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"Mr. Redding. Thank you... Thank you for trusting me." Cath followed him out, closing the door behind them. She would let him go for now; Atticus probably needed to clear his head. She hoped that her words had helped somewhat.

She wished she could trust him, wished she could confide in someone, anyone. But Cath needed to walk this path alone. So she stayed silent.

She didn't tell him about her life before school, didn't tell him about the the bad parts, didn't tell him about the guilt she had drowned in. She didn't tell him about the knife of bone, didn't tell him about the things she had done, didn't tell him about the edge of the cliff. She didn't tell him how she had shut down. How her emotions were lost. How logic had been her solace when everything else was gone.

And she didn't tell him that she had already cheated death once. That even logic dictated her life was forfeit. Every minute she lived was on borrowed time. Save the land of the living for those who had a bright future.

Face impassive, she unlocked her door. She hung her messenger bag of tricks on the handle, and warded the room to impenetrability. She laid down on her bed, and futily fought the intrusive thoughts. There would be no organic rest for her before she left for the diplomatic mission.

Cath stood, grabbing a sedative she had brewed from her bag. Uncorking it, she gave it a quick sniff to make sure it hadn't gone bad. Determining it was of good quality, she downed it in a single swallow. She would wake in two hours.

Closing her eyes, she drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

---

Sobble walks back to his dorm quietly and went back to sleep.

---

Atticus watched Cath go, then walked to the pond. There were colorful koi fish in there. He dipped his hand in the water and waited for a fish to come near. He drained it of it's color and went to a quiet area in the library. He took the butterfly and put it in a small locket. The wings of the insect could fold, a talent of Reina's. He quietly slid it into his pocket and turned. He steadied himself. The diplomatic mission was going to be tomorrow, so he had to get rest. He paused, debating whether or not to sleep in his dorm, but decided on finding a sleeping bag and sleeping in the Rose Garden.

---

"Great, time to get back up again." Sobble wakes up and quickly goes outside with a steady pace.

---

Ayran groaned, as sunlight seeped into his eyelids. The feeled around his surroundings, only to feel empty space.

"Huh??" Ayran immediately sat up, the sleepiness from earlier was gone, he looked around him, it was empty, without a single sign of Scarlett.

'Where is she??' After each event that happened before, Ayran just got more and more paranoid.

He went and immediately went to get dresses, white highed-collared shirt, with a light airy jacket, paired off with black jeans and boots.

In his hands were Scimitars that were already summoned, and went out.

Blink.

The world's shade in Ayran's pov suddenly changed, everything was in a shade of purple, except... mana. There was golden light everywhere, trailing out of people.

Right now he was looking for Scarlett's mana trail that she left behind. Narrowing his eyes, he focused, and soon found a trail of mana that represents Scarlett.

'There it is!' Ayran picked up his pace, and followed the trail, worried about Scarlett's safety.

---

Sobble goes to the cafeteria and gets some eggs. "Yummers."

---

Shadow yawned and stretched. He got off his bed and listened through the door. It seemed eerily... quiet. He walked out and found the halls empty. He shrugged and headed for the cafeteria. ‘Wonder what happened while I was sleeping.” He thought. Barging into the cafeteria, he found Sobble. Shadow rubbed his eyes. “Eggos.”

"Hi Shadow." Sobble yawns and falls on his sunny side up eggs.

---

“Woah there!” Shadow lifted Sobble up. “Those are good eggs your wasting.” Shadow shook Sobble. “Whats up with you?”

"Awake all night researching about that energy that resulted in the "Sobble Incident" so that's why I look like this." Sobble brushes off the eggs and takes a bite out of one.

---

“What incident?” Shadow asks as he walks over and grabs a tray. He fills it with eggs and bacon and a piece of toast. He sits back down beside Sobble, taking out a chunk of food. “I was sleeping pretty hard.”

"So this happened quite recently- " Sobble dozes off, Calico sleeps on his lap. "Ah, I should get some sleep soon. So recently a sort of purple energy took control of my body and I started attacking my friends. Fortunately Scarlett snapped the energy out of me. I decided to read some more of it so that's the story."

---

“Weird. Welp. It’s 6:30 so I’m gonna pack. You should get some sleep before we start hunting those hunters. Wouldn’t want you to die would I.” Shadow bites into his toast. “Well after I finish this of course.”

Scarlett looks around at the house that once felt familiar. Everything was the same, but it just felt.... Empty. Noel patted her head. "Tea?" She shook her head, but he poured her a cup anyways. "You're in the Academy now, right?" She nodded slowly. "I take it you're here on that request we sent?" She nods again. "Where's the rest of the group?" She looks away.

"Ah. So that's it." Noel sips his tea. "Honey, there's no need to feel sorry about what happened. You were 14- If you were 14 then. Both of you were dumb and young. I don't blame you for Hellina's choice. And neither does Silvana." Tears form in Scarlett's eyes. "And I won't stop you from choosing to take them down on your own."

"Thank you." Scarlett starts to stand up, but Noel grabs her wrist. "You'll want to be in your other form, if you want to make sure you're their target." Scarlett whips around, confused. "Your father told us. Who you are. Princess." He dips his head.

"Don't.... Don't do that." Noel smirks. "Good luck Scar."

Rin sighed. She was in the forest. The Octopod was tiny now; it was day. It was barely the size of her hand. Octopod crawled up on her han and stood there. "What, Rage?" She asked it. She called it that; it was a manifestation of her pain and rage. She looked down on it, thinking of Carlise. How she loved Carlise. Magma was horrible; she hated Magma, but Carlise. No; Carlise was amazing.

She sighed and looked at it. "What, Umbra?" It perked up. Umbra was its real name. Carlise's Dark Spirit named it when Rin met her in the underworld. Umbra jumped up then showed an image of the underword on it's back.

"Okay, and? I know, that's where you were created? So?" Rin asked. Umbra shook its head/body thing. "Then wha-WHATTTT???" She yelled as Cath came into the projection. "SHE'S BEEN TO THE UNDERWORLD!?"

---

"Got it." Sobble trudges back to his dorm and goes to sleep.

---

Kai woke up being in his dorm.But he was at the training ground before but he decided to sleep.

---

Cath woke up. It had been two hours already. She kept her eyes closed and her breathing steady, listening. She had gotten into the habit of waking up gently and unobtrusively, so that nothing would take her by surprise. Too many bad experiences had taught her that much.

After determining her wards and enchantments were still up, and no one had visited her in her sleep, she tossed off her covers, and stood up. A splash of water on her face eliminated the last visible remnants of exhaustion. She gazed bleary-eyed at her reflection in the cloudy mirror. I can do this, she thought to herself.

She threw a grey cloak over shoulders, and strapped her bag of power to her person. After hesitating for a moment, she applied the barest hints of makeup onto her face. She needed to present an image today, and that could only help. While Cath normally disregarded makeup and fashion, hating the pretentious ridiculousness of it all, she respected both as tools to present oneself in a certain light.

It was quest day. She would be aiding in the diplomatic pursuits of the Fryvern Queen. She would also be preventing Rin or other villains from killing the woman through their own impatience. If they couldn't wait a decade...

Enough. Her experiences of the past night had awakened memories, and they were flitting around her skull like angry little birds. Their feathers were clogging her mind. Cath pushed the thoughts out her head, taking a deep breath. There was no room for mistakes today. There was no room for anything but logic, no room for anything but perfection.

She exited her room quietly, locking her door with her signature shadowy enchantments. Striding down the hall with more confidence than she felt, Cath rearranged her face into its typical blank expression. Only her eyes, which darted to and fro, taking in every little detail, betrayed the overactivity in her mind.

Opening the wooden door, a blast of cool morning air affronted her senses. A slight breeze blew through the grounds, trying to wipe away the carnage from the previous night. She made her way down to the courtyard in which they would be leaving from, and sat down on a stone bench. Someone had left a book there, the topic being purple energy. She idly opened the thick tome, and began to read.

Kaori, Rin and Atticus should be a long soon.

---

Aiden got bored of looking at things and remembered why he was here, he walked around to try and see if his mom was up. He doesn't really know where she is and starts looking or other people to help him, eventually he finds a guard in the halls and walks up to him, "Hey do you know where a woman named Ava is? She's one of the maids here."

---

Rin had fallen asleep in the forest, wanting to not startle Atticus by comming near.

"Quest day." She said to Umbra. "So no going crazy. We're only there to help today."
She smiled at the chance to see her brother. Maybe he was there making a peace treaty. Probably not though. He liked to stick in his own kingdom most of the time. Ruling was a hard task. Maybe she would visit him someday. Or- she had an idea. She went to her dorm, and after freshening up she wrote a letter. She put umbra with it in the closet, turned off the lights, and waited a few seconds. When she opened the closet neither of them were there. Perfect. This was their secret messaging system. Letters via Umbra and Fate.

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