Here we go everyone, the last three chapters before hiatus. I'll save the sap for chapter 101, but please, always remember, from the most sincerest depths of my heart;

Thank you for reading.

He never thought he'd see the day when he'd run out of places to hide. And of course Anora was the reason behind it too.

Curse her.

But not too much; he still wanted her to live a long, healthy life.

If only he was made to live the life of a hermit. Then he could just play stakeout in his room until classes started back up. When the first Vulpes and Leopardus cross house class happened, he'd just pretend to be sick. It was a brilliant plan. But Ephemer was not made to be a hermit. He could barely sit down at his desk to play solitaire without tapping his foot on the ground. Everyone knew this, and so now everyone was trying to corner him.

Not that he could confirm that they were. It was just this feeling that he got, like when Skuld was acting odd during the spring play. It was a secret superpower that he held on to with a tight righteousness. Rest assured, this feeling that something was wrong was an absolute curse too. He didn't know where, or how, or even when something would happen. He just knew that it was due to happen soon.

Ephemer had been so on edge that when he tried to eat lunch, he almost couldn't. Who, in the name of the Nine Old Men, decided to put raspberries in the fruit parfait this week?

"Mind if I sit with you?"

Brought out of his thoughts by the prudent voice, Ephemer looked up to see Sabrina casting a rather hard expression at him. The young man shook his head, gesturing for her to sit across from him. Sabrina did so before looking over at his tray.

"You gonna eat that?" she asked. "I skipped breakfast this morning."

"You can have it." he said as he shoved the tray her way. "I'm not hungry."

"Thanks." the girl replied before starting to pick at the food. Ephemer didn't know what else to do but to watch her. Eventually, after taking a sip of milk, Sabrina asked him, "So, what did you do during break?"

She sounded like she really didn't want to know, honestly. But Ephemer told her anyway. As Sabrina continued to make her way through the food, the two of them had simple conversations about their breaks. Her answers back to him consisted of only one or two sentences- if Ephemer's level of suspicion wasn't already raised, it would have been.

"This is the most we've talked in awhile." he pointed out. "Is something wrong?"

For this, Sabrina gave him a small half shrug. "I was just told to distract you." she callously told him. "Something about getting you to talk to your girlfriend."

Something in Ephemer froze. "I don't have a girlfriend." he told her- his voice wavering for a moment.

The ten year old cocked an eyebrow at him. "You mean that pink haired chick you keep trying to avoid isn't your girlfriend?"

Ephemer almost let out a sharp gasp in surprise. This was it. This was what he was so afraid of- someone, somewhere, was staging an intervention.

"I think Ven was supposed to help, since this seems like a Dandelion thing." the girl went on as if she couldn't detect Ephemer's worrying. "But Brain said he wanted to let me help. Something about 'you could be a good spy if you wanted to' or some dumb thing like that."

"Sabrina," Ephemer then said, "I-I have to go. I don't think I'm, uh, feeling very well."

The girl looked at him and simply let him go as Ephemer dashed out of the cafeteria. Letting out a hard sigh, Sabrina dug for her phone and started to pull up a number that was just added to her contacts this morning. She barely had to wait for someone to pick up.

"Hey Brainiac, I messed up the mission. Huh? Where was he heading? Hmm… About the direction of the dorms. Yep, any time."

With that, the girl hung up her phone and continued to eat the rest of the lunch she stole from Ephemer. She didn't know what he was running from, but he definitely wasn't going to win that battle today.

. . .

Ephemer nearly cursed when he saw Lauriam and Strelitzia heading his way. By the time his brain registered that he needed to walk in the opposite direction, the two siblings were already close enough to take him by the elbow. In fact, they did just that as Lauriam cheerfully greeted him.

"Ah Ephemer, it's such a shame that we haven't been able to meet since Strelitzia and I came back to campus. How have you been?"

"I…" Ephemer faltered. He took quick glances between the brother and sister. They were in on it. He could tell by that equal look in their eyes. "I was just going for a walk."

"So were we." Lauriam agreed with a calm nod. "Come, let us walk over to the main building. I heard they set up a display on the main floor to welcome everyone back."

Even if Ephemer had tried to protest, it would have been futile. The grip Lauriam had on his elbow was unsurprising, but it was Strelitzia -who took to wrapping her whole arm around his elbow- that had a surprising amount of strength to her. Ephemer didn't have a choice as the two guided him into the main building. Turns out, they hadn't been lying when they said the main floor had been decorated. How did he not notice that before?

Not that it mattered- he needed to find a way out of Strelitzia's grasp. But how?

"Hey, Strelitzia," Ephemer casually tried to say as the three of them were looking over some of the art students' work, "You wouldn't happen to know if there's more stuff on display upstairs, do you?"

Strelitzia let out a little hum in thought. She gave Lauriam a small glance- when her brother gave her a nod, she let out another agreeing hum. "I think so." she said. "Would you like to go check?"

Ephemer gave her a quick nod. "Yes please."

It physically hurt to watch as Strelitzia tilted her head from side to side- as if she were deciding to kidnap Ephemer instead.

"Alright," she finally agreed, much to Ephemer's relief, "Go see if there's more to the display upstairs. Lauriam and I will remain here."

"Thanks Zee, you're the best." Ephemer said as she let go of his arm. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as a distraction before he quickly dashed up the staircase.

Strelitzia was bashful for all of a moment before remembering the mission. She turned to Lauriam and said, "Quick, call Brain."

"Already on it." her brother affirmed- his phone already up to his ear as it rang over. When Brain picked up on the other end, Lauriam didn't waste any time in filling him in. "He's going up the stairs now. Tell Skuld to be prepared. Of course. We'll be on standby if anything rises. Not a problem."

"Well?" Strelitzia asked as Lauriam put down his phone. He looked at her with a particularly cunning grin.

"It's all up to Skuld now."

. . .

Ephemer did curse when he almost ran into Skuld in the hallway. She was standing by the door to one of the homerooms. He hated that he could tell that she had been waiting for him.

"In a hurry?" she teased without skipping a beat.

"Yes." Ephemer immediately replied. "I mean no! I mean, ack! Just get out of my way Skuld! I don't have time to play mind games with you today."

"Why?" his friend challenged. "Need something from the classroom?"

Ephemer had to take the moment to think. The classroom should have been empty still, right? He could hide out in there until everyone decided to get off his case. Maybe it would take a few hours. Or the rest of the afternoon. Or even until classes started back up. He was a flexible guy.

"Yes." Ephemer decided. "I did a lot of scavenger hunts with myself over break, you see? Turns out I left one of my favorite pencils in there, and I need to get it back before classes start up. So would you please get out of the way?"

"Alright." Skuld agreed with a shrug. She even opened up the door for him and gestured for him to enter.

"Thanks." he nodded. It didn't even hit him that she could have been trying to trick him until the door shut behind him.

Ephemer immediately spun around to try to open the door again. "Why's the door locked?!" Ephemer wondered out loud in horror.

"That's because we need to talk."

Every fiber in Ephemer's body froze. He turned toward the teacher's desk to see the seat turn around to face him. Sitting there was Anora.

"H-hey Anora." he sheepishly greeted. "Long time no see."

She did not give him an answer. Instead, she quirked an eyebrow at him. With the grace of a figure skater, Anora pulled herself out of her seat and walked toward him. Her arms were folded in front of her chest as she looked right at him. She stopped just short of being within arm's length of Ephemer. A lump formed in Ephemer's throat when he realized he could see the determination in her eyes. Oh blessed Mary Blair, he was weak.

"I..." Ephemer started to croak, but stopped himself. This was a real bad time to admit he still loved her. Wasn't it? This was an intervention, after all. There was no way that this was going to be that easy. It wasn't like she still loved him too. Right?

Right...?

"Ephemer," Anora finally spoke- her voice low and almost pleading, "I want -need- to talk. And I need you to listen for all of five minutes. Can you do that for me?"

At this point, Ephemer was sure that he was going to have a heart attack or a brain aneurysm. He had no idea what she had planned. But whatever it was, he could tell that it was important. Swallowing back dry saliva, he rasped out a nervous, "S-sure."

Anora let out a soft sigh. When she looked up at him again, she was ready to tell him her story.