Asher hurries back to his dorm and locks the door. He walks to his dresser and pulls it open, he removes a wooden plate in the drawer and pulls out a pistol in it's holster and tucks it behind him in his pants.

A muffled, quiet voice moans. Asher pulls the gun out, turns and aims at the closet. He walks slowly to the sliding mirror, he slides it open fast and aims at the figure on his butt.

Then he realizes what he's seeing. Crap. Ryan, horror stained in his eyes, a gag around his mouth. His hands tied in front of him and his ankles tied as well. Asher knows he's not faking it, or in other words, it's not a trick.

Asher holsters his gun and unties the gag. "Gah! Asher! What the-"

Asher slaps his hand to Ryan's mouth. "Shh! Relax. Calmly, what happened?"

"Uh-uh-uh...Garret, h-he tied me up, said it was some stupid tradition to do this to newbies! Can you believe that!?"

"They do this a lot? How'd they get in?"

"The door was open." he says avoiding the first question,

"Like open, open?"

"Yeah, I was walking by and they went in your room, I told them to get out and they did this to me 'cause I threatened to tell you about it."

Asher's eyes narrow, "That's it?" he asks as he finishes untying him,

"Asher?"

"What?"

"Why do you have a gun?"

Oh crap! Ryan just saw that! Asher didn't even process that! As he thinks about it, Asher has no idea where Noctus is or what happened to her. Asher could use another set of eyes and ears. But at the same time, Ryan has no experience and would be just a huge hinderment to Asher's investigation. Asher could blow it off and say it's for self defense. But the silence has been too long now.

"Asher?"

He sighs, "Ryan, you and I got to talk."

Ryan crawls out of the closet and gets to his feet. "What is that supposed to mean?!"

Asher notices Ryan glancing at the door and Asher steps inbetween him and the locked dorm room door. "A-Asher?"

"Ryan I want to tell you a story, and I'd very much like you to listen. If you keep it to yourself, I'll help you get revenge on the idiots that did this to you."

Ryan turns as white as a ghost. "Are you a murderer? Are y-you gonna kill m-me?" He shakily asks,

Asher closes his eyes and sighs, "I need to hear if you'll listen Ryan, I'm not a criminal, it's for self defense. If you want, you can leave right now, I won't say anything if you don't. I promise."

Ryan stands there, shaking for almost a solid minute before his shaking lessens greatly and he sits on the bed. Asher nods, "Alright."

Asher sits next to him. "Ryan, I have a bodyguard, as I'm sure you have heard."

"Noctus?"

Asher nods, "Someone has done something to her, or has made Noctus go into hiding. Whoever it is, I get a weird feeling they mean to hurt me...and Noctus. She trained me to fight. That's why I have the gun. Whoever is behind this, they tried to lure me out into the open 2 hours ago."

"W-why are you dragging me into this then?!"

"Ryan. Shush. And because I've come to a conclusion."

"W-what's that?"

"They, whoever they are, made my bodyguard, one of the most feircesome women alive, go into hiding. They are dangerous, which means they likely want to kidnap, hurt or kill me. Possibly to get to Noctus, but...If they really are that dangerous, why havent they just done what they needed to?"

"You mean why would they try to lure you out."

"Exactly. I bet you anything, they have no idea who I am. I looked it up, all photos or mentions of Noctus on the internet are gone. Erased. Which means Noctus, the real one erased the information and pictures of her so I can be safe. The person that is after me knows Noctus, but not that Noctus is Asher's bodyguard."

"Well wait...then how do they know about the connection between you two?" Ryan asks,

"That is a right question. How do they know?"

"Again...why me?"

"Because, I don't trust anyone else enough right now. But if it's just me...I need someone I can trust Ryan."

"But, What could I do to help you?"

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to do...Noctus taught me, a little of how to take care of myself. My first day, I made out who I could trust my life with and who I couldn't. I trust you."

Ryan stares at him for a moment and then looks at the ground and stares at the grains of carpet, then looks at Asher.

"What about the girls in our class? Mia, Jessica, Riley?"

Asher holds in his sigh, he clears his throat. "If you're in, I'll tell you why I can't trust them."

Ryan's eyes narrow, "I hate you."

Asher smirks at the ground.

"Fine! I'm in ya loser, but no more 'edge of your seat' suspense."

"Deal." Asher grins,

By the end of it, Ryan is wide eyed and seemingly not breathing. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"I wish." Asher mutters,

Ryan gets to his feet and lets out a long breath. "Wow...talk about a nightmare."

"No kidding."

"So uh...next step?"

"School. Noctus will reach out when it's time, for now, investigate the band."

Ryan hums to himself, "Jessica and them."

"Yeah."

"Alright man, where to first?"

"I'm thinking we'll follow Mia after school. "Alright man. Let's do this."

Asher sighs with relief, finally. "Thanks Ryan."

"Um, do you want me to come?"

Asher smirks,

"What? I haven't done this like you dude, it freaks me out okay!?"

Asher laughs, "No you don't have to come. if anyone asks, just say i want to do homework, don't say where though okay?"

"You got it man...wow...this is a lot to unpack."

"Just take it easy okay? I'll text you."

"Yeah, I'll text you whenever I see them, but like I'm not gonna follow them."

"It's okay to be scared."

"Were y-heeeeey." He growls,

Asher gives a smile that says it all, 'I got ya sucker.'

"There is something important we need to discuss though."

"What?" Ryan grumbles,

Asher grins evilly, "Garret."

"Come on, it's fine."

"Oh no it's not! Little jerk. No one picks on my friends."

"Ugh, what do you want to do?"

"Well give me a minute and I'll figue it out." Asher sasses,

"Got it! Let's go."

Asher pops to his feet like he was spring loaded. Ryan gets up and hurries after him as he rushes out of the room. "Where are we going?"

"I'll tell you on the way. Do you know where he is?"

"The World Mall I think but he's probably coming back or actually back by now."

"Good."

They walk to Ryan's dorm as Asher explains the plan to him. "You're an idiot."

"But?"

Ryan smiles and shakes his head, "It's an idiot plan?" he jokes,

Asher glares at him for an instant. "Alright, you write, I'll be back."

"I still hate this plan!"

"I know."

Ryan rips a sheet of paper out of the notebook and begins scribbling the message, almost impossibly fast, Asher returns.

"Okay you tape it up on the door."

"Asher?"

"Yep?"

"We are getting revenge on a guy that bullied me even though there is someone out there that probably wants to kill or hurt you."

Asher made a weird face, "Yeah...but they don't know me so...we got time."

Ryan gives him a concerned look.

"Truthflly, if I think about it too much man...I'm gonna lose my mind. I just need a breath before we start all this."

"Asher-"

"I know. I'm just stalling, but...I'm freaking out man. I don't know what to do."

Ryan snorts in agreement, "I'm sure...we got this. I'm sure Noctus is fine too."

"Thanks man."

"Of course."

They casually walk up to the dorm room but stop before getting to the open door. Voices can be heard inside.

"How did you not get caught?"

"Speed, narrowly missed them."

Asher steps in the doorway and waves at them as they notice him. "What's up guys?" He asks,

"What do you want?"

"We left a present in your room, you should go check it out."

"I did." Asher smirks,

Asher quickly grabs the handle and shuts the door and turns the lock. They shout and yell and bang on the door. "Switching the locks." Ryan chuckles,

"Plans don't need to be complex." Asher says,

Ryan slaps the paper and tape on the door. 'I found a monster under the bed and locked it in the room.'

Ryan's smirk turns into a big smile. "I can't tell you how good it feels."

"You're so dead Palmer!"

Asher shurgs, turns and they start walking away. "Yet my heart is still beating."

"He's gonna kill you ya know."

"Eh, he's gotta catch me first."

BANG!

They look back at the door. BANG-crack!

"Ryan?"

Asher holds his hand out, "See you tomorrow."

"What?" Ryan squeaks,

"Run."

"What about you?"

BANG!

"Just get out of here dude."

Ryan groans, "See ya!" he says and bolts, sprinting down the hall and around the corner,

BANG-CRACK!

The door swings open hard and slaps the wall. Garret, Brandon and Josh barrel out of the room, they find him after a moment and glare at him.

"Sup guys?"

"You little prick." Josh mutters,

Asher points finger guns at him and clicks his tongue twice, "That's not nice."

He turns and runs as fast as he can. They shout after him as they chase him down the hall.

"Move! Move! Move!" Asher shouts,

People jump back and watch as they all pound their feet against the floor. Asher turns the corner and runs down the hall, he makes it to the stair case and sprints down with them right behind him.

Asher knows he can probably outrun them, but it'd be more entertaining to hide. He runs to the first floor and slams the door open. He runs to a nearby dorm and bolts into the room where four boys are playing cards.

They both stop and stare at him. "Sh! Please." He whispers and jumps behind the door. The staircase door opens again followed by verbalized death threats,

One of the guys taps the others and they go back to their game. Garret and the other two stomp in the doorway. The boys jump and look at them.

"Where is he?!" Brandon growls,

"Who?"

"We-we're just playing cards."

"Did you hear him?" Garret growls back,

"We heard that bang you guys made twice, but he didn't-didn't come this way."

The three guys storm off down the hall. Asher creeps out and grins at them.

"I love you." he whispers,

"Be careful." one of the boys say,

Asher creeps back into the hall, making sure the coast is clear. He carefully makes his way to the front door ad hurries to his classroom. They wouldn't look for him there and he's got nothing else to do right now.

He walks down the hall and pulls out a bent and twisted paperclip, the same one he used to switch the locks on Garret's door.

He unlocks the door and opens the door. On their knees softly sobbing, a figure kneels over a corpse. "Um." Asher starts,

The figure gasps sharply and turns around and stares at him.

Riley.

Tears dot her glasses and stream her cheeks as she looks at him.

"I-I-I didn't....I-I didn't do th-this." she cries softly,

Asher snaps back and closes the door behind him and locks it.

"What happened?" he whispers,

"Th-this i-i-isn't m-my blood."

"It's alright, what happened?"

"I-I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I-I-I-I j-just-th-the door was...it was unlocked, I came to talk to Miss Clark and-and-and I found her like this...oh my-"

"Hey! Riley!"

She hangs her head and sobs again, hard. "I...I didn't kill her! I promise!"

"Shhh. You aren't hurt?"

"N-no, I said, this is her blood! I d-didn't kill her." she sobs,

Asher surrenderingly raises his hands, "Alright, shhh. I know you didn't kill her. Can you look at me?"

She does so but finds it hard to see him through all her tears that flood her eyes. "Take deep breaths, as slow as you can."

"How are you so c-calm? She's dead."

"Right now, just focus on breathing."

Asher takes deep, slow breaths and breathes with Riley who can hardly breathe at all. "Alright, how about we get out of here?"

Panic floods her face. "No-no-no! Please! Please don't tell anyone!" She begs,

"Hey. Hey. We aren't telling anyone anything right now. For now, let's just get you out of here okay?"

"I need to throw up." she blurts,

She hurries to the trash can and pukes. Asher hurries ad pulls her hair back as she does. She holds herself up with her hands on the floor and pukes again. She flops to her butt and wipes her mouth on her sleeve.

"Riley?"

She looks at him and is still sniffling.

"We got to get you some place safe. And...think about it first. We need to take pictures and videos of this."

Her face turns to disgust and horror. "Someone did this Riley. To you. Someone is going to find it, police will be all over this. I want to conduct my own investigation, I can look back for clues."

"She's dead Asher." She cries,

"I know. It'll just take a second."

She sighs and nods, "Then I need to puke again."

"Don't touch the trashcan." Asher says,

He pulls his phone and takes a video of Miss Clark and then of the message on the white board. And erases the message without Riley noticing.

He walks over and kneels next to her, "Alright, I'm done."

She nods hard, breathing heavily. "H-how do we get out of here?"

"We got two options, we wait till dark, erase camera footage, or we sneak out carefully now, get you somewhere, and I'll come back for the footage."

Her eyes grow bigger than they already had been from all this. "S-so, low chance of getting caught and sit next to Miss Clark's body for a few hours or a high chance of getting caught if we leave now."

"We can get out of here now, no problem."

She swallows hard, and shakes her head, "N-no. No. No. No-"

"Alright. Alright. That's fine. We'll wait, I'll take care of prints, you just try to process everything."

She, already pale, turns so white, you'd think she was dead herself. She manages a nod and gets to her feet and plops into the corner by the door. Asher is careful to wipe the prints off the teacher and the trashcan and the floor all around where they were sitting. He sits in front of her and sighs.

"H-how are you so calm?"

"Because I grew up on the street. And unfortunately they aren't super uncommon to see."

Her face scrunches up. They sit in silence until the moon has declared it's dominance of the sky. Asher leads her to and breaks into the office and searches for the system that stores the footage.

"How did you know how to do this?"

"Break in?"

"Y-yeah."

"Grew up with pickpockets and thieves. Here it is."

Asher pulls out the harddrive of the camera system, he wipes his prints and they sneak out of the building.

"Alright, when we are out in the open, no sudden movements."

They hurry to his dorm building and up to his room using the stairs. They get to the dark, silent floor and creep, being mindful of their steps. Sneaking around like this with all the lights off, it feels like a horror or thriller movie to Asher.

They soundlessly slip into his room and lock the door. She stares down at her bloodied hands in the darkness, faded light of the moon leaves the room a dark gray color.

"I can't believe that happened."

"Why don't you take a shower, wash that off, You can use some of my clothes. I'll wash yours."

"What if someone catches you?"

He snorts, walks over to his closet and opens it up. Her eyebrows slightly rise, "You bought a small washer and dryer?"

"Cause why not?" He asks,

She smiles softly, "Okay. Thank you Asher. Seriously."

"Don't think on it."

She takes a towel given to her and closes the bathroom door. He picks out Zelda pajamas and lays them out for her. She climbs out half an hour later and dresses in the bathroom. She drenches her hair hard and walks out with a half dead face.

She rubs her eyes and smiles at him softly. "Thank you Asher, thank you for not telling and, you don't know me at all...I don't have have words...how do you know I didn't kill her? You have no proof. Gah! Asher! I could be ready to kill you!"

"I do have proof. Miss Clark was on her back when I came in."

"So?" She asks weakly,

"I checked. She got shot twice in the back, general rule, when you get shot in the back you fall forward. Her blood was all over your hands which means you most likely flipped her over to see if she was alive. If you shot her you wouldn't have stayed or have her blood on your hands."

She stares at him, stunned. "Wow...wow...I'm...impressed."

"Deductive reasoning.."

She smiles brighter, but with a hazy look in her eyes. "Alright, you should get some rest."

She nods, "I'll take the floor."

"No you won't." he spits,

"You're sleeping in the bed. I'll sleep on the floor."

She makes a sad face. "Asher, no. you've been so k-"

"I don't care, end of story, you aren't winning, get in the fricken bed."

She snorts and sighs. "Fine...thank you."

She comes close and wraps her arms around him, hugging him tight. "Thank you."

He starts the load for her clothes and helps her into bed and lays on the ground with a spare blanket and one of the pillows.

"See you in the morning Riley."

"Okay." She says softly,