House of Chaos ~FemaleOC x Joy Mercer~ (Seasons 1-3)

House of Pests/House of Betrayal

The good news was they finally had all the puzzle pieces, at least to their knowledge. They found a piece that said END on it in Corbierre.

The bad news was there was an infestation of pet mice in Anubis house, meaning everyone had to stay at the school, and that they were planning to search the place for any unauthorized items.

Aka, they were going to find everything the group had kept hidden for so long.

Nina and Fabian managed to sneak out to go see if they could find anything before it was taken.

Meanwhile Max was stuck having a facial thanks to Amber.

"Come on Max, it's really good for your skin." Amber insisted.

"Gross!" Max snapped, pushing her away.

~~~

Soon Nina and Fabian arrived with take out. They managed to save the puzzle pieces, but everything else was taken or at risk.

And then it was time for lights out.

"If they make me change for bed I'm doomed." Max hissed to Alfie.

Alfie's eyes widened. "Oh shoot, right um..." He looked at Jerome, who looked confused. He nudged his head towards Max and Jerome seemed to realize the problem.

Alfie and Jerome weren't exactly friends at the moment, but neither of them wanted to see Max get caught.

So...a temporary truce.

Jerome chewed his lip in thought for a moment before running a hand over his face and huffing. He grabbed something from his bag and tossed it at Max's face.

"What the-" She frowned, realizing it was a grey sweater that would be way too big on her.

"We're going to throw a blanket over you and pretend we're pulling a prank, you'll have about 15 seconds to change. That should be big enough to hide your..." He blushed awkwardly. "Features..."

Max's eyes widened. "Jerome-"

"We don't have time, they're calling lights out!" He hissed quietly as Trudy once again yelled for everyone to get changed.

"Three, two, one, go!" Alfie whispered.

They shoved the blanket over Max, who let out fake protests as the two laughed. She heard Mick protesting and Fabian giving fake protests of his own. She just barely managed to slip Jerome's sweater on before the blanket was yanked off.

"You alright, Max?" Mick asked with concern.

"Ah yeah, just rough housing jerks." She elbows Jerome and Alfie lightly, giving them fake glares. They grinned innocently.

"What's all the ruckus? Lights out, now." Trudy told them firmly.

~~~

Everyone collapsed in their makeshift beds. Fabian and Max had placed there's side by side.

"Do you think it'll be alright?" Max whispered softly.

Fabian let out a quiet sigh. "It has to be." He gripped her hand tightly.

~~~

The next day, everyone went back to Anubis house and was horrified to find the place a mess. Every room had been trashed.

"Oh man..." Fabian muttered. "They really didn't hold back..." he picked up one of his books that had been bent.

"AHHHHH!" Fabian and Mick jumped in alarm and turned to Max, who was holding a crumpled mess of a book.

It was one of her photo albums, the pages and photos inside had been trashed, like someone stepped on the book after dropping it.

"Oh no..." Fabian whispered softly, eyes wide. Mick looked just as horrified.

"What on earth was the scream-" Jerome and Alfie came barging in, looking confused.

But their eyes fell on Max with the photo album and they paled.

"Ngh..." Tears built up in Max's eyes as he stared at the torn photo of her and William.

The boys panicked, except for Mick who just seemed surprised and confused at the reaction.

"Ahhh hey Max it's okay, it's um, it's not so bad." Alfie tried weakly.

"Yeah we can fix this, I'm sure..." Jerome added. "N-No need to be so sad..."

Fabian swallowed hard, taking the photo album and searching through for any pictures that were okay.

The ring darkened slightly as Max's cries got louder. "THEY'RE RUINED!"

"Um...it's okay..." Mick told her awkwardly, getting glares from the other boys.

Fabian could've cried when he realized the whole album was wrecked, but then he spotted something amongst the damaged items on the floor.

He picked it up, it was a file, one of the ones Max had used to keep track of information on her brother. He let out a small laugh of relief when a photo fell out of it. It was the one of her and her brother that she was always looking at, her most treasured one.

"Max look, look!" He told her excitedly.

Max tearfully looked over at Fabian and gasped at the photo in his hand.

He grinned. "It's okay, maybe a tiny bit bent at the corner but-"

She tackled him in a hug. "THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH!" She sobbed. The ring brightened once again.

The others couldn't help their relieved sighs.

Crisis everted.

~~~

The gang met up in the woods later that day with the puzzle pieces.

"Alright, there's seven pieces here. I think we should each hold onto them." Nina told them.

Max nodded. "Makes most sense. We've already lost too many precious things..." Her eyes narrowed angrily as she thought about her damaged photo albums. She hadn't seen her brother for so long, the photos are all she has.

Fabian took the strange one they found in the chandelier, Max took the small one that said END on it, Amber took the large ring one, Patricia took the weird large pierce, Alfie took the stick like one and Nina held onto the two identical pieces.

They made a vow to Sibuna to protect the pieces with their lives.