A few days later... in the Ramshackle Dorm Lounge
The Culture Fair has come and gone, and now Briar along with her friends, including Deuce, Ace, Kalim, Jamil, Rook, Epel, and Vil are having their last meeting in the lounge.
"I thought the NRC Tribe had been disbanded. The culture fair is over, after all," Jamil says.
"Non. Vil chose to simply put it on indefinite hiatus," Rook says.
And Jamil says, "Okay, if that's what you want to call it. Regardless, this was sudden."
"Yeah!" Kalim agrees, "I didn't expect to get an NRC Tribe message calling us out to Ramshackle after class. Is something going on, Vil?"
Just then, Vil says, "Thank you all for coming. Grim couldn't make it, of course... but there's nothing to be done about that at the moment."
That catches the others attention, especially Ace, Deuce, and Briar.
Ace & Deuce
Vil continues, "There are some important matters I wanted to discuss with you all. First, I'll touch on what happened on the day of SDC. Allow me to apologize for betraying your trust."
"Huh...?" Deuce, Epel, Kalim, and Briar reply, confused.
Even Grim and the others are confused.
"I realized we would lose, and my solution was to curse my rival. It was the ugliest possible thing I could've done. I am truly sorry," Vil says in remorse.
Epel speaks up, "Goodness. I'm not used to Vil apologizing like that."
"Well, at least your curse didn't succeed, right?" Jamil replies.
Kalim agrees, "Yeah! You didn't harm a single hair on Neige's head."
"That's only because you, Rook, and the rest of the group stopped me," Vil says, "Yet I still hurt you when I overblotted. That incident could've ended my life... Or any of yours."
Everyone remains silent.
Vil continues showing remorse, "You exhausted your magical reserves fighting me, then had to immediately perform. No matter how determined you were, I highly doubt you were able to give 100 percent."
"That's not true! I thought it was our best performance ever!" Epel says.
Deuce agrees, "I agree. Vil, we crushed it out there!"
"Well, 'crushed it' is kinda subjective..." Ace says.
Deuce turns to Ace and questions in shock, "Are you really going to debate this?!"
"Okay, yes, we fought for our lives and won, then lucked out big time when Malleus fixed the stage for us. Then we busted our tails and got through the whole performance, start to finish. It was incredible, and I agree we did the best we'd ever done. That said..." Ace says.
"You mean just because we were happy with it, doesn't mean the audience was," Jamil says, understanding what Ace means.
"Oh, I see..." Epel replies.
"I do have to agree. Even when I gave my performance, my body felt a little drained. I'm just glad I was able to continue performing for the opening when I did," Briar says.
"I remember. Briar told us that her body shows signs of exhaustion. However, Vil is the one who suffered the most out of all of us because he's gone through an overblot and it really exhausted him," Sereia says, worried.
Vil nods his head, "Ace, Jamil, Briar, and Sereia have the right of it. I've been reviewing our show recording with a more critical eye... And it's apparent we weren't performing at even half our usual level. Positioning was sloppy, kicks weren't reaching their full height — even your fingers were all over the place. Which makes sense, given the battle you'd just fought. It was the best you could have done, yes. But you weren't AT your best. It was critical for you to be at your best when you performed, and I failed to make that happen. Our loss at SDC is entirely on me. Some leader I turned out to be." and still show remorse and signs of sadness for the loss, and how much trouble his overblot caused on the others.
YOU ARE READING
Twisted Wonderland Book 6: The Watchman of the Underworld
ФанфикAfter Grim attacked Briar after the SDC, she and her friends search for him, but captured by Ortho. A few days later, the school has been invaded by strong people is armor, and has captured, Riddle, Leona, Azul, Jamil, Vil, and Briar, and has Grim i...
