Me: Okay…I know I said the chapter wouldn't be this, but I had some thinking time and this jumped into my head. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
"Bleh! I'm a vampire!" Gregar, now in a black cape with a red inside and bat fangs made of plastic, exclaimed.
Luna held up a clove of garlic.
"AH! GARLIC!" Gregar screamed a-la Homer Simpson before flying behind Saito.
"I knew it was a good idea to make that EM Realizer for the classroom," Saito chuckled before the bell rang, "Remember, class; after Recess, the WaveNavis that volunteered will be playing 'The Raven' for our class."
"I don't get it," Omega-Xis said, "Why was Chief Hugendong in a cape and fake fangs, Chief Nailabroad?"
"I'm not sure, Chief Itchycrotch," Kyuubi replied.
"It's almost Halloween, you two," Geo replied as the female EM-Ians of their group began to clobber the two perverts.
"Halloween?" Lyra repeated as she looked up from the swollen body of Omega-Xis.
"Don't you remember why you had to practice those lines, Omega-Xis?" Marcus asked as he twirled a pebble, "It was for the play you, Gregar, Lyra, and Gemini have to do."
"And a play is…" Omega-Xis began.
Gregar then appeared, grabbed those mentioned, and flew off back into the classroom.
"I still don't see why a woman must be in this," Amidamaru said, "Women should not be in kabuki."
"Amidamaru…This isn't kabuki…" Inu sweatdropped.
"Oh…Then what is it?"
"A play, dude," Inu explained, "It's like a kabuki, but it's played by men AND women."
"You mean like in those movies?"
"Yep! But it's all live."
"So what is the Raven?" Turbo asked from his Transer Cell.
"'The Raven' follows an unnamed narrator who sits reading 'forgotten lore' as a method to forget the loss of his love, Lenore. A 'rapping at his chamber door' reveals nothing, but excites his soul to 'burning.' A similar rapping, slightly louder, is heard at his window. When he goes to investigate, a raven steps into his chamber. Paying no attention to the man, the raven perches on a bust of Pallas. Amused by the raven's comically serious disposition, the man demands that the bird tell him its name. The raven's only answer is 'Nevermore.' The narrator is surprised that the raven can talk, though it says nothing further. The narrator remarks to himself that his 'friend,' the raven, will soon fly out of his life, just as 'other friends have flown before' along with his previous hopes. As if answering, the raven responds again with 'Nevermore.' The narrator reasons that the bird learned the word 'Nevermore' from some 'unhappy master' and that it is the only word it knows. Even so, the narrator pulls his chair directly in front of the raven, determined to learn more about it. He thinks for a moment, not saying anything, but his mind wanders back to his lost Lenore. He thinks the air grows denser and feels the presence of angels. Confused by the association of the angels with the bird, the narrator becomes angry, calling the raven a 'thing of evil' and a 'prophet.' As he yells at the raven it only responds, 'Nevermore.' Finally, he asks the raven if he will be reunited with Lenore in heaven. When the raven responds with its typical 'Nevermore,' he shrieks and commands the raven to return to the 'Plutonian shore,' though it never moves. Presumably at the time of the poem's recitation by the narrator, the raven 'still is sitting' on the bust of Pallas. The narrator's final admission is that his soul is trapped beneath the raven's shadow and shall be lifted 'Nevermore,'" Zack explained.
"…What?" the idiots (Bud, Naruto, Omega-Xis, and Marcus) asked.
"It's an old poem written by one of the greatest fear-inducing minds in that time, Edgar Allen Poe," Solo translated with a scoff and he easily jumped onto a tree branch and rested on it.
"I still don't get how he does that," Zack said.
"Now that was cool!" Bud awed.
"Um…why are our desks outside the classroom?" Pat pondered.
The class walked into the classroom, passing the stacked desks outside it, and gasped. The once classroom was now a setting set back in the 1700s. It was a Victorian styled library/lounging room with a fireplace and two green chairs on the other side with seats near them.
"Sit down, if you please," Turbo said, now in an usher's outfit, "The play shall begin in a few moments."
"How…What…" Rayne began.
"My secret," Saito grinned, "Now the play shall start in a few minutes, so find a seat."
Everyone did so quickly. Lapalce-Light aimed himself at a tuxedo-wearing Inu.
"Greetings," Inu bowed, "Today, we shall entice your fears with a classic tale written by Edgar Allen Poe…The Raven. It is about a mourning man and a raven…"
He noticed Saito making the sign to move along with it.
"Without further ado, my dear audience," Inu said with a dark chuckled, "Let the fear begin."
Lapalce moved to show a podium with Gregar on it. He cleared his throat and began to speak in a deep voice. (Think of the one from the Simpsons Halloween Special II)
Gregar: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, (The light moved to show Omega-Xis, in a purple robe, monocle, and a pipe that blows bubbles, sitting in a chair, reading in front of the fireplace.)
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
Omega-Xis, yawning: `'Tis some visitor…'
Gregar: I muttered.
Omega-Xis: `…Tapping at my chamber door…Only this and nothing more.'
Gregar: Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. (A cold wind provided by an Ice-element WaveNavi blew by the audience)
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow (Omega-Xis looked above the fireplace to see Lyra, posing in a picture) - sorrow for the lost Lenore – (Omega-Xis, seeming he is about to cry in sadness: Oh, Lenore…)
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain (A wind WaveNavi blew the curtains)
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
Omega-Xis, hiding in the chair shaking like a leaf and saying quickly: `'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -This it is, and nothing more,'
Gregar: Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
Omega-Xis, slowly rising from his chair: `Sir…'
Gregar: said I.
Omega-Xis, slowly moving to the door: `…or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, and so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, that I scarce was sure I heard you.'
Gregar: Here I opened wide the door. (Omega-Xis whimpered as he opened the door, eyes closed. He slowly peeked out of one eye and tilted his head) Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word…
Omega-Xis: `Lenore!'
Gregar: This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word.
Lyra: `Lenore!'
Gregar: Merely this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, (Omega-Xis closes the door and goes back to his chair) all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. (Omega-Xis yelped as he hid behind his chair, dropping his book once more)
Omega-Xis, shaking: `Surely…'
Gregar: said I.
Omega-Xis, shaking as he slowly approached the window: `…surely that is something at my window lattice; Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -'Tis the wind and nothing more!'
Gregar: Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, (Omega-Xis screams as he ducked under Kyuubi, wearing a black raven outfit, as he flew into the room, perching on the door)
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
Omega-Xis, chuckling: `Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou…'
Gregar: I said.
Omega-Xis: `…art sure no grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Gregar: Quoth the raven…
Kyuubi: `Nevermore.'
Gregar: Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, (Omega-Xis slowly backed away from Kyuubi, still staring at him in awe)
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'
But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered…
Omega-Xis, turning away from Kyuubi: `Other friends have flown before -On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Gregar: Then the bird said…
Kyuubi: `Nevermore.'
Gregar: Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, (Omega-Xis shook a bit and he turned to look at Kyuubi in shock)
Omega-Xis, shaking his head: `Doubtless…'
Gregar: said I.
Omega-Xis: `…what it utters is its only stock and store, caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore of "Never-nevermore."'
Gregar: But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, (Kyuubi began to smile at him)
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door; (Omega-Xis turned a chair and sat down in it, facing Kyuubi)
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing (Going into the position of the statue 'The Thinker')
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer (Omega-Xis got whacked on the head by Black and White, both in angel outfits with fake angel wings. Omega-Xis as he rubbed his head: D'OH! Stupid censer…)
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
Omega-Xis, shooting up: `Wretch!'
Gregar: I cried.
Omega-Xis, pointing at Kyuubi: `Thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore! Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Gregar: Quoth the raven…
Kyuubi, grinning: `Nevermore.'
Omega-Xis: `Prophet!
Gregar: said I.
Omega-Xis, points a finger at Kyuubi: `Thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Gregar: Quoth the raven…
Kyuubi, starting to chuckle as his grin grew: `Nevermore.'
Omega-Xis, roaring: `Prophet!'
Gregar: said I.
Omega-Xis, tears begin to form in his eyes: `Thing of evil! -prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore – Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore - Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Gregar: Quoth the raven…
Kyuubi, same as earlier: `Nevermore.'
Omega-Xis: `Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!'
Gregar: I shrieked up starting.
Omega-Xis, pointing at Kyuubi and then the window a few times: `Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! (Tears begin to fall from his eyes) Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!' (jabs his finger at Kyuubi)
Gregar: Quoth the raven…
Kyuubi, laughing: `Nevermore.'
Omega-Xis, seethed in anger and through gritted teeth: 'Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door…' (Fists began to clench)
Gregar, trying to remain neutral: Quote the raven…
Kyuubi, laughing: 'Nevermore!'
Omega-Xis: Why you little…!
Kyuubi: Uh-oh! (Kyuubi flies all around the set with Omega-Xis chasing him with a roar. Omega-Xis hit face first into a bookshelf, knocking the books off the shelf and one-War and Peace-struck him in the face, letting little Kyuubi-Ravens fly around his head, quoting 'Nevermore' numerous times, while Kyuubi perched on the bust of Pallas once more, casting a large shadow)
Gregar: And the raven, (Another book whacked Omega-xis on the head. Omega-Xis: D'OH!) never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore! (Kyuubi gave a dark laugh)
The lights came on and Saito secretly took a few photos. Sonia was in Geo's lap, shaking like a leaf and hugging him tightly as was Luna with Grey and Amy with Marcus. Naruto and Rayne were hiding behind a fainted Bud and Zack, shaking like leaves.
"I take it you all enjoyed the play?" Saito chuckled.
Many of Sonia's male fans glared at Geo as Sonia refused to let go of him.
"No glaring or I'll give you triple homework," Saito threatened.
The males stopped their glares. No one noticed Wolf, Libra, and Taurus spying on the class.
"How was your day?" Pandora asked, "Did you see Prometheus?"
"Sorry, Pandora," Cygnus apologized, "But I have yet to locate your brother."
"What happened to you three?" Cancer asked as he saw Wolf, Libra, and Taurus come in, shaking like leaves.
"N-n-n-n-n-nothing…" Wolf said through shaking teeth.
"…Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore,'" Crown read from his book about Edgar Allen Poe.
The trio screamed and ran off.
"…What was that about?" Ophicius asked.
"Possibly, they saw or read something that has caused them to be indulged in phobia when one mentions a raven," Cygnus guessed.
The others shrugged. That night, Wolf, Taurus, and Libra couldn't get to sleep or risked the nightmare of taking the place of the man in the poem.
Me: I bet this is better than anything else I've written so far.