All of us were soon up and out of the ruins, including the otter girl who'd been down there. I stood away from the others, hands in the pockets of my jeans, hood over my head and leaning against a nearby tree. Sure I intended to tell Mothra, and Rodan about what happened to mom, dad, and Amber but I wasn't happy to have had to discuss it with a stranger when it was still so raw. "So what do we call you?" Rodan asked the otter. "I'm afraid I can't say. I don't remember my name." "How about we call you Leila?" Kevin suggested. "That actually sounds rather nice. Leila, It's acceptable." "With that settled, what do we do with her?" Godzilla asked. "She will have to go somewhere that she can stay in easy contact with the rest of us." Ni explained. "The easiest course of action would be for her to stay with one of us." Ichi replied. "Oh! She should come stay with us!" "We have no room at home Kevin. Besides, we already have Dusk staying with us." "But Ichi..." "No buts Kevin. What about you Rodan?" "Nah. My folks wouldn't allow a stranger to stay with us. What about you Zilla?" "Nope." "Why not?" "Just wouldn't." He replies with a shrug. "So that leaves you Mothra." "She can stay with me. My parents would be willing to let her." With that settled I set off for home, ready to return to my room and ride out the rest of the evening. I managed to make out Ichi telling Mothra to make sure that Leila learns about everything that had happened in the world since she was last awake, whenever that was. I briefly wondered what we'd do next going forward but I figured that the others would inform me once they had an idea of what it was.
Once home I started up the stairs. "Dusk. Wait." I sighed as I stopped halfway up the stairs. "What is it Ichi?" "We need to talk about earlier." 'Here it comes.' "I realise that you are under a fair amount of stress, but the way you snapped at Rodan and Mothra, plus your moodiness on the way back was not appreciated. What you need to do is-." "Stop." I swiftly cut Ichi off before he got started. "I don't need another lecture on grief. I know I need to let go of it, but it's not as easy as you try to make it seem. Now, I'm heading to my room to be alone now. I'll see you guys at dinner." I resumed my climb up the stairs, bound for the solitude of my room. Once inside, I shut the door and locked it. I heaved a heavy sigh before kicking off my shoes and flopping onto the bed. I stared up at the ceiling, today was a rollercoaster of emotion for me and it had left me drained as well as sore from the fall into the ruins. My eyelids were growing heavy and I figured that there was no harm in a nap, soon allowing myself to drift off.
As I opened my eyes I realised that I was standing in a temple of sorts. As I looked around the room my gaze soon settled on a wall mural not unlike the one I'd seen earlier today. The only difference was that this one seemed more foreboding than the other one. Standing on the ground were the figures that represented Godzilla, Mothra, Ghidorah, and Rodan and the four of them were arrayed in a semi-circle around a white dragon, bloodied and defeated while a black dragon was positioned above them, wings spread in triumph. "Is this a vision of the future? Does the Shadow Dragon actually win?" I wondered out loud. "Correct. Though how it plays depends on the actions of you and your allies." I whirled around to face the source of the reply. A male dragon dressed in dark grey shorts, and a grayish green jacket with no shirt underneath showing off his abs and soft but muscled chest. His heterochromatic eyes were dark purple and gold and his scales were mostly dark blue and purple with stripes of black. "Who are you?" "My name is Varjo." "Why are you here?" "Here in this temple or here in your mind?" "Uhh." "Don't worry. In time things will become clear." "But why me? Why implant yourself into my head?" "It'll soon be clear don't worry. Let me at least say that I'm not any kind of demon attempting to steal your soul or anything." "Right..." "I know you are still grieving, it is a pain that cuts ones heart deeply." My arms wrapped themselves around my torso as discomfort regarding the topic quickly rose. "It too is a pain I have felt and still suffer from." "Really?" "Yes. My younger brother died and it is still very painful for me as we were very close. I did some regrettable things following it and it put a lot of distance between me and my older sister. I truthfully don't want to see your grief drive a wedge between you and your cousins." "I know." "In any case I suppose we should wrap this up." "Will we end up seeing each other again?" "We will. When the power within you awakes, I will be back to speak with you. Until then stay safe my friend."
Math. The worst subject of all and even taking my poor math skills into account, I was still unable to focus on today's lesson as last night's dream still lingered in my mind. Could this Varjo be trusted? Did he even really exist? No, he did. The conversation I had with him was not just something my brain conjured up. He truly seemed trustworthy enough and not only wanted to watch out for me, but he also understood the pain I was going through. The vibrating of my phone snapped my thoughts from my musing. Slipping my phone out, I noticed it was a message from Rodan in the group chat. "Ugh. Shit's even more boring today then usual. Hey Mothra, how's Leila settling in?" "Fairly well now shut up and focus on your work." "Don't tell me you're actually paying attention to this crap." "You should be paying more attention. You are barely passing as it is. Ichi." I slipped my phone back into my pocket, figuring that I might as well try and pay attention, or at least look like I am. My phone buzzed a few more times, though I figured that I'd wait to see them until after class was over. Fifteen minutes later (that felt like two hours) math class was done and now I was on my way to history. I stopped at my locker on the way to deposit my other textbooks and take out my history book and take a look at my phone to see the other messages. "Come on, my grades ain't that bad." "Rodan, Dusk transfered in during the middle of the semester and his are still better than yours." "Shut up Godzilla. Besides, like you're one to talk!" "His grades are still better than yours. Ni." "For crying out loud, how long are you guys going to keep this up?" I chuckled to myself. This of course wasn't the first time that the four of them had went off on tangets during class, even the more serious Ichi and Ni still got involved in the conversation most of the time. Regardless I pocketed my phone and headed off, walking at a brisk pace to help ensure that I wasn't late.
A/N: Another chapter done, next the gang discovers their new powers that will help them combat the Luku with Leila acting as their teacher. But who exactly is Varjo? And why has he chosen Dusk to bond with? We'll soon find out soon enough. In any case read and review and let me know what you think and if there's anything that I need to fix.