Hey everyone… been a while. So uhhhh, yeah I'm not gonna sugarcoat it; this story (as well as all my other potential stories) have been in a sort of limbo for a long time now. I promise I haven't abandoned Purpose of a Hero and there should be a new chapter out soon (about 85% done with Chapter 55), but creativity has been a constant frustration in recent months. Well, actually looking at the upload schedule of this story (or lackthereof) this funk has been going for damn near two years now. We're actually coming up on the FOUR YEAR FUCKING ANNIVERSARY. If I wasn't an awful procrastinator, we'd easily be done with Part 1 (about 100 chapters planned) by now and well into Part 2, but hopefully that spark can return sometime soon.
Anyway, all this to say… the first chapter of PoaH since last December was not written by me. This is actually what I'm going to call a "Special" (think of it like an OVA, but in written form… dunno what else to call it).
This chapter was written by my beta ThalioTP. He's the same dude who wrote the Fire and Pizza series of chapters way back in the day.
In terms of timeline, this chapter takes place just before the Halloween Festival arc (though I don't have the energy to go back and fact-check everything, so please yell at me if there are any plot inconsistencies) and gives us a better insight into Thalio's characters.
Alright, that's enough bs outta me. Hope y'all enjoy and I'm for sure getting Chapter 55 out within the next week at the latest.
Purpose of a Hero
Epiphany for the Weekend
"Salutations! Fascinations! Uhh… The morrow!"
Melody looked up in incredulity, though not because of the loud noise—there was plenty of that to go around at Forge, especially during the canteen's rush hour at lunch—but due to the fact that it sounded so familiar that she couldn't believe it came from that voice.
In front of her stood the sight of a lanky indigo-haired boy in a very confident pose; he fashioned his leg up on the canteen table with his other one supporting him from the seat below. One of his hands supported itself rather smugly on his waist, while the other touched upon his band-aided face as if an invisible bask of light was shining down on his figure.
In the middle of trying to process what was happening, Melody could feel her own lower jaw unhinging. The redhead even forgot that she was having lunch for a moment there.
It was until the boy realized the thunderstruck expression on the girl's face did he crack a grin (that was much wider than the one he already had).
"Wassu– I mean, howth thouth beest fairing, o' dear Melly~" The boy… asked? Was that what happened? Melody couldn't tell with how her mind seemed to be too focused on how flamboyantly he had moved his hands as he spoke.
For a second she even suspected that he tried to cup her chin for a moment there.
"Are you… feeling alright, Sirius?" Was all Melody could muster to say between having to laugh at the absurdity and gasping in horror.
"Oh I'm–" 'Sirius' seemed to stop himself in order to think, "–utterly delighted today, my dear Melly. Cant'cha tell~?"
A part of herself wanted to pinch herself on the thigh with all her physical might, thinking that she might be having the weirdest post- But then her mind suddenly clicked to the one word that he said: 'Melly'. No one else would call her that except Nathan, and…
"Epiphany?"
The boy's grin started to fade, and for a moment he started acting sheepish, "Aw shucks, busted, huh? Was it that obvious?"
Melody's eyes widened at the revelation, "It is you! You're–! B-but how?!"
"Sirius wanted to rest up for the weekend so naturally he put me in charge of his meatsuit!"
The redhead squinted her eyes.
"... Alright fine, I borrowed it without him knowing, but to be fair it ain't like he's using it at the moment, you feel?" 'Epiphany' said, "And don't look at me like that, you'd do this too if you were a ghost!"
Melody sighed. She was internally grateful that the world hadn't ended yet, she thought it might have for a moment there. Just imagining that the Sirius she knew started acting like Epiphany for no reason had given her worse goosebumps than when she was almost hit by a truck trying to save a random kid from being crushed by it some time ago.
But still, after realizing that the boy in front of her wasn't Sirius Wilsk but rather his teenage girl ghost-half who resides within his body for reasons still undisclosed to this day, Melody wasn't sure how to correctly respond.
"So, umm, h-how is this possible again?" Melody decided to ask, "I thought you were just… you know… a backseat driver?"
Now it was Sirius–err… Epiphany's turn to squint at her, "A bit rude, but whatevs. Yeah, nah! Actually, I've always been able to do this, since we do share a body and all. It's just he's usually more, well, stronger in keeping me out of the driver's seat. But since he's sleeping right now, he can't do that, soooo!"
Well… Melody supposed that it was good that he–err… she wasn't particularly bothered about using someone else's body. And a boy's too. Oh god, was this a pronoun crisis ready to happen?
"Can you still activate your Quirk even when using Sirius' body?" Melody decided that she'd just move on with discussing her next curious thought.
Epiphany's eyes wandered for a bit; thinking. 'She' then noticed Melody's lunch: a small bowl of cafeteria pork ramen and a plastic cup of cold soda. Among them was a pair of wooden chopsticks partly submerged within the broth of her noodles, which seemed to be what Epiphany was looking for. With a quick snatch, the ghost girl held the dripping pair of sticks on each hand. With a little concentrated look, the two chopsticks transformed in an instant into tiny katana swords.
"Whaddaya know, guess I still can~" Sirius' body grinned, meaning Epiphany was grinning satisfyingly inside it.
Melody couldn't help but to feel impressed. She always watched the ghost girl being partnered up with Sirius himself during all the times the redhead had watched them in action. Watching the Epi-possesed Sirius do the tricks only his partner used to be able to do felt like she was seeing a combination of both people.
Well, despite the fact that Sirius himself is not here at the moment, and Epiphany was only wearing his appearance. Melody wondered, now realizing his absence once more, of what could've compelled his temporary(?) leave.
"But… what about Sirius?" Melody started, "Is he okay?"
"He's–" Epiphany oddly stopped herself, her gaze seeming to lightly fall, "He's fine, I think. I mean, we talked about this before."
"He did? I never seemed to notice you two switch places, before," Melody asked, "Can he… Can he hear me now?
"Oh, well, that's cause what I meant by talking is more like 'me nodding at whatever he's telling me not to do with his body without listening at all'," Epiphany grinned, "But anyways no, he… I don't think he can't. He's pretty in there, see?"
Epiphany sat down across Melody. 'She' started twirling the tiny sword in 'her' fingers.
"A couple stuff happened, and—you know how Sirius is—he kinda felt, I don't know, burned out, I guess," Epiphany explained, "So anyways, I got bored, and it's been like 12 hours since he holed himself up in… whatever dimensional plane he is in, so here I am!"
Melody felt herself blink in shock, "Oh…"
"Yeaaah… wished I could do something about it."
Her own heart sank when she kept listening, though there's not much she can do about it, she didn't even know what specific event made him recluse himself like this. And regardless if Melody knew what had caused it, Sirius made a conscious decision to not show himself, meaning he would only come out on his own terms and nobody else's. Or at least that was how she felt at the situation, and judging from her understanding of the indigo-haired boy.
"Well, I hope you won't cause too much trouble for Sirius when he wakes up," Melody said, still thinking about her classmate's wellbeing.
"Pfft, I haven't spoken to anyone today but you!" Epiphany snickered, "By the way, your reaction was priceless!"
Melody rolled her eyes, she really hoped that Epiphany wouldn't be making too much trouble wearing Sirius' face while he's gone.
"Thank god, it was just me, too," Melody deadpanned, "I couldn't imagine what rep you'd give Sirius if you act like that in front of other people with his face."
Then, suddenly Sirius' eyes looked like they had an epiphany (pun intended) within them, "You know what…. I'll be right back! You just gave me a wicked idea!"
And with that, Sirius' body dashed away from Melody's table and disappeared off to the crowds faraway. Even when running Melody could tell that that was not Sirius. The interaction she had with an Epiphany-possesed Sirius that was still lingering in her head made her forget asking why Epi seemed so euphoric suddenly in the first place, along with the worry she had of what that might entail.
Just before Melody thought she was free of all other surprises, she realized that Epi-possessed Sirius had run off with her chopsticks, and she was left with nothing to eat her ramen with…
"Whoa… who is that?"
"Isn't that the new freshman?"
"What's his name?"
"He's kinda cute~"
"Why does he have a bonsai tree in his pocket?"
The scattered voices and murmurs were audible enough to be heard from the hallway that led to the gym room. Melody just happened to pass there after returning a couple of books for an assignment of hers, but all thoughts of that went away when she saw a group of USAEI seniors and juniors alike huddling behind the railings which overlooked the Forge's gym.
Melody had been enrolled for quite some time now, nearly half a year. So she was familiar with crowd-attracting scenes like school fights or Quirk-related incidents. But she had a suspicion that this one might have something to do with her, or what she knew, one way or another.
"Oi, Melody!" Someone called out to her from the crowd inside the gym, just when she had decided that whatever was happening was probably not worth looking into.
It was Nathan Larson, a fellow hero-in-training and childhood friend of hers. He stood out from the crowd due to his shiny blonde hair and cat-like features that donned him like his leopard-colored tail that swished around like a pendulum out of control.
Melody approached Nathan, entering the gym foyer while greeting him with a smile, "Hey, what's up?"
"Oh nothing, just–" He seemed like he was stifling a laugh judging from his expression, "–isn't that your friend outside there?"
He pointed to the sunken level below, and Melody looked, between the other staring students, towards the sight of the gym arena.
Her suspicions were proven right, though that was not all that she saw. At first it was just the strikingly indigo hair under the afternoon light, to which Melody's head would immediately click to the events that unfolded during lunch, but then it was the sight of 'her' and an all too familiar physical examination teacher.
Melody couldn't even finish a complete thought when Epi-possesed Sirius and Miss Honoka charged at each other violently. For a second, Melody saw that, yes, there was a tiny bonsai tree shoved into Sirius' back pocket. But her head couldn't wrap around anything else but the sight of Epiphany fighting her school teacher with Sirius' face.
"Oh god! What is she doing?!" Melody found herself screaming.
"The usual, probably," Nathan shrugged at her wide-eyed expression filled with shock, "By the way, wanna go get some grub at the cafeteria?"
"The usual?" Melody thought to herself. "Does Nathan know? Of course he knows! Of course Epiphany wouldn't have been able to help herself from not telling everyone! And what does he mean, 'the usual'?! You mean how Epiphany usually hates people who like bossing her around?! Is that why she is picking a fight with Miss Honoka right now?! Because she liked bossing Sirius so much?! No no no, I have to stop this before she gets herself and Sirius expelled!"
The redhead swiveled her gaze at the blond cat-boy on her right. He seemed rather calm despite the situation surrounding them, rather apathetic as well. Though knowing him, Melody should have expected a constant maintaining of a cool demeanor. Perhaps he didn't care that two of his same-semester friends could be threatened with failing the hero course, or he hadn't realized the scope of the situation yet.
"We have to stop them!" Melody told him, to which she finally earned herself a surprised look from her childhood friend.
"O-okay? Why though– hey!"
As he called out to her, Melody was already running down from the grandstand, avoiding the other students in the way as they busied themselves ogling at the conflict. Nathan found himself following after her, though perhaps only out of confusion and mild curiosity.
The redhead noticed that the fight had gone to even extreme heights; Epi-possesed Sirius suddenly brandished herself with two wooden daggers, most definitely from one of the branches of her pocket bonsai, but Miss Honoka herself was still unarmed. Melody wasn't particularly worried about this, however, since she knew Honoka would probably fare better, amazingly.
And just when Epiphany could be seen using her Quirk to transform one of her daggers into a longer bladed weapon, moments before Honoka dived quickly and closely into the ghost girl's range, Melody felt her heart sink, and decided to cry out in panic.
"WAAAAIIT!"
Both Miss Honoka and Epiphany abruptly stopped in their tracks, each experienced enough to not clumsily stumble upon their own feet as they did. Melody also stopped herself from running, just a few feet away from Epiphany just to catch her breath.
"Don't do this!" She exclaimed.
Epiphany, using Sirius' face, raised his eyebrow, "Don't do what?"
"Aren't you worried about your futures?! Please! Let's talk about this first! I'm sure we can all come to an understanding!"
"Melly, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Is there a problem here?" Honoka's voice interrupted them. USAEI's renowned PE teacher approached them casually as if she hadn't just duelled a hero-in-training.
Epi-possesed Sirius looked at her, and then at Melody, "Err… well, I'm not sure, Teach."
"Should we postpone your remedial then?"
That was when Melody shot her head up, "R-remedial? What?"
Epiphany glanced at her, almost as if piecing together a puzzle in her head, and then she smiled with Sirius' smile, "Yeah. Si–I mean, I had a low score on my sparring exam, remember? So I'm taking remedials with Teach to pump up those numbers."
Melody was dumbstruck, she was like a fish out of water in a mixture of internal confusion and lingering panic.
"Mr. Wilsk, a moment please?" Honoka called out, "You're still staring at your opponent before you make your counter attack, I intend you to fix this habit of yours before our next class together. Other than that, I have no other critiques. Let's end our session here."
Epi-possesed Sirius blinked her eyes, "Thank you, Teach. But we haven't got to our third rep yet, Teach."
"It's fine, you've proven yourself a passable combatant. I'll finalize your scores based on our current two matches, as I am impressed by the speed of your growth," Said the teacher. A tiny gleam could be seen in her eyes, "I have other work to attend today too, as it happens. Please enjoy the rest of your weekend, Mr. Wilsk."
Sirius' face grinned widely, "You got it, Teach!"
Applause erupted from the top of the grandstand, where the audience of students cheered for Epiphany. The ghost girl herself waved proudly towards the crowd.
Shortly after Honoka had left the sparring area, Melody found herself staring again at the rare smug face of Sirius Wilsk.
"Sooo, what, did you two had a falling out or something?" Nathan Larson said as he closed himself to the redhead and the indigo-haired boy, "Honestly, I can't believe you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend, if that's the case. I thought we were best friends."
Melody's cheeks heated, "W-wait, you don't know that…. I mean, Sirius is–"
Nathan only cocked his head to one side, "What? Was I right? Oh damn, was I the only one who didn't know about it? Sorry, Mel."
"Ahem," Sirius' voice cut in, "I think she was just confused about what happened. She thought I was picking a fight with Miss Honoka. We never dated."
"Oooh," Nathan said, "I see, then. You got me scared there for a moment, Melly! I thought I needed to lecture you about overprotective girlfriends or something!"
"Oh my god! Stop it!" Melody squealed in embarrassment.
Much to her chagrin, Nathan only responded with a laugh, "Alright, alright. I'm going to the cafeteria like I said. You guys wanna come?"
The redhead glanced at the body of Sirius, still smiling smugly at her, and then slumped her shoulders.
"N-no, thank you. I think I want to talk to S-Sirius here first…"
"Alright. See ya around, Bonsai Man!"
Epiphany waved back at Nathan and made the deepest voice she could do as if she was imitating a man… which she was, "Catch you later, duuude!"
"Epi!" Melody hissed softly once Nathan was out of earshot, "What the heck are you doing?!"
"I just told you, didn't I?" Epi shrugged, "As a good student of the Forge I couldn't be falling behind on my grades~"
"B-but why?! Do you want to sabotage Sirius' academic scores or something?!"
"Hah! Far from it, Melly. I'm trying to save his scores!" Epi proudly said, "What, didn't you remember how Shrimpy got a low score on his sparring exam a few weeks back and got all depressed about it for the rest of the day? Well, thanks to me now he won't ever have to worry about that again!"
Melody was yet again dumbstruck, "I-I… b-but… this couldn't be allowed, I mean, you're not him."
"That's why I need you to keep that a secret, okay?"
It was then that Melody realized that both she and Sirius were just a couple inches apart in height, with Sirius on the lead, and she never noticed before, not until Epiphany closed her face–with the extension of his face–to the redhead's own and raised her index finger in front of her smiling lips, signaling Melody to withhold that truth.
Melody didn't have time to be flustered by the lack of space when she heard footsteps running over to them. Then, Melody and Epiphany found themselves surrounded by a group of students, mostly consisting of girls and a couple of boys.
"H-hi, Sirius," An unfamiliar red-haired female freshman, Melody would think, said, "You were so cool there!"
"Yeah man I've never seen anyone square up to Honoka like that! You were like a ninja, dude!" A pierced male freshman added as she patted Epiphany on the back.
"Your movesets were amazing! You do kendo, right? What school do you go to?" A glasses-wearing male sophomore complimented.
"Hey, what's your phone number~ Let's exchange contacts!"
And it went on and on, similarly. Melody didn't even realize that she was being pushed further and further away from the possessed boy by the crowd. But in between the piling bodies, she could still see Epiphany eyeing her with a self-satisfied look on Sirius' face.
Melody was once again left with the similar empty feeling she had from this afternoon. Should she try to stop this? Was this going to get Epiphany and Sirius in trouble somewhere down the line, somehow? Is she going to get in trouble for being complacent?
She didn't know, and it seemed that how much she had worried at that moment wasn't enough for Epiphany to notice.
Purpose of a Hero
"Mellyyyyyyy~"
At the doorstep of the FH2's female dorm room was the sight of a disheveled looking teenage boy who leaned on the doorframe to support his weight. He was a mess, to say the least. His hairstyle was all over the place (even more so than before), his shirt was all wrinkled, and he was steaming with sweat and breathing heavily as if he had just ran a mile in a minute. Despite all that, however, that smug smile was surprisingly still plastered on his out of breath face.
Melody, who just happened to answer the door, only stared at him with a sour expression.
When seconds passed without a response from the redhead who greeted him at the doorstep, the boy opened his mouth again.
"... Let me crash at your place."
SLAM!
"Nononono, Melly? Let me explain! Mellyy?"
Melody surprisingly opened the door again for the hysterical ghost girl-possessed boy, and her face softened its expression when she saw the redhead again. "Stop banging at our dorm door like that, you idiot! Do you WANT me to be subjected to gossip?!" Melody internally snapped.
"What now?!" The redhead said, in the end she couldn't keep her annoyance to herself.
"So, uh, I can't stay with the guys for obvious reasons."
"Oh, don't tell me you've suddenly become self aware that you're a girl!"
"What? No! I meant that the dudes' dorm room is a mess right now. Didn't you hear the party? The sofa is now a stretcher, my–I meant Sirius' room–looks like a greenhouse now, and to top it off someone flooded the toilet so that's gonna stick," Epiphany explained.
"So that's what that was," Melody could recall hearing ruckus from her own dorm not quite a while ago, "Why don't you ask your other friends then, since I see you've made so many now."
"Yeah, uh, look I know I'm that delinquent kinda type but I really don't want to look like that kind of kid, you know," The ghost girl scratched the back of her host's neck awkwardly, "Especially not with Wilsk's face, too."
The redhead didn't want to elaborate on what Epiphany meant by that. In her mind, she was still peeved about being played with her feelings twice in a single day.
"... Also, you already know about my situation, soooo…"
Melody didn't budge and merely kept staring daggers at the ghost girl.
"What, you're not worried anymore that the truth will be revealed that you're impersonating Sirius? We girls could read you more easily, you know."
That was when another one of Melody's friend appeared.
"Oh, evening Sirius," Diana Suharto greeted when she walked past the entrance from the inside. She had a glass of water in her hand which seemed to have come from the nearby kitchen.
"Yo!" The Epi-possesed Sirius greeted back.
It was then that the komodo girl noticed the sight of the boy on their doorstep and stopped to scan him thoroughly, "... Busy night?"
Epiphany nodded, now even more nearly out of breath, "You know it!"
Diana blinked. Then, she just smiled and chuckled, "Alright, take care!"
Melody watched silently as the komodo girl walked away as if not suspecting anything at all. She glanced back at Epiphany, and she was only smiling sheepishly.
"W-well, there you go then," The ghost girl said.
Realizing that she couldn't win this argument, Melody sighed, and made space at the entrance for Sirius' impersonator to let herself inside.
Once they were in Melody's room, the redhead started hoping that no one had seen her going into her bedroom with a boy her age, now that was a story that she wasn't ready to hear from the mouth of the likes of Clara and Eris; especially Eris. Fortunately for her, Epiphany immediately dived face down onto her own bed, all sweaty and tired, and immediately had herself passed out from exhaustion.
"I forgot how… tiring it was being alive," Epiphany croaked in Sirius' voice. Ironically, that tiredness in her voice made her sound closer to the actual Sirius Wilsk, "How do you mortals manage this…?"
"No idea," Melody simply said. She was busying herself pouring a plastic cup of bottled water to which she proceeded to place on the bedside table near Epiphany.
"Twank kyew… arigato…" Epiphany responded without looking up from the sheets.
Melody couldn't help but to scoff.
"So nobody else suspected that you're not Sirius?" She asked out of curiosity.
"Nope," Epiphany said, "Well, there's one or two close calls, but they ended up thinking Sirius just finally lost it from the stress or something."
"I can't believe it…. How come I'm the only one who noticed it at first glance?"
Melody didn't see, but Epiphany was smiling silently at that.
A couple minutes passed and Melody found herself wondering how she would sleep tonight knowing that a ghost-possessed boy was taking most of the room on her bed. She decided to forget about her conundrum for a moment, thinking that Epiphany might have been too deep in her slumber that moving her right now would be impossible, and started reading a random novel on her study desk.
The sound of paper pages opening and closing brought Epiphany's attention to awaken. She eyed the redhead through crimson-colored eyes; not hers, of course, without saying anything.
"Hey Melly."
Melody looked up, "Hm?"
"Come here."
The redhead saw the body of Sirius patting an empty space beside it, gesturing to her to come closer and make company.
Melody shook her head, "You're sweaty."
"Am I?" Epiphany then sniffed her armpits, "Oh shit! I am! Eugh! I forgot I have a sense of smell now…"
Once again, Melody couldn't help but laugh. She had completely forgotten that she was mad at the ghost girl, though she still retained her slight exasperation. She stood up, surprisingly, from her study chair and joined Epiphany on the bed. The ghost girl almost purred when she did; "What are you, a cat?"
"So I take it Sirius is still asleep?" Melody decided to ask.
"Mmhmm. He hadn't made any, uhh, moves or anything to show that he's awake," Epiphany mused before she scoffed to herself, "But it's not like I'm actively trying to wake him up either, so…"
"It's that bad, huh?"
Epiphany shot her a slight glance.
"I mean, his… umm… burning out," Melody reiterated, "What happened?"
The ghost girl blinked her host's eyes, "Umm…. Well, the usual, I guess. School stuff, socializing, all that jazz that Sirius isn't good at."
Melody's gaze fell. She really didn't want to hear that about her classmate, especially to someone like Sirius.
"I mean, this happened before, it's not all that bad," Epiphany comforted the redhead, "It's just now I decided to fix some stuff he screwed up."
"Screwed up?"
"Oh yeah. The remedial exam? The party? All of it were things Sirius kind of bombed at a while back," The ghost girl said, "Especially the party. You know, last time he got invited to one, his dumbass got goaded into bringing snacks but chickened out at the last second. Then he was never invited into one again for weeks. But thanks to me, everything's fixed now!"
Melody just blinked at her explanation, "So all this time you were just increasing his social status in the school?"
Epiphany winked.
"Wow…"
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"I don't know, it's just…. You seem like someone who doesn't care about all that," Melody remarked.
"I don't," Epiphany simply said, "But it's for Sirius."
Melody stared at the face of Sirius Wilsk smiling to himself beside her. But she knew very well that that wasn't him, and that she never seemed to notice that sort of overflowing look on the ghost girl before.
"... Do you love Sirius?" Melody asked.
"I do."
Without a single pause or beat, the response came clear. Melody was almost taken aback, if she weren't so drowned in staring at the emotions Epiphany showed on Sirius' face.
The redhead didn't know what to say, "Still, it's a bit too reckless. Even if the boys are dumb, and the girls are… well… slightly less dumber, you can't just go around pretending to be him like this."
Epiphany looked up, to where Melody's face was looming over her, "Were you worried all this time?"
"What do you think, you idiot," Melody struck Epiphany's head lightly with a knife hand, earning a small yelp from her, "I don't want to watch two of my classmates get expelled."
"Ehe~" Epiphany blushed sheepishly, "But you know, if it weren't for you giving me the idea in the first place, I wouldn't be doing this."
Melody narrowed her eyes.
"You know, when you said you can't imagine what rep Sirius would have if he acted like me?"
"Do you want me to just watch when you get in trouble?"
"Okay, I'll stop talking now."
The bedroom became quiet. Melody was once again busying herself with her novel. It seemed like any other young adult fantasy books, at least according to Epiphany who was watching her idly from the side.
"What if you come with me tomorrow?" Epiphany suddenly spoke up.
Melody glanced at her, "Tomorrow? Doing what?"
"Well, I have a couple more things I need to do, and I figured you'd be less worried about me if I brought you along," Epiphany said, then she started smiling, "You know, we can be like partners in crime!"
But the redhead only raised her eyebrow in suspicion, "So you can't be trusted to just behave on your own, is what you're saying?"
Shamelessly, Epiphany nodded, "Yep!"
Melody sighed in defeat, "Fine. It's not like I'm doing anything tomorrow, anyway."
"Great! It's a date, then," Epiphany beamed in response
The ghost girl fell asleep after that, and it took only 30 seconds for her to do so. Melody didn't even have time to process the fact that she now had to share a bed with the possessed body of a teenage boy until tomorrow.
"God, I hope this all ends well…"
Purpose of a Hero
"It is..."
The sun was shining, the waves were dancing, and a highschool boy and girl could be seen in the middle of it all.
"... THE BEACH!"
Though, much to Epi-possesed Sirius' excitement, there wasn't anything they could do at the beach but run errands, specifically cleaning said beach; a task Epiphany claimed to be her next on the list on making Sirius' social status jump up.
Melody was there too, mostly because she wasn't the kind to go against her own words. Fortunately it didn't forbid her from thinking how much she'd rather be at the dorm right then. To name a few reasons why, her skin was heating even under the sunscreen since it just had been summer, she mistakenly thought that she had to bring her school uniform since Epiphany phrased that it was an 'official school business' so she was soaking her clean white shirt with every passing minute, and to top it off, the ghost girl in question didn't even take the time to explain to her exactly what they're doing there before speeding off to see the waves.
"Yes, it is the beach!" Another voice chimed in.
It was the school nurse, Mrs. Lena Holl, who dressed accordingly in shorts, sandals, and a plain white shirt, a sight that they'd never regularly see in class. She was also carrying a large plastic bucket with some odd polearm-like objects protruding out of it.
"Melody! Fancy seeing you here!" Lena said the moment her eyes laid themselves upon the redhead, "Well, I should've expected you here, actually. Nothing says 'hero's daughter' like doing a little public service, am I right?"
"Public service? Oh, I see. I guess Sirius wanted extra credits," Melody thought to herself.
The redhead shook her head at the accusation from her school nurse, "No, well, I'm just helping a friend out, is all."
Lena merely made an o-shape with her mouth, she didn't seem to care enough to pry further into it, "Well, you can start by taking these, then!"
She lifted her right hand in front of her to show Melody her bucket. Melody realized that the polearm was actually a needle-ended nabber now that she had a better view of it. Only two of them were available in the bucket, along with piles of plastic-looking black bags which Melody assumed she would use in tandem.
"Some fights' been broken out in the last couple of weeks along the coast area. You know, the hero-ing and villain-ing kinda stuff. So trash and debris gets scattered on the beach a lot," Lena explained, then she started observing her surroundings, "Hmm… This place seems fine. Not a lot of people, and could use a little cleaning too. I'll leave you and Wilsk on this part of the beach, okay?"
And just like that, Epi-possessed Sirius decided to jump out, "Aye-aye, Cap'n!"
"Since you've done this before, I can leave you to show the ropes to Melody, right?"
Epiphany nodded rigorously, "You betcha! I won't let you down, Ma'am!"
"Oooh~ What's with the jump in your shoes today~?" Lena audibly gasped at his response, "Oh. Don't tell me…. Is it because Melody's here? It is, isn't it~? Oh, to be young again. I wish Derrick would show the same enthusiasm sometimes…"
Melody felt like she had been rehearsing this a thousand times, "Ma'am…"
"You can say that!" Epiphany cut her off with a laugh.
"Don't show off too much when you're working, though, got it?" Lena reprimanded as she handed out the nabbers, "We'll meet up in the usual place at 4!"
"You got it, boss!" The ghost girl saluted, "I'll clean this place like you wouldn't believe!"
Melody watched as Epiphany ran off to the shores not far from where she stood, leaving her once more on her own under the burning sun. Lena chuckled at the sight.
"Never seen him this chipper before! He even forgot the trash bag!" The nurse said, "It's like he's totally a different person!"
"He is a different person…" Melody wanted to say, but decided not to.
"Well, I'll be leaving you two be, then. Other students to babysit and all that," Lena then handed Melody exactly two trash bags, one of which Epiphany had forgotten, "Well then, see ya!"
And just like that, Lena left. The figure of the nurse could be seen not long after that to be approaching the other students on another side of the beach in the distance. Melody, feeling like she didn't have any other options at the moment, approached a very energetic Epiphany, who was standing right in the middle of the low tides, poking whatever she could find floating by.
"Oh, thanks!" Epiphany said when Melody handed her a trash bag to use.
The redhead watched as Epiphany went back to working, thinking about what the ghost girl had said to Lena, "So you've done this before?"
"Nope!"
Epiphany responded to her with a grin, lifting a nabber full of wet cloth and plastic. The needle filled to the brim with trash like a slinky forced down on itself.
"So what's with the whole 'clean this place like you wouldn't believe', then?"
"I only said that because, duh, I gotta look like Sirius, right?"
"Yes, you were very convincing…"
Melody didn't even completely mean that sarcastically. Apparently it was easy to impersonate Sirius, barely an inconvenience. No offense to him. Now she felt stupid for worrying about either of them getting expelled.
"Oh don't be like that Melly!" Epiphany said, noticing the irateness in Melody's tone, "Come on, help me out here! The faster we clean, the sooner we'll take a break!"
The redhead took this moment to sigh to herself. Seeing Epiphany energetic like this completely overpowered her natural fretting.
"It's just collecting plastic. How bad can it be?"
"Oho~ look at what we have here~"
Melody swiveled around, almost as if her hero-trained instincts could just feel the degeneracy. Three men, all dressed accordingly in beachwear. From just their most stark trait Melody could notice, one was tanned, the other blonde with some sort of spiked tail, and the last one had a pierced nose. But she couldn't focus long enough on those as the three of them approached both Epiphany and her with a wide grin on their face and a giggling fit that spelled trouble.
"Hey that one's got a uniform, bro," The tanned one pointed Melody out.
"Doesn't look like she mind, don't she?" The blonde one said, his flesh colored tail swishing left and right absentmindedly. Melody realized he was the one who catcalled her earlier.
"Y'all hitting on girls in uniforms now?" Sirius' voice cut in, immediately cutting himself in front Melody and the three men.
The three men looked at each other, and exchanged laughs. Melody could see even from behind Sirius that they were amused by Epiphany's actions; how couldn't they? In that body, Epiphany was towered completely.
"Look at this big man!" The pierced-nose one exclaimed.
"This your boyfriend?" Said the blonde one, still recovering from laughter, "My bad, bro. Didn't see you down there."
"Funny. We're kind of busy here, if you can just leave and–"
"Leave?" The blonde took a step closer to Epiphany, obvious that he was using his height as an intimidation technique, "Let me just let you in on a deal, kid. How about we get this part of the beach reserved, and you scram off somewhere else."
"You want this part of the beach?" Epiphany shot back with her own condescending laugh, "Who the fuck do you think you are?"
Melody didn't think Epiphany could see, but she noticed more and more people approaching them. 3 more, 5, an entire gang's worth at least. The redhead wasn't very familiar with street gangs and alike, but even she could see that Epiphany was dealing with something way beyond a couple of catcaller.
"Epi, lets just go—"
Epiphany doesn't seem to want to budge. Behind Sirius' eyes, she stared dead straight into the blonde man's, "The beach is big enough for all of us, pal."
Melody knew what to do in these kinds of situations; she was a student, she needed to think about her image, the baseline ethics of acting on her training. She wouldn't be able to publicly take matters into her own hands even if she wanted to because she doesn't have the authority to make that decision. But she feared that Epiphany might not feel the same.
"Listen, kid," The blonde approached Epiphany closer, inch by inch, his tail curling as if in some sort of offensive response, "I don't like beating up high schoolers. But if you don't take you and your girl outta here in 10 seconds, I'm gonna shove that stick up your ass. You feel me?"
"Epiphany," Melody rebuked again, this time emphasized with a tap on her shoulder.
That seemed to break Epiphany out of her trance. She, with Sirius' eyes, glanced past her shoulder to Melody, who stared back at her with a pleading look. Then she observed her surroundings; the bystanders were staring, some families were leaving the scene, and she was outnumbered 5 to 1. Immediately did Epiphany realize her situation.
Without saying anything, she turned and walked away, but not before holding Melody's hand in hers and guiding the redhead to a quieter part of the beach. The blonde said something, but Epiphany didn't hear, what she did hear was the outbreak of laughter that came from the rest of his gang shortly after.
The walk to the rendezvous point, hours before the scheduled meeting time, was rather uneventful. Melody couldn't even focus on finding the other students, seeing how she's rather mentally torn between thinking about calming Epiphany down with a few pep talks the moment they stopped walking and reminding her that she still hasn't let go of her hand.
"Oh well if it isn't Sirius and—M-Melody? What happened?! Your skirt!" The voice of Mrs. Holl shredded through the pregnant silence when she finally ran into them.
Melody took a pause in her step, and so did Epiphany, and when the redhead looked behind to her rear she saw a giant tear that cut the middle of her skirt vertically. Instinctively, her hands went to cover the gash and she let out a loud gasp.
"Crap, it's gotta be those guys from earlier…" Melody said aloud, feeling herself slowly but surely submerged in embarrassment and anger. Now she partly regretted not sicking Epiphany at when she could.
"Dear, oh dear. Let's get you changed, hurry. I'll call the others and see if they have any spare pants," Mrs. Holl quickly came to her aid. The school nurse shielded herself between Melody and Epiphany, as if telling her (who Holl still thought was Sirius) to not look a second at what happened.
It took Melody more than 30 minutes in a nearby portable toilet to wait for a replacement for her skirt; 30 minutes of being inside a smelly, unventilated public urinal in the middle of the humid summer sun. Mrs. Holl came back eventually, and with a pair of baggy sweatpants, as if she had to go through every single student who was doing public service just to get them. The nurse was caught to speed with what happened to Melody beforehand with a little chat as the redhead changed.
"Thanks, ma'am…" Melody said sheepishly once she was out of the claustrophobic box of unspeakable horrors.
"Don't thank me, thank Alita," The nurse told her, "Oh, she's a second year, in case you didn't know. Good kid. She told me you can keep those if you'd like."
Melody looked down at the large sweatpants that clearly suited a much taller teenager, "I'll… return them, thanks."
Mrs. Holl nodded understandingly before leading her to a nearby beach seating, surrounded by a gallery of food stalls and alike, "You can just sit this one out if you'd like. Get some drinks and whatever."
"Thank you, ma'am," Melody said. Once her anger had subsided, it seemed like whatever's left in her spirit had been almost snuffed out. She could do with a little downtime, "Umm… have you seen Epi—I mean, Sirius, anywhere?"
"Sirius? Oh he went along with the activity as we planned," Mrs. Holl said, not noticing Melody's surprised face, "Honestly, that gang of thugs really didn't make our day any easier."
"You know them?"
"Personally?" The nurse bellowed a laugh, "No, no, but I hear of them. Sometimes. Don't worry, they're just some random local hoodlums. Nothing to get worried about. But Melody, I do have to say I commend your patience and walking away! A lot of people your age wouldn't have kept cool like you did! You made the right choice, no doubt about it."
Melody nodded and mouthed a thanks.
"But next time… maybe don't bring your uniform to something like this…" The nurse scolded, "You can always ask Sirius if you're unsure about what to wear!"
"Uh-huh. Will do," Melody couldn't even be bothered to feel irked at that.
Mrs. Holl left her alone not long after, apparently still busy with supervising the rest of the volunteers. The redhead did bring her own wallet, but she wasn't in the mood for a drink at the moment, so she kept herself busy with her smartphone. After a couple scrolls of reading through texts, chuckling at Andi's jokes in the group chat, and being amused at Eris' new instagram photos, she was suddenly approached by Epiphany-possessed Sirius.
"Hey," Epiphany greeted, "Doing fine?"
Melody noticed the empty bucket in one hand and the poking stick on the other. She seemed to be having a hard day's work judging by the sweat stains on her shirt. Apparently she hadn't been in a mortal's body for so long, which might explain her disheveled look.
"'M fine," Melody responded with a small smile, "You done with volunteer work? I mean… Sirius' volunteer work…"
"Nah, just taking a break to throw out the trash. The day's end in a few hours, probably," Epiphany said, going over to Melody's side, "Wilsk's gonna have a high grade after this, no doubt about it."
"Glad to hear it."
Melody felt her eyes trailing as the body of Sirius walked over to her seat and stopped just before she thought it was going to sit down.
"Hey, you wouldn't mind if we… stopped somewhere before going back, right?" Epiphany asked.
The redhead blinked, trying to both process the reason behind her request and just straight up not questioning it. In the end, she chose the latter, "Umm… Okay?"
"Cool!" The ghost girl smiled, ear to ear, "I'll see you at the south entrance!"
Then, Epiphany-possessed Sirius walked away from her, seemingly having some of her job by the beach still unfinished. Melody sighed to herself once she knew that she was alone once more. Interestingly enough, she didn't feel as pressured into the request as she had thought. She wondered why.
When near-dusk came, and the sky colored the beach in a hue of red and gray, Melody found herself in turn approaching Epiphany in a place that they both promised to meet. Epiphany had also changed to an attire Melody had seen beforehand, Sirius' attire to be exact, a simple denim jacket and buttoned-shirt, and a pair of jeans. With her is also Sirius' small fanny pack that she had put away before doing volunteer work, presumably to place all of Sirius' stuff there.
The ghost girl gave a wave and a smile the moment she saw Melody, urging the redhead's footsteps to fasten just a couple milliseconds more.
"Well you sure took your time," Epiphany teased, "Nice pants".
"Ugh. Stop. Just because you now have a dude's body doesn't mean you get to chastise me for bathing longer," Melody shot back with her own trademark smugness, "Where are we stopping, by the way?"
"You'll see," Epiphany mused, turning her back towards Melody, "Got something to show ya."
The redhead followed the figure of the high school boy absentmindedly. She thought, for a moment, that Epiphany was probably going to take her to a convenience store, or something equally mundane just to get her hopes up for nothing. Epiphany probably had found an interesting food vendor on a random street corner with Sirius one day and decided to share that information with her. Melody chuckled at the thought.
Then, she noticed the longer they had walked that the two of them hadn't left the vicinity of the beach at all.
"Are we not leaving the beach?" Melody asked curiously.
Epiphany didn't immediately answer, nor did she turn to look at her.
"Hey," The ghost girl responded, "How far do you think I'm willing to go for Sirius?"
Melody blinked, taken aback by the sudden questioning, "I'd… say you'd do pretty much everything for him… wouldn't you?"
Epiphany only hummed, as if she was amused by that answer.
"Epi, what's this ab—"
Her voice was cut in the middle when she heard a very familiar group of laughter nearby. It was the so-called hoodlums, the local gang that Mrs. Holl had mentioned before and the two of them had approached too uncomfortably close as well. Both her and Epiphany had found themselves in the middle of a road, leading to a carpark building, where the local gang was heading together.
In an instant, it's as if all gears in Melody's head began to turn, but before she could speak to Epiphany about it, the ghost girl had cut directly into her train of thoughts.
"Don't follow inside."
A chill went down Melody's spine, doubled by the fact that the stark contrast between hearing that voice in Sirius Wilsk's scrawny body was jarring enough to throw her brain into a hurricane.
But the moment she had collected back her senses, Epiphany had already made a distance between them. She was approaching anxiously close to the group of older men. Melody jogged, heart racing inside her ribcage expecting the worst outcome to result out of this.
Then, just as she had almost caught up to Epiphany, she remembered the words that the ghost girl had told her. So she stopped, just behind a waist high concrete wall enough to hide her small figure, just to hear Sirius' voice shout not long after Epiphany disappeared into the lot.
"Oi shitbags."
Melody bit her lip, trying to close the jump of her heart out of her chest. She carefully peeked her head up the wall, and saw the form of Sirius Wilsk facing off against at least a dozen gang members.
Their laughter subsided, and they turned to look at Epiphany-possessed Sirius.
"Can I help you, kid?" The blonde one from before stepped forward, the tone of his voice felt threatening and cold, as if he wasn't about to let Epiphany go regardless of the answer she gave him after what she said. And what she'd say next would turn out to be worse.
"Yeah, you're in the wrong fucking turf, man," Epiphany said, she too was inching closer with every step.
"Oh yeah? The fuck you think you are, kid?"
"I'm the fuck that's going to teach you shitstains a lesson about being in my territory," The ghost girl shot back, "Bitch."
One chuckle, two, and the entire troupe bursted into laughter. Melody only had a second to absorb that calm before the storm had hit like a bullet to the face.
The blonde had struck first, he was adept with his movements, and the way he used his long thin but sharp tipped tail to strike true and fast straight at Epiphany was enough to prove that he wasn't just an amateur fighter. Unluckily for him, if it wasn't for the fact that it was Epiphany that he was facing, that first strike would've landed.
Melody saw that in only a split second, Sirius' fanny pack exploded, and tendrils of wood shot out like veins into the air. The blonde gang leader's tail had caught itself hitting the many branches, and stopped right before it had hit the ghost girl. Epiphany took this chance to strike, taking one part of the branch that shot out and transformed it like water in her hands. The tendrils took another shape, and with some swift movements it hit the blonde man straight down his left cranium just after a long blade had formed within her hands.
The leader fell with a loud sickening thud, and Melody could feel the pain even from where she had hid. The redhead wanted to interfere, but her mind was still boggled with the hows and the whys. In the time she needed to clear her head, Epiphany and the rest of the gang members had already lunged towards one another.
CRACK!
Another fell.
CRACK!
And another.
CRACK!
And another.
Every strike and motion had hit just where Epiphany had wanted it. She was a seasoned swordswoman through and through, and Melody could see it. After all, she did spar and fought Epiphany a couple of times, but only now did she realize that perhaps there was some degree that the ghost girl might have been holding back back then.
Not even the sparks of fire and whatever Quirks the other gangs had that could help them could have matched the sheer speed and intensity that Epiphany had shown. Was it the adrenaline that was pumping through her mortal body that was pushing her past her limits? Was it the senses she regained that she had once lost as a ghost? Whatever it was, it made the ghost girl look like a different person.
But it seemed even that wasn't enough. In one instance, Epiphany had found herself being trapped between a projectile Quirk user and a body enhancement Quirk user, and she only had enough time to block that incoming projectile before her—or Sirius' —body had taken the brunt force of the body enhancement strike. She was pushed back, but careful not to lose her footing. Her expression said it all; in pain, but still fighting. That looked in her eyes made Melody contemplate if Epiphany even needed her help.
Every earlier strike had broken her wooden sword several times, and because of it pieces of wood were scattered all across the concrete ground. Epiphany used this to her advantage, seeing how even the arena had become hers to control, and activated her Quirk to let a thousand splinters shoot out like caltrops the moment her hand touched the ground.
Her opponents were staggered, and it was clear as day that they didn't stand a chance. The ones who hadn't been knocked unconscious found themselves stopped in their tracks completely.
Epiphany took this moment to lower her sword and addressed them directly, one stare was enough to put them at the end of their wits.
The gang members couldn't muster the energy to shout back at her, and could only gather enough words for mutters of "Holy shit…"'s and "W-who the fuck are you…"
"This… is Jones' territory, The Jones," Epiphany said aloud as a warning, "If you get that, leave."
Melody looked at the gang members' faces, which paled at the mention of the word Jones, as if that name had some bearing to them that the redhead had not known about.
"And if you ever talk to my girl like that again, I'll cut all your balls off slooowly with this sword right 'ere," Then, she approached the figure of the blonde leader struggling to get up from the floor, "Starting with you, you piece of SHIT!"
The blonde man let out a muffled "Hurk!" as he was kicked directly to the bowels.
The other members didn't need another warning to know that they should leave immediately from the vicinity. They carried with them all the unconscious members of the group who had unfortunately found themselves at the business end of Epiphany's sword, including their own leader who, while conscious, couldn't even muster enough power to stand.
A moment passed, and Melody now could finally find the right time to rejoin her friend in the battle-addled parking lot. But every step she felt approaching Epiphany felt heavier and heavier, so she stopped completely.
She processed everything that had just happened. Something like this was… familiar to say the least, but the situation pertaining to this moment wasn't. And now, she was struggling to find the words to say, "Epiphany, you… How could you—"
"That's the only way you make people like them learn in this kind of world. If they don't, they'll just come back to the beach, they'll run into Sirius, and it won't be pretty then," Epiphany said coldly, "That's the difference between Wilsk and me."
Epiphany tossed her sword away, and in an instant while it's still in midair, broke apart into a billion fine saw dust, catching flight at the smallest of breeze and scattered into nothing. The evidence was gone in a blink of an eye.
"Sirius trusts things too much, but at the same time, he couldn't trust himself," Epiphany continued, "That's why he kept quiet, about his grades, about his social life. He thinks it'll get better if he doesn't think about it."
Melody said nothing. She let Epiphany mused on about her monologue as the ghost girl turned to walk towards the redhead's direction.
"But I can't afford to have that illusion that Wilsk has to be broken, not even a chance. So I do this, behind his back."
Then, Epiphany stopped, a few feet away from Melody.
"Do you see this face, Melly?"
She did, and it was stark and threatening, as if looking into the eyes of an animal ready to defend its territory. No emotions, just instinct.
"Not even Sirius has seen this face," Epiphany said, "So yes, Melly, this is how far I'm willing to go, just for him."
Melody still didn't say anything. It felt like she was hearing the near end of a story, and it all hinges on her decision right now. It was clear that Epiphany was waiting for a response, but… why? She could've done this by herself, without Melody watching, and yet she took her here to watch.
All of that deducting was immediately thrown away, the moment Melody saw the blood that drizzled down Epiphany's left arm—Sirius' body was bleeding.
"Crap!" The redhead gasped and immediately found the instinct to close the distance between them, "Darn it, you're bleeding…"
"... I am?" Epiphany lifted the left arm of Sirius' body, "Ah… Oh. That actually hurts, wow. I forgot how painful this w—"
Melody's hands suddenly found themselves wrapped around Sirius' nimble figured arm, allowing her to observe the wound closely, "Okay… it's not deep, thank god…. W-we have to go somewhere quieter, come on!"
In a nearby alleway, just a few turns away from the carpark building, the two found themselves sitting on the sidewalk while being comfortably close to each other; enough for Epiphany to give her arm and enough for Melody to work on it. Epiphany could only watch in incredulity as Melody started cleaning the blood with her torn skirt. Though as Epiphany as feared, Melody did not bring a first aid kid, however this option was completely out of the blue for the ghost girl.
In the silence, Epiphany mused to herself. Even the ghost girl had something to think about even after what happened.
"Umm… Melody?" She started.
"Hmm?" The redhead replied, not looking away from her cleaning work.
"Sorry for… dragging you into this."
Melody sighed, "You're not wrong."
Epiphany raised her eyebrow, surprised at her response.
"It's… not always good to let things be too much, I agree," Melody explained, "But there are steps to these kinds of things; instructions. We can't involve people who don't want to be involved. I… Sirius' safety is just as much of a concern to me as yours is."
"So… you're willing to go through what I did? For him?"
"For the two of you. Yes."
Silence. Neither Epiphany nor Melody had something to say to each other. They were still processing the situation, each within their own speed.
"... You know, he used to be much cheerier."
"Hmm?"
"Sirius," Epiphany said, "He'd go to class and say the strangest things, said he wanted to go to film school no matter what, or he'd ramble on about what movies are out lately or whatever."
Melody couldn't help but to chuckle. She could somewhat see Sirius with that character.
"Haha, yeah, said he'd take me to… to detention if I don't stop picking fights, or that he'd personally cook me my own lunch boxes if I don't stop eating junk food. And he'd aaaalways say that he'd make sure I change 'my ways' or whatever," Epiphany paused and took a deep breath, "And then I died."
The redhead spun her head and looked at the ghost girl sadly, "Oh… I'm sorry…"
Epiphany didn't correct her, didn't tell her that it was alright or that it was in the past. Epiphany only nodded, "That's… well… It's a story for another time, but basically if Sirius were to go through something like that again—something that'd challenge his worldview completely that it falls apart—I don't know if I'll be able to live through that again…"
There was a pause.
"Well, I mean, not that I'd be able to live in the first place but— whatever you know what I mean!"
Melody stifled a giggle, "You really care about him."
"Yeah, you've said that."
She raised her eyebrow, "What, didn't you believe me?"
"I told you, didn't I?" Epiphany smirked, "I'm not Sirius. I'm his exact opposite."
"So, you didn't trust me…" Melody felt a little bit betrayed.
"Well… I wanted to test you a bit, see if you'd see through how I see things. What I'm willing to do for him. I thought that, if I weren't around and if I had to leave Sirius with somebody… I'd thought that I'd be fine if it was you."
"Honestly, I'd say yes, even if you didn't ask," Melody sighed once more, feeling tired of having this conversation again, "If either of you need anything, anything at all, I'll always be there."
Epiphany nodded, looking almost guilty with herself even behind Sirius' eyes.
"Just, you know, don't barge in in the middle of the night asking to crash in a girl's dorm while looking like that."
"Got it. Also… I didn't just do it for Sirius…" Epiphany said, before she suddenly looked away as if trying to hide her face, "I-I also did it cause of… you know… the skirt…"
"Ah…" Melody said, realizing what she meant. If she could say it and not fear teasing, she'd say that Epiphany had almost made the redhead fall for her, "Well, thank you Miss Macho."
"Ugh, you… don't call me that again."
Even after the sunset, the beach had a tiny bit of light left in the sky; just a glimmer of red in an infinite black. Above the sidewalk, where the two teenagers huddled closely under the streetlight, a feeling of relief washed over them. It was as if everything would… not exactly come to an end, but their journey, wherever they'd go, they'd be reassured of the connection within each other's trust.
"Hey, can I ask you for one more favor?"
Melody nodded, "Yes?"
"I… need to barge in in the middle of the night to crash."
Purpose of a Hero
Tomorrow morning came, which was also a Monday. The rest of the day before, and everything else that the weekend had to give, passed by quite calmly. Epiphany had been left to hang around last night, still possessing Sirius' body of course. Melody didn't want to explain the wound on Sirius' body, or her missing skirt, so she made sure to drag the ghost girl straight into her bedroom before any of the other girls could notice.
After a change, a couple of late night talkings, Melody wondering when the ghost girl is going to go back to her own dorm or if she was going to leave at all, the two of them seemed tired enough at that point to just finally fall asleep beside each other in a rather cramped school-issued single bed. Melody couldn't even bother to muster enough energy to throw Epiphany out of her room at the end of it.
The next morning, as she started feeling the fatigue leaving Melody's body during, Melody woke up. She turned to her side after being reminded of the extra weight sleeping beside her, and found herself staring into the apparent awakened face of Sirius Wilsk.
Still somewhat groggy, Melody unknowingly found herself starting a chat, "What time is it?"
"... I-I don't know…"
"Oh," The redhead wiped her eyes, cleaning the sand between her lids, "You been up long?"
"A—... I-I… ummm… I-I don't…"
Melody glanced sideways, wondering what Epiphany was muttering about. Little by little, as her sleepiness faded away and her vision started to clear up, she saw the clear blush on Sirius' face.
"..."
"..."
"Sirius?"
"Y-yes?"
Melody didn't expect herself to suddenly kick the boy off of her bed violently without warning, and Sirius himself didn't seem to expect that either. It was only when she realized what had happened that Melody started to panic.
"OMIGOSH I'M SO SORRY!" The redhead yelped, "A-are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine," Sirius said, also in a panic, as he struggled through the pain of falling straight onto the cold hard ground.
Melody couldn't help but to point at him shakily in shock, confused, "You… uhh, why—"
"I-I swear to God I have no idea how I ended up here!" Sirius suddenly found himself pleading before her, acting almost as if he was expecting to get kicked again.
And immediately after that, Melody's brain started to churn. She recollected the events of the past 2 days and her time with an Epiphany-possessed Sirius, then the realization that Epiphany must have changed places with him somewhere during the night kicked in. Darn it! If only Melody knew it'd ended up like this—
Oh no… what if Epiphany had planned this? What if she might just have been trapped to sleep together in the same bed with a teenage classmate of the same age—no, no, stop. Melody didn't want to start thinking about that and risk being as equally flustered as the boy before her right now.
"I… you know what? I-it's fine, Sirius," Melody said in reassurance. Then, after remembering that she was still in her nightwear, she subconsciously started covering her body with her blanket from Sirius' gaze, "U-umm… I-if there isn't anything else, can you…"
Sirius blinked a couple of times, his head still seemed to be spinning in confusion, until he realized what she was trying to imply.
"O-oh! R-right, sorry, I'll just… umm…"
Sirius stood up, almost tripping on his own foot as he did, and fumbled towards the door, where he anxiously tried to pry it open gently while battling against his own embarrassment. Melody watched from her bed through the whole thing, heart lodged within her own throat while being completely cocooned in her own blanket.
The door closed with a gentle click, leaving Melody alone to deal with her own flustered thoughts. Just as she thought that she could start forgetting what just happened, Eris Blackwood's voice was heard shouting from the hallway outside the door.
"Oho?! Just where do you think you're sneaking out from, ehhhh?" The high-pitched scandalous laugh erupted from the girl outside, "H-hey, don't run away now, OIIIII!"
As if a bomb had just gone off from the other room, Melody was completely frozen in shock, eyes wide, and jaw dropped. She took a second to glance at her clock, where it said 6:38, and back towards the door and gulped. As much as she'd rather not deal with this right now, literally any gossip out of the mouth of Eris Blackwood was something she'd rather not have the misfortune to hear any day.
The redhead jumped out of bed and out to the hallway, slamming the door behind her in the process. The girls' dorm room then exploded in a fit of laughter, teasing, pointing, and a general feeling of chaos. And as the sun crept through the window blinds above Melody's bed, its light shone down upon two small wooden katanas lying idly upon the creases of the blue bedcover.
Purpose of a Hero
And there we have it, a look into the antics of Sirius' ghosty friend. Way longer than my usual chapters, but Thalio is always yelling at me for mine being too short so I'm not surprised. Plus, the discord server voted, and they chose to keep this as one big chapter (they're a bit starved for content, I think).
Anyway, that's all from me, folks. Hope you enjoyed and I'll be back soon with Chapter 55