@AtomicNut

Michael raised an eyebrow at the odd choice in payment, but nodded in agreement. "Very well," Michael said. "I know a cafe that serves some delicious things. Pancakes were on the menu as well, last time I checked."

---

"What do you think, Belinda?" Michelle asked, having watched the fight between Cassius and Vala. She's so cool! Belinda squealed with delight. She was clearly excited about Vala. Fast and strong, and even uses a drunken fist style of fighting. Cassius didn't stand a chance!

"What I want to know is what she was drinking," Michelle said, thinking about the flask Vala had materialized. "I'm pretty sure alcohol isn't allowed on campus."

Oh my god, who caaares, Belinda groaned. Didn't you see how fast she moved even before she drank that? I wanna fight her too... Michelle sighed.

"Just give it up, Belinda, we need to-" Michelle began to say before getting cut off.

I'ma do it, Michelle, Belinda announced suddenly.

"Huh? Do what- no. No no no," Michelle clutched her head with both hands as she attempted to strengthen her mental defenses, but it proved to be in vain as Belinda smashed through them, quickly taking over Michelle's body.

Belinda grinned mischievously, enjoying the moment. "No sense letting this opportunity go by, Michelle. This is our chance to-" Belinda pointed at the location where Cassius and Vala had been, only to find them missing. "Where'd they go?" Belinda said, swiveling her head back and forth.

Now we can actually do some proper work, don't you think? Michelle said to the now sulking Belinda. "I wanted to have some fun..." Belinda pouted.

Mitya nodded reassuringly as he was led by the student named Cassius. It seemed that like any good elite school, St. Laurel´s had strong discipline, encouraging student fights. He also appreciated how the school seemed to have caught up with the healing properties of vodka. Papa Kalinin said, once upon a time, that Vodka healed anything. And watching the other transfer student healing Cassius, it might as well be. The daintly-looking boy made a bow of gratitude once he was led, and he entered the right room to get his uniform.

What he did not like was how poor people´s eyesight was. He was no girl. No girl had this prominent short hair. All girls had long, waist length hair, or even massive drill curls. They also dressed sharply and had loud, arrogant laughters while treating everyone else beneath them.

So what hit Cassius was probably a boy trapped in a girl´s body. He must be. That Vala needed an exorcism. And Vodka.

"Be Well, Comrade Cassius." Mitya pieced together, before exiting to explain his case and change in a new uniform.

---

Meredith walked softly, in an almost catheaded fashion, as she squeezed past in the ruckus of the entrance. There had been a brawl in the entrance, which was more of a St. Lucifer's kind of thing... but with the climate nowadays, it could happen to even such a prestigious school. Her new uniform had arrived, but the shirt still felt small. Ever since changing her body shape so sharply, fitting clothes in such short noticed had been quite an adventure.

It was then when she felt something splashing her right side of her face in the commotion. Someone must´ve spilled her drink no doubt. Maybe it was one of those boys who kept spilling drinks on her clothes. The tingling and posterior flaring in pain told her otherwise, as her right side of her face boiled and melted under some unknown substance, blinding her on her side and even exposing part of her jawbone.

She was bleeding into her shirt, staining with an ominous shade of red her otherwise pristine uniform. She made contained grunts as she fell to the ground, her head throbbing in agony. She managed to spot a couple of high-heeled black pair of shoes, surrounded by many feminine footwear. A gaggle of girls. She had never been good with those, but it seemed that after the tournament... it had only just gotten worse.

"Ohohohohoho, I am so sorry...First year commoner...student..thing. With these recent events, anti-demon potions are a must, and it seems i just splashed you by mistake. I hope it did not cause you much trouble..." said a very haughty, stiff voice of a third year. Surrounding her, there was a bunch of girls of all years, who just giggled in chorus to the jeering.

"I am...alright." Meredith pieced together, enduring the pain and the obvious provocation. "It will heal..." She said back, as she struggled to rise back to her feet.

Given how it did not have the desired effect, the girl just twisted her face in a disgusted expression, before addressing the half-demon even more."Just be mindful of your surroundings. You´re nothing special, even if our Alto has set eyes on you." The girl added with a sharp blow of her fan on her own hand, before spinning around herself and proceeding to her assigned class, the gaggle dissolving as she went by.

Meredith was nauseated at the strain, and half-blind. Amidst the crowd, she seemed to have spotted a familiar figure. She staggered towards her, still bleeding and her face half-charred, before pressing her chest on the other girl, almost unable to maintain her weight on her own legs. "Michelle...please, I need help getting into the infirmary. I can only see on one side."

---

It was very fortunate that classes had been cancelled at St. Lucifer's School for Peace and Wellbeing. That meant that there was, at first glance no one around to hear the uproar that one person was causing. That one person was not a student, but rather the parent of one. Kugekino Ayumu, father of Mephisto's resident ninja Yuuto, was ranting and raving with no small amount of noise. It was very fortunate that no one else around understood Jubanese, else the would have learned a few new creative swears.

As Ayumu stormed through the halls, he had but one target: his son. His son, who was in big trouble. He had failed his clan, publicly humiliating them. On television, no less. There were two things one did not do as a part of the clan: fail a mission and publicly humiliate the clan. His son was guilty of both.

Slowly, drearily, Bak's eyes fluttered open. She stretched out her arms, the blanket she had been wrapped in falling away, and let out an uncharacteristically loud yawn. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she shook her head at the yelling that was even now echoing its way across the school, boncing from wall to wall and down stairwells to reach even here. "Inconsiderate students, why now? I was having such happy dream too..."

She looked around her room. It took a few seconds for here to realize where she was, and even longer for her tired mind to sort out the implications of both her location and the yelling.

"Ahhhhh, what have I done!?!" She screamed, quickly wrapping her hook around the pipe in the ceiling to pull herself to her feet. "Stupid, stupid, how could I have fallen asleep?"

She'd let someone onto the campus, someone that wasn't supposed to be here because no one was supposed to be here!

A quick thought made her turn around to observe her makeshift bed, just to confirm the obvious.

They had taken Clara!!! Or at least, she was not where Bak had put her!

She stomped forward, throwing open the double doors separating the gym storage room she called home from the meeting room where she'd laid the boys down for the night.

She would have liked to let them sleep a little longer, but this was an emergency. "Wake up!" She yelled. "Can you hear, we have unknown trespasser on school property. As head of St. Lucifer's disciplinary committee and only present member of Student Council, I am deputizing you both."

Yuuto was having a pleasant dream. It was full of happy memories and childhood wonder and screaming. Wait, screaming? Why did it sound like Bak-san? When Yuuto opened his eyes, he noticed that he was at the school. It seemed he was in a conference room of sorts. This was a room he wasn't familiar with. At that revlation, he snapped instantly awake, mind searching for any danger. What he saw was Bak.

"Deputize? What is meaning of commotion, Bak-san?" Yuuto asked. It was then that he heard it. That thunderous voice shouting out some really obscene things in his native tongue. Yuuto's face (the cover had been torn to shreds during the commotion during the tournament and the park) paled. It was as if the wrath of Kami-sama had come for him. "No need to panic, Bak-san. Is not intruder. Is just otousan. He always make racket when angry. Is quite terrifying."

Otousan? Bak didn't know what that meant, but the name conjured images of a vicious monster in her mind. There wasn't anything to worry about, though, even if it was so terrifying?

"You know this person?" She asked, walking forward with utmost concern. "What is it he is screaming about? He is going to wake everyone up."

Yuuto nodded at Bak's first question. Hai, I know person. Is otousan. You might know word better as Father. Right now, he is screaming unpleasant things and threats to me. I shamed clan during tournament by failing mission. I shamed clan even further by failing to capture target. Otousan has heard of these by now, and I will have to face consequences. You have thanks for bringing me to safety, Bak-san. Stay here to watch over David. I shall have to face otousan alone." With that, Yuuto turned to leave the room, but he need not have bothered. As soon as his hand reached for the door, it slammed open. There, standing at his full seven foot height and dressed in ninja garb like his son, stood Kugekino Ayumu. Yuuto's spine straightened out quickly enough that it looked like it might have come close to snapping as he stood at perfect attention.

Bak was about to say something, but covered her mouth with her hands as the towering Ninja smashed his way in.

She understood what Yuuto was talking about. Whatever his assignment had been at the tournament, perhaps to win maybe, he had not succeeded. This was a matter of duty, and more importantly a matter of family. She should stay out of it.

She would, but she did see that this called for all this screaming and yelling. Her father had never done that. Bak Tsar was a tacit and stern man, and kept his reprimand to one or two soft words that hurt more than a thousand spankings. She thought this man was going about it the entirely wrong way.

Plus, something out of her dream had left her quite irritated, and this man invading her territory was an outlet for that.

"Stop right there. You can not simply be barging into council room like this." She said. "If you want meeting you must schedule one with Tovar...Comrade Clara or Mr. Mephisto."

It had taken a long time for David o fall asleep last night. He was not only in a foreign place sleeping in a less than optimal bed, but he was also quite stressed out by everything that happened that day. So, when Bak had gone to wake him, he had been less than cooperative with her prodding. He only half-listened to the conversation between Bak and Yuuto, trying his best to fall back to sleep. At least until the door burst open, and he went from half-dead to upright and aware instantly. The man standing in the entrance reminded him of Yuuto. It was an easy leap in logic to assume that he was his Dad. He wasn't sure what to make of all this until Bak started yelling. He may not know what was going on, but if Bak wanted him gone. He was going to back her up. He stood up quickly and spoke in an aggravated tone, "Hey buddy. You heard the Lady. Get an appointment or get out. Those are the rules. Respect them." David was prepared if the Hokage took offense to his words. He had portals over every inch of this school. If the guy stopped through even one doorway. He would find himself clear across town in a bowling alley.

Ayumu did not look impressed as both of these children presumed to stick their noses in clan business. He shook his head. "Children like you do not understand clan business." With a few hand motions, the two would find themselves under illusions. Whether or not they could break out of them were up to their own mental fortitude. Ayumu turned to his son. "Yuuto!" His son's posture straightened up even more, if it were possible. "You have failed clan. You have humiliated clan. Why did you not take out the target?" Yuuto sighed. "I tried, Otou-san. After initial attempt failed and target fled, I followed. There, in park, I was distracted by him." At this, Yuuto pointed to David. "He appeared to have made friends with mark. He is tricky foe, able to open portals. Due to injuries from tournament and battle with new foe, I was unable to resume pursuit." Yuuto finished giving his report. Ayumu nodded. "Very well. We will discuss your actions later. I have heard no word from our... benefactor. These facts will be taken into consideration in front of clan council. Rest up, and report back by tomorrow. You will be expected to return to clan training and taking missions at that time, fully healed or not." With that, the mountain of a man swiftly turned on foot, dispelling the illusions if the two hadn't gotten out of them. Just as quickly as he'd arrived, he was gone without a sound.

"This is not..." Bak started, stepping forward before she stopped and a far away wistfulness seeped its way into her eyes. She smiled stupidly as she stood there motionless.

After all, she couldn't possibly step on the lambs. They milled about it the pleasant field she found herself in, sunlight cascading along rolling waves of grass. In the distance she could see a smoky little cottage, but her attention was drawn to a tug at the hem of her dress. She looked down to see one of the little ones gnawing at it, and laughed as she had a brief tug-of-war with the animal.

Suddenly, behind her, a voice all too famillier and yet strange called out, "Tsarevna!" It was light, and boisterous in an almost sing song kind of way that could lift the spirits of anyone on these hills if only the echo would be generous enough to carry it that far. The voice of a man completely unburdened. "Tsarevna, bring the flock in. Mother has dinner nearly ready."

"Coming papa..." She said, turning only to find herself back in her basement home fidgeting at the edge of her skirt, both men now only memories. She slowly put her skirt down and scanned the room, trying to trigger her thermal vision only to be reminded once again that Brutus had a lot to answer for when her repair bill came in.

Still, to her relief, Yuuto was at least still here. She stomped up to him. "Are you alright? Did he do anything to you?"

"Wrong answer!" David yelled as he brandished his pen, but before he could do anything, the world faded away. He felt a haze come over his mind.

He wasn't in the school anymore but on a stage. There was a crowd obscured by shadows and a blinding light shining in his eyes. He could make out the shape of a man standing on stage with him. He couldn't tell who he was, because of the light, but he heard the voice of Huges speak to him. "You did it, David, you helped them, you saved them." He told him, the crowd echoed his sentiments. He heard more voices he knew. The yelled things like, "Thank you Daivd!" or, "You really helped out kid." and a voice he did not want to hear said, "I was wrong about you." He'd always wanted this. To feel this admiration and acceptance, but with each praise, he only felt worse. His life had been a long list of failure after failure. He knew these voices and knew none of what they said could be real. All of this was too grandiose, a delusion born from a lack of confidence and self-loathing. He couldn't accept this reality that whispered him sweet nothings.

He didn't even realize the transition. He was suddenly aware that he was back in the school, and he watched as the Ninja man vanished without a trace. Again he had been too late to do anything. A moment later, Bak also woke from her delusion. He did not know what she saw, but she looked happy. "I guess she saw something she wanted to as well." David thought to himself. As soon as she was aware she was all over Yuuto, making sure he was ok. "Now, that someone worth admiring." David thought, his ghosts echoing in the back of his mind. The hurtful words they had used, and not the false praises from his dream.

"Unbelievable." Bak said, placing her hands on her hips. "We can not just allow people to walk in here. Is bad for...for...everything! What if he were assassin, or reporter, or worse."

She shook her head. His could she let this happen, especially after yesterday? Still, Yuuto seemed to be all right for now. David also seemed to be in good spirits.

Her eyes crept toward the door on the other side of the room. She might as well see if he was sleeping soundly with all this racket.

Bak stomped over and slowly pulled open Vittorio's door. There was a brief pause, like an intake of air, as Bak came to the realization that dreams really did come true.

The scream started small, like an animal growl, then pitched higher and higher and higher as she realized what had happened until it became something almost entirely inhuman. It was like two saw blades grinding against one another, throwing glowing sparks of white hot rage into the air. It continued until her jaw snapped shut, she aimed, and blew that offensively empty bed to smitheries.

Yuuto stood and contemplated the consequences of what was to come. He'd likely be coming to school sore and possibly bruised for the next month or two. Yet, as he stood in silence, Bak wandered off. She was only gone for a few minutes when Yuuto heard a scream, followed by an explosion. Yuuto quickly rushed off after her, utilizing his Void power to enhance his speed. He appeared next to her, sword drawn. "Bak-san! Where is problem?" Yuuto asked, eyes scanning all around the room. What he saw was bits of a bed, as if it had been blown up. That must have been the explosion. "What is matter, Bak-san?"

She stood there, red in the face, nostril's flaring like a rabid bull as she ground every breath she took up into crumbs before exhaling it. She didn't speak for a long time.

"Wayward student." She finally said, her breathing becoming a little less labored. "Skipping class for first time. Did not expect him to be so brazen."

She turned to him. "You are not leaving too, da?" She asked. "They will allow you to come back? They will not send you away?"

Yuuto looked over at Bak. He shook his head. Otou-san will not expect me in clan compound until next mission check-in. I have about two week until then."

This, at least, seemed to calm her down slightly. "And after then?"

David had been tiredly listening to Bak's rant as she went on about all the damage trespassing could do. He was going to comment on posting security but thought better of it. "What good would a security guard do against a literal ninja." He thought to himself, as he watched Bak stomp over to an adjacent room. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, his mind was starting to slow down from all the sleep loss from last night. As a result, he was caught off guard when Bak started to scream.

An explosion followed shortly after, and in that instant, David's exhaustion was banished by a new flood of adrenaline. He didn't know what happened, but he was determined to stop it this time. He wasn't as quick as Yuuto was to respond, but he was at Bak's side right behind the ninja. He didn't see any immediate threat, but before he could say anything. Yuuto asked Bak the burning question.

David hadn't been sure how to take Bak's answer, but as Yuuto and her started talking David tried his best to remember the night before. He tried to remember who had been in that room. It finally hit him as a wave of memories. A single day that felt like a week. He spoke without thinking, interrupting the conversation, "Yo, what happened to that dyin kid?"

Yuuto shook his head at Bak's question. "I will be pushed and trained into ground. I will be pushed to limit and then beyond. Clan training is tough. Even if bones are broken, is expected to keep training. I will still be attending, if that is concern. Just... no be surprised if I limp for a while, okay?" Yuuto answered. At David's question, he merely shook his head, indicating he had no clue where Vittorio had gone.

The way Bak's every feature tightened with apprehension at the mention of broken bones and injury made it clear that she wasn't okay with that at all. One more problem to add on to the pile.

Speaking of problems, David brought up the one on the bottom of the pile. "Gone!" She barked. Then she realized how that could be misconstrued. "He decided he was well enough that he could leave, the idiot. I caught him sneaking away this morning. I tried to stop him but he...he bamboozled me with dirty tricks!" Bak was glad she was already so red in the face, the little extra that crept in wasn't as noticeable. "Does not even understand what is going on, he was asleep for most of it."

Now that she was thinking about him leaving, Yuuto failing his mission, and the way that everything had fallen out yesterday, it was getting harder and harder to deny what the root cause of all this might have been. It all came back to Yuuto and, by extension, Clara.

She tried to think of a way to remedy that, and realized suddenly that she already had.

"Yuuto." She started. "If you are ever in need of any help, you can always come to us for it. You are student here. Council exists for you." She turned to David. "Both of you. And as newly deputized members of said council, if ever you think council is out of line you have power to raise objection."

Yuuto, at Bak's concern, had to mentally shake his head. "I appreciate concern, Bak-san. You are truly too kind for cruel world. I will remember offer." The Yuuto said this, it sounded as if he were almost... sad. Yuuto knew that he would likely not approach the council for help unless he had no other choice. And forget speaking out about the Council's actions. Clara sure wouldn't stand for any sign of subordination. Neither would Mephisto. Yuuto's orders on following Clara's orders and reporting to him had been quite clear. Any form of dissent might make her suspicious of his true motives. So, while Yuuto said what he said, it was clear that he lacked the conviction to actually mean those words.

---

Nasearph hardly had to be pushed, someone attempting to enter the house was what he had been waiting for all night. He took the stairs to at a time, readying himself for a dramatic confrontation with the intruders.

He practically deflated when it turned out to just be the girls parents, though the tension in the girl behind him hadn't diminished in the slightest upon their arrival. Indeed, it seemed as though the only battle that was to be fought here was between them and he decided to stay out of it. At least until the woman casually dismissed him as though he were a serving boy. The gall, after he'd defended not only her home but the dignity of her child without asking for anything in return. For all she knew where it not for his car and impeccable driving talents Vera would be strewn in the gutter like so much stabbed up refuse.

Elders. They were the same everywhere you went. Oh well, it at least let him know which side of the battle lines he fell on.

"Yes, I'm afraid I may have broken something yesterday." he amended to the end of her lies. Somewhere Ria felt an odd pain in her leg. He smiled at them as they left, giving her father a wave as he passed. His smile vanished as soon a they were out of sight.

"Think nothing of it." he said to Vera. "Being unwelcome is something I've grown accustomed to. I can abide it until Andras is done drowning. Now, I believe you mentioned an alternative bathroom. I warn you, if you lead me to a birdbath it will be chopped in half."

It was hard to tell whether he was joking about that.

---

"Good. Thanks, Chrissy." Kathein said. Her voice was scratchy and tired, her eyes half lidded. The adrenalin rush of not knowing anything had worn off and she felt herself being pulled back into the well of sleep. "Can't let them run us out. Got a lot of...unfinished...business...

Her sentence trailed off into light snoring. She had promised to be up into two or three days, but for right now at least she slept.

---

@KillamriX88@Hammerman@Crowvette@rawkhawk64@Crazy Scion

Belinda, you can't stay here forever, Michelle said to Belinda, who was currently lying face down on a bench. Belinda had searched the area in hopes that she might still catch sight of Cassius and Vela, but it proved to be a fruitless endeavor. As a result, she had taken to lying down on the hard stone.

"Just watch me, Michelle," Belinda said with monotony. "Nothing's gonna move me from this spot." As soon as she said that, her stomach began to growl.

A moment of silence passed, and Michelle said, Let's gooo, Belinda.

"We heard nothing! We're not hungry!" Belinda yelled out as she flipped over, flailing her limbs for a second before settling down again. A second growl sounded, causing Belinda to sigh in defeat and stand up. "Fine, I'll go get a sandwich or something," Belinda said, shuffling her way to the cafeteria. She barely even took two steps, however, before Michelle suddenly said, Belinda, wait.

"Huh?"

Look. It's Meredith, but...

Belinda turned to look, and saw Meredith staggering over to her. It didn't take much to see that Meredith was hurt, and pretty badly too. Making her way over to her, Belinda saw just how bad her wounds were. Michelle was horrified to see how much of Meredith's face was gone. Even Belinda was in no mood to crack any jokes, instead grimacing as she turned around to grab Meredith and carry her on her back. "You're going to be ok, Meredith. We'll get you to the nurse's office," Belinda said, maneuvering her way past the crowds and running along the hallways.

Belinda burst through the door to the nurse's office, announcing, "We need treatment! NOW!"

@Scarifar@AtomicNut

---

The two, yet also three, burst into an... empty office. The nurse had little work to do at St. Laurel's. It was a quiet, peaceful school. Not like Mephisto's, where injuries and bone-breaking brawls were practically an hourly occurrence. However, at Belinda's panicked scream, a door to a side-room within the office burst open and a woman stumbled out, made it about two steps, and tripped, falling onto her face.

"Wh-what!? I'm awake!" She lifted her head up and blinked. She wore a long dress that obscured even her feet and with a white overcoat on top of it. She was blonde, with her hair tied up, though her bangs were left loose and nearly completely covered her eyes. A wave of hot air billowed out of the doorway after her, but she quickly stood and shut it behind her. "OK, what sseems to b- OH DEAR GODS! What the f-" The woman shuffled over to Meredith only to recoil in disgust at her half-melted face, having to slap her hand over her mouth at the last second. The woman retched but managed to keep her lunch down by some miracle.

"Um, um, um, bed!" she led them over to one of the sick beds to sit Meredith down. The nurse then took a deep breath... then another and leaned it to... smell Meredith's face. "Uhh..." and then she just looked confused. She pulled her bangs back to get a better look, and the two-in-one would only see her confusion grow. "It's... like acid damage, but... and there's no scorching..." Then, perhaps shockingly, the nurse's eyes changed. Then again... and again... First slitted and reptilian, then all black, and then reptilian again, and then finally back to normal. "I don't understand..."

It had all the signs of an acid burn, minus any sign of chemicals. She supposed she should probably ask what happened-

"Wait." Ah, of course, she recognized this girl. She produced a tablet, typed in Meredith's name... and there it was. In the end there had been no hiding it. From students, perhaps, but the higher ups at the school were well aware that Meredith was a half-demon -- not that it had been much of a secret from anyone after the tournament. And just like that, all panic left the nurse's face. "Ah, well, she'll be fine then." She shrugged. She then reached up onto a tall shelf, her body almost seeming to... stretch. No normal person, lest they were over seven feet tall, should have been able to reach such a high shelf, and yet...

"You girls are in luck. The last nurse, well, doctor, was up to some weird stuff. Got fired a few months ago for doing experiments and stealing school funds. We were supposed to burn all his stuff, but I managed to hold onto most of it!" She shrunk back down to their level with a small box in her hands. She then froze, realizing what she'd just admitted. Her head snapped around to glare at them, eyes once more reptilian. "You didn't hear that." Then in one swift move she popped the box open and then jammed a syringe into Meredith's neck.

It would feel like fire laced with lightning was shot into her veins. Moments later her face would knit itself back together so fast the skin seemed to practically pop back into place. This was followed by a sudden hiccuping fit and then the overwhelming urge to sneeze. Somehow the most unusual thing was yet to come when her sneeze would produce smoke and fire.

"Ah, shit... I was supposed to use the one on the right..." The nurse pursed her lips while staring regretfully at the box and the syringe she was meant to have used still lying in it. "Well, it should be fine. Uhh, just don't exhale on anyone too hard and try not to burn the school down. Should pass in an hour or two." Meredith would find breathing out to be rather... unusually tingly. The nurse cleared her throat and stretched her way back to the shelf to replace the contraband box. "So, more importantly. What the heck happened in the first place?" she asked when she came back down.

That debacle of a tournament managed to essentially shut the entire city down, but not for as long as you would think. Even in the face of tragedy life goes on. Shops had to open, jobs had to be attended to, and children had to return to school. So it was for the students of St. Lucifers, a group of kids that had managed to avoid any direct danger by virtue of never botereting to attend the tournaments of Rhea. That didn't mean, however, that they weren't feeling the aftershocks.

One in particular was feeling those aftershocks exploding into little ringlets of pain all over his back. He collapsed with a cry, his books spilling all over the ground. Behind him stood the automaton, face cold, gunbarrels smoking even as they wound down. He looked back as he started picking himself up.

"Tuck in shirt." was all Bak said as she tromed on down the hallway past him to her own class. The boy stared after her hatefully, then grudgingly took the time to tuck his shirt into his pants before starting to gather his things. A few other boys on their way to class, who had hastily pressed themselves up against the wall when Bak had rounded the corner and who's uniforms were all immaculately tucked, looked at their fallen comrade like he was the world's biggest idiot.

It had only taken a short while for word to get around the school that Bak was in a very shoot first and never ask questions again kind of mood. Despite how common it was for a student to catch a missile for blatantly braking a school rule, usually Bak wasn't that perceptive. You could get away with little things if you hid the evidence of shaped up fast enough. If you were a student in good standing sometimes she would even give you the courtesy of a warning shot and a stern talking too.

This was different. She was mad. The last time the student body had seen Bak this mad was when somebody had stolen Christine's underwear. She'd been like a bloodhound for a weak, finally cornering some poor bastard out on the athletic field before unloading on the supposed suspect for fifteen minutes while screaming about how Christine wouldn't be able to wear white at her wedding. This anger, though, was more directionless and it made her substantially sharper. If you were caught in the middle of even a minor infraction, BANG, BANG, BOOM, and the gods help anyone near you at the time.

Of course, in her mind, she had every right to be mad. Around half the council was just gone! Vittorio, that fool, was only a taste of things to come. Christine hadn't shown back up to class since Thobias took her. Luigi was off doing...something, she wasn't sure what. Giliam had shown up, once, to tell her to contact a morgue whenever Clara returned.

Clara! Bak hadn't been stupid, Clara was just gone without a trace. And after she promised to make amments, too! To add on to this the stinking St. Laural's had attacked them, twice, and fled before Bak was able to get there. That meant that she had to assume that the secret location of St Mephisto's School for the Wickedly Inclined was in fact now widely known to their enemies. To top this all off, they had the incident this morning. Some usurper looking to take advantage of their weakness beat up...well...he never technically did anything as a member but he was a member of St. Mephistos and he got obliterated. She didn't know who it was, with Clara gone she had no access to any spy bats to see. She'd tried pressing the regular students but none of them seemed at all willing to spill the beans, which could only mean that they were more afraid of the newcomer than they were of her. Always a bad sign.

She listened as the last dongs of the bell rang out as she spotted a group loitering in the hallway, turned toward them, and let off a few shots. They went wide as the students scattered into different classrooms. She clicked her teeth. Her aim was still wonky. Nevertheless, she turned to the door she'd been seeking and pulled it open to stomp into the Mephistos meeting room.

She flicked on the lights and stared sadly around the place before walking to the phone that sad near the head of the long table. She pulled a list of phone numbers she'd gotten from the school registry out of her pocket and started going down the list. Clara wasn't here. None of the senior members seemed to be willing to take responsibility. If she didn't want Mephistos destroyed she'd have to take things into her own hands. She didn't even know if it was in her authority to do this, but if it wasn't she could just apologize later.

"Hello?" She said awkwardly into the line as the first call connected. She still wasn't exactly used to this, she'd never needed to call someone of the phone before. "This is Bak. I am calling urgent student council meeting."

@rawkhawk64@Hammerman@KillamriX88@Crazy Scion@supertinyking

---

True to her word, Katherine managed to meal quickly. It took her only three days to manage to start walking unassisted. A few more than that to shake off the sluggishness of her wounds, but after that you would never know that she'd even been stabbed in the heart. Unless you looked at her chest.

The puncture had left a nasty, ragged scar right there under her breasts. The would had been big, and the demonic power that had been used to heal it hadn't exactly been compatible with human physiology. Little canyons of scar spread out in all directions from the center, and it had an annoying habit of glowing white hot whenever she used her powers. When it did it almost looked like the sun was right there, sitting in her chest.

She stood in front of Thobias big bathroom mirror and circled it with her finger before sighing loudly. "As if I didn't have enough modesty problems." She didn't want people seeing this thing.

"I happen to think it looks fetching."

"You would." She whispered before slipping her shirt on. "It's not going away, is it?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

Katherine moseyed on over to the door and shoved it open. So far as she was concerned today was checkout day as Casa de Thobias. Not that she didn't appreciate the food, giant tv, restful atmosphere, and occasion dip in the Jacuzzi to sooth her aching muscles, but being stuck in the same place for days on end got to her. "Christine, you ready? I'm gonna steal one last drink from him and them we can ead home, alright?"

Michael and Diana entered the cafe, noting that there were a rather large number of customers. Fortunately, they seemed to be lucky as a pair had began to leave from a table. “Table for two, please,” Michael said to the waiter in the front, and the two were quickly directed to the small table after it was cleaned off. Taking a look at the menu, Michael remarked, “Hmm, apparently there’s a couple’s special today, for ‘Lover’s Pancakes’.” Looking around and realizing that the majority of customers consisted of couples, he added, “Well that explains that.”

Diana had followed with careful steps and a neutral expression, before taking a seat and taking a look at the menu. “Might as well order.” She said as she did not spare a second glance at the whole atmosphere. “You’ll probably be too hard pressed to keep up appearances and I can exploit that.” She added nonchalantly, and decided to go on a small splurge herself. Sweets and calories felt great after burning some magic to nonchalantly torch some fools. “I will have one of each of these.” She added, not even hinting a smile on her face, while mercilessly picking an assortment of pancakes with full extras.

“Still cheaper than the usual fee. Proceed.” She indicated to Michael.

Michael raised an eyebrow at Diana before nodding in agreement. It made sense, after all. “Very well,” Michael said, closing the menu. Michael flagged down the waiter and ordered, then turned to Diana as the waiter left. “While we wait, I’d like to discuss a few topics with you,” Michael said, taking out his cell phone and opening a Notes app. “For a starter: What is magic, and what is needed to use it?”

“Heh.” Diana’s face seemed to smile for the first time. “Magic is… simply put… the lifehacks of the universe.” She added. “Imagine that the abyss between mortals and gods was a ladder. Normal people never become aware of it, because barriers are in place. But there are seams, cracks… and sometimes people find a way to squeeze through. Magicians have climbed one or two stairs and gained skill to manipulate and bend reality.” Diana went on. “It’s also what humans used to fight demons before the Blessings were handed by divine hands.”

Diana paused for a moment. “Oh, interested in magic? Well there is always a price to pay. The one inescapable rule of magic. Nothing is free. Unlike blessings, Magic needs to be paid, always. Just the mere thought of thinking to use magic requires the sacrifice of something really precious.”

“And no, your most valuable object won’t be enough. A loved one will do… but that is considered heinous nowadays. We pay with our blessings the price. In order to do magic, you need to renounce to which has been granted by the gods, and then figure how to walk on your own.”

Michael stared intently at Diana as he listened, not even looking at his phone as he typed in important info. When she got to the price to pay for magic, however, Michael’s eyes widened, then sighed in disappointment. “I had hoped that wouldn’t be the case,” Michael said. “Nothing is ever free.” Their order soon came, and placed in front of Michael and Diana were stacks of pancakes, complete with all the decorations they usually came with and additions Diana had ordered. Taking his own plate, Michael poked at the meal with his knife nonchalantly.

Diana let a hint of childish glee, before slipping back to her usual mask and mercilessly dissecting the plate of pancakes. “No, nothing ever is. Someone asked me to make them more powerful, once. He was bad, but now his sociopathy is full blown. I gotta ask him what he owes me, though.” Diana said. “You came to me with hopes of getting strong… but I am afraid that starting with magic now will be subpar to your blessing.” Diana added, as she licked some chocolate from one of the slices.

“However, your blessing might be kind of easy to read. I can apply whatever wisdom I have and see what comes up from it.” Diana added. “I dispelled it once, so I guess these ten years of practice might yield a few pointers.”

“You mean that?” Michael asked incredulously. “If you’d do that for me, I wouldn’t be able to thank you enough.” Michael poured on a few lines of syrup onto his pancakes before cutting them up into neat squares. “But I’m assuming this won’t come for free either, will it? As you’ve said, time is money.”

“I do not say things I cannot back up.” Diana added, as she continued to chew the pancakes at a vigorous pace. “I assume you don’t have enough money, so I will take something else as payment, besides these pancakes.” She paused, leaving the fork and knife to a side. “Contacts. It doesn’t hurt to move the eggs into different baskets. You seem to be pretty chummy with the Vigilantes.”

Michael nodded. “That I am. I also have a connection or two with the Ascot family, though admittedly we haven’t contacted each other in a while. I could call them, rekindle that connection as well. If nothing else, knowing someone within the police, or at least some division of it, isn’t exactly a bad thing.”

“Unless you’re a peddler of corpses.” Diana add, an icy edge in her voice. “Not much harm in trying though.” Diana announced as she finished her plate, and quickly began scribbling on a napkin, then sliding it to Michael. “Draw your glyph for body reinforcement there, I want to see it side to side with… mine.”

Michael took his own napkin and conjured up his paintbrush, having it take on a small head. As he drew his symbols, he noted that it was rather easy to see their meanings. Diana was right in saying that they were easily telegraphed. Still, what’s done was done. Michael quickly finished drawing and passed down the napkins back to Diana.

“We have our Rosetta stone here.”Diana added, nonchalantly, as she grinned while drawing a second symbol, different to her first one. “Now, you need to translate this into your glyphs.” The Witch mentioned with a whisper. “And try it outdoors and in private.”

Michael raised an eyebrow at Diana again, then examined Diana’s symbol with great scrutiny. “I would ask you what this does, but something tells me you want it to be a surprise,” Michael said.

“Not really.” She drank her drink greedily as well. “But people freak out when they see people flying sometimes.” She deadpanned. “All good witches know this spell.”

“Wha- oh,” Michael said, realizing what Diana had just given him. All he had gotten his Body Arts to do was merely to improve his own movement and abilities while reducing his opponents’, and trying to produce a new ability from it had never crossed his mind. It was just another path of possibilities he could explore with his blessing. He wondered what else he could learn to do. “Well, this will be a challenge. Never tried to make something like this before,” Michael said after a moment of thought.

“Healing. Reinforcement and Flight. My mother taught me these spells first. She said that they’re unlikely to win a fight on their own, but they can be the key element. Alongside something else.” She grabbed one more paper, as she repeated the reinforcement glyph… before placing some scribbles on key parts.

“Dispelling. This is done in two ways. Identifying the key points and changing them, or… brute force by sending od to break the pattern.” Diana finished her spiel, before looking at Michael once more. “I trust this lesson covers the value of what I have asked for.”

Michael nodded. “It has. Thank you, Diana. It really does mean a lot to me,” Michael said, smiling at Diana, taking the napkins. It would be another period of experimentation and practice for him. Just another day, but now it was more exciting.

“Yeah sure. No chance at being my boyfriend though. That was too contrived.” She added as she raised from her table, leaving Michael to pay the bill. “I have stuff to do, places to visit. If you die, I will take care of your bones.”

“Sure, take care,” Michael said as she left. As he paid the bill and began to leave, a realization just struck him. Wait… boyfriend? Michael thought to himself. Looking back at the day’s events, he realized just what she meant, and blushed in embarrassment. Oh by the gods, how did I not see that? Michael then sighed and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Forget it, Michael. You got shit to do, Michael thought as he left the cafe.

"I'm ready!" Christine replied.

They had stayed in Tobias' place for around a week now, and Christine was more than ready to finally be able to return home. With her sister's wounds healed (with the exception of the scar, but there's nothing they could do about it), there was no reason for them to stay here any longer. Unfortunately, it seemed the houseowner himself wouldn't be there to see them off.

Christine then exited the bathrooom wearing a towel, having just finished what (hopefully) be the last shower she would have in the apartment. She never liked intruding on people, even if the person in question seemed to have no problem with it whatsoever.

"Going to change then we can go home, alright?" She said to her sister with a smile.

She went to the wardrobe in the room where she knew her clothes were kept. She opened it, taking out her usual white snow coat. She then bent forward, as she scrambled around looking for her pair of underwear. As her towel was short, all the while she was flashing her bare butt to her sister.

Not that she would mind, of course, with them being related and all.

"Ah, there you are!" She declared once she found her black pair. She took off her towel, put on the panties, then put on the coat afterwards.

As usual, she was not wearing a bra underneath.

"There!" She turned to Kath once she finished. "Now we can go home!"

@Gentlemanvaultboy

"Full moon rising." Kath called jovially as she mock-covered her eyes and walked away. She got to the kitchen, pulled open the fridge, and grabbed the last bottle of that great tea with the unpronounceable name Thobias had stocked the thing with. The relative emptiness of the refrigerator was another reason Kath had picked today to leave. She pulled off the label wrapped round the bottle, pulled out a pen, and scribbled a short note on the back of it.

We ate all your food. Thanks for everything, wherever you are. Seriously.

XOXO, Katherine

As Christine walked in, ready to go, Katherine took a container of toothpicks and laid it on the makeshift note so it didn't blow off the counter. "Right, let's hit the road."

---

After locking up and a long awkward elevator ride filled with people unfamiliar with Christine's...bold fashion choices the two of them stepped out into the streets of downtown. Katherine stretched out, seeing as she was outside for the first time in what felt like months. The balcony was nice and all, but it was still being confined to a little square of concrete floating high above the world. She looked around. Based on where they were downtown home wouldn't be that hard to get to, but it'd be a bit of a walk. Not that she was complaining, she needed the exercise. She picked her heading and started to stroll down the sidewalk, enjoying the afternoon sun.

She seemed like she was one of the only ones though. Everyone else was either hurring to and fro on business or just acting real shutoff and tense. Kath wondered about that until she spotted something posted up on the side of a nearby bus stop.

White posters covered the side, each bearing a photo a phone number, and a plea for help. Missing persons. She grimaced. Right. That had happened after she'd been carried away on her wild demonic roller coaster ride. It felt weird. Like, when you almost get yourself murdered you feel like that must have been the most important thing to happen that day. This cult thing still kinda felt like a dream, like it hadn't happened, even though it had been the only thing on the news for the past couple of days.

She wondered whether, if things had gone different, her face would be up there with all of them.

"Almost certainly, if Clara had her way."

It took her a few moments to realize that she'd stopped walking, rooted in place by that sea of faces. She shook herself off, looking over to Christine. Then back to the posters.

"Hey?" she asked her sister, her voice worryingly hesitant. She didn't know how to bring this up, didn't really want to, but somehow standing here made her feel like she should. "You guys weren't...like...you don't think maybe your boss had something to do with this cult thing, do you?"

Honestly, she'd never put to much stock in the sort of rumors she'd heard about what St. Mephistos got up to. She knew they were cheats and scoundrels, but she'd always figured if Christine was willing to slum it with them they couldn't be all that bad. They'd mess with St. Laural's, sure, but who didn't want to mess with St. Laural's? She'd always just taken it as an aggressive rivalry.

Being stabbed forced her to reexamine those ideas.

@Hammerman

@Gentlemanvaultboy

---

Rurik, contrary to the norm, had been on his best behavior lately. He'd arrived to school on time, his uniform was in order, and he'd actually gone to a class. Look, no one was perfect.

Whether this was out of pity for or fear of Bak's sour mood was hard to say. It was definitely one of those, though.

And then Bak's call came through. Well, not really. Rurik's phone had long since been destroyed and his family couldn't afford to replace it. Rather, unfortunately, he found himself for the second time in recent memory dealing with Cate Accia.

"Oh for fuc-" Rurik tried to duck and turn away, but she was already locked onto him. He'd have rather had Bak locked onto him to be honest.

"Language."

"Wh- Did you forget where you are?" Rurik tilted his head in disbelief.

"I'm a staff member. I deserve more respect," she replied.

"Uhuh. So, Cate, what do you want?"

Cate pursed her lips for but a moment, otherwise remaining unphased, "I said we'd talk later. It's later. So let's talk."

"No thanks, I'm good."

Three minutes later in Cate's office...

In the end, it seemed no didn't mean no to Cate. He found himself sitting across from her at her desk.

"Fine. Here we are. What do you want, Cate?" Rurik grumbled impatiently.

"I may have underestimated you a little," she began. "But first, let me ask. Do you dislike me?"

"Nooo, what would make you think that?" Rurik stared blankly.

"I see. Do you know why I stopped contact?" she asked.

"Because I'm a huge disappointment to everyone I meet?" Rurik shrugged.

"Yes, actually," she responded with startling candor. Well, not so startling coming from her. "But lately you've been getting up to quite a bit of trouble. I wonder why that is."

"It's me. How is that unusual?"

"Oh, it is. Your usual brand of trouble is schoolyard fights and insubordination. But now? That night on the rooftop? The park-" That made Rurik flinch. "Yes, I know about that. Then the arena afterward too, and that scuffle with the St. Laurel's boy. All quite different from the norm with you."

Rurik scrunched up his face and looked away, "Yeah? How do you figure?"

"You avoid everything you can. You run. You're one step away from being a coward. No, maybe you really are one," she told him.

"OK, staff or not, I'm one twitch away from flipping you off. Is there a point to this?" Rurik was getting a little angry now. Somehow she was able to push his buttons. Then again, his buttons had been a little more pushable than usual as of late.

"I'm figuring out what's changed."

"Psychoanalyzing me now?"

"Interesting, and using bigger words than usua-" His glare got her to skip to the point. "Well why not. There are some common elements at each instance. Bak was there, you two have a history-"

Rurik just scoffed.

"Hm."

"Hm? What does hm mean?" Rurik bit back.

"No, you're right. I believe you."

"I didn't say anything!"

"You resent her too much."

"Wh- I do not!" he shouted.

"Well then. Maybe not so much as you used to then." Her lips twitched into a smirk for a moment. No doubt feeling pleased with how she was getting a rise out of him. She was reading him like a book. "Something else then, some-"

"I'm fucking done." Rurik shot to his feet.

"Very well. I have my answer anyway, at least I think so."

"Yeah, cool, so happy for you." Rurik made his way to the door.

"Speaking of Bak, she's looking for you. I believe she's calling a council meeting. I thought you might want to know, since you apparently don't resent her," she told him. Rurik's eye twitched, but he didn't respond. "Go on then, we'll pick this up later."

Bak was one thing, but the whole council?

Yeah, fine, he'd go... but who else was going then?

---

@AtomicNut

---

Wolf felt like he'd slept for days. He'd been up and down, sure, but he'd spent most of the time sleeping. He'd woken up long enough for Vera to take him home and then once again it had been lights out.

Finally, once he was up for good... he'd spent the next while wishing he were back asleep. His dreams hadn't been the best, but they were better than being awake. All he could think about was the narrowly averted disaster. It hadn't been a tragedy, but at the very best it had been bittersweet.

"Fools and fools tales..." . . . "You say that, and you do not realize two important things, Wolfram Koenigsmann. One is that you're sentencing her to go back with her hellish mother for atoning for her crimes..."

Every now and then the words wormed their way back into his head and he'd spend the next five minutes white-knuckling and gritting his teeth.

"And ... I ... was tired. I listened to whom I should not. Sacrifices. I tried to sacrifice an innocent girl for just your smile. That's how desperate I was!"

CRACK!

Before he even realized it, he found his fist buried in the nearby support-beam. A splintered indentation of his fist was left in it. Red mist wafted off of his knuckles before he took a deep breath and managed to calm down, if only a little.

Next thing he knew he was dressed to go out, but he hadn't found himself at the front door, but the back. He walked a few minutes out in the deep woods behind his house. He heard branches rustle and felt eyes watching, but soon his way was barred.

The huge white wolf with its monstrous eyes. It bared its fangs at him, pressuring him back. Wolfram didn't flinch, but lifted a hand and stepped forward.

This time it snarled viciously and snapped at him, ropes of saliva beginning to drip from its mouth.

"Rhudi..." Wolf clenched his jaw. Frustration was bubbling up in him, but soon it was smothered in a wet blanket of defeat. "You still blame me. Still hate me."

There was nothing in the vicious animal's eyes to say otherwise. He knew were it not for the control his father had over him, the wolf, Rhudi, would have already set upon him.

"Well why wouldn't you?" Wolf sighed and turned his back. He felt Rhudi's hot, rancid breath wash over him as the beast let out an unnatural roar. It took everything in him not to flinch and just keep walking away.

He kept going until this time he did reach the front door. He was in a terrible frame of mind. He should have stayed home. Nothing good could come of him leaving with the thoughts he had racing through his head. But leave he did.

He had perhaps the worst possible idea.

"You say that, and you do not realize two important things, Wolfram Koenigsmann. One is that you're sentencing her to go back with her hellish mother for atoning for her crimes..."

A short while later he found himself at the Blackgate household knocking on the door.

"Huh?" Christine replied, looking around behind her while she was still bending over.

She didn't get it at all.

---

The walk, at first, was pleasant to Christine. It had been a while since the two of them could walk together like this outside without any interference. Ignoring the looks some people were giving to her, as she was dressed so oddly in the weather, she cheerfully walked along beside her twin sister. She would've grabbed her arm, if not for the fact that due to their opposing elements, they would just end up hurting each other.

And then it was interrupted by the appearance of a missing people poster, bringing reality crashing back down to her.

"Hey? You guys weren't...like...you don't think maybe your boss had something to do with this cult thing, do you?" her sister asked.

"...No, a-at least, I don't think so..." she answered. "I... honestly never knew much about her and her businesses in the first place..."

Her tone was filled with doubt. Her hunch said that Clara shouldn't have anything to do with that cult, but who really knew after what just transpired between them?

@Gentlemanvaultboy

Christine's doubts were evident in her answer, but nevertheless she let out a sigh of relief. She'd had the barest notion of an idea brewing in her head, her sister standing in a circle, chanting with daggers and candles and whatever else you did when you were trying to summon up a demon. It was a stupid idea. For one thing you would never be able to get Christine to wear a robe. Maybe a micro-kimono, at best.

The thought actually made her laugh, drawing some odd looks from the people waiting at the bus stop. She stepped back, away from the posters so it didn't look quite as weird. "Sorry." She said to Christine. "Intrusive thought." She took a bit to compose herself, get her serious face back on.

"Honestly, I wish you'd told me something like 'oh yeah, she totally did it I saw her carving runes.'" Katherine said as the pair continued to walk, past fancy high class stores and offices on their way across town. "It would make things a whole lot simpler."

If she was responsible for all this it would be a cause that was morally righteous. It would be her duty as a Rhean to beat Clara's ass so badly it came out looking like spoiled hamburger. It wouldn't be a personal issue, which is what had really gotten her in trouble in the first place.

"Look, you know I have a hard time letting things go. I'm pig headed." She said, shaking her head. "I just never saw how pig headed until I kept up with all that stupid crap with your boyfriend even when I was...well...dying. And I didn't even think about how much it was hurting you. Like," Katherine looked around to make sure nobody was listening, then continued shamefully. "The demon was trying to talk me down. The fucking demon. That's how insane I was."

"I guess what I'm trying to say here is," she continued, holding up her hands like she was begging for strength. "That if I see that Clara girl again I'm going to beat her to within an inch of her life. And I know that's stupid. And I know it's gonna be another trip to a hospital bed at best. But it's what's gonna happen. But this time, I swear, if you tell me to hold back or wait...I'll try. The last thing I want to do is put you through something like that again."

@Hammerman

"Hmm? What's funny, sis?" Christine asked, tilting her head.

Well, whatever it was, she was glad that her sister got to laugh. Frowning all the time never suited her.

The two continued their walk downtown, with Christine occasionally stopping to keep her coat down as cars went by, threatening to expose her underwear. She wasn't the only one, as there were other girls wearing short dresses and the like. As usual, the town was bustling with traffic, though thankfully not to the point of outright traffic jams.

"Yeah, sorry sis, but I couldn't just lie about that," Christine replied. "Clara had been good to me all this time. It was just recently that things ended up this way..."

Clara had allowed her to keep wearing her coat when she joined the student council. Unlike Bak, she didn't make a fuss about it. She allowed her to skip on the meetings whenever she wanted too as well, though she rarely utilized that privilege.

"I see..." Christine replied to her confession. "I suppose I should apologize as well, for goading you like that. I just... don't want the demon to have control over you," she confessed, her eyes shimmering with worry.

"Well, when that happens, I would surely be there to stop you for being too reckless," she said with an understanding smile. She knew perfectly well how temperamental her sister could be. It was futile to try to curb that completely. She just had to make sure she wouldn't hurt herself too badly doing it.

@Gentlemanvaultboy

Meredith eyed the strange nurse for a second, before looking at Michelle once again. Well, she wasn't too strange. She was probably even weirder... the boost that she had given to her regeneration was nothing that could be scoffed at. Fire sneezes aside, Meredith touched the face, skin now covering the once raw flesh. It was still warm and tender to her touch, but it had been regenerated. She hesitated in answering, before looking at her feet and giving a generic answer.

"I fell down some stairs." She did not even pause for a second on the absurdity of the claim, before looking at her classmate once again."Michelle helped. Thanks." She added nonchalantly, before looking at her bloodstained shirt with dejection. She would've tried to clean it, until she spotted the time on the wall once more.

"Class will be starting soon, we will not make it in time!" She announced, before allowing her demonic features to show. "hold on to me, Michelle. I will take you flying!" said the half succubus.

Talk about skewed priorities...

---

The door seemed to be silent for a moment, before hushed whispers were heard inside. The doorknob creaked very slowly, before the sultry, decadent figure of Nyxdaemona was in full view. Today her dressing code... was oddly normal. She could pass off as a normal woman, even. "Huh, Wolf. And the tick is nowhere to be seen. How... peculiar."

"Watch your tongue before I rip it out!" Wolf's hand shot toward her throat to grip her in a chokehold... And then he snapped back to reality where he was simply standing meekly in the doorway before her. He was surprised by the sudden intrusion of his own, violent thoughts, leading to a brief moment of awkward silence before his mind rebooted.

"I need to..." He swallowed hard. Now that he was there, he found actually maintaining the courage to do this was harder than he'd anticipated. "I need to, uh... talk to you...actually..."

"Most peculiar indeed. You desire to talk with me, and not my daughter." Mona commented before slowly getting out of his way. "In you go, then. It is safer nowadays, what with demonic cultists running around. So much that my poor darlings are afraid..."

"I... see." Wolf replied and stepped in. "It's... not that I don't want to talk to Meredith, but I'm pretty sure she's not here. I don't really know how to find her right now." He sighed. Again, he needed a second to gather himself. "Any... idea why she wouldn't want to come home?" As innocent as it may have sounded coming from Wolf, it was a heavily loaded question.

"Not coming home... That is where you are mistaken. She is coming home and performing her duties admirably... " She paused. "She is just avoiding you."

"Maybe." Wolf wouldn't have been surprised. Was it true? He supposed Meredith could have truly gone home in the end. "And what do you know about that, then?" It was true enough that Meredith had reason to avoid him, if perhaps only out of shame. Mona must have known something, but how much had she learned? Had Meredith told her?

"Apples dont fall far from the trees" Mona said, a small smile forming in her lips. "Does it really matter how much I know? "

"If we were talking about her father that would be fine," Wolf said, not caring about the insulting implications of what he said. "But she kidnapped my friend and used her as payment to have Vera killed." He was done mincing words. Something about her demeanor, he felt like he was being mocked. And with everything that had happened, it was enough to light the fire once more. "Doesn't sound like Victor. You must be proud of her."

Mona chuckled lightly. "What mother would not be proud of her own daughrer. But i have to admit, little man, that the audacity she had as of late is refreshing."

"I don't buy it." Wolf frowned. "She's not Victor, but she's sure as hell not you. You twisted her somehow. Now she promised me to never do something like that again, but I know that if you have your way, none of that matters." It was quickly approaching the angriest Wolf had ever felt. "I'm giving Meredith a second chance. I'm not willing to let you waste that. I know your story. You've had your fair share of second chances already, to the point where it makes me wonder if me just coming here to talk is being too kind." His eyes narrowed as his jaw tightened. "My mother never trusted you. I used to think she was too paranoid. Not anymore."

"Oho" Mona seemed to raise from the table ever so slightly. "No, coming here is proof of your confusion. And naivety. Veiled threats and strong language under my own roof..." She paused. "Did you actually know my other daughter favours you too? What would she say if she were to witness this." The demoness raised to full height. "I only lit what she repressed from so long ago. She did the rest. Well, that and probably that Galbrek brat. "

"Your roof? You being alive at all is a mercy I'm not sure you've earned." Even dwarfed as he was by the demoness before him, he didn't flinch -- even if he maybe should have. "So let me unveil it for you. My existence should be a threat to you, or do I need to remind you what my family does for a living? If I have to choose between you and Meredith, if I even think you're you're trying to twist her mind again, I will come back and it won't be to talk. I suggest you don't give me a reason to."

"And yet, you are no threat. Even a rich girl with a sharp tongue can make you cower"

"Try me." He glared back at her, unblinking. "I dealt with Galbrek, I'll deal with you. Just give me a reason."

"Anna, Wolf is in here." Mona added, and the sounds of wings were heard at his back. "He came here to play."

For a moment, Wolf's pupil's shrank to pinpoints. It was a look quite unlike him. A look of someone almost entirely consumed by rage. He'd never before had the chance to sit still and consider his anger. Never had to bottle it up. In those rare moments of fury it had always just been a quick snap before he swung away. In this moment, however, it could only escape through his eyes as he expressed the resolve he'd found deep down.

But it was brief.

Foreign as the feeling was, it was easy to return to something more familiar. An admittedly shaky smile as he turned to greet Ana.

"Hey! I, uh, heard you guys were scared so I thought I'd come keep you company for a bit..."

She was a child. She didn't need to deal with this today. For the time being, Mona could have whatever kind of victory she saw this as.

Anna was pretty unresponsive, her gaze tired and nervous, like a bird she was caged long ago. "Outside is scary." She added, as her usual bravado had been drained out of her. "Too many weird people. Can you make them go away? I can be a good girl if it's what it takes..."

"Oh my, poor thing is still so scared, Wolf. Pay no heed. She needs to rest." Mona added as she hushed her daughter out, having achieved her point. "It will be okay, my little imp... the bad men are gone." She finished as she indicated the exit to Wolf, but not before whispering one last time. "I have seen you grow up, Wolf. I know what and how you think. And i know how to bid my time. Here is some food for thought. Instead of spitting threats, why don't you be true to yourself and talk to little Mer?"

Easier said than done, considering he had no idea where to find Meredith.

"No... I don't think you do." He made his way toward the door and stopped. "Ana! If you hear from your sister let me know! I don't live far, it's safe. I promise."

"Try the school. She is still St Laurels." was Mona's reply.

With a final withering glare at Mona he left the house. He walked quietly for a time before his knees began to shake and he broke into a cold sweat.

What the hell had he been thinking?

Belinda raised an eyebrow at the "fell down some stairs" excuse, but decided not to say anything. Michelle, however, forced her way back into control over her body. "That can't be, Meredith!" Michelle exclaimed. "That must've been a-" Michelle choked on her words for a second before Belinda retook control. "A really bad fall, Mer," Belinda finished, an overly concerned tone dripping from her voice. She then smiled and added, "Glad to see you're doing better now, though."

What are you doing, Belinda? Michelle questioned Belinda, frustrated that she couldn't get through Belinda's defenses as easily as Belinda had always seemed to make it. You know she's-

'Course I know. Belinda retorted. She must be hiding her bullying for a reason. Probably a stupid one, but it's her choice and I'll respect that. For now, at least.

Returning her mind to the present, Belinda said with a cheeky grin, "Alright, but don't complain if I grab onto anything funny!" She extended her arms to the sides, expecting Meredith to carry her to the classroom.

It had been a busy week. The cultists. The demon sow incident. His helplessness. His newfound power, which he took time to investigate its caveats. Changing shapes, unlike that flesh amoeba of Gilliam was such a chore, but nevertheless found it wise to assume his once frail and unassuming form of the girly boy known as Celestine Lightbringer. He still had too many loose ends. So many things to do. It also helped to conduct business when a really cross silver-haired witch dropped by, trying to ask for money due and compensations. He humoured her, like he always did. Her struggle was kind... of amusing and endearing in equal parts, even if that had taken a hefty chunk of his savings. That, and setting her up with De Vile to fix one of her undead. He did not want to ask why in the gods she had put a 20ft python skeleton under a truck's wheel, but it was part of her mysterious charm.

In the meantime, something else was clawing at the back of his mind. He had left too many loose ends in Mephisto's turf, he would have to knot them back one to one. It was when one of his ex-girlfriend's rants caught him his attention. Clara was gone. Mephisto council was like herding cats, so without someone with so much personal presence, it would no doubt have trouble distinguishing what was left from right.

Celestine chuckled, pieces falling in his mind like a demented jigsaw. Yes, that was an amusing idea. He looked at Diana, who in turn stopped her rant to eye Lightbringer. She was perceptive. She knew she was up to something.

"What?" said the Witch of Bones.

"It's a pity you won't join Mephisto... I mean, it was good offer after all. How about I sweeten the deal even more for you?" Celestine said, smirking. "I will cover for that clumsy Erdrigan's misdeeds. It's my job as advisor after all..."

Diana raised an eyebrow but did not say anything for a second, before staring at Lightbringer. "...what are you up to this time, Lightbringer?"

---

The car sped deftly through the streets. It was a sleek car of fashionable curves and jet black paint. The kind of car a smarmy playboy would use to pick up vapid one-night flings. It roared with its decadent show of engineering and gas-guzzling, the plate announcing the world who was its owner. "L1T3BRNG" was what the plate said.

"Remember, sweetie, that we have to make this horseplay believable." said the masked transvestite, now in fully Mephisto regalia. "We're about to make you a star student."

Diana held tight to her fashionable dress. Brand new, and all black. Whatever moved Cel to do this, he wasn't sparing any effort to support her. She never knew how much would this last. Technically until Clara came back, but she'd enjoy it for the time being.

The car came to an halt, and parked in Lightbringer's favorite spot, which was usually empty. That got a lot of the students who had line of sight with the car park gosipping. But what sold the deal was the now-metal covered 20ft python sitting in the back seat, and that the Fallen One was apparently bowing to someone and opening the door for her to come through. That masked student had always been a troublemaker. A whimsical ally at best. But the Fallen One had never bowed down other than the occasional nod to Clara... and yet, they were bowing to the black-clad witch-like figure who was being now carried around by the undead biological ophidian specimen.

Unknown to many people's eyes... a flock of crows was steadily gathering in school grounds as well.

Celestine opened the door carefully, and then showed the newcomer, Diana in. The room of the council was pitifully empty, save for a distressed tank girl and possibly the former wet noodle. Celestine, clapped his hands, trying to get Bak's attention, before going for a sweet approach. "Hi Bak. It seems you've been in quite a pickle lately. Clara's disappearance and several other people having no shows. My apologies, I had a bad case of nearly dying going on so I could not come early. But fear not... I've brought with me a solution."

He then pointed at Diana, now sitting atop her bone snake. "Meet Diana Graeca, the Witch of Bones. Clara was in the middle of recruiting her, but things... went unexpectedly bad. I managed to salvage the deal, so she is hopefully going to be one of us from now on. Her...abilities could plug in the gap that the Student Council leader left."

Diana for her part, had put her neutral stance. She had met this girl before, the one ravaged with the atrocious curse. "Well met, Tsarevna. I was told I would be some sort of Secretary to the council. I shall serve dutifully as stipulated by the deal I have with Lightbringer. I have already made preparations to restore the intelligence network. I hope we can work together well."

Celestine nodded. It was still too much to reveal she was going to overtake Clara in her functions, wasn't it?

@Scarifar@AtomicNut

---

The nurse, one Ms. Mia Petros, stared in stony disbelief at the most pathetic and cliched excuse Meredith could have given her. Unless the stairs had been thoroughly consecrated, she found this unlikely.

'So that was a fucking lie.'

"Thank you, uhh-" OK, what was this girl's deal again? Michelle? Belinda? Was it that she was two people, or that she only thought she was two people? What name was she supposed to use? She winged it. "-Michelle, but after such a bad fall she could still have a concussion, even if the surface damage has healed."

It was about then that the two, plus one, girls would notice that suddenly a long, scaly appendage had snuck past them. Originating from under the nurses dress and stretching past them to bar their way to the door back out was a huge, serpentine tail. Then suddenly it burst into action and coiled around Meredith's body, dragging her over to the nurse's side.

"Listen, kid..." Up close Meredith could see that the edges of the nurse's face had begun to grow scales. "I used to be a student at St. Lucifer's, 'cept back then I couldn't control my powers so well. Trust me when I say I have an idea of what you're dealing with." Her tail unwrapped itself from Meredith and then reached across the room to pull a chair over. The tail then retracted back under her dress, with a not so pleasant sound, and the woman sat, crossing one leg over the other, the tail nowhere to be found anymore. "Now you can tell me, or not, but I suggest you don't try to lie to medical professionals about your injuries. Especially when it's that obvious." She sighed. "Professionally, there's not much else I can do here... but personally I wish you'd let me help."

She had a good idea of what had happened to Meredith. Someone else must have done that too her. She was a half-demon, that gave her all the motive and clues she needed. And, perhaps still being a bit bitter deep down, she really wanted to know who it had been...


@Gentlemanvaultboy

---

Vernon had been... busy. His attempt to deal with Galbrek himself had failed pathetically. Quite simply the man had no-showed on him. After that, sources told him that Galbrek had effectively imploded all on his own and brought down some hefty retribution. Whether or not this meant William and Andras were free of him was up in the air, but Vernon could deal with that later.

Unfortunately going to his sources had meant going to his family... which meant getting sucked into that mess. And then the cultist attack had hit some of their "resources," those being people that gave them money in return for not being kneecapped, etc. There had been a lot of shit to deal with. He hadn't even been able to attend the tournament. Afterward he'd visited William in the hospital, but he hadn't managed to time it for one of William's few moments of wakefulness and so he'd kept his visit brief. His bedside manner was frosty at best anyway.

However, when Bak called a meeting, he figured he'd been absent too long. Because, quite frankly, why the hell was Bak calling the meeting?

He showed up moments after Cel and Diana.

"Ah, I see. Great, put a pin in that will you?" Vernon took an exaggerated step over to the table and slammed his palms down on it, the unnecessarily loud sound bouncing off the walls. "Bak, dear, where the fuck is Clara?" He had noticed she wasn't in the room, and now he was hearing she was absent?

"Not here, apparently. Don't see me crying about it..." Rurik chimed in from the end of the table where he had his feet kicked up.

"No one asked you. Now shut up before I shut you up."

"Do it, bitch. You won't." Rurik rolled his eyes. Vernon glared momentarily, but returned his gaze to Bak. This was unbelievable. He left for a few days and Clara vanished and Rurik got cocky. Well, cockier.

@AtomicNut @Gentlemanvaultboy @KillamriX88



Vile had been a very busy boy in the time that passed between the kidnapping of his father, and the call to organize the student council of Mephesto's. The mounting stress, the sleepless nights, the extreme workload he put himself under was all apparent on him as he walked into the school. Rather than his normal blood red robes, Luigi was wearing a urban camo long sleeve shirt with an exceptional amount of pockets, a pair of urban camo cargo pants, a pair of black combat boots, and a large hood that was the same pattern, hiding his head to disguise his mechanical mug. Each pocket was filled with something, wires, rolls of tape, from one pocket hung a short coil of fuse.

He was heard long before he was seen, the mechanical clanking and the thuds of Luigi's heavy footfalls gave away his arrival. However he heard a heavy slamming noise that echoed through the halls and his foot falls and clanking speed up. There was an almost unholy grinding noise as he slid into the doorway. He took a moment to assess the room, just in time for Rurik and Vernon's exchange. What was visible of Luigi's face through the hood he was wearing flared as viens began to press out from his skin, and he inhaled deeply before he strode into the room.

"If I may make a suggestion to the both of you, behave yourselves. Be polite, and civil, or else Bak's discipline rockets will be the least of your concerns." Luigi growled through clenched teeth. He stepped in from the doorway, and took his seat at the table, hunching forwards slightly in his chair. His eyes wandered until they fell upon Cel, and Diana in the same room.

"Diana. Cel." Luigi spoke, before his eyes landed upon Bak. He spotted her state of disrepair, and how a small trickle of black liquid dropped from her rocket launcher. His face relaxed, the veins that were pressing against the surface of his skin, the red of rising blood, the straining muscles all relaxed. He rose from his seat, and made his way towards her. He reached into a pocket, and pulled out a wire brush as his eyes began to scan the launcher, trying to detect what was causing the discharge.

"Bak, it seems you require mechanical-medical attention. As the meeting go on, I'll work on repairing you." He starts, before coming to a stop. "....If...you wish, that is." He adds, seeming to remember he needed to ask first.

@supertinyking@KillamriX88@AtomicNut

---

Bak looked down at the shuffle of papers that had been lined up on the desk when she'd come in. Technically everything went through the student council here. Even the principal needed their rubber stamp to do anything. She'd spent the time they had before they'd arrived trying to sort through the requests that had been piling up while the president was away, but so far she hadn't been able to make head or tails of it with her C- GPA. It was the least important thing on the vague agenda Bak had in mind for this meeting, but even still it felt like it should be taken care of at some point.

Her attention was ripped away suddenly, and she was happily shocked to see Celestine in the room. Bak hadn't even called her, seeing as she was more Clara's employee like Gilliam rather than a member of the council. A visible wave of guilt flashed across Bak's face as she talked about almost dying, but as she went on Bak's expression changed. Her eyes began narrowing as she looked over to the girl Celestine was presenting. Short, platinum haired, dressed all nice and for some reason familier. As the girl introduced herself she seemed polite enough and if Celestine was vouching for her that certainly meant something, but Bak couldn't shake the little feeling squirming in the back of her mind that they'd mer befo-

Bak quickly reached out and pulled Celestine closer, urgently whispering. "Celestine, you have been bamboozled. This is St. Laural's girl, from tournament." Bak did a double take to make sure, but she was positive. She remembered because she'd actually been rooting for her team, seeing as they were going against Vigilante's that had made a fool of her at the apartment building. Not to mention she'd gotten it out a student that a white haired girl had been asking after Clara before that explosion she'd had to investigate a few days ago. "Besides, if she is witch where are her iron teeth? Where is crooked bird nose?" She took another look. "I would bet she does not even have thirteen toes."

This conversation was interrupted as another unexpected face burst into the room. She hadn't expected any of the absentee members to make an appearance today. To be honest, she'd hardly expected anyone and this came make demands. She was about to answer in in when Rurik piped up from his end of the table to answer for her. This apparently didn't satisfy him, and he turned expectantly back to her. "This is partly what meeting today is about." she started, before the heavy footfalls down the corridor bagan.

Bak knew that sound. There was only one person she'd even met whose footsteps sounded anything like hers. She visibly tensed up as Luigi Vile stepped into the room, making it clear he wouldn't be taking any of that sort of nonsense sitting down.

Bak had an...interesting relationship to this boy. When they had first met Bak had been ecstatic. Someone else like her! Someone else that had been living like this, longer than she had probably. Maybe someone that could give her a why, or a how. Then they'd talked and Bak learned very quickly that the Why was tragic and the How was that he'd done it to himself. Since then Luigi had made Bak uncomfortable in a way nothing else had. The mindset it took to have a body that was perfectly healthy and then chop it away piece by piece to infest yourself with cold machinery was so foreign to her as to be totally alien. She didn't dislike the boy, it was hard for Bak to really dislike anyone that showed her real kindness the way he did, and the way he maintained her mechanical parts was a godsend to someone that had to painfully regrow whatever she broke, but of the people she thought of as her friends Bak prefered to think about Luigi the least.

Bak didn't have the self-reflection required to see the irony in that.

"Da, please no fighting in war room like Luigi says." she said, turning to...Vernon?...and pulling out one of the closer seats. It was her turn to look at him expectantly. "If you are wanting to be finding solution with us, please take your seat." Her eyes flashed up quickly at Rurik, then down slightly to here he'd decided to put his shoes. She sighed, but then instead of shooting anything at him she just pulled out what was technically her char and with a motion of the arm sent it sliding down along the side of the table to come to a rest near him. "Please no putting feet on table, also."

While she was doing this Luigi had gotten up and started toward her, brandishing a tool pointing out the embarrassing little leak she still had going from the tournament. When she pulled off the shirt she'd worn at the tournament, the one that had gotten deluged with the gunk, that it was ruinous. The stuff had started coagulating, forming into a sticky shell, and had started to stink like rotting meat soaked in motor oil. She'd burned that uniform, and it was clear from the unusual stitching around the shoulder of this one that she had replaced that part multiple times as the trickle had soaked into it. She even had a tiny green pine tree air freshener hanging from the underside of the launcher. It was an annoyance she had been hoping to get looked at.

She hadn't expected it this soon though. She hugged herself. "You mean open me up right here? In front of everyone?" She said, er voice cracking just a bit from embarrassment. Still, this was a time of emergency. There was no telling when some attack might come again, especially with a St. Laural's here in the room, and if she was being honest it was a lot worse than an annoyance. Her launcher was acting iffy. Whether it was in there was delaying missile regeneration. She forced herself to relax, lowering her arms and letting him approach. "Ummmm, da, this is fine. If better to get it done when we can."

As he got closer Bak could see that the machine boy wasn't doing so hot himself. She was familiar with the look of someone that hadn't been getting enough rest. She had a mirror, after all. "Are you well?" she asked, concerned. "If it is something wrong I can add it to agenda today."

---

@Hammerman

---

Katherine reached over and gave Christine a brief, one arm over the shoulder hug. "My own guardian snow angel." she said happily. Just saying all that had seemed to lift the weight of the world off her chest. "C'mon, it shouldn't be too far now."

It wasn't that far back to their home, but when they finally arrived Katherine was strangely winded. it was weird, a walk like that really shouldn't have taken so much out of her. She'd downed that rest of that tea on the journey over here, but she already felt like she needed something to drink. Definitely something cold.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key, happy as a clam that the makeshift surgeons Thobias had brought up hadn't had to hack off her pants the way they'd ruined her shirt. She unlocked the door, stepped into the threshold, and took a moment to inhale the nostalgic smells of home. The house was dark, the only light in the hallway being the blinking red light on the phone indicating that they had messages.

Gods Damn she bet they had messages. Kath didn't want to try and think about how many people had called between when she'd flown out of the arena and now. She'd hoped mom and dad would have been home to take those but surprise surprise, they weren't. She walked in, starting to make her way to her bedroom to get a proper change into one of her own outfits. Or maybe her uniform.

She stopped and looked back down the hallway. "You think we should head to school today, or screw it? It's gotta be already half-over, at least. Honestly," she said, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. "I kind of want to head to the gym more, see if I've still got it before I went back to Battle School. I was thinking, you know, we never got to throw down in that last tournament. if you want we can head down there and go a few rounds, just like old times." Her eyes drifted over to the blinking light on the phone. she casually pointed to it. "Or we could see if we got any dates on there."