Forgot to do the disclaimer last chapter, but here it is now. Every time a new character appears, I'll likely post a new one at the top of the page, just for convenience.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch manga, nor do I own the anime or the GBA games, of which belong to Hanamori Pink. However, as this is an OC-RP turned story, I do own a few characters. Others belong to their players as listed below:

Luna belongs to Yeelimso.

Shelia belongs to NeneKanerva.

Kazi belongs to 3rdNigtingale.

Lila belongs to Kry Chi.

Helen belongs to YuiKudo.

Finally, Jasmine belongs to me.

To anyone who's been on the RP, they know how long each episode gets, so I've split each episode into several different chapters, and each episode is now considered a story arc. Now here's the first chapter, the Alignment arc, Chapter 1, where the story really begins. Can you spot the difference?

Enjoy the story.


A tall girl, slender but athletic in stature, and covered by a dark grey traveller's cloak strode through a local marketplace in the North Pacific, near the capital and its grand magenta and pink palace. The calls and haggling of the traders filled the water, loud and not in the least peaceful. Stalls were set up along two sides of the path, various traders, from mermaid to demon and back stood behind their stalls.

Jasmine made her pace quick as she walked through the marketplace, a bag slung over her shoulder and hidden from sight under the dark cloak. Her dark blue, high-collared shirt and dark slacks were partially obscured by the cloak as she walked, hands in the pockets of her slacks as she continued her path through the marketplace.

The mercenary girl — who wasn't even older than sixteen — was heading to the Indian Ocean for a job offer after she headed home to pack, and the job would likely take up a week before she could return, provided that target hadn't already fled elsewhere. With a minor frown, the girl purchased some foodstuff from a stall and left through the other side.

After all, no job would wait for a dawdling mercenary.

As the young Panthalassan walked past a route that led further into the heart of the gleaming capital city, she paused, one hand in the pocket of her slacks, the other holding onto her bag, as she looked at the grand pink castle in the distance. Annoyed by the light, the mercenary scoffed, continuing on her way back to her home.

She had much better things to do than to think about foolish mermaids.

Jasmine was walking on a path to her home when she heard a sharp voice complain, "What an utter bore." A bit startled, as she could recognize the cold, biting tone of another experienced mercenary, the Panthalassan took a detour from her way home, cautiously making her way towards the voice.

In a clearing not too far from the path, there was a lone bench, crafted painstakingly out of stone. On that bench, was a demon. The black-haired girl could tell that the demon was not a normal one though, and carefully stood at the entrance to the clearing. Unexpectedly, a rush of strange power slammed right into her, making her lose her breath for a moment. Gasping sharply, the Panthalassan took a step back.

The demon was pale-skinned, with wild, untamed orange hair that reached her shoulders. Large red fins poked out from her hair where ears should be. Her eyes were a sharp, unusual yellow, with slit pupils, and heavy makeup the colour of her fins was applied to her upper lids and not a little on the bottom of her eyes, drawing out to just above her cheeks. She had striking red lipstick on, the same colour as her fins. A red horn was placed on her forehead, and a slender black tail with a grey and black microphone dangled behind her, slowly swishing in the water.

She wore an outfit composed of black and red, looking inspired by the 'punk-rock' fashion trend. A black choker was around her neck, and over a red crop top that bared her midriff, she wore a black shirt with torn up sleeves, one of the shoulders styled off the shoulder. Black, spiked bracelets were around each wrist. She wore dark, extremely short jean shorts, with a slanted black studded belt slung diagonally around her waist. Her boots were thigh high black leather with red laces and high heels, and dark leather straps with buckles wrapped around the top and the ankle.

The demon was slowly drumming her fingers, tapping her sharp claws on the stone at her side, creating a slow 'clack clack' as each point of the claws hit the stone. "Ugh…" she griped, scowling. "Why can't sssomething — anything — happen to eassse thisss boredom?"

The steady clacking that came from the bench was irritating the Panthalassan's sensitive hearing, and Jasmine frowned deeply. Her left hand was still in her pocket, and her right holding onto her bag as she walked into the demon's line of sight. Dark blue eyes stared at the demon with in a shrewd matter, holding an intensity that was rare to see. "Hey," she said quietly, her voice cool, collected.

The demon gave her a glance, yellow eyes with slit-pupils narrowing as she hissed, sharp fangs exposed. "What isss it?" she asked, frowning. The audible hiss in her tone was less of her lisp, but more of a warning. Sharp claws were raised from the stone surface, the large fins bristling as she scowled. "You got a problem withh me or what?" It came across as harsh. Very harsh.

Jasmine didn't react to the harsh tone — well, not visibly, at least. The mercenary was more than used to that kind of tone from her, so-to-speak, 'employers', though she did remain irritated. "I cannot quite put a finger on it," she replied in a low tone, her voice just loud enough to carry over the clearing to the demon, but not too loud, "but there is something, not quite…" The Panthalassan trailed off, pausing a bit to think over her choice of words, "normal about you."

The lisp she had heard was not exactly odd, nor was it rare, but from the demon's cool accent, she could quite clearly tell that the orange-haired demon was most probably native to the Northern Atlantic, the Western North Atlantic, more accurately.

The demon's fins flared up to their full size, as she had learnt once before, meaning either bewilderment or hostility. Jasmine guessed that it was a mixture of both, for what happens when a mysterious girl walks up to you, simply addresses you, and implies that you're weird?

The demon paused then, fins slowly fluttering as she cocked her head. "Actually, no," she mused, her lisp lightening slightly as she pronounced the first word, "Well, I hear that pretty much all the time, and I know why, but I doubt you would. That asside, you don't look like an ordinary civilian either. Am I right, or am I right?" she asked, yellow eyes fixated on Jasmine as the Panthalassan continued to watch her.

"Ssides." A small, barely there smirk lifted the corner of her lips, once more exposing sharp fangs. "I do know a fighter when I see one."

Jasmine shrugged, making her hood fall down around her neck and exposing her black hair. "Yes," she replied simply, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "Perhaps a fighter is as good as a word to describe me, if nothing else. I know fully well how to defend myself and how to make sure others don't injure me in return."

Narrowing her dark blue eyes at the demon, she frowned deeply. "I can… feel something from you. Like… like a sort of power." Her eyes flicked away from the red-finned demon at the sound of someone swinging open a door. Blue irises narrowing, the mercenary turned to keep her gaze on the white-haired mermaid that had just left a local restaurant. Jasmine couldn't help raising a brow in surprise.

A mermaid with white hair? Not only that, but a white tail as well?

The mermaid had long, flowing hair, as was expected, with white bangs over her left eye, and a white braid over her right shoulder. The mermaid looked to be around her mid-to-late teens, perhaps Jasmine's age, though the Panthalassan could not say for sure. A bag woven from seaweed fibres was in her hand, and seeing that she had come out from the restaurant with it in hand, and that it wasn't a take-away bag, Jasmine could only assume that she was an employee out for groceries.

The mermaid paused as she passed them, dark eyes drifting onto them before she shrugged carelessly, as if she was saying 'I don't care what you're doing here'. The mermaid swam off in the direction of the nearby grocery shop, dark eyes avoiding them.

Jasmine narrowed her blue eyes. "I can feel it again," she murmured to herself. There it was — the same strange surge of power she could feel from the demon. Mildly frustrated, the dark-haired Panthalassan jerked her gaze away, brow furrowed together. "Yes…" she echoed. "It's… strange."

The demon raised a brow, her yellow eyes with slit pupils trailing after the mermaid that swam past them. "A power, huh?" The girl smirked. "I mean, I have plenty. But it's not like people can just sense it from me. There iss something about you too, like I ssaid." She shrugged her shoulders, pursing her lipstick-covered lips to the side. "I wouldn't know. I ussually catch attenttion for different reassonss." Her lisp was becoming annoying.

The mermaid stopped in her tracks, then turned to them, like she had heard something strange. Dark, hollow eyes were swept in their direction before the mermaid finally swam off, leaving the Panthalassan's field of vision — hopefully for good.

Briefly, as the dark eyes of the mermaid had turned to them, Jasmine had met her cold gaze with one of her own. Cold, hollow blankness met sharp, biting coldness for just a second before the mermaid had swum away. Clearing her throat, the Panthalassan looked back at the demon and nodded absently. "Of course you would," she muttered, "you're a demon, for goodness sake. That's bound to draw some stares. The Northern Pacific's people don't exactly like foreigners, after all."

Jasmine snorted, glancing up into the darkened sea above them. A shiver ran down her spine — one that she couldn't properly explain. After a quick beat, she realized what it was, and frowned deeply. "I feel uneasy," she murmured. "The seas are acting strange. Almost… unsettled."

An irritated hiss came from around the corner, and slowly, the white hair of the earlier mermaid came into view. Jasmine was not surprised when she appeared to be empty-handed — most of the stores were closed at this ungodly hour anyway. She rolled her dark eyes. "I'm surprised she didn't already know it was shut," she muttered. "Looks like a native here to me."

The mermaid slowly swam back along the path, passing the two in the clearing. Her dark eyes drifted over the two as she slowed to a stop, not moving in the centre of the opening to the clearing. Her face, though half-covered by her hair, was impassive, not showing a hint of emotion.

The Panthalassan idly wondered if all mermaids were like that, or if it was just the people she met. She crossed her arms over her chest, keeping her eyes on the mermaid. Her stare intensified a bit, hoping to maybe see a reaction from the blank-faced mermaid, but to no avail. "Hey," she finally said, raising her voice enough so that the white-haired mermaid could hear her.

Come over here, she wanted to say, but sounded odd, too… familiar, for a stranger. Instead, she tried to convey what she wanted to say through her eyes. She had never had the best body language reading skills, though, so she had probably failed. But she did know that the North Pacific mermaids were wary of outsiders.

Maybe that was why the mermaid was keeping her distance?

"We're not going to hurt you, kid," Jasmine said, though she was pretty sure she was around the same age as the mermaid.

From the corner of her eye, Jasmine saw the demon watch, lacing her fingers together. It wasn't clear on her face, but the Panthalassan could see the unease in the demon's yellow irises. She was in agreement with her earlier statement. Good. At least she wasn't going crazy.

The mermaid turned sharply at them. "Hurt me? It'll be a wonder to see if you can do that." She glared heatedly at them, then smirked. "Interesting duo, I see. A Panthalassan and a demon?" Her glare intensified. "What fun," she deadpanned.

Jasmine was not amused by her tongue. Dryly, she shot back, "And you can't seem to comprehend that stores don't usually open this late," she retorted. The mermaid was irritating! "Was that also an invitation, kid?" the mercenary asked sharply, her eyes narrowing and her voice turning icy. Her nails slowly dug into her palm, and the mercenary slowly scolded herself to regulate her breathing and reign her temper back in.

Calm down! she scolded herself mentally. Stop letting her rile you up! Finally, she said, "You can feel it too. That surge of unusual power when we're near. Don't lie to me."

The mermaid snorted, turning away. "Ha! You can't control your temper, old lady!" She looked up at the darkened ocean with an impassive face, expressionless, and spoke in a flat monotone, "Yes, I feel it. Amazing that you can too."

Jasmine's eye twitched, and her fist tightened. "Why you little —" She had to cut herself off before she lost her temper. Seething, the Panthalassan marched right up to the mermaid and glared at the white-haired girl coldly. Her taller stature gave her a height advantage, and she stared down at the mermaid with ease. Her blue eyes were narrowed, vision tinted a bit blue, even though her dark hair was casting shadows over her face.

"Listen here, kid," she spat. "I've dealt with bigger and badder creeps that could kill you easily. You're not a threat." Jasmine was physically capable of taking the mermaid out, of course, but the Panthalassan had never actually killed a person straight out without reason before. She had indirectly caused deaths, like landing people into comas that they'd never wake from and so on, but never directly carried out a homicide.

This mermaid didn't have to know that, though.

Jasmine leant a little closer, before a smirk curled her lips, and the Panthalassan pulled back, hoping her intimidation tactic had worked while not saying anything more. "So, it's the three of us, then," she noted dryly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the demon grin widely, looking… impressed? There was definitely an approving glint in the bright yellow eyes of the fanged girl, at least, and the demon leant back on the bench, propping herself up with her hands. "What a coincidence for us to end up here and feel this power," the orange-haired demon finally spoke after a beat. "You know, is there something bigger involved?" she asked. "I wouldn't even be surprised at this point."

Curiously enough, the demon's lisp was no longer grating on Jasmine's nerves. She harrumphed. "There's always something larger at work," she muttered with a frown. "Three seems like an odd number, though," she pointed out, a mild frown on her face. "The tradition has always been seven for the marine world. I get the feeling that we're not the only ones."

The white-haired mermaid smiled eerily and nodded. "The three of us, at the very least." She turned to Jasmine, dark eyes trying to bore into the Panthalassan. "I don't mind you taking me out. It doesn't mean I mind anything about my life." She seemed on guard, narrowed eyes still on Jasmine.

Jasmine stared at the mermaid briefly with a scrutinizing gaze. The mermaid was odd — especially that hair. No mermaid had naturally white hair like that, after all. But the Panthalassan didn't ask. She didn't pry — she'd respect the mermaid's privacy. "I suppose we've gone long enough without names," she muttered, raising her voice just loud enough to be heard. "Jasmine," she said sharply.

"Mm, right." The demon chuckled. "Shelia. Redfin." She pointed at her wide ear fins and flashed a fanged, playful grin at them. "And you?" She turned a curious gaze onto the mermaid.

"Luna." Was the simple response from the white-haired mermaid.

Battle Royale Pichi Pichi Pitch

It was just her way home, after all.

Helen couldn't even begin to understand why these three girls were all but conveniently blocking her path. A first thought urged the petite blonde mermaid to just pass through and ask the three girls of each of the marine species to make way, but two of the odd trio looked very menacing, one with sharp fangs and claws, and the other, tall and athletic in stature, holding a menacing pose. She couldn't just go up and say 'make way'!

"This is ridiculous," the pink-tailed mermaid growled lowly, questioning herself for not acting impulsively when there was a need of it. Smacking her forehead for even thinking that, the wavy-haired blonde reminded herself that she was taking that particular path because she had acted impulsively and left home. She shouldn't be encouraging a trait of hers that only brought further problems.

From an outsider's point of view, the slight mermaid was in need of medical treatment, the psychological kind, to be more specific. She was squirming in place, making a lot of strange facial expressions, and even talking out loud to herself. Yes, without a doubt, she was in need of psychological help.

The tall, black-haired girl — most probably a Panthalassan, considering the conspicuous lack of demon features — turned around, dark blue eyes instantly landing on Helen. Her blue eyes suddenly widened, and the girl stepped back, instantly looking on her guard and almost defensive. After a short beat, she started walking over, past the white-haired mermaid in front of Helen, and clapped her hand firmly onto Helen's shoulder. "Hey kid," she started in a voice that had a light Eastern North Atlantic accent, "you al—"

Instantly, the Panthalassan cut herself off with a sharp hiss of pain, wrenching herself away from Helen, pressing her right hand to the inside of her left elbow.

The orange-haired demon, who looked as if she was ready to step over to take a closer look at the blonde pink mermaid, quickly flinched away from Helen. "What the fuck?!" Sharp yellow eyes with slit pupils widened as she rushed over to the Panthalassan, though she kept her hands well away from the black-haired girl. "You okay?" There was an audible lisp from her, but Helen didn't mind it.

Flinching, the Panthalassan girl peeled her hand away from her arm, slowly flexing her left hand's fingers. She winced sharply, slowly getting onto her feet, drawing short, shallow breaths as she forced out a short, breathless, "I-I'm fine." She staggered a bit, raising her left arm, presumably to see what had happened.

Then, her eyes narrowed, the dark blue irises turning even darker as she glared at her arm. "That… was not normal."

For the first time in a long while, Helen was honestly scared. She had been minding her own business, not quietly, granted, but she had just been minding her own business and trying to keep away from the trio, who why did the Panthalassan just march up to her?

Furthermore, what was going on? Last time she checked, mermaids didn't have the power of a jellyfish, so why did the Panthalassan act like she had just been stung after barely touching her? Questions invaded her mind, screwing up her thoughts, and there was no answers that could be seen.

"A-are you… okay?" The blonde asked cautiously.

The Panthalassan drew in a sharp breath. "I'm okay." Her blue gaze sharp and unrelenting, she concluded with a dry and deadpan, "Now I'm definitely sure that there's a larger power at hand. I don't usually get black tattoos on my skin when I touch someone." Her hand removed itself from covering the inside of her arm, revealing a mark, written in slender, cursive writing that read 'First'. Placed just near the crook of her elbow, it looked very much like a tattoo. "I'm not sure that this is supposed to be normal either." Sarcasm dripped from her tone.

Helen nodded, not really letting anything the dark-haired girl said enter her thoughts. She tried to compose herself — this wasn't the time to panic or keep wondering why these three gave her a bad vibe. No, not a bad vibe, she corrected herself, they're powerful, but in a scary way.

Out of the corner of her blue eyes, she saw the demon lean closer to the Panthalassan, apparently trying to inspect the strange mark. "Oh my fucking—" Her clawed hand moved to the strange mark, and once the tip of the claw scraped across the mark, she recoiled as well, letting out a startled noise and a few more, rather vulgar curse words, hands clutching her collarbone before pulling away.

A mark had appeared on her as well — bloody red and in a sharp, pointed scrawl. 'Third', it read. "Damn," the demon said. "What's that say?" She tried to lean in to see the writing, bending her head at a slightly unnatural angle.

Fully regaining her normal composure, the mermaid nodded, satisfied with her conclusion. "Will something happen if I touch you?" she asked, her curiosity taking over her. Lifting her hand, the blonde mermaid waited for the Panthalassan girl to give her permission — hey, even she could be polite when she wanted to!

"Go ahead," the Panthalassan muttered tiredly. She extended her hand to the mermaid, dark blue eyes slowly closing as she winced a bit, her other hand gently pressing on the strange mark. Her head tilted back and her dark eyes opened, landing on the demon. "Third," she read out tiredly amidst a string of curse words.

Helen gave a short nod as she reached out, knowing that it was going to hurt from the reaction that the other two had. Inhaling in, she grasped the Panthalassan girl's outstretched hand, feeling immediately as though she was bathing with a hundred jellyfish. Hurting was an understatement, apparently.

Super-charged bolts of lightning shot down her body, from the top of her blonde head to the end of her cerise tail, rushing through her form until it concentrated in a certain spot. "W-wow!" she yelped out, letting go of the proffered hand at once. She grabbed her burning shoulder — the right one — scratching and rotating the joint a bit to get it back into shape, and sure enough, once she pulled her hand away, she could make out blocky writing on the shoulder, colored reddish-pink.

'Sixth', it read, like the other two, taking the form of an ordinal number. The mermaid craned her neck to try and see it better. It gave her a slightly better view of the mark, but she still couldn't fully make out the letters. "Is this written wrong?" she wondered out loud.

The demon was bewildered, large red ear fins perked up and alert. "First… Third… Sixth… Where are the rest and how many are there?" she spoke out loud, drawing out her 's' as she hissed. "What the hell does this even mean? Powers, marks, numbers, whatever this nonsense is, I'm pretty sure it can't be any good."

The Panthalassan glanced from her mark, to the demon's collarbone, then to Helen's shoulder. "Probably not," she said with a shrug, hand still covering the mark on her arm. "Someone tell me what just happened." She sighed, shaking her head in what seemed to be dismay. "Something's up with the sea, and I'm not sure I like it. But to answer your question, Shelia, I'm betting that it's seven."

So Shelia was the demon's name.

"It's like we're the chosen people to save the world or something." Helen was most certainly joking, but the situation was, unfortunately, pointing right in that direction. The mermaid went a bit pale at the thought of having to save others. It wasn't that she had anything against the world — no, quite the opposite, actually — Helen just didn't feel up to risking her life for the sake of others when she couldn't even make her mother happy. "Tell me this is a joke," she pleaded. I just want to go home…

The Panthalassan girl gave each of them a strange look, resting a particularly sharp gaze on Helen before moving on. "The last thing I want to do is to help those damn mermaids," she muttered lowly, voice filled with cold resentment. "It's their fault my parents are dead." Her voice was just so… bitter as she spoke. She ran a hand through her dark hair and sighed heavily. "I'd like to believe that it's a joke too, kid, but all this happening just indicates that something's up."

"Fates…" Helen muttered, frowning, "you picked the wrong person to mess with." Even the stubborn mermaid could make a good threat when she was really into it. She wouldn't let the so-called 'Fates' decide what was to be of her life — she already had enough things to worry about!

Whoever had supposedly picked her for the job, they had chosen the wrong person in every aspect — she didn't even possess the normal powers that mermaids had. How was she supposed to be fighting evil? "Why didn't they pick the Mermaid Princesses? This is their duty, isn't it?" The mermaid then realized she was trying to reason with a person that wasn't even there.

The Panthalassan coughed, poorly disguising a mutter of 'insanity'. "That's a question I'd like to know the answer to as well," she voiced out loud, crossing her arms over her chest. "Maybe Aqua Regina's finally taken it too far and she's decided they need coddling." Mockingly, the tall girl sneered at that, her bitter tone dripping with resentment and well-suppressed rage.

The blonde mermaid eyed the Panthalassan, wondering if she heard that right. "You don't like mermaids, do you?" she asked, though the answer to that question was all too obvious, yet at the same time, it wasn't. In her mind, if you hated something, you would stay far away from it, but the Panthalassan had even voluntarily allowed her to have contact with her. It sounded too strange to be true, but still…

Helen just couldn't understand people sometimes. It wasn't much of a surprise — she wasn't a people-person, after all.

The Panthalassan's eyes narrowed. "The South Pacific mermaids were the reason my father died," she stated quite bluntly. "I don't like mermaids in general, but I do work for them from time to time. Just goes to show that if you want to survive in a society like this one, you need to bite your tongue and hold in a temper."

"Hmm…" Helen mused. "I'd never go that far," she commented, clicking her tongue in annoyance when she let what she truly thought slip out. She wasn't a fan of sharing personal information during a first meeting, not even a second, or third meeting, for what it was worth. It took quite some time for her to come out.

The new voice that sounded out made the mermaid jump physically. "I wouldn't question what Her Majesty Aqua Regina decides to do," the smooth, masculine voice stated from behind them.

A man walked up to them — another Panthalassan, Helen dimly realized — wearing a black outfit with a strange, golden cross-like symbol on the back of his long-sleeved coat. He had shoulder-length white-hair — not unusual, considering he was a Panthalassan — and purple eyes. The strangest thing was the silver staff he was holding and the white mask he wore over his face, obscuring the top half of his face.

The dark-haired girl raised a thin brow. "What do you want?" she asked sharply, dark blue eyes narrowed. Her eyes suddenly widened, and she scowled. "You're on of the nobles," she finally stated. "I didn't know that we served the Ocean Queen now." Sarcasm absolutely dripped her tone as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Helen eyes the newcomer suspiciously. A group was beginning to form now. Were the Fates seriously trying to pull a bunch of random people together in the middle of the street? This was just ridiculous! The blonde mermaid couldn't contain the need to roll her blue eyes.

"Perhaps you do not," the masked man replied, "but I've watched our people face their fall. I witnessed the atrocities they committed while trying to make the seven seas their own. I was spared from the aftermath and offered a chance at redemption, and thus, I serve the one that gave me that chance." He didn't look very concerned about the hostility that the tall girl radiated.

The girl growled, eyes narrowed. "Then you can go your way," she snapped, "and we can go ours." Unexpectedly, a sardonic smile crossed her face and she shook her head, running a hand through her hair. "Calm," she repeated to herself, like it was some kind of strange mantra. She looked around, blue eyes resting on each person in the gathered 'group'.

"Great," she deadpanned. "A group of strangers, all gathering in the middle of the street." The Panthalassan girl rolled her eyes, snorting. "The Fates sure do have a funny sense of humor."

"At least the gathering isn't in a dark dungeon," Helen mused aloud, playing around with her tail to see if she could balance on the end. "I hear those are quite popular." Failing her task, she simply started to swim around. Apparently, she was the type of person that couldn't stand still for even a second.

The Panthalassan girl snorted, sounding mildly amused. "You have quite the sense of humor too, don't you, kid?"

The blonde raised a brow, blinking. "I was being serious." Jokes were not her forte, and she tried to steer far away from the topic. Was the dungeon thing a joke? Now that she thought about it, it really did sound like it was one.

If she had been focusing on the others instead of wondering about the joke, Helen would've heard the man chuckle and saw him smile a bit.

The dark-haired girl raised a brow at the mermaid. "Oh?" Rolling her dark blue eyes, she blew a strand of black hair out of her eyes. "Distractions aside, anyone have any idea about this?" Her finger tapped the black mark on the inside of her elbow.

Helen observed the mark, her sky blue eyes turning incredibly serious for once. "None," she answered, shaking her head.

The man spoke up again. "I should be going. Perhaps we'll meet again." Tapping the end of his staff on the ground, he vanished.

"That was rude of him." Helen huffed. "He didn't even —"

"Watch out!"

Hearing a shout coming from her back, Helen yelped and swam out of the way, mentally deciding to just leave and go home. Everyone was better off for themselves, anyway.


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