Alexander gently closed the door, rapping his knuckles on a nearby steel shelf to alert everyone of his presence. Everyone: Althea, Leona, Damien, and Vernon, together in a single place, safe. He counted himself lucky, not everyone could experience this miracle. Hardly was he a religious man, but perhaps God was out there in the greater universe.

Something was boiling though, something rich in artificial seasoning, and he tasted it on his tongue, washing away the blood and gravel he choked up hours prior. It was a nostalgic noise, which took him back to the early days where his troubles were simple: ruthless professors, cramming the night before, and a bedbug. He grinned, doing his best to hide his excitement. “Something’s cooking, I hear.”

He peeked his head around the corner. A ragtag of dirty bums surrounded a lab table with empty beakers, half-drunken water bottles, and a portable stove at the center, topped with a small pot. A deep red broth bubbled inside, and Vernon slipped a brick of ramyeon in. It melted almost instantly. Then came the next ingredients: some quail eggs, corn, tofu, diced carrots, processed meats, and maybe a bit of kimchi from the looks of things. It resembled budae-jjigae, a type of Korean stew, or army stew.

“It’s the man of the hour,” said Damien, who held a water bottle. Earlier, he had met Archknell for a “personal matter”, which most likely involved Duskfire and Latham.

Vernon raised a ladle as if to greet him and scooped up ramyeon into a (hopefully) clean beaker. A second scoop topped it off alongside a mishmash of stuff. “Came in just in time. I thought you forgot about us.”

“I’d never forget about you guys,” he said. Leona patted the chair next to her, smiled sweetly, and he sat down, returning a smile. “Got Leo here, Thea, Damien, and…” Alexander snapped his fingers, trying to remember. “Patrick…? No, wait, I got it! Mark! It’s Mark. Hi, Mark.”

Mark stared blankly at him. He opened his mouth to say something, then decided otherwise and quietly ate his noodles while fuming. The others laughed and Damien took his turn, ripping open a packet of ramyeon.

Alexander watched Damien cook his. “Anyway, what did you rob? A convenience store, someone’s stash, maybe, I don’t know, a homeless guy…?”

Vernon answered, “This time, I didn’t steal anything—”

“This time?”

“I stole a few MREs, that’s it! Regardless, that’s not the point, no, that’s not the point. Look, since we’re together, I thought we should celebrate.”

“He also doesn’t wanna eat any MREs,” Althea added.

“Yeah, that too. Some of the juniors raided Kim’s Corner, you know the place, and I made a few trades and look at us now. We’re gonna eat like kings tonight. We might eat rats tomorrow, but tonight, we’re kings.”

“All hail King Vernon the Rateater,” Alexander sarcastically said and raised his beaker as a toast. Everyone but Vernon raised theirs, all in honor of the glorious Rateater. “Speaking of rats, these are clean right? The beakers? I’m not gonna ingest sulfuric acid or anything like that?”

“Yeah, they were in the sterilized cabinet.” Vernon thumbed towards the back wall of the chemistry lab, towards a large white cabinet attached to the wall. “So y’know, the chances of you ingesting sulfuric acid is pretty low. Not impossible, but low.”

Althea shrugged, waiting for Damien to finish. She tapped the black countertop with her chopsticks in a familiar rhythm, probably to some K-pop song. “I mean, I’d let Alex ingest sulfuric acid.”

“You’re lucky that I don’t feed you rat poison.” Alexander frowned. “And stop tapping, it’s rude.”

“It hasn’t been five minutes and you’re already nagging me!” Althea exclaimed. She stopped tapping but she forgot everything Alexander had pestered her to do: straighten your back whenever you’re eating, don’t be impatient, don’t eat too fast, be thankful for the meal, be considerate, and the other items on the list.

“It hasn’t been a day and you already forgot everything I told you to do. Do you want to be a hunchback? You might be young now, but that’s no excuse for not taking care of yourself. Vernon has a horrible taste in women, yeah, but not even he has a preference for old hags.”

“Oi.”

Vernon sat up from his chair in protest. “I have a great taste in women!”

“No, you don’t,” Alexander and Althea said in unison.

Althea pointed a finger at her brother afterwards. “And I’m not an old hag and never will be.”

Vernon agreed, “That’s right! She’s more of a demon than an old hag anyway!”

“Oi!”

“Sometimes she can really be a devil!”

“I swear to God—!”

“Easy, you three!” Leona sighed. She rested rested her head on her hands, already exhausted by the conversation. The fighting had tuckered her out. “There’s never a dull moment with you guys. Alex, don’t bully your little sister so much.”

Alexander looked at Althea, she stuck out her tongue, he pointed accusingly at her. “Come on, Leo, she looks like a dork.” Leona frowned. “I’m serious! Look at her!”

Leona’s frown deepened. “Alex.”

“What? Why are you giving me that face? What did I do wrong? Bullying your younger siblings is a law as old as, I don’t know, Hammurabi’s Code.”

“Hammurabi?” Leona repeated in disbelief. “As in, ‘eye for an eye’, that Hammurabi? Are you seriously justifying yourself with that ancient codex? Do you even know the laws?”

“I confidently do not, but I’m confident. That means something.”

“That means literally nothing,” said Vernon bluntly.

“How about you shut up, Vernon? I—“ Someone slurped their noodles loudly. It was Damien. He glanced around at everyone. Normally, the average person would feel embarrassment but not him; he looked at the others like they were the freaks.

Damien finished, rubbing his mouth. “Don’t mind me. I only came for the food. You can go and argue as much as you want; it’s entertainment to me anyway.”

“Tch.” Althea took her turn next, ripping open a package of ramyeon. As she cooked, she took small, reluctant glances at Alexander and Leona.

Leona noticed. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“Huh? Oh, no, nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking.” Althea used her chopsticks to swirl the noodles. “From the last time I’ve seen you two together—and I’m not trying to imply anything here—but you’ve gotten closer. A lot closer.”

“Oh? Are we? Why, I haven’t noticed.” Leona innocently smiled, yet Alexander knew better, much better. She often presented herself as the considerate sort, the one who’d always help old ladies cross the road. She was, genuinely; however, as she reached under the table and discretely grasped Alexander’s hand, he was reminded that a witch was dwelling inside her.

Alexander awkwardly smiled too, trying to replicate the same innocence but judging from Althea’s unconvinced expression, it didn’t work. “I think you’re going insane, Althea.”

Damien loudly slurped again.

“Shut up, Damien.”

“I’m literally eating.”

“What am I going to do with you…?” muttered Leona, tugging lightly on his hand. “Althea, I told you that your brother’s a troublesome man before, right?”

“Multiple times, yeah.” Althea tilted her head side-to-side. “Well, almost everyday. He’s an asshole.”

“I don’t disagree.” Leona gave him a teasing wink. “He really is a troublesome man though. Ever since the disaster began, it’s been one interesting journey, and it’s only going to get more ridiculous from here.”

“No kidding,” Vernon said before wiping his mouth on his collar. “If you don’t mind me asking, how were things in System Articles? I’ve heard there’s a rogue there, what’s his name again…? Uh, Carnival?”

“For the kids, it’s Carnival,” joked Damien before sighing. “It’s Carn, a complete psychopath. We would’ve had a smoother escape to Black Paladin if it wasn’t for him.”

“Yeah…” Alexander bit his lip. He almost forgot what’d happen during System Articles; it felt like a week ago honestly. Everything vividly returned to him: the horrible screeching goblins, the Wolva, Mattis’s and Mai’s deaths, Carn, Leona. Suddenly, a chair creaked and he felt something warm press against his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Leona asked in a whisper.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“If you say so.” She remained close to him, holding his hand still. He liked that.

Alexander cleared his throat. “Anyway uhm, what we were talking about again? About Carn, right?”

Vernon told him, “It’s fine if you don’t wanna talk about it—”

“No no, it’s okay. I figured we’re going to share stories anyway, it’s alright. Honestly, reflecting on what happened then, we got really lucky. We escaped using the [Ordo Teleport Scroll] that was in the special shop. Of course, that was after, uhm, that was after Leona got hurt. She gave me a scare, I swear to God.”

“Our luck didn’t stop there,” Leona continued, “Team Luster had occupied Black Paladin Station and basically saved my life. I owe them a great debt now. We all do. Archknell included, who saved us from Pereyra.”

Right now, Black Paladin Station was occupied by the Ordoian military. As Archknell had said, they were researching the possibility of using it to transport supplies, and to kill the remaining Incogs that were inside. Roswell Kirk was there, the security advisor from System Articles, the only employee who managed to escape. The rest were unfortunately left behind, subjected to whatever horrors Carn and his gang had in store. Considering Leona had damaged his vision, no doubt he’d punish them.

The others had nothing to say about Leona’s account. Althea dumped some noodles into her beaker. Alexander gestured Leona to go next, but she refused and gestured for him to go, he insisted, she insisted further, he insisted again and she finally conceded, sighing, letting go of his hand.

“So…” Vernon plucked a piece of carrot and popped it into his mouth. “Going back to uh, Black Paladin, can you guys tell me about Pereyra? What do you guys know about him? Or it. Or whatever.”

Damien answered, “We know as much as you do honestly. Pereyra’s one of four minions of Kreutz, the leader. Now that we have identified him, or it, or whatever, Archknell has personally volunteered to lead the subjugation. The System refers to Pereyra as a ‘Comet’ as well, but I honestly have zero idea what that means. Nothing good, I’d say. It was a slaughter in Black Paladin.”

“Sheesh. All I had to deal with was bugs. Gross, disgusting bugs. Some flew, some skittered, some rolled. I think I’m gonna have nightmares tonight, hehe…” Vernon looked over to Althea, nudged her with his elbow, but she hardly reacted. “Thea, you okay?”

Althea swirled her noodles around, creating a small twister with her food. While she was staring at the eye of the red storm, she wasn’t staring at anything really. Her mind was elsewhere, and her appetite was surely gone. “Julius High was almost a coffin for me. We were in the basement, then these ghoul found us.”

Damien muttered, “Demonic creatures…”

“Yeah, they were demonic, alright.”

Leona stopped cooking and stared at Althea. “Goodness. Sweetheart—”

“They broke down the door. Most of us didn’t make it. If not the basement, then the school, if not the school, then the roads, if not the roads, then Arc Catholic Church. I knew people who died. It’s a weird feeling, you know? Whole groups of people, gone, and you just saw them earlier that day doing stupid shit and saying stupid fucking things, but like, not anymore. You have to keep reminding yourself that they’re gone. I don’t really care about them, not like you guys, but it’s just a weird feeling, I dunno.”

A pit grew in Alexander’s stomach. Of course, he’d forgotten. Althea had to fight to come here, navigating through a city plagued with monsters roaming the streets, constantly looking over her shoulder. Alexander knew the fear. After all, he had experienced it before, and now she was in his shoes.

Althea, unfortunately, was the exception.

“Thea…” murmured Alexander. He was the one who suggested hiding in the basement. He said that. “I—”

“It’s not your fault,” replied Althea, knowing exactly what he was going to say. “It… It happens, I guess. Things don’t work out exactly as you want. I’m just glad all of you are here.”

“Yeah, like, I mean, I understand completely,” Vernon said. “When I secured Sun Hall and looked down from the roof, I saw people I knew too. Students like us, teachers, the faculty, they weren’t people any more. They were just insect food. I didn’t like some of them, I didn’t really care about most of them, but it’s different than the gore you;d see online. You don’t know their faces, and you move on. Disturbed, freaked out maybe, but you move on. But I know these faces. I know they have—they had a life, and it’s not there anymore. It’s not there.”

“When I…” Damien spoke next. “When I rescued Alex and Leo in Black Paladin, from the Incogs, I had to walk through hell. I’ve seen people be torn in half. I’ve seen worse happening to much younger. But I pushed through because I had to. We all had to fight, and guess what? We fought, we survived, and honestly, I’m pissed. That’s why tomorrow, we’re going on the offensive. We experienced our own horrors, so let’s give the Comets their own.”

“Amen to that.” Vernon raised his beaker and clinked it with Damien’s. Leona nodded, remembering her dinner was in the pot and quickly scooped it out.

“Are you alright, Thea?” Alexander asked her, still concerned.

Althea nodded, taking a small piece of carrot. “I am now. Your dumbass is here. You are going to let me fight Pereyra, right?”

Alexander’s mouth gaped open like an idiot. “Huh?”

“That’s what Archknell’s doing right now, isn’t he? The, uh, the juniors’ admins were talking about it earlier: the Combative Program’s gonna fight Pereyra. The first-years are barely older than I am, so y’know, am I gonna fight too?”

“Uh…” He looked at Leona but she shrugged. He turned to Vernon afterwards. “Hey Vernon, did the B-Ranks survive?”

“Uh, yeah…?”

“Good, tell me about them. Especially Victor Victor.”

“Oi,” Althea called.

***

After dinner, Vernon and Damien both went to speak with Frederick, the engineer who’d essentially saved Sun Hall. Archknell ordered everyone to rest though; tomorrow would bring the challenge. Everyone’s sleeping quarters were in the courtyard with the soldiers, having a large tent to themselves.

When Alexander, Althea, and Leona went outside, it was noticeably quieter. Although gunfire was heard beyond the walls, it had lessened; the initial chaos of the first day was fading, leaving only the aftershock. There was a distinct relief felt in the air, a strange security that even though it wasn’t guaranteed, everyone knew it couldn’t get possibly worse. Tomorrow, probably, but not tonight. They could have tonight, and that was a victory in itself.

The trio passed soldiers patrolling campus and refugees, some of which Alexander recognized as students. Some recognized them as well, and they exchanged quick words of gratitude and grief, sharing concerns about the future and promises that things will get better. There was one woman in particular that noticed them, a third-year in the Combative Program. In other words, she was a junior Slayer.

She had a similar fashion sense to Althea: streetwear, which contrasted her peers who often cosplayed in a fantasy setting. She was dressed in tight black pants and a white crop-top, which had a red runic design sewn at the center—most likely a protection rune embedded in the clothing—and it was paired with a long jacket. She tugged at her black fingerless compression arm sleeves, her nails painted black.

Like the Shens, her hair was raven-colored but of uneven length, with some drooping down onto her face and circling her left bluish-green eye. Her classmates knew her as a slacker; Leona personally thought she was the second-smartest of them all (the first being the Class Representative).

Normally, she was a cheery girl. She didn’t have the same glow as before.

“I heard you guys were in town,” Sorayama Kaiya said—Slayer name: Uprise—and Combative Class A1’s prized esper and Vice Class Representative.

“Kaiya,” Leona said with a warm smile, “it’s been a long day, hasn’t it? How are you? How’s Chunhua?”

“We’re both doing exactly as you’d imagine, yeah.” Kaiya turned to the Shens, especially Althea. “I’m seeing double here.”

“Hehe, well, unfortunately my parents gave me a little sister. You’ve heard of her already.” Alexander pushed Althea to introduce herself.

She sighed. “I wanna apologize if my brother’s an asshole to you, he’s like that with, well, with pretty much everyone. I’m the nicer one of the two: Althea.”

“Good to meetcha. So to break the ice and all, you guys are joining us for the operation against Pereyra, right?” she asked.

Althea brightened. “Of course we are—”

But Alexander stopped her: “Yeah, ‘we’ are, as in ‘me and Leo’. I haven’t promised Althea anything, and I’m generally apprehensive to, you know, letting a kid fight with me—”

“I’m not a ‘kid’, I’m literally turning eighteen next week. I’ll be a legal adult and you can’t do shit about it!”

Before Alexander could retort, Leona placed a hand on both of their shoulders. She was definitely the mediator of the two. “I apologize if they’re bothering you, Kaiya. This is a conversation saved when we’re alone, and Alex should speak with Archknell about this tomorrow morning. Right?”

The Shens huffed, pouting.

Kaiya laughed. “If it’s anything, we’re all basically kids anyway. But Althea, if you do fight with us, we’ll treat you as one of our own. We do that already with these two.” She pointed to Alexander and Leona. “They’re celebrities.”

Leona shook her head. “You flatter us, Kaiya.”

“It’s the one thing I’m good at,” she replied before looking around, frowning. ”Anyway uhm, as much as I wanna catch up, I gotta meet with Victor about something. You guys take care of yourself, alright? Try to get some sleep, eat if you haven’t already, all that stuff.”

“Take care of yourself too, okay?” Alexander replied.

“Mhm. Please share our concern with your class as well, and Professor Hei too,” Leona added.

“I will, thanks. Good night.” Kaiya did a light bow and walked towards the direction of the training grounds. Alexander and Leona watched her leave; she didn’t step lightly as she used to. Her feet sometimes dragged across the ground, zombie-like.

Althea asked them, “You guys know her well?”

Leona nodded. “We do. She’s one of four B-Ranks in the Combative Program. Chunhua, who we mentioned earlier, is another, and her best friend. Kaiya is, well, she’s cheerful. She’s lazy, often tries to push work off to her classmates, but she’s capable. I think like most of us, they weren’t prepared for a tragedy such as this.”

“We’re just kids,” Alexander reiterated what Kaiya had said earlier. “That means you especially, Althea. Tonight, I want you to think hard and long if you want to join us. I’m not saying you will, but there’s a reason why we respect our soldiers. It’s hard, dirty work. It’s not a game, we’re not playing war, it is war.

“No matter what anyone says, you are strong. I believe you will not only hold your own, but you’ll probably kick ass too. But this is something that goes beyond a simple ‘want’, it’s a ‘need’, something that is primary like hunger and thirst and belonging. When you are ready, I want you to give me your answer. Okay? I trust you, Althea—” he looked at Leona, “—we trust you.”

Althea stared at her brother for a few seconds, then she nodded. “Alright, I got it.” She nodded again. “I got it.”