At this point, I will upload when I can, my muses are all over the place and life keeps wanting to run me over with a truck. I'm sorry, but thanks to all who stick with my various stories. Xoxo- Silver

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Days Left: 10

The notes were almost enough. Everything was there, but one crucial piece was missing. Sera paced around her room running her hands through her hair as she flipped through hundreds of possible pieces to fill in the blank. The notes led her through nearly every aspect of the dream, the vines showing she feels trapped, the shifting background showing uncertainty about the future and the present, the white dress on the girl showing hope and purity, but who was she?! Some texts indicated an angel, but Sera dismissed that notion immediately. What would angels want with her? A skin-walker forced into servitude was of no concern to higher powers...if they even existed. She shook her head before she went on a tired mental debate about the existence of angels. Leaning against her wall, Sera looked at her clock and nearly collapsed right then, she had been up all night again...and to top it off she had classes today. She groaned and tiredly ran a hand through her hair, she had to at least look decent so people wouldn't question her too much...though she had the sneaking suspicion people were already questioning her choices and habits by now. As she gathered clothes to change into after her bath she sighed and checked another day off the countdown.

"Ten days left and I still feel like I'm at square one…"

Leaving her room in a rush, she completely missed the cool blue eyes watching her down the hall. Seeing the chance she gave him to investigate a little, Yukio adjusted his glasses before slowly walking down the hall towards Sera's open door. Taking a deep breath he quietly assured himself this was an okay thing to do.

"I'm just...concerned for her, and came to check up on her, the door was open so I looked in to find her….yeah, that sounds good."

Yukio quickly checked over his shoulder before slowly pushing Sera's door open more. Immediately, his eyes were drawn to the overwhelming amount of crumpled papers in the overflowing trash bin. He walked towards her cluttered desk and slowly his eyes widened at the amount of seals drawn on various pieces of paper, he gently picked up a few of the seals examining them closely.

"Seals to prevent rot...is she still concerned about that night? But why are there so many?..."

Yukio carefully put the seals down and moved a few around to reveal the calendar with the countdown on it. He stared at it for a second trying to figure out what was exactly supposed to happen at the end of the countdown, but came up with nothing. Scanning her desk slowly revealed notes about dreams, the rot and various ways to destroy it, and lore about various Demon Kings.

"She seems to be fixated on destroying any traces of rot...sounds like she never let that night go...but why?..."

He started to grow aggravated with how many new questions were popping up and how so few were getting answers. He gently opened one of the journals on her desk and flipped to the more recent entries as he started to read a cough snapped him out of it and he turned quickly to see Rin standing there in the doorway. Rin's eyebrows were raised as he skeptically looked over his brother.

"You know, I never pegged you as the type to break into a girl's room. I thought everyone assumed I would be the one, but now I'm curious. What are you doing in my girlfriend's room?"

Yukio stammered as it hit him, Rin and Sera were dating. It was official, and now he was caught snooping in her room. He quickly tried to remember his excuse from earlier.

"I-I was looking for her...and the door was open?"

He sighed in defeat as soon as the words left his mouth, that was probably one of the worst excuses he could have used now that he said it out loud. Rin wasn't pleased with his brother's words, his arms dropping to his sides and his face becoming an expression of annoyance.

"Really? And what, you thought she was hiding in that journal?"

Yukio hung his head low, ashamed at being caught and for snooping around Sera's room in the first place. Yet, there was a small part of his brain that said he was justified due to her suspicious actions and nature. Then again, he wasn't sure how much Rin actually knew about Sera….

"Rin, how much do you know about Sera?"

Clearly, Rin wasn't expecting this question from Yukio. He opened his mouth then quickly closed it, annoyance overtaking his face again but Yukio knew by looking into his brother's eyes that he struck a delicate nerve.

"Enough. Why?"

Yukio picked his head back up and grabbed one of the seals from her desk and held it up.

"Then explain why she has so many of these scattered across her desk?"

Rin squinted and slowly walked into the room gently taking the seal from Yukio's hand and looking it over. The gears in his mind trying to process what he was holding in his hands. It took a minute before Rin slowly looked up at Yukio confused.

"Is this one of those seals? Like to keep stuff away...or keep them dormant?"

Yukio nodded slowly before stopping and looking at Rin. Keeping things dormant...like the lanterns in the forest….but keeping rot dormant? The lore on Demon Kings? It couldn't be connected could it? What if she wasn't trying to keep the rot away, but instead keeping it at bay?

Rin waved his hands in front of Yukio's face as his brother zoned out thinking.

"Hello? Four-eyes? What's going on up there? Did you blow a gasket or something?"

Yukio quickly zoned back in and grabbed Rin's shoulders startling him and causing him to drop the seal onto the floor by the trashcan.

"Rin. Think. You said these seals also can keep things dormant. What if they aren't meant to keep the rot away from Sera?"

Rin stared at Yukio for a few seconds blinking as the words sunk into his head before pushing his brother off of him and backing up, shaking his head. His mind hurt, he didn't want to think of Sera having anything to do with demons. It couldn't be true...no it wasn't true. She was too smart to get involved with demons. Especially one as vicious and dangerous as the King of Rot...

"No! It's not true!...You're just trying to make her look bad because you don't like her for some reason. I'm not playing these games, Yukio."

Rin backed up to the door, ready to sprint away from his brother and the ideas he was implying about Sera.

"Rin! Think it through, she hasn't told us anything about her! It is entirely possible that could be the case. She could be very dangerous...and a traitor…"

Yukio immediately wondered if Mephisto knew about Sera. He figured the headmaster knew about her being a skin-walker, but a spy for Astaroth? If she was, something had to be done soon…his mind wandered back to the countdown and immediately millions of ideas and scenarios all in varying degrees of awful flooded his mind but the process was interrupted by Rin yelling at him.

"And you don't know anything either, four-eyes! You are just making things up!"

Rin shook his head and glared at Yukio before storming off. His head and heart ached, he knew Yukio wasn't Sera's biggest fan, but going so far to snoop in her room then call her a spy and a traitor was too much... He loved his brother, trusted him, hell, for the longest time he thought that his brother was all he had. But now... He couldn't take it. The feeling of being torn in two between listening to his brother or going with his feelings for Sera… He walked clean out of the dorms and didn't stop until he hit the forests. When he thought he was far enough away from everyone he slumped against a tree, tired of internally debating with himself with thoughts of who was right and who was wrong. He curled up against the base of the tree, not caring he was missing class, not caring about anything in the moment. He just wanted everything to stop hurting...and for everything Yukio said about Sera to not be true.