(A/n: This chapter and the next two are going to be long, but I hope you still enjoy)
Chapter 48: When A Storm Starts To Settle Down
Continuous rain disrupts the fraught silence within the surrounding halls, lightning flashes then comes a thunderous rumble.
Sensing a threatening presence closing in from behind them, Gregory wonders who could possibly have the redhead in front of them smiling expectantly past them. But then he recognizes who they are. "These three are from the Student Council Committee." If it weren't for the red and black armband around their arms, he would've thought they were just ordinary students. He recalls Token wearing a white and black armband, the very same one Kyle had the first night he and the others met him.
The closeness of the domineering aura alerts Gregory back to focus, he turns around to see a tall, pale man with ebony hair holding Gary captive, his arm hooked securely around his neck. Teal eyes stare at the two humans before him, then frowns at Pip. Gregory curses vampires for their ability to make their footsteps sound as weightless as a feather.
"You're seriously gonna take a human hostage?" Questions the redhead, his grin gone. "How lame."
His words failed to reach the vampire hunter's ears, who's suddenly imagining his younger-self in Pip's position, cowering at him as if he's become the very monster he despises. Shuddering at the uneasy chill coursing throughout his body, he lets the other blonde-haired human go. "No, I am nothing like her. I'll...never be like her." He shuts his eyes tightly while shaking his head, opening his narrowing eyes in slight irritation. He can't have such sensitivity distracting him, not at this moment. He advances towards his intended targets.
"You three humans, scram."
While Pip approaches a dazed Gary, asking him if he's okay, Gregory keeps his eyes on the vampire hunter. There's something...off-putting about this man, however Gregory can't appropriately describe it. It's greatly unsettling.
"W-we should hurry and continue finding the others," Pip says reminding his friends of their task. He turns to Gregory who is still watching the male's figure. "Gregory?"
Said teen jolts at the questionable call of his name. He turns to face Pip and Gary, his expression unreadable. "R-right, let's go." He walks off down the hallway they were about to leave from. Sparing the three vampires of the Student Council Committee a glance, Pip and Gary follow after him.
Aiden and Kou watch the humans fleeing back the way they came while Remi has an intent focus on the vampire hunter before them. "Alright, let's do this!"
"No, Remi, wait!" Kou nearly exclaims. But Remi engages into combat with the vampire hunter despite his order. Sighing, Kou face-palms. "That hotheaded idiot."
"Nothing we can do now except wait until the time's right to step in," Aiden says. They would lend Remi a hand, however doing that would only upset him. No matter how strong the opponent is, he would rather face them fair and square until the end.
Lowering his hand, Kou sees Remi and the man simply fighting each other with their fists. "Or one of us could stay here while the other continues to search for Kyle."
Aiden looks to him with widening silver and scarlet eyes. "I know you're annoyed with Remi, but leaving him here to get killed is too much." Right after he said that, their friend gets sent flying down the hallway.
"Are you trying to jinx it?" Kou deadpans, frowning. "And you know that's not what I meant."
Chris turns to them, a stain of blood on his white dress shirt. His narrow-eyed stare intimidates them, but they don't show it visibly. "Do either of you know where that Japanese bastard is?"
The teenagers furrow their eyebrows, confused at first until it dawns on them. "No, we don't," answers Kou. "But even if we did, we wouldn't tell you." Aiden nods in agreement.
Chris' glare hardens angrily. "Tch, I should've asked those humans first before shooing them away." But he got the notion that they wouldn't have known either. "Dumb brats, I'll-"
Remi suddenly appears in the middle of the three males, the dark smoke evaporating into the frigid air. "I'm not down an' out just yet!" He smirks, using his thumb to wipe away a thin string of blood from his chin.
"Looks like the spell wore off. I need to be quick otherwise I'll never find him," Chris thinks becoming more vexed at the possibility.
"We'll fight him together." Aiden and Kou walk up and stand beside Remi, who's looking ready to argue but a sharp glare from both boys compels him to keep his complaint to himself.
"Hmph." Chris starts cracking his knuckles, smirking arrogantly. "Teaming up won't change anything, but I'll give ya props for the thought." He strikes first, going for Remi.
As the redhead prepares himself, he notices too late that it was a fluke. He's not really who the man is after. It's Aiden. The auburn-haired teen catches on almost instantly, and manages to block his fist with his arms, grunting when he feels his bones breaking due to the force of the man's punch. He expected his arms to be in way worse shape than this, but he's very glad that's not the case. Disregarding the acute pain, he presses his toes down to prevent himself from being pushed too far back and also from falling. Chris then goes after Remi, for real this time, but thanks to Kou's quick reflexes he gets in front of Remi and parries Chris' punch, delivering an attack of his own.
Taken aback by such a well-executed countermove, Chris seizes his fist before it makes contact with his face, doing it once more at Kou's second attempt.
"You're wide open now!"
Making a startled face at a kick trained for his head, Chris then grins and his form whizzes from sight. His foot instead hitting air, Remi stumbles, but doesn't fall. "Where the hell did he go?" He questions whilst him and Kou glance around for the vampire hunter. They know that he didn't teleport because there's no traces of black smoke where he once stood. They immediately discover him right behind Aiden, his arm hooked around his throat. Aiden struggles to pry his arm away, his own arms in the process of recovering.
"You kids ain't half-bad," Chris says, genuinely praising them. "It's truly a shame that I can't stick around and play with you three longer, it was just startin' to get fun."
Remi growls through gritted teeth. "Bastard, let him go."
Chris applies slight pressure onto Aiden's throat, which is strong enough to make him grunt in pain. "Don't worry, I'll release him once I no longer have any use for him." His expression turns dark. "Just be glad I'm sparing your pathetic lives."
"Aiden!" Remi and Kou shout simultaneously. They try to come to his rescue, but Chris promptly teleports him and Aiden out of the hallway. Deflated, the two boys stare at the vanishing inky fumes.
"We gotta find them," Remi says sounding urgent.
"It's okay," Kou reassures him. "He may have gotten the slip on us, but we still have the upper hand."
Remi looks at him with knitted eyebrows, not understanding what he meant. "What're you talking about?"
"Think about it. Don't you find it weird that he's only after Mr. Akuma when he fought the Principal, Mr. Edgewood, and Mr. Thorn as well that night?"
"And Mr. DeLorne since he wasn't there escorting everyone to the gym."
"Oh yeah."
Remi then appears thoughtful. "What if it's because he has a grudge against Mr. Akuma?"
"That's very likely, which is why I warned him about the vampire hunter looking for him and that he took Aiden. If you hadn't suddenly teleported, I wouldn't have known that the debuff was gone. Actually, how did you know that we could teleport and use telepathy again?"
Remi scratches the back of his head. "Uh, I didn't. I actually had forgotten that we couldn't do either of those at that moment, and since I was so far away from you guys, I just teleported on instinct."
"Hmm, I see. Well, let's go back to searching for Kyle," Kou says.
"What?! Are you serious?!" Remi stares at him in incredulity. "Aiden just got taken as a hostage, we can't-"
Kou puts a hand on the agitated redhead's shoulder. "The vampire hunter's only target is Mr. Akuma, he'll make sure nothing happens to Aiden."
Staring into his unwavering icy grey eyes, Remi sighs. "I hope you're right. Mr. Akuma is one scary dude." He shudders at an imaginary image of the long-haired man's silhouette encased in a blazing red aura.
Kou pats his shoulder, then drops his arm to his side. "True, just don't let him hear you say that or he'll think you're praising him." They share a short laugh. Getting on that man's good side is surprisingly easy, he feeds off of self-deprecation like a succubus. "Alright, first I'm gonna ask Kyle himself where he is." Remi nods.
"Kyle?"
"..."
"Oi, Kyle? Where are you?"
"..."
"Hello?"
"..."
Kou heaves a sigh. "He's not responding. Could it be that we're only able to teleport for now?" If so then that means his warning didn't reach Mr. Akuma.
"Maybe he's ignoring you?" Remi presumes.
Pushing down the rising dread, Kou furrows his eyebrows. "I doubt it considering how critical the situation is."
"I bet he's with Tweek," Remi thinks to himself.
"Oh! I'll try asking Kenny. Maybe they're together or he might know where he is if they're not."
Unfortunately, Kou has no luck getting a hold of the blonde either. Not wanting to waste anymore time, the two proceed to look for Kyle on foot. Kou refuses to teleport around with no leads as to where Kyle might be, that's a risk he'd rather avoid taking. Remi is curious as to how the Principal is fairing against Mr. Valentine, perhaps Ms. Biggle and Mr. Ashton are there helping him now. That is, if he needed any help in the first place. He just hopes it doesn't take too long for them to find Kyle, and that Mr. Akuma defeats the vampire hunter without letting Aiden get hurt.
'KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!'
"Ms. Biggle?" Receiving no reply, Pete knocks two more times on the jet-black wooden door. "Hello, are you in there?!" Still no answer.
"Guess that's a no," Joey says, relieved. "See? We should've started with Mr. Ashton's office first like I wanted to." He goes a little further down the short corridor to the aforementioned man's office. "Even he wouldn't be inside that chasm." Ike, Firkle, and Pete join the curly-haired noirette in front of Mr. Ashton's brown wooden door, Joey knocks on it. After waiting a few seconds, he raises an eyebrow. "No way, he's out too?" He knocks again just to make sure.
"Just where the hell could they be?" Pete mutters. "They weren't in the auditorium, and they're not in their offices either."
Ike looks back at Principal Brimestone's office with a frown. There's no way Ms. Biggle and Mr. Ashton are in there, if they were then the three vampires he's accompanying would've sensed their presence inside the room long before they approached Ms. Biggle's office door.
"Worried about the Principal?"
Feeling the light pressure in his hand, Ike looks at Firkle. "A little. I know he's strong, but...I just don't get why Mr. Valentine is doing this."
"Yeah, it's a huge mystery."
Another closed brown door at the end of the hallway catches Ike's eye, he points at it. "Whose office is that?"
Firkle follows his finger. "The Student Councils. No one's in there."
"Oh." Ike lowers his arm, they must be out trying to calm everyone down and maintain order. It's very convenient for them to be within the same hall as the Principal and the Assistant Principals. Back at his high school, they were all in different hallways.
"C'mon."
Pete walks past Ike and Firkle, Joey is right behind him. "Where're we going now?" Ike asks as he and Firkle follow them.
"To find everyone else. Ms. Biggle and Mr. Ashton might be helping the Student Council Committee."
Neither Ike, Firkle nor Joey voice their disagreement, thinking he's probably right. Plus wandering around some more can broaden Ike's search for his friends. Their walk is spent without conversation, only Ike's footsteps are drowned out under rushing rain. The others are inaudible. Just when he starts to think that the lightning and thunder had simmered down, a deep vibration makes him flinch. Firkle gives his hand a soft squeeze, his body instantly relaxing. Blushing a little, he looks up and smiles his thanks. Firkle feels his cheeks heating up as well as he returns the smile.
After five to six minutes, more than one pair of footsteps come into hearing range. Pete signals for them to stop, the other party keeps walking. As they get closer, Firkle, Pete, and Joey sense that among the group one of them is a vampire while the other three are humans. Becoming only slightly tense, for the single vampire could potentially be the vampire hunter, Pete silently urges them to move forward. Despite Ike's blatant bewilderment, he doesn't question anything, trusting them.
The other quartet beats them to the center of the four-way intersection. "And just where were you guys 'eaded?" Demands their French teacher.
As Pete answers for them as well as tell Mr. DeLorne about their search for the Assistant Principals, Ike is happy to be reunited with Gregory, Gary, and Pip. He wonders why they're soaked, the thought of them having to scour for him outside in the rain puts a damper on his alleviation. Even more so at the disappointment in Gregory's frown. Pip's and Gary's small smiles, however, lifts his mood a smidgen. But then he notices that there's one person missing within their group.
"Tch, talk about being unprofessional," Christophe scoffs, crossing his arms. You're one to talk, the teens think but no one dares to say that to him aloud. "Well for now, let's meet up wizh zhe otzers. A place for refuge is still undecided." Shaking his head at the absurdity of making a simple task so difficult, Christophe teleports them to where the massive group is stationary at along the second floor.
Immediately, multiple voices flood their eardrums, and grates Christophe's nerves. Pete, Firkle, and Joey are curious as to when they reclaimed their teleportation and telepathy abilities, they figured they would get some sort of indication or feeling from within that would let them know that whatever spell they were under had been lifted. But it appears that neither was the case.
"Mr. DeLorne!" Token rushes towards them from out of the crowd. "Thank goodness you're here, but where's Mr. Thorn?"
Christophe glares at him. "Don't worry about 'im, what zhe 'ell are all you still doing 'ere out in zhe open for? It's like you want zhe vampire 'unter to slaughter you lot." Then again, perhaps staying here would be the better option, that way he could finally fight the vampire hunter...Christophe discards the thought from his head. Rather than being held responsible for unnecessary deaths because of his selfishness, he's just going to have to escort these bunches of idiots somewhere safe for now. Those other three from the Student Council Committee better not get killed.
Token sighs rubbing the back of his neck. The rest of his colleagues come to stand beside him. "We've tried countless times to get them to go to the gym, but they keep refusing. Including most of the teachers. They think since we were in the gym last time, the vampire hunter would know so they'd rather go to someplace he'll least expect."
Fenix nods. "One being the cafeteria, the second being that we split into small groups and hide in diverse rooms, and the third one...is not even worth mentioning. It's just as stupid." He shakes his head. "We also kept reminding them that the vampire hunter was preoccupied with the Principal and the teachers he'd chosen to assist him at that time, so there was no way he'd known that we were all in the gym, but they said they didn't wanna take any chances."
"And they've clearly forgotten the fact that even if the vampire hunter does find us, he'd be greatly outmatched," Nicholas says.
Now it's Christophe's turn to sigh, then he grumbles some obscenities in his native tongue. Sucking in a deep breath, he yells, "Shut up!" All voices go silent, and all heads swivel over in his direction, mostly students and a few adults flinching in fear at the steely look in his shamrock green irises. "We are going to zhe gym and zhat's final. I don't give a sheet if you don't want to." Not a single vampire or human moves or says anything as Christophe saunters off. Almost everyone starts debating if they should go with him or not, but quite a handful follow after the irritated teacher. Ike and his friends/roommates included.
Joey looks over at Token. "When you said most of the teachers didn't wanna go through with you guys' plan, was Mr. Edgewood one of them?"
The African-American teen shakes his head. "Actually, he just wandered off several minutes ago, saying he wanted to make sure all the students were here."
"Seeing as how those three hooligans aren't around means he probably went to go get them first. Oh, my name is Nicholas, by the way." The annoyance in his voice disappeared when he introduced himself.
"Mines is Fenix, spelled with an F minus the H and O," the long-haired, dark brunette articulates.
"And I'm Henry." The other vampire with light brown hair gives the humans a friendly smile.
Ike, Pip, and Gary greet them verbally while Gregory greets them by nodding his head. After awhile of walking, the distance between Ike and his human friends increases by two meters. Pip seems to be the only one cold, trying to be discreet by inching closer to Gregory for some warmth.
Ike glances down at his and Firkle's hands, then up at the boy's side profile. "Um, Firkle?" The other noirette gives him his attention. "Can I go talk to my friends for a bit?"
Firkle arches an eyebrow. "You didn't need to ask for my permission. You could've just gone to them."
Ike looks away, lightly scratching his faintly red cheek with a finger. "Y-yeah, but...it'd feel wrong not to tell you."
Firkle blinks as a warm heat swells up inside of him, more specifically within his chest...What a strangely comforting sensation. "Well, go ahead then." The moment he feels Ike's hand slipping out from his grip, he nearly latches onto his fingers to stop him from leaving his side. But he staves off the impulse. Feeling more than one pair of eyes on him, he looks to his left side meeting the shocked gazes of Joey and four more vampires, Pete is smirking slyly at him. Firkle shoots them a glare from his violet eye to hide his embarrassment, however the red tint in his cheeks ruins his intimidating appeal. He looks away with a huff when Joey and one of his friends stifle a laugh.
"Those two better not pester me about what they just seen when we get back to our room," Firkle thinks stuffing his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. But he has no one to blame but himself for being swept up in the moment, or should he perhaps blame Ike for being so cute? Shaking his head with a sigh, Firkle ignores the not-so hushed conversations regarding him and his 'boyfriend'.
Ike, who's matching his pace beside Gregory, Gary, and Pip, has his eyes to the floor in shame. "I am so sorry. I-I didn't mean to stay out all day yesterday. But some things happened, and well..." He's not confident enough to tell them that he'd gotten freaked out by thunder, and ended up falling asleep that late evening thanks to Firkle calming him down.
Pip offers him a kind smile even though he's still shivering. "I-it's okay. S-seeing as you were with Firkle this whole time p-put us at ease, and yes, even Gregory was worried about you." Said teen just clears his throat, but doesn't deny it. "Oh, c-could he have been the one giving you those flowers?"
Ike blushes a deep red as he nods his head, there's no point lying to him. It wasn't too long ago that Pip demanded to know who'd been giving him those roses, there's over a dozen of them in their nightstand that are still damp and crumpled up. Now Gregory knows, but he most likely doesn't care which saves Ike from further embarrassment. Pip giggles at his bashful expression, and Ike decides to switch the topic, asking them about Stan's whereabouts. He hopes Firkle didn't hear Pip's question, but he did, and now he has an inkling as to why Ike started suddenly giving him the Ashen Purple Roses.
Ike's question is left unanswered for some seconds, causing him to raise his head in their direction with a frown on his face. "We don't know," Gregory answers. "We were looking for the both of you."
"And then we got found by the vampire hunter," Gary says, frowning uncomfortably at the memory of being held captive by the man.
Ike nearly gawks at them. "Y-you guys came across the vampire hunter?" He asks restraining himself from raising his voice.
"Yes," Gregory says. "We managed to get away because we weren't who he was after, it was the other members of the Student Council Committee."
"I hope they're alright," Pip says looking regretful although he knows full well that they wouldn't have been of any help.
"Did you guys tell Mr. DeLorne about meeting the vampire hunter?" Ike then asks.
"Yeah, but he said that he'd help them after he took us to safety," Gary says.
"Well, it's a good thing the vampire hunter didn't, like, take any of you guys as hostage or anything." Otherwise, Ike would feel even more guilty had something like that happened. Gary tenses but doesn't speak of that having actually happened to him, and thankfully neither does Gregory or Pip. "...I-I'm gonna go back to Firkle now." Ike turns around and returns to Firkle's side. He holds his hand again.
Pip sneezes, sniffling with a shudder. He doesn't get how Gregory and Gary aren't shivering like he is, he's surely coming down with a cold. How unlucky. He blinks then widens his eyes when something saturated yet warm drapes over his shoulders. His already flushed face looks over at the platinum blonde-haired teen. "G-Gregory-"
"I'll be fine," Gregory tells him reassuringly. He had to endure harsher weathers during his assassination missions, so being wet and cold is nothing new to him.
"T-thank you," Pip says softly, averting his gaze when he catches a glimpse of Gregory's muscles clinging to both his dress shirt and undershirt. He looks over at Gary, but before he can ask him how he's feeling, Gary talks first.
"Same here, I don't catch colds so easily."
Although he's doubtful, Pip will believe him for now. Casting his eyes to the floor, Pip tugs the damp blazer securely around his frame, the sweet fragrance of vanilla knocking the stuffiness out of his nostrils.
*Earlier In The Afternoon*
"It's been awhile since I last stepped foot in here," Henrietta mused, her vibrant topaz-colored eyes glancing around the area that's void of any light. It was about the size of someone's bedroom, the air smelled old and vaguely sour as if something had died in here, and was left unattended to for months. Various types of swords ranging from different time periods and all across the world decorated nearly every inch of the walls - all razor sharp and deadly looking. A metallic surgery table was a few feet away from the center, behind it was a wooden table covered in a black tablecloth. Kurai was over there sorting out the cylinders, beakers, scalpels, a box of tissues, and a few other items used for chemistry and surgical purposes on top of it. "Place hasn't changed one bit."
Luther didn't feel enthralled by the ominous setting like she was. "I see now the real reason why Kurai was upset when those two students came across this place that day. If they had of came in and discovered all of this, they would've undoubtedly told Principal Brimestone. But who knows what he would've done." At this point, the Principal was just as much of an enigma, though his youthful character was definitely authentic. "Kurai, what exactly did you turn this storage house into?"
"A torture chamber," Henrietta answered instead in a nonchalant tone, grinning at Luther's grimace of discomfort. "Relax, this guy doesn't bring any of the students and other staff here." That reassured Luther, somewhat.
"Of course I don't, and this is not a 'torture chamber'," Kurai said before turning around and approaching the metal table. He pulled a string hanging over it, bringing forth a ring of bright light. The alloy had lost its shine due to the dried-up blood and scorch marks, there's even muddy red splatters beneath the table. Kurai then locked his scarlet eyes with ones akin to a green apple. "Anyway, I hope you'll keep everything you see here retained only in memory, Luther. Henrietta has kept true to her word, so I expect the same from you."
Luther frowned at his lack of trust in him, he nodded his head. "You have my word as well."
After staring into his eyes for some additional seconds longer to see if he was being truthful or not, the seriousness on Kurai's face lessened, meaning Luther gained his approval. "Good, now let us discuss an appropriate course of action. We're dealing with more than just one enemy this time."
Henrietta and Luther ambled towards the flat metal table. "Mr. Valentine is the main threat, so let's figure out how to take him down first," Henrietta suggested, folding her arms underneath her chest.
"We know for a fact that his hypnotism is one of his key abilities," Kurai said. "However, we can't act with just this information alone. There's more we need to know in order for us to avoid any casualties and deaths, if possible."
"Actually, Michael did tell me this once before, that he and Mr. Valentine often trained together in the past," Henrietta divulged.
"So he also has combat experience," Kurai noted. "Would honestly be surprised if he didn't. I'm sure Principal Brimestone will be able to fair well against him then." Henrietta frowned, uncertain. She recalled Michael also revealing to her how poorly the sparring sessions went for him.
"Are we gonna leave Mr. Valentine to the Principal then?" Luther asked.
Kurai pondered over his question. He couldn't really say since he didn't know how good either of them were at fighting, one could be far stronger than the other, or they could be evenly matched. He didn't want to assume the latter, mainly because of both men's annoyingly identical personalities. Before he could reply, though indecisive, the Principal's voice started speaking through the intercoms from within the main building, sounding muffled from their position outside, however thanks to their heightened hearing, they understood what his announcement was about.
"Tch, receive punishment, my ass," Henrietta scoffed.
"So, I guess we are leaving Mr. Valentine to the Principal," Luther deduced.
Henrietta shook her head. "No, you and I will back Michael up. Kurai will handle the vampire hunter, it's pretty obvious that things won't go as planned, and that bastard will look for Kurai for revenge."
"But we don't know any of that for sure," Luther argued.
"I agree with everything Henrietta just said," Kurai concurred.
"But the vampire hunter was after everyone, except the humans. Not just you," Luther further argued.
Henrietta waved off his concern. "It doesn't matter. As long as they all stick together when shit hits the fan, they'll be fine." Luther still appeared doubtful, but didn't argue a third time.
"I'll punish the vampire hunter however I see fit," Kurai smirked, acquiring an evil gleam in his eyes. "This time, I going to bring him here as I intended to do in the first place. I'm quite eager to know if there's any differences between a Purebloods and a Mixed Bloods body, and a body that was once human. Surely, there has to be something powerful residing within him for him to act so smug."
His sarcastic, indirect statement about dissecting the vampire hunter caused goosebumps to sprout along Luther's skin. Henrietta laughed a little. "Alright, now that we know who's gonna go after who, I know precisely how we're gonna do this. Well, for me and Luther. Sorry, Kurai, but you're on your own." She gave the Asian man a sympathetic smile to which he only shrugged his shoulders at, not feeling prejudiced in the slightest. "But I do know this applies to all of us, and it's how we time our attacks. We have to act when their guards are down."
"Timing is of no issue for me," was Kurai's assured reply. "I'll just ensnare the vampire hunter in another illusion be it a waste or fruitful, it's only suitable that I toy with my prey first before claiming it."
"For now, let's lay low until then," Henrietta advised. Kurai and Luther nodded their heads in agreement.
*Present Time*
It is awfully obvious that something strange is going on with Craig. No matter how many times Butters tries to figure out how to break Craig free from whatever spell he's under, nothing comes to mind, and he doesn't have all the time in the world either since Craig is so adamant on killing him.
With every ounce of strength he can muster, Butters kicks Craig in his jaw, just in time before the noirette's ice fully froze his neck as well as freeze his shoe. With a pained grunt, Craig is forced to release Butters as he is sent flying slightly into the air, the pale blue aura surrounding his body fading away. Butters lands to the floor on his butt, wincing as he hovers a hand to his throat that's encased in a thick layer of ice and punctured from Craig's nails. The ice is preventing him from healing so he's going to have to bear with the nipping pain until he finds someone that can melt the ice, after he manages to snap Craig back to his senses first.
"Looks like I might have ta get serious," Butters thinks, frowning as he watches Craig get back on his feet. He spits the blood out, then wipes his mouth.
"You fucker." Now standing, Craig's narrowed eyes become even fiercer. "Just fucking die already!" He charges at his enemy.
"Clyde ain't dead!" Craig pauses, just two feet away from the male. "If he is, then where's his ashes?"
Craig frowns. "His ashes?" He scans around for said pile of powdered remains, but finds nothing of the sort. In fact, Clyde's head is nowhere to be seen. "W-what...?!"
Butters stands on his feet, deciding to talk some sense into his boyfriend one last time before resorting to drastic measures. "I didn't kill him, Craig. No one did. You're just hallucinatin', and you need ta snap out of it already!"
"It...was a hallucination?" Craig shakes his head, he's not going to be so easily deceived. "If what you said is true, then where the hell is he?"
"That's what I wanna know. He was with you, not me." Butters deeply regrets storming off earlier, he just dislikes that his boyfriends don't take important situations or issues seriously as much as he does. As soon as he puts Craig back in his right mind, he's going contact Clyde through telepathy so the brunette can tell him himself where he'd suddenly gone off to.
"Oh, so you have no idea, huh?" Craig asks sounding eerily calm. But he was only like that for merely one second, his body starts racking with tremors as he bares his fangs. "As if I'd fucking believe you! You fucking killed him!" He reaches for Butters with a hand surrounded in a icy aura, but he leaps back.
"Damn it, I didn't wanna have ta do this..." Just when he raises a hand up to his left ear, he's only able to touch the red studded earring before hurried footsteps and a familiar voice stops him.
"Leo, don't do it!"
A man with apricot curly hair swiftly appears right next to him, he looks at the teacher in shock. "M-Mr. Edgewood?!"
"Huh? Edgewood?" Craig stares confusedly at the fourth clone's brown eyes that are glancing back and forth between him and the other guy. Now that he thinks about it, this is actually the fourth recognizable name he's heard; first was Kyle, then Tweek, afterwards was Butters, and now Edgewood. Could it be that...this entire time he was attacking-he cries out when he feels a twinge in his head.
"Craig, what's wrong?" He hears one of the men's deep voice ask him, sounding concerned.
"S-shut up..." A hand on his head, Craig feels very weak. He exerted himself too much, but he can't give up now. He has to avenge Clyde, no, he must avenge him. He did nothing wrong to be killed in the first place.
"I think the magic that spread throughout the buildin' earlier is the reason he's actin' weird," Butters assumes.
Leon frowns at his younger brother, who drops to one knee still holding his head. "Yeah, I noticed. But that's not why. What that did was disable our teleportation and telepathic abilities, for how long, I'm not sure."
"Oh." Butters didn't know that's what it truly did, but it makes sense given how unpleasant he was feeling after the flow of magic passed by. And here he was thinking of contacting Clyde through telepathy after he calmed Craig down.
"Do you know what set Craig off?" Mr. Edgewood asks him.
"He thinks Clyde is dead."
"He is, and you fucking killed him," Craig practically growls. He may be weakened, but hearing these stupid clones sound so certain that Clyde is still alive, and also denying having killed him reignited his anger. They were created from Clyde's real killer so that means they technically did kill the brunette. But at least the little girl stopped talking to him, must be disappointed that he let the man with neon green eyes get away. He doesn't give a shit how she feels, he'll find and kill that bastard if it's the last thing he does.
"Words ain't gonna get through ta him," Butters tells Mr. Edgewood, who sighs.
"I figured as much. Since he's not looking too great, it should be easy to knock him out. In the meantime, you should go and get that ice around your neck taken care of." Butters nods his head compliantly, the coldness seeping into his wounds feel like it's about numb his blood.
"You're not going anywhere." Standing back up, Craig channels some magic into his fists, but the pale blue auras instantly fizzle out. He no longer has any more energy left. His silt pupils reverting back to black, he collapses to the floor on his hands and knees, panting tiredly. Butters hates seeing him like this, turning away, he runs down the hallway.
Frowning, Mr. Edgewood walks towards Craig. "Don't push yourself anymore, you've exceeded your limit."
"Ugh...d-damn it..." Craig weakly curls his hands into fists, his breathing gradually stabilizing.
Now towering over him, Leon gets down on one knee, and pats his head. "Let's get you to your room, alright?" Craig smacks his arm away.
"Fuck you...fuck you..." Craig repeats the same two words a few more times, his voice trembling until he starts crying. He's failed, he won't be able to avenge Clyde in his current state. He fought so, so hard, but those damned clones were stronger than he expected them to be. How is he going to explain his death to Butters? He loathes the thought of telling him...
Leon suddenly embraces him to sit upright, taking him aback. His eyes had reverted back to amber while his head was down. "Clyde is still alive, I promise you he is."
"Stop fucking lying to me!" Craig exclaims angrily, yearning to push this man away. "I heard him get his head cut off, and saw his decapitated body!" The image of his headless boyfriend will remain fresh in his mind, and will haunt him for a long time.
"What you heard and saw weren't real, vampires can't die if they're beheaded. You and the rest of the students were taught this."
Craig doesn't have the strength to recall having learned that, but for some reason, he feels that this man is being honest with him. "Then where the fuck is he?" He asks almost emotionlessly.
Taking a moment to answer him, Leon separates, sliding his hands down to his shoulders. "...I don't know, but I'll search the entire building for him." However, he gets the deepest feeling that the troublemaker is no longer in the academy. This is most likely her doing. Craig stares blankly into the man's now hazel eyes, seeing the supposed clone as who he really is and has been this entire time. His older brother. "Here," Leon removes his hands from his shoulders, turning around in preparation to give Craig a piggyback. "I'll carry you to your room."
Craig wants to deny the offer, but he strangely doesn't feel like it. Must be because he's exhausted. He musters up some energy to extend his arms out over Leon's shoulders, and then fold them around his neck. Scooping Craig up from underneath his legs, Leon stands up. But before he moves, he narrows his eyes and gazes out the adjacent window that's being abused by the rain. "I hope you're proud of yourself, Rosa." Shaking his head in disappointment, he turns around and walks down the hall towards Craig and his boyfriends' room.
/
"Happy now, Clyde?" Rosa asks, emphasizing the brunette's name in annoyance. Now that her older brothers are gone from the mirror's view, she touches the glass, and it goes blank, coating the room in further darkness. Of course Leon would figure out that she was the one behind Clyde's supposed death, and would be immensely upset at her. But she doesn't care. She did say that she was going to get back at Craig, and she meant it. Even though she wanted him to suffer both physically and mentally, she can settle for having just emotionally damaged him.
The teen standing behind her chair takes a step back, the anger in his vivid red eyes lessening and changing back to lavender. "Yeah cuz I really didn't wanna kill you since you're Craig's little sister."
Rosa turns to him while making a face. "Like you could do anything to me with those burnt arms," she points out. The stench of his seared skin is starting to get nauseating.
"Hey, I have my ways." Rosa just rolls her eyes. "Aww, gonna cry now that your plan's been ruined?" Clyde mocks as if he's talking to a baby.
"No, because jokes on you, my plan didn't get ruined." She sticks her tongue out at him before turning back around, crossing her arms. "Now leave already, you fucking stink."
"As much as I would really like to do that, how do you expect me to leave when I don't know where we...Wait, are we Japan?!" He wasn't able to examine the room thoroughly after he was crudely brought here.
Rosa gets up, turning to him with a glare. "Keep it down, will you? And no, we're not in Japan, we're still in America. This is a house Vin created."
"...Uh huuuh," is all Clyde says. "Welp, guess I'm walkin' out then." He nears the shoji, biting down on his bottom lip to keep from cursing when he tries to lift one of his arms. Once he returns to the academy, he's going straight to Dr. Kero. It's going to take weeks or maybe even longer for his arms to heal on their own, and he'd rather tell the male nurse how he got these burns instead of Craig and Butters, Craig especially.
"No, stop!"
Clyde pauses, his fingers just inches away from the handle. He looks to the girl with a deadpan look. "Didn't you just tell me to keep it down? Actually, why do we have to do that? Is there somebody else here?"
"Yes, now get away from the door."
Eying the urgency in her blue eyes, Clyde lowers his hand while turning to face her. "That guy in all black here?"
She raises an eyebrow. "Why? You wanna get revenge?"
Clyde can honestly care less about doing that. Yes, the man had managed to catch him off guard, but that's only because he had did something to him that prevented him from moving. Clyde is sure of it. "No, I thought he was the reason you started freakin' out. But since he's not here..." He looks back at the shoji, ready to open it again.
"You idiot, don't-"
A startling sound of shattering glass resonates throughout the abode after Clyde opens the door. Soon after, two voices asking about the noise come from somewhere nearby, then the sound of another door sliding open and footsteps heading their way follow.
Mentally cursing out the shocked brunette, Rosa rushes over to him and transports them to the academy before her younger siblings caught them.
Kyle - who's carrying Tweek bridal style - Kenny, Stan, and Markus are stood before the white door belonging to the infirmary. Kenny wasn't able to teleport them directly inside due to it being locked.
"How pissed do you guys think the old man'll be when he sees his door busted down?" Kenny asks.
"More pissed than when you put a big crack in his wall," Markus answers.
"It wasn't that big," Kenny pouts, sweatdropping at the reminder. He's practically forbidden from entering Dr. Kero's workspace unless he suffers a serious injury.
"Well, we don't have much of a choice," Kyle says, then he kicks the door right off its hinges.
As soon as it lands harshly to the floor, Kyle walks in and gently lays Tweek down on the first bed. After staring at the fallen door for a moment, Markus and Stan walk in also. Kenny steps into the room picking up the door, trying to stabilize it so it can at least appear still intact.
"Can you guys look for some blood vials within the cabinets for me?" Kyle asks, not wanting to be away from Tweek even from a short distance.
"Sure," Markus complies, then he and Stan get to searching.
Kyle goes to grab the stool, and places it right next to the bed Tweek is in. He inspects all of the stabs and cuts that marred his torso, becoming horrified at a stab wound in his chest. He's only left slightly at ease after getting a closer look, his heart wasn't punctured. He slips his hand under Tweek's own, he'll never forgive himself for allowing Tweek - the vampire he has now acknowledged as his lover - to have gone through the same torment a second time. They both didn't want each other to get hurt ever again, but in the end, Kyle failed to stay true to his word. He even promised Tweek that he wouldn't ever let him experience that again, yet... "I'm so fucking pathetic..." He starts crying, fighting to keep his sobbing silent. The deluge outside is sounding over his whimpering.
Stan and Markus can tell that he's quietly weeping from the movement of his shoulders, and neither are willing to disturb him. But Tweek's life is in grave danger. Stan musters up the courage to go near Kyle, tapping him on the shoulder. "We only found two." Markus comes to stand beside Stan.
Kyle looks to him with a sniffle. "T-thank you." Removing his hand from under Tweek's palm, he takes the small plastic bottles in each hand. Wiping his eyes with another sniffle, Kyle sets one of the bottles down next to the available space on the bed, opens the one he's holding, then sips in all of the blood.
Kenny finally manages to align the door perfectly still, turning around to see Kyle feeding Tweek blood. Usually the thought of Kyle kissing anyone would unsettle him, but since he no longer likes him that way, he doesn't feel even a pinch of jealousy. "Let me heal him," he says ambling towards Tweek's bed. "Those blood vials won't be enough."
Kyle separates after feeding Tweek every last drop of blood from in his mouth. "I know, but he still needed it since he's lost so much." He wipes the blood from his and Tweek's lips and chins.
"Well, I'll take over from here. You all stand back." The three teens do as told, curious to see how Kenny will go about healing Tweek. Kyle has never seen or known that he could do something like that. "Stan?"
Said noirette blinks at the sudden call of his name. "Yeah, what's up?"
Kenny turns his head to the side. "I'm gonna need your help after I'm done."
It takes a couple of moments, but Stan comprehends what Kenny meant. Despite being immensely hesitant, he owes Kenny at least that much for being so kind and understanding to him as of late. "S-sure, okay."
Kenny smiles. "Don't worry, I'll be veeery gentle," he says with a wink before facing Tweek, failing to see the developing blush on Stan's cheeks.
Kenny gently places his hands on Tweek's torso, both his eyes and the marking on his body radiating a dark red. His hands give off an aura of the same color, and shortly afterwards Tweek's injuries gradually begin to close up.
Kyle, Stan, and Markus watch him throughout the process, until they notice a pained look forming on Kenny's face.
"W-wait, Kenny, you're-"
"Don't try to stop him, Kyle," Markus advises. "This was something he wanted to do."
Kyle presses his lips into a troubled line, aware of the fact but it still doesn't make him feel any less worried.
A thin line of blood slips down Kenny's chin, however he ignores the intense pain as best as he can. He can't lose focus, not even when he coughs up blood.
"Kenny..." Kyle says softly. Stan and Markus are looking just as concerned.
They know that Kenny is finished when the auras from his hands swiftly fade away, then he drops to the floor. They quickly go to his side, his neck and body having similar injuries as the ones Tweek sustained. Kyle then looks at the teen in bed, his wounds are completely gone.
Kyle frowns. "You didn't heal him, you only transferred his injuries to yourself."
Kenny chuckles weakly, he knew he would figure it out. "I-I technically...did h-heal him though."
"We gotta get you some blood asap," Markus says urgently.
All of a sudden, a loud sound startles them. All eyes, except Kenny's and Tweek's (who's now regaining his consciousness thanks to the noise), gape towards the entrance of the room. The sky deems this a suitable opportunity to produce thunder.
Dr. Kero is staring down at his fallen door, his hand that was about to unlock it held in the air. After merely tapping the doorknob with one of the keys, the door fell down like he'd kicked it. The lens of his glasses have a foreboding glint in them. Slowly, he looks up at the group of teenagers, then solely at Kenny. He may be eerily silent, but the teens know that his blood pressure is skyrocketing.