Yup, this is a thing now! A Movie for L-UMA, who would've thought, right?

This is just a little sneak peek chapter to test the waters: the story still needs a lot to be done before It's completed, but I will try my best to do just that.

Also, no, the chapters are probably not going to be as long as this one: they'll be as long as necessary.

So, without further ado, here's my Halloween special! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Ten years had passed since the fate of a little city known as Royal Woods was in danger of being completely destroyed thanks to the actions of a bunch of supernatural plushies coming from another world, simply known as the Twilight World.

But thanks to the actions of a certain pair of girls, one named Girl Jordan, one named Lily, as well as the collaborative forces of the lux and umbra auras, the disaster was averted. The portal to the Twilight World was closed.

Peace reigned once more.

And among the peace time, Lily, now around the age of an elementary school kid, eagerly got ready to begin her first day on her last grade of elementary school: she put on her uniform, tied her medium-length hair into a pair of ponytails, grabbed her backpack, and raised her clenched fist as she proclaimed with utmost excitement:

"I'm ready!"

"Lily! Come down to eat your breakfast!" a woman's voice shouted from downstairs.

Without changing either her pose or her tone, the girl promptly added, "I'm almost ready!"

The girl quickly ran downstairs, hopping down the stairs and catching the attention of Luan, now a woman with a rather nifty business suit, who was reading a book. "Lily, you know it's not safe to bounce up and down the stairs."

"Says the one who executed several deadly pranks every April Fools Day years ago," Lily replied, before edging over the couch and nudging her older sister. "Not to mention that reckless behavior is the reason you're a librarian now."

"Okay, I'll give you a point there," Luan chuckled and closed her book. "But still, what I'm saying is true: you should be a bit more careful."

"Yeah, I know, I was just teasing you," Lily replied, before booping Luan's nose. "Good luck at work today!"

"Have fun at school today, too," Luan replied.

With that said, Lily jumped over to the kitchen and sat down, just in time for Lori to serve everybody breakfast. Alongside Lily, the rest of her sisters were around the table, and they each wore either suits or more formal clothing than usual, no doubt ready to go do their own jobs once breakfast was over.

"So, first day of fifth grade, huh?" Luna asked, getting Lily's attention. "You must be very excited, right?"

"You bet I am!" Lily answered as she grabbed her sandwich and took a bite out of it. "I fwas swo exwited, ah cwouldn sleep las nigh!"

"Lily, please don't talk with your mouth full," Lana said, taking a bite of her sandwich and swallowing it afterward. "It'll be easier to understand if you eat, then swallow your food."

"To be fair, you're the reason she got that habit in the first place," Lola remarked, taking a bite out of her sandwich. "Every time you were in a rush or needed to get something done quickly, you ate so fast that you talked even when your mouth was full."

"She's not the only who did it, of course, just the one who did it the most," Lori spoke as she began serving juice. "Really, we should all literally be responsible for the bad habits Lily may have gotten over the years."

"Um, I'm right here, you know?" Lily asked, taking another bite out of her food, then swallowing it before she continued, "You could at least wait until I've left the house before you start talking as if I wasn't here, right?"

"Now that you mention it," Luna checked her watch. "It's around 7:50 AM."

"What?! My classes start in ten minutes!" Lily exclaimed before she devoured her food quickly.

"Why are you panicking?" Lynn shrugged. "Just wait for the bus like everybody else."

"The school bus has been inactive since it crashed five years ago, remember?" Luna pointed out. "They still haven't found a replacement for it yet."

"They've had five years to replace that old heap of junk and they still haven't done aything about it?" Lynn rolled her eyes and put her hand on her cheek. "If that doesn't scream incompetent, I don't know what does."

Then, Lynn got a funny idea. "Hey, Lily, I've read that if you eat a loaf of bread while running late for school, you'll gain tremendous speed that'll let you arrive no matter how late you are!"

Once she swallowed everything, Lily hastily grabbed a loaf of bread and put it on her mouth before she ran off, Lynn laughing her butt off as the remaining sisters glared at the athlete, and Lori chased after Lily shouting:

"Lily, wait! Lynn was only joking!"

One explanation and aborted anime cliche later, Lily walked leisurely across the streets, looking at her surroundings as they brought a smile to her face: flowers were blooming, birds were chirping, and a large giraffe toy was poking out of the backpack of the elementary schooler in front of her-

Wait, what?

"Um, excuse me?" Lily asked, poking the student's arm. "Your giraffe's poking out of your backpack."

The school stopped, turned around, and revealed herself to be Darcy, who promptly noticed the loose giraffe and put it back inside with a sheepish smile. "Thanks a lot, Mrs. Teri would've killed me if she saw I brought my toy giraffe again."

"I didn't know we could bring our toys to the school," Lily looked elsewhere and saved her hands on her pockets. "I knew I should've brought Fenton with me."

"We're not allowed, I mean, I'm pretty sure what I just said made that clear," Darcy lowered her head. "I bring my toy giraffe just in case I'm feeling upset. It's kind of like my safety toy, that makes me feel good whenever I'm feeling down, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, my toy fox Fenton was something like that too," Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "But then something happened and he got destroyed. Mom and Dad don't have the economical ability to buy another one, too, so I only have faint memories of him."

"I see... well, you have my condolences," Darcy said before she got an idea. "Hey, how about we walk to school together? You go to the Royal Woods public school, right?"

Lily nodded, and with a smile on both their faces, the girls began walking side-by-side towards the school, whose building was seen in the distance shortly afterwards.

"It's my first time heading into elementary school," Lily took a deep breath and lowered her head. "I'm honestly kind of excited, but also a bit worried."

"Well, we're lucky that the school of Royal Woods has both elementary and middle school sections then," Darcy walked a couple steps forward and got in front of Lily, stopping her on her tracks. "My class won't start for a few minutes, so I can come with you and show you around until you feel more comfortable. How does that sounds?"

Lily smiled brightly. "Sounds like a plan!"

Darcy nodded. "The name's Darcy, by the way. What's your name?"

"I'm Lily-" and then, the young girl realized something. "Hey, wait a minute, my sister Lisa had a friend named Darcy."

"Well, what a coincidence," Darcy replied, gaining a teasing smile. "I also happened to have a friend named Lisa when I was younger!"

Lily took a moment to think about what this meant, and as soon as she did, she and Darcy found themselves at the entrance to the school. "You're Lisa's old friend, Darcy!"

"And you're her younger sister, Lily!" Darcy replied before she grabbed Lily's hand. "But we can save our overjoyed reactions later, for now, we need to head to our classrooms."

Lily and Darcy held hands, and walked together until they reached the fifth grade classroom; Lily's classroom.

"Alright, this is your classroom," Darcy said as she released Lily. "I'm going to go to my own classroom right now. I hope we see each other again when the day's over."

Lily nodded and waved goodbye to Darcy as the middle schooler walked away, bidding farewell too. Once she was out of view, the girl turned back to the door and narrowed her eyes with determination.

This was it. The beginning of the end of her elementary school years. New class, new classmates, new subjects... for the love of whoever's above, let it be easy on the poor girl.

Lily grabbed the door, and slid it open... only to find a completely empty classroom inside. The student walked towards the middle of the classroom, and looked around for a few minutes before she reached a conclusion:

"I got it! My classmates must be invisible!"

"No, they just haven't arrived yet."

Lily flinched and turned around, ready to fight back against whoever said that. However, she quickly calmed down once she saw the person who said that was a woman who looked rather friendly.

In fact, she looked rather familiar as well... and once Lily took a closer look, she realized why:

"Girl Jordan?!"

"Just Jordan will be fine, Lily," Girl Jordan replied, waving her hand. "Guy Jordan left Royal Woods years ago, and since everybody believes he has no plans of returning anytime soon, they decided to drop the "Guy" and "Girl" part of our names."

"Oh, I see," Lily clasped her hands and chirped. "So, what are you doing here?!"

"I'm an elementary teacher. Or at least, an assistant elementary teacher," Girl Jordan scratched the back of her head and smiled sheepishly. "After Mrs. Shrinivas brought up how the Loud siblings were quite a riot back when they were still students, Principal Huggings decided to add an assistant teacher for the elementary classes, and I was lucky enough to snatch the position."

"Good for you, but you have to admit, it's kind of a big coincidence that we meet here at the school, don't you think?" Lily answered, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow. "I mean, last time we saw each other... I think that was back when I was a baby, right?"

"Yeah, I still remember how small and cheerful you were," Girl Jordan raised her hands and looked at her palms before mimicking the position she used to hold the baby Lily. "You were so small I could grab you with both arms and lift you with no problem."

Lily, without warning, gained star-like pupils as she began jumping up and down. "Try that now! Try lifting me now!"

Girl Jordan flinched and took a step back. "Wait, really? You want me to hold and lift you? We're at school, you know?"

Lily either didn't hear or didn't care about the woman's legitimate point, as she shouted "Lift me!" repeatedly while bouncing up and down. This continued until a stern voice spoke:

"Shouldn't you be heading to your seat?"

The girls turned around and saw Mrs. Johnson walking into the room. Besides a new black suit and some bags under her eyes, the woman didn't look that much different from ten years ago.

"Oh, Mrs. Johnson!" Girl Jordan stammered as the redhead walked up to her. "Sorry, I got caught up with Lily and I forgot I needed to take her to her seat."

"It's okay, Catherine," Mrs. Johnson replied, sending a chill down Girl Jordan's spine. "You're dealing with a Loud, after all, but please do take her to her seat before class starts."

Girl Jordan nodded, and Mrs. Johnson walked to her desk as Lily asked, "Catherine?"

"It's my first name," Girl Jordan twiddled her fingers. "Mrs. Johnson calls me that when she wants to make something clear."

"I see..." Lily clasped her hands and clapped twice. "So, where do I sit?!"

Girl Jordan took a deep breath. "Right, follow me."

Lily nodded and cheerfully followed Girl Jordan to her seat, bouncing up and down as she did.

Darcy kept walking towards her classmate, going upstairs along the way. Once she reached the second floor and walked past a spot between the lockers, however, she stopped and walked back to the spot and turned back towards it.

On the wall was a rather peculiar crack, a supernatural crack with a grey glow coming from it. Darcy tilted her head and walked closer towards the crack, and extended her hand towards it, wondering whether she could touch it.

This action gave her two answers: yes, she could touch it, and as soon as she did, the crack expanded with the touch, now revealing a little piece of whatever was out on the other side.

Seeing this reaction, the girl quickly ran to the principal's office, and barged in. "Principal Huggins!"

The man flinched and raised an eyebrow, before he found himself being dragged by Darcy to the spot in particular, where the crack remained. Darcy pointed at the crack, and as the man seemingly took a closer look at it, the girl said, "I found this crack on the wall out of nowhere! And when I touched it, it-"

"I don't see any cracks here."

Darcy flinched and glanced back at the crack, then at the man, and repeated this a couple times before she released the man's hand. She was seeing a crack, right? She couldn't be imagining things.

"B-But, Principal Huggins, there's definitely a crack there!" Darcy clenched her fists and stomped the ground. "It's glowing and everything! What do you mean there isn't any?!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm telling you what I see," Principal Huggins answered with a shrug. "You may see a crack, but I can't see anything."

The man walked back to his office, telling the girl to "go back to your classroom" as he left, and Darcy looked back at the crack with disbelief. "He couldn't see it?"

"No, and neither can anybody who wasn't an aura or squire."

Darcy turned around and saw a man walking towards her; this man was Clyde, who walked towards the girl and crouched down as he turned to face the crack. "I tried to show some people the same crack a while ago, but they also said they couldn't see it."

"But it doesn't make any sense!" Darcy folded her back and turned back to the crack with exasperation. "It's a large, glowing crack on the wall! How could anybody not see it?!"

"Well, I have a theory as to why, but I'm afraid we don't have time for that," Clyde stood up and dusted himself. "Our classes are about to start, and I've come to take you to your classroom."

Darcy took a deep breath. "Yes, Professor Clyde."

Clyde extended his hand towards the girl, and she held it, the pair walking to their classroom as she looked back at the crack one more time. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good...

Lily, sitting on the last seat on the first row of desks, looked at the scenery through the window as Mrs. Johnson called some of her classmates to introduce themselves.

And then Mrs. Johnson noticed Lily's leisure scenery watching.

"Lily Loud!"

The girl flinched and turned back to face the woman.

"Since you seem to be on the clouds right now, how about you land on earth and introduce yourself?"

Lily smiled and eagerly nodded, before she stood up and exclaimed:

"I'm Lily Loud! I'm ten years old, and a former Lux Aura! I hope we can all get along and have one great final elementary school year!"

The "Lux Aura" part caused her classmates to begin murmuring among themselves, while Mrs. Johnson's eyes widened and Girl Jordan flinched and began calmly panicking.

"Lux Aura? Did she say she was a Lux Aura?"

"I thought those were a myth!"

"They pretty much are; she's probably on that age where she thinks she's a Lux Aura when she's not."

Lily didn't take kindly to the last statement. "I am a Lux Aura! Or at least, I used to be!"

"Alright, Lily, that'll be enough," Mrs. Johnson stated before she threw a look at Girl Jordan. "Catherine, take Lily outside and let her know why she shouldn't say such things out loud!"

"Y-Yes, Mrs. Johnson."

Girl Jordan quickly grabbed Lily's hand, and as the girl asked whether she was in trouble or not, the woman dragged her out the classroom, and the introductions continued, the mention of the Lux Aura quickly being forgotten.

"What were you thinking, blurting out you used to be a Lux Aura?!" Girl Jordan snapped at a concerned Lily.

"Is there any problem with saying that?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow and shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, I wasn't lying or anything: I did use to be a Lux Aura."

"Whether you used to be a Lux Aura or not doesn't matter, Lily, what matters is that that's not something you're supposed to say out loud!" Girl Jordan folded her arms. "It's been ten years since the Dawning Dusk incident happened: most people don't remember about that clearly, and it would be better if they didn't!"

"Why?" Lily folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "What's so wrong with letting people know I used to be a Lux Aura?"

"Because sometime years ago, people started linking the Lux Aura idea with the Dawning Dusk incident: and the entire madness that was the year the Auras appeared, then vanished," Girl Jordan put a hand on Lily's shoulder. "Bringing up anything related to them is like asking people to remember that disaster."

Lily's eyes widened. "Wait, is that true?"

"It was the main focus of a news broadcast years ago, and it's also a rather common topic, the aftermath of its existence anyway, on the internet!" Girl Jordan raised an eyebrow. "Have you never heard of the news until now?"

"I don't watch the news channel, my sisters do," Lily scratched the back of her head. "And while I go to the internet every once in a while, whenever I try to search anything related to the lux auras, umbra auras, or anything related to what happened years ago, the laptop says I'm not allowed to search it."

Girl Jordan rolled her eyes. "Then your sisters have kept it a secret. While I can't blame them for doing it, I'll still have to talk to them when I get the chance to ask them what else they've done to keep you in the dark."

"So, the Lux Auras, Umbra Auras, the Twilight World, all those things are linked with the apocalypse and myths now?" Lily recapped, scratching her chin. "And as such, most people think they didn't exist or otherwise assume they didn't?"

"Yes, but don't say it as to imply that people are doing it out of malice," Girl Jordan said as she put a hand on Lily's shoulder, and gave her a reassuring smile. "Everybody simply thinks that moving on from the apocalypse ten years ago is for the better. And besides, it's been ten years since the portal to the Twilight World was closed as well."

Lily frowned, and though growing hesitant, Girl Jordan still finished, "You have to admit that afte so many years of peace, people would forget about what happened."

Lily lowered her head and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I see what you mean. Sorry for blurting that out, I'll be sure to be more careful next time."

"Perfect! Glad we could come to a compromise so quickly!" Girl Jordan stood up and rubbed her hands. "Now, how about we go back to the classroom, and act like we never had this conversation?"

Lily nodded, but as soon as she did, Girl Jordan hastily added, "By that I mean you should still do as we agreed, but don't ever bring up we had this conversation again."

"I know what you mean, Girl Jordan," Lily put a hand on her hip. "You seem a bit jumpier than I remember."

"Well, that's... that's something for another day," Girl Jordan hastily grabbed Lily's hand. "Let's just go back to the classroom already."

Lily nodded once more and walked along with Girl Jordan, who pulled her arm rather harshly.

"Alright, class, today's the first day of school, so we're not going to do much," Clyde explained as he took out a clipboard. "We'll have all of you introduce yourselves, and give you a rundown of everything you'll see this school year, so you can prepare yourselves for what's to come, got it?"

"Yes, Professor McBride" the students answered in unison. That is, except for one single student, whose mind was caught up with something else.

This student was, of course, Darcy, who only stopped looking at the ceiling when Clyde walked up to her and gently smacked her with his book. "Huh? What?"

"Listen, Helmandollar, I know there's probably a lot of things running through your mind at this point, but I'd appreciate it if you tried to pay attention," Clyde said as he adjusted his glasses. "After all, if you can't pay attention when the only thing we're doing is introductions and a recap, then I fear for how you'll do on the rest of the semester."

"Right, sorry, Professor McBride," Darcy lowered her head and frowned. "My mind's just... all over the place ever since I saw something on the way here."

"Then we'll start introductions from reverse alphabetical order," Clyde took a deep breath. "That should give you enough time to recollect your mind."

Darcy nodded, and as the introductions began, Darcy rubbed her forehead as she tried to wrap her head around the fact that the crack she saw was somehow not seen by Principal Huggins. She and Clyde could see it, so it couldn't have been her imagination.

But wait, if Darcy and Clyde could see the crack, then maybe... someone else could see it too...

The hours flew by fast, and once the introductions and recaps were done, the students bid farewell to their teacher, and everybody began to save their books to head home.

Just as she saved her last book, Lily was struck by a paper ball, with the girl quickly turning to the one who threw it: a couple girls who giggled to themselves while acting like they didn't do it.

Lily looked at the ceiling as she tried remembering what Lynn told her to do if she was ever bullied.

If somebody begins bullying you, then there are many things you can do, but most have a caveat: you could let it go, but the bullying will get worse. You could tell the school faculty, but there's a chance they won't do anything or not believe you. You could fight back, but you'll likely be seen as the bully instead of the bullied.

There's no right choice, really, just do what you think is most fitting.

Lily took a deep breath, and promptly walked to the leader of the girls, who threw an annoyed look at her as she presented the ball of crumbled paper. "What do you want?"

"Is this your paper?" Lily asked as she handed the ball back. "It seems to have magically flown from your desk to mine."

The girl threw the paper, and slapped Lily with it. "Don't just assume things, you prick! That piece of garbage's not mine!"

Lily's eyes remained close for a moment before she snapped them open, revealing black sclera with white circular pupils. This sight caught Girl Jordan and Mrs. Johnson's attention, but just as the former tried to stop whatever would happen next, the latter stopped her, keeping a close eye on the scene as it played out.

Lily promptly shot a furious glare at the girl, grabbed her by the neck of her uniform, and threw her over the row of desks in front of them until she landed at Girl Jordan's arms. And while Mrs. Johnson looked rather curious at Lily, Girl Jordan's look could be described as "unbridled fury."

And as if on cue, Lily blinked once again and wobbled a bit as her eyes turned back to normal. She grabbed the girl's desk nearby and grabbed her head as the girl's lackeys ran up to her, partially to see if she was okay, partially out of fear Lily would do something to them next.

"W-What?" Lily asked, taking a look at her surroundings. "Did something happen?"

"Did something happen?!" Girl Jordan stomped her way to Lily. "You just picked one of your classmates and flung her over to Mrs. Johnson's desk, because she threw a paper ball at you!"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I... did that?"

Girl Jordan's eyes widened, though her anger didn't diminish in the slightest. "You seriously don't remember what just happened?"

"I remember walking up to the girl, handing her paper back, and then being slapped by her," Lily rubbed her forehead for a moment. "Everything after that... is blank."

"Then the black eyes with white pupils really were what I feared," Girl Jordan frowned and scratched the back of her head as she faced Mrs. Johnson. "You should probably go see Mrs. Johnson as soon as you can; she seems interested in those eyes-"

Suddenly, Darcy barged into the classroom. "Is Lily Loud here?!"

Clyde came in soon after. "Sorry for the melodramatic entrance."

"It's okay, Mr. McBride, I'm used to people barging into my classroom without warning," Mrs. Johnson replied rather calmly. "If you're looking for Lily, she's right there with my assistant."

"Oh, hi Darcy," Lily greeted as the girl and professor walked to her. "Is something the matter?"

Darcy immediately grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her with her out of the classroom as she exclaimed, "It'll be easier to explain if you see it for yourself!"

With the pair out of sight, Girl Jordan and Clyde exchanged looks before they sighed in unison.

Lily kept a hand on her head as Darcy ran all the way back to the spot where she first saw the crack, and once there, she released Lily and pointed at it. "See the crack over there."

"Of course I can see it," Lily folded her arms. "Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"I know, right?!" Darcy looked back at the crack with a concerned look. "But outside of myself and Professor Clyde, I haven't seen anybody else who's been able to see this, somehow!"

Lily tilted her head, and Darcy thusly explained; "I showed the crack to Principal Huggins, but he said there was nothing there. Professor Clyde came up to me, and said he could also see it and had a theory as to why Principal Huggins couldn't see it."

"The theory is actually about how only those who "bonded" ten years ago can see the cracks."

The girls turned around and saw Clyde walking up to them while he adjusted his glasses. "And I would've appreciated it if you two had heard my theory before you checked the crack."

"Sorry for running off like that, Professor Clyde, but I needed to see if we weren't the only ones who could see this thing," Darcy folded her arms and raised an eyebrow as she looked at the ceiling. "Now that we know we're not the only ones, however, why is it that only the three of us seem to be able to see the crack?"

"We're not the only ones: like I said literally a few seconds ago, there's a chance those who "bonded" with Lincoln and Lisa ten years ago and became auras or squires, can see these same cracks," Clyde explained, taking a quick look at the crack before he added, "For you see, these aren't ordinary cracks: these are cracks leading to the Twilight World."

The girls' eyes widened, and before they could ask what he meant, Girl Jordan appeared and shouted "Hey!" at the top of her lungs. "You can't just take Lily away like that after what she did!"

"Right, that was another thing I wanted to tell you," Clyde folded his arms and looked disapprovingly at Darcy. "It wasn't a very nice thing to drag Lily all the way over here after, as I was told, "grabbing and throwing a fellow classmate while sporting black eyes and white pupils." Now, apologize this instant, Helmandollar."

Darcy frowned and lowered her head. "Sorry for taking Lily without asking permission first."

"Apology accepted, but please, ask first before you do anything!" Girl Jordan took a deep breath and walked up to Lily. "Okay, listen Lily, Mrs. Johnson wants to share a couple words with you back at her classroom, so please come with me so you can go home after, alright?"

Lily groaned as she followed Girl Jordan. "Why do I get the feeling this entire day's starting to feel like one giant sequence of back and forth?"

Once Lily was out of view, Clyde turned to Darcy and spoke, "Alright, Helmandollar, you can go home now."

"But what about the crack?" Darcy put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. "We can't just leave it there!"

"There's nothing we can do about it either: only we "Bonded" can see it, and if we touch it, it'll only expand," Clyde scratched his chin. "For now, go home, take a rest, and hope nothing happens to it until I can find a way to deal with it."

Seeing that there was no other choice, the girl saved her hands on her pockets and walked back home. A supernatural glowing crack appears on the wall, and only those who were part of the "system" ten years ago can see it, but do nothing to fix it? What was next, Lily having some residue Lux-Umbra-Whatever power inside her?

"There is a chance there could be some... residue of magical power within you, Lily Loud."

That line was uttered by Mrs. Johnson, who rolled her chair and folded her arms as she threw an amused eyebrow at Lily, who looked rather surprised at the sudden remark. Her? Still having magical power? All magical power from the Twilight World has been taken away ten years ago, when the portal to that dimension was closed, there was no way she could still have some leftover power!

Besides, Girl Jordan didn't seem to have any leftover power on her own, and she was the one who got stuff done back then! If she didn't have any leftover power, what reason would Johnson have to believe that Lily does?

"Excuse me, Mrs. Johnson," Girl Jordan spoke, getting her boss' attention. "I know you probably have your reasons for believing such an... outlandish idea, but you could at least give us some actual proof to your claim, right?"

"You want proof? Alright then," Mrs. Johnson crossed her legs, her tone remaining calm as she explained herself. "The black eyes with white pupils she had can't be denied; if they were caused by magic from the Twilight World, then it's proof that she still has some power from when she was a Lux Aura. If they weren't caused by it, then their supernatural nature has to mean that she still has magic within her, whether it's from the Twilight World or from another source."

"Okay, while I agree that one possible cause for those eyes could be leftover magic, there are possibly a dozen different causes for it," Girl Jordan replied, shaking her head. "I mean, I can't think of any other cause right now, but you have to admit we can't just assume that those eyes were caused by Twilight World magic."

"Um, I'm sorry, but what are you talking about?" Lily asked, glancing between the women. "Black eyes with white pupils? When did that happen?"

"When you blacked out and fought back against the classmate who bullied you," Mrs. Johnson smiled briefly. "Speaking of which, nice job defending yourself, but I'll ask you try to be a bit more careful when dealing with bullies next time; desks don't grow out of trees yet."

Lily blinked twice. "Yet?"

"Mrs. Johnson's convinced that there's a scientist known as "The Fool" who's been working on a special kind of seed that can grow into a tree, who can then grow any other kind of inorganic material, like... desks, apparently," Girl Jordan folded her arms and took a deep breath. "Of course, the fact that the scientist's only even mentioned on newspapers during April Fools Day should've given Mrs. Johnson a couple questions."

"You do you, Catherine. You do you," Mrs. Johnson turned back to Lily. "You may go now, Lily Loud. Your family's probably wondering where you've been right now."

Lily nodded, and after waving goodbye to Girl Jordan, she grabbed her backpack and left the classroom.

Once out of sight, Girl Jordan sat on the chair and twiddled her fingers. "Mrs. Johnson, do you seriously believe Lily's odd eyes in that moment could be because of residue magical power?"

"You saw them too, didn't you?"

"Supernatural events don't always have natural explanations: sometimes we have to think out-of-the-box to make sense out of the nonsensical," Mrs. Johnson lowered her eyelids. "Besides, I'm pretty sure you've seen them too."

Girl Jordan blinked twice. "Seen what, Mrs. Johnson?"

The woman leaned forward, and with a serious tone, she answered:

"The cracks."

Lily strolled cheerfully back home. She couldn't say the day was wasted, but she could say that it was a bit more eventful than usual: Seemingly blacking out and fighting back against a bully? Discovering the Auras had become a myth ten years later? Seeing a glowing, supernatural crack leading to the Twilight World on the walls of the Royal Woods School?

Okay, so the last one most definitely was something she'd need to think about and deal with later, but besides that, the rest of the day was pretty okay.

Now, all that was left was to head back home and take a rest, get ready for the next day and hope it wouldn't be as eventful as today. Maybe something as uneventful as the rest of today: just watch some TV, play some games, then rest and get prepared for the next day.

Normal and simple, what more could be asked?

Maybe a little more time to rest from what happened earlier, since as soon as Lily opened the door and walked inside, she dropped her backpack on the ground as soon as she saw a pair of familiar figures sitting on the couch.

A pair of familiar figures, made of energy, who promptly turned to face her as she said two, simple words:

"Lincoln? Lisa?"