Shin Ghost Note

Paragraphs: Agents of Death [FernStone & Shin Ghost Note]

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The two went shopping as Lisa picked out some clothes… She only picked out a few cheap t-shirts, pants, some jeans, and hung them in one of her arms as she leisurely marched through the store. Naturally, Lisa started talking.

”... Ah, these clothes are so not my style! Maybe we should see if we could get Kimberly to take us by a mall later or something! Because, I think all my stuff is still at the mansion! Unless they threw it away, because that would really suck, y’know! Wait, did they beat the Stygian...”

Lisa glanced at a mirror as she walked past it… then stopped in her tracks, took a few steps back. Then stared at the mirror for a few seconds, before she placed a hand against her face.

”... I do look different.” Lisa said, ”I just thought you two were messing with me...”

"Yeah, why would we joke about that? You both look different, even without growing- huh." Saskia appeared in the mirror beside Lisa, staring at themself. They also looked different. They reached up to feel their hair, then their jaw. It wasn’t as jarring a change but they looked… more mature. A sharper jawline, more filled out body. Strange. "Dying cut a few inches off my hair. I wonder if it was some kind of price?"

”Just…” Lisa trailed off as she looked at Saskia. ”... Just how long have we been gone?”

"I don’t know," Saskia shook their head and frowned. It was hard to estimate based on just their appearances. A few years, maybe? They definitely both looked like adults rather than teenagers. "Maybe if we find something with the year on it… Ah. We could just ask."

Saskia turned around and waved to Jordan and Kimberley - they were sitting on a bench nearby - though it was quite an understated, limp wave. Actually… what year had they died during? Saskia’s memory of that was fuzzy too. "Have either of you heard of St Portwell… Or any disaster that happened there?"

Kimberly hopped up to her feet, and walked over to them, giving them both a warm smile. “... Which one? The ‘natural disaster’-” Kimberly finger quoted, “-or the supernatural shitshow that took after?” Kimberly laughed.

"... The ‘natural disaster’," Saskia answered, somewhat confidently. Though her expression hadn’t exactly changed. There hadn’t been a supernatural shitshow beyond the snake when they were alive, had there? Not that they were aware of.

“We heard of that… the Stygian Snake your friend mentioned earlier, right?” Kimberly asked.

Jordan put a hand on her hip. “Yeah, we’re well aware of St. Portwell. It’s our next stop after we get out of here.”

“The Stygian Snake rampaged through St. Portwell… then disappeared in thin air! It hasn’t even terrorized other dimensions like it typically does,” Kimberly answered.

"They must’ve succeeded," Saskia said softly, letting out a sigh of relief, corners of her lips twitching up. They looked at Lisa with the closest to a cheerful expression they could really show. If the Stygian Snake wasn’t rampaging through any of the dimensions, it must be defeated. Why else would it stop? It made them feel a little better about their own death. Just a little. "Yeah, the Stygian Snake. How long ago did it disappear then? A couple of years?"

Kimberly was briefly silent, then said….

“... Ten years ago!”

"What?" Saskia froze, lips parting and eyes widening. It was the most expressive she’d been in a long time… Ten years?! Ten years… Everything would have changed in ten years. Everyone would have moved on. Not that Saskia had many people caring for her, but Lisa and Ella were a different story. They turned to Lisa. "It’s been ten years. We’re twenty six. Ten years since…"

Saskia trailed off. For once, they weren’t sure what to say.

Lisa’s jaw dropped before she awkwardly laughed. She waved them off as she said,

“It can’t have been ten years! It doesn't even feel like a day!” Lisa laughed some more, then grabbed her face with both hands. She smiled like a fool as she rotated her head back and forth. Then she turned to Saskia and said, “... Why now then? Or even… Why not later?!”

"I don’t know…" Saskia shook their head.

Both Kimberly and Jordan shared confused looks with each other.

“... Well, we don't know your situation,” Jordan crossed her arms.

“Well, we kinda know… Maybe one of you can explain things a little better, yeah?” Kimberly smiled.

"I’ll try," Saskia said. It was still a difficult thing to explain, but she probably had the best chance at doing it. Much as they loved Ella, she was useless at explanations, and Lisa… Well, Saskia was sure the news had shocked her. It meant ten years away from Adora. "It’s a bit hard to explain, since it was very sudden for us. All of three of us died fighting the Stygian Snake… ten years ago. Then today we got brought back to life by something called the Hound. He gave us a task we need to complete to stay alive, and dumped us here. That’s why we were robbing the store."

Saskia sighed, rubbing the back of their neck. "So, we just found out we’ve been dead for ten years, but also aged ten years."

“That's…” Kimberly trailed off, glancing at Jordan, “... Odd.”

“Yeah, the Hound typically doesn't do that,” Jordan said.

“... What's the task?” Kimberly asked.

"He owed someone a favour," Saskia shrugged. The fact the two of them knew about the hound was… good. Perhaps they could get information from them. "He asked us to defeat an Apparition called Morningstar."

Kimberly and Jordan stared at each other.

“... Do you have any idea of what he threw you two into?” Jordan asked, “Do you know who Morningstar is?”

“Or better yet, the power he has over the city…?” Kimberly asked.

"No, he refused to explain," Saskia said. It didn’t surprise them that Morningstar was strong. Any task to regain life would be difficult. "But we were dead. It’s a better chance than before… and with our experience, dying again won’t be so bad."

Lisa robotically turned her head towards Saskia.

“... We are not dying again.”

"I was joking."

“Sounds like the Hound,” Jordan said, “To make it short and sweet… Morningstar rules the city.”

"Well, that’ll make him easy to find," Saskia said. That had been the first issue they had to solve. "How strong is he, compared to the Stygian Snake?"

“I’m not sure about his personal power, but he has destroyed universes…” Kimberly began. “The issue isn’t him, but he is a very intelligent and cunning Apparition. And not just that…”

“His ‘Society’ is also a problem,” Jordan added.

Universe destroying sounded… Bad. They were just three adepts. How were they supposed to beat that? "What’s his society? Other apparitions?"

“Well, not just Apparitions…” Kimberly said, awkwardly laughing. “... About a hundred different Paranormals.”

"Well shit." Saskia frowned. So they had to defeat a universe destroying apparition and a hundred paranormals. If they tried to pick them off one by one that would take months. It just didn’t seem feasible. "Well, we might as well give up."

"Give up what?!" Ella suddenly burst in, carrying a much smaller pile of clothes. "Why are we giving up?!"

"Fighting a world destroying apparition and his hundred followers."

"Huhhh? We can totally do that!”

“Yeah!” Lisa smiled, “Don’t be like that! They beat the Stygian Snake, right?!”

That smile got bigger.

“We can do anything!”

Kimberly shrugged, “I mean, we made some headway against the Society.”

“And given your situation, I can not in good conscience tell you all to stay out of this…” Jordan trailed off, then looked at Kimberly.

“Me neither,” Kimberly shrugged again, “So how about we all work together?”

"Sure! The more the merrier!” Ella grinned. "Like Lisa said, we can do anything, especially with more people!"

"Yes, we’ll need all the help we can get." Saskia glanced between their two friends. Sometimes their positivity could be exhausting, but it was good in this situation. They had to defeat Morningstar. There was no other choice, as impossible as it seemed. "We were dropped here without any information, this saves us running around knowing nothing."

“Great!” Kimberly said. “With all five of us, anything is possible!”

“But let’s check out and get to the hotel already,” Jordan suggested.

"Yeah, trying on all those clothes was exhausting!" Ella nodded, beginning to make her way towards the checkout. "I can't wait to just sleep… I can't remember when we last had a full night's sleep!"

"Before the snake," Saskia said. As they passed the men's section they nipped in and grabbed a few plain t-shirts and tank tops. None of the clothes were what she'd normally wear, but thankfully it was easy to get greyscale clothing anywhere. "But we should figure out what to do next first. We might have a time limit."

"But we might not!" Ella looked over at Kimberley and Jordan, completely swapping topics. "Oh, can we get some food too?"

“I bet you three are with the whole being…” Kimberly stumbled and caught herself. She trailed off as Jordan facepalmed, Lisa’s jaw dropped, and Saskia’s eyes widened slightly. “... Where would you three like to go?”

"The whole being what?" Ella was confused.

"It doesn’t matter," Saskia shook their head, glad of Ella’s obliviousness for once. "Let’s get something filling, like-"

"Dairy Queen!"

“I was thinking we could get some actual food… like is there any Spanish restaurants around here?” Lisa asked.

“I could go for a milkshake…“ Kimberly shrugged.

"I vote for Spanish food, or literally anything that’s not Dairy Queen," Saskia said.

"Awww… maybe we can get proper food then Dairy Queen!"

Lisa loudly yawned, raising her arms in the air.

“Let’s get some food, then go to the hotel… I’m tirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred!”

Jordan slapped a hand on her hip and shifted her weight to it. She chuckled as she said, “C’mon now, there are way better ice cream places around here than that dump!”

"Alright, fine," Ella pouted. "I guess we’ve had a long day… years… I don’t know!"

"We can get ice cream in the morning," Saskia suggested, because if she didn’t Ella would complain for the next ten minutes or so… then forget about it. They then looked at Jordan and Kimberley. "We don’t know this area so… you choose a place."

“I know just the place,” Kimberly said before she raised a fist and bent a leg by the knee. “Let’s go!”

“Please change into some normal clothes first,” Jordan added.

---

After specifically not going to Dairy Queen, the group had a nice dinner and went to Kimberly’s hotel… A Holiday Inn. Kimberly opened the door with a key and opened the door. She stepped in, and did a twirl as she said,

“Come in, come in! Make yourselves at home!” She chipperly said as Jordan sat down and crossed her arms.

Lisa awkwardly stepped in, now wearing camo pants, a black tank top, and the boots she always wore. “... I thought you were a celebrity? A Holiday Inn is the best you could get…?”

“This is more lowkey,” Jordan answered.

“Yeah! What she said!” Kimberly added. “Sit down, get comfortable! We have much to talk about!”

Lisa shrugged as she did just that.

"It’s pretty cozy!" Ella commented with a grin, taking a seat beside Lisa. She’d changed into a pastel pink t-shirt tucked into a white skirt.

Saskia, wearing dark jeans with a grey tank top layered over a black long sleeved shirt, observed the room first before taking a seat. They didn’t feel particularly comfortable in the room, with its small size and large amount of people squeezed in. Eventually they sat down near Ella and turned to Kimberly and Jordan. They decided to get straight to the point. "Tell us about the Society."

“Straight to business, I see!” Kimberly laughed as she walked across the room and grabbed a bottle of Irish Whiskey. She poured it into a glass and sat down.

“Giiiiiiirl, you’re not gonna offer our friends some?” Jordan grinned.

Kimberly’s eyes shot open.

“... Them getting drunk is the last thing we need,” she said, followed by an awkward chuckle.

"We don’t drink anyway," Ella laughed.

Saskia hit her with a deadpan look. "Speak for yourself."

“So, The Society? Well, ain’t tryna be that guy but technically they’re called ‘Morningstar’s Society’,” Jordan finger quoted. “But, that’s just pointless-ass semantics. So, lemme start from the top; Mirage Springs used to have different factions… including his Society.”

“Yeah, but then Morningstar crept his way into the different organizations, then added everyone into his Society… and those that didn’t join the fold, well…” Kimberly shrugged, her eyes turned to the side as she just flapped the hand that wasn’t holding a drink in the air.

“Just call a spade a spade, Kim,” Jordan began before she looked at the girls. “Whoever didn’t join Morningstar was killed. Or forced out of Mirage Springs...”

“Truth is… we don’t have much information on Morningstar,” Kimberly began. We got here a few weeks ago, but we know they practically rule the supernatural scene here in Mirage Springs. So, we’ve been laying low, trying to gather information.”

“There are a lot of them, that we know,” Jordan explained, “Like, the society is structured like a weird-ass pyramid.”

“Yup, three tiers,” Kimberly raised a finger, “At the bottom is the ‘Lower Caste,’ which consists of footsoldiers, grunts, and other workers. The Lower Caste comprises a majority of the Society.”

Kimberly raised another finger, “Then there’s the ‘Upper League,’ which is more of the supervisors for the Lower Caste. They’re more powerful than the Lower Caste, but there are way less of them.”

Then she raised her third finger, “Then above them are Morningstar’s generals… the Endless Seven. We don’t have much information on them… but they’re Morningstar’s strongest.” She lowered her hand, then shrugged.

“Then, of course, at the very top is Morningstar himself,” Jordan said. “Egomaniacal ass… hehehe…”

"So we’re all in danger just by being in the city?" Saskia frowned. It was a lot of information to take in, and made their prospect sound very bleak. Thankfully they’d met Kimberley and Jordan, even if the initial meeting hadn’t been too friendly. Otherwise they’d be going around blind and probably walk write into a Society meeting, and die again. "Every paranormal against him’s been killed or driven out… How do we even start going against that?"

"Can’t we just go against his Endless Seven? Skip all the lower tiers?" Ella suggested.

"No way will it be that easy," Saskia shook her head, looking at Kimberley and Jordan. "Right?"

“I mean…” Kimberly snorted. "It's not like it's a video game where we have to work our way up to the final boss.” To emphasize her point, Kimberly gestured as if she were playing video games in the air.

“We just don't know who, or where, the Endless Seven are,” Jordan said with a shrug.

“I mean, there has to be a way to beat them, right?” Lisa asked.

"Well we just have to find them, then!" Ella nodded. Saskia shot a withering glare. As if it would be that easy.

"No shit," Saskia rolled their eyes. She continued with a completely serious expression. "Will the ‘Upper League’ know where they are? Maybe we can capture one of them and torture it out of them."

Both Kimberly and Jordan’s jaws dropped.

“Yeah, I know just how to get som—” Lisa cheered before Kimberly interrupted her.

“... We are not torturing anybody,” Kimberly flatly answered.

"I suppose there are other ways to get information…" Saskia shrugged. They’d been half joking, but they didn’t really see an easier way to get information. Perhaps a little bit of intimidation would do? Her and Lisa could be quite scary with their abstractions. "Can we help with that? Information finding is really mine and Ella’s strong point but… Lisa’s spiders can be pretty useful."

Kimberly sipped her whiskey and then smiled, “Of course you can!”

“... Well, if you tell us what exactly you three can do,” Jordan added.

"I’m a magical girl!" Ella grinned, going to jump up. She was stopped by Saskia grabbing her arm and dragging her back down to a sitting position. "You already saw that, but I transform into my magical girl form and then I can use light and colour based attacks! I have to get the colour from somewhere… Oh, I can also boost emotional fields. And myself with colour! I’m pretty versatile!"

She threw up a peace sign.

“... Maybe it would help to stop calling your attacks,” Jordan sneered.

"I can use my blood for various attacks, and create bone spears," Saskia began, tapping her left wrist that she’d broken earlier. "I heal broken bones quickly and recover from blood loss faster. Technically, I should be passed out by now. I can also break any of my bones. Do you want to see?"

“... No, thank you,” Kimberly said.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Jordan shrugged, then turned her head towards Lisa, “… And you?”

Lisa perked up.

“Well, I can make spiders - but you already saw that!” Lisa said, “But I can do stuff with ‘im like make them explode with acid! Splice them with insects! Grow really big!”

Then she put a finger to her cheek as she added, “I also made this spell to get payback for this bitch that grabbed my titty one time! Basically, all I have to do is touch them - or be in a place - and I can summon spiders at their location! I just can’t control them since they’re out of my range, but I bet you’re not expecting it; it’s really scary…”

“… Wonderful,” Jordan added.

"Hey, Liv said it was an accident!" Ella exclaimed.

“I don’t care!” Lisa shouted.

"Please tell me you haven’t used it on her since we’ve gotten back?" Ella asked.

“Unfortunately it has a time limit of a day…” Lisa answered. “But when we get back…”

Both Jordan and Kimberly gave each other some very concerned looks.

"An accidental titty grab is still a titty grab," Saskia said ominously. She shrugged. A few spiders wouldn’t hurt anyone, it wasn’t like Lisa was summoning black widows on her or anything… probably. "Well, that just about sums it up. Ella and I tended to fight on the frontlines, and Lisa did a lot of scouting."

“I was a scout, ambulance, and occasional fighter,” Lisa smiled. Then she turned to Kimberly and Jordan, “What can you two do?”

“Well…” Kimberly reached down to her utility belt, “I’m technically not Paranormal but I use a bunch of different artifacts like the ones you saw.”

“I’m a Chronomancer,” Jordan explained. “I can stop time, and manipulate the flow of it in a localized area. I can also teleport and use telekinesis.”

"Whoa, that’s so cool! That’s like purple lux right… Can you teleport to other realms?" Ella looked at Jordan excitedly.

“I can, in fact, do that,” Jordan answered.

"Why would we need to do that?" Saskia muttered, before shaking her head. But it was good, because they both filled in a lot of gaps they had… Primarily her and Ella, who were rather restricted. She glanced at Kimberley’s utility belt. "What can your artifacts do, outside of the ones we already saw?"

“Weeeeeeeeell…” Kimberly said, “I got a lot of them. We’ll be here all day - well, night - if I explained them all.”

She raised a finger with two particular rings. She pointed at one, then the other, as she explained,

“This ring gives me super agility! And this one gives me an Emotional-Field,” Kimberly began, before reaching for a magical cube, “This turns into a barrier… Oh yeah!”

Kimberly grabbed the camera she was first seen holding, “This lets me teleport through photos, trap apparitions, and spy on locations.” She spoke all giddy.

“… Cool, right?”

"Yeah, very cool." Saskia didn’t sound like she thought it was cool, but she actually did. A camera that could do that much… That was very useful. And it was only one of many artifacts Kimberley had. "Can you use it on an apparition like Morningstar, then?"

“Totally!” Kimberly answered, “We just need to weaken him first!”

"Oh that’s totally manageable!" Ella chimed in with a grin. "We’re experts at weakening apparitions. It’s all we did against the Stygian Snake!"

"It’ll certainly make things easier," Saskia said. Otherwise they’d have to kill him, which would be a pain. "Once we find him."

"Yeah we find him, we beat him up, and then Kimberley traps him in the camera!" Ella made a punching motion. "Easy!"

"Yeah, easy," Saskia echoed, before yawning. The blood loss from earlier and subsequent blood regeneration they’d been casting was beginning to catch up on them.

“Too easy!” Lisa shouted.

Both Kimberly and Jordan faced each other.

“… Let’s cross that bridge when we get there,” Jordan added. “How about we check you all into your rooms, and we make a plan in the morning?”

"Sounds good to me, I think we all could do with some rest." Ella gave Jordan a thumbs up, though she didn’t seem tired at all.

"Yes please," Saskia yawned again. "I need to recover from blood loss."

“Wait, ya’ll don’t got IDs, do ya’ll?” Jordan asked.

Lisa shook her head. “We don’t have anything! Sorry!”

“Good grief,” Jordan said as she got up, “I’ll take care of this, Kim. I’ll just put it in my name.”

She gestured for them to come along.

“Let’s go girls.”

---

There was a beep, and Jordan opened the door for the three. The room was similar to the other one, but this time, there were two beds, a desk, and a laptop.

“Me and Kim will come wake you up in the morning, alright?” Jordan said.

“… But there’s only two beds,” Lisa added.

“Figure it out,” Jordan began, “Don’t wreck the place.”

Then Jordan closed the door.

There was an awkward silence.

"Well, I’m happy to share a bed with either of you!" Ella eventually broke the silence.

“We could cuddle!” Lisa shouted. “I can be the little spoon!”

"Sure!" Ella grinned. "You want to join, Saskia?!"

"... No." Saskia said, because they’d rather not deal with that. They pointed to the laptop to distract from the awkward bed situation that had turned into an awkward cuddle situation. "Why don’t we do some research first? Maybe a quick google will help."

Saskia went over to the desk, taking the seat before either of them could snatch it. They sluggishly opened the laptop. After it turned on they went straight to google… and just straight up typed in Morningstar.

It probably wouldn’t work but… worth a try.

"Oh shit." Saskia blinked at the results. "That actually worked."

First result: Morningstar Banking.

“Lemme see!” Lisa rushed over and looked at the computer screen. “Hmmmm… I mean it could mean anything. Could just be a name… lemme take the wheel for a second…”

She awkwardly reached over, grabbed the mouse, typed in Morningstar Banking CEO, and then pressed enter.

The results came up…

“… Oooooh!” Lisa exclaimed.

It was pictures of their target. Professional pictures, him at events, and so on. His name was Carlisle Reynard Morgenstern…

"Well, that really was easy." Saskia actually smiled as she looked at all the pictures of Morningstar. "I bet if we go to the bank and demand to see the manager we’ll get to him eventually…"

"Oh wow!" Ella popped up behind them, easily looking over their shoulders at the laptop. "We didn’t even have to look very hard! Even I’m not stupid enough to name a bank after myself, he must be veryyy confident no one can hurt him."

“… Which isn’t a good thing - for him, for him I mean!,” Lisa tugged her collar as she looked between the three. “Maybe we don’t even need to ask for the manager, we can just use my spiders to climb the building… if he’s there, that is.”

Lisa clapped her hands together, “Then we can seal him, then find the thing the Hound wants, and we can call it a day!”

"Oh yeah, that’ll be easier, then we’ll catch him by surprise! Then we’ll beat him like boom, pow! Sealed!" Ella punched out two fists to demonstrate. "We could even do it tonight and get it over with!"

"You guys are doing that without me," Saskia yawned again. Bed was really calling them… specifically a bed to themselves since the other two seemed to want to spoon. "I don’t have enough blood for another fight."

Lisa wrapped her arms around Saskia and shouted, “Come onnnnnnnnnnn! You gotta be there!” She squeezed her cheek against Saskia’s, and nudged it from left to right. ”We’re the magical girls! One fight!”

"Do you want me to die?" Saskia groaned, even though she made absolutely no move to dislodge Lisa. Her blood levels weren’t actually that low anymore… ugh. This would be so much work.

"C’monnnnn Saskia!" Ella joined in from behind, hugging both of them tightly. She squished Lisa and Saskia even closer together with her hug. "One fight, one fight!"

"Fine. Finnneee… I’ll come."

”Yay!” Lisa shouted, releasing Saskia to raise a hand in the air… then she yawned. ”Alright, I’m tired. Let’s call it a day girls…” She out-stretched her hands up in the air.

”I don’t want to think about what kind of grime is on us… So, should we decide a shower order real quick?” Lisa asked.

"Ella’s going last," Saskia said instantly. "She takes ages."

"Aw, I don’t take that long… I’ll be quick," Ella whined, stepping back and sitting on the bed just behind her. "Last time I only took half an hour!"

"Only?" Saskia hit Ella with her deadest stare. She really didn’t know that that was long, did she? Of course she didn’t, this was Ella. Though they supposed her hair was higher maintenance at least… Still going last. "Why don’t you go first, Lisa, then me, then Ella?"

”Okay! I’ll be right back!” Lisa quickly grabbed her clothes and ran into the shower. After a few minutes, the shower cut on...

… Unfortunately for the two, Lisa likes to sing in the shower.

”♪ ... I met a girl on the holiday! When she smiiiiiiiiiiled she took my breath away! ♪”

Saskia groaned and threw herself on the bed, covering her ears with a pillow. It was going to be a long shower time… since Ella would sing too.

Paragraphs: Agents of Death [FernStone & Shin Ghost Note]

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---

Lisa’s flying spider soared through the stars, and the neon lights shined against the underbelly. However, the creature's wings were loud, making it difficult to communicate. Lisa pointed her finger at something, and the flying mount drifted in that direction. As they got closer, Lisa directed them toward a store called The Supernatural Rummage Boutiques. Lisa safely landed the spider; its wings stopped fluttering and awkwardly laughed.

“... I forgot how loud that was, sorry,” Lisa stammered. She then climbed off the spider and put her hands on her hips with a wide smile on her face, “I’m going to do what I used to do to get Greta her ingredients!” She raised a finger in the air, face looking seriously.

“As in! I will send my spiders in and grab some clothes for us! So what… are… your… sizes…” Lisa’s eyes landed on Ella, jaw-dropping, face blushing again.

“... Out of all of us, why did you have to grow?!” Lisa said, laughing.

"It’s because I’m the center of our magical girl formation, of course!" Ella grinned… though she honestly had no idea why she’d grown more. Probably her magical girl spirit. "It makes it like an arrow… or something. I was size 8… but that doesn’t fit anymore. Uh, try 10 or 12!"

"I’m size four,” Saskia said, very boringly.

Lisa paused for a moment.

“... I’ll just have them grab random clothes, and we’ll see what fits, okay?” Lisa said, then she raised her hands in the air. The concrete they stood on rumbled, and out came tarantulas spouting out like a macabre fountain. After a moment, it ceased, and all the spiders lined up in a neat row-by-row formation. With a wave of her hand, they were surrounded by a glowing magical cocoon. After a few moments, they popped, and then they had ant-mandibles.

After a moment, they were commanded to enter the building in a neat row and crawled out of sight. Lisa shook her head and leaned up against an air conditioning unit. She put her hands together and said,

“So, um, where do we go from here? I have no clue where to even start!” Lisa awkwardly laughed, then sighed.

"Maybe we can find his address in a phonebook,” Saskia suggested drily.

Ella furrowed her brow, starting to pace back and forth as the thought. Obviously, Saskia was joking… but maybe there was some kind of paranormal network? Or- "Maybe if we make a really big scene somewhere and yell that we’re looking for Morningstar he’ll come? Ooo, or you send spiders around with little notes to Morningstar?"

Lisa stepped off the AC, “... You know, the second idea isn’t that bad!”

"Right?" Ella grinned, stopping her pacing. "Once we get clothes, we should write the notes… Wait, should we wait till tomorrow? I’m not tired, but maybe Morningstar’s asleep right now. Or he’s enacting his evil plans at night… We should start writing the notes now, while we wait! Either of you have a pen and paper?"

Lisa pulled out the pockets of her robe.

"Of course not,” Saskia said. "We’ll need to steal that too.”

"Oh- alright we can steal some stationary after the clothes then."

“At this rate, we’re going to be looting the whole city!” Lisa put her hands together and laughed. Then she glanced over the edge, that smile came off her face. “... They should have been back by now.” She mused out loud.

Then eight long-black spider legs burst out of Lisa’s back - and out the robe. “I’m going to go check on them! Be right back!”

Lisa climbed off the side of the building, towards the entrance, and out of sight.

“Stay safe!” Ella yelled after Lisa, having just about stopped herself from recoiling at the whole spider leg growth thing… she just still wasn’t used to it! She then turned to Saskia. “You think they just got lost or something?”

Saskia shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? They probably got eaten by a bird.”

“Saskia! You’ll upset Lisa!”

“Lisa’s not within earshot- I’m sure it’s fine.”

Saskia’s tone wasn’t very convincing - but then again, Ella knew that Saskia rarely used a convincing tone. So it was probably fine! The spider’s had just gotten lost or something. Not seeing the point in continuing to talk about something they couldn’t control, she changed the subject. “Soooo, if you died after me… did you watch the latest episode of-”

“No way, are you seriously asking if I watched anime after you died?” Saskia interrupted. “Of course not. We were fighting apparitions every night, there wasn’t time… And I just couldn’t.”

“So we’ll never know how it ended…” Ella sighed. They’d only had one more episode to go. Now she’d never see the conclusion! How terrible.

“We can literally watch it. It's not like we’ve been sent to a different world.”

“Oh yeah! Do you think the hound will give us an anime-watching break once we finish this, before the next task?”

“I doubt it.”

“Awwww… well maybe we can find time to watch it while here, then! Not like it’ll take long. Just need a computer and the internet. Oh, but if we’re going to watch with Lisa we’d need to start from the beginning. Ah, that’ll take six hours!”

“We can think about that later. But,” Saskia frowned - an actual frown, as opposed to a minute change in expression. “Isn’t she taking quite a while too?”

“Yeahhh,” Ella looked around. She was worried now, too, hand slipping into her robes to find her channeler - just in case! “She should be back by now… Should we go after her?”

“... Hi there,”

A voice appeared behind them, and when they turned around… they saw two people standing on top of the AC unit that Lisa had previously been leaning against. One was an average-height caucasian girl with a head of brown hair and glasses. What stood out about her was that she had a utility belt with several magical artifacts hanging from it… several magical orbs, a magical cube, the hilt of a sword, and even a revolver? She held a weird camera in her hands as she wore blue Rodeo jeans tucked into black combat boots and a tank top. She had a sly half-smile on her face that implied that she had full control of the situation.

The second person was a slightly shorter than the average black girl with her hair in a bun. Unlike her companion, she didn’t have any artifacts on her, but two swirling masses of coral-pink energy glowed with magic in her hands. She didn’t look as approachable as her friend, and she had a scowl. She wore a black hoodie and some blue jeans, not tucked into her combat boots.

The white girl with the camera stepped forward and said, “Soooo…of all the places you all choose to rob with magic, you chose a thrift store?” The girl laughed.

“That’s crazy,” The other girl with the magic laughed. She had a very gruff, deep voice for her size and appearance.

“So, we have your friend,” The girl with the camera said.

“And her pets,” The other girl noted.

“... Yeah, and her pets!” The girl with the camera laughed, “So, calmly get on the ground, and let’s settle this peacefully, alright?”

“What… What did you do with Lisa?!” Ella pulled out her channeler - a very unthreatening looking Sailor Moon wand. “And her spiders?! Did you hurt them?!”

“Hey, Ella, let’s calm down a minute,” Saskia sighed, even as she pulled a small knife out from under her robes. Good. They were one magical girl down, Ella needed her backup!

“But they hurt Lisa!” Ella shook her head, instantly jumping to conclusions… But how couldn’t she?! There was no proof Lisa was okay… Not when they clearly had magic. What if they were like all those other magical people who wanted to hurt Lisa? All those bullies? Ella wouldn’t stand for it. “I won’t let them get away with it! Light Prism Power Transform!”

Light Prism Power Transform!

An incandescent, rainbow light bathed Ella as she dramatically posed with one hand on her hip, and her channeller raised high in the air. Her pastel pink braids lengthened, turning into a brighter pink that turned to vivid purple at the tips. She pulled up one leg and spun around on the other as her undersized robes glowed. They shimmered and changed, shortening into a purple miniskirt over a white leotard. The brightly colored jewelry adorning her wrists, neck, ears, and hair remained. After a full, shakily done spin she had two feet back on the ground, one hand swiping across her forehead as a tiara appeared as if out of magic (it was out of magic). The shining purple gem in the center glinted. Ella threw out one arm and held her channeler against her chest.

“Give us back our friend!” Ella yelled, holding out the wand towards the two girls. “Or I’ll be forced to fight my way through you!”

The two girls looked at each other for a moment.

“... Nice little transformation you got there,” The black girl with the magic said, laughing.

“This is like out of some weird anime, I know!” The girl with the camera said, barely holding in her laughter. Before turning back to Ella, “She’s fine, relax… Jordan.”

The other girl - Jordan - raised her hand, and a glowing coral-colored orb of magic appeared. However, inside of the orb was Lisa Turner, floating helplessly while she was bound with ropes that covered her torso, mouth, and legs. Lisa thrashed.

“Let’s all take a step back here… Get on the ground. And maybe we can just… talk this out, okay?” The girl with the camera said.

“Alright.” Saskia put her knife back in her robes and got down on her knees.

In that moment, Ella felt a betrayal. A betrayal towards backing up, and towards the most sacred thing… Anime! The camera girl had called it weird. How could Saskia not be upset? And Lisa didn’t exactly seem fine! She was cruelly tied up in a magical bubble!

“Let Lisa go first, then we can talk.” Ella pointed to Lisa, staying on her feet. No way was she surrendering. At the same time, she started to absorb the colour from one of her bright pink rings. “You did attack first.”

“You were robbing a store, you know,” The girl with the camera smiled cattily.

With a snap of Jordan’s fingers, Lisa had disappeared.

“Last warning, power down, then get down,” The girl with the camera said.

“Lisa!” Ella shouted as her friend disappeared. At the same time, the ring she’d been absorbing from became a dull grey. It wasn’t much of a boost, but it was better than nothing. “I won’t let you get away with this! Magical girl power: Prismatic Sun Beam!”

Ella’s held-out channeler lit up, shooting out a constant beam of damaging light, aimed at the girl with the camera’s hand. The girl with the camera dodged, stepping out of the way as the beam shot past her. However, she was singed as her skin turned red, and her tank top was burnt. She fell onto her back and flipped back onto her feet as she faced the girls. She nodded her head at Jordan, then Jordan turned towards the girls.

“Alright, have it your way!” Jordan shouted as she stuck her hands out and fired two balls of coral-pink energy at each of them to launch the two backward.

“I surrendered,” Saskia said with absolutely no emotion in their voice as the ball of energy hit them, knocking them backward. As they were launched they pulled back out their knife, sliced across the palm of their hand, and had their blood coat their back before they slammed back down onto the ground. She then picked herself up, manipulating her blood to form a blade from her hand.

“Super Prism Kick!” Ella yelled out very weebily, iridescent light coating her right leg. She lifted it up and straight up kicked the ball of energy out of the way. Her attention shifted from the camera girl to Jordan - she was the immediate threat. “Drawing on the bright colours shining through the darkness, I’ll defeat you - Vivid Sphere!”

The bright pink and purple of her bracelets faded to grey and a sphere double the size of a tennis ball appeared in her hands. She launched it towards Jordan - if it hit, it would feel like being hit by a brick. Jordan raised her hands as she shouted,

“TIME STANDS STILL!” A dome of coral-pink magic formed around herself, Kimberly, and the two girls, stopping all time within it. The four could still move freely, but the magic sphere that Ella launched was frozen. The girl with the camera nodded as Jordan raised her hands again, floating off the AC unit onto the ground. At the same time, the girl with the camera reached down to her utility belt and pulled out two magical orbs and hopped off the AC Unit towards Saskia. She threw the orbs, they traveled a distance, and then they came to a standstill. The girl landed on her knee while Jordan pointed a hand at the ground, ripped a chunk of the rooftop out of the ground, and aimed it at Ella.

The dome Jordan created disappeared, and the two magical orbs launched themselves at Saskia; they struck with explosive force and then teleported back into the girl with the camera’s hands. At the same time, the chunk of rooftop went flying towards Ella.

“Superprismkick!” Ella just about shouted out, using her right leg again to kick through the rooftop and stop it from smacking her entire body. Pain shot through it from the impact, and it buckled underneath her as soon as it landed back on the floor. Saskia managed to coat her body in a thin layer of solid blood, which shattered as soon as the orbs hit her and sent her flying. She landed with a thud, wrist cracking painfully underneath her.

Appearing unbothered, Saskia stood up and held up her hand, more blood leaking from her palm and forming a blood bullet that shot towards Kimberley incredibly quickly. Which penetrated Kimberly through the leg.

Ella looked at Saskia, then back at their two attackers. She was down on one knee, ironically where they’d told her to be earlier, but she could still fight! She held up her hands in front of her and closed her eyes. “Aurora Flash!”

Her hands lit up with a blinding, colourful light that shone across the whole area. She could hear Saskia let out an annoyed groan as they were hit by it too.

“Stop calling your attacks, dumbass!” Jordan shouted through the flash.

When it faded, Jordan surrounded herself in a coral-pink veil and it seemed that she moved faster relative to everyone else. She quickly closed the distance between herself and Ella and reached for that stupid wand.

While Kimberly jumped in the air, still bleeding out of her leg, and pulled out that revolver. She seemed to float down as she pulled the trigger. the cylinder turned and a fireball came out the barrel directly at Saskia.ia.

“I have to call my attacks! Super prism kick!” Ella’s left, undamaged leg glowed and she awkwardly kicked it up towards the hand aiming for her channeler, putting all her weight on her very painful right leg. It hurt like hell and she was incredibly unstable, but she wasn’t letting some normie touch her Sailor Moon wand! Absolutely not! Jordan’s hand broke on contact, and she winced in pain.

“Who the hell are you!?” Jordan seethed.

“It is dumb,” Saskia groaned, rapidly forming her blood into a large tendril at her back. She threw it in front of her to block the fireball, blood boiling and dripping to the ground. With a loud wince, Saskia also fell towards the ground, one hand on it to steady herself. She held the other one up. “Ella, please, surrender.”

“But she’s trying to take my wand!”

“Just so we can stop this!” Jordan grabbed her broken hand… it was surrounded by a coral-pink sphere and it reverted back in time until it was good as new. She flicked her hand and walked backwards. “Kim! They are clearly not apart of The Society! Let’s chill.”

The girl with the camera holstered the revolver and raised her hands in the air. She said, “Yeah, let’s just stop and talk this out!”

“What’s the Society?” Ella tilted her head, lowering the arm holding her channeller now that it was safe. She moved to a sitting position to take the weight off her hurt leg, clearly deciding not to fight anymore. “Are they a thrift store theft group?”

Jordan facepalmed.

“Doubtful,” Saskia groaned. Her face was paling than normal, sweat forming on her forehead and lips twisting down in pain as she started to heal her broken wrist. “We’re not from around here. We’re here to… help someone.”

“Yeah, and we just needed clothes!” Ella nodded furiously. Then she pointed at Jordan. “Wait, bring Lisa back!”

Jordan snapped her fingers and Lisa appeared in a coral-pink orb. Still bound and gagged. With a wave of Jordan’s hands, the threads that bind Lisa were undone and she quickly climbed to her feet. She went over to Ella and Saskia and said,

“Are you two alright?” Lisa asked.

“Look there are better ways to get clothes than steal them!” The girl with the camera snorted, laughing afterwards. “Who are you here to help… wait, who are you all?”

"Lisa!" Ella immediately hugged Lisa, completely ignoring her hurt leg to launch herself at her friend. "Are you alright? Do you need any healing?!"

“I’m alright! I’m alright!” Lisa chuckled.

"Hey, if anyone needs it, it's me," Saskia protested weakly. They then looked over at their two would be captors. "We don't have any money. How else do we get clothes?"

"Yeah!" Ella twisted her head, refusing to let Lisa go in case she disappeared. "And we're the magical girls! I'm magical girl aurora- or Ella!"

"Actually, we're Agents of Death now," Saskia rolled their eyes. "I'm Saskia."

“Y-yeah, I’m Lisa…” Lisa ran a hand through her hair.

“… Agents of Death?” Jordan tilted her head. “What kind of corny ass… okay, okay! My name is Jordan Nichols.”

“I am Kimberly Walton! Paranormal investigator and internet sensation!” She introduced herself, extending a hand. “I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot! We just caught you all robbing a place..” She shrugged and rolled her eyes.

"That's fair, honestly…" Saskia shrugged.

"Are you famous, then?" Ella tilted her head. She then looked at the hand, then back at Kimberley. And then at the hand. Eventually she reached out and shook it. "I've never heard of an online paranormal investigator, that's cool! Sorry I attacked you, I was just worried about my friend. And you called anime weird."

Jordan looked at Kimberly - who smiled - then shook her head.

“I’m something of a celebrity,” Kimberly laughed. “But, ummm… what are you three doing here? Why are you three wearing robes?”

“… And why are you calling yourselves crazy shit like magical girls and… Agents of death?” Jordan raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. “Like the fuck?”

"Uhmmmmm…" Ella trailed off, looking at Lisa, then Saskia. How did they explain it? The hound hadn't told them whether they could tell others or not! How did they even explain it without looking crazy?!

"We died," Saskia began, as if they were just talking about what they had for breakfast. "These are the clothes we died in. We then got brought back to life, and have to do something for what did that. Thus Agents of Death."

"Yeah! And we're magical girls because… we're magical girls! Obviously!" Ella gestured to the three of them… even though it really wasn't obvious. "We were the magical girl group when fighting the Stygian Snake!"

Jordan tilted her head back, the corner of her mouth tilting upwards. “I, uh, what? Um, like—what the f—” However, Kimberly ran over and put a finger to Jordan’s lips.

“Ssssssssh! Come mere!” Kimberly leaned into Jordan’s ear and whispered a few things. Then she stopped, looking over at the girls. "None of you have super hearing, right?”

Lisa looked between them all, then answered, “Not yet!”

“Okay, good!” Kimberly said to them before she whispered more things into Jordan’s ear… who rolled her eyes and said,

“... Fine.”

Then Kimberly faced them with a wide, discerning smile! As she said, “Alright, we’re going to buy you all a room for the night, then when morning hits, we’re going to a store to buy you clothes. On us. How’s that sound?”

"Seriously?" Ella grinned and jumped to her feet… let out a yelp of pain when she put too much weight on the leg she'd hurt. Still, better than getting hit by a ceiling in the head! "That sounds great! Will the room come with anything to sleep in, cause I'm pretty sure I've grown like two sizes overnight and my clothes are really tight."

"Wait," Saskia shook their head. "What's the catch? Why would you do that for us?"

“The catch is that you two stay out of trouble!” Jordan laughed.

“Look, you three clearly need some help… and that’s what we do, we help people,” Kimberly put a hand on her chest. “... And all you are going to do when we leave is try and rob a different store.” She snorted.

“We don’t got time to follow you around Mirage Springs all day,” Jordan shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"You’d rob a store too if you had only robes and no money," Saskia replied drily, shrugging. "But-"

"Not buts, we’ll take your help! Thank you very much!" Ella interrupted with a wide grin. They hadn’t even had a chance to consider where they’d stay, so they shouldn’t turn down this offer. Plus, Saskia looked like she was about to pass out. She really needed a bed. "Let’s go, let’s go, I need to get outta these too small clothes."

“I like them…” Lisa mused out loud.

Kimberly turned her head towards the sedan sized spider. “… Could one of you get rid of that first?”

“Oh! Lemme take care of that!” Lisa stuck her hand out, and the jumping spider shrunk back to normal after cracking and popping. Then, after dispelled it, it hurried off.

Saskia watched the spider disappear, then fixed Kimberley with a deadpan stare.

"... Now how do we get down?"

---

The nearest Walmart wasn’t too far away, fortunately. Unfortunately, walking into a Walmart wearing robes, even at nine at night, drew a lot of idle eyes. Kimberly and Jordan walked in front of the three, then the former turned on her heel and put her hands together. She smiled as she said,

“Buy as much as you need!” Kimberly began, “My bank account can survive a shopping spree or two.”

“… Whatever will stop you three from robbing places,” Jordan put a hand on her hip, then rolled her eyes. “Then we can book ya’ll into the hotel we’re staying in.”

“In the morning, we can get breakfast and try to figure this all out!” Kimberly chipperly said. “Okay!?”

Lisa nodded her head, “Okay!” Then she looked at the others…

"Okay!" Ella repeated, glancing around the store. Walmart wasn't really her choice for clothes, but they couldn't really be fussy when it wasn't their money. And at this time of night. Maybe they could go on another, more specialised shopping trip tomorrow. With that in mind Ella grinned, looking over at her friends. "Let's go!"

Before either could say anything, Ella grabbed Lisa and Saskia's hand and practically dragged them over to the clothing section.

"Hey," Saskia weakly protested, but they offered no resistance.

Ella let go of their hands when they reached the women's section and immediately started perusing the clothing. It wasn't the best selection, but there were some things she could wear! She first picked out a bunch of skirts in various sizes, ranging from white to florals, and then some jeans. Then she grabbed pretty much every pink or purple shirt she could see.

"How are you planning to carry all that?" Saskia commented, eyeing the teetering pile. They'd only picked out a few baggy, dark coloured jeans and long sleeved tops. Not a single colour in sight.

"I've grown, I don't know what will fit!" Ella then craned her neck, looking around. "Is there anywhere I can change here?"

Lisa looked at Ella.

Then at the big sign that said CHANGING ROOM.

Then she looked at Ella again.

Then back to the sign.

Then at Saskia.

Then back to Ella.

Then the sign again.

Then at Kimberly who looked confused.

Then back to the sign.

Then at Ella.

“... I don't know,”

"How are we supposed to do anything if you can't notice an obvious sign?" Saskia raised a hand to her forehead.

”Hey! Don’t be so rough on her! We all probably lost a few brain cells in the whole process!” Lisa laughed.

"Ohhhhh," Ella spotted the sign after Lisa looked at it multiple times. She really was exceptionally bad at finding things! "I'm gonna go get changed!"

She scurried off, arms laden with clothing.

Lisa waved and cupped her hands together to shouted at her, ”Okay! Scream if you’re getting eaten by a monster or something!”

Saskia sighed, holding up the stuff they'd picked. "I'm good, this'll fit me. I'll grab some stuff from the men's section as well… Do you need to try stuff on too, Lisa? Ella will take a while."

Lisa smiled at Saskia, then chipperly said,

”Well, it wouldn’t hurt, would it?”

Paragraphs: Agents of Death [FernStone & Shin Ghost Note]

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@FernStone & @Punished GN





A Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Aside...

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Where… Where am I?

Nothing, but it feels like a place.

Empty. Dark. Nothing.

Yet, it feels like it has substance.

A place of contradictions.

White but black.

Silent but chaotic.

Repels but attracts.

Warm, but cold.

…

…

…

I feel like I’m nothing…

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The girl stood in the darkness. She looked down, and she could feel something for the first time in ages. She raised her hands, staring at her palms, rotating her hands.

"AHHHHHHH why's it so dark?! Is this hell?! Am I going to die again?! Please don't hurt me!" A scream sounded from nearby.

The girl whipped her head around towards the other source, and her jaw dropped.

“E-Ella?!” The girl said, running over to her, and wrapping her arms around her midsection. “I heard you d-died! I knew it wasn't true!”

"Lisa?!" Ella froze at first before hugging Lisa back - squeezing her tightly. "I thought I had! I remember it… what… I guess I didn't!"

"You did." Another, much flatter voice spoke up. "I saw your body."

"Huhhhh?"

“I wasn't there! I’m sorry!” Lisa said, hugging Ella back. It was a dream come true… Then her head turned towards another person.

“Saskia!” Lisa shouted, running over to the slightly taller person. “It's great to say you’re okay too!”

"SASKIAAA!" Ella followed Lisa and practically launched herself at Saskia, who let out a quiet 'oof' at being tackled by her larger friend.

"Hey, Lisa, Ella, glad you're both safe too…" Saskia frowned, awkwardly patting Ella's back while trying to get out of her arms. "But… Any idea where we are? This place is weird."

Lisa slowly craned her head around and saw nothing. Nothing as far as the eye could see.

“... You t-think?!” Lisa stammered, almost laughing.

Lisa heard footsteps behind her. Massive. Monstrous. She perked up as her eyes shot open and glanced over her shoulder. Then, fully rotated, she saw red eyes piercing through the smoky black darkness. The shadows cleared as they took shape.

“... You’re in my realm,” A deep, booming voice spoke as a paw made of shadows pounded down. Revealing a massive black wolf with red eyes that towered over the trio. “Some may refer to it as an afterlife of sorts.”

The being let his words hang in the air.

“... I refer to it as home,”

Ella screamed. She hugged Saskia even tighter, practically stopping them from breathing… before reaching out and pulling Lisa (Who was also screaming) into the hug as well. "Who are you?!"

"Ella, calm down, you’re strangling me." Saskia leaned back to breathe better, and hit the massive black wolf with an expressionless look… Though that didn’t mean they were calm at all. "The afterlife? So we did die after all?"

“... Correct,” The being said, sliding its body closer to them. Lisa could hardly breathe as her chest fluttered. The Hound began walking a circle around the three of them like an animal would stalk its prey. Talking, “I am the Hound, the watcher of watchers. The being responsible for maintaining the balance of life and death… Emotion and apathy.”

Lisa remembered Britney mentioning the Hound a few times… Maybe Lisa saw the Hound a few times - not something she’d want to commit to memory. The Hound paused, “I rarely do this, but I owe someone a favor, and they requested this. Thus, I am giving you three a second chance at life.”

“Wait?! Really?!” Lisa shouted, on pure reflex… Then, she was silent. It didn't seem right. None of this made any sense.

Ella stopped screaming and just stared at the hound in stunned silence, releasing her grip on Saskia enough that they could actually breathe.

"Why did ‘they’ request this?" Saskia asked. "We don’t know anyone who could owe you a favour… That’s ridiculous-"

"Wait!" Ella interrupted, looking at Saskia, and then looking at Lisa. In a deathly serious voice, she asked. "Did either of you get hit by a truck when you died?"

"... this isn’t a fucking anime, Ella."

The mere thought of her death made Lisa shudder.

“‘They choose to keep their identity a secret…” The Hound began. “However, I am not reviving you all unless you complete some… Tasks, for me.”

Lisa gulped. She figured as much, as a being like the Hound wouldn’t do this for free. She didn't like this, but Lisa had no choice. She stammered,

“... A-And what do you want us to do?” Lisa said.

“Your two tasks will be to defeat the Apparition known as Morningstar and recover an artifact for me. Once you complete these tasks, you will be free from service and resurrected.”

The Hound let his offer hang in the air.

“Do you accept?”

"Not the Morningstar?!" Ella gasped, slamming her hands against her cheeks. "Wait, who's that?"

"We’ll find out, I’m sure," Saskia rolled her eyes. She paused for a moment, expression completely blank. Then, finally, she said, "I accept."

"If Saskia accepts, then I accept too!”

They had no option other than to accept… Lisa didn't want to go back to the black. She didn't want to be dead. Lisa turned her head to the Hound, “I… I a-accept!”

“Hmph…” The corners of the Hound’s mouth... almost into a smile? Lisa didn’t like the look of this. A mass of shadows appeared before the Hound, weaving itself into the shape of a man. When it formed, it took the image of a blonde-haired man with spiky hair…

“The Morningstar is an Apparition born from the fear of a Satanic figure… A dangerous and cunning Apparition that has destroyed countless worlds and killed billions, all in the pursuit of shaping the All-Verse in his image...” The Hound explained.

“He is currently concocting a plan that I find… Problematic. So, as your first task, I am having you defeat and seal him.”

"Whoa, he does look like a villain," Ella narrowed her eyes at the image, seeming to inspect it very thoroughly. "Anime style hair too-"

"Really?” Saskia sighed, shaking their head. They glanced at the shadow shape, then back at the hound. "How will just the three of us be able to defeat someone who’s destroyed worlds.”

"Oh, did we get extra super magic when we got brought back to life?"

Saskia had a point… The three of them got killed by the Stygian Snake, how were they supposed to hold a candle to this guy?

“That's up to you to figure out,” The Hound said, “I was asked to give you three a chance, so here it is.”

"Seriously?” Saskia’s expression barely changed, but the look in their eyes was slightly harder. "You might as well have left us dead.”

"C’mon, Saskia, I’m sure it’ll be fine! The three of us together are unstoppable!” Ella hit her fist against her chest. "We’re the magical girls, after all! Well, most of them. We can do anything together! Right, Lisa?”

Lisa had no faith or confidence in this entire idea. Or the Hound.

She had no choice, now did she.

Lisa forced a wide smile as she raised a fist in the air. “Yeah! We can do-”

“You will not be… ‘Magical girls,’” The Hound shot them down. “You will be my… Agents of Death.”

"Oh, I like that name much better.” Saskia nodded. "But surely you’d at least equip your agents?”

"Agents of Death? No way!" Ella, on the other hand, shook her head agitatedly. "We’re too cute to be called that! It’s so… dark."

“... Is it as important as coming back to life?” The Hound asked, giving her the siide eye.

Ella paused, clearly thinking about it. She went through a series of expressions - a frown, confusion, then a look of enlightenment. "No, I guess it isn’t."

"Of course it isn’t, you idiot,” Saskia also side eyed Ella. "I think we’re in agreement that we’ll do it, whatever the name, right?”

It was great that everyone saw the bigger picture here (unlike a certain Coven). It made Lisa crack a smile, even though the Hound was throwing them into the fire with no information or equipment. Lisa knew that despite it all, she would find a way.

“I hope you all understand that I cannot interfere more in human affairs than I currently am,” The Hound explained.

“I can tell you where Morningstar is, but I cannot equip you or guide you to defeat him… That is up to you.”

Saskia's lips pulled into a thin line, and they nodded. "It's better than being dead. We've all died before, anyway; what's another time or two?"

"... Saskia…" Ella's eyes widened, and her bottom lip started to tremble. "None of us are going to die again!"

"It was a joke."

"Oh." Just like that, Ella stopped looking like she was going to cry, and grinned. She looked at Lisa, then Saskia, then back at Lisa. "Yeah, we've got this! We'll beat and seal Morningstar, then go back to everyone else! Cause we're the magica- Agents of Darkness, shining a light in the…. Darkness!"

“The Morningstar is in Mirage Springs, Nevada,” The Hound began, “I can teleport you there, but from here on; you three are on your own.”

“Mirage Springs…?” Lisa heard of the city but never stepped foot there. According to Britney, it was another Paranormal hotspot.

The Hound slid closer to them, “If you attempt to flee… I will know. Seal Morningstar, and then I will give you your next task. Do you understand?”

“Not really, but I think we can figure it out,” Lisa forced another smile. “Right girls?!”

“Yeah, we got this!” Ella threw a fist in the air and grinned. “We’ll show Morningstar the true meaning of teamwork- teleport us to Mirage Springs, and we’ll get started.”

“Sure,” Saskia sighed. “I understand, mostly. Let’s get this over with.”

“Very well…” The Hound said as darkness wrapped around them, swirling around them. “Make haste because Morningstar is plotting something that can change the very fabric of the All-verse. I’m sure you all can defeat him…”

The darkness overtook them…

“... I am sure you were picked for a reason.”

Then they were gone.

Back to Shimmer.

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The darkness faded… The first thing Lisa saw was more darkness, illuminated by road lights. She could feel the sand underneath her feet… She turned her head to the right and saw the road. At the end of the road, in the distance, she could see its skyline…

… Mirage Springs.

It was something else, of course. Yet, Lisa was unable to marvel at the city’s beauty because of the fact the Hound just dropped them there and told them to “figure it out”. Hooray.

Lisa turned to the group, “So, uh, how are we going to han-” Then a sudden thought appeared in her head, “... Wait! Do we have any clothes!? Any money?!”

"Uhhhh…" Ella started patting down her outfit - her Sycamore Tree robes, with a pair of pastel pink shorts and a white t-shirt underneath. Except the robes were visibly smaller on her. In fact, she was now even taller than Lisa and Saskia. All she came back with after a check was a handful of bracelets that’d been in her pockets. "Nope! Also, do I look different to you guys? My shorts are feeling awfully tight… Did I gain weight when I died?!"

Lisa immediately looked at Ella’s rear… and blushed. Good thing it was too dark for them to see!

“They look tighter!” Lisa laughed.

"I’ve got five dollars,” Saskia said, pulling a single bill out from under their robes before squinting up at Ella. Then looking at Lisa. "Does Ella look taller to you? Wait… You look different too.”

”Wait, do I?” Lisa raised an eyebrow, she felt her chest a bit, then felt her face. ”I don’t feel any different at all! Does anyone have a mirror…? No? Okay…”

Lisa then looked Ella up and down before realizing she was, in fact, taller. That, or Lisa got shorter. Lisa looked down at herself and realized she was wearing black robes, which was the extent of her clothes.

“... We should probably get some clothes first and foremost!” Lisa said, raising a finger in the air.

"Definitely. Robes aren’t appropriate for any city.” Saskia agreed, the slightest hint of discomfort visible in her frown. "Ella especially. Your ankles are showing, very inappropriate.”

"Since when?!" Ella looked down at her ankles. "But how are we going to get clothes, we have five dollars between us?"

"Easy. We steal them.” Saskia turned to look at Lisa. "Your spiders could do that, right?”

“Right!” Lisa said, then looked to the left and right. Of course, the Hound drops them in the middle of nowhere. Her hand traced her neck until she realized she still had her necklace. She grasped the chord, pulling it from underneath her robe to see a spider in resin. “Allow me to make our ride, ladies,” Lisa said with a grin.

She focused on the ground before her and summoned a spider. A minuscule jumping spider emerged from the ground. Probably not even noticed by the two… However, it was quickly covered in a web of ethereal cocoons. One that quickly grew to the size of a sedan! Eventually, it burst open, and the tiny grey jumping spider was large enough to fit all of them on board. With dragonfly wings, just like that one incident,

Lisa smiled, bowed, aimed her hands at their mount, and said, “Ladies.. all aboard!”

"Thanks, Lisa,” Saskia’s lips twitched up into the slightest smile, and they climbed on the jumping spider. ”We’d be walking till we dropped dead without you.”

"Yeah, you’re the best!" Ella grinned before… hesitantly getting on the spider behind Saskia. She was almost a head taller than them now. "Y’know, I’ve never left St Portwell before! So this is exciting!"

Unfortunately, Lisa didn't have the mounts she used in the Old Coven. So, she had to climb up one of its legs and make its way on top of the spider. She briefly wondered if it would be worth visiting St. Portwell and seeing if she could get another saddle from Greyson. However, it may take them days to get to St. Portwell. And she wasn’t sure if the Hound would mind them taking a detour for a quality-of-life adjustment.

On top of the spider, she looked back and grinned. She thrust a fist forward and shouted, “Up, up, and awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!”

The flying spider took off towards Mirage Springs!