Petal grimaced at her table, her Miasma drifting lazily through the air in a lazy stream that didn't match her mood. Twilight was in a similar state, the human staring blankly at the table's surface. Sunny's group had left the pair with a lot of information to digest, so much so that they're minds refused to let them sleep. As such, the two now found themselves in Petal's Nest trying to get their thoughts on the matter off of their chests.
For Petal, her assessment was pretty simple; things were getting complicated. While she didn't really care all that much about what happened to Sunny's group, she did want to keep her fiends safe. She knew that Archwraiths were not above using underhanded tricks to get what they wanted. Hell, she knew most of them reveled in it, almost treating it like salting meat before going in for the kill. If even half of what Sunny said was true, Belfry was locked into a completely different level of twisted.
As much as it made her want to puke to admit it, she was probably going to need Sunny's help to win this.
Twilight's thoughts were in a similar direction, concern aimed at the girl sitting across from her. While they hadn't known each other for very long, Twilight couldn't deny that she had become extremely close to the Wraith. That had become painfully apparent to her during the fight against Sunny. Now knowing that there was an Archwraith bonded to Crystal Prep, she could sense that she was going to have to go through that same terror all over again. Just imagining it made her heart sink, but it also reminded her of what else had come from the fight.
There was an option on the table, a way to make things easier for her friend. The question was, did she have the courage to take it?
"So, how are you...uh....taking everything?" Petal asked.
Twilight aimed a nervous frown at her friend.
Petal cringed at that.
"Yeah, stupid question," she chuckled.
"Did you already know there was a Wraith at the school?" Twilight asked, her voice just a step past a whisper.
Petal was taken aback by the sudden topic shift, even if she knew it was going to come eventually.
Guess nows as good a time as any to rip off that fucking bandaid.
"I had a hunch," she sighed. "Well, Lily did, but that's beside the point."
"The girl in the mirror?" Twilight nervously asked.
"Uh, yeah?" Petal blinked. "Wait, you talked to her? When?"
"While that human was using you as a sparring dummy."
Both girls flinched and turned their heads towards the only bare wall in the Nest. Lily was displayed on it, the near exact copy of Petal dawned in an elegant black nightgown and sitting daintily in an equally extravagant obsidian throne. An ornate silver teacup and saucer sat on her lap, both of her hands holding them safely in place with casual grace. She smiled softly at the pair, the regal air of her posture adding an extra set of weight to the gentle expression.
"Good evening," she greeted, taking a small sip of her tea.
"Um...hi," Twilight awkwardly smiled, waving.
Petal's eyes flipped back and forth between them, shock plain on her face.
WHAT. THE. HELL!?
"It is nice to see you again Twilight," Lily tittered. "Although, I do wish the circumstances were different."
"Yeah," Twilight somberly nodded.
Petal's jaw dropped.
THE FUCK?!
"Okay, what the hell is going on?!" Petal demanded, slamming her hands onto the table.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked, taking a sip of her tea.
"Why are you two being so friendly?" Petal pressed.
"Jealous?" Lily smirked.
"Like hell I am!" Petal roared. "You've always talked bad about Twilight. Hell, I don't think you've ever said her name before now!"
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Lily huffed. "And even if that was the case, things have changed."
"Huh?" Petal blinked. "The hell are you talking about?"
"She does not know?" Lily asked, aiming a frown at the human teen.
"I....I was going to tell her," she feebly offered, staring down at the table.
"Tell me what?" Petal asked, a nervous hint coloring her tone.
An awkward silence filled the air, the reflection giving the sheepish teen an stern look. Twilight opened her mouth many times, only to snap it shut a second later. Seeing that this was not going to get anywhere anytime soon, Lily let out a sigh and took the reins.
"You were not the only one to experience a change during your fight with Sunny Flare."
"What do you mean?" Petal asked, trading a worried glance between her friend and her roommate.
Noting that Twilight hadn't found her tongue yet, Lily gave Petal a small smile and explained what had brought this change in dynamic.
***
Pure terror filled Twilight, here eyes glued to a bare wall in Petal's nest. Through it, she had a bird's-eye view of her friend's beating. Tears rolled down her cheeks, her hands held tightly over her mouth stifling her cries. She needed to do something; anything, but what could she do? She had no idea how to leave Petal's Nest and even if she could, there was no way she could be a match for Sunny.
She was helpless. Powerless.
"N-No," she begged, falling to her knees. "Please stop. Don't take her away from me. I...I don't want to be alone again."
"Curious."
Twilight gasped, frantically looking for the source of the cultured female voice she had just heard.
"Wh-Who's there?" she stammered.
"Why would a human cry for a Wraith?" the voice continued, seemingly ignoring Twilight's question. "You know that you are prey to her, correct?"
"Sh-She isn't like that," Twilight frowned, staggering to her feet.
"You are right," the voice allowed. "She is more like a leech; a worthless parasite that needs to keep you alive in order to function. Rather sad really. She could be so much more if she let her fangs grow."
"Y-You're wrong!" she yelled, looking around.
"Pardon?"
Taking a deep breath and sporting shaky, yet determined glare, Twilight pressed on.
"T-Technically, you're right about her being a predator and yes, her kind eat humans, but you are wrong about how she sees my friends and I."
"Oh?"
Twilight nodded, her determination steadily growing.
"She cares so much about me that she was worried she'd drive a wedge between me and my friends when she first met them. She was terrified of how Lemon would react when she showed her true form to her. She played games with us, shared food, and even protected us from Sour at the mall once. And she's trying to find a way to feed that won't hurt people. She isn't the kind of predator you say she is, and you are wrong about her being a leech.
"Am I?" the voice pressed. "Then what is she?"
"My friend," Twilight stated, absolutely no doubt present in her tone.
Silence filled the air, the voice seemingly mulling over the girl's words. As the seconds ticked by, the voice's owner expected to see the fire in the girl dim, that her anxiety would eat away at it. To her surprise, the fire in her eyes did not weaken, but grow. A smile crept onto the reflection's face, a hint of respect worming its way into what passed as her heart. Satisfied, the reflection made herself visible on a wall behind the girl, seated on her throne and dressed as regally as ever.
"Very well," she smirked, watching the girl jump and turn towards her. "If Petal is so important to you, what do you say we make a deal?"
"A-A deal?" Twilight asked, some of her nerves coming back to her.
The reflection nodded.
"I see a strong bond between the two of you, but the flow of that bond is very one-sided. With your permission, I would like to change that."
"What do you mean?"
"There is a great spark of power inside you, dear; one that has only just started to awaken. I feel Petal may have had an unintentional hand in stirring it, but that is beside the point. If you wish to help her, we will need to awaken it."
"A power?" Twilight blinked. "Wait, does that mean....I'm a Gifted!?"
"In a sense," the reflection nodded, holding up a hand.
Before Twilight could voice the thousands of questions running through her head, a golden light formed in the reflection's palm. With a flash, the light turned into a flickering ball of golden flame, a tattered orange and red feather hovering in its core. Twilight stared at it, mesmerized by the dazzling display before a light chuckle from the girl snapped her out of her trance.
"Beautiful, is it not?" the reflection smirked, staring into the flames. "It is thanks to this that Petal came to be, and why you possess the potential to become a Gifted."
"Wh-What is it?" Twilight asked.
"A feather wreathed in flames," the girl said, trading her smile for a contemplative frown as she studied the object in question . "Flames made of Aether and Miasma."
Before Twilight could voice the hundreds of questions that assessment spawned, a loud series of snaps echoed through the room. Looking around for their source, her heart sank at what she saw. Deep cracks started to cover the walls and floor, faint black mist coming out of them like blood from a wound. Panicking, she turned back towards the reflection of her friend.
"What's happening?" she demanded.
"Petal is losing," the girl frowned, a hint of worry creeping onto her face. "We need to do this quickly."
Missing the last part of the reflection's words, Twilight ran towards the wall showing Petal's fight. Ice filled her veins when she saw the state of her friend. Laying in the monochrome grass, Petal stared blankly at the sky, her lower body missing with Sunny slowly closing in on her.
"Petal!" she cried, pounding on the wall with tears streaming down her face. "Get up! Please! I need you!"
"Twilight," the reflection offered, her tone stern.
"PETAL!" she screamed, frantic.
"Twilight!" she yelled.
Whimpering, the teen stopped trying to pound her way out of the Nest and faced the reflection.
Taking a soothing breath, she schooled her features and in a stern tone said, "If you want to help her, then you are going to need my help."
"How?" Twilight demanded, closing the distance and slamming her hands onto the reflection's wall.
"If I use this feather, I should be able to awaken your gift. Afterwards, I can increase your connection to Petal so that you can aid her."
"Will it be enough?" Twilight asked, desperation heavy in her features.
"It should be," the reflection nodded. "The gift you hold is very powerful, but with Petal guiding it, I feel the two of you should be able to survive this. What the two of you do with it is entirely out of my hands."
"Do it," Twilight demanded, no hesitation or doubt in her.
"Are you-"
"I said do it!" she roared.
The reflection flinched a little by that, then let a smile grace her lips as she nodded.
"Very well," she chuckled.
In a flash, the flames poured out of the feather and filled the room. Twilight reflexively put her arms up, bracing for the searing pain she thought was coming. As the flames enveloped her, what greeted her was not pain, but a gentle warmth. At the same time, a familiar spark pulsed behind her heart. When she let her arms fall to her side, what she saw made her eyes widen in wonder.
As it came to her, the golden fire turned into a glowing lavender mist that flowed into her. At the same time, she felt the spark within her turn into a warm surge of power. It started at her heart, then slowly spread to the rest of her body in a steady stream. When the flames were fully converted into mist, the built up power flooded her entire being and something inside of her stirred.
With a flash of lavender power, her body changed to match the energy coursing through it. Claws of lavender energy coated her hands, black trails of Miasma drifting off of her fingertips like smoke. Glowing animal ears and a curved horn made of the same energy pocked out of the top of her head and forehead respectively with the same trails of Miasmic vapor coming off of their tips. When she opened her eyes, their rich purple had been replaced with a deep crimson, the pupils slitted like a cat's.
Dizzy from the sudden change, Twilight teetered on her feet for a second, but managed to keep her footing.
"How do you feel?" the reflection asked, willing the still burning feather away.
"Dizzy," she grumbled. "B-But I think I'll be okay."
"Good," she nodded. "I'll open your connection to Petal now so you can help her. Let us hope that this will be enough to change the tide of this fight."
"Thank you," Twilight smiled, swallowing the worry and nausea swirling in her gut. "I don't know how I can ever thank you for this Miss...?"
"If you wish to thank me, then keep Petal alive," the reflection smiled. "And if you must call me anything, then call me Lily Bouquet."
Before Twilight could respond, she was seeing the world through Petal's eyes, giving her friend as much of her Kickboxing training as she could and whatever power the two of them could handle at the time.
***
Petal stared blankly at them, questions jumping through her head too fast for her mouth to keep up. While she tried, Twilight gave Lily a nervous smile, the reflection offering her a shrug in response. After a few false starts, Petal eventually settled on where to start with her thoughts.
"You're a Gifted?" she gaped, pointing at her friend. "When the fuck did that happen?!"
"Technically, a few hours ago," Twilight sheepish smiled, taping her index fingers together.
"Indeed," Lily nodded, taking a sip of her tea.
"B-But...But you don't have an aura!"
"Yes she does," Lily cut in. "You both do, actually."
"Huh?!" they both yelped, giving the reflection their full attention.
"Due to your...odd connection and the feather, both of you share an aura. The reason neither of you can see it is because it is made of Aether and Miasma. Should either of you tap into it, your dominant energy will manifest as an aura, though there will be some contamination from the lesser energy."
"So..I, um....I don't need to worry about...getting poisoned or something if I feed off of Sparky?" Petal nervously asked.
"An excellent question," Lily mused, tapping a finger against her chin. "Give it a try."
Petal wilted at that, her eyes shifting worriedly back and forth between her friend and her reflection. At the same time, a bit of dread settled into Twilight's gut. As much as it hurt to admit, she had come to rely on her friend's dietary needs to keep herself stable. Granted, that particular form of coping had become less often lately, but the fact that it was an option had been something that made life a little less scary.
Before she could voice any concerns on the matter, Petal took a deep breath and pointed her palm at her. Twilight gasped as she felt a familiar tingle run through her, her stress and worry for her friend dimming slightly in response. It stopped a second later, both of them letting out a relieved sigh. The Wraith looked at her palm, the fragment of her friend's stress settling in it as a small blob of black glowing tar. Nodding in satisfaction at it, she threw it over her shoulder, the mass phasing through the floor without making a sound.
"Looks like things are still good there," Petal sighed. "So, does this mean other Gifted can't sense us?"
"Most likely," Lily nodded. "Unless the Gifted in question has an ability specifically meant to find the energy you two share, you both should be fine."
"Thank the queen," Petal sighed, slumping in her seat.
"What about other Wraiths?" Twilight asked, fidgeting in her seat.
"No," LiIy giggled. "At best, other Wraiths would see you as another Wraith hidden in human form."
"Except for Belfry," Petal spat. "Doubt the fucker would fall for something like that."
"Agreed," Lily nodded, a deep frown marring her face.
"Right," Twilight frowned, her thoughts lightly drifting away from the conversation as she stared at the table.
"I have no idea how the hell we're gonna deal with this guy," Petal huffed, crossing her arms. "Dude's gotta be over a thousand years old at this point and we have no idea what his special ability is."
"And he has spent much of that time passively feeding," Lily added. "It is very likely that he has a truly immense amount of Miasma in reserve as a result."
"Right," Petal growled, irritably scratching her head. "And we have no idea how many Seeds he's got, cuz you know he's gotta have a few of them running around."
"That is true," Lily sighed, frowning towards her tea cup. "There are too many things that we do not know."
Clutching the sides of her head, Petal let out a frustrated groan and yelled, "THIS FUCKING SUCKS!"
Before Lily could voice her agreement, Twilight, still staring down at the table, calmly voiced her own assessment on the matter
"This is too much for us to handle on our own."
Both of them gave her their full attention, wondering where she was going with that.
"I mean, maybe?" Petal allowed. "But it's not like we've got a bunch of fucking options, Sparky."
"Not on our own, at least," Lily nodded, her lips slowly curving up into a knowing smile.
Nodding, Twilight aimed a shaky smile at them.
Petal met it with a nervous frown, the trepidation and hesitation coming off of her friend rattling her own nerves in turn.
"I am really not going to like what you're about to say, am i?" Petal gulped.
***
The Sugarcube Café was a hub of activity, even in the early morning hours. Students and adults came into the shop to nab a much needed pick-me-up to start their day. Twilight sat in a corner booth, staring nervously into her own steaming drink as she waited. She had taken special care for this meeting, even going so far as to pick her best outfit for it. A black t-shirt hugged her narrow frame under a more relaxed navy blue summer jacket, while a gray pair of jeans emphasized the rest of her figure. Like she normally did when outside of school or her lab, she did her hair up in a pony tail, but a few stray hairs kept slipping out of it to add to her nerves.
You can do this, she thought, shoving some hairs back into place. Just breath. Breath....
In synch with her breathing, she slowly brought a hand to her chest, then pushed it away. After repeating this a few more times, she brought a hand up to her pendant. A small whine crept out of her when her hand met nothing but air. Taking another sip of her coffee, she tried to keep herself stable as she waited, even though every cell in her body was telling her to run.
"I-I-I-It will be fine. Y-Y-You can do this," she quietly stammered, eyes locked onto her drink. "Y-Y-You can-"
"H-Hey," an echoing voice said to her left.
Twilight snapped out of her trance with a start, her head quickly turning towards the voice's source. Sour stood before her, a small smile gracing her lips. Terror instantly flooded Twilight's system, the girl's smile looking sinister in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself as she started to shiver, her eyes snapping shut in preparation for the insults she knew were coming. Panicked gasps fell past her lips in frantic shaky huffs, doubts running through her head faster than a bullet from a gun.
It's too much! It's too much! It's too much! IT'S TOO MUCH!
A pair of hands on her shoulders pulled her back from her spiral, the contact making her let a out shaky whine in response.
"It's okay Sparkle," Sour soothed, her voice still holding its odd echo. "I'm not going to hurt you. Just...um...take a deep breath. Try to find your center."
Eyes still closed, Twilight stiffly nodded and complied. With each slow breath, Twilight's panic started to fade away. When it had dropped to a manageable level, Sour took her hands off of Twilight's shoulders and took a seat across from her. Bracing herself, Twilight slowly opened her eyes and locked them with Sour's. Another wave of fear hit her, but it was at a much more bearable level. Low enough that she could see the genuine guilt in the girl's face, her fellow student unwilling to meet her gaze for more than a few seconds.
She also noticed that Sour had decided to dressed-up for their meeting as well.
She wore a blood red fitted blouse and gray designer jeans, both complimenting her complexion and lithe figure. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders, a look Twilight had never seen the girl sport before. Sour nervously wrapped a lock around her finger as she looked at anything but Twilight, seemingly frantic to find a topic to break the growing silence between them.
Gulping, Twilight did the same.
While she did have a few things she wanted to ask her former tormentor, she didn't know which questions were the safest ones to start with. As such, she was more than willing to wait for Sour to get the conversation started. Unfortunately, for her, Sour was following the same trail of thought. Trapped in an unknowing stalemate, the two girls sat in a awkward silence, the number of things to hold their attention gradually starting to dwindle. After a solid fifteen minutes of this, Twilight took a long pull of her now chilled coffee, and made the first move.
"S-So....you um......have a power too?"
Sour flinched, then let out a faint relieved sigh as she met Twilight's eyes. Both girls let out a small mental cheer when doing so only got a small flinch out of one of them.
"S-Sort of," Sour nodded. "Like Sunny said, I'm not a Gifted, so I have to use an artifact one of her ancestors found."
"Oh," Twilight smiled, a bit of her inner scholar creeping past her nerves. "W-What kind of artifact?"
"A bow named Titania," Sour smiled, staring down at a brown leather band on her left wrist. "It isn't anything flashy like Sunny's weapons, but it gets the job done."
"Oh...I guess that makes sense," Twilight nodded. "You are the head of the school's archery team."
"I also help the school nurse when I can," Sour added.
"You do?' she blinked, taken aback.
Chuckling, Sour nodded.
"I'm planning get into medical school, so any practical experience would be a huge help. Plus, the more familiar I am with drugs and their effects on people, the more tricks I can give Titania during hunts."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, her eagerness to learn pushing her fear of the girl far to the back of her mind.
Sour noticed and most of her own nerves fell back just as much.
"Titania has the power to use it's owner's Aether to create arrows, but you can add a little extra energy to load them up with different kinds of natural poisons or healing agents."
"Really?" Twilight gaped, her mind running in all kinds of directions over the possibilities.
Beaming, Sour nodded.
"And since most things used in modern medicine comes from natural sources, that gives me a lot of things to work with. Of course, the user needs to have a thorough understanding of what kind of drug their loading into the arrow and the more complicated ones require a lot more Aether to generate."
"Fascinating," Twilight smiled, eyes sparkling. "How many different kinds of arrows can you make?"
"I...um....never really stopped to count them all," Sour blinked, taken aback by the girl's sudden shift in enthusiasm. "About a hundred, maybe?"
"Fascinating," Twilight mused, smiling. "Does each arrow require a different combination of chemicals or is there a recorded formula that can be applied to multiple arrows? Can you combine formulas without damaging the arrows? Is there a way to break the arrows down to make medicine? How many arrows can you make in a single shot?"
As Twilight continued to bombard Sour with questions, her smile started to wilt. Irritation and happiness started to tug band and forth within her, the familiar feeling of unraveling making her heart race. Hidden behind a small smile, she struggled to keep the two halves of herself together, but the pull was becoming too much for her to control. She could feel Bitter and Honey start to voice their thoughts of Twilight. She tried to level her breathing, find her focus, anything if it meant keeping herself together. She tried, with every fiber of her being, she tried.
It wasn't enough.
"It's really nice that you're so interested in my bow," Sour sweetly cut in, then bitterly growled, "But could you shut up for a few seconds!"
Sour's hands flew to her mouth, eyes wide and whole body trembling. Twilight wasn't fairing much better; the girl once full of enthusiasm now curling in on herself and trembling, her eyes locked onto the table.
Sour shut her eyes tight to fight back the start of tears, taking shuddering breaths as she pulled the two halves of her personality back together.
H-H-Honey's the bow and B-Bitter's the arrow. H-Honey's the bow and Bitter's the a-arrow.
Once she was back together, she opened her eyes.
Twilight was still tense, but not on the verge of tears or running. She even managed to force a smile for her, something that Sour appreciated, but also made her earlier episode hurt a lot more. Slumping in her seat, Sour stared down at the table in shame.
"S-S-Sorry about that," Sour sighed, her voice regaining its echo. "I...I couldn't keep them, er, me together."
"I-It's okay," Twilight stammered out, attention focused on her cup. "I....I was asking too many questions. I'm sorry."
"It's......It's fine," Sour grumbled. "You...probably hate me anyway, right?"
"Huh?" Twilight blinked, her attention now fully locked onto Sour.
"I don't blame you if you do," Sour continued. "Even without my fucked up head, I'm not the easiest person to be around. On top of that, Sunny and I have been total bitches to you since you came to Crystal Prep. It'd be weird if you didn't hate me at this point."
Taken aback, Twilight took a moment to really think about Sour's question.
Did she hate Sour? If she had been asked that a few weeks ago, she probably would've said yes. Like she said, Sour and Sunny had been nothing, but horrible to her almost the second she entered Crystal Prep. Even know, Twilight could recall all of the times she had cried herself to sleep at night, just to wake up screaming and covered with a cold sweat. There were a few times she had to run to the restroom due to a panic attack, sometimes crying and other times puking. School was hell, and to her, all of the students were demons.
Then she went to the remains of Canter Creek Bridge and everything started to change.
She felt lighter now, more at ease with the world. She had more than just her family to support her and an extremely close friend to thank for it. Little by little, the world became less of a dark place and she felt that she could risk being a bit more hopeful for the future. Were there bumps? Sure, but in a lot of ways, they helped her see just how important certain things had become to her. In time, the demons became less powerful, including the two archdevils that started her down the dark path to the abyss.
Looking at Sour, knowing what she knew about her and what she had been through, she asked herself that question one more time; did she hate her?
Seriously mulling that question, she stared at the girl sitting across from her with a small frown. Sour still refused to look at her, self-loathing rolling off of her like a coat of hot tar. For a second, Twilight didn't see the demon that tormented her for so long; she saw herself just after Petal made herself known. Finding her answer, Twilight rose from her seat, and stepped behind Sour.
Before she could lose her nerve, she wrapped her arms around her in a gentle hug.
"I don't hate you," Twilight softly stated, a silk smile gracing her lips. "You...You scare me, but I don't hate you."
Sour stared blankly forward, her brain struggling to make any kind of sense of what was happening. By some miracle, she managed to keep herself held together as she gave a response, her lips curved into a sad smile.
"L-Lier."
"I'm not lying," she frowned, lightly coming out of the hug.
Whatever you say," Sour shrugged.
Twilight huffed, a small pout gracing her lips as she retook her seat.
A crooked smile graced Sour's lips as she playfully added, "You're kind've cute when you pout, you know that?"
"Not you too!" Twilight groaned.
"I'm serous," Sour snickered, "If any of the guys at school saw you right now, you'd have a boyfriend, easy!"
"I'm....um.......not looking for anyone at the moment," Twilight mumbled, a small blush coloring her cheeks.
"I doubt that, but I'm not gonna pry," Sour shrugged, still smiling.
"I am looking for a teacher though," Twilight nervously stated with an uneasy chuckle. "Do you know anyone that could help a....newly awakened Gifted learn to use her powers?"
"For Lemon?" she asked, raising a brow.
Twilight shook her head, her anxiety gradually growing by the second. That got a worried frown out of Sour, but she didn't press her. She had already made an ass of herself once this morning and she was not in any hurry to preform an encore. Before it became too much for the lavender teen, she sheepishly managed to force out a word that took Sour a second to properly register.
"M.....Me."
***
Sunny yawned into her palm, her eyes barely able to stay open as she made her way through the dimly-lit emerald halls of her family home. Normally, she had no problem waking up at dawn, the first rays of her namesake more than enough to give her a small smile every morning. That was not the case today and likely wouldn't be for many more mornings to come. Not only had she misjudged Twilight's intentions, she willingly became the same kind of monster that nearly killed Sour. The resulting revelations had left her unable to sleep for most of the night, her conscience and restless mind taking turns beating her down.
Luckily, she was not the only person that was going to suffer, the difference being that this was a case of necessity as opposed to spite.
"I seriously do not need this right now," she groaned into her cell phone, staggering round a corner.
"Agreed," Stygian droned, obvious grogginess heavy in his tone. "The plan has enough complications as it is."
"Don't remind me," she sighed, fishing her vape pen out of her pajama pocket. "I have no idea how we can talk Sparkle into helping us and even if we could, her Wraith companion still needs training."
"You are willing to go that far?" Stygian asked, a scowl audible in his tone.
"Under normal circumstances? Absolutely not," she huffed, taking a hit from her pen. "However, there is....something about this 'Petal Wasp' that is different from other Wraiths we have come into contact with."
"You sensed it too?" he pressed.
"I had a front row seat to it," Sunny said behind a mirthless chuckled. "On top of that, she seems.... sincere in her desire to protect Sparkle and her friends."
"Lemon was legitimately loyal to her," Stygian allowed. "So much so that she was willing to fight Sour and I head on."
"I suspect that she is resistant to the idea of receiving training from us, correct?" she frowned, taking another hit.
"Adamantly," he sighed. "I left her Grandfather's number if she changes her mind, but I would not hold my breath."
"Of course," she sighed, letting out a cloud of rose-scented mist. "Even more complications. Why can't everything just go smoothly for once?"
"Because life is an absurdist comedy and we are all the punchlines ," Stygian spat.
"All too true," Sunny groaned, rounding another corner.
"We still have our contingencies," he announced, a hint of a smile entering his tone. "As soon as we can determine who the annual sacrifice is, we can secure them to break the contract and then properly engage. My whole family will move in the second they get the signal if the dagger fails. This will not be an easy hunt, but it will end with Belfry being eliminated."
"I hope so," Sunny sighed, her eyes falling to the crimson tiles below her as she walked. "This legacy needs to end; for both myself and those the monster has taken from."
"Agreed," he intoned.
When Sunny raised her head, something cut off her train of thought.
Down the hall, the double doors to the artifact storage room was left ajar. Curious and a little worried, she told her friend that she would call him back before she hung up and ran towards the room. When she opened the doors fully, her heart sank at the first thing she saw.
Among the display podiums that dominated the room, two were empty. Not only that, but the protective circles surrounding them were completely voided of any power, reduced to nothing more than decretive markings on the floor. When she numbly approached the nearest empty display, she noticed that where a silver ring with a small oval sapphire once sat was now occupied by a small sheet of brown paper. Perplexed in spite of her shock, she lifted the glass case off of the podium and took the note.
What it said made her eye twitch.
Dear Sunny Flare
I have decided to step out for a little while to tend to a matter of the utmost importance. See you when we cross paths in the future.
Sincerely, Dagon
P.S. I have taken Mithril with me as well. I have my reasons.
Sunny's eye twitched again.
Later, every member of staff would deny ever hearing a scream of pure rage echo through the minor-scale mansion.