7 Rings

The first day of spirit day is here. The theme for today is favorite things/bling. The seniors wear their favorite outfits for the day or wear something shiny that stands out. Odd is wearing a black t-shirt with a purple long-sleeved, unbuttoned shirt and matching pants. He also has two silver earrings on his left ear. "Please, don't let anything happen this week," Odd said as he reviewed the activities for today. Dawn walks by in an orange and pink dress and the ladybug/vat necklace that Odd gave her. She kisses him and says," You look sharp!" Odd does not notice her, so Dawn turns up the heat but runs her hands on Odd's chest, which alerts him. "Oh, Dawn. Hey!" Odd turns around and kisses her. "Busy?" "No. Dean Kathin is up to his neck in squashing this jumbie talk. However, given that she's here waiting for her chance to strike, I want to be prepared." "Dean Kathin needs a chill pill. He wants to keep it low, but everyone will know once a first-year starts talking." Odd nods. "Which is why we are sprinkling cotton flowers everywhere." "Speaking of flowers, are Allison, Jeremy, Hiroshima, and Rosé okay?" "Why?" "Ever since they came back from Lady Thanda, they have been off lately." "I noticed that too, but Jeremy said everything is fine." Dawn nods. "Well, I hope so. Mashramani is on Friday, and the Children's Ball is on Saturday." As Odd and Dawn walk by, an image of Allison, Jeremy, Hiroshima, and Rosê appears in the Aatma Phavvaara. Next to theirs are images of Odd, Brock, Aelita, and Dexter.

Aelita is setting up music in the rec room. "I hope this works. The school needs to upgrade its music system." When Aelita places her palm onto the sound system, her magic activates the music, playing music from Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and The Weeknd. "It works!" Aelita shouts. Brock walks in with his books and falls unto the couch. "AP English is the worst!" Aelita laughs. "All AP classes are the worst." "That doesn't make me feel better," Brock said. Brock wears a brown hoodie with a silver chain with his initials. He dusts off flower pets from his blue jeans and sighs. "The music is great." "Thanks. It took a long time. Thank goodness PE was canceled today." "Well, if your gym teacher has a heart condition, he will cancel the class." Aelita fixes her silver double chain and sits next to Brock. "Jeremy told me what happened at Lady Thanda's house." "What happened?" "She brought a dark moment from their past to life." "What? That doesn't sound like her." "Lady Thanda told Allison that she was testing them." "I don't want that. Hopefully, her idea works because, between the dean and headmaster, they couldn't give a fuck about the jumbie." Aelita agrees. She gets up and sees an image of XANA. "Whoa!" Brock gets up. "What's wrong?" "I thought I saw; never mind." Aelita grabs her bag and leaves. Brock sits back down and sees an image of his mother. "I won't cook if you go away to school!" Brock drops his book. "What!" Aelita leans against the wall and sees the image of XANA again. "Boo!" Aelita runs down the hallway.

When Ash sits beside him, Dexter studies spells for his potion class. Dexter looks up and sees Ash staring at the wall. "Ashton?" Ash does not notice as he is trying to ignore Sangharsh. "Leave me alone!" Ash said. "Ashton? It's just me," Dexter said. Ash turns around and blushes as Sangharsh laughs. "Sorry," Ash said. Dexter smiles. "All this jumbie talk is messing with all of us." "It is. I feel like she will strike at any moment." "My mother told me she can't win if we find whoever planted the cotton ball in the fountain. She can be neutralized if we talk to them and help them move on." "Let me guess, you told the dean, and he shut you down." "He sure did. I was trying to be nice, but at this point, we need to deal with it ourselves." Sangharsh doesn't like that. He flies up and touches a book, and some start to fall. Ash and Dexter used their magic to stop the falling books. "Hey, who did that?" Dexter asks. He sees a few children laughing at him as he lowers the books. "Dexter is different. He should be Dead, Dexter!" Dexteer screams as a few books hit him in the face. "Dexter? Are you okay?" "Yeah, did you see those children?" Ash looks around. "What children? Everyone is studying with headphones." Dexter gets up and looks around. "I saw them. I heard them!" Dexter sees the children again, and they laugh at him. "Nails like those are for girls. Maybe we should send him to other worlds!" Dexter grabs his bag and runs. "Dexter!" Ash tries to run after him, but he can't move. Sangharsh grabs his neck. "Since when you and Dexter are friends, Leader?" Ash growls and focuses on his aura, which pushes Sangharsh away. Ash runs after Decter and sees Sajin. "Where's the fire?" Sajin asks. "Dexter. He saw something, and it freaked him out." "What?" "I don't know." "Okay, let's find my boyfriend." Sangharsh gasps. "Boyfriend?" "yes, you motherfucker. Now, leave me alone!" Ash says to Sangharsh via telepathy.

Odd and Dawn sit in the courtyard and have lunch, a senior perk. Odd looks up and sees his sister Louise. "I thought you were done with this place," Odd said. Louise laughs at Odd. Dawn turns around and sees nothing. "Cat Noir, are you okay?" Lousie laughs as Odd. "Baby brother is going to be like RJ. A male loser!" Odd growls, and Dawn continues to call him. "Odd!" Louise walks up to Odd and touches him. "Loser! Which is why we locked you in the bathroom. So we can flush the piece of shit that you are down!" Odd screams, "Leave me alone!" Odd shouts. "Odd! What is going on?" Dawn tries to reach Odd, but he only sees his sister Louise, then he sees the rest of his sisters. "Yiu are worthless, baby brother!" They shout. Odd gets up and runs. Sajin tucks his gold chain behind him as he and Ash run after Sexter. Ash takes off his hoodie and tucks his silver chain into his shirt. "Where would Dexter go?" Ash asks Sajin. "Maybe the indoor garden. That place is great for screaming," Sajin said. The boys find Dexter screaming at the children. "Dead Dexter! Dexter should be dead!" "Leave me alone!" Dexter yells. "Dexter!" Ash yells. "Dexter!" Sajin shouts. Sangharsh sees this and sighs. "Such a waste of magic." Dexter uses his wand to attack the children, but the magic bounces off the wall and hits his head. Dexter starts to bleed, but the children keep laughing. "Paint your nails red like the blood so we can drown you!" Dexter screams and starts to hyperventilate. Ash and Sajin go to Dexter. "Dexter, it's us, Sajin and Ashton!" Sajin shouts. Aelita walks towards the Library and sees the Eye of XANA on all the monitors. "I want you to suffer, Aelita," XANA shouts. Aelita drops her books. "Leave me alone. You're dead!" "Am I? Why am I haunting your dreams?!" Aelita runs, but XANA's ghost grabs her ankle. "Suffer!" "Leave me alone!" Brock sees Aelita on the floor and runs to help her, but Lola stops him. "Your siblings will starve!" "No, they won't! You live in the palace; they come to school here; you are only my doubts!" Brock shouts back. "But will I be around? Your father has his Fairy Solider duties. I can do whatever I want. Can your siblings do the same?" Brock ignores her and goes to Aelita, but Lola chokes him. "Let me go!" "Can I love them without you?!" Brock screams.

Odd runs into the hallway, which is empty, given the time of that. Aatma Phavvaara starts to bubble as Odd screams. "Leave me alone!" "Odd! Watch out!" Dawn shouts. "Baby brother is a loser, such as waste that he is the heir," Louise taunts. Odd holds his head as he hears the taunts and falls into the fountain. As he sinks, the cotton ball's vines start to grab him. Dawn jumps in and catches him. "Odd," Dawn thinks to herself. She removes her sword and cuts the vines but can't pull him out. "Please," Dawn begs as she presses her head on Odd's. Aelita and Brock are locked into a corner as Lola and XANA taunt them. "They will starve! It would be best if you had died," Lola and XANA shout. Aelita and Brock hold hands and realize that the other is nearby. "Breathe," Aelita said. "Come on, Brock. It's a dream." They both hold hands as the vines of the cotton ball start to wrap their legs. Sajin and Ash try to reach Dexter, who is hyperventilating. "Dexter, come back to us," Sajin said. Ash looks around and notices the vines are tied to Dexter. Ash takes out his Ābhā bhālā (Winged Heart) and prays to it. "Please, free them," Ash whispers. He pauses. "Them? Are there more?" The Winged Heart glows bright blue. "I guess so. Please, help them!" Dawn closes her eyes, pulls Odd out of the fountain, and starts CPR. Odd wakes up. "What happened?" Dawn hugs him. Aelita and Brock touched their pins, and a bright light glowed, bringing them back to reality. "Whoa!" Aelita said. "Good to be back, Aelita," Brock said. Sajin calls out to Dexter as his Knight Pin glows. "Dexter, I love you. You're safe!" Dexter opens his eyes and sees Ash and Sajin looking at him with tears. "I love you too, Sajin," Dexter said.

Later that evening, the group of students talked about today. "Whoa, that is fucked up," Ulrich said. "It was. I know that none of it was true, but it felt real," Odd said. "Same with me. I wonder what happened? I thought Lady Thands caused your hallucinations," Dawn said. "I thought so too, but I wonder if there is more to the story," Jeremy said. Dexter looks shaken and is barely eating his dinner. "Dexter, are you okay? We're were scared," Ash said. "I don't want to talk about it," Dexter responded. "It's okay. You don't have to," Allison said. "I should," Dexter said. "I heard something about Dead Dexter. Why? I don't want to assume it is about your sexuality," Brock said. "It was. I was different growing up. I thought girls were cute, but boys made me smile." Dexter sighs. "People can be jerks. It is not our place to judge or to crucify others for love," Hiroshima said. "It was quiet until I started to paint my nails. My dad told me to tell my peers I wanted to play with my older sister, whom I love. He also told me to say that since my parents get pedicures all the time, I would want to paint my nails any color. I was five. That didn't work. The teasing got worse that I transferred schools two months into kindergarten." Dexter cries as Sajin hugs him. "I hid because I was scared of my mom, but she didn't care. Your parents let you be you and tried to protect you." "At my new school, I painted my nails clear. it was boring, but I was alive." "You don't have to hide from us," Yumi said. "I did, but Alicinda figured it out and housed us together. She gave me the courage to be me." "Hold on. Everyone knew. I helped you with Sajin,' Allison said. Aelita chuckles. "You're going to be okay," she said as she hugged Dexter. Everyone joins in, including Daah, who says, "I didn't know that Sajin was into guys, but I was his friend. However, we're here for you too."

The next day is superhero day. Daah, wearing a Catwoman suit, sits by the fountain. "I had no idea the cotton ball brings out a dark past. However, I need it to stay so he can come back." Ash sits in class wearing a Dr. Strange costume. "Wow. I had no idea about Dexter. I'm glad he let it out." "Me too," Sangharsh said. "Shut up!" Ash shouts as Allison, dressed as the Scarlet Witch, enters the room. "Ash?" Ash looks up as Sangharsh giggles.