Auxiliary Chapter: Light at Tunnel's End
The morale of Shadow Garden is at an all time low. The unthinkable happened. Their master, Lord Shadow, has been banished by Necromancer to another realm. Of course he isn't dead but he is still out of reach. And it all happened right in front of the Seven Shades. They were powerless to prevent it.
Of course the Seven Shades never shared the terrible news to the other members but they can read the Seven's (well… only six now) mood and deduced that something must've happened. Alpha's absence being a glaring example.
Beta locked herself in her room, at times refusing to eat any meals brought to her. It's not rare for her to lock herself in her room but this time she didn't do it in order to write her novels. This time she locks herself in her room to cry and curse her uselessness. The nightmares that she often see every night during her early days in Shadow Garden started to resurface with the absence of her lord and savior.
Gamma, normally busy with her work at Mitsugoshi, can only sit in her desk, with mountain of paperwork that went untouched. She missed her scheduled public appearances, which forced her subordinates to run damage control.
Delta never returned to any Mitsugoshi branches, remote Shadow Garden bases or even Alexandria. One can only imagine her mood when they see her right now. None of the Numbers dared to search for her, even her direct subordinates.
Epsilon is reported to have lost weight as she no longer bothers to disguise her body shape with either her shapeshifting ability or with her smile suit. She could barely bring herself to touch the piano, which she usually plays in order to lighten herself up.
Zeta and Eta are also nowhere to be seen. Many of the numbers are worried that without Alpha keeping Eta in check, Eta may do something brazen, though something like that hasn't happened yet to their relief.
"This is such a heavy atmosphere." Chi mutters as she sips her coffee, unable to fiully enjoy the taste in such circumstances. Sitting with her in the Mitsugoshi breakroom with a cup of coffee in their hands are Nu, Omega and Lambda.
"This is what happens when we lost our leaders I suppose. Not only Lord Shadow but Lady Alpha as well…" Lambda says as she didn't even bother drinking.
"Is there… any hope for us?" Omega asks her comrades, dropping her usual laidback attitude which usually irritates both Chi and Lambda.
"Without Lord Shadow… everything is already lost. But we lost even Lady Alpha and Lord Claude." Nu mutters with a frown.
"Heh. You're still calling him Lord Claude. Do you admire him that much, Nu?" Omega tries to lighten the mood a bit by teasing Nu, who interacted with Claude Normann the most out of any Shadow Garden members, allowing her to see why Lord Shadow considers him a valuable ally and asset to their cause.
"He is a reliable ally after all. Even Lord Shadow considers him a friend. That's not something that can be taken lightly." Nu replies, as serious and immovable as ever.
"Well… I suppose I can understand that. Even just hearing about him gives the image that he's a good leader. If Lord Shadow didn't exist, I suppose I would've liked to work under him." Omega gave her honest opinion about the man.
"His rise to power is a bit… too quick, in my opinion." Lambda says, still not touching her cup of coffee, which is already cold.
"What do you mean, Lambda?" Asks Chi, who doesn't know Claude Normann very much.
"From the reports I gathered, he was favoured by many nobles in the kingdom long before King Klaus' demise. Even the Prime Minister has high opinion of him. That's the main cause for his engagement with Princess Iris. I dismissed it because the nobles who supported him weren't affiliated with the Thirteen Night Blades. But when King Klaus died, those very same nobles were quick to denounce Iris Midgar, not defending her as the Thirteen Night Blades faction openly called her incompetent and unworthy to succeed her father as the reigning monarch of Midgar. Of course they reached a compromise with her by allowing her to marry Claude Normann as she is still a royalty… but instead of the Crown Princess, they still supported him to sit on the throne. I find that very strange for Midgar, whose royalty has strong ties to the hero Freya." Lambda explains the sequence of events that lead up to Claude Normann's suspicious rise to power.
"That's… awfully similar to the plans that Perv Asshat have for Rose Oriana, before Necromancer got involved." Chi makes her conclusion as she is quite familiar with the circumstances at Oriana more than Midgar as she often worked with her direct superior, Epsilon, in Oriana.
"What if… he's actually… affiliated with the Cult… like Perv Asshat is? What if that's the reason even Necromancer never goes against his family despite being based in Everick and having his most trusted subordinate being the Knight Captain there…? What if… his disappearance was planned?" Omega makes her hypothesis, which is a horrifying thought to the four of them.
"As horrifying as that though is, I still believe in him. He and his family have worked hard against the Cult. Even his sister joined our cause. After all, Lord Shadow wouldn't choose his allies lightly." Nu replies, still having faith in her leader and his chosen ally.
"As usual, you're still defending him, almost as if you're in love with him!" Omega teased again, this time manages to make Nu frown at her.
"Say what you want. I simply have faith in them both. And I still have faith that they will return." Nu responds, not even denying her crush on Claude, which earns her a light chuckle from Omega.
"Hm. Still, we need to consider that possibility. Now… if only the Seven Shades would respond to-" Lambda's words are cut as they hear a crashing sound and a scream, which belongs to Gamma. The four of them rose up from their seats and immediately rushes towards Gamma's room.
As they went closer to Gamma's office, they notice that the scream wasn't a scream of horror but of excitement, something they have heard back when Don Jon met his demise at the hands of Shadow in his John Smith disguise. Either she got good news or Gamma finally went insane. The possibility of the former lifted their spirits internally as they enter the office.
"Lady Gamma! We heard the screams. What's wrong!?" Nu, Gamma's direct subordinate, asks the question first. In response, Gamma turns her head slowly towards the door where all four of them and a few members of the Numbers stood with her bloodshot eyes and bleeding nose.
"Th-This… in my desk… sudden… Lord Sha… He… Hee hee hee hee." Gamma chuckles creepily, which creeps out even the fiendish instructor Lambda. Her dishevelled and pale appearance didn't help, in fact it made her look more and more like a ghost, or one of Necromancer's undead minion. The possibility of her going insane becomes higher and higher in their minds.
But they notice that in her hand she held out a card, a 3 of Spades. None of them but Nu, who is more intimate with the affairs in Midgar, knows what that means.
"Lord Shadow…?" Nu mutters and Gamma nodded, still with bloodshot eyes.
"Lord Shad… he… back…. Hee hee hee…" Gamma mutters once again, barely coherent, exhausted and famished but excited.
"Very well. I shall inform the other Shades too. But first, we need you to fix your appearance, Lady Gamma. Let's get you to the bath first, shall we? Then let's get you a nice warm meal." Nu suggested, to which Gamma responds with a nod.
Needless to say that Beta and Epsilon screamed excitedly like Gamma did when they hear the news. Epsilon even suddenly gains back her weight and voluptuous body, something which surprised many except her own direct subordinates.
With a single card, the mood in Shadow Garden was overturned. They now see light at the end of the tunnel.
A mountain of monster corpses lied on a forest near Midgar capital, as if an even worse monster went on a rampage and slaughtered them all. But the slaughterer didn't take even a bite of her kills. She just piles them up and left them to rot. No beast dared to approach or even attempt to scavenge her spoils, fearing that they would be the next prey.
The beast who gathered all the monster corpses stood at the top of the pile and howls to the moon. Her howls carry a hint of sadness which is noticed by a beastkin who decided to approach her, not afraid that she would kill him.
"Sara… Or should I say… Delta?" Adra calls out to his sister, though she didn't respond so he climbs the pile of corpses.
"Delta." He calls out to her once again as he stands behind her.
"Brother… Adra… Tell me. Is Delta weak?" Finally Delta responds weakly with sobs in between words.
"No. You're not weak at all, Delta. In fact, you're stronger than me." Adra replies honestly.
"Then why… can't Delta help… Boss?"
"Because… as strong as we are… there are just some people whose power are out of this world." Adra says as he walks to her side and sits beside her, which prompts her to sit as well.
"Can Delta… grow stronger? No matter how much Delta hunts… No matter how much Delta kills… Delta didn't become stronger."
"Well… how can you grow stronger if you didn't eat and rest?"
"Delta… Delta… is…" Her words are cut by a sound… a sound of rumbling stomach.
"Delta is hungry… Brother Adraaaaa!" Delta cries as she hugs Adra with weaker force than last time they met.
"Yes of course you are. Come with me. We're going to meet my mother and we're going to eat a lot!" Adra invites her to his mother's home.
"To mother Rieka!?" Delta shouts excitedly.
"Yes! To the best cook in the world!"
"Yaay! Delta will come!" Delta shouts excitedly as she rides on Adra's shoulder like a child. Adra was glad that he can lift her mood. Having her reunite with his mother is definitely a plus as his mother missed her too.
When they arrive at his mother's house, Delta is welcomed to a delicious meal which is also very nostalgic to her, which makes her very very happy and is able to temporarily forget everything that troubled her.
The Kingdom of Midgar is in chaos. Their future king, Claude Normann, went missing and the Thirteen Night Blades launched a rebellion, leading to a civil war. The Royals faction resisted as much as they could but the Thirteen Night Blades, backed up by the Cult, mainly from the Fenrir faction, managed to deal heavy damage and took some territories.
To defend her home, where some skirmishes are happening, Charlotte returned to Everick. Currently she is on break and she sits in the garden of Everick castle, reminiscing about her time together with her brother, Claude.
"Brother… for how long did you bear this burden? Why must you do everything by yourself?" Charlotte mutters quietly, cursing her inability to help her brilliant brother.
"I've lost contact with Shadow Garden… Midgar may be losing the civil war… Oriana already lost and will launch their invasion soon… What can I… what must I do…? I need more… I need more power…!"
"My lady. You have a guest." Her quiet muttering is interrupted by a butler who delivers news.
"Tell them I am in no mood for guests this time and send them away."
"But my lady… She is…"
"Who could this guest be… that you would insist on interrupting my private time?" Charlotte asks with anger in her voice.
"I-It's Sherry Barnett, your friend, my lady." When she hears the name, Charlotte's expression softens.
"Tell her to come here immediately." She orders and the butler obeys.
Few minutes later Sherry enters the garden and smiles at her. Before Sherry can utter even a single word, Charlotte is already there to hug her tightly, though she's being careful enough not to hurt her friend.
"Sherry… You… You came at a bad time…"
"N-No. It's precisely because it's a bad time that I have to come. I heard about what happened and… I-I was worried about you." Sherry replies in her usual nervous attitude.
"Thank you… Sherry. But… How did you even come here from Laugus? The kingdom is on a civil war and Everick is under attack and…"
"I have my ways." Sherry says without elaborating, and Charlotte didn't even question it as she trusted Sherry so much.
"Well… If you're looking for my brother… he's…"
"I came here to meet you, not him. I know what happened… that's why I was worried about you."
"You're not worried about him?"
"I have faith in him. He's… amazing. He won't lose to the Thirteen Night Blades!" Sherry says, having absolute faith in Claude Normann when even his sister began to have doubts and worries about him.
"You're right. I suppose I need to have some more faith in my brother. It's just that… It's frustrating that I can't help."
"I understand. Even I can't help him that much right now… but I must not give up! And you shouldn't too, Charlotte!"
"You're right. I must… I must grow stronger in order to help him!" Charlotte exclaims with a determined face. Sherry smiles in respond.
"Thank you, Sherry! You are indeed the best choice for my brother!" Charlotte says but gasps and covers her mouth with both hands as she realized what she said.
"Uhh… Sherry. About my brother… I… he… no. Forget about it." Charlotte is unable to bring up the topic of her brother's engagement to Iris as she knew Claude and Sherry love each other dearly.
"I know. He's engaged to Princess Iris, isn't he? For the sake of the kingdom it seems that it cannot be helped." Sherry says with a calm voice, hiding her true feelings.
"Sherry…"
"It's okay, Charlotte. It's okay." Sherry says as she hugs Charlotte who looks like she is about to cry.
"Charl… call me Charl. It's the name he always called me since childhood and I want you to do the same."
"Very well…. Charl. Also… I didn't come empty handed. I brought you a gift from Laugus."
Author's Note:
A glimpse at what happened in Midgar while Claude is on a vacation on earth and Cid having his own vacation in the 4th realm. Cid will obviously return soon. When will he return? We shall see.
Also, Happy 1 year anniversary for The Necromancer in Shadow! I know I released this chapter early as it is not yet 27th October but once I've written it, I can't wait to publish it! Not to mention I have a plan this weekend so I may not be able to write another chapter.
PS: I also uploaded this early to test if ffn has been fixed because last time I uploaded, there was 0 views and this fanfic didn't go up in the list of updated TEiS fanfics.