Part III
Akko, Mabel and Wendy were playing a virtual reality shooter for three rounds, or 45 minutes. Akko was more relaxed that before, with that long tour through the ship, and happy to meet two new friends that were very nice with her. After playing the game, they went walking around, and talking a little bit. They settled down in the "coffee bar" of the third deck.
- So… why are you both here again? – said Wendy, drinking a latte.
- We're from a magic academy, and Diana wanted to research about universes. She went through a magic mirror, which they are forbidden actually, and she ended up here.
- Wait, I didn't know you were students! – Mabel was who spoke that time.
Ugh. Akko got them into a trouble or that was she thought before Mabel started laughing.
- For a moment I thought that you were from a research center or something.
- Well… Diana comes from a prestigious magic family, so her research is on point actually. I came here because she wanted company, I guess – she tasted for the first time the "Special Mabellate" and it converted in her favorite drink of all – Oh my god, it's delicious! – She drunk again the chocolate milk.
- Well, if you are only to visit, maybe we could to something else – grinned Wendy.
- Something like what? – said Akko drinking.
- Karaoke! I started to learn how to play the acoustic guitar – she said, while pulling out one from the stage.
- Can you teach me something? – Akko was very interested in learning something new, to surprise Diana
- I know one that you can sing to your girlfriend – and like that, Wendy whispered something to Mabel, that just grinned.
- Yeah, that could be appropriate – she laughed while Akko was wondering what song it was.
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Back with Diana, they walked up to the lab. They were trying a lot of things; finding an absolute time reference within all universes, finding what effect could have the dead of something called "Time Baby" maybe?, twitching the portal to go anywhere inside their universe and so on. Most of their rooms were occupied and with large, thick windows in which you could see through.
Dipper explained her how they do stuff without magic, but in kind of the same way. There was that limitation that she knew; "the ability to control [it as I want] and it is linked with our soul, our desires, and our energy", but they could do very similar things nonetheless.
The only thing that was the exception between normal and… "Weird", was the zodiac and the prophecies. Unknown people wrote about ten people that could destroy the demon that could (and would) be summon.
They ended talking in the portal room, where they talked about the Weirdmaggedon. Dipper told the story, and Diana listened and asked a few questions, related to Bill.
One of the questions was if they were sure that Bill was dead, or even if he could return. Dipper knew that the demon died from that dimension, but there was a possibility that it is alive and searching the way to their universe. Also, if the prophecies didn't fail once, they wouldn't fail twice.
Dipper was in the middle of telling that, when someone knocked the door. It was Stanford.
- Hey, I was looking for you – He went to Diana, and gave her a card - You and your girlfriend are going to be in room number 9258. And you Dipper, I need you in my office after dinner.
- Thank you, sir – Diana's response was quite obvious.
- Something happened, Grunkle Ford? – And that was the first time Diana realized that they were related.
- Nothing too serious, but note-worthy nonetheless – he said, with an unworried look – well, I'm going to eat now. When are you going to go?
- We are going to go with the newcomers, Mabel and Wendy at 11:00 I guess.
- Oh, okay. I see you later Dipper, good bye miss – said Ford, being polite while he was exiting the room.
When he left, Dipper thought about what could be so important, and if has to do with the girls. Diana thought the same, with Ford surprised by her surname.
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- And now you repeat Am C Dm E7. Yeah, like that – Mabel said, while doing the same thing that Akko was doing.
- Shall we practice one more time, then? – Wendy was preparing her guitar for a tenth time, but Mabel stopped her.
- We are going to eat soon, we must be going to the restaurant really – Mabel started packing the things, and with a sigh, Wendy did the same.
Akko was happy to discover that she could sing and pretty good, and also, she was learning how to play the guitar in a very good pace. She could play some chords, but that were enough to play a song.
She thought about singing the song that they chose, or other one. Well, Akko believed that that really didn't matter, and she would choose when the opportunity arrives.
They went walking through the stairs, so they went talking and enjoying the time, instead of rushing to eat.
- Hey Akko, why don't you tell us how do you met Diana? How you two became girlfriends? – Mabel was curious about the girl
- We're in the same class, and she is known by the entire school as she is from a famous family. I don't really know how we started going out, like, she was being better with me, and I felt in love. When one day I confessed her by accident, with a light show, she said that she loved me too. Light magic comes from the heart, so my heart spoke that time.
- Are there different kind of magic?
- The kind, white magic and obscure magic, and then the elements, fire, water, air, earth, light and dark. We only study white magic, and all elements except dark, because they don't have positive spells or any good thing really.
- That's a flaw – Wendy said concerned – they overprotect the students, to the point that if they are in a life-death situation, they could die quite easily.
- Diana said something like that, magic mirrors are a kind of obscure magic, and because giving objects magic attributions have secondary effects, like giving them a personality and such. She went through the portal mirror, but it is forbidden to interact with them.
- Damn, she is like Pacifica after all – Wendy laughed after listening to Mabel, because it was kind of true.
- Where is she, actually? You mentioned her as Dipper girlfriend, but I haven't seen her.
- She is doing a business trip. This cruise was brought by her and gifted to the Pines family, more specifically, Dipper and Mabel. After Weirdmaggedon, she started a personal business and it grew a little. Dipper told her to invest in something, I can't remember in what, and they won a lot of money, enough to grow up the business and sell it to a bigger company. I don't know the exact numbers, but I know that half of it was invested here, and the other half is in other business that Pacifica is leading up – while Wendy was saying that, Akko was watching every little detail of the cruise. It was obvious that lots of parts were changed, because the old design was totally different to the metal look in the new parts – The cruise was sold as is, and Dipper with her uncle transformed it into what it is now. It can self-supply itself with the food and energy necessary, and even it can trade the leftovers to make some money and pay the workers.
- Wow, you know a lot of it, and you weren't even here when I came! – Akko was amused by that fact.
- That is because, when she finishes her studies, she is going to be the Chief Officer of this cruise ship – said Mabel, with a smile in her face – when we finish researching here, we are going to make this a touristic cruise, and most of us want to do normal jobs and relax for life – she said that laughing, surprisingly.
They arrived to the restaurant and they were a lot of people, from the people working there beforehand to the people that were going to start working at the night. They found Dipper waiting in a desk with Diana, talking about the theater.
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- I visited Shiny Chariot's show when I was little actually, and I'm a big fan too, but at first, she didn't knew it – Diana saw Akko and her new friends coming – oh, there are the girls.
- Hello! – Akko went to hug Diana, and she sat next to her, Mabel went next to Dipper and Wendy was on the other side – It's more surprising seeing all of this after what you told me.
- They told you about Pacifica?
- Yes! Your girlfriend is awesome! – the same sparking in Akko's eyes that were when Akko saw Shiny Chariot's show for the first time, were there seeing the cruise knowing that story.
- Oh, you must be the new girls – said someone, wearing crew clothes, a long beard and it was very similar to Stanford.
- Grunkle Stan! – Mabel and Wendy were surprised by the old man, and by the expression "grunkle", Diana could tell that he was Stanford brother – Akko, Diana, he is Stanley Pines, brother of Stanford and the Chief Steward of the ship. Stan, they are Diana and Akko – Diana put down her head, and Akko followed her – they are from another universe and they are going to stay here for two days.
- Well, I hope that you enjoy this marvelous cruise – he winked at the girls – what are you going to pick?
- I want the usual – Dipper answered like a routine thing.
- I want your special ribs! – Wendy said, almost like a plea – I haven't eat something that good in a long, long time.
- Oh, I recommend you those – Mabel looked at the girls, and then looked back to Stan – I want two portions of Chili, one piece of "Stan's specialty", one Nachos with extra dip, two thirds of caramelized milk ice-cream from Argentina and the other third of Chocolate ice cream, and a large soda.
Diana busted out laughing, because she knew that Akko was going to say…
- The same that Mabel picked – with a decisive eyes, and when Diana finished her laugh, she was the next girl to talk.
- I want whatever Dipper wanted – and, with a weird look from Dipper and Wendy, a curious look from Mabel and a funny look from Akko, the petitions were closed.
- Coming back to the topic, Pacifica is a very interesting girl. She was from a rich family and I say was because they lost everything. They parents are, in Pacifica own words, useless. She learned a lot from their mistakes, and made a more powerful wealth, in a sense. Now she is alone in a business trip, making her own decisions and most of the time they are with very good result. Heck, if she didn't, we wouldn't have any of this – he said that, while extending his arms.
- Talking about this, can I perform something in the theater today?
- Yeah Wendy, I think that there is nothing before the movie… but actually I can't go today.
- Why not?
Diana knew why. His uncle wanted to talk something to him, and she knew that was related with them.
- I have something to talk with Ford, and I think that is important.
And before anyone could ask anything, the food arrived. Wendy was excited to see her ribs, Mabel and Akko started with their portions of Chili and Diana and Dipper received a rib eye steak with fried onions and egg. It was a pretty normal dish, for a high-status restaurant, and that was kind of the point of the dish.
- This is a Pacifica's own recipe, I hope that you like it – Dipper said, while he started cutting the steak.
The dinner went very normal, talking about Wendy's studies and when she was going to come back. Akko's appetite was in a match with Mabel's one, and they both were satisfied by all the dishes. Wendy on the other side enjoyed every little bit of the ribs, and Dipper ate the whole thing slowly, being the last one to finish.
Diana thought about how similar both universes where, to the point that they could be in another point to their home planet and couldn't tell a difference. Some things weren't there before, more specifically entire cities and places, but it didn't affect the people or they culture.
After eating, Dipper left to visit Stanford, and the girls went to the theater. They weren't a lot of people; most of them were people that Diana saw early working in the lab. Wendy went in backstage, and brought an electric guitar to the stage.
- Hello my people! – The workers greets her cheerfully – I'm back for a couple of days, and I want to play something to our special guests before the movie. Hope that you like it! – She looked like a rockstar, but it actually was kind of a common thing when she did that.
Slowly she started to play the guitar.
"Evitar, resistir". They were Spanish words, and a song that maybe anyone heard before.
"Tu hechizo de suave adicción" She actually was pretty good in that language, but it was obvious that she was still learning.
"Como si fuera facil, dominar y sentir" The entire time of the first part she was with her eyes closed, like it was from the heart. The crowd started clapping to the rhythm of the music.
"Y saber que te vas, y saber que la abstinencia me puede
Todo se vuelve obscuro y solo puedo decir..." And then, the serious rock part started and everybody enjoyed it, even Diana that didn't like that kind of music.
The whole song was well received by the public, and the second time she sang the chorus, everybody sang it with her. After that, they saw an adult comedy film, which was pretty good.
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Knock knock. Behind the door was Dipper, so Stanford just told him to come in.
- It's nothing bad really, but I remember those names, they are from the prophecies – Stanford said, calmly.
- I supposed that from the way you asked me to come here… so that means that the end is near?
- Not really, but it's a huge step in the prophecies. We need to take care of them if they need it, and I know that they will – he was turning a 5x5 rubik cube – but I wanted to talk with you about telling them.
- Not telling them could be a bad idea, also, Diana knows parts of the story, we could tell her and let her tell what is happening to Akko, if she desires. Something else, Ford?
- Yes – he put the cube down – we need to prepare bedrooms for 500 students in the next 3 months, and the sooner we start, the most likely is to reach the date.
- Why so many? It's not like their entire school is going to be in danger… right?
- I'm not sure, but something like our weirdmaggedon is going to happen to them, and I don't know the magnitude, but it's going to be very big.
- We could use the empty rooms of deck number five, and we could empty some parts of the lab… - and they planned what space could be used, so the following day could start moving things.
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Scarlett was tied up in a way that she could almost die. She was breathless and she couldn't cry anymore of pain or anything really. She saw their best friends, colleagues, teachers… everybody were brutally murdered, with the exception of five of them that surrender after seeing that all of it was over.
Someone was getting closer, and closer, because their steps were getting louder and louder.
And a healing spell was casted; the five of them were feeling better.
- Personally I would rather kill the five of you quickly so you don't try to mess with my plans but whatever, I figured out that it probably was a good idea having five masters of fire in my custody. You're going to be free, but also, doomed to be my servants and warriors. If you try something else, you're going to suffer until you're dead by your own agony… is that ok? – She changed her personality rather quickly.
The five of them were afraid, and the only thing that they could do was say "yes".
And a hit in their head with magic was enough to put them to sleep.
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The girl with a long violet hair, black eyes and a scary personality was in her seat, when her assistant knocked the door and entered.
- We received a telegram from Luna Nova, to discuss the takeover other witch academies, and negotiate before going to war.
- We only accept their Sorcerer's Stone and to put our own people in charge. If they don't accept that, and I know that they won't, there isn't going to be negotiated.
- Also, the army has finished their training in fire magic, and they can control it without any problem. They cannot do high-class spells, but they can use that knowledge to combine the types of magic.
- Interesting. What about those five? Are getting better?
- Yes, very quickly too. In two or three days they are going to be fully recovered.
- You can leave now.
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Dipper entered in the room and noticed that a card was inserted in the slot.
- What were you talking about? It's almost 3AM.
- Those girls are in the prophecies, and we need to prepare some things as fast as possible.
- Huh, that girl, Akko, was very cheerful. She is very like your sister, even in their difficulty to learn new things – She laughed – And Diana resembled a lot of Pacifica actually.
- Yeah, she did, but she was interested in science – he chuckled – I think that they're going to be good friends with us in the future.
- Yeah… I thought the same… Do you want to drink something, or go to bed? – said the soft voice behind him, giving him a hug.
- I'm going to bed, actually. Tomorrow is going to be a long day…