Episode 36: Moirai.
Arc: "Forgotten Princes"
Opening: Soul Eater – Opening (1).
. . .
Daniel never hated his body as much as he did now.
Waking up in the middle of the night was one thing – he would be able to fall asleep again easily. However, waking up in the middle of the night with an endless thirst was another completely different thing. The room's shadows danced on the wall in front of him, and the night was dead silent. Ah, how he wished he were back on his original bed, on earth, away from any imaginable danger. Kicking the sheets aside, Daniel jumped off of his bed and his eyes darted around the room until he found what he was searching for: Danna's sword, still carved on the wall. He tried to pull it off, and concluded it was stuck; after a few more tries, feeling like King Arthur himself, he managed to get it out of the wall.
At least I will have something to protect myself with, Daniel thought. He opened the door and tried to be as quiet and sly as possible, walking through the long corridor ahead. Everything seemed to be a potential danger: from the minimal sounds coming from outside to Daniel's own shadow. Just then, when the boy let his guard down for two seconds, he saw something in the corner of his eyes: a creature, hiding on one of the doors, its eyes staring at him intently. Within a heartbeat, Daniel dashed to the stairs and began screaming internally, holding the sword above his head and ready to attack if needed. He wasn't going easy on whatever that creature was: he was younger and unprepared for anything that involved violence, but he had a life and was ready to die for it (A/N: that phrase made more sense when I wrote it three days before).
He quickly entered the nearest room upon spotting the creature again; he could see it better this time: it had the same height as him, and seemed to be harmless, but you could never be sure. Whilst running, he bumped on something; a fridge. "Oh my god, I did it!" Daniel gasped, not sure if he should be relieved yet. He let his guard down for another second and lowered the sword, and then felt a hand on his shoulder, along with a hot breath on his ear.
"Hello, dearie…" The voice said. Daniel's eyes widened and he gaped, before shoving the creature aside. "Oh my gosh, Dan, you should've seen your face!"
It was Danna. He should have seen that one coming…
"What are you doing out of your bed?!" Daniel screeched, before his hands flew to his mouth – he had to be silent.
"I'd ask the same" His sister retorted.
"I was thirsty." Daniel answered, opening the fridge and grabbing a glass cup from the counter. He poured himself some water before closing the fridge again. He took a sip and leaned against a wall. "What is your excuse?"
"I just came here to tell you something very important." Danna explained as she took a deep breath. Her brother knew it couldn't be anything good, but, out of curiosity, allowed her to proceed. "…Daniel and Asaph, sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" She sung happily. Daniel eyed her for a second, and then everything sunk in, and he flushed hard. Danna smirked as that was the reaction that she wanted; her brother opened his mouth to speak but nothing came, although she already knew what he was going to ask. "You want to know how I found out, right? Well, long story short, I saw the way you look at him." Daniel tried to find something to retort.
"W-well, you like Dipper!" He counter-attacked.
"And you like Asaph." She replied with a slight blush, making him flush harder.
"Shh!" He hissed. What if Asaph was up and heard their conversation?!
"Ha, you admit it!" She yelled.
"I-I would never—!"
"—Date a boy?" Danna guessed. Daniel clamped his mouth shut. "Ah, but how will you know if it's bad if you never tried? Admit it, he's cute and you know it!" She teased. Daniel groaned and accidentally dropped the glass, breaking it.
"Shit!" He cursed, trying to fix his mistake quickly and secretly hoping nobody heard the sound of shattering glass. His wishes went unheard as the twins heard footsteps coming closer. Distracted with the sound, Daniel accidentally cut himself with a glass shard; he only noticed when he turned around and his finger was covered in blood. "Oh, shit!" He exclaimed louder. Danna turned to him and her eyes widened slightly. Finally, they spotted a silhouette on the corner of their eyes; it was Asaph. Danna visibly relaxed and then her poker face became a grin.
"Oh, man, you came just in time. Daniel and I were having a little midnight chit-chat and he's in lo—"
"DANNA , DON'T YOU DARE" He said in a demoniac voice. Both Danna and Asaph's eyes widened as they eyed him with fear and surprise. They had never heard something like that before; they had heard the mentors use that kind of voice, yes, but not apprentices – not Daniel. "Oh, sorry! I don't know what just happened…" Daniel apologized. They all stood there, completely motionless, without knowing what to say. Just then Asaph looked at his finger and the mess on the floor, wondering how that had even happened on the first place.
"You're bleeding!" He said, pointing to Daniel's finger.
"Ah, it's no big deal…" The red-haired boy waved his good hand dismissively. He had to admit it was kind of a big deal, but he wasn't comfortable with Asaph so close to him, especially under his current… predicament.
"Of course it is!" Asaph exclaimed silently, wishing not to awake the rest of the castle. He got a Band-Aid and put it on Daniel's finger carefully. Daniel tried to avoid looking at his crush, and then saw Danna behind him, mouthing 'k-i-s-s-i-n-g'. Daniel blushed hard, accidentally thinking of him and Asaph kissing passionately; curse his mind. "Dan, are you ok? You look like this place has been set on fire." The black-haired boy poked his friend. It took five seconds before Daniel could react, and his first instinct was to scoot away from Asaph as much as he could.
"U-um, we should get back to our bedroom, heh… S-someone might wake up or something…" He then looked at the mess he had made before. "But we should clean this first…"
"And take that sword," Asaph pointed at Danna's sword, still lying around on the floor where Daniel left it; the latter was surprised to see it was still there.
"Good point."
. . .
Danna fell.
She hit the ground, but no sound was made, and she felt no pain. "Well, that's new…" She commented while standing up; everything around her was white, and there was nothing around her except for a gray door. "Oh, shit's gonna go down now…" She whispered to herself, knowing it was a dream - and not a pleasant one, apparently; surprisingly, the door opened by itself and slowly revealed what was behind it; Danna stood up and made her way to the door, curiosity getting the best of her - she stopped by the door. Three very old-looking women were sitting on three rocking chairs, each one in order. The first one, dressed in yellow clothes, was making a fine red thread that seemed to come out of nowhere – like it was made of magic; she paid no attention to Danna watching her. The second woman, dressed in blood-red clothes, was measuring the thread carefully, while not noticing the girl watching her work. The thread was very, very small, which made Danna wonder what they would use it for, seeing as it didn't seem very useful.
And then the last one came. Dressed in blue clothes, the woman was holding a big blue pair of scissors. She slowly placed the thread the golden-dressed woman made between the blades. Danna leaned a little closer in order to get a better view, as she was still standing by the door, and the woman looked up – her eyes were completely lifeless as she grinned and cut the thread into an even smaller piece. "You're not a lucky girl, are you?" She asked.
Everything vanished.
. . .
Dipper yawned as he stood up from Bill's bed; and, speaking about the demon, he was gone. Pulling the sheets aside, Dipper began walking towards the stairs. Even if he had never seen that castle before, the directions were clear to him – it was like he had been there before. Once he reached the kitchen, all of the mentors and apprentices were there, eating… breakfast? Dipper was utterly confused by the scene. "Uh, what's going on here?" He asked, making the others turn to him.
"We're eating," Beatrice answered.
"Uh, I can see that, but I thought demons didn't need to eat." Dipper questioned. Bill shrugged at him, but Keehnesi seemed to be willing to give him a proper answer.
"In fact, we don't need to eat, but food gives us extra energy, which we will need for today's training." He explained. "Also, it has a good taste." Danna seemed excited. After everything she had gone through last night, with that strange dream, whose meaning she knew very well, all she needed was some adventure to get it off of her head! She wondered what would happen today. There were so many possibilities. Perhaps some action was going to cure her from her problems… Maybe they would even disappear, right? Those voices, those thoughts… they would be gone for a few hours, only to come back with all of their strength… Well, she just had to stop thinking about that!
"So, what are we going to train today?" She asked.
"It's easy" Bill took a gulp of his coffee. "Today, kids, you're going to learn how to fly!"
A/N: Short, but meaningful.
Seems like Daniel's having some inner conflicts and voice enhancements (puberty?). Danna has strange dreams about women knitting and deep thoughts. What could that all mean? Woo, cliffhanger, drama, adventures, and comedy will follow on the next chapter!
(1) Should Daniel just admit his feelings or wait a little more?
(2) Do you think Asaph already knows? Does he feel the same way?
(3) What's with Daniel's voice?
(4) What about Danna's dream? What would it mean?
(5) Does the eating explanation makes sense?
(6) What's gonna happen next chapter?
Welp, that's it, bye!
NOTE: I CHANGED DIPPER'S REAL NAME FROM DOMINIC TO MASON!
Awakened Niwana, off.