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.

23. 3-4

There is no honey, there is only blood.
There is no who you were-
you can't go back.

-from Ifin, from Savage Her Reply by Deidre Sullivan

---

Hydrangeas, black hollyhock, love-in-a-mist, anemone.

Those were the flowers that the four killed by Frost had used primarily in their magic, that Frost and whoever was working with her had chosen to help bring back the Forgotten Goddess into the world. And now all those flowers were here and scattered while Frost and Yoyo stood together with dark magic coalescing at their fingertips as flowers kept growing and growing and petals rose in clouds around them.

Moments ago, a Stage 4 lockdown announcement had been delivered by Professor Rynacel and there was nothing that Julka or Elly could do but look through the window as a wind started to pick up, making the flowers and the cloaks that both Yoyo and Frost wore flutter. Swirls of darkness like clouds also drifted around them and all the while they were singing the Nymphs requiem. One low voice, one high voice and both amplifying the intensity of the song's memories. Even here with a thick window between her and the scene, Julka started to relive the heavy sensations that she'd felt that night in the forest and Elly wasn't doing much better.

Out of nowhere, a group of staff appeared, dressed in combat clothes and holding weapons as they approached. Professor Yanovi sprinkled things over the flowers, making some wither away into the snow even as more kept cropping up. As Frost made a motion in the air, tracing some kind of sigil with her hands, both girls stopped their singing, but the air glittered and somewhere between that glittering the song was trapped, and it persisted, continuing over and over. The staff advanced, but Yoyo smiled and pulled out weapons of her own. Frost pulled out a knife and after a silent communication they charged at the staff.

Julka's breath was trapped in her throat as she watched the frenetic motions and she wondered, is this what a battlefield is like? The familiar faces of the teachers seemed almost transformed, the familiarity stripped away as if they had become nothing but instinct. They were flinty-gazed and relentless, quick on their feet and savage. Blows were thrown and spells were cast, a chaotic explosion of battle cries and colour and blood. The two girls were clearly giving it all they had despite the fact it had to be a losing battle (it just had to be). But then, something unexpected happened

Robyn ran out into the snow, clearly distraught and though clearly not following her Sasi was behind her. While Robyn stopped, Sasi charged forward and Professors Cinnabuns broke away. His face arranged itself into its usual affectionate expression as he put his hands on Sasi's shoulders and tried to coax her away but Sasi wasn't having it, contorted with rage as she scrambled and pulled out a sword of her own, trying to reach the fray. Professor Cinnabuns hardened and restrained her with both arms, calling out and then having Professor Lucifel also come over and hold her back. Sasi yelled, struggling fiercely, but the two men were solid and steady and barely flinched whenever she managed to strike a blow.

"Sasi's not a part of this, is she?" Julka murmured.

"No, she wants vengeance."

Julka blinked and stared at Elly.

"Vengeance?"

"In Ancient Times, it was customary to seek vengeance after the severe harm of yourself or a loved one, although the concept then had a wider meaning-of simply making sure the harm left its mark on the one responsible as well as their victim. For them to be weighed down by it. Still, that definition could mean death. It's a loved one's right to be able to kill the murderer under the idea of vengeance. I really doubt I need to spell out why Sasi would want vengeance now, do I?"

Julka shook her head and returned to watching. Where Sasi had attempted to get in, Robyn did no such thing and instead pleadingly called over. Her words could not be heard but they were clearly aimed at Yoyo, who actually glanced over and seemed regretful. The pigtailed girl lowered her own weapons and began to walk over to Robyn as if she had forgotten where she was and what she was doing. Frost was completely focused on trying to fend off the teachers trying to contain her, but Professor Nyamai, who had climbed up a tree to cast runes from above had noticed for she stretched her hand out, aiming a sigil at Yoyo.

Almost immediately, Yoyo was caught up in a glowing blue ball. Robyn stumbled back, hand pressed to her mouth as Professor Nyamai then unsheathed a dagger and launched herself from the tree, ready to-

"Julka, don't look." Elly said urgently.

Julka opened and shut her mouth rapidly a number of times before the muffled sound of metal slicing through the air on its way to flesh had her cry out and cling to Elly, hiding her face in her cardigan and wishing she could block her ears, too.

"Mmpfhfffff! Julka! When I said don't look I didn't mean completely squash my shoulder!"

"Ah…ah, sorry."

"Geez! Well, I mean, it's okay. But still."

"Sorry."

Elly just huffed and Julka kept holding on, screwing her eyes shut as she listened to the sounds of gasps and shrieks from around the room, and of the wailing of the wind as it picked up speed and became louder and louder, seeming only to amplify the weeping and wordless sounds of rage, though it made the stern replies sound indistinct in comparison. Nonetheless, she was able to build a picture of Robyn pleading and the staff impervious to those pleas before slowly, the background noises faded and all that was left was that wind.

"Okay, you can let go of me now. They're all gone."

Julka obligingly let go of Elly and stared through the window again. Indeed, they were all gone. Frost, Yoyo, the professors. Even the flowers and the petals they had scattered had gone. But there was blood on the snow still, and Robyn and Sasi were both still out there. The former was still weeping but tried to comfort the latter who stared straight ahead, sword still raised as if she would be able to strike Frost down anyway.

Then there was the sky.

It was no longer black, but the clouds now held that colour instead, stark against a pure white sky that was so bright it almost hurt the eyes to look at. One of the clouds glowed, as if the sun was behind it, and the shadows this light cast on the ground were grey and strange, oddly formless. Even the shadows of those outside did not look person-shaped. The sight made Julka shiver, but then something worse occurred to her.

"Cookie," she breathed as she turned away again. "Cookie, what about you?"

Elly tilted her head curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"I…if Frost had been captured alive, there'd be a chance to find out how to reverse…you know, that…"

Julka gestured vaguely at Elly, indicating her glowing skin. Elly looked down at her hands for a long moment, her hair momentarily obscuring her face. But then she lifted her head and smiled so softly that Julka could almost believe this was some strange dream.

"Julks, I never had any real hope that this situation would be reversible."

"But-"

"I'm going to die soon, and it's not okay but it…is. It just is what it is. But I've had my time as the person I could have been and that's alright."

"I…"

"I mean, even you, I know you don't always get me but you've always accepted me anyway. Which is why with you in particular I don't mind you forgetting to call me Elly or even before when you were getting used to 'Cookie'. But, um, yeah…"

Elly pulled a face-clearly, this was a touch too 'sappy' for her-and returned to looking out of the window. Julka wanted to weep and to cling to her again but refrained, instead also watching as other people came out, coaxing Robyn and Sasi back inside. To her surprise, she also saw something behind the trees and it was only when Theodore, Ezrael and Haze went running out that she realised it was A, who had been hiding the whole time. As she watched them cling to each other and turn to go back inside, the PA system switched on and yet another announcement rang out, this one being done by Professor Shippa.

"Attention all students, attention all students. We are temporarily lifting the lockdown stage from Four to One for three hours in order to allow students to gather their things, after which point the stage will be moved up to Stage Three. I repeat, after three hours the lockdown level will move from Stage 1 to Stage 3. If you wish to be in the same building as a fellow student for emotional support then it is suggested that you make sure to arrange that during this time. We will give a warning one hour, half an hour and fifteen minutes before this time is up, but please be aware that if the situation worsens then we may need to bring stage three back sooner. Thank you for your understanding."

"Meeting." Elly said almost immediately after the announcement finished. "We need to have a meeting."

"Yes, we do."

"Come on, let's go find people."

Elly raced off immediately, and Julka had to scramble to catch up with her. But as she did she caught a sight of something against the sky and turned to glance through the window again, only to discover it was gone. She blinked, confused, and then as she heard Elly call impatiently for her to hurry up she wondered if she had just imagined it and rushed out of the room.

But when she looked out of a different window further down the corridor, she saw it again.

The black shadows.

…

Jun was not sure how Sado and Ruby had managed to corral everybody they needed into the South Building with all the things that they needed with a full half an hour to spare. Yes, they had had the help of Aerin, Will, Lucy and the Tea Party Club, and Julka and Elly had gone off on a little escorting spree themselves. Even so it was nothing short of miraculous.

Those whose rooms (or the rooms they'd be sharing) were nearest to their meeting room had been allowed to go off and put their things away but otherwise everyone who had originally been in other dorms had had to keep their hastily-packed bags with them and this made the common room seem a lot fuller. He noticed that quite a few people were choosing to sit upon their bags, and Theo, Haze and Ezra had used theirs to make a nest around them and A as they sat pressed together on the floor in a corner.

Robyn was one of the last arrivals, having gone back to get Abel and check on the others in the infirmary who were not a part of their group even despite her own distress. Yara and Kyouki had gone with her and had their arms around her as they all arrived in the room but as soon as she spotted Jun she gently pulled away from them and almost ran to Jun, nearly stumbling over the bags as she dropped to her knees by the chair and wept, awkwardly clinging to him. Gently, he loosened her arms long enough so he could sit on the floor with her and then let her wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his shoulder.

He was aware of the urgent chatter in the room falling silent and more than a few eyes turning to look at them but he refused to look up as he stroked her hair. He knew that despite everything that more than a few people would be wondering why she was this distraught over the deaths of people who had been harming them and that maybe some of them, the ones who had been later to the old Night Patrol would be wondering if she sympathised with Yoyo considering they were both necromancers. He wished he was brave enough to call them out, to cut off their thoughts before they could voice them. Instead he just sat there, stroking her hair and unable to think of the proper words to say.

"Oi, you guys, stop staring." He heard Jae say. "Let her cry."

"Yes, and if you're thinking what I feel some of you may be thinking don't any of you dare to say it." Jenna agreed fiercely. "Don't you dare."

"Yes, I don't want to hear it either to be perfectly honest," Ruby said. "But we do need to get on with things fast, so…Robyn?"

Robyn sniffed and lifted her head briefly, wiping her eyes to look directly at Ruby.

"Yeah, go on, please."

She gave a wobbly sigh and leaned against his shoulder again, and he kept stroking her hair. Briefly, he looked up at Jae and Jenna and mouthed thank you at them. Jenna winked while Jae gave a fierce nod.

"Right, so I'm guessing that what happened there was that those two tried to bring back the Forgotten Goddess and failed, and now her essence is floating around the school which is why now it's like…that outside."

Ruby gestured around and to the window.

"I saw some of the teachers put a containment barrier around the school," Lucy put in. "We all saw it when we were grabbing potents."

For a moment, everybody stared at the glass bottles that were lined up on a section of the large table. Jun couldn't quite see through any of the windows from where he was. Even so, although he could hear and feel the wind as well as anyone there was something thicker, muffled about the quality of the wind, as though it was being held back by a sheet of plastic buckling and straining under the effort.

"Right, so now we need to figure out exactly what's going on and exactly what to do because…time's running out, isn't it?"

"But what do we know, exactly?" Sado asked.

"Well…"

Theo sat up very slightly, but didn't move away from his friends. He cleared his throat a couple of times, then lifted his hand to count off the points.

"The first thing is that during the Great War, the teachers and everyone made a pact of some sort with the Immortal Lotus, borrowing power from it and giving up their own mortality in exchange. With this, they were able to win the war, although the precise details of how they were able to use that power to achieve this are vague at best.

Then, when the war was over, the power needed somewhere to go. As the waterfall that leads to the Portal of Otohime is where the base of the power is, and in addition many sacred sites are located on or around this part of the land the decision was made to build Kawaakari here. We can also theorise the decision to make a school was not just for the sake of future generations but also to appropriately channel the powers rather than leave them unchecked now that there was no war to fight. After all, they had become immortal and that is not something that can be undone."

"They made a new pact, essentially," Elly said. "Tying themselves and their powers to the building itself. It is why they do not leave."

Theo nodded at this as he continued.

"That's right, yes. No doubt, at the time they first made the immortality pact the Headmaster knew who he really was, otherwise he would not have been able to wield the Immortal Lotus, which was believed to be the core of the world. We now know that it is more of a conduit for the core of the world, the actual core being the desires of the Goddesses. Between that, the sacred sites and the immortality pact there is a lot of magic swirling around in the school."

"The next point is this-although Kawaakari has always toed the party line where the division between light and dark is concerned they have also skirted across that line, never explicitly condemning or showing fear or hatred towards the Forgotten Goddess. Indeed, with the Water Nymphs festival and the acknowledgement that you can see stars in the dark, as well as the critical approach in history lessons this school has built a reputation for being different. However, the knowledge that they rely on a heretic symbol for protection rather suggests that they knew the truth of the Forgotten Goddess…ahh, I wonder, at this point is it alright to say her name?"

"In all fairness, the worst has already happened." Elly said. "Plus, I don't believe so I'll happily say it for you if you don't want to."

"Um…"

Theo blinked rapidly before continuing:

"Okay, so we know about the Forgotten….Kagami, rather, being a symbol of the sky and the ocean while Akari was more the land and we're aware that some kind of betrayal occurred rather than Kagami simply becoming jealous. But what actually happened?"

At this, Jun felt Robyn sitting up, still sniffling as she put her hand up.

"I…that's why I went out there, actually." She murmured when Ruby and Sado nodded at her.

"Oh, yes, to 'really listen to the song', right?" Mist said.

Robyn nodded.

"You…you all know now, right? About me seeing Hibi and Amuri-sempai?"

"We know." Will said.

"I…well, it's true that the Goddess Akari betrayed her sister but…at the same time, the Goddess Kagami did cause significant harm to the world. She didn't mean to, though. She was jealous, yes, and lonely as she was feared in comparison to her sister and she did want back some of the love she'd once had. But…it's the echoing of the ocean and the sky, they were once her domains and she's trying to find her way back into those. Even back in the Ancient Times, she was trying to find her way back into those. Even then, the entity mentioned in the letter was trying to meld the two of them back together and she knew that if they remained in the forms they were in it would only be bad. They needed to return to nature, for Goddess Akari to be the land and the flowers and the sun and the stars, for Goddess Kagami to be the sky and the ocean and the rain and the clouds, the rivers that nourish the land just as the breath of trees nourishes the air…"

Robyn sucked in a breath.

"She knew she was spiralling out of control, in all ways. She knew and she tried but she couldn't make Akari see. Akari loved being around her people so much, loved being able to talk to them that she couldn't see that being as they were could have drawbacks. She assumed that any of the entity's effects were her sister's own resentments and while it was true that she…that she…."

Robyn's voice started to wobble.

"Even when she did start hurting the world, she thought maybe then her sister would finally see and understand what she was going through, the pain that she was in but all her sister saw was evil, and that's how she reacted. It…it wasn't a betrayal in the deliberate sense, she knew that deep down but…they may have been Goddesses but they were sisters still. In that moment, the fact they were sisters should have been important but it wasn't…"

"And you got all of this from the song?" Ruby asked, frowning.

Robyn immediately burst into fresh tears and Ruby startled.

"What? I was impressed!"

Robyn just continued crying, this time folding in on herself, covering her face in her hands as her body was taken over by huge, gasping sobs. Jun pulled her to him once again and as he rubbed her back he looked up at everyone staring at them with visible concern.

"Just let her be for now? Please?" he pleaded

"I can guess what's up with that-the song, it's pure emotions, right? That's what it conveys even if you're just listening in the more usual way. It must have felt like what it felt like for us when we talked to Rielle-the way she showed her memories to us, it was as if we were reliving them through her eyes and senses."

Elly was grim-faced as she stroked Milo very, very carefully as if she was particularly attempting to keep herself grounded too.

"So…is that what connects everything?" Lidia asked after a moment. "I mean…I think I get what led us to here but I'm not sure how that helps us figure out what to do."

More than a few people murmured similar sentiments and they then stared at each other for a few moments, the only sounds being Robyn's continued muffled crying. But then rather unexpectedly, Angela spoke up.

"I…think I might have an idea."

"Yeah?" Sado said.

"I…it's probably…well, you're not going to like it."

"Oh, forget that! We need some kind of idea, we can deal with not liking it!" Koda snapped.

"I…okay, well…."

Angela rubbed her face and then looked up.

"I think we need to kill the teachers."

"Actually, I've changed my mind-I don't like that!" Koda retorted immediately.

Jun didn't particularly like the idea either. Something so dramatic hadn't occurred to him and indeed nobody else seemed particularly happy with the idea. Even some of Angela's friends looked baffled by what she had come out with.

"Explain what you mean," Quiet said unexpectedly. "What made you come up with that idea?"

The chattering that Angela's suggestion had provoked fell silent, and now the girl blushed, fiddling with one of the charms on her mask-decoration for a moment before she sighed and said:

"I…the whole return to nature thing…when you bury the dead or send them to sea, or scatter their ashes on land somewhere, they return to nature, right? And isn't the whole point that returning to nature will restore the balance?"

"That, and, we have all been saying, it is a lot of magic that's here, right?" Rena added slowly. "On this site there is a lot of magic and some of it drew from the core itself. Surely that's made the world unbalanced? Maria-sempai, didn't you suggest that maybe some of the things that have happened over the past year were because the balance was slowly coming undone anyway, and then the eclipse completely disrupted it?"

Maria was apparently so surprised at being called upon that all she could do was nod vigorously.

"It was only a thought, but now hearing everything together I'm sure of it. The amount of time that Kawaakari has been going on for, the amount of change the world has seen and the role that Kawaakari has had in that…it's acknowledged that Kawaakari's power is unusually intense. Intense enough that it shouldn't have been. "

"In all fairness, they did it for the right reasons," Will pointed out. "Still, it does not change the fact that in the end it was wrong."

"Just as how in the end Goddess Akari was wrong." Quiet added.

"Basically, all of them should have known better but didn't and now we're picking up the pieces." Asuka said bitterly.

"Here, the moon is always full and the sun is always somewhere in reach. It could be said, also, that the sky is our sea here instead, the stars simply particles of water. If the world had ended up like this instead, I wonder if things would have been different.

Ryn has done it justice in this painting, but that is still not enough, I know. We wish you could all see it for yourselves, because while we know Goddess Akari loved it here, she was still alone in the end, wasn't she?"

When everybody gawped at Elly she just stared back unflinchingly.

"I saw this attached to a painting of the Floating Gardens. It makes a certain amount of sense now."

Jun had to acknowledge it did-albeit in an abstract, poetic sort of way. It was easy to imagine the Goddess sitting high above, looking down at the world, full of regret as she faded away and then started searching for another body to reside in, another way to be close to the world. Assuming, of course, that that was how it had happened.

Feeling Robyn pull away, he let go as she sat up. She attempted to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand but smiled tiredly when he found and handed over a tissue. She wiped her face and blew her nose and then since there wasn't a bin nearby she tucked it into a pocket. Shakily she got up so she could sit on the chair instead, and Jun decided to stand up too-his legs were starting to feel a bit numb.

"Alright, I personally don't have a problem with that so much," Ruby said. "The only question is, how are we going to kill them?"

"That….is a good question, actually." Theo said. "After all, they're immortal!"

"Theo, I thought you of all people would know this one!" Ezra laughed unexpectedly. "What about the weapon that steals immortality?"

Theo blinked for a moment before understanding dawned.

"Ohhh, you mean Shi-shoku?"

"Yes, exactly!"

"Oh yes, of course, Shi-shoku!" Elly exclaimed. "They all used it on themselves in order to become immortal. Or rather, to lose their mortality. Anyway, whatever you call it, they did use it. The only trouble is, where is it? If it's outside of the school then…"

"Um….this Shi-shoku?" Rena spoke up. "It's half blue and half red and has a black hourglass in the middle, yes? Sort of like a slim bow with arrows, but a blade to it too?"

"Have you seen it?" Elly asked sharply.

Rena, Angela and the rest of them looked incredibly embarrassed.

"Yes, but…it is in the North Building. In the little shrine. It's sort of mounted up there and if you didn't know you'd assume it was a decoration. Like we did."

"Isn't it said that you need immense power or strength to be able to lift it?" Theo asked. "And you can't touch it with your bare hands if you want to wield it without it having an effect on you."

"Oh, that's easy, we've got three strong ones here." Ruby said airily. "Also, gloves are a thing."

The 'two strong ones' that she had pointed to were Sado, Howl and Judas. Howl had absolutely no reaction whatsoever, but Sado seemed pleased enough. Judas, on the other hand, bit his lip and asked:

"We'll have to leave the building for that, though?"

"Um, yes?" Eve said. "Did you think any of this would really be possible without sneaking out?"

Judas glared at Eve, who simply smirked back. Jun sensed that an argument would break out if either of them said anything more and found himself relieved when suddenly, Asu asked:

"Wait, how are we even going to get the teachers to come with us? And how are we going to get Goddess Kagami to listen to us?"

"I'd have thought you'd be the ones to do that, more than anyone." Yuu said. "Getting Kagami to listen to us, I mean."

She pointed to all of the VYPERs, who clearly had not been expecting this.

"Us." Ruby stated flatly, forehead puckered.

"You're Storytellers, aren't you?" Yuu said. "We all felt it, the way you stood for us. Right?"

Asuka nodded at this and added:

"There was magic in your words and the way you said them. And maybe it was not a 'Listen here, listen now' story but all the same the magic was there."

"I agree." Mist put in unexpectedly. "You are."

"And surely, once we've...once they're done, and returned to the land..."

Starri swallowed, and continued:

"Once that's over, what's keeping the Forgotten Goddess here, bound yet untethered, will break. And so that way she will be free, and your story will give her direction."

"That's...yes. Yes, I see what you all mean."

"Right, this is all well and good but once we've murdered our teachers how exactly will they be returned to the earth? Burial is time consuming!" Koda asked suddenly.

Jun had actually been wondering this, even as the conversation had focused first on Shi-shoku and then on Kagami, but he waited to see if someone else had better ideas. Surely they would, after all? But when the pause became longer he knew he had to speak up, no matter how silly his idea. So, before he could talk himself into holding back again he simply blurted out:

"Trees."

Of course, everyone turned their eyes on him and he immediately wanted to hide. Still, he did his best to explain what he had been thinking and why. Those amongst them who were his fellow Gardening Club members quickly caught on, as did Robyn and Elly and between them they were able to make everyone else understand too. After all, it had already been proven that it was possible-if it hadn't been possible, the Angel Tree would not have existed. It added another level of horror to what they were going to do (aiming a magical arrow-sword at someone was one thing, burning them quite another) but there weren't any better ideas.

Once they settled this, the discussion then circled back to how they would get all the staff out to where they needed them to be and while it was decided that a combination of breaking lockdown and ambushing others would probably work for most of them, they still needed to find their headmaster and headmistress. Here, too, Elly had an answer or at least a theory-that they were in the Floating Gardens, and that it was possible that the bedroom she had been in was a room in the cottage shown in the painting she had seen. This somehow reminded most of the second years of the trip that Ruby and a few of her group members had attempted, and they decided to try it again.

"Ani, you're our best shot at it but since we of course cannot break the other dragons outta the stables anymore it can only be a few of us this time. The rest of you will need to be on the grounds helping the others." Ruby told her group.

"So, we'll have Ani for our flight, then me, you, and Asu or Aki." Aerin said.

"I think I'd rather be fire backup, thanks." Aki said, looking slightly queasy.

"Then, I'll come along." Samu volunteered eagerly.

"No, you won't." Aerin snapped immediately.

"But, that's-"

"It's different this time, Samu, you're not coming."

"That's not fair-"

"You're. Not. Coming."

Aerin's eyes flashed dangerously, fully reptilian and unsettling against her complexion, as she stood up and leaned across to look right in Samu's eyes.

"There's enough danger on the ground, but we know what that danger is. We don't know what's up there and I'm not putting you in more harm's way if I can prevent it."

"Sempai, that's still not fair!"

Now Samu stood up, clutching his hands to his chest as he shouted right back.

"I might be the baby of the group, but I'm still a part of you, right? I'm not an actual baby to leave behind and it's not fair for you to decide for me what risks I should or shouldn't take! It should be for me to decide and even though it's scary I want to go! I'm capable, you know I am-or did you never believe that in the first place?"

Aerin's glare had intensified throughout most of the little speech but Samu's final question had her flinch. Her expression creased with pain and she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, they were their human shade again and liquid with a tightly contained sadness. Her words came out stiffly:

"I always believed. You can come."

She sat down and stared down at the table determinedly as if memorising the pattern of the wood. Samu also sat down, blinking rapidly as if he couldn't quite believe his own daring.

"Ooookay….." Sado said slowly. "Now that's sorted, let's go through everything else."

"What about us?" Angela asked almost immediately.

"And us?" Ririsa added. "I mean, we are not…well, honestly I don't know why we're here. We'd really only hold you back."

"People trust you," Will said after a moment. "Perhaps you, and then Angela-kouhai and the rest of you, perhaps you could all help to escort the rest of the school away to places that are safer? Or at least keep them away from where we will be? Once we have figured out where those are, of course."

"Perfect," Ruby said. "But, you may also need to be backup for us, just in case. You can practice combat with him and whoever."

Sado raised an eyebrow at being pointed to but did not seem like he objected. Quiet, Mist, Judas and Koda also agreed to help with practice and to everybody's surprise Asuka and her friends also agreed (with the exception of Sasi). The non-magical students and the Tea Party club accepted this with wide-eyed fear and acceptance and then they continued to talk about the rest of the plan.

The map that they had first used for Night Patrol was pulled out again as they strategised, working out where they would go on the day and who would be doing what to make sure they were prepared. Jun and the other members of the Gardening Club were tasked with making sure they had the right type of soil, and enough of it. Robyn, though still teary, offered to help in-between her infirmary duties and making sure she was prepared for the necromancy side of things.

Eventually, when everything was talked out and notes had been made, they were dismissed. Jun couldn't bring himself to feel relieved by this though.

…

"Ah, so that's the final box, right?"

Ririsa nodded absently as she began to cut the tape of this box. Almost everything they'd been given was perishable, long-lasting. The sorts of things they collected as Harvest donations. There had been a couple of cool boxes of things like milk but apart from that it was all things that would last for a long time. She didn't like to think about what that meant for them.

Sighing, she finished cutting the tape and put aside the scissors to pull the box open and gasped in surprised.

"Oh look, cookies!"

"Oh?"

Memora and Tiro came over and peered in at the neatly packaged clear gift-bags of cookies, each tied with ribbons and placed carefully in, tissue paper packed in around them.

"They look like Professor Snow's home-made cookies." Memora said. "That's…that's really nice. Is there a note in there or anything?"

"I don't think so…."

Ririsa riffled through carefully and then shook her head.

"How many do you think there are in there? Enough for everyone?" Tiro asked.

"How many of us are even here?"

"That's a good question."

Ririsa remembered that Ruby had put together a sort of register when they had all been swapping around so while Memora and Tiro counted the bags she looked through the messages on her phone for that list and counted the names and they quickly discovered that there was indeed one bag for each of them.

"I wonder if the other buildings have some." Memora wondered.

"There'd be no reason why she wouldn't," Ririsa said. "I mean, she must have been okay enough to manage this in the first place, right? So she wouldn't forget?"

"No, probably not."

Tiro looked like he had something to say, but at that moment Stella burst into the room.

"Look what I found!"

She staggered slightly under the weight of the box as she carted it over, and ended up dumping it on the ground. Grinning, she knelt down and opened it.

"Winterlight decorations!"

"Oooooh."

They all also knelt down and peered in, pulling out tinsel and charms and candle holders before putting them back in, not wanting to make a mess.

"They were in that storage cupboard," Stella said. "And I remembered how last year, we all still decorated for Winterlight anyway and…"

"I mean, will all this even be over before Winterlight?" Ririsa sighed. "I mean…"

"I don't think there's any point."

"Tiro?"

Tiro sighed heavily, twisting a piece of tinsel the same shade of blue as his hair around and around his hand.

"It's not as if we're going to be here after it's over."

"Huh?" Ririsa said, confused.

Tiro sighed again, but this time the motion was laced with irritation. He kept winding the tinsel and when he reached the end of its length he just started unwinding as he spoke:

"We're killing our teachers, all of them. There's not really going to be much school to go back to. Besides, do you really think anybody would let us stay here in a school without teachers? Just by ourselves like this? I mean, they'd be breaking us out if they knew, but they don't know, do they?"

"We're not killing them though, are we?" Stella murmured.

This was true. The things they had been asked to do, none of it meant that they would be there in the section of the forest outskirts that had been designated as the site of execution. They probably wouldn't even be helping to make sure that all the professors got there on the day. Keeping everyone fed and watered, and making sure those who weren't involved were kept safe, that was about all they were good for really. It wasn't a surprise that they'd not be considered for anything else.

But…

"I'm kind of glad of that though, aren't you?" Memora said. "We won't have blood on our hands, the way they all will."

"Yes, we will." Ririsa murmured.

"What?"

"We will, one way or another, just for knowing."

"Riri, that's-"

"Don't you wish that there was another way?" she asked, interrupting Stella. "Don't you?"

She looked at her friends, swallowed at the looks on their faces, the way they shuffled uncertainly at a loss for words. Sighing, she picked up a pretty hanging decoration, of the type that would be placed on a decorative branch and swung it idly from her finger.

"Hey, hey, after dinner we should like, hang out or something, watch cat videos or whatever."

"Why would I want to watch cat videos? I have a cat."

"Then, we can make cat videos! And we'll find Yara and her little critter too, then it can be a 'cat and hedgehog video'…."

Ririsa fixed a smile on her face and put the bauble down, getting up as Ariadne's friends, Elly and Julka all stumbled into the room.

"We're really, really hungry!" Mikelz declared. "Sado's been working us hard!"

"He really has," Angela said. "We're so beat!"

"Do you want to stay here and eat, or do you want to take some stuff back to your rooms? Unfortunately we can't give you too much because we have to ration-"

"Let's stay here." Elly said.

"Okay, then come over and have a look at what we've got…"

Ririsa was far too pleased to be able to bustle along and make sure that the students all had their fill of food (within the reasonable limits they'd all worked out) and to get them comfortable around one of the small tables.

"Riri, the cookies!"

"Oh yeah!"

She ran over and counted out the right amount of bags before rushing back, explaining where the cookies had come from and that it was one bag for everyone. Immediately, most of the group began to compare their cookies or start messaging everyone about them.

"Hey, you should get the ones with chocolate chips in them! Then you'll be Chocolate Chip eating chocolate chips!" Kura said as he decided to eat one of his.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Elly rolled her eyes. "I'm going to save them for a little later, anyway."

"I think I am going to do the same." Julka agreed.

The group continued chatting and eating, and Ririsa quietly stepped away, busying herself with organising other things in the room that had become their temporary canteen. The silly chatter was amusing, as it always was but she found herself saddened by it, the idea that these kids, these silly and adorable kids would have blood on their hands too soon.

And worse, it was them who thought of it in the first place, wasn't it? But maybe that's why it's the answer. An answer like that from ones like them, it feels heavier than it would have it had been someone else who'd suggested it. Ah, it's not fair. None of it is fair.

"What are those?"

Ririsa startled and turned to see that Elly was pointing her fork at the box of Winterlight decorations which had been shoved under one of the supply tables.

"Winterlight decorations."

"You're not putting them up?"

"Well, I mean…"

Ririsa bit her lip and glanced over worriedly at the other three. Memora put down her stack of plates and smiled.

"Well, under the circumstances-" Memora began.

"You should put them up."

Ririsa and Memora stared uncertainly at Elly, who just stared back at them. After a few moments she sighed, huffing in exasperation.

"Put them up. Things like this…even if it's a bit pointless, it's the pointless things that we're trying to save at the end of the day. All the sappy and stupid crap, the ridiculous stuff. Whatever. It's what we all live for, right? How we endure. Plus, Winterlight stuff's always pretty."

Elly turned immediately after saying this, plunging her fork into her canned spaghetti and resuming eating with a mechanical ferocity. How we endure, huh? Ririsa looked over at Memora, Stella and Tiro and they nodded back.

"Okay then," she said. "We'll put it all up once everyone's come and eaten or taken food for tonight."

Almost immediately, the others in the room chimed in with offers for help and ideas for where to place things and Ririsa let herself be swept up in it. Let herself enjoy being someone who was doing the looking after, the one helping to keep things light.

But she still couldn't forget that when the time came, she'd have blood on her hands.

…

Asuka watched Sasi's eyes gleam as, all gloved up, she pulled the arrow out of Shi-shoku and examined it from all angles. Laying it on the large sheet of paper she had set out she took a magnifying glass and continued to study it before then sketching out a design. She left the sketches briefly to get pieces of metal, comparing and contrasting for a while. Then, she returned to sketching and when she was happy, she put the original arrow back in and took her designs and metal to the forge.

"So, are you making this the same way you make a sword?" Sado asked casually.

Sasi gave him a sideways glance.

"I suppose."

She clearly wasn't going to say anything else, and thankfully Sado seemed to get that because he grunted and stood back. Asuka sincerely wished that he, Howl and Judas weren't here, but they had to be since for now they were the ones tasked with transporting the weapon everywhere. They would even be carrying it to the kill-site on the day, although then they were going to have others carry it to actually do the deed. She herself would be one of them. Sasi, another.

She suspected she knew why Sasi particularly wanted to be directly involved in firing the arrows. It was probably obvious to everyone at this point, but nonetheless she wished she knew what Sasi was thinking. She still had not talked to any of them, seemed as if she could barely be around them. They were staying together in an empty room now while they were stuck in South Wing because there was no other choice, but she still spent as little time in the room as she could. It had been a surprise when Sasi had asked Asuka to join her, and she hadn't hid it very well. Thankfully, Sasi hadn't rebuffed her for that.

Still, she didn't really know what she was doing here, apart from maybe just helping to keep a lookout in case they were caught being outside of their current assigned wing.

Some time went by as Sasi worked at forging the arrows, utterly focused. There was a purpose to her that Asuka hadn't seen in days, and it lit her up. Asuka had forgotten just how much Sasi enjoyed this, being in the workshop environment, making things. She liked the making more than the wielding.

I should have bought her here, she realised. Shouldn't I? While we were still able to move around. Rather than just continually asking to talk.

Then again, it wasn't as if she would have known what to say. Never in her life had she imagined any of them would ever be grieving the loss of somebody else, someone who wasn't one of them. Asuka was used to all of them retreating together from the world, banding against it, and perhaps in a way the world had hurt them once again through this but it just wasn't the same.

When Sasi had forged and quenched about ten, she came back to the table and then went back to find the things she needed to polish and decorate them before sitting down. Picking up one arrow, she began to carve a series of intricate designs into it and curious, Asuka leaned over to look.

"What are you carving in them?" she asked.

Sasi blinked and looked up, clearly having not expected to be spoken to at all.

"Elm leaves. Elm trees are associated with the dead."

"They…they are?"

"They are."

"Was…" Asuka hesitated. "Was the tree you buried him under an elm tree?"

Sasi lowered her gaze for a moment before nodding very, very slowly. She didn't look up at Asuka again as she continued carving. At first, her jaw clenched but as she finished carving the elm trees and other symbols-runes that she'd been asked to put in on suggestion by the others-and then put her gloves back on again to see if it fitted into Shi-shoku. When it did, she grinned in satisfaction and went back to keep carving at the next one and gradually she relaxed, maintaining her hyper-focus. Or so Asuka thought until suddenly:

"You can stop looking at me like that, Asuka."

"L-like what?"

"The way you are looking at me now."

"I…."

"I can't tell you I'm fine because I'm not."

Sasi looked up at her, hands stilling.

"I'm not alright at all, and I won't be for a while. Even when I am alright, I won't be the same again. I'm broken."

When Asuka tried to protest again, Sasi sighed heavily and put the arrow down, swinging around and straddling the bench so she was more directly facing her.

"But you know how with Sainty's swords I fix the scratches with a different colour? Well, mainly hers anyway?"

"Yeah….?"

"The sword is still strong, but it's not the same, is it? And you have to remember that, right?"

"Ri-ight."

"I'm one of those swords. Or I will be, eventually. I…I don't have anything left."

"Sasi, you have us."

"Yes, and you keep trying to push it all away as if it never happened!"

Sado cleared his throat, but before he could say anything Sasi looked over her shoulder and glared and he stepped back, putting his hands up in the air in surrender.

"That's not…" Asuka stammered. "That's… I just want you to be able to talk to us, but you don't! You've been evading us all this time and next thing I know you're letting Cain hang around with you or you're pulling people out of trees!"

"I don't talk to him. I don't anything with him." Sasi snorted derisively.

"Then….?"

"You're trying to make this make sense. There is no sense out of this, no way of tying it up all in a nice neat package that you can understand. There is no why. Just that even if people do not leave the world, they still leave you behind. It's the way life works but it still leaves a hole."

"I just want to fill the hole in, then," Asuka said uncertainly. "I mean…doesn't the hole hurt?"

"Yes. But I don't need the hole filled in and patched up. Mended, yes, but I'll always have a hole in me. I don't want to get rid of it, that's not what I need. I just…"

Sasi took a deep breath, and Asuka was horribly afraid that she was going to cry, but instead she continued:

"I just need the time to not be alright. That's all."

"I…is that what Cain does? Let you not be alright?"

"More or less."

"I…couldn't you have told me this before?"

Sasi pulled a face, and then unexpectedly gave a small, odd smile:

"You're our fixer, Asuka, aren't you? You're always trying to manage and fix. I didn't think you'd get it, that any of you would get it."

"In all truth and honesty I still don't. How can I not be there for you, though?"

"Well, I mean…knowing that you're still around does help in a way. I just…like I said, I need the time to not be alright."

"Okay…I….okay. Just, you'll at least tell me if you sneak out anywhere without us?"

Sasi snorted at that, just as Judas said:

"I thought we weren't risking it unless it was necessary for the plan."

Asuka and Sasi gave him a look before then glancing at each other. Sasi gave her another small smile, and Asuka nodded back. She wasn't entirely sure that the two of them were in a better place than they had been before but at least she knew something. Even if she didn't understand it, she could at least wait it out, watch from afar and be patient.

"You know something though, Asuka?"

Asuka blinked, but Sasi barely waited for a response before continuing:

"This battle we'll be having, I'm not even slightly afraid, and you know why?"

"N-no?"

"Because we'll all be fighting together. You, me. Sainty and Yuu and Michii. Together."

The smile that followed this was still small, but a lot brighter. A good sign, right? There was so much that Asuka wanted to ask but she didn't want things to slide further backwards and so she just nodded and pointed to the remaining arrows.

"Do you want me to help with the carving of those?"

Sasi pursed her lips and considered before she pushed some tools over, and then returned to her own work. Asuka watched her for a few more moments before she then picked up what she needed and started her own work.

…

With their second set of Floating Garden trip plans all done, Ruby and Aerin headed to their room while the rest of their group went back to their various rooms or other parts of the buildings to do other duties or otherwise occupy themselves. As soon as they got to their room and through the door though, she heard Aerin say:

"Ruby."

When she turned, Aerin almost immediately grabbed her face with her hand, forcing her to look directly in her eyes. They were fully human, but there was an odd gleam in them that Ruby had never seen before and it made her breath catch in her throat as Aerin moved in so that their foreheads were almost touching. Her grip was tight, fingers digging slightly, but it didn't hurt.

"You have to promise me something, Ruby." Aerin said, voice low.

"What is it?"

"Samu," Aerin said. "I'm not changing my mind about it being too dangerous, but I won't go back on letting him come with us. He was right-it's unfair of me to object. But if it all goes horribly wrong, and if I die-no, no, don't say it Ruby. You know that at this point, it's possible. There's just no way that all of us are getting out of this alive. But if I die and I can't protect him, you have to promise me that you will do it for me."

"Aerin…"

"I know you would, anyway, that you'll be our fierce, fearless, fearsome leader for all of us right up until the end. But where Samu is concerned you have to promise me that if I die before the rest of you, that you'll look out for him. Because I won't rest, you know. No matter the rituals used, I will not go to the Other Side and I will not rest until I know for sure that it is all over and that he is safe."

Aerin gulped, and her lips wobbled for a moment before they flattened into a grim, resolute line:

"Promise me, my brilliant and beautiful Ruby. Promise me."

It was not as if they'd never called each other beautiful before, but for the first time, in the part-darkened room with her face held so tightly in Aerin's grip, the words hit at Ruby, right in the fragile place beneath her heart. Aerin was right, she would do anything for their gang, especially now. But Aerin had been the one she'd known right from the start-the VYPERs as they were would not have been so if Ruby had had to do it on her own. She didn't know what shape that history gave their relationship, but it didn't really matter. Things like that did not really matter. So she nodded (as well as she could nod when her face was being squashed in a pincer grip) and said:

"Of course I will. He's your baby, after all~"

Aerin laughed, low and rumbling and almost like thunder. She let go of Ruby's face and leant back.

"Don't you dare call me Mama VYPER again."

"Girl, you know it's the truest label."

Aerin laughed again and shook her head, but then stared directly at Ruby with a softer look.

"Thank you."

Ruby wanted to cry, but did not. Because they were fierce and fearsome, bold and brilliant, brutal and beautiful. They would take down anything and everything that would dare to hurt them, and they'd look good while doing so.

And if she had anything to do with it, she'd make sure that none of them died in the process.

…

Cain had given up on sleep.

He'd given up, and now he spent his nights wandering around the corridors, endlessly circling, going up and down, backtracking the moment he heard anybody else. Hiding in shadows as though he was something dark so that nobody would see him and ask him questions upon questions upon questions. He was sick of this, all of this. Even the ones with soft kind eyes and concern lacing their words, they seared him with their curiosity. He understood it on one level-indeed, he had so many things he wondered himself-but sometimes it felt like it would be better if they were all isolated like before. It was more interesting being around other people but he was tired of their probing. So tired of it. He knew that they could see how eroded he was. And they still wanted answers to questions that he didn't have the answers to.

I just want to be, looking up at the stars, not having to say anything. But he couldn't even do that. Whether it was day or night, the sky was still that unsettling pure white, too bright for him. And there was nobody who would sit with him, who would just be there and let him be there without giving him sideways glances full of questions. Didn't they realise that he could hear the questions, even if they didn't actually voice them? Realise he could feel them, scratching at his skin?

Without his polished surfaces, he was so raw.

He was still raw tonight as he made his way up, up, up to the school roof. He knew that technically, this was outdoors and it was forbidden by lockdown but it was also still technically part of the building. He hadn't thought of this loophole himself, sadly, but Sasi had. A few nights ago walking along the corridor he'd seen her go up there and followed out of curiosity. At first it seemed like she hadn't noticed as she went all the way to one end of the roof, and he'd sat at the other but when it was close to daytime again (according to his watch) and they'd both ended up going down at the same time, it was clear she had noticed but hadn't cared. And had just let him be.

Well, maybe then I have someone, he acknowledged to himself as he eased open the door, but that's not all the time. And I certainly cannot ask. No, the arrangement they had (if it could even be called that) was by chance only. If they ended up at the same place, or walked past while the other was sitting. It was obviously for different reasons but they were the same in that, just needing to be with everything they thought and felt, with all the things that hurt without constant prodding. To be able to let slip little snippets without people trying to turn it into a discussion. And he had to admit it was intriguing, the fact that he of all people had something in common with Sasi of all people, considering the reputation she and her friends had garnered before everything had happened.

Still, the fact remained that this was not something he solidly had. He couldn't ask her to spend time with him, and wouldn't, whether it was day or night.

And so he here was, giving up on sleep and going to sit in the middle of a school roof, under a sky that foretold the end. He wasn't particularly sure he wanted to be a part of this, this fight. He didn't exactly want the world to end or anything but he hadn't signed up for any of this. This year, he'd lost everything he'd assumed had made him who he was and yet he still had to keep giving. He didn't know what the others thought, didn't dare ask outside of poking taunts. Not in a serious, conversation-provoking way anyway. But he was sure that Eve just wanted the thrill, and that Abel and Maria and maybe Judas grabbed at the idea of being good. He didn't know what someone like Delilah, airhead that she was, would be thinking and he really didn't care about that. Didn't really care about what any of them thought.

He'd lost that, too.

For a while he sat there, all the thoughts that usually swirled around in his head still swirling. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he tilted his head to the sky, trying to imagine the stars as he'd seen them when the fogs had first cleared on the mountains. The hope that he'd felt. But the white was blinding and soon he shielded his eyes, lying down and curling up as he screwed his eyes shut. For a moment he imagined another roof and one of his many deaths, wondering what it would be like to properly die. To be cut out of the world in a way that was utterly final. If Ariadne hadn't come for them after the flute had been snapped, that surely would have happened.

Maybe it'll happen now, Cain thought to himself. Maybe I will die for the final time and…then it'd be over, wouldn't it? Then I could rest. But almost as soon as he had that thought he sat up abruptly, biting his lip so hard that he felt it bleed. Wincing, he pressed his fingers to his lip and then gazed at the small smears of blood there, right at the tips. He'd had so much more on his hands before, and in a few days' time when he strode out in his black-and-gold clothes for the last time, he'd end up with so much more. One way or another, he'd end up with so much more.

Something twitched in the corner of his eye and startling, he whipped his head around. Whatever it was snuck out of sight but it was still there twitching, twirling. Flickering. He got up, drew out the dagger he kept with him as a precaution in his night-time wanderings and took a few steps backwards, forwards, to different sides as the flickering thing kept slipping away from him. Around and around he went before he finally caught a glimpse in a corner of the roof, behind the fencing and slashed at it.

The flickering revealed itself to be a black smoking tendril of shadow that curled around the fencing as it dispersed, the tendrils splitting into smaller ones. Cain slashed again, and again, and watched as the tendrils started to float upwards and outwards. All he could do was watch as they faded away and then reformed when they were some distance from Cain, high in the air and stitching themselves back together again. Up there, they looked almost like wispy black clouds but when Cain squinted and tried to look closer he could swear that he saw something like a smile form in the little gaps where the tendrils hadn't knotted together properly. A smirk. But just as the shape gained a little more focus it dispersed again, flickering and twirling in and out of itself again as it travelled further and further…and then completely disappeared.

But, I'll be back…

"Who is that?" Cain demanded, spinning around. "Who is that? Show yourself!"

He held his dagger aloft as he looked around, waiting for someone or something to emerge from the doorway or simply appear. But nothing happened, and the odd whispery voice had no more to say. Breathing heavily, Cain lowered his arms and then after a moment shakily sheathing the dagger.

There was no more peace to find on the roof anymore, and it was about time he left before anyone realised he'd snuck out. But even so, he would not be going back to sleep.

He wondered if he ever would again.

…

Almost as soon as Angela sat down on the sleeping bag, she found herself standing up again.

"I've missed something." She declared.

"Oh for goodness sakes, no you haven't! We've got our weapons, we've practiced into oblivion, we have the charms and oils we need, our clothes are ready!" Sera rolled her eyes. "What else is there?"

"I don't….I don't know…"

She went over to Rena's dressing table and stared at the things from her own room that she'd left there, not really sure what she was thinking of or looking for. Behind her, she heard Rena say:

"Ah, don't be so mean," she soothed. "This is kind of stressful. Certainly not what we imagined when we pitched up here, right?"

"No…it feels like it's kinda our fault though, in a way? Even though it really isn't. And we lost Ari." Sera replied.

Ariadne. She'd resigned herself to the fact that their little friend was never coming back, but it still tore at her. She was glad she couldn't see the mountains from this room otherwise she didn't know how she'd resist the temptation to try and get up there anyway. Not that she'd be able to with the containment barrier blocking it off, but even so. She'd try, even though it didn't make up for the fact they hadn't been paying attention to her at all. Sighing, she picked up one of Rena's framed photographs, of all of them at their middle school graduation. She smiled at how bundled up Ariadne was-the white coat she had been wearing had made her look positively spherical. She rubbed her thumb over the small image of Ariadne's faces and then over all of theirs. If anyone had come up to them on that day, and told them that an imbalance in the world's magic would end up sending them to one of the best magic schools in the world, that they'd end up losing one of their own…she'd have laughed in their faces. It was crazy talk, the type of thing that happened in a movie, and yet it had happened to them.

"We had some good times here, too, didn't we?"

Angela startled as Kay came up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Angela pulled a face and Kay smiled ruefully.

"Oh, you know we did. Ariadne liked it here, too. It's…it wasn't worth this though, was it?"

"No, it wasn't."

Angela put the framed photograph down carefully and then her eyes settled on something else. The bottle of sparkly red nail polish that Ariadne had taken up to the mountain. Lifting it up, she studied it carefully and then carried it over. Sitting cross legged on the sleeping bag, she unscrewed the bottle and then laid one hand flat against her knee before she carefully started to paint her nails.

"Um…what are you doing?" Rena asked.

"What do you think she's doing, you angular sandwich?" Kay said affectionately. "She's painting her nails."

"But why?"

"I don't think she's going to answer you." Char commented wryly.

Indeed, Angela didn't. She just concentrated on painting her nails until each had a thick, even layer of sparkly red on them. Putting the applicator brush back in the bottle she blew on the nails before holding her hand out and admiring them. Sensing the other staring, she tilted her hands so they could see.

"Ariadne would approve, yes?"

Initially, they didn't respond but then unexpectedly, Char grinned:

"She would. Can I do mine, too?"

"I'll do it for you."

So she painted Char's fingernails with the colour that Ariadne had once taken with her, and then Kay's, Sera's and Rena's too. And once they were all done, sitting there and waiting for the polish to dry before they went to sleep, Angela imagined Ariadne watching them and smiling at this little act of remembrance.

Because tomorrow morning, we'll be fighting for you.

…

"Looks like I win again."

Quiet smirked as he placed down the card that did indeed mean he'd won the game and watched in amusement as Hiraga flailed.

"Ah…..again?" he spluttered. "Quiet, you have an advantage over me, you know? That's not fair."

"You put your cards down too quickly without thinking it through." Quiet said. "I don't need to pick up on anything to get past that."

"I….that's….ugh. Okay, okay, another rematch? Yeah? Another re-match and this time I'll win!"

Quiet laughed and gladly swept up the cards to shuffle them again but as he did, he found his gaze drifting to the sky. Despite the sky being the same unyielding white, there was still a sense of darkness underneath and sure enough, when he looked at the time it was getting late. Curfew had been thrown out of the window, pretty much, but they'd all been trying to keep some kind of routine in the lead-up to their plan, their last-ditch attempt to save the world.

And now it had finally arrived. This was the last night, and then when they woke up it would be time. We're going to become killers. Even though it was for the right reasons, even though he was more than able to fend for himself, he wasn't sure he'd ever really be ready for that to become reality. Nonetheless, it was the night before. It didn't matter if he was ready or not.

"You should probably be going now, shouldn't you?" he asked instead.

Hiraga blinked at him for a moment before sighing. Guilt simmered beneath his surface, and the expression on his face matched this.

"I should..."he hesitated. "But what about you?"

"I...will manage."

"I don't want you to be alone, not tonight."

No, this night was not one for being alone, not with what the morning would bring. But what could he do, really? Sado still had a few members of his self-proclaimed fanclub around in the building and he'd be fine after he'd had his fill of attention. Koda had been staying by Niwa's bedside since moving into South Wing and would remain there. Howl needed the company, as silent as he remained, but he would probably resist it-though he still had Kura, continually trying to reach out no matter how much resistance his methods met. And where Hiraga was concerned...

"You've stayed plenty of nights already, but your friends need you. Especially tonight."

"They do, and I need them," Hiraga admitted, running a hand through his hair tiredly. "But even so...maybe a bit longer? I can stay just a bit longer."

Warmth radiated out from Hiraga towards Quiet, his gaze intent and utterly focused. Quiet swallowed, whispering:

"Would you, really?"

"I just offered, didn't I?"

If they hadn't been sitting down anyway, the relief would have bought him to his knees. As it was, he pushed the card game aside and leaned his head against Hiraga's shoulder.

"In that case...please."

Hiraga's wordless response was simply to pull him closer, his warmth enveloping him. And Quiet knew that even though this moment would only be a short one, it would be enough.

It had to be enough.

…

Theo's first thought was that this is the day, this is it, but even so the process of waking up was slow and peaceful. It had been that way in this spare room with Ezra and Haze and A, all of them bundled up and pressed together in the nest they'd made of all the soft things they'd been able to gather before this latest lockdown. He'd resigned himself to Ezra using him as a human pillow at this point (and indeed would have been sorry if he'd stopped), and with Haze on one side of him and A on the other every single night, he felt tethered to the world again. Even though the shadows had been coming back, he had felt tethered.

As he blinked a few times and opened his eyes, he felt the fragments of Ezra's dream filter into his mind and couldn't quite suppress a laugh at the images of piles and piles of cheese sandwiches and jellybeans. Even with the teachers bringing supplies they'd all made a point of being careful about food and he knew that Ezra was amongst many who missed being able to snack with abandon. But even so, it's almost over. Almost. Because Ezra was more curled up over his legs this time, Theo was able to sit up, stretching and yawning, but then something caught his eye and everything in him went cold.

Please, no…

But it couldn't be avoided. The shadows were there and this time there were more of them, creeping up the windows like vines, like smoke. He shook Ezra's shoulders, then Haze's and A's, and shouted in his head. Almost immediately, they all sprung awake and though A first had to reach for her glasses they all saw what was going on immediately. With all of them already dressed to save time, they quickly grabbed their weapons and then went to the window.

The shadows continued to climb up, and behind them Theo could see more and more of them, whipped around by a wind that picked up speed and started to yowl, that made the branches of the trees shake as if terrified. But the ones in front, once they saw that the four had seen them started to shift, to compress and then….then there were colours….shapes…the shape of cheekbones, hands…

"It's us," A breathed. "it's us!"

It was them, wispy figures of them becoming more solid with every passing second, crackling with electricity. But it was them in a way that Theo had never seen-something unhinged about the colours, some of them with wings and the others with a feral glint in their eyes. The four darker versions of themselves smiled and then walked backwards, grinning as if to say come and get us, before floating out of reach.

"We've got to….we've got to…."

Stammering, Theo turned to rush for the door when he heard the sound of the window unlocking and being pushed open. Spinning back around he saw that Haze was now climbing through, dropping a little bit below and then looking up at them. Somewhere behind the hammering of his heart and the rush of his blood, Theo was able to remember that there was a ledge just below their window. He couldn't remember why, but there was a ledge and from there, it wasn't that far to the ground.

"It's quicker this way!" Haze said. "Come on, quickly!"

Theo hesitated, and then spotted those four shadowy versions of themselves over Haze's shoulder, landing on the ground and scorching it. Gritting his teeth, he quickly clambered out, and A followed before they helped Ezra out. Before any of them could think too much about it they grabbed each other's hands and jumped, letting go as they landed with a heavy thump. Theo felt his shoulder jar painfully, but even as he winced he only allowed himself to pause long enough to check that none of the others were hurt, to promise that they would not lose each other.

And then they ran.

---

Winterlight is roughly this universe's equivalent to Christmas. It's not an exact comparison since Christianity doesn't exist in this universe, but in terms of the rough time of year, the fact that decorations are put up, presents are exchanged and it's considered a good time to spend with loved ones it is similar to Christmas.