𝔹𝕦𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕒 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕞𝕟𝕚𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕤 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕝𝕖𝕕𝕘𝕖~~~~~ (♡♤ 𝐀 𝙏𝙒𝙎𝙏 𝙁𝙄𝘾 ♢♧)

Α𝗁 чє𝗌, 𝗆є, 𝗍𝗁є 𝗁σ𝗆íє𝗌, α𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁є 𝗌є𝗏є𝗋α𝗅 𝖽єα𝖽 𝗉єσ𝗉𝗅є í𝗇 𝗍𝗁є 𝖼σ𝗋𝗇є𝗋.

————-

Three hours.

Epel and Deuce had been missing from class for 3 hours now, and it didn't sit right with him.

From what little information he had, Epel had run off when Vil wasn't paying attention sometime around lunch after being berated about what he could and couldn't eat one too many times.

Sure, in Deuces case, it was something to do with an assembly, and sure it got called off because something was taking too long, but the entire thing itself already bugged him.

Why not just give a safety demonstration on stage about blot, instead of send the 12 involved with an already painful incident into a wild card Labyrinth?

The final alarm bells in his head went off when he received a text from Vil, requesting for him to look for Epel, as he couldn't seem to get in contact with Rook to confirm his location.

After getting the go ahead from Coach Vargas, he set off. 

Pretty much blanks everywhere. The journey around the campus was a great workout, but it didn't settle his unease.

Especially when he finally caught it.  Down by the graves near Ramshackle. Deuce and Aces weren't far off, but he chalked that down to the two being at Ramshackle pretty often.

When Deuces friend's familiar, a chubby raccoon, began trying to pull him further into the woods, he took it as a sign they were trying to get their owner help, and followed.

They lead him far off campus, 3/4th down the mountain and into the woods, and finally, to a small hatch in the ground, hidden in leaves and dirt.  It reeked of rot, dried blood, and rust.  Not a good sign.

Brushing off a few leaves, he tried to make sense of the inscription, but it was far too rusted to make sense of anything, so he spun open the latch.

The scent wave of rot nearly made him puke, but he wasn't about to turn back.

It wasn't the most wide, so climbing in was a struggle. As he finally made it down, the latch likely closed behind, taking all the rooms light with it.

5 small glowing dots, magestone sized, in the corner, Red, Red, Darker Red, Lavender, and Blue. As he let his eyes adjust, those lights revealed their owners.

Ace, Deuce, Elephys, Epel and Vyr, shivering and unconscious, cuddled around what he assumed was Ramshackles prefect.

After hearing about what she did for Heartstabyl, Jack had admittedly wanted to meet her, but not like this. Maybe during Alchemy, or at Lunch or something....

Not the point. It was deathly cold in here, and reeked of rot. He needed to get them out of here, or at bare minimum, find a way to keep warm while waiting for rescue.

A shiver went down his spine when he noticed a couple moving things emerging from the dark, something that should not be able to emerge in the first place.

Weirder still, from their positioning, it seemed like they were...protecting the group? Keeping watch?

Something along those lines.

————

"Rescue...Dog..?"

Ears flattened, Jack stumbled on his words. Could you really blame him?

Seven whole corpses stared-ok, three turned their empty eye sockets in his direction, but same thing.

The one that talked moved its head to the side, a stretching fleshy sound following the movement.