Luciform

by TheRoseShadow21

This is a year that, for Kawaakari Academy, should be brighter than most. But the threads of change have been woven in the background for a long time, and the tapestry is almost complete. Here is the story of some of the students caught up in it, and how they face the resulting darkness. Fic combining various KACB entries. AU, rated M for difficult themes. Cross-posted to AO3.

22. 3-3

Elly sighed and rubbed her eyes again as she flicked back between the notes she had made on that day in the library and everything she'd written down about the 'conversation' that she and Robyn had had with Rielle's essence in the Angel Tree. Much as she had suspected, Rielle had had no idea of Headmaster Cher's true identity, but in the memories that had been revealed there had been a surprising amount of background chatter about the Headmaster and Headmistress. Always and, never or-it seemed that right from the beginning they had been a set. This was not a surprise to Elly though, not after what she had seen and been told in that bedroom.

"To scatter their ashes in areas of the school makes sure that the power balance of our pact is not left uneven, especially not now we are channelling it into the school itself…" she read aloud. "To have a base for the power that we share between our bodies is better than leaving it unchecked, after all, and letting their share of the pact rot away will surely have consequences, as with the power lost because of Minna. My sentimental side also acknowledges that it is a way to keep them with us, a way of ameliorating their loss. "

Elly paused. Minna. She didn't know how she had overlooked the name at the time, but now she was sure that this was the woman that had been in Rielle's memories. She'd heard the screams in the background of that particular memory, the ones calling out that name before the sensation of burning-

Elly had to forcibly stop herself from thinking further and she shivered in her chair, her shoulders hunching under the cavernous jumper she was wearing. Knowing Milo was under the table, she bent down to pick him up and snuggled him close for a moment. Milo purred, and then tried to crawl up her jumper. She let him-the soft, wriggly weight was almost anchoring. Then, she returned to her notes, comparing and looking for things that matched up with each other.

"Considering how the loss of our mortality has fed the Immortal Lotus, it makes the most sense for the school to be based here, which is presumably why this site with all its history was chosen. Certainly it will provide us with more recourse should another conflict arise in the future but in the meanwhile our power is distributed into these walls that will house growing minds…wait, what have I written here?"

Elly frowned at her own handwriting, annoyed to have been jolted from her deep concentration when there was suddenly a knocking at the door. She tried to ignore it at first, thinking that perhaps it was A, but then it occurred to her that if A was here she'd just walk in. Then again, it seemed like over the past couple of days A had been camping in her friends' room, really only coming to get changes of clothes or other things. Elly wasn't entirely sure whether A was avoiding her or if she wanted to be close to her friends. Certainly, the things that she knew about the four of them still hung like a fog between them. She didn't know why she hadn't just spilled what she'd known about their contact with Oura when it'd become clear they weren't going to do it themselves.

Then again, I still haven't told anyone about the girls in the pool, have I…?

The knocking persisted and Elly groaned and got up, stopping over and opening the door, ready to grumble at the person only to be taken aback by Eve staring down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, you are here."

"Clearly. What do you want?"

"I heard you play chess."

"I….yeah?"

Eve rolled her eyes and Elly glowered. Hey, what's that all about?

"Do you want to play a game or two?"

"I…" Elly spluttered, gawping at Eve. "I…why?"

"Oh, you know. Entertaining the dying girl, my good deed for the day."

Despite herself, Elly snorted at that.

"Yeah, I'm not buying that. Really, why?"

Eve scrutinised her for a long moment before sighing and saying:

"I have spent the majority of this school year stuck with the same five people with occasional drop-ins from a maniacal deity. Frankly, I'm in sore need of a new opponent. Plus, I haven't anything better to be doing really. So? Do you want to play or not?"

Elly technically did have better things to do, but she wasn't entirely sure she was getting anywhere. Yes, she was getting a better picture of the school's history and how certain things about it made a little more sense with the allegation about the Headmaster (no way in hell was she believing such an outrageous thing, not until she got more proof) but she was still struggling to see how it all fit. It was coming together, just too slowly for her liking.

"Sure, sure. Do you have a set?"

"Yeah, Del found it. Get a jacket, I'm in another building."

Elly obliged and then bounced out, locking the door behind her and setting off. The two of them were silent for most of the walk until Eve said.

"So…this name you've made up for yourself. 'Elly' is obviously for the person that's part of the tree, but who's Aranka?"

"What do you mean?" Elly asked immediately, prickly.

"Exactly that."

"It's just a name. Popular one, isn't it, considering it's one of the colours of light?"

"Sure, sure, but from what I've heard about you that doesn't seem like your style, something so obviously devout. Plus, why the affix?"

"Affix is more conventional, right? Plus, like I said, common name."

Unlike the matter of A and her friends, the story of the Headmistress's almost-children was not something that needed sharing, not as far as Elly was concerned. That was just a small, sad sorrow for her to carry with her for however much life she had left. So she glowered at Eve, but when the older girl just stared back Elly changed the subject:

"What happened to your mask? To us, you were the masked one."

"Oh, I gave it to the girl. It seemed like she would need it more."

"That's….kind of you?" Elly replied, non-plussed.

Eve simply smirked at her, then shrugged. Her face shuttered off slightly and then just like that, the conversation was over. As they crossed the snow-piled grounds Elly shivered and glanced up at the sky for a moment before looking all around her at the people who dared to be outside, trying to make some kind of normal out of the weird. Milo poked out of the top of her jumper and tickled her chin and she chuckled weakly, patting his head. Eve glanced over and simply raised another sardonic eyebrow as they continued on.

Eventually, they reached a room that Elly recognised as having once been the Elite Chess Club's old clubroom. Eve turned to her as she opened the door, apparently sensing her question before she could even ask it and said:

"One of the non-magical ones showed it to us, and then Lidia got that other freshman with the lock-picking screwdriver to open it for us. I mean, it is not as if anybody else was using it in the meantime."

"It's also somewhere to be that isn't just our rooms." An additional voice called out.

When Elly followed Eve in, she saw that this additional voice belonged to Cain, sitting at a table with an ornate chess set all set out. Eyes widening, she went closer and examined it, noticing how the board and pieces had gold accents to make the standard black and white stand out. Though they were now a bit battered, presumably from haphazard storage, the board and the pieces were in good condition.

"Yeah, the year before Delilah had it made for us-an end of year present or something." Cain said flippantly. "Something like that."

"Where are the others, anyway? Are they not playing?"

"Maria's playing, but at being nurse rather than chess and Abel seems like he'd rather be with Starri and Will and that lot," Cain answered with a shrug. "Delilah's got new friends too, hasn't she, Eve?"

"She's amusing herself with Memora and the others, yes. She'd be bored here all the time anyway." Eve said, a smile tugging at her lips briefly. "Any idea where Judas is?"

"Not a clue."

"Anyway, forget them, since you're the guest of honour," Eve said. "Who'd you want to play against first?"

Elly shrugged.

"Toss a coin?"

After exchanging a look, Eve hunted through her pockets and eventually found a coin. She looked over at Cain.

"Lotus side you, sun side me?" she asked.

"Sure."

The coin was tossed, and it landed on the sun-side, so Elly sat herself down on one side of the board while Eve sat down at the other and Cain clambered onto a (thankfully short) stack of chairs to sit. Eve raised an eyebrow at this but otherwise didn't seem that fazed. As Elly had sat on the side with the white pieces, she was the one to make the first move in a game that unfurled slowly and steadily. As she'd expected, playing with Eve kept her on her toes but in the end she was able to win, which filled her with satisfaction. Eve then spun the board around so she had the white pieces and they launched another game almost immediately-this time, although Elly almost managed to get the upper hand, Eve won. When Cain sat down with her for a game, the tense back and forth ended up leaving them with only kings and one bishop on the board and they had to declare a dead position.

"Well, that was…unexpected." Cain commented.

"Rematch?" Elly asked. "I'll win this time."

Cain simply nodded and they started to rearrange the pieces on the board. However, at that moment the door opened and Judas stepped in, looking as if he'd just had a shower. Curiously, he regarded them all:

"Oh, you're really making use of this again, huh? Also, hello."

Elly nodded in response to the greeting as Cain said.

"Yes, we have. Where've you been hiding?"

"Sparring with Sado-kouhai and his gang. Well, some of them anyway."

"Huh. Interesting, that is." Cain commented with a wry smile.

"Not nearly as interesting as you sniffing around Sasi."

When Elly raised an eyebrow at this (it was news to her, frankly, and baffling news too) Cain glowered very slightly.

"I'm not sniffing. I'd like to still have my nose, thanks."

"Okay, maybe you're not flirting which is frankly kinda miraculous but still. Why're you so interested in a grieving girl?"

Cain shrugged and Judas regarded him sceptically. From what little she knew about him, she suspected that Cain's motives were probably related to looking for something interesting. She thought that he had a fair bit in common with Eve where this was concerned, but she wasn't interested in telling either of them this. Judas apparently didn't seem that interested in really pursuing the question though because after a moment he threw his hands up in the air and declared:

"You've become weirder than usual, I swear."

"You should try going up against the kid, Judas," Eve interrupted. "She's actually quite good."

Elly grinned at this and Judas turned to give her a look that could only be described as wary.

"Um….maybe once she's finished with Cain."

"Suit yourself."

Elly and Cain gave each other surprised looks at having said this in unison before Cain shook his head and chuckled. She glanced over at Judas and Eve, sitting on chairs taken from the stack. In the flesh, they somehow seemed both more ordinary and more mysterious than they had when they'd just been drawings and blood-stained ID cards.

"Oh, yeah, before I forget, I found your ID cards way back when. I can give them back to you, but I should warn you they're stained with blood."

"I'd rather not, thanks." Judas said almost immediately.

Cain and Eve were both slow to answer, but both were clearly taken aback. Eve tapped a rhythm against her knee, brow drawn for a moment before she said:

"Sure. I'd say clean up Del's before giving it back to her though, alright?"

"I…can do yours too."

"Nah."

"Don't clean mine, either. We need the reminder of what we were. Much like Sasi really is keeping the clothes with the blood of her dead boyfriend in her cupboard as a reminder."

They all gawped at Cain, who stared back at them with a gaze as fathomless as the night.

"….Do I want to know how you know this?" Judas asked eventually.

"This is Cain we're talking about, so you probably don't." Eve said contemptuously.

As she arranged the final pieces and turned the board around again, Elly watched the three of them stare each other down and then cleared her throat. The way they looked at her gave her pause, an odd golden glint to all their gazes that made her feel that perhaps the frecht label was still justified, despite the fact that all of them looked pitiful and ordinary in their mismatched clothes. Certainly none of them had come down the mountain unmarked. A part of her wanted to see how this conversation would play out, what it would reveal about these long-enigmatic figures.

The other part, however, just wanted to keep playing while she still could.

"Hey, Cain! You'd better start thinking about your moves," Elly said. "Because this time I'm going first and I will bring you down."

Cain's gaze flickered for a moment, but then he grinned at her:

"Bring it on."

…

Mist found herself at something of a loose end after the somewhat disorienting (if satisfying) experience of combat practice with Asuka. She had been able to tell that even stepping forward and offering was a challenge for the girl, but even so, she had offered. All things considered it was quite remarkable that for once one of the infamous Wards (and now, known mirror sisters) was approaching another student from a position of trust. Or maybe cooperation. Mist wasn't entirely sure if Asuka trusted people yet, just that she was trying. And her friends had been too-well, apart from Niwa still in the infirmary and Sasi…wherever she was. It was the one topic that had had Asuka returning to her closed-in self when Mist had asked out of curiosity.

Apart from that though, it had been satisfying. Asuka and her friends were challenging opponents, and at least this way Mist could feel like she would be prepared for any battle that she might end up walking into. Whether it would be like the Great War or not, she didn't know, but at this point Mist suspected it would be miraculous if there wasn't a fight of some sort before all of this was over. She didn't want there to be a battle, but she didn't want to be unprepared either. Of course, there was only so much combat practice one could do in a day, and now that she was showered and changed and had put her weapons away she was wandering around aimlessly, not knowing what to do.

If I could talk to Mum or Dad, they'd know what to do, she thought wistfully. Or even if they didn't they'd still talk to me until I could figure it out. She wondered what it was that all their parents had been told about this situation, what magics had been worked to ensure that they didn't worry, assuming that there was some truth in that. But she would have liked to have been able to call home and find out about her family's Winterlight preparations, even if she couldn't tell them anything else.

I wonder, will all of this be over by the time Winterlight starts?

"Mist-sempai?"

Mist startled and turned to see Robyn looking at her with some concern.

"Are you alright?" Robyn asked.

Mist nodded at this, but Robyn didn't seem to buy it from the way she frowned questioningly at her.

"So," Mist cleared her throat. "Are you finished at the infirmary for the day?"

"No, just on a break. Will-sempai and Maria-sempai have started to come over, did you know that?"

Mist had not.

"Maria-sempai's got the makings of a nurse, I think. She's a quick learner. So's Will-sempai for that matter…ah, I suppose it's good to be busy, right?"

It was clear that Robyn had omitted a vital connecting point somewhere in that explanation, but Mist wasn't entirely sure she felt like asking. So she just nodded and after a moment's pause Robyn gave her a smile.

"Do you want to go for a walk or something? Whatever you're thinking, it might take your mind off it for a little while?"

Mist blinked.

"I, um, sure."

Robyn smiled again and the two of them started walking, though it didn't seem like they were heading anywhere in particular. Mist waited for Robyn to say something, but for a good while she didn't and so they kept going in silence until Mist found herself blurting out:

"I miss my parents."

Robyn stopped and looked at her.

"Yeah. I miss my grandmother."

Grandmother? Oh, oh yeah. Now she was thinking about it, Mist remembered that Robyn didn't have parents.

"Have you lived with her all your life, then?" Mist asked.

"I have, yeah. It's always just been me and her….what about you, Sempai? Do you have siblings or anything?"

"No, it's just me. But I have a lot of cousins and distant relations nearby and they visit a lot, and I've grown up with the children of the staff-"

"Ah, don't feel bad about that, I know you're from a much wealthier background than I am! Most people are, to be honest in comparison to me. But I've always been happy with my grandma and our little house, even when it's been hard. You're happy too, right?"

"I am, yes."

"Then, that's okay."

Unexpectedly, Mist found herself laughing.

"That's a very kind point of view to have."

Robyn blushed and shrugged, and the two of them kept walking for a little while, silent once again. At first it was an oddly easy silence, helped by the fact that around them they could hear the sounds of other students clattering around here and there, but gradually Mist noticed Robyn slipping into deep thought.

"Ah," Robyn said, noticing Mist studying her. "I…well, I meant to tell right after we talked to Rielle, but then we had a couple crazy days at the infirmary with the vomiting spells and things, as well as trying to make sure we've got enough medicinal supplies, especially since it's just us now and honestly it dropped out of my head until yesterday but…"

"Robyn," Mist said, steering Robyn towards an empty window seat she spotted up ahead. "What is it?"

Robyn sat heavily down on the seat, back turned to the window, and dropped her head in her hands for a moment. Mist stared at her for a moment, and then decided to sit down beside her, leaving a gap between them.

"I had another vision."

Mist blinked in confusion as Robyn lifted her head and continued:

"Before we went to talk to Rielle, I slept for a while and had a vision. Hibi came to me first, and told me that Frost had killed her because she and her friends saw Lunar-sempai being hurt and tried to help her. She knew the other girls' spirits were in the forest too but she was struggling to reach them."

There were so many things that shocked her Mist wasn't sure where to start. After a few moments of her mind frantically scrabbling around and trying to process what she had just heard, what she eventually came out with was:

"Was that girl a necromancer too?"

"No, no, but she was able to sense the things that exist between the layers of the world while living, so I suppose that once she died that transferred over to be able to sense other deaths. In any case…Amuri-sempai also came to me, in my vision and…and…Hibi told me that of the other two, one of them she couldn't reach because they wouldn't listen. Because they were only looking for one particular person, they just wanted that person and…it was you, Mist-sempai that they wanted. It was you."

"Negi."

Somewhere deep inside her, something shattered. She could feel the shards of it crashing down, cutting at her on the way down. Making her bleed but in such a way that nobody would ever see it. When she managed to speak, her throat felt as if it was full of glass:

"Negi is definitely dead, then."

"They all are. Mist-sempai, I'm so sorry."

When Robyn reached out to cover her hand Mist jerked back, hitting her head against the wall. The pain sent shockwaves but it was nothing, nothing compared to the shattering glass of her heart. She wanted to scream at Robyn, ask her why on earth she hadn't told them immediately, why on earth she'd waited when they could have done something, but she couldn't. Not just because of the blockage in her throat but because she knew that it would be a lie. Negi was dead, finding out a few days earlier would not have changed that. It was not Robyn's fault at all.

It was hers.

It was hers for having lost her hope far too early, for having given up far too soon. Negi would have still been alive when Mist had first given up on her, but if she had been like Julka, so ridiculously hopeful then maybe they could have stumbled on the truth earlier. Maybe they could have saved Negi but no, she had given up, she'd given up and thought she was oh-so-superior for doing so, that focusing on 'practical' things made her the better one. She'd thought that she had simply been honouring Negi's memory by standing strong and fighting. And when they'd found out that there was still a chance, she'd jumped on it, sure, but it clearly hadn't mattered. It was far too late.

She'd condemned Negi from the very moment she'd given up on her.

"She wants me, still?" Mist didn't know how she was speaking. "She still wants me?"

After I gave her up? Abandoned her? Failed to follow the advice I always gave her? I don't understand, I can't…

"Apparently so…Mist-sempai, do you want me to go on? We'll need to find the others anyway, to tell them about this, but do you want to hear it from me first, here?"

In truth she didn't know whether it would be better to be prepared, or whether she could manage continual shattering under Julka's and Elly's gazes too. But she didn't want to be a coward again, not after all the ways she now knew she had utterly failed. So, she nodded, biting her lip. Robyn looked at her in a way that made it clear that she wanted to hug her and so Mist shrunk back, being careful to not hit her head this time.

"Alright," Robyn soothed. "Alright."

She paused for a moment and then continued:

"Hibi thinks that their bodies-hers included-are still in the forest, and that if they can be found before Frost gets back to them then she can be stopped. Of course, that might be difficult considering the containment barriers and the fact that that's four bodies. Well, three, since Hibi doesn't…didn't have flower magic of any kind. Even so. When Amuri-sempai came along, she told me to tell Julka-sempai to stop looking, because apparently Frost has got it wrong and that's worse."

Mist frowned. Got what wrong?

"Amuri-sempai told me that she'd got the beginning right, but the rest wrong. That to understand we needed to listen to the song of the forest properly. I assumed from that she meant the Nymph's Requiem, but she didn't get the chance to tell me anything else. And…that's it. No, not quite. Hibi's other friends…they're not dead. Hibi doesn't know what happened to them but she's sure she'd sense them too if they'd died too."

This, Mist knew, was supposed to be good news. Hopeful news. But it just felt hollow to her.

"Library." Mist managed.

"Library?" Robyn frowned prettily.

"The…song. Maybe we can find out about it in the library."

"Maybe Elly and Julka-sempai will be there too, actually. If not, then they'll be in Elly's room. But we can go check. And then I can actually tell them."

Mist just nodded and stood up. Robyn also stood up and then in silence once again, the two headed into the library. To Mist's surprise, there were a few people in there who appeared to actually be studying, or simply reading for leisure. She supposed that it was understandable that they'd need something to distract themselves with while waiting for the next bit of bad news.

I wonder, how would Negi be distracting herself through all this, if she was still here? Not studying, that's for sure. Even so, her mind conjured up images of Negi as she and Robyn started looking around the library. Negi tiptoeing to reach a book, Negi frowning at the shelves, Negi peering around shelves and grinning, Negi pretending to groan under the weight of a pile of books that really wasn't very heavy at all. The memories were too heavy, but Mist didn't try to stop them from coming, to try and lessen the weight of them. After all, she deserved this burden, deserved more than this burden.

Even so, it was something of a relief when they turned a corner to a study area and saw some of Ruby's group clustered around a couple of tables, apparently comparing a series of photographs to symbols that they were looking at in books and on Ruby's tablet. Sensing they were being watched, Ruby glanced over her shoulder and grinned at them both.

"Hey, if you aren't doing anything right now, want to help us?"

Robyn looked at Mist who just shrugged at her. Even if she knew what she wanted to do she wasn't entirely sure she cared either way.

"Sure," Robyn answered. "What is it that you are doing?"

"We're trying to find out where this particular symbol is on Samu's key." Aerin explained. "I've seen it somewhere in the school before, and some of the others here have but we can't remember why or what it means. Ani was meant to be helping us too but now she's reading a book on folklore and won't come out."

Mist didn't understand what was meant by this until Aerin pointed under the table. Curious, Mist peered underneath only to see that Ani was indeed sitting under the table, a light glowing from where it was attached to the underside. Why…are there lights attached to under the tables? However, she didn't have time to dwell on this surprising discovery as Ani looked up from her book and glared so viciously that she stood right up again.

"Don't mind her though, she's in a dragon-y mood but of course you can't transform in the library, it's a rule."

"That's a…really specific rule." Robyn commented.

"Yeah, it was cos of this one, deciding to take a nap in a bookshelf only to scare a kid from his tutor group out of her skin!"

Asu pointed at Xeiv who grinned sheepishly.

"What can I say? As a lizard, bookshelves are surprisingly comfortable."

"Speak for yourself." Asu responded, grinning.

"I get the feeling that you guys are responsible for most of the school's oddly specific rules, aren't you?" Robyn chuckled.

"Most of them, yeah." Asu said.

"Some of them." Ruby replied at the same time.

Asu and Ruby looked at each other and then Ruby repeated:

"Some of them."

Robyn shook her head in amusement, but Mist found herself saying:

"It was Negi."

"What was Negi?" Ruby asked.

"Who got scared by you in the bookshelf." Mist said slowly, pointing to Xeiv. "I'd forgotten about that, but it was her."

"-I mean, it's a bookshelf! Who naps in a bookshelf, even if you are a lizard?! And that doesn't make sense anyway, since when has a lizard been a book…..ugh. That idiot! When he transformed back he laughed at me! I had such a fright you know, Mist! SUCH a fright!"

Negi's face was scrunched up and the way she vibrated slightly as she ranted made Mist imagine her as a particularly enraged bumblebee. She shook her head in amusement and held out the bag of sweets that she had been eating. Negi pouted suspiciously at her and then stuck her hand right into the bag and pulled a handful out. Nibbling at them, her smile started to return.

"Oh well…I suppose it was a bit funny really. Just a bit."

"Was it really?" Xeiv wondered. "I don't remember that…I just remember suddenly waking up falling out of the shelf when someone screamed and tried to drag me out. I mean looking back it was quite funny but yeah…Asu's right, the rule's because of me."

"Are you alright though?" Samu asked, having been quiet all of this time. "You looked sad when you said her name."

"I…"

"We know for sure that all four of the girls who went missing last year, plus one of the five from this year are dead. I'll explain more to you, but we should really let Julka-sempai know first. Plus, we're here now so we can help you with the key." Robyn interjected.

"That's….wow, that sucks. I'm sorry," Ruby replied. "And where Julka is concerned, sure. I mean, we'll all be finding out soon enough, won't we?"

Mist just nodded as she found a spare chair and dragged it over, sitting between Asu and Ruby.

"So," she said, having to clear her throat just to be able to speak. "What's so special about this key?"

"Long story short it's Aerin's, a keepsake from her birth family but she's given it to Samu, and a few nights ago it started humming and glowing and part of the symbol's brighter than the others, and then Aerin recognised that part as being a symbol in the school."

"So…you think that the key may have come from the school?" Robyn asked. "Where did your birth family get it, Aerin-sempai? Could one of them have attended this school when they were our age?"

"That's…I'd never thought of that." Aerin thought. "I don't know much about them, so I can't say but yet…that'd make sense, wouldn't it?"

"How old were…are…?"

"Were," Aerin said briskly. "So I was eight at the time and they were…thirty-ish? Arlo Ward and Mieke Hino."

"Perfect. I'll go look at the school's census!"

Robyn jumped up and rushed off to the section of the library with the school censuses- a record of all the students who had attended, right from the beginning. Mist didn't particularly envy her the job of looking, but all the same wished she hadn't gone because now it left her here feeling particularly awkward. So, trying to hide it she did as the others were doing and pulled some of the photographs to her and took a look.

It took Mist a moment to distinguish the symbol they were all looking for from the rest of the intricate curlicues of the key, but she soon found it, a circular pattern with wavy lines and small, odd, star-burst like sections that looked like they were reflected in each other.

"Why didn't you just bring the key here?" she asked as she studied the photographs.

"The glow of it's quite bright, plus it's also vibrating really, really loudly." Samu said. "We'd get into even more trouble with that than we would with Ani-sempai transforming, probably."

There was a snort from under the table, but Mist decided to not look there again.

"Mind you, there's barely been any librarians around so we could get away with it…but at the same time we'd rather not, you know?" Asu commented.

"Mmmm."

Some time went by as they continued looking. Most of Ruby's lot chatted amongst each other but Mist stayed quiet and mostly ignored. She didn't mind it though. In the first place, they weren't excluding her to be unkind and she preferred this, being the quiet one amongst a gentle buzz of life and activity.

Eventually though, something clicked and she looked up and exclaimed:

"I know where I've seen it before!"

At the same time, Ruby said:

"I have it, I know what it's supposed to symbolise…and let's just say that I'm very glad I did not have to go on the internet for this otherwise I'd probably have the Imperial Government breathing down my neck."

And because these things came in threes, just as Ruby declared this, Robyn arrived back with one of the census files and a big grin on her face.

"Alright," Aerin said. "First you, then you, then you."

Robyn was the first of the 'you's that had been indicated, so as she sat down she showed them all the front cover of the file so they knew what year it was and then turned to the page where the name Arlo Ward was clearly listed.

"So, for whatever reason, as a teenager your parent found the key and kept it. It's pretty, I can understand why…even if it is theft." Robyn remarked.

"Yeah, yeah," Aerin shrugged. "I've heard he was a bit of a delinquent back in the day, so, there's probably nothing deep about the fact he acquired it if it did come from here. Anyway, you, where have you seen the symbol?"

"Most prominently, I remember that it's carved in some of the pillars in the central courtyard and some of the pillars and walls of many of the much older sections of the school. Possibly in the offices as well? I cannot swear to that one, though." Mist said.

"Oh…so it's protective, then?" Robyn asked.

"Aha, now that's where I come in," Ruby declared. "And you are indeed correct, it's protective…and it's also a symbol of the darkness. It's about protection from the darkness, but also the protection you can get from the darkness. It's also a symbol of light in the exact same ways."

Ruby pulled forward a book that was so dusty and old the motion made most of them sneeze. Even Ani under the table sneezed, this apparently enough to get her to come out, still scowling as she took a seat. Ruby nodded at her, then looked down at the page.

"The ocean and the sky echo each other, they are mirrors of each other, vast open spaces that become an ever deeper blue the further you travel until you're in this thick, intense blackness colder than anything. Wonders of all sorts dwell in these deep cold spaces but the further you go, you will see stars. If there was no darkness here, the stars would not be seen. If there was no darkness here, there would be no light on the land. Akari is the land, the stars, the sun and Kagami the ocean and sky, the rivers that feed into them. All are needed to make a world, and so all shall balance each other."

Ruby's voice had taken on a similar cadence to that infamous day in the canteen and she seemed to realise this as she shook her head, cleared her throat a little and then continued in a brisker tone:

"This symbol has not been given a name, nonetheless it is a protective one that calls upon the balance of the ocean and the sky to encourage balance in the uses of magic."

Ruby pushed away the book, causing another bout of sneezing before picking one up that was thankfully a great deal less dusty though still pretty old, opened onto a particular page. Ruby opened it to show that the symbol was on the page before she read.

"This un-named symbol was circulated by heretics who claimed that this showed that the Forgotten Goddess was indeed innocent, citing the echoing of the sky and the ocean as proof of this. This idea was soon drowned out under the different schools of thought other, more powerful heretics spread. Nonetheless, whispers of it persisted right up until the Great War broke out."

"Oooookay," Xeiv said almost immediately. "I see what you mean about the internet. So basically there's a heretic protective symbol carved in the school?"

"It clearly isn't actually a heretic symbol though." Asu said. "Which would certainly help support the idea that well, the whole dark-is-evil thing was a lie."

"Is it, though?" Ani wondered.

When everyone gawped at her, she sighed heavily.

"What? I don't mean inherently. Just that…think of Yuu and the others. Being told that they're bad, over and over, so they believed it? Couldn't the same thing have started to happen with darkness, just on a much larger scale?"

"I don't know. I think I can get around to believing that down at the core, the darkness is still just what it is, a part of life. But I think I get what you mean to an extent. Belief shapes a lot of life, doesn't it?"

Mist was very relieved when Ani nodded and smiled at her.

"That is a point, yes," Aerin said, suddenly looking very tired. "But what should we do with this information, exactly? Once we've made notes of it all so we don't need to go digging around for it again."

"Maybe we could see if we can find the symbol around? And try and work out why it was carved here? When we next have a big group meeting someone else might have ideas." Samu suggested tentatively.

"Yes, and we can mention this to Julka-sempai and Elly when we go find them." Robyn said. "Speaking of which, Mist-sempai, if you still want to come with me I'm going to try and find them now before I have to return to the infirmary."

"Yeah, I'll come with you."

The VYPERs thanked the two of them as they left, and Mist tried to not feel too jubilant as they left. After all, no matter how much she discovered and contributed to the efforts now, nothing could ever change the fact that she had failed in the one thing that had really mattered.

Nothing could change that at all.

…

We've lost our peace, A thought, haven't we?

She knew that there were still more answers that needed finding, but she had really thought that after the day they'd almost lost Ezra but not lost him that where they were concerned that was it. She and the others would help with everything else, of course they would, but nothing else mattered once they knew that their bond was unbreakable. She'd thought everything would be fine and yet here she was now after only an hour of not being in the same room as them and her heart was racing and her stomach churning as she went to find them.

=Hey, you on your way?= she heard Theo ask.

=Yeah, yeah. Are you back in your room now?=

=I am, yeah. Haze is here too now. Ezra's still helping the Gardening Club I think-there's a lot of stuff they're trying to make sure they have enough of=

=Right, right…he'll be done soon, won't he?=

=Yeah= Theo's voice was bright though still clearly hiding his own fear. =Yeah, he should be.=

=Good, good, I'm just coming up to the-=

A stopped abruptly as something tickled the back of her neck, tensing up and staying very, very still as whatever it was brushed past her. The coldness of it crept down her back and she had to grit her teeth to prevent herself from shivering until it went past. But just as it did, she saw a curling of darkness from the corner of her eye.

No.

No, no, no.

Slowly, she turned and took a few steps forward, and then more. Then slowly, a tendril inched forward, curling and unfurling as if beckoning her. Sucking in a gasp, she looked around her to see if anyone else was around before whispering:

"Y-you're meant to be gone!"

"Oh, are you sure about that?"

"Y-yes!" A gritted her teeth, tried to make herself seem taller. "I'm not scared! I'm not scared of you!"

To prove this, she bared her nails at the shadow and lunged forward, only to almost fall over when the shadows floated out of the way. Flailing, she began to run after them, trying to slash at them and barely aware of where she was going as she pursued them and yelled in her head.

=Theo, Haze, Ezra! They're back, the shadows are back!=

=Whaaaat? What? Ada, you must be joking!= Ezra responded almost immediately.

=I'm not!=

=Wait, we're coming to you. Where are you?= Haze asked.

=I'm….I'm….=

Slashing at another shadow and missing, she had spun around so fast that now her head was spinning and she had to stumble her way next to a tree to lean against it to try and get herself centered again. The shadows brushed against her face, silent laughter ringing in her head as they did, but when she reached up again they dissipated completely.

=Th-they're gone…= she told the boys in her head. =I think they're gone now. I'm coming back.=

=Okay, A. We're here. Haze will come to the entrance to meet you.=

=Thanks, Theo.=

A pressed a hand to her heart as her nails retracted back to normal, gulping in breaths to once again try and calm her hammering heart. She stepped away from the tree only for something to make her shrink back again. Hearing footsteps, she immediately determined that this wasn't a shadow, so she waited a beat before she then peered cautiously around the tree.

Across from her, heading into the old forest, was Yoyo. She was not wearing her usual swishy skirt and frilly blouse, but an outfit that was, underneath the blood-red cloak, more practical and almost entirely black. She appeared to be fully focused on the route in front of her, although she didn't seem comfortable with the forest from the way she stepped hesitantly, lifting her feet high as she disappeared deeper.

Sh…should I follow? She wondered. That…that doesn't look right, does it?

But she didn't want to go on her own-already, her stomach was churning knowing that more time had stretched by without them. I'll go find them, then we'll go together, she decided.

But then, the singing started.

…

Almost as soon as Will had seen off one student who had come to the infirmary complaining of headaches, nausea and a swirling dread like the clouds, another one came to the door but this student, he recognised, not least because the boy in question was shepherded in by Starri.

"What's wrong, Abel?" Will asked. "Come, sit down."

He and Starri both managed to steer him over to the desk and sit him down on a chair. Starri stood next to the chair while Will knelt down in front of Abel so as to meet his eyes better. Despite the pain that creased his face, Abel looked straight at him, his eyes seeming even larger in his head than usual.

"Is it the same as yesterday?" he asked.

Abel nodded.

"Here's worse." He rasped, gesturing to his stomach before looking up at Starri.

"It came on suddenly while we were playing," she said. "At first he couldn't even walk, but somehow I managed to get him here."

Abel nodded at this, but the motion seemed too much for him as suddenly he retched, doubling over. Will grabbed one of the many bowls that they'd had to get out over the past few days but after a few moments of heavy breathing it turned out that Abel didn't need it.

"Okay," Will said. "Okay, what I'm going to do is suggest that you rest here for a while. I'll give you a dose of what we usually send the less severe cases back with and this way we can keep an eye on you for a while. How does that sound?"

Abel blinked before nodding once, determinedly. The utter trust in his eyes filled Will with a strange mixture of feelings. On the one hand, he was pleased that despite only having started helping out a number of days ago he was able to come across as if he'd always been a part of this, someone who knew what he was doing. On the other hand, the childlike earnestness of Abel's trust made him feel like it would be further of a fall if he ended up not justifying such trust.

Then again, he'd already reached rock bottom. There wasn't much further to fall, or so he hoped.

"Come, then. Let's get you settled, yeah?"

Abel nodded again and silently allowed Will and Starri to lead him to one of the vacant beds. Will then went to find the relevant potions and pills that Robyn and Yoyo had compiled or mixed for this latest spate of illnesses and measured out the right doses. Once they were administered to Abel, he made sure that the boy had a bowl in case he did vomit and a couple of books to keep him occupied.

"When they let you go, text me, okay? Then me and Lidia or someone else can come and get you, alright?"

"Sorry. About the lesson."

"Don't be silly! Besides, now I can practice the moves you taught me and next match, I'll definitely beat you."

Abel went red at this, but managed a tiny smile as he leaned against the pillows. Starri beamed back at him and then turned to Will.

"Make sure you take a little break soon, alright? Even if it's just to sit down."

"I will, Starri. I promise." He said, meaning it this time.

Starri's smile didn't quite chase away the worry in her eyes, but it was sunny enough as she gave a little wave and then left the infirmary. Will watched her go, and then decided that he would write up Abel and the previous patient in the logbook and then take the break that he had promised Starri he would take.

As he was writing, he heard Maria coming over saying something about the poultices when she stopped, surprised.

"Abel!"

"Hello."

"I…well. Are you alright?"

"Not really."

"No, of course not…"

Maria seemed to hesitate for a moment before then stiffly saying:

"Well, rest up now, alright?"

Presumably, Abel nodded because then Maria took the few more steps she needed before she was standing by the desk. Will, still writing, looked up at her.

"What was that about the poultices?"

"Oh, I was just saying that I've finished changing them all over so they should be alright for a while more. Relatively speaking, anyway."

In Will's mind, if anyone sounded more authoritative despite being a newcomer, it was Maria. She was brisk and efficient and clearly wanted to do all that she could, and he found that he enjoyed working with her.

"That's good, then."

"I heard Starri about taking a break-are you going to have one now?"

"Yeah, once I have just….okay, yes. Out here, or in the back office?"

"Ah, let's sit in the back."

Will nodded and went inside to get the kettle going while Maria made sure that every awake person knew that they were in the office before coming back, wedging the door part-open and then going to find the home-made biscuits that Delilah had bought over for them yesterday.

"Will it be bad if I turn the dolls so they're facing the wall?" Maria asked as she set up their snacks on the little desk.

"As long as we remember to turn them back I don't think so."

"Well, now, I don't think I'll remember so…oh well."

Bringing the tea over, Will smiled ruefully at her. Truthfully, he also found the doll's glass stares unsettling. He just didn't particularly like to admit it. The two of them sat quietly for a moment, sipping at tea and nibbling at the biscuits.

"These are good. Did Delilah herself make them?"

"I doubt it, but maybe she helped. I mean, she is hanging around them a lot."

Will looked up at her, watching as she bit her lip and gazed off into the distance. He wondered what it was she was thinking of. Certainly, from what they'd all been told she had more than enough horrors to relive.

"So, what brings you to the infirmary anyway? You've adjusted really well, I know Yoyo and Robyn-kouhai are grateful for your help. Did you want to go into the medical field too?"

Maria shook her head.

"No, nothing like that. Truth be told, before all of this most of my life was mapped out. Not all of it by me, but it wasn't anything I didn't mind anyway and the things I got to choose, well…even when I messed up one of those choices it was still okay. I moved on, tried to make better choices and then…"

She shrugged heavily.

"Well, you all know what happened then. It's all over now, the life that I thought I was going to have."

Will couldn't reassure her that it wasn't over because in a way it was true-they had been forgotten, after all, and this included the outside world too. Maybe the world's memory would be restored once all of this over, but maybe it wouldn't.

"I suppose this gives you options, then?" he asked eventually.

"No. Well, maybe yes. But here, this…I want to be more than the worst things I've ever done. A better person. Because the person I was before, that person cannot have been that good, not if I made the choices that I made-"

"It was a high-pressure situation." Will tried to soothe, even as he imagined Maria running her friends through with her sword. "You were the playthings of a deity-"

"No," Maria shook her head, interrupting him now. "No, it's just that…I'm sure that if it was you and your friends, you wouldn't have hurt them. Wouldn't even have thought of it."

"Nobody knows what they'll do until they end up in such a situation."

This was something he mostly believed to be true, but where he himself was concerned it was a lie. Hurting his friends was the last thing he'd ever want to do, no matter what. If it had been him in that situation, he knew that he would have given himself up first if it would have saved them. In a way, that was the choice he always made, that had led him to the state he was in now, extra-frail and hands lightly scarred. He knew he couldn't run himself down like that again, not if he truly wanted to be able to be there for them. If he couldn't take care of himself after all, how could he care for them?

Even so, if it came down to it, he'd still rather lose himself than lose them.

He became aware that he was still staring down at his hands, tightly gripping the tea-cup. He took a breath and then had a sip before putting his cup down on the desk. Maria looked at him pensively and then continued:

"You wouldn't have, I know you wouldn't have, I remember you. Your friends, that closeness that you all had even back then. We…Abel and Delilah and the others, we were never truly like that, you know? We weren't like you or…those funny freshman."

Will frowned. A great deal of the freshmen he'd come to know this year could easily be described as funny, and Maria seemed to pick up on this confusion.

"Ah, the four, they're very like…" Maria interlaced her fingers briefly as if to demonstrate the closeness they had. "Three boys and a girl? Did they always cling to each other so tightly?"

"Ahhhh. I…I don't know, to be honest. They've been good friends right from the start but…"

"Well, anyway, we weren't like that, both as individuals and as a group. It was easier for us to turn on each other when it came down to it. And in the process…anything good we did have was destroyed. And we did that, we all did that. We were all that type of person in the end, but I don't want to be that sort of person so, here I am."

"What about the others, though?"

"Like I said, anything good we had, we destroyed it, all of us. And I do forgive them for it but at the same time…"

Maria glanced at the door as if remembering that Abel was right there, and she lowered her voice:

"I look at them and all I see is all we've done. So. We can't really be friends, right? Not anymore."

"I…well…."

"Oh, it's fine," Maria shook her head. "I did not expect you to have answers. I suppose I just needed to say it to someone. You asking gave me that opportunity."

"Well I'm glad I could help."

Maria nodded, and then they finished their tea and biscuits without further conversation. Maria cleared up and put everything away and Will went to sit back by the desk. Just as Maria came out of the back office, the infirmary door opened and Robyn came back.

"Is everything alright here?" she asked.

"Yes, it is," Will said. "A couple more cases of the nausea-we're monitoring Abel here for the moment but apart from that it's been quiet."

Robyn nodded, and spotting Abel she went over to briefly talk to him before coming to stand by the desk.

"I wonder what's causing all this," Robyn said. "Do you think it's connected to…the eclipse and the balance?"

"I feel like the balance has been coming undone even before the eclipse though." Maria said.

Will and Robyn stared at her, and she shrugged.

"I mean, I don't know, but all the unusual happenings…it could explain them and how they've been building up if things have gradually been coming off-balance. And this school has a weird atmosphere, even before this. I can't explain it, but I assumed it was because it's old and surrounded by sacred sites, and perhaps now it's heightened by having been away for so long and just not being used to the air of the school anymore. That, I'm used to picking up on odd senses that don't always mean anything."

"But sometimes they do." Abel murmured, his voice carrying despite the quiet.

Maria startled, but then looked over. Her expression was pained, though she was clearly trying to hide it and Abel quickly returned his attention to the book he was reading.

"Sometimes they do." Maria acknowledged. "Like sensing that Ariadne was coming. Not that it was her, just that something was coming for us. That was a hard sensation to really get a grip of and this one is even harder but maybe it does mean something."

"I…well, that would make sense." Will said. "I think it makes sense. The only thing is, how would we restore the balance if that was the case?"

Of course, none of them had an answer to that.

"Anyway, I was wondering…" Maria said. "Isn't Yoyo meant to be back by now?"

Robyn frowned, and looked up at the wall clock.

"Oh, she is."

Will was about to suggest that he go and look for her in case she had lost track of time when suddenly he heard something rustling softly outside, a wind rising.

And then, the singing.

It was distant and muffled by the windows but although Will himself had never heard the song he knew instantly that this was the Nymph's Requiem from the way it made a prickling sensation sweep across his skin and his chest tighten. A low moaning and a clatter came from the beds and he saw that Abel had dropped his book and was wrapping his arms tightly around himself and Will went over to try and comfort him. He was aware of Maria going to do the same with someone else and assumed Robyn would do the same but then he heard her murmur.

"The song. Really listen to the song."

As he rubbed Abel's back he looked over to see Robyn rush over to the window and open it slightly. The song became clearer as a result and the emotions of them more intense but Robyn visibly attempted to resist as she frowned, turning her head to try and reach the sound. But then her eyes flickered as she actually looked out of the window and she gasped.

"Oh Goddess. Oh, Goddess."

"What is it?"

Will got up to join her, with Maria coming over as well. Both of them peered out of the window, and while Maria made a similar exclamation of horror Will found that he could not do or say anything. Because through the snow, flowers were blooming defiantly.

Hundreds and hundreds of flowers were blooming.