Chapter 23: A Change

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On the grass I sat, patiently waiting for some kind of miracle. I wanted that door to open more than anything in the world, but by the time it did it would already be too late.

Sol: "We should be doing something! We can't let Mahale get out by herself!"

Luna: "Maybe... we should just let her go."

Scarlet: "Consider this, Luna, what if Mahale was the Flux herself? The gargantuan impact of her leaving this place, on both worlds, could very well cause the apocalypse itself."

I stood up to say something.

Marine: "It doesn't matter if Mahale is or isn't the Flux. The truth is, we can't do anything right now. Until that door is open, there's no way to get to her, and it's certainly not opening anytime soon."

I looked around at everyone and noticed that someone seemed to be missing. Luna, Hikari, Sol, Cyber, Scarlet, and Nine, were all present, but not Zero.

Marine: "Where did Zero go?"

Everyone looked around at each other. An expression of confusion was prevalent on their faces.

Scarlet: "Hikari, I thought I told you to keep an eye on him."

Hikari: "How many times do I have to tell you that I can't keep an eye on someone if I'm blind?"

Scarlet: "Now now, refrain from making these unbecoming excuses at once. Cyber? What about you? Did you see where Zero went?"

Cyber shook his head.

Scarlet: "Hmm... How irksome. He seems to have just vanished completely."

Nine: "This could cause a lot of problems."

Marine: "Some of us should look for him, and the others should stay here."

Scarlet: "I apologize, Marine, but you are not the leader. I am the one to decide what course of actions we take in situations such as this."

Marine: "Since when were you the appointed leader?"

Scarlet completely ignored me.

Scarlet: "Very well, everyone, we shall split into three groups. One group to find Zero, one to remain here, and one to find and bring food and drinks. I'm sure we're all simply famished from today's endeavours."

Marine: "That's almost exactly what my idea was..."

Scarlet looked at me, smiled for a moment, and then went on to ignore me again.

Scarlet: "Luna, Marine, you shall stay here. Sol, Cyber, you will be retrieving food. I will be investigating Zero's disappearance with Hikari and Nine. Are there any objections?"

Sol immediately raised his hand.

Scarlet: "No? No objections at all?"

Sol waves his hand ferociously.

Scarlet: "Splendid! Come along, Hikari."

Scarlet got up from her chair and walked away from the door into the distance. Hikari and Nine followed her.

Sol: "UUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHH."

Sol begrudgingly walked away towards his cabin with his shoulders slumped, looking down. Cyber followed from a distance.

For a few minutes, neither me nor Luna said anything. There wasn't really much to say after all. I tried to get rid of the silence the best way I knew how.

Marine: "I really don't like this silence."

Ah yes, the powerful language of honesty. Luna quietly laughed.

Luna: "Me neither. I enjoy talking to you, I just don't know what to talk about right now."

Marine: "Yeah, there's not many memories to go off of after all."

Luna: "I guess we could talk about the people here? I don't like talking about people behind their back, but it might be necessary."

Marine: "Um, alright. Who should we start with?"

Luna: "How about... Sol? What do you make of him?"

Marine: "He's a loud one, that's for certain."

Luna laughed again.

Luna: "You don't say."

Luna sighed.

Luna: "I suppose he isn't a bad person. He doesn't seem to take others' feelings into consideration, and doesn't know when to be serious, but I guess that's just part of who he is."

Marine: "That about sums it up. He doesn't seem dangerous or malicious or anything, he's just... you know... him."

Luna nodded.

Luna: "What about Scarlet?"

Marine: "Creepy and demeaning. She acts like she's better than everyone else which isn't true at all."

Luna: "Almost exactly what I was thinking as well. I feel that she does have good intentions though, so at least there's that."

Marine: "Hey, how do you feel about-"

I was cut off by the door opening. Nobody was on the other side of it, however.

Luna: "It's open! What... what should we do?"

Marine: "I think we should investigate."

Luna: "Are you sure? Scarlet might be mad."

Marine: "Honestly, I don't really care all that much."

I got up and entered through the doorway.

Luna: "Wait! I'm coming with you."

Together, Luna and I traversed a maze of hallways and rooms until we found the same room that Lumiere gave his first announcement in.

Luna: "There! The big door's over there!"

We went to the big door, but when we looked around the corner, we discovered a horrible sight.

Luna: "AAAAAAAAAH!"

On the ground was Mahale's lifeless body. Her legs, arms, head, everywhere was covered in stab wounds. A pool of blood was spreading from under her corpse. She died recently. The only question I had in my mind was...

Who could've done this?

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⏰ Last updated: Jun 12, 2018 ⏰

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