious and emotionally unstable Rekloos.

“How… HOW DARE YOU??!! You know more than anyone all the terrible things that woman has done to me, Kuel!! And you’re comparing me to her??” Rehkloos snapped, stopping her anger-fueled monologue to have a spout of maniacal laughter. “That’s it… That’s fucking it. Neither of you ungrateful assholes deserve to join the magnificent Black Arms! Neither of you deserve to get that closure!! To be able to be with your loved ones again!!” She continued as Uni quickened her pace, admittedly a bit scared of what Rehkloos could do in this state. “The only thing either of you deserve is to BURN!! Burn with the rest of this tortuous building and the ones who run it!!” Rehkloos’ voice echoed into the cafeteria, which is where Uni and Kuel eventually ended up.

Within the cafeteria, Uni saw no sign of the crowd that had once been inside of it. No sign, that is, except for the various staff of the schoolhouse tied up around the massive room.

“You were… You were right…?!” Kuel exclaimed in shock, looking at the scene.

“Suppose so…” Uni replied, not knowing what else to say.

“Come on, we can maybe untie them all if we work together!” Kuel commanded, hopping out of Uni’s arms.

“Wait-!” Uni called after him in a panic. But before Uni could get a hold of Kuel again, Katrien appeared out of seemingly nowhere and pinned Kuel to one of the walls.

“Hm.. Seems that I only got one of you two, what a shame.” Katrien stated.

For a moment, Uni considered leaving the cafeteria to go find Latté. After all, that is what she was truly after in the first place, wasn’t it? She hadn’t even really wanted to team up with Mini Mayhem in the first place, and now that she has, where has that led her? Fighting for her own mind, possibly even about to lose her life?

Admittedly, she felt a bit betrayed.

She remembered the oath that Kuel had told her about earlier, and began to wonder if it was all just a bunch of bullshit.

But then she looked back at where Katrien and Kuel were, and overheard the struggle the two were having at that very moment.

“Kat…! Please, let me go…!” Kuel begged, their voice very noticeably wavering.

“I’m sorry, Kuel, my dearest companion, but I cannot do that until I’m given the command to do so.” Katrien responded, clearly having some sympathy for Kuel, but not enough to let her go free.

“You do have the command!! My command!!” Kuel stressed.

“I’m afraid that your command no longer applies.” Katrien revealed, refusing to budge.

“No… No no no no no-! You have to listen to me!! You can’t let them take over your mind, Katrien!! Please!!” Kuel wailed in desperation.

“Please, do not cry for me… I will keep you from being harmed, even now…” Katrien replied, but his words gave no hope or comfort to Kuel, who began to sob uncontrollably in the absence of any actual words left to speak.

The scene playing out in front of Uni’s eyes reminded her very much of herself and Latté. She sympathized with Kuel's desperation to salvage the person that they once knew, to try to bring them back in some way. In Katrien, Uni saw Latté, and felt just as sorry for him as she did for Latté herself. Uni wanted to save the both of them, even if she now understood such a thing to be impossible. She wanted to make sure that Kuel would be able to live another day, whether it be free from the Black Arms or not.

No, she didn’t want to ensure such things.

She had to, needed to!

And thus, she knew she would run no longer. She prepared to face Rehkloos directly, who she saw was now at the other side of the cafeteria.

That is, until she turned one more time to see Katrien taking off outside with Kuel.

Not knowing what Katrien planned to do with him, and not wanting to see Kuel be harmed, Uni chased after them, almost making it out the door before Kuel themself begged Uni to focus on Rehkloos instead. Reluctantly, Uni listened to her and turned back around to face off with Rehkloos again, but as she advanced towards the girl, she noticed that she had taken one of the matches out of her matchbox, and that beside where she stood was the start of a wick to some sort of explosive.

Adrenaline surged through Uni’s body, forcing her to move at speeds she had not known that she could go, all for the sake of reaching Rehkloos before she could light the match, before she could release the match, before the match could light the wick.

But Uni was just barely too late, the wick already starting to burn as she was face to face with Rehkloos.

“Awww, what a shame! Looks like you won’t get to have your sweet little Latté after all!” Rehkloos taunted her.

“And neither will you.” Uni remarked with a scowl.

“That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.” Rehkloos confessed, which did make Uni feel bad, even if only a little bit.

Rehkloos, in the end, deserved just as much to live as Uni or anyone else. She was just a troubled child from a troubled home who got unhealthily attached to the wrong people.

But there they were, Uni and Rehkloos, staring down each other’s eyes, both of which were already without life even as their bodies still stood, about to be blown into bits just like the schoolhouse.

Just as Uni could hear the wick about to run out, she heard an all too familiar voice cry out.

“Rehkloos!! WAIT!!”

#the era of shadow #teos #teos origins #the era of shadow: origins #undescribed #writing tag #black arms #mod eclipse #mod ash

1 note · View note