I actually wasn't sure how long I wanted this chapter to be. Like the school play and the formal, I have a lot of the summer chapters already written. This chapter had 672 words written before, and now it has 1,920. There was one scene I cut, where Ventus shows off his Wayfinder, which would then lead to the kids wanting to make their own over the summer. But I don't think it's going to come up again now. Ah well.

Thank you for reading!

None of the kids looked like they wanted to be up at this unholy hour. But, for once, neither did the adults. Of the twelve of them, Ventus and Ava were still in their pajamas. Gula, Brain, Skuld and Strelitzia were dressed in clothes more suited for traveling, like sweatpants and loose t-shirts. Anora, Aced, and Ephemer made the attempt to wear actual clothes, but still looked like they had just gotten out of bed. This left only Lauriam, Ira, and Invi looking like they were ready for the day as usual. And then there was Shelby, who happily trotted beside Ava despite the risk of being stepped on.

In fact, Ira almost did step on Shelby as the Unicornis headmaster was trying to carry someone's luggage into the bus. Suffice to say, he was not amused.

"Ava," he impatiently demanded the next time he saw her, "You have to put that thing in a cage before we leave."

"But Shelby's fine." she pouted. Ira rubbed his temple in frustration. It was way too early to be having arguments like this, let alone when he was the one set to drive.

"He hissed at Aced earlier." he informed her, bitterly, in an attempt to get her to see his way. It didn't work in the slightest.

"So?" the Vulpes headmaster immediately questioned. "I'd hiss at Aced too if he was being rude to me!"

"He started it!" Aced shouted from somewhere behind the bus. "Stupid thing was trying to trip me!"

To further prove the point, Shelby -who was casually standing by Ava's ankles until then- hissed at the remark. Ira didn't even bother hiding his unnerved eye roll while Ava gave a bemused giggle.

"Can't believe I ever dated that..." Ira grumbled under his breath, but stopped himself from finishing. Instead, he then started to shout, loud enough to be heard from the dorms; "Alright! Everyone on the bus! We're losing daylight now!"

There was a small chorus of groans from the kids, too exhausted to be truly responsive to anything yet that morning. But they all started to make their way onto the bus regardless. Anora was second in line, and she sheepishly shuffled her way to one of the middle rows. Behind her, Ventus was quick to find a spot near the front.

"Hey Ven," Ephemer mused as he passed the younger boy, "You have a brother, don't you? Why didn't you ask him to come along on the trip?"

For a moment, the youngest of the group looked like Ephemer had verbally assaulted him.

"Vanitas doesn't… like other people. Very much." he quietly said, trying to avoid Ephemer's gaze.

"Ah, maybe next time!" the older boy smiled. Ven still didn't look at him. Giving a small shrug to the younger's reluctance, Ephemer moved on back to where Anora was sitting.

"Mind if I sit with you?" he asked. Anora looked up at him, raised a suspicious eyebrow, but nodded in agreement. Ephemer sure was more relaxed this morning than he had been for the past few weeks.

"Speaking of bringing along guests," Gula mused from the back row, directing his attention to Aced, who was sitting two rows in front of him, "Why didn't you invite Ms. April, Aced?"

The Ursus headmaster immediately flinched before turning his body around to face Gula. "W-why would I do that?" he stuttered.

"Oh, I don't know." the cheeky headmaster mused. "You two had gotten pretty close recently, so I was curious."

Aced looked Gula over with a critical eye- trying to figure out what game the youngest headmaster was playing at. "If you must know, April and Anastasia are going to visit April's parents." Aced then told him in a very certain tone.

"And you didn't join them?"

"W-well I did ask, if she wanted me to join them." Aced stammered. "But, but she insisted that it was still too early in our relationship for me to meet her parents."

"Oh really? How interesting..."

"How is that interesting?!"

"Oh, never mind..." Gula teasingly hummed as he got himself more comfortable. If it was meant to comfort Aced, it sure as fire didn't work.

"Are we all here?" Ira then questioned, making use of the bus's intercom system. It was Invi who did the head count and gave him a nod.

"Looks like it." she agreed.

"Then let's get this show on the road." Ira decided, turning on the bus's engine and smoothly guiding it out of Daybreak Drive.

Ventus had gone back to sleep the moment the bus started moving. He laid out on the bus's bench seat with a pillow at his head and his jacket as a makeshift blanket. His soft snoring could be heard if you got close enough, but no one wanted to disturb him. He was soon followed by Strelitzia, who had propped a pillow against the cold window, drifting off to sleep with the motion of the bus. Lauriam happened to look over at his sister and smiled. He then went through their suitcases to find a blanket for her. As Lauriam placed the blanket over his sister, she shifted a bit but did not stir, causing him to grin even more. He made himself a bit more comfortable before also going to sleep.

Skuld and Brain had decided to sit next to each other, both making idle chit-chat over the notes and questions they had at the last Dandelion meeting. Ephemer had pulled out one of his textbooks, Anora was curious enough to read over his shoulder, to which he did not stop her. Ava was lightly fussing over Shelby as she tried to keep the turtle on the bus's bench seat when all he wanted to do was explore. Invi looked like she had gone back to sleep, with her back against the bus window and her eyes closed, but she would occasionally mumble something to herself -something that sounded a lot like names of the teachers still at Daybreak during the summer- that made it clear that she was still trying to keep mental track of school security.

It was way still too early in the morning to be awake. Anora gave up the battle eleven minutes after the bus left school ground. She let out a long yawn as she laid her head down on Ephemer's shoulder. The girl was asleep before she even realized what she had done. Ephemer was quick to realize it, though, and did nothing to move her. Instead, he moved a bit to make it a bit easier for her before he laid his head on top of hers. A calm smile crossed his lips as he continued to read through his textbook. There was nothing more in this world that made you forget your worries than a long bus ride, and someone who made you feel happy resting on your shoulder.

. . .

Anora did not sleep for very long- waking up just an hour after she had gone to sleep. There was much more light outside than what there had been when they had first started. Ira was still driving the bus, and as she looked around, she found that only Brain and Invi were still awake. Brain looked to be playing some card game by himself and Invi had her back to the bus window, with one leg crossed on the bench and the other dangling off, while reading a rather steamy looking novella. Skuld had moved places, though, sitting in the bench behind Brain with her legs pulled up to her as she leaned her side onto the back of the bus bench.

Gula had moved places too, taking the spot next to Ava. He had gone to sleep with his head in Ava's lap. Ava herself was also asleep now, her head resting against the bus's window. Her fingers were intertwined in Gula's hair, as if she had been gently stroking him before drifting off. Shelby, much to the turtle's annoyance, had been placed in his cage.

"Anora." Brain's voice suddenly spoke up, surprising the girl for a moment. She looked up to see him standing in the aisle, a set of playing cards in his hands.

"Wanna play War with me?" Brain asked, playfully shuffling the cards. "Promise to go easy on you."

There wasn't much thought put into it when she nodded her head. What else did they have to do? So Anora carefully started to get up, made sure not to wake Ephemer in doing do, before going over to the bus bench that Brain had been sitting in earlier.

"It's really simple- my grandfather taught it to me when I was three." Brain then went on. "Aces are high and the suits don't matter. We both pick a card from our stack, whoever has the highest card takes both. If we happen to draw the same card, then we pick out three cards at random, flip them over, and whoever has the highest total numerical count wins all eight cards. Still with me so far?"

Anora nodded, watching with a still groggy interest as Brain gave her ten cards to start with. The two played their game in relative silence after. Anora couldn't tell who was winning, her brain too sluggish from waking to even really care too know, but at some point she did start to notice that Brain kept staring at her. After they had been playing for ten minutes, she had to stop.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" the older boy casually questioned. "You were winning."

Anora shook her head. Her face scrunched into an expression of conflict before quietly telling him, "You're staring at me."

Brain raised an eyebrow. "Was I?" He then gave a callous raise and lower of his shoulder before saying, "Really didn't meant to, honestly. You're very… different. But at the same time, you don't stand out in the slightest. You're almost a walking contradiction."

At this, Anora raised an eyebrow of confusion. Brain felt the need to explain himself further.

"Everyone here is either a headmaster or a Dandelion. Or related to one, in the case of Lauriam's sister. But you? You're no one. You shouldn't be here."

A cold chill ran down Anora's spine. Brain looked up at her and took note of her paling expression. He leaned in close to Anora- his face held such a dark expression that Anora felt goosebumps growing on her arms.

"So, whose pants are you trying to get into?" he asked her. His voice was low and dark, while also not trying to raise suspicion from Ira or Invi. "Mine, Ephemer's, or Lauriam's? And if it's Ven's, then I'm sorry to say that I think the back exit on this bus is not locked properly. You should go check."

Anora gaped at him in shock. He studied her, as if sizing Anora up, before coming to a certain conclusion.

"You are fascinating." he decided in an expressionless tone. He sat up a bit straighter, bringing his focus back to the game. "So, is it my turn now, or yours? I lost track."

Anora only looked at him. She eventually said, "Yours, I think." before Brain gave a small nod and continued on like nothing had happened. But Anora had been put on edge. What on earth gave Brain that idea? Anora shuddered as a small breeze came in through the bus window; she didn't know, and she didn't want to know.

Too bad their summer only got weirder from there.