#bridgehid secrets

All Rowan could do was sulk, leaning against Elias while sitting in the little infirmary room that Georgia had been placed in after the “memory ritual,” Elias and Rowan sat on the window seat, and Maverick and Nemo sat in chairs by Georgia’s bed.

“So, the normal protocol is for me to call your parents and inform them that you have been admitted to the infirmary,” Calvin informed, entering the small room with Indigo right behind him. His words made Georgia give in a look as if to silently ask please don’t call them. “But because it is late as well as the circumstances. I won’t.”

“Thank you, Mr. Corals,” Georgia sighed, “How long do I have to stay?”

“Just for tonight,” he answered, “You’ve just used a lot of power, which means you drain a lot of your own energy. You may not feel it now, but you will feel it soon.”

“You did a fantastic job, Georgia,” Indigo praised, making the young seer girl smile.

“I’m going to put you on some fluids for the night,” Calvin commented, looking through her chart, “Just to be safe.”

Georgia nodded as he left the room, to continue doing his job, “What now?” Nemo asked, looking to the archmage for guidance.

“I honestly don’t know,” Indigo replied, “Rowan?”

Rowan didn’t answer, they only stared at the floor while leaning against Elias, their arms clinging around one of his arms. Indigo continued to say their name with no response, Elias finally nudged them after the third time without a response, making them look up to him with the most pitiful questioning glance.

“Rowan how are you feeling,” Indigo asked, pulling their glaze from Elias to her.

“I’m angry,” they muttered.

“Understandable,” Indigo replied.

“He memories for no reason…”

Indigo nodded, “The best course of action for you right now is to get you off of campus,” she thought out loud, “I have a feeling that once Duke finds out what we did it won’t end pretty. I talk to your professors about finals, see if you can take them from home.”

“If you think that’s best,” Rowan mumbled not happy about the situation.

“I’ll get started on that now, then,” Indigo replied, before turning her attention to Georgia, “you did a fantastic job, I’m very proud of you!”

“Thank you!” Georgia exclaimed before Indigo soon left the room.

Silence soon befelled the teens, before Rowan unlatched themself from Elias and stood from their seat, “I just going to get some water,” they remarked, as all eyes were on them, before leaving for the hallway that was attached to the main building, where the water fountains were located.

They did get themself water, although after they stood in the window-filled hallway staring at the double doors leading to the main building. Frozen in place fighting with their insides and the want to just sit with their lost memories that felt so fresh despite being so old, the other part wanting so desperately to get their revenge on Duke. They took a few steps towards those double doors.

“Rowan, please stop.”

Nimble fingers wrap around Rowan’s wrist, stopping her moments. Elias’ plead pulls at their heart, “I know what you are going to do, and please don’t,” he begged, before letting go of their wrist.

Rowan hung their head after turning around to face him, “I have to,” they croaked.

“You…” Elias breathed, as Rowan intertwined their fingers with his, “Ha… you make me worry… a lot.”

Rowan nodded, a silent way to say I know, “like I glad my hair is already white, because it would be turning white with all the worrying, I do.”

His comment made them chuckle slightly. He takes his free hand and puts it under their chin, tilting their gaze up to look at him, before resting his forehead against theirs. His insides are boiling, he is so flustered inside, the little people in his brain that control his actions have left their stations and are just screaming. Yet, here he is, throwing caution to the wind, hoping it will make them think just a little bit more.

“You know I care about you more than anyone, right?” He queried.

“I do know,” they muttered, “but I can’t just hide from him.”

Elias sighed, rubbing his thumb slowly across their knuckles while holding their hand, “If something happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself for letting you go,” Elias lamented.

“Try not to worry about it,” Rowan said almost in a whisper.

Elias exhaled, before standing up straight and releasing their hand, “Please, dear Goddess, be careful!”

“I’ll try,” Rowan replied, before leaving Elias to return to the infirmary.

“Where’s Rowan,” Nemo asked quietly as Georgia was now sleeping and Maverick was somewhere else in the infirmary busying himself with his apprentice studies.

“Going to fight Duke,” Elias sighed.

Nemo sighed, looking at the empty chair beside him before patting at the cushion and getting his twin to sit in the chair, “Shits about to get bad,” Elias huffed.

“Yeah,” Nemo sighed, “and here we are, doing nothing about it.”

The two brothers sat in silence as Rowan ran through the halls of the college using their old memories to find their way through way to Duke’s office. Faced with his office door after running through the building. Inhaling, and exhaling before barreling into his office.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Duke mused, looking at Rowan over his shoulder as he stood in front of the large window, behind his desk, silhouetted by the moon.

“Why!?”

“Why what?” he chuckled, “Why experiment on you? Why cure you from you father’s deadly disease that would have already had you in the ground? Why test the laws of science and nature?”

There is a pause.

“No… It’s Why did I kill you mother?”

His cackling bounced off the walls and echoed in Rowan's head before he continued, “She was getting in the way! She continued to question what I was doing! She never thought that I was the one to cure you!”

“You didn’t cure, me you curse me!” Rowan shouted, feeling something bubble up inside them.

“I MADE YOU BETTER THEN YOUR FRAGILE HUMAN FORM!” He screamed, “I have given you a new chance at life, a better life, where you are healthy and strong!”

“YOU KILLED MY MOM!”

“SHE WAS IN THE WAY!”

“YOU KILLED MY MOM AND TOOK MY MEMORIES OF HER AWAY!”

Within the yelling and screaming the sensation that felt like a bowling pot of water had finally bubbled over causing them to let out a scream in agony while clinching their chest before falling to their knees.

“This is what I was hoping for in February, I was hoping I would this out of you,” Duke informed as Rowan screamed in pain.

Their body began to transform in shape, their nails becoming long and talon-like, large, demo-like, wings sprouting from the middle of their back, their pupils becoming blown out and animatic, as their whole body seemingly dripped in dark writer’s ink.

“YES!” Duke exclaimed while Rowan let out a loud, animal-like screech before charging at him sending him out his large window.

They flung Duke from his office to the entrance of the Central Tower halfway across campus. He laughed maniacally, as he entered the tower trapping Rowan’s now monstrous form outside of it. He ascended the steps to the top of the tower and could have been pummeled into the cement of the turret whilst Rowan tried to attack him when flying through the windows. His superhuman strength aided him to fend off Rowan with ease, so he could make it to the top of the tower.

“THIS! THIS IS EVERYTHING I HAVE WORKED TOWARD, FINALLY!” Duke cackled, “FINALLY! SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO!”

Rowan continued to shriek, screech, and squawk at him before attacking him as he continued to chortle on top of the tower. The inhuman sound alerted those on campus and of course Indigo and everyone in the infirmary. Upon seeing Rowan was nowhere to be found, she raced out of the infirmary. She made it to one of the main campus’ back entrances, seeing the fight going on atop the Central Tower on full display. The archmage is frozen in place as Sloan and Percy join her in watching the chaos.

“What the hell is that!?” Percy gasped.

“That… That…” Indigo panted.

“What has Duke done!” Sloan catechized.

“THAT’S ROWAN!” Indigo shrieked, beginning to panic as everything unfolded in front of her.

Percy and Sloan looked at each other wide-eyed before looking back at Indigo for any kind of guidance, “What do we do? If this continues Rowan’s going to kill themself!” Sloan exclaimed.

“I-I-I don’t know,” Indigo stammered out.

“Indigo,” Percy uttered, making the mage look over at her, “what do you want us to do?”

In a moment of clarity, Indigo looks from Percy to Rowan to fight Duke in their outrageous form and then at the tower that is shaking below the clash, stones crumbling from the combat. She took a breath, actually thinking for a moment.

“Alright, that tower is coming down whether we like it or not.”

“Wonderful, I always hated that piece of Romanesque construction,” Percy jokily commented.

The turns to her long-time alchemist friend, “Sloan, gather any mage or alchemist that is still on campus, I don’t give a shit who doesn’t like each other we need everyone we have! Station throughout campus, but especially at the dorms, make sure the students are safe. No one goes out of the college,” Indigo instructed then turned to the cursed professor, “Percy go into town, get all the mages and alchemist that you can find and send them here! If they are to scared to come, keep them in town! Once that tower comes down the first thing those creatures will do head for the people, we need to make sure no one is in their path. Keep everyone inside some building… The witches have a convent in town, they can do a protection spell around town! If some of them are able send them here, we’ll need all the help we can get.”

“The witches include your family convent or not,” Percy mentioned.

Indigo paused, “Just make sure they don’t get hurt!”

“What are you going to do?” Sloan asked.

“I-I’m,” she sighed, anxiously bouncing on her toes, “I’m gonna help Rowan.”

Percy and Sloan nodded going off on their respective missions as Indigo raced back to the infirmary, “Angel eyes, what’s wrong, what’s going on,” Calvin asked as she entered the sick bay.

“It’s Rowan – They’re fighting Duke! I-I-I need to get in the forge!” She rambled, “I need the Reaper!”

His eyes went wide, she wanted him to make her the Reaper years ago just because he could, he never thought she’d need to use it, “Angel,” he cooed in a sigh, reaching for her face.

She looked with this desperate look, a pleading gaze that was asking when to not question her at this moment, even in his cognizance. A stare of pure fear, that not only makes him worried but makes him fearful.

“Leave the keys inside,” he murmured, taking hold of her hand and putting his keys in it. “It’s where it always is.”

“I have never deserved you,” she slurred.

“Shush,” Calvin whispered, rubbing his thumb across her cheek.

She leaned into the kiss, yet he didn’t allow her to, choosing to kiss her forehead, “you can kiss me when this is all over,” he mused, “Go save our kid.”

Indigo nodded, leaving the sanitorium with a heavy feeling in the middle of her chest. She hurried to the blacksmith’s forge, grabbing the large scythe that hung on the wall with all of Calvin’s epées.

The weaponry is black and enormous being triple Indigo’s size. Its curved iron blade and dark staff are endowed with onyx giving it that noir color, while also having protective properties. While it is a simple-looking piece of artillery, it was made for Indigo.

Once she made her way back outside, she was faced with the tower, where Rowan still fought Duke. Although their movements are slower, lethargic even as now Duke has started to punch back their attacks. Its structure crumbling even more than before, with some of the creatures stored in his basement coming about to cause carnage. Indigo raised her large weapon, using all of her strength and weight to slam the scythe into the earth below her feet causing the ground to quake around her in extreme fashion. The shaking made the foundation of the tower unstable, and the stone cracked into large pieces causing the whole structure to begin to crumble into the catacombs below, where Indigo raced to follow.

It is the first in this whole fight that Duke has lost his footing. Now trapped under the stone rubble of his precious tower.

“GET THE FUCK UP, WE’RE NOT DONE!” Indigo shouted, once her feet hit the limestone of the catacomb floor, the bones of a fallen soul crunching under her boots. “I KNOW YOU ARE ALIVE!”

Rowan was preoccupied with all the creatures emerging from the exposed catacombs, cannibalizing the cursed creatures, and keeping them away from Duke and Indigo. They had enough mental sanity to know that they couldn’t defeat Duke and kill him themself, but Indigo has something now that has made her more powerful.

With the stone on top of Duke now moving from his raw strength, he’s finally back on his feet, though not for too long. He is slammed into more rumble by the strength of the Reaper, the force of his body hitting the bowlders cracking them upon impact with his back. Even though Duke is down Indigo doesn’t let up, channeling lightning through the Reaper and slamming it into the ground, electrocuting Duke before he can even get up. Rowan swooped down to get a few hits and scratches before getting flung into a cluster of sandstone and being incapacitated.

“YOU HAVE ALWAYS BE A NUISANCE EVER SINCE YOU ENROLL!” Duke yelled toward Indigo.

“KILL ME THEN!” She shrieked as he charged at her.

Duke attempted to punch at the mage woman, failing as she blocked his punches with the Reaper’s large blade. She is not only attacking him with the Reaper but now using magic since he is so close to her. He does get a few punches and kicks to land, making Indigo falter ever so slightly, and after what seems like hours Indigo hits him in the right place. Now with buckled knees, Duke holds himself fatigued and defeated. His panting makes with Indigo’s as she is also tired and burning off the last of her adrenaline. The Reaper’s blade curves behind the back of his neck as his head hangs low, waiting for its last strike.

“Why are you waiting?! Kill me!” He spits out, his voice rough and croaky.

“Non… Non…” Indigo sighed, looking down at the crown of his head extending the syllables. “That would be too easy. Non, you’re living like the rest of us!”

Duke chuckled, looking up at her, still feeling the cold blade on the nape of his neck, “You’re going to lock me in a cell somewhere?!

“Oui,” she remarked, “I want you to sit with actions. I would love nothing more then to kill you here and never have to deal with you again! But I want you to rot first!”

Duke then feels something cold on the back of his skull, and the clicking of plastic and metal gun parts as it cocks behind him with the added aura of some large and menacing, “Then when I feel like I’m going to be the one to kill you,” its Sloan’s voice laced with his Jamaican accent filled with so much angry and vitriol, it a gift that he didn’t just kill the wayward dean.

“You’re going to watch the world change into something you don’t approve or recognize and when we see fit, we’re going to kill you and throw you body in the sea,” Sloan continued.

“And the best part…” Indigo mocked, getting to his down to level, “you’ll never see it coming!”

As the slowly rose, mages, alchemist, and witches in the like, make their way to the college to assess the damage. The first objective was to get the catacombs sealed as soon as possible to not have any more carnage. Luckily no one in town was killed or injured and save from a few mages and alchemists on the college campus being a few burses the public was safe. Duke was handed off to trust individuals to lock him into dungeon-like cells that were, of course on the campus.

“Careful! That’s a child!” Sloan shouted at a few alchemists handling Rowan a little roughly after hauling them out of the hole to catacombs.

Their monstrous attributes slowed disappearing and the individuals carrying them realized that it was human beings they were carrying and not one Duke’s abominations, “Take them to the infirmary,” he ordered, before helping Indigo out of the hole in the ground, “What happens now?”

“I don’t really give a shit, right now. You can handle it,” Indigo huffed out, “Je dois aller embrasser mon mari.”

She passed him dragging the Reaper behind her, dragging it and herself back to the infirmary. All of its healers clocked in and ready to work quickly attending to the unconscious Rowan. Calvin took a moment to tend to his wife, breaking away from his homeopaths to check her out, using his healing hand to heal her injuries.

“Embrasse-moi!” she demanded, as he pulled her closer to him, making her drop the Reaper at their feet.

“Les yeux d'ange, pas maintenant!” he entreated.

“I fucking alive, please for the love of Goddess, kiss me, Calvin!”

“Calvin said he and Indigo went to the forge.”

“Where is the forge?”

“Down that hallway it the 12th door on the left.”

“Rowan!”

They marched down the hall with their friends following a bit behind, “Rowan, are you really sure that this is a good idea?” Elias asked.

The group of teens had found their way into the college from the festival—Rowan on the hunt for Indigo to get answers on the lying and what happened in the past.

“Indigo been lying to me this whole time!” they scoffed, “I don’t care if this a good idea, I need her to tell me the truth!”

They continued to the forge, found the door, and barreled through it, making Calvin jump at his workstation. The forge looked very much like a standard blacksmith forge with barrels of scraps, and tools. And weapons, specifically epées and a large onyx scythe hanging on the walls. Indigo sat beside Calvin in his large office chair now looking at the door since teens entered. “Rowan, what’s wrong?” she asked, all crunched up in the chair.

“You… You’ve been lying to me!”

She is silent, her eyes widen, and she stands, “W-what do you mean?!”

“You know what happened to my memories!” they yelled.

“What?!”

“You kept what happened from me this whole time!”

Indigo was flustered, combing her fingers through her hair, her shaking as she looked at everyone in from of her erratically, “I’ll know is that Esma was murdered that night then, Duke—”

“DUKE HAD YOU AND YOUR MAGES TAKE AWAY MY MEMORIES OF THAT NIGHT!”

The archmage froze, “I…” she crooked.

“BUT YOU AND MAGES FUCKED UP AND LEFT ME WITH NO MEMORIES AT ALL!”

“I didn’t know—”

“BULLSHIT! YOU’VE TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR PAST SEVEN YEARS, MAKING UP ME NOT REMEMBERING MY OWN PARENTS WITH STUPID GIFTS AND THE PROMISE OF HAPPINESS,” Rowan screamed.

“I-I…”

“YOU RUIN MY LIFE! AND YOU’VE KNOWN THIS WHOLE TIME! YOU’VE LIED TO MY FACE FOR WHAT?!”

“I DIDN’T KNOW,” Indigo screamed, her hands over her heart, “THE ONLY THING I KNEW WAS ESMA WAS SHOT!”

The room is silent again, she sounds genuine, her eyes full of tears, she heaved, “I didn’t even know that when it happened! I found that out later.” She exhaled unsteadily, “Duke told Sloan and I, she had died when the creatures from the tower came out that night! Then he said you saw something, and he didn’t want you to live with the memory of it! He had the mages join him in some kind of spellcasting to lock away your memories, but I did not participate. I assumed it worked as it should have and went with what Duke said to do regarding your well-being.”

Rowan only stared, with an anger-infused scowl that made Indigo’s skin feel like it was burning, “So you just listened to this guy you’ve never trusted?!?”

“I wasn’t any position at the time to not trust him!”

“I don’t like that answer,” Rowan huffed before turning to head for the door.

They didn’t want to look at her anymore, so they left the forge with their friends following behind them, while Indigo collapsed to the floor and began to wail. The mage could be heard through the walls as they all walked away, hiding in the school’s enormous media room.

They all sat in silence as it continued to grow late into the evening until Nemo began playing the piano softly. Georgia sat next to Rowan on the floor their arms linked together with the young seer’s head on their left shoulder, Elias paced, and Maverick had left after a while to go to the infirmary Calvin needed some help.

“You can stay with me tonight if you want Rowan,” Georgia mentioned, softly, “I think I still have some of your clothes, so you don’t have to go to Indigo and Calvin’s.”

Rowan only nodded, seeing Maverick, through the large windows looking out into the hallway. He was coming back, fidgeting with his hands, before he entered, “Indigo wants to seeing you in the infirmary.”

“I don’t want to talk her,” Rowan sneered as Nemo stopped playing the piano and Elias stopped pacing.

“She said she could fix this,” he replied.

“Can we really trust her,” Nemo scoffed, “she has been lying this whole time.”

“Wait she sounded genuine,” Georgia muttered sheepishly before receiving questioning glances, “I mean, yes, she has lied and maybe she didn’t have any good reason to lie, but she not a monster!”

“She certainly acts like one,” Elias commented.

“If she can fix it, is it not worth just hearing her out,” Georgia posed.

There was a moment of thought before Rowan sighed, “Fine.”

The group of teenagers headed to the infirmary, entering the quiet sanatorium in the middle of the evening, only a few homeopaths, including Casper, doing their daily tasks, and checking on the few patients they did have. Indigo stepped out of Calvin’s office, red in the face physically disheveled, and emotionally drained.

“Rowan, I am sorry. I—”

“Just tell me how you are going to fix this,” Rowan sighed, folding their arms in front of their cheats.

Indigo cleared her throat, “right, I wish to return your memories to you.” Rowan attempted to hide their shock, but failed, “I’ve looked into a possible reverse, I believe with we use the healing pools we can use magic along with Georgia’s seeing abilities, your memories will return.”

“Do you really think I could help,” Georgia asked, “I may be able to see the past, but I can’t see Rowan’s… sorry.”

“That’s why we will do it in the healing pool with the assistance of magic,” the archmage replied, “I understand I am not the most trustworthy at the moment, but I have faith that this will work.”

The is a moment of silence, “Rowan, I want to make this right! I want to help you and make up for my past negligence! I’m on your side! I thought by keep the things that I didn’t have the answers to from you it would make things easier when I found out the answers, because I knew everything that happens, I would have the answers to all of your questions. By the Goddess I just wanted to make things right… and I allows my emotions to get in the way.”

“Alright,” Rowan croaked, “but first you tell me everything you know even if you don’t have the answers.”

Indigo nodded, taking Rowan into Calvin's office. Explaining how she found out Esma had been shot, what happened with them and the orphanage how she didn’t speak up fast enough to have Rowan in her care from the start, and how that night Calvin had also been attacked so -even though it is not an excuse- the mage was not thinking straight the night Esma died. They ended the conversation in tears, ready to mistake the past mistakes made.

When Rowan collected themself, they followed Indigo and the others down to the healing pools under the infirmary. Changing into what could be described as a 3-piece pajama set in a vintage vouge green color, in a pristine pure color bathroom. They stared at themself in the mirror, an unbelievably disheveled person staring back. They looked like a mess with wet faces, red eyes, and messy unkept braids, they forcefully took them out before leaving the small bathroom.

They entered an opulent and large indoor pool, one of four under the infirmary. The room smelled heavily of healing herbs and oils, all the walls painted in a pastel rainbow of colors from the lights in the ceiling, the water in the large pool crystal clear, seeming both shallow and deep all at once, along with beautiful soft sounds of fae bouncing and echoing of the walls.

“Maverick and Elias, two will be at their sides, Georgia you’ll be at their head, I at their feet,” Indigo informed softly.

“What about me?” Nemo asked.

“You will guard the door.”

“Do you really think…”

“I have no suspicions that Duke will make attempts to interfere, but that doesn’t mean I am right,” Indigo replied, “I ask you because I know if he comes you can handle it. You are Sloan’s apprentice after all.”

Nemo nodded, holding in any reaction to her compliment before leaving the pool room and standing attention at the door. Indigo looked to Rowan who was now at her side, an empathic glance across her brow.

“This will work,” she cooed, “I promise.”

Rowan nodded before descending the steps into the large pool. The water is warm, like a bath, smelling more of medical herbs than outside of the water. Water shifts as Elias, Maverick, Georgia, and Indigo get in behind them.

“Imagine if we were wearing socks,” Georgia commented with a giggle.

“No, dear Goddess,” Elias cringed.

The group is in shallow water as everyone gets into place, with Rowan looking to Indigo for instructions, “lay on you back and float,” the mage instructed.

Rowan nodded, following her command, soaked in the water while staring at mural painted ceiling of some ornate piece from the romantism period art, “My dad can’t float,” Georgia stated, earning glances from her friends and teachers, “sorry, I’m nervous.”

“Georgia,” Indigo pronounced, making the young girl straighten her back, “do you not from a long line of great seers.”

“I mean yeah—”

“You are the first seer in centuries to be able to see a person past rather then their future! You are more powerful than you realize, Soleil!”

Sun, it would be an odd nickname for anyone, but Georgia, “okay,” she breathed, “I’m going to do this!”

“Preferably, like now. My ears are full of water, and I hate it,” Rowan mentioned.

“Sorry, sorry,” Georgia giggled.

“Okay, Georgia, place your hands out palms up,” Indigo instructed, to which the seer followed her direction, “now repeat after me.”

Georgia nodded before Indigo began chanting some kind of incantations that the mage in training soon repeated. It wasn’t long until Indigo and Georgia’s voices began to collide in Rowan’s ears, so much so, that it became like white noise mixed with the sound of the water in the healing pool. They had closed their eyes so as not to awkwardly look at Elias and Maverick or blind themself while staring into the overhead lights. However, the world around them was no longer dark, but instead white covered in fog, longer smelling of healing herbs rather than crushed cherries and chia milk. It feels like Rowan is lying in a puddle after a large rainstorm.

“Hey, kiddo, are you going to just lay there or come and see us?” The voice is unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time, it’s kind yet husky, croaky even, sounding, a man’s voice.

Rowan raised but looked around trying to find the source, “to your left, baby,” it’s a woman's voice now, soft almost brittle with a slight Irish accent, but obviously in a caring tone, that valley of familiar yet not. They whipped their left.

Face people, a man and woman, a few paces away from them. The man is paler than the woman, but both of fair skin and pink hair, yet the man’s hair is much lighter and short, almost white in some places, while his female counterpart’s hair looks almost red and long done in a bun, low at the base of her skull. Their eyes, are both, orange shades, yet the man looks like they are the color of a marigold, while his eyes are permanently bloodshot the woman has many beauty marks across her face.

There is something in Rowan, that tell them to get up, something that tells them to go before them, yet that stay sat in a puddle of water.

“Momma?!”

Their on feet, running from their little puddle, into the arms of their parents hugging both of them for the first time in over a decade. Even if it wasn’t real, it felt like home.

“You used to be so tiny,” Jacob cooed, petting their hair as they cried into his chest, “Goddess, you look so much like me. Esma, baby, they look like me!”

“I know, Jacob, I’ve always known,” She croaked softly, placing a hand on Rowan’s cheek, trying to wipe away their tears, “but we have to focus.”

Jacob nodded, rubbing Rowan’s back, “come straighten up, baby marigold, you gotta get through this.”

“Is this because of what Indigo and Georgia are doing?” Rowan asked, hiccupping.

Esma and Jacob nodded, “We are like sprits in your subconscious, your gate openers for the journey you want to go on,” Esma explained, “you want to remember what happened that night, right?”

It became Rowan’s turn to nod. “Are you sure, kiddo?” Jacob asked, “it is all what you really want to see?”

“I want to remember everything,” they answered, “no matter how gross, horrible, or painful, I have to know! I haven’t remembered you both for the past seven years, my life started at age nine! I need to know!”

“You can’t go back once we leave,” Esma reiterated.

“I understand that, and that doesn’t change anything! My answer is yes, I have to do this!”

Esma and Jacob nodded again, “can I ask something first?” Rowan asked, “Before this is over, and I go back and never see you again.”

“Of course, baby,” Esma cooed.

“Why the marigolds?”

Jacob chuckled, “there are your mother’s birth flower.”

“and my favorite flower,” she added.

Rowan giggled, crying once again, “and the color of your father’s eyes.”

“Yes, my beautiful bloodshot eyes,” he joked.

Esma touched the necklace around Rowan’s neck, “I’m glad this made its way to you.”

“Can I have one last hug,” Rowan hiccupped.

Piano music bounced softly off the pearl walls of a distinguished home, the barriers held no sentimental value to anyone, and the off-white walls were devoid of even any art or even family photos.

A grand piano was below a stairwell, this is where Nemo was playing, while in his family home.

"Geronimo!"

He stopped playing, turning at the sound of his given name, seeing his little sister running toward him.

"Hey, Sparrow," he replied, standing up from the piano to hug her. He always enjoyed their hugs.

Sparrow, the youngest of the Hoedemarkers, was often described as her mother's mini-me.

She had the same pearl-white skin as her brother, the pinkish purple eyes of her mother, unique dual white and black hair that no one in the current family holds proudly, and she wore the symbolic pearls around her neck that marked her as a member of the family.

"Sir Geronimo."

Nemo cut his eyes toward the maid watching over his sister while he hugged Sparrow, "I see it's mother's day off once again."

"Lady Wisteria is very busy, sir."

Nemo rolled his eyes, "My mother is a drunk, she is never busy!"

"Geronimo, can we have my piano lesson today?" the young dual-haired girl asked.

He smiled down at his sister, "That's why I'm here," he answered with a small smile before sitting at the piano again, "Have you been practicing?"

Sparrow nodded as she stared at the keys before showing her older brother how much she improved since they had last had a piano lesson.

The middle-aged maid stood not too far from the little miss.

An hour or so passed with Nemo and Sparrow continuing their little piano lesson before Nemo felt someone approaching.

He looked away from his sister, to find that his mother was approaching from the foyer.

"Hello," he scoffed, "mother."

The maid bowed at the lady's presence.

Nemo only resembled her in hair color, her skin was olive colored, her eyes the same color as her youngest daughter, and her pearls hung from her earlobes.

"It is nice to see you, Geronimo," she spoke in a low tone that was very wobbly.

Nemo only let out a grunt, "Sparrow, I think we gotta cut it short today."

Sparrow stopped playing, her smile fading and her lips forming a thin line.

"When will you be back?" she asked as she stared at the piano keys.

"I don't know, Sparrow," he answered.

"Will it be soon?"

Nemo frowned as his little sister looked up at him with a discouraged look on her face, "...I'll try."

"Promise?"

"Promise," he replied sorrowfully.

Nemo stood from the piano and headed for the entrance.

"Geronimo, will you be back for dinner?" Wisteria asked as he passed by her.

"Nope, I have better things to do," he scoffed before leaving the mansion.

He went to the train station, so he could head back to the college.

Early in the morning, the college administration informed the facility and staff that the college lockdown had finally been lifted.

The students and staff were free to travel outside of campus if they happened to be stuck on campus after the attack on the school almost a week prior.

"Hey, Row, you wanna come to dinner with me?" Georgia asked as Rowan sat in her dorm on the bed that hadn't been used since Rowan was made to stay in the last week.

Rowan looked up from their cozy comfort game on their portable gaming console, "...Like in the cafeteria?" they asked.

"No, no, come to my home, have dinner with me and my family," Georgia replied.

Rowan looked at her confused, "Me? Go to a family dinner?" they asked quietly pointing at themself then pointing at her, "With you?"

"Yeah, of course," Georgia giggled, "You're one of my best friends."

Rowan's heart stopped, a best friend to the loveable Georgia, which means a lot more than Georgia will ever realize, "...I-I have to ask Indigo, but yes!"

Georgia squealed, pacing around and getting ready as Rowan waited for a response from Indigo which they didn't get.

"Huh, Indigo isn't responding," they remarked leaving Georgia's dorm.

"We could stop by the infirmary, and you could ask Calvin?" Georgia suggested.

They never really thought of that before, Indigo is "the ruler of the castle", the head of her household, and asking Calvin for permission to do something feels... wrong. As if they were a small child asking Daddy if they can do something because Mommy will get mad.

Although Rowan did agree. So they continued to follow Georgia out of the dorms, running into Nemo in the process.

"Hey, Nemo!" Georgia said cheerfully. He grunted, passing them on the path while heading for the dorms, leaving Rowan and Georgia to shrug at one another before heading for the infirmary.

On the campus, the infirmary sits close to the main building but disconnected, available for the public despite being on the college campus.

They were greeted by Maverick packing up his things, while several healers did their jobs, and Sloan could be spotted in Casper's room sleeping on the window bench.

"Hey, Ricky!" Georgia chimed.

"...Hi," he muttered.

"Is Calvin in his office?" Rowan asked.

The healer in training nodded.

"What's wrong?" the seer girl asked her friend.

"I gotta go see my parents."

"Oh no," Georgia gasped, "Do you need back up?"

"No," he said, shaking his head, "You're going to see your family, that's more important."

Georgia sighed as he passed by her and watched Rowan enter Calvin's office.

They entered while the healer was in the middle of a phone call.

"Hold on, sir – Hey kid, whatcha need?" he asked.

"Indigo isn't answering my text," Calvin sighed at their response, "I was just wondering if I could go to Georgia's for dinner."

He thought for a moment, "Sure, just text me when you get there and on your way back... and if anything concerning happens!"

Rowan nodded, "Is something wrong with Indigo?" they asked.

"You don't have to worry; she's just being her at the moment."

Rowan nodded, again, thinking back to before orientation how she shut herself away while writing her speech. That must be the "being her" that Calvin is talking about.

Rowan and Georgia left with smiles on their faces, while the healer in training they saw earlier was walking towards the dean's office.

"Marisol." a voice said.

Maverick looked up to see two women.

They were standing by Duke's office door looking toward the direction Maverick was coming from, one of the women resembled Duke, with dark hair, moss green eyes, and olive skin, while the other woman was blonde, pale, and had stone-colored eyes.

"That's not my name," he muttered.

"Right, right, sorry," the blonde woman commented apologetically, "It's nice to see you, Maverick."

The three exchanged glances.

"Come on, let's not keep him waiting," the other woman said with a melancholic tone and look on her face.

"Okay, mom."

His mothers entered the office behind him, greeted with the view of Duke standing in front of the window behind his desk.

"Imogene, Maverick. My sweet little girl, Temperance," Duke mused, extending out his arms as he walked towards his desk.

"It's nice to see you, daddy," Temperance muttered.

"Why are we here?" Maverick asked very cross.

"Can I not wish to see my family?" Duke asked, taking a seat at his desk.

"You never want to see us together," Maverick retorted.

"Maverick," Duke sighed, "Your mothers would like you to return home."

"This is it? You cryptically texted me after a disaster to tell me my moms want me to go back home?!"

"Maverick, we miss you," Imogene chirped up.

"You can't even get my name right!"

"You keep changing it," Imogene replied dismissively.

"It's been Maverick since I was 12!"

"Imogene, he is right," Temperance added, "He may have not been home where we could say it, but his name is Maverick."

"This isn't about getting me to come home," Maverik groaned frustratedly before pointing at Duke, "You want something else from me!"

"Temperance, Imogene, can you give us a moment?" Duke asked.

The two women nodded, leaving the two of them alone, "Sit down, Maverick."

Maverick sat in one of the chairs in front of Duke's desk.

Duke's voice was different without Temperance and Imogene in the room, he was more orotund and throatier, not his regular honeyed tone.

"Our plan did not work."

"Your plan didn't work," Maverick retorted, "I had no part of it."

"Oh, dear boy," Duke sighed, "You forget you opened that tower."

Maverick frowned, staring at his hands, "...You made me."

Duke chuckled, "Sure, I did."

"You threatened to mess with Nemo's grades!"

"You have to admit it was thrilling," Duke mused, "The thrill of the rush!"

"No! I feel horrible, I almost killed Casper!"

"Yet, he lives."

"He's in a coma!"

"A healing coma."

"He's still in a coma, granddad!"

Duke rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair, "Regardless, I need one more thing from you," he sighed.

"No!" Maverick shouted.

"I haven't even asked—"

"It's going to involve Rowan and I want no part of it anymore!"

Maverick stood from his chair abruptly, heading toward the door.

"Maverick!" Duke said firmly, standing once again.

"Don't worry, I'll keep your little secret, like always, but I'm not hurting my friend!"

A few miles away, fresh off the train, in the late afternoon sun, Georgia and Rowan traveled toward the seers' family home.

Passing big expensive houses hidden behind gates and greenery. Georgia pointed at one of the houses as they walked past.

"That's Elias and Nemo's house. My house isn't too far."

It was a lovely large house, pearl white, with contemporary architecture.

"Wow," Rowan muttered before a short pause, "I wonder if they ever had that family dinner."

Within that pearl-white house, Elias sat at the enormous dining room table, with his white haired and blue eyed father at the head of the table, his mother to his right, Sparrow to his left, his oldest sister in front of him, and his middle sister to her right, both of the women had white hair, blue-eyes, and the hereditary two beauty marks under their right eyes.

"Is Geronimo coming, Mom?" his middle sister asked.

"No," Wisteria muttered.

Elias looked over at his eldest sister who held a very irritated look on her face.

"He's always been a disobedient boy," his father remarked.

"Myrtle, please," Wisteria mumbled.

"He's not wrong," his middle sister commented.

"Ammonia, really?" Elias sighed.

"What?" she scoffed, "Geronimo disobeys father whenever he's home!"

"People say I'm a bitch sometimes, maybe I'm disobedient too," his oldest sister stated in a low tone.

"Come on, Dahila," Ammonia sighed, "Geronimo punches trees when he's angry!"

"That was one time, Ammonia, get over it," Dahila noted.

"..Please stop fighting," Wisteria stammered out.

"I was in that tree and his punch shook it!"

Elias rolled his eyes, as his older sisters went back and forth.

"Girls, you're making your mother upset," Myrtle grumbled, "Besides, Geronimo is nothing but a stain on the family and a blemish to this family's legacy. Now, you my boy, Elias, you will do well when you graduate!"

"Are you kidding me?" Elias yelled, slamming his silverware on the table, "What legacy?! You make bullets, Dad, and get pissed off when people don't buy them! You had children just to attempt to have a "proper heir" for your shitty family business. If you don't get what you want you forget about the children you do have, and leave them for maids to take care of! While the woman you forced to marry you drinks herself to exhaustion!"

"Elias," Dahila uttered, concerned.

"Nemo is making a life for himself! Not sitting back while you insult him like you have been doing since he was born. You named him like you named Ammonia, you named them the first thing you could think of because you couldn't be bothered to give your own children decent names," Elias screamed, as he stood from his seat, "And if there one thing I don't give two shits about, it's you and the business! You have never once asked me if I would even like to follow in your footsteps, you just assumed I would. But guess what? I won't! Guns disgust me, and being a small part in someone's death is not something I want on my soul. I want to help people, in my own way, and it will not be alongside you!"

"You've been spending too much time with Geronimo," Myrtle muttered, "You two being roommates at that college was a bad idea."

"HIS NAME IS NEMO!" Elias screamed, "I DON'T CARE THAT IT'S NOT THE YOU GAVE HIM! HIS NAME IS NEMO!"

They heard the sound of a chair scraping across the linoleum floors.

That sound was Sparrow as she got up from her chair and ran out of the dining room.

"Elias, come on. You've said enough," Dahlia noted softly.

Elias huffed, "I never should have come."

He sighed, staring at the ceiling, "I'm just going to grab my stuff and go back to campus."

Elias left the dining room soon after, heading to his room to gather his things.

Meanwhile, Rowan and Georgia had enjoyed a lovely dinner with the seer's large family.

After meeting all of Georgia's family members and helping her parents clean up dinner, Georgia ran upstairs to grab a few things and look at her younger siblings' arts and crafts.

This left Rowan to head for the front door to wait for their friend.

They looked into the living room and saw Georgia's grandmother knitting a blanket.

"It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Nozadze," Rowan spoke as they stood in the archway of the living room.

"Come here, child," the old woman beckoned.

Rowan stepped before the old woman, who had stopped her knitting and stuck out her hand.

"Take it, dear," she cooed.

They hesitantly took her hand, and her eyes opened wide, ultimately gold.

It was quite magical and bright; Rowan was filled with a warm feeling as they could only assume the older woman was using her seeing powers to look at their future.

"Something big is coming," she said, "and you are at the center."

"Huh? Me?"

"Yes, my child, you will face something big, something that will change your being for forever onward," Georgia's grandmother spoke with great confidence.

She knew what she was talking about, given her age and wisdom, "Be safe, dear, I like you," she muttered in a very elderly woman voice.

Rowan nodded as they let go of the woman's hand.

"Hey Rowan, ready to go?" Georgia called.

"Yeah."

The two of them left the large home and traveled back to the train station, running into Elias in the process.

"Hey, Elias!" Georgia cheered.

He turned around, smiling immediately once he saw Georgia and Rowan.

"You had dinner with your family, Georgia?" he asked.

"Yeah, Rowan even came with me."

"It was very nice," they added.

"I glad someone had a good day today."

"Did you go and see your parents?" Rowan asked.

Elias nodded, "I don't think I'll go back in a while."

"Well next time we can go to my house and have dinner together!" Georgia remarked cheerfully, "Our own little family dinner."

Elias and Rowan smiled at each other, "That sounds like a really good idea!"

"Goddess, how many art projects have you started, Georgia?!"

"Just a few!"

"Why do we have taken them to your dorm?" Rowan asked, as they and their group of friends carried many of the Georgian seer's art pieces through the back paths on campus to the dormitories.

"Mx. Sylven said they are going to clean the media room during spring break, and I don't want any of my paintings to be ruined," Georgia answered.

Rowan nodded to themself, following their friends.

The scenery on campus is much like the island, beautiful during any season. All of the campus structures are covered in gothic fixtures and architecture, all dark hues of brown and black, except for the white castle-like tower seemingly in the middle of campus, standing tall and proud.

"What's up with the tower?" Rowan asked Elias as they walked through the dormitory common area on the first floor, heading to the exit.

"That's the Central Tower," he explained, "People say that it's to cover the catacombs under the college."

"Catacombs? Like the ones in France?" Rowan questioned.

"Kinda, there are probably dead bodies down there," Elias replied, "There are some rumors that say there are dangerous corrupted Fae and cursed alchemists in the catacombs that's why the tower is locked up."

Rowan hummed, continuing to stare at the tower as they stood out on the small patio connected to the front of the dorms.

"How are you doing?" Elias asked softly, looking over at them.

"I'm alright," they answered.

In the time after the Bridgehidien Ball and now (the Thursday evening before spring break), Rowan and Elias had done a great deal of talking.

Sometimes about important stuff, Elias told them that he and Nemo had been getting into fights a lot.

It got bad enough that Nemo went to stay in Maverick's dorm room.

It was a look into their relationship as brothers, as well as roommates.

Rowan on the other hand told Elias about Oceanside and little about their parents.

All Elias had to say about it was: "I'm here for you, and I'm not telling a soul."

"How are you?" Rowan asked.

"...Nemo still isn't talking to me," Elias responded, "To make matters worse, Mom and Dad want my older sister and the two of us to come over for dinner next week."

"You're not going home for break?"

"I'm gonna go home to get some stuff, but I'm not staying," he sighed, "Too much stress, too much fighting."

"Are you going to the dinner?" Rowan asked.

Elias shrugged, "Would much rather spend my spring break doing literally anything else."

Rowan thought for a moment, "...If you don't go maybe we can all get together and have dinner somewhere."

Elias's face flushed a crimson color, even though Rowan said we as in every one of their friends, the idea of sharing something as simple as a dinner with just Rowan was blush inducing, "I like that idea."

"What idea?" Georgia inquired, stepping out of the dorms, her arms stretched to the sky with Maverick and Nemo following her.

"Us all getting dinner together," Elias answered.

"I love that idea!" Georgia mused, descending the small patio, "Maybe we could do that tonight!"

Rowan and Elias nodded, Maverick smiled, while Nemo just shrugged.

"Oh, let's go, let's go," Georgia exclaimed.

"Where are we going? We are broke teenagers," Maverick joked.

"We'll figure it out!" Georgia shouted, pointing onward.

Inside the college's walls, Indigo's heeled shoes clicked down the hallway, heading toward the entrance of the college to make a swift exit.

"Hello, love," Sloan greeted her as he met her in the foyer after he came out the alchemist wing of the college.

"Bonsoir, how are you?"

"Good," he nodded, "We need to talk."

"In what capacity?" she asked.

"Just talk," Sloan shrugged, with a smile, "Not about Rowan, or Esma. Not about Duke or the college, talk like when we were kids."

Indigo scowled at him, "You just want to raid my liquor cabinet," she remarked.

"A drink or two would be nice," he chuckled.

"Drinks sound more than nice," Calvin chimed in, entering the foyer from the open archway in between the stairs with Casper not too far behind.

"Dinner would be nice too," Casper signed.

"Alright dinner and drinks," Indigo mused, "the weather is getting nicer, how about we do it on my back terrace?"

"Wonderful idea, I'll bring the food and you can supply booze," Sloan added.

Rowan and company had made it back to the college during Indigo and Sloan's conversation.

Georgia playfully argued with Maverick and Elias about what places in the town square they could go for dinner.

"Why not come to my house?" Indigo offered butting into the teens' conversation, "We are having sushi from a local restaurant."

"So, you can save what little money you have," Calvin joked.

Georgia clapped all happy like, "That sounds amazing!"

"Are you sure, Mrs. Bookstone?" Maverick asked anxiously, "We don't want to impose."

"Why not?" Indigo shrugged, "My house is large enough, Sloan and I can have our adult conversations while you all get along with one another."

Quite an exciting event, everyone getting together for dinner.

"Percival would you like to join us?" Indigo offered, while Percy descended the stairs as everyone was communicating.

"It's shocking that you would invite me into your home," they commented.

Indigo rolled her eyes, "You coming or not?"

Percy shrugged, "...Just for one drink, I have papers to grade."

The small group had made the once empty foyer very lively, with their conversations of activities for the upcoming break.

Whilst heading for the exit, an overhead light flickered which made the adults glances at each other. It was pretty rare to see the lights flicker.

"Maintenance?"

"Would make sense."

Then the lights went out completely, and an ungodly sound came from outside.

Sloan and Indigo didn't just share a glance, they shared wide eyed stares as if they knew what was about to happen.

The sounds were followed by rumbling, like a stampede, rushing from the area under the stairs.

Calvin pulled an épée from a nearby statue, whilst Sloan pulled out his revolver.

"Are you three crazies?" Percy exclaimed, in shock and bewilderment.

"Casper, try and find some help," Sloan demanded softly.

Casper nodded and raced down the alchemist hall, while the rumbling and horrible noise continued. The sounds got louder and louder, suggesting that whatever was making that racket was getting closer.

"Get them out of here, Percy!" Indigo ordered.

"Excuse me! Where the hell am I supposed to take them?!"

"Anywhere but here, obviously," Calvin retorted, quite harshly, a complete 180 from his normal tone.

Percy went to open her mouth but quickly shut it as what could only be described as a horde of monstrous abominations jammed themselves through the large archway under the middle of the stairs. "PERCY GO!" Sloan screamed.

Rowan and the others were already scrambling towards the exit, whilst Percy stayed frozen.

I can help! Instead of listening to her internal voice, she followed her pupils outside as Indigo, Sloan, and Calvin fought for their lives.

"Professor, what are those things?" Georgia gasped as she ran.

"They're the lost souls that hide in the catacombs," Percy explained, "What I don't understand is why they're free. They are supposed to be—Dammit all, the central tower has been breached!"

"But how?" Elias questioned, "No one is supposed to be able to open it!"

"One person can open it," Maverick answered, sorrowfully.

"Duke," Percy huffed, "I guess this way he can kill Indigo and Sloan without getting his hands dirty."

"That's really morbid, Professor," Nemo commented.

"Well," Percy scoffed, "He tried doing that when they were scholars, that's when all but a handful of students died in the central tower exam. But of course, you can't kill Sloan and Indigo that easily!"

Screeching sounds came from above, which made everyone stop and look up, one of the monsters had followed them out!

Fully black, almost as if it were dripping in writer's ink, with tattered wings.

It looked sort of like a bird, but also sort of like a human.

The monstrous flying predator then dove out of the sky and straight for Rowan.

It grabbed Rowan's throat and pushed them to the ground making their friends and professor gasp and freeze.

"THE CHOSEN ONE, FINALLY AT LAST YOU HAVE RETURNED! WILL YOU FINALLY FREE US, GET US OUT OF THAT HORRIBLE TOWER?! THE CHOSEN ONE! HOW WE ALL HAVE WAITED FOR YOUR RETURN! THE GREAT FATHER IS SO PLEASED MOTHER WILL BE DELIGHTED!"

"GET OFF OF THEM!" Georgia screamed, immediately running to her friend's defense with Elias not to fair behind.

Nemo pulled a few small bottles out of his jean pockets, before frantically mixing them on the spot, as he saw his friend and his brother being flung into the campus's grass, before throwing the mixtures in the bottles at the creature.

"GEORGIA, BLIND IT!" "I-I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN!"

"I BELIEVE IN YOU!"

Georgia took a breath, focusing on making a ball of light in her hand, hearing Indigo's voice in the back of her head walking her through the steps of manifesting light in the palm of her hand.

"Just breathe. Focus on what you wish to happen, how, and why. Once you feel secure enough: let go!"

"Let go!"

Georgia had made a large enough ball of light in her palms to flash the demonic creature and make it blind.

Making it finally let go of Rowan and allowing Elias to bash its head in with a large and thick tree limb, getting its black "blood" all over him and his clothes.

"Wh-what the fuck?!" Rowan coughed out as Maverick, who had been frozen in shock, ran over to them placing his healing hands lightly on their neck.

"Hey hey, breathe," he said softly, "I'm gonna try to help." Rowan nodded as Georgia settled at their side grasping their hand as a sign of support.

"It won't make the markings and redness go away, but it will help with your breathing," Maverick added.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT PROFESSOR?!" Nemo screamed.

"I...I—"

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE AN ALCHEMIST—"

"NEMO STOP!

"I'm not an alchemist anymore," Percy lamented.

Elias put himself between his brother and his professor, putting his hands on his brother's chest, trying to push him back to keep him from doing anything dangerous.

"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF ME!" Nemo yelled.

"Yelling and screaming at Professor Kowalski isn't going to help this situation," Elias replied.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HELPING IN SITUATIONS!?"

Then there were gunshots from the inside of the college.

"Fuck!" Percy muttered.

"That's Sloan," Nemo commented, "We gotta get back in there!"

"No, you all have to stay here," Percy said, before staggering toward the college.

"What the actual fuck are you doing!?"

"Making things right!"

Percy left the teenagers outside, entering the chaos inside.

There she saw Indigo wrapped in the coils of one of the monsters as Calvin and Sloan were preoccupied with their own demons.

The curse professor muttered incantations before shooting a bolt of lightning at the creatures, rendering it motionless.

"Percy! Why are you here?" Indigo asked after coughing a few times, "Where are—"

"They're safe," Percy lied, "I'm here to help."

Indigo sighed, before turning back to the chaos in the entrance.

To paint the scene: magic left an intoxicating aroma in the air, the shell casings of Sloan's alchemy infused bullets littered the floor, there was enough electricity airborne from Percy's alchemy that it was making the lights flicker.

"I would say we have this pretty under control, now," Calvin huffed, back-to-back with his wife.

"How did the central tower get opened?" Indigo questioned, as she kept the cursed creatures from touching her husband.

"You thinking Duke did it again?" he asked, stabbing the creature in front of him with the épée in his hand.

"I mean it wouldn't surprise me."

There was this moment of peace just for a few seconds, they were home free, everything around them was dead or dying.

Indigo and Calvin shared a glance and smiled at one another.

It was ending, the darkened blanket of chaos and the feeling of possible death looming over them was lifting.

"SLOAN!"

The screaming voice sounded so familiar yet so new at the same time for everyone in the entrance, it was the loud, thin, croaky, and almost screeching scream, from the alchemist wing of the college, the archmage and healer-blacksmith, whipped around from their position turning to find the source of the scream.

"Oh Goddess," Calvin gasped.

Indigo covered her mouth in shock, at what she had just witnessed. Sloan stood in shock as one of the last corrupted creatures' enormous and elongated talons plunged into Casper's stomach. It held Sloan in a state of fear.

His history was repeating itself, as he only saw a young Indigo taking a hit to the face for him during their school years when they took the central tower exam, alongside what he was witnessing now.

He caught Casper before he fell to the floor, even though the brownie is in pain, bleeding out and possibly dying in his arms, Casper is smiling.

Sloan picked up his revolver from the floor, aiming at the looming creature before firing, while letting out the most guttural scream.

Sloan's revolver was not like a normal revolver, the chamber was larger than the standard one. This increased the amount of bullets to fire from the normal 6 to 12.

Twelve shots of alchemy enhanced bullets were fired, and if Sloan had a chamber that tripled his amount of bullets, he would have fired eighteen.

He continued to pull the trigger of his gun in his haze, he only stopped as he saw Indigo's hand rest on the top of the gun, pushing it down.

"It's dead, Sloan, it's over," she muttered, as his vision focused on the man in his arms, instead of ahead of him.

All he can do is cry, clutching Casper's limp body to his chest before Calvin lent down solemnly.

"Can I take him?" he asked, in a soft tone, seeing Sloan grip on his husband, "...Will you allow me to do that, or do you want to carry him?"

Sloan handed Casper over, leaving Casper to go to the infirmary, before collapsing backwards into Indigo's arms and crying even harder, "He can't die!"

"He won't!"

"He can't die!"

"He won't!"

Rowan and company had raced inside after hearing gunshots right after one another in quick succession, only to witness their professors seemingly at their lowest.

Their presence proved to Indigo that Percy had lied earlier, and she was upset with the science professor, but now is not the time to yell at the person she already had a rocky relationship with.

Everyone just went to the infirmary waiting for news, after explaining what happened outside the college walls.

Indigo paced, muttering in French to herself, in the little waiting room linked to one of the hospital rooms in the infirmary.

It made her students and even her colleague a bit anxious seeing her so worried, which to them seemed out of character.

Then the door slammed, and Sloan stomped toward the exit.

"Sloan stop!" Calvin called.

"NO! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"

Percy huffed, trying to grab at him, "You can't murder Duke, you have no evidence for his crimes!"

"I don't give a shit! HE TRIED TO KILL MY HUSBAND!"

He stopped in his tracks at the door meeting almost chest to chest with Indigo who stood in front of the door, "MOVE!"

"You are running on adrenaline. Killing Duke right now is only going to make you feel guilty."

"No, I want—"

"Revenge? Justice? You have had the past seven years to kill him, and what stopped you?! Casper? So, if you went through with it now, what would happen when Casper finds out?" Indigo expounded, pausing for a moment to watch Sloan's face shift when Casper was mentioned, "You need to stay here!"

"Indigo, be rational!"

"Yes, because you are being quite rational right now," Percy retorted sarcastically.

"Percival, shut the fuck up for once!" Sloan spat out, "...Indigo, if it were Calvin in Casper's place you would be doing the same thing I want to do!"

Indigo's face hardened, "Sloan, if it were Calvin, he would already be dead," she alleged.

Sloan softened; he realized what he was implying.

"You already know how I would react, we've been here before," she added, "On the opposite side, but you cried for me. I've cried for you in the same way. I know the pain you are feeling at this very moment. The place you need to be in is there with him, not acting upon the need for revenge or justice. Because when Casper wakes up the one person, he will want to see is you."

Sloan just turned around, with his head low, walking back to Casper, as Calvin exited.

"Hey Maverick, you mind staying here for the night?" Calvin asked quietly to his apprentice.

Maverick nodded, "Can I get a couple of things?"

Calvin nodded, before turning to Indigo, "I'm staying here."

"I assumed that," she sighed, before turning to her apprentice, "Georgia, you said you don't have a roommate this semester, correct?"

"Yes, but—"

"Rowan, you'll be staying with Georgia tonight," Indigo interrupted, leaving the little group of friends shocked.

"Indigo!" Percy said sternly.

"You really need to stop talking," Indigo scoffed, looking at Percy narrowly before looking back at the group of students, "I'm not arguing with any of you, despite what just happened. I would rather you all stay in groups to insure your safety, all of your safety, and my house isn't going to be the safest place if I'm not there."

No one chose to argue with her.

Rowan still felt terrified from being choked over an hour ago that they didn't want to talk about it at all.

"We'll go home in a few minutes, jellyfish," Indigo sighed, as Maverick, Nemo, Elias, and Georgia stood, "Percy, you should probably walk them to the dorms. And then walk Maverick back here. If you can even, make it there and back."

"I—"

Indigo looked at her with a harsh gaze, "We'll talk later."

With everyone shuffling out of the infirmary, Indigo retreated to Calvin's office for a moment while he looked at Rowan's neck, "I take it Maverick, got to you right after it happened?" he asked, examining the red markings on their neck.

They nodded.

"Does your throat hurt?"

"I feel like I shouldn't talk," they mumbled.

Calvin bobbed, "Your neck will probably be red for the weekend, but you'll be alright," he finished, "I'm glad Maverick was there."

Rowan nodded again, as Indigo came out of Calvin's office, "I will be back in a few," she said to Calvin.

"Text me when you make it home, then when you are leaving for the dorms, and then when you're coming back to the infirmary."

Indigo nodded, while Rowan followed her out.

Their walk was somber and quiet, Indigo mentioned packing enough for the next week just in case the campus was put on lockdown, so that is what Rowan did.

Once their clothing and essentials were gathered, they sat on their bed, staring at the brown beetle plushie in their hands.

"Are you ready, Rowan?" Indigo asked in the doorway.

"Indigo," they yearned, "What happened?"

The mage sighed, dropping the large travel bag in her hands to the floor, "Are you asking me as your guardian or as your professor?"

"Whatever will get me the most answers."

"I'm going to be honest," Indigo huffed, sitting next to them, "I don't have a rightful clue, although I wouldn't be surprised if Duke opened up the catacombs, as some sort of test for whoever was in the building."

"I got called the chosen one tonight by one of those things, what does that even mean, what am I the chosen one of?!"

"I wish I knew, then I could help you," Indigo lamented.

Rowan huffed.

"Jellyfish, I will do my best to figure out what is going on, I promise," the archmage replied, as they slumped over.

They nodded before the two of them left for the college, Rowan staying in Georgia's dorm for the night, Elias and Nemo forced to stay in the same form for "safety," Percy sulking in her office, while Calvin, Indigo, Sloan, and Maverick watched over Casper in the infirmary.