FUNCTION DISORDER :: VOLUME ONE

14

Onwards, thumped the beat continuously, comfortably loud, such that the noise enveloped Kaleva and made him feel connected to the world, without making his skull rattle too hard.

Halley softly grabbed Kota with his cute little front paws. "Heyyya~ Are you suuure you don't want to go to the back rooms yet? ;3", he asked with just barely sufficient volume to be heard over the music, pulsating rave lights reflecting off big adoring puppy eyes.

Kaleva smiled nervously and patted Halley's head softly. "Uhmmm, I don't knoww, haha. Maybe, um, some other time?", he suggested, before continuing to dance haphazardly with sparkles in his eyes.

"Hehe okey.", Halley responded, giving a little smirk, before spinning around and pivoting to where Jace stood. "How about youuu? Do you wanna go to the back rooms with meeee?"

Jace raised one eyebrow and shrugged.

Shouting was suddenly heard from the entryway. "Everyone get down‼", somebody yelled over the music.

Halley immediately squeaked and flopped to the floor, then crawled under the bench where he was sitting previously.

"Fuck. This again, seriously?", Jace remarked, grimacing. "I guess tonight was fun while it lasted."

Kaleva suddenly stopped dancing. "Wait, what's going on??"

Before Jace could respond, an entire team consisting of both green-robes and pink-robes filed through the entrance. Extraction Agents came into view, decked out in large, boxy mage foci and carrying heavy-looking guns with blue lights on them. The music never stopped.

Kaleva's eyes widened and his face fell with horror. Shit, it's the Eight Orders! "Get out get out get out!", he urged to nobody in particular, looking around himself desperately for a way out.

Shots of strange energy started flying across the crowded dance floor. People began running in a frenzy, ducking in corners, some retreating to the backrooms, trying to reach the front exit or just trying to make themselves look as small as possible. Jace flattened himself against the wall behind the bench.

"Don't let any demons get away!", shouted the nearest Agent to her teammates.

Kaleva watched one human man trip over some power cables in an attempt to hide backstage, then get struck in the back of the head by one of the magic bolts. Kaleva winced momentarily, but then the man scrambled to his feet and kept running. Only a moment later, a dark-furred feline Beastkind was also hit, then immediately screeched in anguish, convulsed all over and collapsed onto the ground, twitching sickly, then stopped moving.

Those aren't magic blasts – they're antimagic blasts. He dived under the bench next to Halley and scanned the floor of the room, desperately trying to see where Rain was within the pandemonium, but he couldn't see any trace of his furry paws. Bloody hell, where did he go?

Then, Kaleva saw something else, on the opposite side of the room. Of course, there are fire exits in here! "Over there!", Kaleva yelled to Halley, over the music, which was still playing for some reason. He gestured across the dance floor as agents encroached. Extraction Agents were shooting anything that looked kind of like a demon and Innocence Agents stunned and apprehended any belligerent or panicky humans while methodically searching the crowd for him specifically. Members of both teams rapidly grew closer to where he and Halley lurked. They would be within view of him at any moment.

Halley quivered, tail low, pressed close to the floor with his ears fallen, until he found the courage to his head to look at Kota. Then, Halley suddenly gave a playful smile.

Then, Kaleva's vision cut out into utter darkness. His head spun with confusion until Halley grabbed his left hand in both his front paws and pulled him out of hiding into a great cloud of black, forcing him into action hard, plunging him through a cascading haze of footsteps. He heard only screaming and howling while he felt hot blood coursing through his legs, which carried him to somewhere on the opposite wall, disoriented, struggling to stay balanced, lost in blackness if not for Halley's guidance, until a door lurched open and he fell to his knees in a sterile cement hallway. Moments later, Jace invited himself through the door behind him. Black fog slithered in, until the door fell shut.