You would think by now I would've learned to stop staying up late writing horror stories when I know it freaks me out, but apparently not haha. Thank you FireDragon1619 for your review :D Also I sincerely want to thank everyone who's been reading this story as of late. Story stats show there's been a bit of a surge for every chapter this month (probably due to the quarantine, but lots of love to all of you anyway) and there's definitely a few people who have read the entire thing through so far since the beginning of April and I want to acknowledge that. At this point, I'm writing this story for me as well as you, and I'm so grateful to see people are still invested in it, though updates may be slow. That being said, this time around our chapter song is "Pit of Consciousness" by Jinjer.

I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade.

Madoka hurried through the corridors, taking advantage of the burst of speed the rush of adrenaline had gifted her. She could barely process what she'd just done. It all felt like a blur, as if it was merely an event she'd witnessed, not experienced firsthand, like a scene from a movie. The memory didn't feel like it belonged to her. Her legs carried her where she needed to go, but her mind was somewhere else entirely.

She made it to the dining hall as students were filing out of it. Breakfast was over and classes were due to start any moment.

Ignoring her growling stomach, though she hardly noticed it anyway, she stood on her toes frantically trying to spot Mei Mei over the throng of people. Madoka hopped into the middle of the crowd, mixing in seamlessly.

"Mei Mei!"

Her friend had to be around here somewhere. Chao Xin would not have allowed Mei Mei to skip out on breakfast after last night. Somewhere in the back of her fevered mind, Madoka was thankful for that. She jumped up and down trying to get a better view.

She finally located her towards the front of the group, almost out of sight as they turned the corner. She called again, raising her voice, but her friend still didn't notice. She was too far away in a much too loud hallway.

Not caring who she irritated, Madoka pushed her way through the crowd, eliciting more than a few dirty looks and swears. She rolled her eyes, knowing a few pissy classmates were the absolute least of her problems.

Finally, she reached her. Mei Mei was by herself. Chao Xin must have already gone his own way. It made her nervous, but it wasn't like Mei Mei could have someone with her full-time. Madoka was so glad to see she was still safe.

Madoka tapped her on the shoulder.

Mei Mei spun around, stopping in the middle of the hall, much to the chagrin of the students behind her, who now had to step around them to avoid collision.

"Madoka? Where were you? Hey- is that snow in your hair?"

Madoka took her by the arm and started dragging her along with the flow of students, despite Mei Mei's weak protests.

"I can explain everything. C'mon, let's just try to blend in with everyone until we get to the dorms."

"The dorms? Madoka, why would we go there? Aren't you the one who was saying we should pretend everything is okay and keep going to class so nobody gets suspicious?"

"We're past that now. This is way more important."

Madoka stopped talking. Mei Mei bit her lip nervously. She didn't want to think about what must've happened to change Madoka's mind when she had been fully committed to the plan before.

She inquired as to whether they should get Chao Xin and Gingka, but Madoka shook her head, rattling Mei Mei's nerves even more. It was worse than she thought; Celestia was directly involved. There was no other reason why Madoka would have wanted to keep it secret from the guys. This was something only the two of them could face.

As they separated from the rest of the students, Mei Mei gratefully noted they weren't the only ones. A few other students were headed back to the dorms as well. At least they wouldn't attract as much attention as she'd dreaded.

Madoka slammed the door shut behind them and shuddered. The snow in her hair had since melted, leaving her hair dripping onto the throw rug they were using as a welcome mat. She placed her hand on her forehead, eyes closed.

"What's wrong?" Mei Mei asked, fear creeping in.

"I don't even know where to start. I saw Celestia and some hooded person wearing black sneaking around this hall earlier on my way to breakfast." Instinctively, Madoka went for the nearest towel, drying off the ends of her hair hoping it would distract her, but she still felt so disconnected.

It was Mei Mei's turn to shudder. All along, they had understood Celestia had helpers in the castle, but to see them walking out in the open during the daytime where anyone might notice them could only mean Celestia wasn't worried about anyone interfering.

And if Celestia wasn't worried, that could only mean one thing.

Mei Mei tried focusing on what was at hand. Madoka had yet to explain why she'd been outside and there must've been a good reason for that. "Then how did you get covered in snow?"

"I'll get to that, I promise. My point is they were talking about the winter solstice. Apparently, once that has passed Starlight Academy won't be useful to them anymore," Madoka opened her terror-filled eyes. She dropped the useless towel to the floor. "I think it's all over after that. We won't be able to do anything. We're almost out of time."

Mei Mei sat down on her bed, but the world felt like it was spinning all around her. The floor had disappeared beneath her feet. She closed her eyes, opening them slowly, hoping the dizziness would fade away.

Madoka sat down next to her.

"I know this is bad, but we still have a chance. We have over a week to figure this out. We can't sit around moping waiting for it to end."

"We need to pool together everything we have," Mei Mei managed to get out. "This is the last opportunity we're going to get."

"Yes," Madoka nodded. "I want to bring Chao Xin and Gingka in on everything. Absolutely everything; no more secrets. Maybe one of them knows something about Celestia and they don't even realize it's actually important. There could be something major we've missed. I don't want to risk having an answer right in front of us, but we're too busy trying to protect others to see it."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You were completely against it the other day."

"There's no time. Not anymore. Being careful is only going to end up with us dead."

"Being rash might result in the same thing."

"I'm aware of that, but I'd rather be reckless, because if we only have a week left, then it's irrelevant whether or not they discover that we know what's going on. One way or another, Celestia and those creeps will be coming for us no matter how cautious we are," Madoka looked out the window towards the lake forlornly. "It's just a matter of time now, and we have to make the most of it."

"But if they catch on to us, they might come after us sooner. What do we do then?"

"Whatever we can do to escape," Madoka pursed her lips, then continued. "On my way to the dining hall, I was attacked. I realized I was being followed, and tried to shake them."

"What!?" Mei Mei shrieked. "You were attacked? What happened?"

"Shhh!" Madoka hissed. As fear kicked back in, she was finally starting to feel more attached to reality. "These walls are thin. Don't be so loud. I tried losing the person, but it was useless. It was one of the hooded people. They wear masks so I don't have a clue who it was. I ended up outside, on one of the parapets; that's why I was covered in snow."

"They trapped you up there?" Mei Mei asked, aghast. "How did you get away?"

"Just barely. I-" Madoka closed her eyes, reliving the nightmarish scene over and over. "I was at the very edge of the wall when they lunged at me. I stepped off to the side and pushed them. Whoever it was… They fell over the edge. I heard them scream." She still heard the scream, even now. The desperate sound haunted her.

Mei Mei hugged her friend, pulling her in close.

"What matters is you're alive," Mei Mei said firmly, believing those words more than anything. "That person wanted you dead. It's better that they're gone, because if you'd gotten away and it was reported, Celestia wouldn't have stood for it. You would have been number one on their hit list because you'd seen too much."

"I guess," Madoka responded softly. "It still doesn't feel right."

Mei Mei could barely stand to look Madoka in the face. Her expression was so dark and clouded, tortured and guilty all at the same time. It wasn't right. No matter what, they couldn't change what Madoka had done, but at least she was alive and in one piece. That person had intended to kill Madoka. Madoka shouldn't have had to feel bad about defending herself even if it had led to unintended consequences. No matter what had happened, she wasn't a murderer. Not at all.

Madoka sighed. "I'm afraid of what'll happen when they find the body. What if there's some way to trace it back to me?"

"We'll be okay," Mei Mei assured her. "If they're de- If they aren't around anymore, there isn't any way to tie it to you for sure. Only you and that person know exactly what took place up there. Celestia couldn't know they had gone after you, I mean, they seem to be randomly taking whatever students they can. You were alone, so whoever it was probably thought you were vulnerable, a perfect target."

Madoka suddenly stood up and began rifling through her bag, stuffing textbooks back into it. Mei Mei looked at her quizzically. She hoped she hadn't said anything to upset her. As sympathetic as she was toward her, Mei Mei could never understand exactly what Madoka was feeling now that she'd been forced to relive the trauma she'd experienced less than an hour ago. Part of Madoka would always be horrifically connected to whatever had happened on that parapet in a way no one else could hope to understand.

Madoka ignored the stare for the moment and continued what she was doing before providing an explanation. For a terrifying split second Mei Mei feared the stress was causing the only friend she had left to lose her mind.

"We need to go to our next class. We've been away for too long. Just act like you overslept and had a late morning or were panic finishing an assignment. I'm going to try to figure out another way out of here during it, but like I said before, we need to keep up appearances. No need to draw unnecessary attention by skipping class every day. I just needed to make you aware of what happened this morning. Stay on guard at all times."

Mei Mei smiled, glad that her friend had bounced back a little. The haunted look had faded from her eyes somewhat and a new fervor and determination had replaced it. Madoka's resolve was finally returning.

"I saw two other people from where I was standing at the top of the castle. They were walking toward the lake. I think it was Celestia and the figure I saw her with before. Something's out there," Madoka's eyes flashed as she zipped up her bag. "We're going to get out of here. I won't let Celestia win."

Mei Mei tapped her foot anxiously, looking at the blank sheet of notebook paper staring back at her.

As usual, Madoka was handling everything so well. Mei Mei didn't know how she did it. If she had been the one attacked this morning, Mei Mei knew she would have been a nervous wreck, checking around every corridor to see if anyone else was out to get her. She probably wouldn't have even left the dorm once she'd gotten back to its relative safety.

Although, she was certain Madoka was still dealing with the fallout from the event. That wasn't likely to go away anytime soon. At least for the moment it wasn't impeding on her ability to think clearly. If anything, Madoka was more fired up than before.

She'd tried to come up with escape plans like Madoka had asked, but that was proving to be a wasted effort. It all came back to needing a motorized vehicle to get out fast, which reminded her of the bus, but that needed gas and even then there was no guarantee it would be of any use… Mei Mei blinked, shaking her head slightly. There had to be something she wasn't seeing.

She needed to be the one to think clearly if she was going to come up with an alternative way to get out on foot.

Instead, she focused her energy on how to tell Chao Xin the truth. Obviously, the best way was to be up front and honest about it, but it worried her. If Chao Xin didn't believe her, she had no idea what she could possibly do to change his mind, if she even could. If her didn't believe her, would he tell someone? Talk to one of the staff members and tell them that he thought Mei Mei was losing her mind and needed serious help? Mei Mei herself found it hard to believe, except that she trusted Madoka with her life. Her best friend would never lie about something like this. Hikaru and Sophie were already gone. They hardly had anything left to lose anymore. Celestia was a monster, plain and simple.

Mei Mei doodled on the paper. After dinner, she and Madoka agreed it was best to bring the boys to their dorm and tell them everything. Whether or not they believed it was up to them. Mei Mei only wished there was an easy way to break it to them.

Gingka was in her class. He didn't pay much attention to the lecture, but Mei Mei sensed he wasn't too troubled by the events of the previous night. Judging from his appearance, he wasn't worried at all.

She envied him, but his blissful ignorance was about to be shattered and she wasn't jealous about that. She anxiously started tapping her foot again. She'd already had her world come crashing down on her more than once and didn't need to have that happen again. Every day seemed to bring some new horror as it was.

Mei Mei hated that they had to be the ones to break the bad news to them. It was bad enough explaining the pattern of sacrifices when the boys were led to believe it was some mystery person pulling all the strings. Explaining that the school was behind all along it was going to make things messier.

Ultimately, the real goal was to get out. With the storm raging, their hopes of fleeing were already diminished. Mei Mei didn't have access to weather updates unfortunately, nor did she think anyone in the office would be forthcoming with them if she asked. She couldn't really give them a valid reason for why she was asking without drawing suspicion anyway. It had been made clear once the seasons started changing, students would not be allowed outside as much and curfew would be enforced.

With snow on the ground, sneaking out of the castle would be significantly more difficult with teachers lurking around the exits. Asking for the forecast would most assuredly draw unneeded attention, placing more eyes on them. Even if she was the only one asking, all her roommates and acquaintances would probably be closely monitored, too. More than ever, it seemed likely that at least some of the staff members had to be involved.

If the snow kept up at the rate it was going, they would never get out, not to mention how much harder it would be to trek across any terrain with the addition of the blanket of ever-growing snow. Traveling the necessary miles in improper clothing could majorly complicate and hurt them. Frostbite was only one of their concerns. The school had provided blazers as an optional item to be added to the uniform in order to accommodate for winter, but the article wasn't nearly enough to fend off the constant cold of being outside for hours.

Mei Mei wished she had paid more attention earlier in the year. But back then, she'd been too bright-eyed and innocent than anything else to care about anything beyond getting into her dream school with all three of her closest friends. There had to be some clue that could be the key to getting out of here. There had to be someone who knew what they did, maybe that same person was even on their side. For all she knew, there was a teacher they could trust, but from her current outlook chances were slim.

She resumed doodling in her notebook, drawing a rough sketch of a castle as she tried to ignore the growing knot in her stomach.

The sinking horror of what might happen if they couldn't get out constantly permeated her mind. She knew the truth, no matter how much she didn't want to believe it. They would either get out alive, or not live to see another day after the solstice.

By the time lunch rolled around, snow continued to fall at a steady pace. Mei Mei found she wasn't hungry, but didn't have it in her to go back to the dorm. If she did, she was afraid all she would do was wallow in her misery, skipping the remainder of the day's classes.

Instead, she realized it was probably best to address the issue at hand currently: telling Chao Xin. Mei Mei was halfway to his dorm room, hoping he was there, when Madoka nearly plowed her down.

"What's got you in a rush?" Mei Mei grinned, laughing it off. The sudden encounter felt almost normal despite the ever-present grim atmosphere.

"I think we should tell the guys together, at the same time tonight," Madoka said breathlessly. "I'm on my way to see Gingka; he's impossible to track down half the time. I don't have a clue where he goes, outside of what pertains to his stomach. He's probably at lunch right now, caught up in all the food, so now's my best chance. I'm going to tell him to meet up with me after dinner."

"I'll do the same with Chao Xin. I'm on my way to find him during break, too," Mei Mei informed her.

"Sounds good. Tell him to meet up at our table when he's finished tonight." Madoka was gone in a flash before Mei Mei had a chance to respond.

When she got to his dorm, Mei Mei knocked. She tried a second time, again with no luck. Mei Mei tried twisting the door handle, only to find it was locked.

She groaned. He must've gone someplace else.

Having to tell Chao Xin face to face that he had to meet up with them rapidly became intimidating as she stood outside his door, waiting in hopes that he might stop by. He would ask questions, she was sure of it. She wasn't sure if she'd be ready to face those questions just yet. Lying to his face about what they needed to talk about felt awful. He'd know she was keeping something and that would stick in his mind all day. Deep down though, she understood Madoka was right. Telling them both everything all at once, no holds barred, was the best way to handle this less than ideal situation. With both girls there, they could be certain they got the guys on the exact same page.

Frantically, she dug through her bag until she found what she was looking for. Mei Mei pulled out a sticky note and pen, tearing the yellow paper from its pad. She wrote a short message, then stuck it on his door. She didn't sign her name, for fear of being discovered, only hoping that between her handwriting and the cryptic missive he'd put two and two together.

She walked away feeling guilty, but better than she would have if she'd delivered the message in person.

As it was, in a few hours, she wouldn't have a choice but to tell him the full story. Mei Mei was more than willing to delay seeing his reaction until then.

Mei Mei kept her head low as she made it over to the table she and Madoka occupied. Chao Xin had chosen that moment to enter the dining hall, but she wasn't ready to see him yet. She breathed a sigh of relief when his friends intercepted him before he had the chance to come see her.

The thought of eating dinner was nauseating, but she made herself do it anyway. She needed to eat now before the opportunity slipped away. When Chao Xin made it over to them, she knew her appetite would be gone. The thought of him potentially being disappointed in her was devastating. After all, he'd been so good to her in this mess. Madoka smiled at her sympathetically, moving food around her plate. Clearly she wasn't eating much either.

Dinner was quiet, but the silence between them gave Mei Mei a few minutes of peace in the calm before the storm. She and Madoka were both far too unsettled to carry on an easy conversation.

Already the clamor in the dining hall was beginning to die down as students departed. It wouldn't be long now.

She couldn't think of anything to say. Hopefully Madoka had a good idea of how to break the news, because Mei Mei sure didn't.

Mei Mei saw Chao Xin walking over to them, holding the note she had hastily scribbled down and stuck onto his dorm. She kept her head down, embarrassed that she didn't have the guts to face him and tell him in person that they needed to talk. It probably sounded like she wanted to break up with him, even though they weren't really together. She tried not to think about, especially when she considered his reaction to this news couldn't be good. As bad as she felt about it, she hadn't been forced to see his face when he'd learned something was going on. Anticipation had likely been killing him all day the same way it had with her.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Of course," Madoka plastered on a smile, shoveling down the rest of her pasta. She stood up, pushing her tray toward the center of the table. "This is about our situation. We need to discuss it. All of us."

She looked pointedly in Gingka's direction. He was still caught up with Masamune at his table, the two of them dangling pieces of spaghetti right in front of each other for whatever reason.

Gingka locked eyes with her, suddenly getting the message. A few moments later, he had joined them. After putting their trays up to be received by the kitchen staff, they could no longer avoid the inevitable.

Madoka led the way, confidently navigating the winding corridors.

Mei Mei hung at the back of the group, anxiously fiddling with the strap on her backpack and constantly looking back to make sure they weren't being followed. She ignored Chao Xin's concerned expression, not taking his hand.

She prayed he understood she wasn't rejecting him. Mei Mei wasn't going to let him take hold of her again until after he knew everything. She had to prepare herself for the worst-case scenario, knowing he might not want to see her again once everything was out in the open. It hurt, but letting him draw her in one last time was not in her best interests at the moment. How would he feel knowing she had kept such a big secret from him?

She needed to be ready for the very real chance that he could be the one rejecting her.

Students filed down the halls, leisurely heading to their evening destinations. Mei Mei hardly paid them any attention. Faces blurred together into an endless mass of bodies. They were like a herd of cattle, trapped in a castle with the same fate awaiting each and every one of them, Mei Mei thought bitterly. That was undoubtedly how Celestia viewed them.

She barely even noticed as Madoka unlocked their dorm, ushering everyone inside.

Mei Mei rearranged the desk chairs and straightened out the beds in a quick, haphazard attempt to make the room more welcoming while her mind was in another place, another world.

Madoka took a deep breath. "We have to tell you something."