Chapter 24
Hours after Pandora left, Keith and Blake waited for everyone to fall asleep so they could not be interrupted.
Currently, they were inside Marucho's garden on a small date with cola cans in their hands.
"It's been a while since we were alone."
Keith said, taking a sip from the can.
"I never knew humans had drinks in a can."
Keith said, surprised at this revelation.
"Humans have interesting food."
Blake finished her drink.
"Yeah."
Keith replied, looking and smiling at her.
Blake let a tiny smile, getting on Keith's lap.
Keith chuckled, putting his hands around Blake's waist.
"Someone's in the mood."
Keith teased.
"What else, Sherlock?"
"Touche Ice Queen."
Blake chuckled.
They shared a kiss, which turned into a passionate make out, but stopped themselves before it reached something else.
"Maybe another time."
Blake said.
"Agreed."
Keith replied.
Blake nodded.
Keith put his hand on top of Blake's smiling and kissing her on her cheek.
Blake let a tiny smile.
The two stayed like this for some time, enjoying their time in silence.
"I think we should go. It's getting late, and we should rest."
Blake said.
"Yeah, or else we wouldn't be able to wake up at an appropriate time. I don't worry about myself, but you, on the other hand."
Blake rolled her eyes.
Keith knew of her sleeping problems but still decided to tease her for it.
"I miss the times when we slept together."
Blake said.
"We can always do that. Besides, I don't mind when you use me as a pillow."
Keith said.
"A very comfortable one at that."
Blake smirked, while Keith was the one who rolled his eyes at this.
"If you want to sleep, I suggest we go now before it becomes too late."
Keith reasoned.
Blake nodded.
The two were holding hands.
They reached their rooms, which, thankfully, were next to each other.
"I'm going to get changed. I'm coming in five minutes."
Blake said.
Keith nodded, going to his room.
Blake entered her room. She saw Reaper's sleeping form and next to it the envelope Pandora gave her. She was going to deal with this later.
She quickly undressed not to wake Reaper and put her PJs, which consisted of short shorts, a tank top, and a hoodie if she got cold and tied her hair in a low ponytail.
She was about to leave when she heard Reaper waking up.
"Blake, are you there?"
"Yes, Reaper. Anything wrong?"
Blake asked.
"Where are you going?"
Reaper asked.
"To Keith's room. Why do you ask?"
"I don't want to get crazy in the morning wondering why you aren't here. That's all."
Reaper said.
Blake knew he made sense.
She kept quiet and left for Keith's room.
She knocked.
"Come."
Keith said.
Blake entered his room, closing it immediately.
Unknown to her, Shun was passing by nearby.
"Why is she going in Keith's room? Or…"
Shun thought, blushing slightly at the thought.
The room was nearly dark as the light source came from the night lamp, which wasn't very bright.
Keith had just put his shirt and laid on his bed.
Blake followed and snuggled in his bed.
At this moment, Keith turned off the night lamp. The darkness consumed the room.
Keith kissed Blake's forehead.
"Good night, Ice Queen."
Blake was immediately asleep.
"Sleep well."
Keith said, looking at sleeping Blake, who let out a tiny smile.
Blake got closer, using his chest as a pillow.
Keith chuckled.
The two were hugging each other for the rest of the night.
Morning came.
Blake was still sleeping peacefully on top of Keith's chest.
"Blake, it's time to get up."
Keith said, trying to wake her up with his free hand.
Blake quietly groaned and slowly started to open her eyes, trying to register her surroundings.
"Morning, Keith."
Blake stood but was still in bed.
The hoodie was slightly undone, revealing part of Blake's collarbone.
"I slept so well."
Blake stretched herself.
After that, she kissed Keith on the cheek.
"A kiss on the lips would have been better."
Keith said.
"Maybe later. I need to change my clothes."
Blake said, smirking, leaving Keith's room.
She opened the door to her room.
Reaper went near her.
"Morning, Blake."
"Morning Reaper."
Blake said, picking up her clothes, usual clothes and started to dress quickly.
Blake then picked the envelope Pandora gave her yesterday.
"Are you sure you want to open it now?"
Reaper asked her.
Blake was holding the envelope.
"I need to know what she has sent me. It can be everything."
Blake said, proceeding to open it.
Reaper didn't try to stop her.
Blake opened the envelope, surprised by the contents.
"Photos?"
Blake started to roam through the photos.
Those photos were taken after she left Kazarina.
The first one was her and Katrine, way before she decided to refer herself as Pandora, sitting in front of their base in Gundalia chatting.
"I remember this like it was yesterday. Mist took the photo. I told her not to take the photos, but I'm glad she did."
Flashback
14-year-old Katrine and 14-year-old Blake were outside. After a successful attempt and leaving the Twelve Orders, confronting J the snake, plus-minus some time for recovery, Blake decided to breathe some fresh air.
Katrine hugged Blake.
"Ouch, don't hug me."
Blake demanded.
Katrine frowned.
"What?"
"I'm sad. I just wanted to hug you."
Katrine pouted.
Blake sighed.
"You hugged the damaged part where I just recently recovered to the extent that I don't have to sleep like a bat so it wouldn't hurt."
Blake said.
Katrine had a sad expression.
"Please don't feel sad."
Blake said.
Katrine's head perked up.
"I need to apologize for forgetting and causing that scar on your back."
Katrine said, looking at the ground, feeling ashamed.
"Thanks to your poor aim, I am alive."
Blake said, smiling assuring her.
Blake didn't like the scar but preferred it from being dead.
Blake sensed that Kat was still feeling down and decided to try and cheer her up.
"Kat."
"Yes."
"Boop."
Blake touched her nose.
Kat giggled.
At that same moment, a girl with pink hair and bone structure shaped like kitty ears jumped out of nowhere with a camera and quickly taking some photos of the two.
"Mist, delete those photos this instant."
Blake demanded.
"I don't feel comfortable with photos."
Katrine said with an angry face.
"Pfft, no way. You two look cute."
Blake and Kat didn't like this.
"No way, Skellington. Do I need to spell it out for you? N-O W-A-Y."
Mist said, running towards the inside of the base.
"I'm keeping them. Don't care."
There was an echo from the stairs.
"MIST!"
Blake and Katrine shouted at her.
Flashback ends
Blake chuckled.
"Good thing you were stubborn, Mist, and didn't delete it."
Blake said with a sad smile that turned into a grim expression knowing that Mist wasn't among them.
The next photo was Katrine, Blake, and Jean in search of Darkus Ophelia.
Flashback
"Follow me in the forest.- that's what Ophelia said."
Blake said, irritated.
"Look at it on the positive side. At least you managed to find a bakugan partner quite fast."
Jean said, smiling.
"I guess."
Blake said with a blank face.
She still couldn't get over the death of Darkus Lumagrowl. Everything was too quick.
"At least I'm not the one who's using mom's bakugan."
Katrine said.
"She had it planned to be given to you once she passed away, but no, you freaking decided to switch to Ventus."
Jean said.
"Haos ain't my thing."
Katrine said with hands behind her neck.
"I'm right here, you know."
Jean's bakugan Haos Leucrota said, popping out of thin air."
They walked until they saw a blinding purple light.
"What is that?"
Katrine asked.
Jean was mesmerized, standing in one place.
Blake was attracted to the light and slowly approached it.
"Blake, don't do it."
Jean and Katrine shouted at the same time.
Unknown to them, Blake was in a trance.
She stopped, and the light started to disappear, revealing Ophelia's ball form.
"We finally meet each other."
Ophelia telepathically said.
Flashback ends
Blake discarded the photo like the previous one, somewhere.
Reaper looked at her curiously.
"Why that?"
"I have some mixed feelings for it."
Blake said.
She passed through some photos, as they were mostly goofy and ridiculous selfies between Jean, annoying J and Rex, with an occasional Ethan sandwiched between there.
Blake wondered how did Pandora manage to get her hands on those selfies.
She then saw Rex's photo in a pink dress, a result of a Truth or Dare game. She quietly laughed, but then remembered a memory behind it. A bittersweet photo as he too was not among them.
Another photo that showed up was something she thought was deleted.
It was a photo of Katrine and her when they were fourteen with a sixteen-year-old Jean hours after they left a bar in Gundalia. This photo left a weird taste in her mouth because that was when she tried a bit of alcohol and didn't like it a bit and her first kiss with a drunk to the bone Katrine. She didn't talk with Katrine for a month after that as she was pissed. How dare she steal her first kiss?! She quickly proceeded with another one.
The photo was of her and Katrine when they were still fourteen, but this time they were with their masked selves and their bakugans.
Blake was known as Faceless and Katrine as Nameless.
She was questioning what the hell was going on inside her fourteen-year-old self.
The next one was funny. It was a team photo of Rex, Mist, Katrine, J, and her in her aesthetic.
And the events that led to this were ridiculous as hell.
It was before Faceless and Nameless were known to the public. Faceless and Nameless decided to go on a brawl against each other, resulting in destroying to a certain extend things that shouldn't have been killed and overall a lot of damage, leading them to lay low along with the others and they weren't happy. But before that, they had to decide how their group would appear in public. One of the first options was with brawling, but that was out of the question. So it led to an introduction to paper sticks.
The one who gets the stick with red cross wins the game, and from now on, his or hers aesthetic will be the dominant one.
Surprisingly and unexpectedly, Blake won, much to J's dismay, but he sucked it up.
They look undead in this photo.
Blake decided to turn the photo backward, and there she saw in everyone's handwriting their names and code names.
Blake as Faceless
Katrine as Nameless
Mist as Rogue
Rex as Xrater
Jean as Angelus
J as Difax
Blake chuckled, remembering she convinced J that Difax was just a weird name, but in reality, it was two words from a dead human language called Latin, meaning two-faced. To this day, J doesn't know that she played him like that. Blake chuckled at the thought.
"Why are you laughing like that?"
Reaper asked as these are one of the few times he has seen Blake showing correctly her emotions, the other when she is around Keith.
Ït was to extend hard due to her apathetic nature.
"Let's just say I remembered a memory that was golden."
Blake simply said with an unmistakable grin plastered on her face.
"If you say so."
Reaper replied.
Blake got to the last photo, which was a collage of the six being in one place.
Mist did it back then, because half of their group couldn't stand each other. It was mainly her and J as no matter what they couldn't stand breathing the same air, let alone be in one room as the atmosphere went from casual to silent and deadly. Rex, on the other hand, managed to piss everyone off at the same time. Combined with the two constant disputes and Rex's talent to piss everyone off, the room was unbearable, so they decided always to do online meetings that required so many passwords and precautions that made some annoyed, but in the end, they sucked it up.
"Good old times."
Blake said.
"You miss those times, don't you."
Reaper said.
"Not so much, if I have to be honest. It was just emotions that resurfaced after a while."
Blake said, putting the photos on a pile on top of the envelope. Then a note flew around the room.
"Blake, look."
Reaper went near the note.
Blake picked it up, looking at it questioningly until she read the note's contents, leaving her with wide eyes.
"It can't be."
She decided to put the photos along with the note back in the envelope like it wasn't even open and left the room with Reaper.