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the-era-of-shadow · 2 years ago

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The Day The Moon Died Act II - The Wave of Black

Case 01: The Eternal Highschool Lovers

Chapter 2: A Bishop in Knight's Armor

Written by Ash Rose

Cover by Ash Rose

CW/TW: Swearing, heavy fictional religious themes, somewhat graphic descriptions of violence Summary: The Black Arms’ rally had been a complete and total success, and the group began to grow immensely in the weeks following it. To tell the tale of its spread in full, follow these three separate, and yet connected tales - cases of the Black Arms’ effect on PetalBloom, and see for yourself the damage that had been done. Notes: OUGHHH THIS CHAPTER IS. IMPORTANT TO ME <3333 THINGS OCCUR <33333

[Act 1]

[Moonlight Interlude]

[Previous Chapter]

[Next Chapter]

-☆☆☆-

“To be honest with myself,” Widow said quite suddenly, herself being the one to interrupt the story this time. “As lengthy as it was, I think that I’ve gleaned a very valuable idea from that tangent Doomie went on earlier.”

“Hmm?” Doom uttered in curiosity.

“What would that be?” Shadow wondered.

“Lattè’s perspective is just as valuable to this story as Uni’s is, is it not?” Widow surmised.

“Makes sense - there are always two sides to a story after all.” Shadow replied.

“At least two.” Rouge added, correcting her.

“Yeah.” Shadow muttered nonchalantly.

"Unless it's a story with only one character in it!" Harazuki added.

"I don't think that kind of story is very common, Hara." Shadow replied bluntly.

"Still." Harazuki argued.

"Anyway, I think that is a marvelous revelation!” Doom responded to Widow. “You surely haven’t forgotten what had occurred around this time then, have you?” He then queried her, giving it a cheeky wink.

“Oh dear darling, I think I just might have! … Please never tell her of this…” Widow answered, her face burning up so visibly from embarrassment that it was able to be seen from behind her mask.

“Oh you… Do not fret, I’m sure she would see no harm in it - you were simply quite invested in the story of us Black Arms as a whole.” Doom tried to reassure Widow, placing a ghostly hand on its shoulder.

“No no, I know she would never be mad at me for such a thing, It is simply that… I would never be allowed to live it down! She would tease me about it for eternity and beyond!” Widow clarified, placing her head in her hands as its face somehow became covered even more in blush.

“Pardon me, but, what are you two referring to exactly, my sires?” Leanni questioned, feeling quite confused.

“I’m sure Widow will get to it soon once she gets back to the story, yes~?” Doom suggested, lovingly teasing his darling wife.

“Right, Right. My point in this was that I wanted to shift to Lattè’s perspective for a bit, let us get on that.” Widow replied, trying to pull herself together.

-☆☆☆-

By the time Vladmira and the others had returned to the cabin, the night had gone on for so long that morning was practically just around the corner. Regardless of this fact, the gathering’s festivities were still going on, to at least a certain extent.

As Lattè poked her head from beside Vladmira to get a look around the cabin’s living room, she saw one of her fellow newly recruited Black Arms peering into the kitchen, where Sendrir was occupied with cooking some kind of meat - Lattè couldn’t tell what kind from where she was standing.

“Well, I know that! I just wanted to say that you had a wonderful performance at the rally last week!” The guy sheepishly said to Sendrir.

“Thanks, but I’ll be blunt here - I’ve heard that from a lot of folks. You don’t need to linger here instead of going off and getting some rest just to tell me something I already know.” Sendrir responded, sounding rather tired.

“O-Oh, okay!” The guy stammered, clearly feeling embarrassed. “Y-You’re very pretty by the way!”

“Go to sleep, idiot.” Sendrir demanded, completely glossing over the guy’s compliment.

“Y-Yep! Doing that!” The guy affirmed as he hurried out the front door.

As that occurred, Sendrir sighed to herself, seemingly feeling rather melancholy. Why is that? Lattè wondered. What is it that was making Sendrir upset? Was it just her being tired, or was it actually something more substantial?

“Hullo Miss Sendrir…!” Lattè said, announcing her presence as well as Vladmira and Death’s, them being alongside her at this time. Lattè’s sudden greeting seemingly caught the two off guard, especially so Vladmira, who Lattè quickly realized afterwards had planned on being the one to announce their return.

“Oh, hey kiddo. You can just call me Sen if ya want.” Sendrir responded, still speaking rather bluntly, but in a softer, kinder tone than the one she had with the guy from earlier.

“Right, will do!” Lattè replied with a nod.

“Vladdie, Death, nice to see you two as well. Especially since I didn’t think we’d be seeing you for a while there, Death.” Sendrir carried on with greetings, moving on from Lattè.

“I certainly did as well. But I’ve now learned that Vlad has some tricks up their sleeve.” Death testified, making Vladmira blush slightly.

“Though… Weren’t there supposed to be four of ya?” Sendrir questioned.

“Death and Lattè recommended that we put the little one to rest, it is incredibly late after all…” Vladmira answered, glancing over at the two of their comrades that they mentioned.

“Aw man… What the fuck am I gonna do with one of these clergy steaks then?” Sendrir rather calmly complained, her tone being very clearly intended to be light hearted - though her voice made her sound a bit as if she was actually annoyed.

“Maybe you could keep it in the ice box to store for the morning? That’s what my home economics teacher from last year said to do with leftovers!” Lattè suggested, wanting to insert herself back into the conversation.

“... Oh yeah. I should’ve thought of that sooner.” Sendrir realized, smiling slightly.

“By the way, can I ask you something?” Lattè asked Sendrir, moving away from Vladmira’s side to lean on the kitchen counter.

“Sure kiddo, what’s up?” Sendrir responded while placing three plates of the so-called “clergy steaks” on the counter, an ounce of cheerfulness finally returning to her voice.

While one of the plates was set in front of Lattè, the other two were set on each side of her, quickly being scooped up by Vladmira and Death.

“Do you want us to leave you two be for a bit?” Vladmira asked Lattè as they grabbed their plate.

“Up to you.” Lattè replied, shrugging.

“Why don’t we go see what our friends are up to, Vlad?” Death suggested as he appeared behind them.

“That does sound like a good idea. Guess we shall do that then.” Vladmira proclaimed, leaving the kitchen area of the cabin with Death to go find the other Black Arms founders.

“As I said, what do you wanna say to me, kiddo?” Sendrir reiterated to Lattè.

“Well, just what exactly are these “clergy steaks” here?” Lattè questioned curiously, looking at her plate in wonder.

“Oh, you know, some guy in Archæsis’s gaggle of fools that Widow and Doom chopped up for me earlier, patted dry with a small towel, seasoned to your heart’s content, pan seared to medium rare with some aromatics by yours truly.” Sendrir nonchalantly explained, casually flexing her cooking knowledge.

“... So this is Bloomian meat?” Lattè asked bluntly.

“Yeah.” Sendrir answered, just as blunt. “That ain’t a problem for ya, is it?”

“Oh no, not at all! I’m just wondering now - uh - how did you get the idea to start cooking up our adversaries? Was the Rojo Diner secretly serving Bloomian meat, or is this purely your idea?” Lattè inquired further as she began eating her food.

“Oh please, my old man would’ve probably fainted at the mere thought of it!” Sendrir jested with a bit of laughter on the side. “It’s funny that we bring the guy up, though.” She added.

“Is it now?” Lattè wondered, pausing her eating to look up at Sendrir in curiosity.

“You were there during the rally, you know I killed my old man, yeah?” Sendrir asked. Lattè nodded. “Cool. So a little later that day - still morning but not super early morning like when I killed my pops, I had noticed that Lillian’s food supplies were running low! I let her know obviously, as I couldn’t just not have something to eat before the gang and I were to go put posters up, and she told me that my old man’s corpse should still be fresh enough to cook up. I did definitely pause for a moment, like, woah, “what brought ya to cannibalism?”. But she said that it’s a mighty fine way of not being wasteful, and I was like “Ya know you make a good point!”, so I went out and went to retrieve my dead dad! Except… His body wasn’t at the diner anymore when I got there. Not wanting to give up, I went down to the Riverbed Officer Station and combed through the place’s morgue. I found the old man’s pieces there and brought him back here to be cooked up! Well, in segments. Some of him was cooked up that day, and some the next.” Sendrir explained in the form of an excited ramble, barely even taking breaths between sentences.

“Wow… Only two days?? You guys ate through him really fast!” Latté noted in awe.

“Sure did! Something about the whole embracing and multiplying the already pretty massive amounts of chaos energy stored within us Bloomians causing a super big appetite, I think.” Sendrir surmised, opening up the ice box to find herself a drink - one that she was surely desperately in need of after such a large amount of non-stop talking.

“Heh, yeah, makes sense to me!” Latté replied, looking back down to her plate only to realize that the steak she was given was quite big in of itself - and that she had already eaten halfway through it!

“But anyway, was that all you were wonderin’ about, kiddo?” Sendrir wondered as she poured herself a glass of water.

“Actually, there is… one last thing.” Latté admitted.

“Oh? And what would that be?” Sendrir queried.

“You seemed kinda out of it earlier, are you doing alright?” Latté asked. Sendrir paused for a second, processing what she wanted to say. Latté could feel through the mind link that there was indeed something bothering Sendrir, but in order to respect her boundaries, Latté planned to follow in accordance with whatever response she gave.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Just tired, ya know.” Sendrir eventually said, taking a sip of her glass of water.

“Well, good thing then that once I’m done eating you’ll probably get to go to bed then, right?” Latté noted while there was still a bite of steak in her mouth.

“Yeah, exactly.” Sendrir agreed. “So you better hurry up there!” She playfully added.

“Got it!!” Latté replied, already following Miss Rojo’s orders as she spoke.

Just as PetalBloom’s central star was barely beginning to rise into the sky, Uni was rather unceremoniously awoken from her slumber by the sound of someone knocking her home’s front door. For a minute or two she simply laid in her bed, her mind existing in a confused, half asleep daze that caused even her wonderings of who would be at the door to be followed up with a desire to go back to sleep. But as the daze began to subside, and she became fully awake, the memories of the night prior washed over her and shook her out of her bed so suddenly it was as if she had been doused in ice cold water. Despite the fact that she could see only a single sliver of the planet’s central star in the sky, Uni was now rejuvenated with the desire to track down Latté once more. In fact, she was in such a hurry to head out and look for her that she left her room in just her underdress and bowtie, completely forgetting to grab her robe to go overtop the underdress as well as her matching bishop family veil. It was frankly a miracle that she at least remembered to put on her glasses.

As Uni rushed downstairs, however, her fervorous pace was slowed, as the sound of conversation between the adults piqued her curiosity. More carefully making her way down the stairs now, Uni realized as she attentively listened in that the adults conversing in question were her mother, Priestess Archæsis, and Latté’s mother.

“I’m very terribly sorry for coming by at such an early hour Mrs. Bishop, especially when you have the great High Priestess herself in your home.” Ms. Sakura sheepishly repented, the unneeded guilt of her actions being able to be heard in her voice from even where Uni stood.

“Now now, my friend, you should certainly not be apologizing at a time like this. You’re not a bother at all, and I’m sure Madam Waning would agree.” Uni’s mother assured, placing a hand on Ms. Sakura’s shoulder in an act of attempted comfort.

“Indeed, I do. I can infer what the reason might just be for your visit, as well.” Archæsis added, smiling ever so slightly in such a way that gave a sense of love and care to her otherwise grandiose aura - quite like the tales of Madam Moonshine herself that Uni had heard all her life.

“So… S-So Mocha IS here then!!” Ms. Sakura blurted out in relief.

“... I seem to be proven incorrect…” Archæsis muttered to herself, proving Ms. Sakura’s relief to be short-lived.

“No, we haven’t seen her, I’m afraid. Is she missing as well?” Uni’s mother said to Ms. Sakura.

“I… I don’t think I follow…” Ms. Sakura admitted, already starting to have tears in her eyes.

“Right, right - apologies, I should probably get you caught up…” Uni’s mother surmised, her eyes glancing up at Archæsis beside her and seeing the priestess look back at her with a look that completely radiated with the thought of “why didn’t you think of that sooner?”. The mere thought of displeasing the priestess seemingly made Uni’s mother rather nervous - after all, the High Priestess is the closest thing to being in the physical presence of Madam Moonshine most bloomians will ever experience. At least, that’s what Uni’s heard all her life.

“Did something happen to Latté…?” Ms. Sakura hesitantly asked.

“Yes, she… She ran away sometime last night. We did try to look for her then but didn’t have much luck.” Uni’s mother explained sullenly.

“Is Mocha missing from your home, Ms. Sakura?” Archæsis questioned quite bluntly.

“Y-yes, Madam Waning…!” Ms. Sakura answered.

“And you came here to ask if she was here, I assume?” Archæsis asked.

“Yes, Mmm… Mrs. Bishop told me last week that Latté was staying here to help her recover from the effects of… of that horrid rally…” Ms. Sakura replied.

“When did you notice that Mocha was missing, Ms. Sakura?” Archæsis wondered.

“This morning, when I-I went into her room to wake her up for school…” Ms. Sakura responded.

“... I see, I see…” Archæsis said, closing her eyes as she seemingly began to think.

Uni started to think as well. Latté escaping the night prior, and her little sister Mocha disappearing the next morning - surely they must be linked, right? When Uni saw Latté with Vladmira, Mocha seemingly was not with them then. But what if…?

“LATTÉ AND VLADMIRA MUST’VE KIDNAPPED MOCHA AFTER THEY PICKED UP THAT BOY!!!” Uni suddenly blurted out loud in realization, accidentally drawing everyone’s attention to her. “Oh m-my bad- I thought I said that in my h-head…” She skittishly added.

“I thought y-you said Latté was recovering!!” Ms. Sakura exclaimed at Uni’s mother in shock.

“We’re trying to make that happen, but it’s been quite hard. Those rebels… they seem to be far more powerful than we first thought.” Uni’s mother tried to explain in defense of herself.

“So she’s made no progress whatsoever???” Ms. Sakura questioned, her voice quivering with both intense fear and intense anger.

“... Well-” Uni’s mother began to respond.

“Silence. Both of you.” Archæsis commanded, moving them both aside as she advanced towards Uni.

“I-I’m sorry if I bothered you, Madam-” Uni nervously apologized.

“You’ve made quite the wise estimation of the situation, Miss Uni.” Archæsis stated. “I do believe you’re correct.”

“... Thank you, Madam.” Uni replied, feeling proud of herself.

“Yes, we should take that estimation and go look for Latté and Mocha then, right Priestess?” Uni’s mother suggested.

“I have been thinking about what Uni said last night. She was correct in that these rebels are her peers. I know from experience that they do not like to listen to us adults - with very few exceptions. I have come to consider that perhaps… They are more likely to listen to one of their own.” Archæsis surmised. “Miss Uni. Go out and find Latté and Mocha at once. You are to bring them back here as soon as you do. Are we clear?”

“Yes Madam, I won’t let you down!” Uni replied, zooming straight to the front door at an incredible speed.

“Wait! Uni is too young to go out all alone like that!! What about what we told her last night??” Uni’s mother protested to Archæsis, making Uni hesitate by the door.

“Enough of your skepticism, Mrs. Bishop. I have seen now that Uni’s passion for restoring Madam Moonshine’s honor is a gift from up above. To not utilize such a gift would be an insult to the gods themselves.” Archæsis responded, the brute force of her voice giving a slight view into her current annoyance with the behavior of Uni’s mother. “I hope that you and your husband can soon glean such from her.” She bluntly added.

“Mhm, will do.” Uni’s mother replied, seeming to feel a shiver go down her spine as her body shivered momentarily, likely from knowing that she angered the High Priestess. “How may I show such passion for Madam Moonshine to you, Priestess?”

“Show Ms. Sakura the guest room and then prepare the table for a tea offering and communion.” Archæsis directed.

“How many cups today?” Uni’s mother inquired.

“Same as yesterday. One each for yourself, your husband, myself, and Sir Light Gaia, alongside the usual offering for Madam Moonshine.” Archæsis answered as she headed towards the kitchen.

“Understood, thank you.” Uni’s mother said as she took Ms. Sakura’s hand and led her upstairs.

Afterwards, Uni saw Archæsis glance at her for just a moment, which she took as the signal to head on out into town.

With that, Uni did as she was directed.

PetalBloom’s central star continued to rise in the sky as daytime officially began, but despite this, Latté vehemently refused to listen to nature’s wake up call, determined to get a decent amount of rest as she turned her body over on the couch she was sleeping in so that the starlight would hit her face no longer.

However, even though she didn’t want to admit it, the blast of starlight her eyes received did indeed awaken her, at least a bit, and it was while she was in this state - both awake and asleep, that Latté began to unintentionally pick up on a conversation going on between two of the Black Arms leaders through the hivemind. Specifically, a conversation between Sendrir and Widow.

“It’s just… Well… I’ve noticed that you… Haven’t exactly been yourself this past week. Not completely.” Widow said to Sendrir.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sendrir questioned.

“You… Haven’t been as energetic as you usually are. You seem more irritable… And you’ve kinda been… Well… Not really talking much with the rest of us?” Widow explained.

“... Ah.” Sendrir muttered, almost as if in defeat.

“I’m not mad! Really! And well, I know that we couldn’t get in touch with you for a while there but you were acting pretty much like the you I knew all my life just last week. Look, my point is - if you’re feeling tired or overwhelmed by everything going on, I completely get it, and you can absolutely bring it up with me or Doomie or like, anyone really. I’m sure no one would be upset if you gave yourself a break.” Widow then elaborated, the tone of her voice very clearly trying to bring Sendrir comfort.

“Well, if you say so…” Sendrir replied rather flatly.

“... Sen, if that isn’t what you think you need, you can tell me.” Widow assured. The gentle touch of Widow placing her hand on Sendrir’s shoulder being felt by Latté as she tried to go back to fully sleeping.

“Nah… You’ve got the right idea, I-I guess.” Sendrir responded, her voice quivering ever so slightly.

“I guess?” Widow echoed with concern.

“I could go find a place to be outta your hair and sleep until I don’t have to deal with these feelings anymore… Yeah… I guess that would work fine enough…” Sendrir divulged, the light brush of fingertips being felt once more through the hivemind as Sendrir pulled herself away from Widow.

“... Sendrir.” Widow muttered, giving Sendrir a shiver down her spine - as Widow usually doesn’t call her by her full name.

“Well fuck... Looks like I’ve fucked things up regardless! Yay me!” Sendrir lamented in a way that seemingly tried to be said in a joking manner, but had been soured by whatever anguish was haunting Sendrir at the moment - a feeling which was ultimately confirmed completely when Sendrir forced a pained chuckle out of herself after she spoke.

“... Sen, you don’t need to joke around right now, I can tell you’re not in the mood to.” Widow advised her.

“Well what else do I do, Widow? I already tried keeping my distance, and that ended up making you worry - then I tried just taking whatever advice you would give me, and that make you angry at me - why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d assume you already know how I’ve been feeling and you’re just torturing me as punishment for getting in the way of your happy little fairytale!” Sendrir replied, completely ignoring Widow’s most recent advice as she continued to try to play off what she was saying as a joke - without much success.

“What?? I’d never do that to you! I-I don’t even know what you’re talking about!!” Widow profusely argued.

“Heh… Guess I’m just crazy then, aren’t I? The ol’ making shit up in the head trick…!” Sendrir surmised, Latté being able to feel the sensation of tears falling down Sendrir’s cheeks, only then to be wiped away by one of her arms.

“... Yeah that’s… That’s the Sen I know - the part I’m not really a huge fan of to be honest...” Widow admitted, letting out a sullen sigh.

“M-me being crazy…?” Sendrir asked, seemingly already coming to terms with her assumption given her nonchalant tone of voice.

“N-No. Okay, I worded that badly, sorry.” Widow answered. “What I meant was… You’ve done this before, hiding your pain behind humor so you don’t have to acknowledge it. You did it when you had to tell me your dad was forcing you to work at the diner after graduation, you did it after you got harassed by that guy at school, you even did it when you first explained your life to me when we were like, five…” She continued.

“Well, you know what they say! Old habits die hard!” Sendrir remarked, proving Widow’s point in its entirety.

“Sen, we’ve had this discussion so many times in the past… Not this exact discussion, but ones very much like the one we’re having now. You can talk to me, Sen.” Widow reiterated, gently placing her hands into Sendrir’s, the meeting of the two pairs feeling like warmth itself, even to Latté across the hivemind.

“Man… I really need to get my ears cleaned, don’t I? I just can’t seem to listen-” Sendrir joked once again, causing Widow to snap in a moment of frustration.

“SENDRIR ROJO. STOP. STOP JOKING AROUND FOR FUCKS SAKE AND JUST TALK TO ME LIKE A REGULAR FUCKING PERSON!! I’M YOUR MOTHERFUCKING-BITCH-MOONSHINE-BE-DAMNED BEST FRIEND SINCE CHILDHOOD, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO!!” She begged, grabbing onto Sendrir’s upper pair of arms as if for dear life.

For a moment, Sendrir completely froze, unable to respond. She had never seen Widow be this angry with her before.

“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t…” Sendrir eventually mumbled to herself, even though she knew it would likely just make Widow even more upset with her.

“Damned if you do what, Sen?? Be honest with me??” Widow questioned, no longer shouting but still quite vicious.

“Well, yeah, obviously. There’s no point in telling you at this point, really. Even if it’s not my fault for missing out on like a whole year of time to be by your side and have it occur to me, it’s still my fault for being stupid and not even considering it until now, when it’s too late to do anything about it…” Sendrir explained - still somewhat trying to be humorous, but a little more open now.

“What is… “It”, exactly?” Widow inquired, finally calming down.

“It doesn’t really matter… No need to tell you and make you either hate me or yourself, I’ll just wait it out. Find someone else… Even though there’s… really no one else like you...” Sendrir replied, still hopelessly trying to stop the conversation in its tracks.

“... It matters to me. Everything you say matters to me. You matter to me, Sen.” Widow said, shifting her tight grip on Sendrir’s arms into a soft embrace of her shoulders.

“... Of course you do, because you’re my best friend… That’s what we are… Friends… Now and forever…” Sendrir responded, the way she mentioned the two’s status as friends being… oddly melancholy. As if the thought, for whatever reason… displeased her.

“... I think I know what this is about now.” Widow admitted.

“Yeah… I figured we were getting there…” Sendrir bluntly remarked with a sniffle.

“Stay here please.” Widow told Sendrir.

“... Yeah, she hates me now, doesn’t she?” Sendrir said to herself with a sigh. “This is exactly why I didn’t want this to reach her.”

“... What is with the grim atmosphere here…?” As if Widow’s feelings didn’t scare her enough, now Doom was here too, and the sound of his voice sent a shiver down Sendrir’s spine that was even more powerful than any that Widow’s anger could ever send.

“Isn’t this great?! Cool! I prepped myself up and accepted the fact that Widow would probably hate me after this but as it turns out, I’m straight up gonna fucking die! Awesome!” Sendrir lashed out, immediately regressing back into making a joke out of the situation and herself.

“Pardon??” Doom questioned, completely thrown off guard by Sendrir’s statement.

“I-I know what Widow’s like when she’s mad at me- I know what her worst is, but I’ve never even seen Doom get mad at anyone before! And he’s a god - he can probably snap me right out of existence entirely, right now! Then I’d be gone and they and Widow can go back to being a happy couple again!!!” Sendrir continued, beginning to laugh hysterically as she tried to hide the panic attack she was starting to slip into.

“What in the magnificent universe has given you the idea that I would ever do such a thing???” Doom asked, becoming very worried for Sendrir.

“I-It’s because of the whole… probably having a crush on me… thing that I brought up to you on the way here…” Widow let slip.

“S-See! She gets it!! She knows that I’m a fucking idiot that realized too late that I’m in love with my best friend and now she has a boyfriend that I’m sure she wouldn’t dare think of dropping for me of all people!!!” Sendrir added in a frenzy of self loathing.

“Why would Widow have to “drop” me in order to start dating you?” Doom wondered in complete sincerity, causing both Widow and Sendrir to stop feeling emotionally burdened as all of their feelings turned into utter confusion.

“Y… You can’t just date two people at once!!” Sendrir argued.

“Sen’s right, wouldn’t that be cheating??” Widow added.

“Cheating?” Doom inquired, as if he had never even heard the word before.

“Dating someone outside of your relationship behind your partner’s back?” Widow explained, completely frazzled by the concept that Doom really had never heard of such a term.

“This surely would not be behind my back though, no? I am certain that I am facing you directly, am I not?” Doom questioned, which got a chuckle out of Widow, and somewhat out of Sendrir, too.

“No, not like that! She’s means, like, in secret!” Sendrir told him, a genuine, joy filled smile finally showing once again on her face.

“Ah! I see! Still, this is no secret, not from me. I would very much be cognizant of your relationship, as I am here in its beginning!” Doom replied.

“I… I guess you’re right. Damn.” Sendrir exclaimed.

“So then, what is there left to stop Widow from dating both of us? The standards of this society? Our mission is to break such standards, is it not?” Doom stated.

“... Well how do you feel, Widow?” Sendrir asked.

“If I can, I’d love to date both of you! You’re both wonderful in your own ways - I don’t think I could choose!” Widow answered.

“Well then, as the primary leader of the Black Arms, and as your boyfriend, I give you my permission to do as such.” Doom declared. In response, Sendrir immediately tackled Widow to the ground with a hug.

“Love you too, Sen..!” Widow croaked out as the weight of Sendrir’s body on top of her own made it a bit hard to breathe.

“Latté! Latté!” The voice of a young girl suddenly shouted.

“Wha… Who..?” Latté mumbled confusedly as she began to finally fully awaken, her mind still adjusting to shifting focus onto the things in her own view rather than that of the hivemind.

“C’mon Latté!! There’s no time for you to forget who I am!!” Latté realized as her mind came back to her that the young girl by her side was none other than her little sister Mocha, and she was now tugging at her arm.

“Huh..? What’s going on..?” Latté tiredly questioned, sitting up on the couch as she stretched.

“It’s time for school!!”

-☆☆☆-

“You know, I gotta hand it to you, big guy. You handled that situation very well! I remember reading about that ol’ “Make everyone too confused to be mad/upset” trick in like, a book a couple of years back - but my temper is too short for that, frankly… I’m kinda surprised that Team Dark is as functional as it is, I’ll be real.” Rouge said to Doom, seeming to be rather impressed given her tone.

“Well…-” Doom began to respond, clearly unsure of what to actually say. Luckily for him, they wouldn’t need to figure it out, as he was then interrupted by Shadow.

“Oh, no, he absolutely said all that with complete sincerity.” Shadow revealed without hesitation.

“... She is right…” Doom admitted, feeling embarrassed.

“... Well shit then, ain’t that a thing of beauty to see?” Rouge remarked.

“Oh, oh, if you want something really beautiful to hear about, have I got a story for you!” Shadow proposed with a wink.

“Shadow, your mother is still telling-” Doom scolded, but was cut off once again.

“No no, I can wait.” Widow assured, much to the chagrin of her husband. “Please, do tell me what this story you speak of is, dear.”

“Over the years, there have been some memories from the failed invasion that I have been slowly given access to, and one of these such memories is on this very temple. It was flying through a thunderstorm, and Doom had thought that the lighting from the storm was the Doctor attacking the ship.” Shadow told. In response, everyone in the group roared with laughter, including Widow.

“Oh dear me, you’ll always be my big ol’ idiot, won’t you, Doomie?” Widow teased as she pulled him into an embrace.

“Heh… I do suppose so…” Doom relented, his face burning brightly from embarrassment - and a tinge of love for Widow, too. “Could we perhaps move on, please…?”

“Yes of course, my dearest…~” Widow obliged, chuckling slightly.

-☆☆☆-

The night prior, as Uni had been traversing the exact same paths as she was now, nothing had really seemed to be amiss to her - other than the eternal new moon. But now, as daylight carried forth, and she saw the streets still be as empty as they were then, a sense of dread truly began to settle into Uni’s system. Just a week ago, people would densely populate the streets as they made their commutes and fulfilled their daily routines, and on at least one of the days of the week, you’d be able to hear Priestess Waning give a morning sermon on the river’s shore. But now, the Riverbed Town seemed�� lifeless. A ghost town. After numerous murders both before and after that devilish rally, the citizens were too scared to leave their homes - those of the citizens who were not brainwashed by the Black Arms, that was. Though, funnily enough, there weren’t any of those folks out either at this hour. Uni knew that it was most likely because of the gathering they had the night prior, but it still left the town completely empty, no matter the reason. Completely empty, except for her.

How could something like this happen? Uni began to wonder. In only a week, no less?

The Children of the River had always been a troublesome bunch. Ever since childhood, they resisted Madam Moonshine’s doctrine of returning PetalBloom to a state of order, stubbornly believing that embracing chaos was the only way, and when the adults tried to bring sense into them, to remind them of how chaos energy ruined the lives of their ancestors, they would act out. At first it was just creating messes and pulling pranks, but the group’s resistance had very quickly swerved into the direction of violence, according to what Uni had been told by her parents. The pranks they pulled started to cause injuries to their victims, they started threatening to hurt the people around them that didn’t feed into their worldview. That was the point where Uni had begun to see the damage the group had done for herself.

Uni had actually known two of the group’s members decently well before that point, those being Widow and Vladmira. Widow being the child of the High Priestess’ right hand woman, and Vladmira being the child of the High Priestess herself, Uni would regularly run into the two throughout her childhood, and even tried to become friends with them back before she had known about the two’s behavior. Luckily for her, Uni stopped her attempt as soon as she noticed how the two spoke so negatively about Madam Moonshine.

But that was all she did back then. She simply stopped talking to them. Looking back, Uni wishes that she had told her parents, or Widow’s, or the Priestess. Maybe things wouldn’t have turned out this way if something was said sooner, she thought.

Instead, the two’s behavior would be revealed later throughout the years in much more tragic ways.

Six years ago, a fifteen year old boy was found dead on the part of the river’s shore that was considered outside of town, his body sliced in two. He had last been seen talking to Widow and another member of the group, Sendrir. Reportedly, he had been trying to flirt with Sendrir, much to her annoyance. But there were no traceable leads, and the two got off scott free.

Three years ago, the decayed body of an unidentifiable but tweenaged looking person had been found at the bottom of the river by a visiting explorer. Due to there being a similar case occurring about twenty years ago that was believed to be committed by Miss Lillian Yasmin, the one and only true adult in the group, she, along with her grandson were taken into questioning. But the case never really went anywhere due to both the body being too far gone to identify and Lillian apparently having been given quite a decent lawyer by… Someone, no one ever told Uni who. Even though Vladmira’s apparent ties in the case in the eyes of Priestess Waning got them disowned and kicked out from her home.

Then, a year ago, during the annual graduation ceremony for the Riverbed Schoolhouse… The schoolhouse itself went in flames, and then exploded, due to another one of those supposed “pranks” pulled by Widow and Sendrir. Nobody had been killed in the event, but such was, frankly, a miracle. If it were to happen again, no doubt someone actually would lose their life that time around.

All of these incidents, while all devastating, and all connected to the Children of The River, were now nothing compared to this.

None of them ever had the level of influence that this whole “rebellion” stunt does.

So again, Uni wondered, just how could this happen?

But then, she remembered.

Him.

The mysterious man of godly power that had appeared around two weeks ago, who turned the Children of The River into the Black Arms.

Was this planned?

Did the group know of this man, finding a way to summon him here so that their agenda could be so greatly empowered?

Did the man know of them, and came to the group seeking to further their reach?

How did the man know of PetalBloom in the first place, anyway?

Was he supposed to know of PetalBloom, or was this a breach of information in the Pantheon? If he was supposed to know of PetalBloom’s existence… Why so?

Is this a test of loyalty?

Or…

Has something truly gone terribly awry?

Before Uni’s mind could go to places she wouldn’t dare speak of, she started to hear something in the distance.

The sound of people.

The sound of life.

Of hope.

That’s how she saw it, anyway.

She quickened her pace so that she could see what was making such a wonderful sound, and soon enough, she did in fact see the source of the noise.

A great big line of school-aged children heading towards the Riverbed Schoolhouse. It was almost like a parade, and certainly made Uni shed a tear.

Even after all of their attempts to disrupt the natural order… Our youth carries on.

Better yet, when Uni got even closer to get a better look at the scene before her, the children in the crowd began to become individually recognizable, rather than blurring together into one whole mass. There were quite a few of them that Uni recognized, and could certainly name from the top of her head if she did so desire, but the two that stood out to her in the moment were none other than Latté and Mocha.

Uni quite honestly couldn’t believe what she was seeing at first. After all the searching she had done both this morning and last night, after all the worries from the adults in their lives… There they were.

So close, so reachable.

Uni advanced forward to catch up with them.

But something held her back.

Not again…

“Not so fast now, Uni. I would’ve thought you to know better than to fall for such an obvious trap.” Someone said to her in a way that sounded both sincerely concerned for her, but also with a slight bit of mockery.

“Oh no, I’m not gonna just let them get away again!” Uni instinctively responded, not even looking behind her to see who it was that had tried to stop her as she pulled free from their grasp.

“Hey! I’m being serious! Do you want to die??” The person yelled, grabbing onto Uni’s arm again.

“Just who do you think you are-??” Uni scolded, this time turning to see her current annoyance as she broke free again. “... Ah. About time I ran into you, considering what’s been going on lately.”

“You know, I was thinking the same thing. Though, I’ll admit, that’s a bit rude on both of our ends, isn’t it?” The person that stood before Uni, who had tried to hold her back from catching up to Latté and Mocha, was actually someone Uni knew from her year prior in the middle school wing of the Schoolhouse.

Bahn Kuel - a rather infamous name in the Riverbed town for belonging to a bonafide trickster in the making that which Uni had to supervise and manage on numerous occasions. He prided themself as the founder and leader of a four person “organization” called Mini Mayhem, that she was quite open about being directly inspired by the Children of The River. His presence here could only mean trouble. Uni had surmised in her mind.

“Rude? In what way could it possibly be rude to expect you and your entourage to appear when your oh-so-precious idols are causing trouble, especially on such a massive scale?” Uni argued, preparing to take off again. “Whatever, I’ll have to hear you explain yourself later - I have a pair of sisters to retrieve!” She then added before leaving.

“And I won’t let you go at it alone!” Kuel declared, following Uni as she raced towards the parade of her peers.

#the era of shadow #teos #sonic au #undescribed #black arms #the era of shadow: origins #teos origins #mod aik

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