Arcana Twilight: When The Star Falls (retelling)

19- Keeping it under...

Gloria felt her head get dizzy from hearing the voice. Her vision blurs a little as the scenery fades around her even more.

Her eyes instinctively close from the dizzy feeling...

B A M !

The sound of a muffled gunshot made her open her eyes instantly.

There she was, back in the room in Neb Aula, looking in fear at the wide opened door as someone stood in front of her with a gun pointed at her. The attack from the gun barely missed her.

"Oh no no no! Gloria! Are you ok?!"

Pollux rushes to her and kneels beside her. Gloria was quiet, looking like a deer in headlights. Her mind was all over the place with that room she went into, the voice, the dizziness she felt, almost being shot just now. Pollux was about to reach out to shake her, but then hesitates. "Gloria... please... be ok..."

"... I'm fine... Pollux...."

He starts to relax a little when he hears her talk.

Gloria slowly turned to him, "Why.... did you... shoot me...?!" Pollux raised his hands up, "I-I'm sorry! I heard a noise in here and got scared! S-Spica told me to be careful s-since Vega told us about-"

"Vega got to Arcky?" Pollux nods at her question, "Yeah, he was drinking the mana accelerants before I left." Gloria sighs in relief hearing that. She slowly got up, wobbling a little. Pollux stood up instantly and took a hold of her arm, "Hey hey! Careful!" She turned to him, "You.... could have killed me, Pollux. You're the one who needs the reminder to be careful." He whimpers a little, "I know! I know! I get I wasn't thinking! Please don't tell the others about this." She sighed, "Shouldn't they know that I was just in danger?! Heck I have a feeling they could figure out just from looking at how unsettled I look." Pollux whines, "I'm SOOOOOORRY! Please! H-Here! To make it up to you, I'll imprint with you! Th-that way we could rely on that instead of accidentally having this repeat!" Gloria's eyes widened, "H-huh?! Wait! What?! Why would you-?!"

Pollux continued, "Hurting your imprint partner is like strangling yourself. So it's the best way for me to prove to you that I am trustworthy!" Gloria put her hands on his shoulder and looked down at him, "Pollux... I know you are trustworthy." Pollux was speechless a little, he then shook his head, "S-Still... Please let me do this, at least for my guilty conscious."

She sighed, "Alright... fine..."

He walked closer to her and put his hands over hers that were still on his shoulder, closing his eyes. Gloria closed her eyes along with him, feeling something warm envelop her.

Gloria slowly opens her eyes to see the same starry scenery with the water that stretches for miles.

Am I the only one who sees this...?

She looks up at the sky, seeing the new constellation added. Gemini's....

...!!

She started to see the eyes again.

No!

"Woah..."

Soon the scenery was back to the room, Gloria composed herself so Pollux doesn't notice how unsettled she is. Pollux's eyes widened, "Oh yeah! Everyone's worried sick about you, Gloria! Let's get back to the banquet hall!" She nods.

The banquet hall doors were still open wide. She can see people still remaining, looking anxious. Gloria spots Spica and Alpheratz talking. Pollux guides her over to them, "I'm back! I found Gloria!"

Spica turns and his shoulders relax a little. Alpheratz softly smiles, "There you are. You didn't go into hiding at this time, did you?" Gloria shook her head, "I mean... I probably should have since Pollux nearly shot me." Both Spica and Alpheratz spoke at the same time, "He did what?!" Pollux gulped. Spica gave a hard stare at the short sorcerer, "You better explain yourself. Now." Pollux whimpered a little, "It was an accident! I thought she was the infiltrator... I didn't mean to almost hurt her!" He turns and gives Gloria a sad look, feeling betrayed. She mouthed a "sorry" to him, she then spoke up, "He already made up for it though, so no need to give the kid a hard time." Pollux pouts a little from being called a kid, but it quickly fades hearing her defend him at least. Spica sighed, "He better have." He turned to face Gloria more, there was a look in his eyes that was almost hard to read.

Was he... worried?

Alpheratz sighed, "You don't have to hide it, Spica. All you gotta say is that you were worried, ya know." Oh! So he was! Alpheratz turned to her, "Can you even imagine Spica being helpless, Gloria? He was so anxious he had this frown on where his eyebrows were-"


Spica cuts him off, "Shut your mouth. We shall not waste any more time with small talk." Alpheratz sighed, "That wasn't small talk at all, it was the most important news there was..."

He watches as Spica walks off, presumably to do stuff about the banquet.

"There he goes." Gloria sighed. I guess everyone is stressed. Alpheratz turned to her, "Are you ok...? How close were you to being shot?" Gloria looks up at him, "I'm fine, Alphy. I was dizzy earlier, but I'm fine now." Alpheratz quietly sighed, "Hold still a minute."

She watches as he places his hands on her shoulder and closes his eyes, being semi close to her. Gloria watches as she feels a warm tingly feeling go through her body. "What are you doing Alphy?" He still had his eyes closed as he responded, "Checking to make sure there aren't any injuries." After a bit, he slowly opened his lavender eyes, "Thank goodness you are ok. You wouldn't believe how much stress there was here with Arcky being the way he was, you being gone, and Vega being anxious." Pollux soon spoke up, "Speaking of.... He looks pissed..."

Who's... pissed...?

Gloria turns to see Vega storming over, his eyes coming off as a cold icy glare.

She shivered from the unsettling feeling she's getting off of him. He's... mad at me..? Vega got close and almost yells in her face, "Summoner, what were you thinking...?!" She flinches hard from the reaction. Her hands instinctively reached up to cover her ears as if they've had to do it many times prior. Tears almost formed in her eyes, "Stop yelling...!" Vega's eyes widened as he noticed her flinching, almost shaking. Alpheratz pulls her close, "Vega... yelling isn't going to solve anything. If you need to talk, talk calmly." Vega tries to take a deep breath as he speaks, his words still sharp with anger, "I asked you to wait. I told you it wouldn't take long. Yet I return to see you abandoned the bottles and nowhere to be seen! Do you realize how bad that is?!" Gloria whimpered, "I.. I'm sorry..."

Pollux tried to put a hand on Vega's shoulder, "Dude... chill!" Alpheratz holds Gloria tighter, "You are going to scare her more than she already has been."

Vega sighed as he buried his face into his gloved palms, trying to calm himself down. His voice was now more quiet, "I'm... sorry... My worries shouldn't warrant violent behavior... I thought I was having a bad dream, I hoped none of it was real..."

Gloria softly spoke, her eyes still watery, "... I actually went to look for you a little..."

This surprised him, "You were... looking for me...?"

She nodded as she whimpered, "I was getting very anxious waiting around... I could also sense how dangerous it was, you know! I didn't want something bad to happen to you... H-However I first only took a peek out the door to see if you were on your way before I went to look for you-"

Should I even talk about that room I saw...?

Alpheratz soon spoke up as he still held onto her, "He came back looking pale blue. He said you'd completely disappeared." He softly smiled down at her, "Everyone was flipping out. We're really glad you made it back in one piece... but... You've been gone for a while, where did you go?" She whimpered to him, "I found a strange room when I opened the door Vega left from." Alpheratz raised his eyebrow, "Strange how?" She continued, "There was this massive room full of books... a glass ceiling that showed a sky that didn't look normal... and there was this huge machine in the center with rings and stars and constellations on it that wasn't moving... as if broken!" Alpheratz was quiet as he thought for a moment, "I've never seen anything like that here in the mansion. I'm not trying to creep you out with that, it's just the truth." Vega sighed, "This is concerning. What happened to you, Summoner...?" Pollux soon spoke up, "Okay, you're creeping me out, all of you! Gloria could've just had a bad dream!"

Spica soon walks back over, "Gloria, I wanted to update you on Arcturus." Her eyes widened as she wiped her eyes from the tears, "Where is he?! Is he ok?!"

He nods, "Vega gave us the mana accelerants just in time. His condition improved instantaneously, as per Vega's predictions. However, he did lose a lot of blood..."

At the word of that, Gloria looks down at the floor, seeing the stains of red and now noticing a slight scent of metallic in the air. It was faded, but it lingered slightly. Her head got a bit light headed, Alpheratz held on to her tighter to keep her up.

Gloria muttered, "Where... is he now...? Did... something happen to him...?!"

"Don't rush to conclusions!" Spica walks closer to her, "I was choosing my words with care." He then continues after making sure she wasn't getting the wrong thoughts in her head. "Arcturus was moved to the infirmary. Would you like to come with me to check on him?" She nods instantly.

Gloria took her heels off so she could walk easier. Spica holds the doors open for her as they enter the infirmary.

There was Arcturus, laying on one of the medical beds. He smiles when he sees them, sitting up slowly. Gloria runs to the bed, "Arcky! Oh thank goodness you are ok!"

Spica then approaches, "I hope you got substantial rest like you were told to, Arcturus."

Arcturus nods, "Yeah, I have been.... It's embarrassing to get so much attention this way. I didn't expect you guys to go through all this trouble." Gloria shook her head, "None of it was trouble." Arcturus looked at her, "I overheard what Vega said when he came with the mana accelerants... That sounded like trouble!" She sighed, "Well it wasn't your fault! So no need to worry about it!" Spica soon spoke up, "Due to everything that happened, I need to inform you both as well." Gloria and Arcturus turn their attention to him.

"Leaking information about this incident is strictly prohibited."

Gloria nods, "Makes sense... we wouldn't want people to spread rumors and then it would result in conflict..."

"Conflict? What... I don't understand, how?"

She turns to Arcturus, "People would... probably think that Pollux purposely did this to you..."

His eyes widened, "What?! But that isn't what happened! Not at all! Pollux would never do that! Who would believe-"

Spica sighed, "The clans have been fighting since long before any of us were born.... Therefore we need to be strict on this leaking policy." Arcturus nods. Spica continues, "You better get rest, I want us to have a meeting on what's happening in a few days, but we'll have to have it here so you can be a part of it but still be able to receive some rest." Gloria blinks, "Why not tomorrow?" Spica turns to her, "Because we have been instructed that Arcturus needs to rest for a while since he's still weak at this time."

Gloria nods. Spica says one more thing, "You both better rest up, it has been a lot on all of us tonight."

With that, Spica turned to leave the infirmary. Gloria turned back to Arcturus, "You better get lots of rest! You worried all of us, so the least you can do is get better quickly!" He laughed, "Don't worry! I plan on it!" She nods as she turns to also leave, "Good night Arcky!"

"G'night Gloria!"

The halls were quiet as she continued walking to her dorm. Her mind was still buzzing on everything that happened as she tried to focus on heading home to sleep.

Who could have done this to Arcky? What was that mysterious presence?

What was that room...?

"You seem lost in thought for someone who looks so tired~!"

She turned when she heard Sirius's voice.

"What do you want?"

Sirius mocks offense, though still having a smile on his face, "Is that anyway to treat the one who basically acted as bait earlier so you and Sorcerer Vega wouldn't be in danger~?" Her eyes widened, "You... did that..?!" She remembered how it seemed like that presence was chasing something after leaving the door alone when she and Vega were hiding. She raises her eyebrow at him, "Why would you do that?" Sirius chuckled, "I still do my duties~! Making sure the Summoner is safe is one of them, is it not?"

She turned and continued walking, Sirius followed her, "Mind if I join you? It's really bold of you to walk alone despite knowing of the danger earlier~!" She sighed, too tired to object, "I just wanna go to sleep..."

They continue walking through the halls, remaining quiet for the most part.

Gloria soon spoke up, "Why did you even want to tag along?"

He blinked, then chuckled as his eyes changed as he made an amused expression, "I haven't seen you since before the danger! Isn't it fair that I want to see how our dear Summoner is doing~? Also I come for some advice." She tilts her eyebrow at him, "Advice?" Sirius soon looks serious, "You saw... that room... didn't you?" Her eyes widened as she stopped in her tracks, looking up at him.

He knows about that room...?!

Sirius also stops walking and turns to her, "What? Is it so surprising?" Gloria blinks, "How... do you-?"

"Now where's the fun in giving you a straight answer~?"

She sighed when he said that. Of course he would want to make it a mystery! Sirius continues, "You shouldn't worry about that room, as long as it doesn't work, there wouldn't be anything to worry about. So whatever you do, ignore the voices, ignore the machine. Got it~?"

Gloria tilts her head, "And why should I listen to you?" Sirius chuckles, "Think of it as a way to thank me for my services earlier~!" She sighed again, she was too tired to deal with all of this.

He soon turned and walked off a bit, "Good night Summoner, since your dorm is close."

She stood there, processing everything before she began waking to her door.