The Depra King 5 Summer: The Woods Bring Forth New Incoming; Bonds

I went through my normal morning routine, slowly brus.h.i.+ng my teeth before soaking my face with hot water. I shuffled back out of the bathroom and went into the kitchen, where I pulled out a packet of instant oatmeal. I boiled some water on the stove (the microwave was broken) and poured it into the bowl with oatmeal in it. I quietly stirred it up with a spoon while walking the short distance it takes to reach the dining room. I set my bowl down, the spoon laid carefully across the bowl so it wouldn't fall in, and I went to get my preferred drink of the morning: water.

And right when I was about to go eat, I heard loud knocking at the front door. I glared in the general direction it was at, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

I'll just continue to eat, I thought as I started eating my food. I heard even louder knocking, and eventually a voice.

"DEPRA, OPEN UP THE d.a.m.n DOOR!"

Of course it was her. I looked sadly at my one-spoonful eaten of oatmeal before stirring up my resolve to face the onslaught.

I shuffled my way to the door, and I could hear multiple voices from outside, chattering excitedly. I hesitated for a moment, and another round of loud knocking spooked me so bad I almost fell over. I unlocked the top lock, and the voices outside went quiet as I unlocked the second lock and opened the door.

"What took you so long!?"

"…Why is that the first question you ask Lachesis?"

It was Lachesis and her gang of friends, including the a.s.s. Lachesis was wearing a sunhat, a yellow t-s.h.i.+rt along with faded jeans, with tennis shoes to match. She was also carrying a rather large bag over her shoulder, and to top the outfit was her usual annoyed look.

"Whatever, just let us in already." Why is she always so pushy? I consented and walked back towards my breakfast, and I watched as they all went into the living room, all dressed in a similar fas.h.i.+on and carrying large bags. They set their bags next to the wall covering the kitchen from the living room, and sat down on the couch, well almost everybody.

"Why are you just now eating Depra? Don't tell me you just woke up?" Only Lachesis sat in the dining room, and she was scowling at my food. "Didn't we give you a whole bunch of food when you came over?"

"It's too early for questions Lachesis. Please just let me eat already," I answered, yawning as I turned away from her, putting another spoonful of my meager meal into my mouth. Mmm, delicious.

She watched me eat my food and drink my water, silently thinking to herself. She took off her hat and set it on the table, revealing a ponytail.

"It's the afternoon Depra. I worry if you think this is early," she said, sighing to herself.

I finished eating and wiped off all the oatmeal from the spoon with my tongue before tossing it in the sink behind me. I downed the rest of my water and set my cup on the counter before throwing away my paper bowl.

I looked back at Lachesis, and she was staring at me expectantly. I scratched my head before frowning.

"I was eating, I just woke up, yes, and I haven't eaten much of it yet."

She nodded happily before dragging me over to the others. "Alright guys, tell him what we're doing!"

Hemera raised her hand, the excitement in her voice and eyes almost palpable. "Ooh, ooh! Pick me, pick me!" Lachesis chuckled before giving her the go ahead, and Hemera positioned her yellow eyes onto me, giving me a wide grin.

"We're going camping!"

"Huh?" I couldn't help but let that out, my mouth dropping slightly. Everyone laughed at my reaction, and I managed to recompose myself before glaring at the culprit of this mess.

"Lachesis, why don't you tell me these things beforehand?"

"Because if I did, you would just run off somewhere."

I rolled my eyes at her ready response and scratched my head. "Okay, but what makes you think I have camping gear to begin with?"

Erebus gave me a thumbs up, his red eye gleaming. "It's okay King, we've already acquired the necessary tools for you to go on this excursion towards the forest where demons and monsters alike lurk about-!" he was suddenly cut off by his head getting shoved down by Necessitas, who rolled her eyes.

"Stop that already you idiot!" She sighed as she kept his head down, and she met my eyes with her different colored brown ones. "We planned ahead. We got all the stuff for you this morning before we came here. So, no need to worry about that." Yay, lucky me.

I felt a slight push behind me, causing me to stumble down the step required to enter the living room. I let out a heavy sigh, and Lachesis appeared in front of me, her arms crossed under her chest.

"So, that means hurry up and take a shower already! Get dressed, not in pajamas, and pack up two pairs of clothes since we'll be there for three days and nights!"

"Okay mom," I grumbled, and I was rewarded with a swift kick from Lachesis along with a chorus of laughter. d.a.m.n it, I really have to spend three days with those nutcases?

I grabbed some actual clothes (grey sweatpants and a well-worn t-s.h.i.+rt that said rollin' with the homies on it, and the picture had a couple bears in a sports car chilling) and hopped into the shower, deciding to wash my hair as my thoughts began to wander away.

I really wish she would have a little bit more faith in me, all things considering. I've known her since we were in diapers, so that should at least elicit some basic level of trust. After all, we're kinda like family in a weird way. Although, maybe not so much now as it was a couple years back…

I shook my head, shaking off the shampoo and the bad thoughts alike. In any case, I highly doubt it was going to be any fun out there. Just the thought of having to put up with her boyfriend alone is enough for me to start a fight with him. Maybe I can just avoid him the entire time.

Yeah, that wasn't gonna happen, I thought as I began to wash myself. She probably has some plan to try to make me get along with him. Get along with Hiro first you hypocrite. Ah, if only the Hidden Club came too. h.e.l.l, even if it was just Hiro, I could probably at least deal with it a little better.

I finished up in the shower, letting out a toothy yawn as I dried myself off. It was when I was getting dressed that I noticed something odd. There was a loud argument outside the bathroom that seemed to have been going on for a while. After getting dressed, I slowly opened the bathroom door, and I could finally hear their voices properly.

"You still haven't told me how you two even found out about this!"

"It's three, since my sister is with us, but that's besides the point. What's wrong with us coming?"

"Yeah Lachesis, what's up? Were you trying to pounce on Depra during this excursion of yours?"

"Oi, please refrain from saying such disgusting terms in front of my sister please Prez."

"You still haven't answered my d.a.m.n question!"

"Do we really have too though? I mean, we're already here, so what's the point of answering?"

"Ooh, a solid argument! As expected from number 1!"

"G-go big bro!"

"Ah, hearing Luna's words of encouragement is enough for me to accomplish any task, no matter how arduous it may seem!"

"…Sister lover."

"Hey, I take great offense to that!"

I peaked my head out of the bathroom, and I could see Lachesis with a cross look plastered on her face, tapping her foot angrily at the sudden intruders. Although, if it was who I thought it was, then maybe…

"Hiro, is that you?" I asked, getting out the bathroom and peaking my head around the corner.

And sure enough, it was him, along with Prez and his sister Luna. He grinned when he saw me. "Hey Depra, we're going camping with you too! Nice surprise yeah?"

Before I could answer, Lachesis appeared before me, blocking my vision of the trio. "They're not coming."

"Ugh, I'm so hurt Hiro! Why is she so cruel!?" I chuckled at Prez's over exaggeration, and Lachesis' face only grew angrier.

"I don't mind if they come Lachesis. What's the harm?" I asked, scratching my damp hair.

She couldn't respond to that, only getting an expression filled with anger, confusion, and sadness. "d.a.m.n it, it just had to be you, didn't it?"

She moved out of the way, and I was met with the trio once more. "So, I guess you're good to go?"

Prez and Hiro posed together, and Luna followed, lagging behind.

"The Trio has arrived!" Prez and Hiro said confidently, and Luna said it as well, albeit in a really cute way.

I let out another chuckle, and Lachesis let out a sigh in response before twirling her ponytail. "So, why exactly are you guys here anyway?"

"Oh, that. I was planning on surprising you today along with Luna, since she wanted to see you as well, and I b.u.mped into Prez trying to stalk me along the way, so she's here because she's a stalker." Hiro avoided a punch from Prez as he walked up to me. "Still though, I didn't know you guys were going camping! I've been a couple times, but Luna hasn't, so treat her well, yeah?"

"Why did you explain it to him but not to me?" Lachesis asked as we all moved towards the living room.

"Because he asked nicely. You know, without all the hysterics." He said casually, and it looked like she wanted to punch him.

"Hey, it's Mr. Hiro in the house!" Hemera exclaimed, rus.h.i.+ng up to him in her usual peppy manner. She gave off a radiant smile, and Hiro met it with one of his own.

"Nice to see you again Merry! Glad to see you're as peppy as usual," He said, rubbing her golden-yellow hair. She almost purred in happiness when he did as a look of pure bliss appeared on her cheerful face.

"Ah, I really do love your head pats!"

"Well, Luna does gives me plenty of practice," he said, glancing over at his sister, who was staring at Hemera.

"Big bro, who are these people?" She asked from behind him, hesitant from meeting a splurge of new people.

"Oh, they're pretty harmless; well, maybe except for those two," he said rea.s.suringly, pointing at Erebus and Eros. "Oh, and that guy too. Don't even come near him." He then pointed at the a.s.s, who had been on his phone the entire time.

Lachesis' group of friends each introduced themselves to the shy girl, and she quickly warmed up to them, much to Hiro's relief.

"Okay, now can we go?" Lachesis asked, impatiently tapping her foot.

"Actually, I didn't know we were gonna go camping, so we have to go out and buy some things. Sorry about that." He said, raising up one hand in apology.

"Ooh, let me take them! We might be a little late, but that'll be fine though," Hemera said excitedly, and Lachesis nodded in response.

"That works. You do know where it is, right?"

"Of course I do!" Lachesis stared at Hemera before she turned away. "Okay, maaaybe I was just gonna wing it, but what's wrong with that?"

"I'll send you the details, so Hiro, make sure she doesn't get lost okay?"

"Why do I have to do it?"

"Would you rather have Prez do it?"

"I'll do it!" Wow, he sure changed his tune.

"Alright, the rest of us will ride out! Depra, you're with Necessitas, alright?" I nodded, and everybody got geared up to go, grabbing their bags as we all headed for the door.

I at least pray that it's rather nice where we're camping out…

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We reached the parking grounds in about 2 and a half hours, near the base of the mountain the opposite side of Olympus. After that, we had to walk a couple miles upward to reach our destination.

I ended up at the back of the line, and accompanying me was Nyx, who also couldn't keep up with everybody's fast pace. We ended up slowing down together, and we watched as everybody speeded ahead, their amicable chatter fading away until there was nothing but the wonderful sounds of nature.

"Looks like it's just us today, huh?" Nyx asked, and I nodded in response. This was the first time me and her had been alone together, so I didn't really know what to talk to her about. We ended up walking in awkward silence for a while before Nyx spoke to me again.

"Do you wanna go back and ditch?"

I couldn't help but laugh at her nonchalant question and looked at Nyx. Her white eyes were faced downward, kicking a rock along as she walked next to me. I nodded before looking back on the path.

"As much as I would love to do that, Lachesis would still somehow find where we are and drag us both back." She gave off a slight smile at my response.

"You're right about that. Just a thought I had. How've you been?"

"I don't sleep all day anymore," I said, and she gave me a thumbs up.

"Progress."

"Progress indeed…" I said, nodding to myself.

"I'm glad." Nyx turned her gaze upwards to the warm light filtering gently through the trees before starting to gently sway back and forth. "It seems that Hemera really did help after all."

She suddenly stopped and gently bit down on her lip. "I wonder if we'll all be able to help…"

I stopped and looked back at her. If I'm remembering right, Hemera said something similar. I have to wonder why they feel so strongly about it though…

I felt a hot sharp emotion flash through me, and I clutched my s.h.i.+rt tightly, my emotions suddenly becoming a whirlpool inside me. Happiness, sadness, understanding, familiarity, but the one that I felt strongest in that moment wasn't any of those.

YOUR FAULT!

I fell to my knees, shaking, and Nyx noticed and immediately snapped out of her thoughts. "Depra, are you okay? What happened?"

YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT!!

Stop, why am I feeling like this? There should only be two after all, but why is it so reminiscent of both of those times?

YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT!!!

What did I even do this time…?

But instead of falling into the pit of darkness that normally awaited me, I was still able to feel the gravel trail beneath me, the warm sun enveloping my pale skin, and two hands firmly grasping my own.

Nyx, who had had her eyes closed, opened them when she felt my gaze. "That's a relief, you feel better now?"

"How did you—?" But before I was able to continue, she simply shook her head before staring directly into my eyes, her grey eyes filling with relief.

"It hurts you a lot, doesn't it?"

I was stunned into silence by that sentence and was unable to respond to her. Instead, she just kept on talking to me, her gaze firmly locked into my eyes.

"So much pain and darkness, but you should be fine for a little bit now. At least until the camping trip is over, if not longer. I'll shoulder it for now, so go have fun."

"Why would you—?" She cut me off once more, standing up, my hands still in hers.

"Because I want to. I don't need any other reason, do I?" And that was the first time I had saw her give off a full grin to anybody, and what a brilliant smile it was.

She helped me back up before brus.h.i.+ng off the dirt from her clothes. "Well, let's continue. We've already fallen really far behind, and if we don't hurry, they really might kill us."

"Yeah, let's get a move on," I said, and we walked in silence once more until we were halfway there to our camping grounds.

"Thank you," I said awkwardly, realizing that I should've said those words far sooner.

"It's not an issue," she said simply before continuing. "Still, I wish it wasn't so d.a.m.n hot out. This is why I never go outside." She shook her s.h.i.+rt vigorously, droplets of sweat flying off her sweat-stricken body.

"You sweat easily?"

"…Way to be subtle about it," she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Oh, my bad."

"I'm just teasing you, so calm down. Yeah, I always have, but not for the reasons you're thinking of."

What could that mean? "It's really hard to tell when you tease, you know that? When you're not around Hemera, you're pretty emotionless."

"Because she p.i.s.ses me off at any chance she gets, duh," Nyx said, a scowl appearing on her face as she crossed her arms. "She's way too bright for my tastes, but she always wants to stick around me."

"I get what you mean. She so cheerful all the time. I have to wonder how she does it," I murmured, readjusting my backpack.

"We denizens of the night need to stick together alright. Maybe then we'll be able to handle her onslaught."

"We'll overpower her with the power of negativity!"

"Now you're talking Depra!"

We both started to laugh, and Nyx's gaze turned towards her left, where her eyes widened. "Whoa, that's pretty cool." I directed my gaze towards where she was looking, and I had my breath taken away.

It was grove of flowers, but not any normal flowers; the flowers we saw were black and about two feet tall, and there were probably at least about a hundred of them in the distance.

"I've never seen black flowers in person before," Nyx said in a hushed voice. "Wanna check it out?"

"Yeah, I wanna picture of it," I said, and I let her lead the way, us going off the well-worn gravel trail to natures earthy counterpart.

We reached them after about five minutes of walking, and they were even more stunning up close than from afar.

"They're lilies," Nyx said, setting her bag down at the edge of the flower grove. "Calla Lilies to be precise."

"You like flowers?"

"Nope, I just like anything to do with the color black." She walked into the grove and plucked a flower out from the ground and sniffed it. "However, because I like black flowers, I did some research on the language of flowers to find their meanings."

I set my bag down next to hers and joined her in the grove. "What does it mean?"

"Well, black flowers themselves are meant to have an air of mystery to them, but this one specifically represents resurrection and rebirth, and because of its trumpet shape, is also meant for victory."

She handed me the black lily before looking up towards the sky. "And as such, when given to another person, can be seen as a ray of hope that has yet to come."

There was a slight breeze that sent black flower petals scattering up, and amidst them was Nyx as they gently fell back down the ground, making a scene I still vividly remember to this day.

"I sincerely hope that your ray of hope lies with us, dear Depra."

I suddenly heard a loud crack, and I quickly looked towards the source of the noise, a fell tree that had somehow broke through the support that had prevented it from reaching the ground. And its target was none other than Nyx, who had just now seen the tree falling onto her.

I felt my legs start moving as I saw her eyes widen, but I knew there was no way I was going to make it in time. d.a.m.n it, what the h.e.l.l could've caused that!?

I grit my teeth as time seemed to slow down, and I clenched my fist as I was forced to say what would always cause me so much grief…

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What happened to you two? Hiro and the others beat you guys you know."

Me and Nyx, who were both covered in dirt, looked at each other before looking back at Lachesis.

"We hate nature."

"Huh?" But before Lachesis could continue, Hemera came running towards us.

"Depra! Nyx! Did you have fun on the way here!?" She was glowing so brightly that it hurt just to look at her.

"Too much positivity Depra!"

"We were unprepared Nyx!"

We both covered our faces using our arms, squinting at Hemera's brightness, and she stopped, confused. "What did I do?"

"Not everyone can handle your positivity Merry," Hiro said, patting her on the back. "Come on, let's get you guys unpacked. Me and Lachesis decided tent arrangements, so it shouldn't be too crazy."

"And by together, you mean you forced them on me," Lachesis grumbled, and Hiro let off a knowing grin.

"If we had it your way, no way in h.e.l.l would there be any excitement. We must experience the apex of our youth immediately, and so boy-girl combos are the obvious choice."

Eh? "Uh, Hiro, did I hear you right?"

"Of course, my dear Depra. And since you and your partner in crime came late, you're sleeping together!"

It was one thing after the other with him. "Who're you sleeping with then?

"My totally adorable sister of course! I can't trust you hooligans with her!" He grabbed a nearby Luna and wrapped his arm around her red face.

"Big bro, I wanna sleep with other people too!"

"… You know, let's use the word bunk instead of sleep," Hiro said, scowling at what Luna just said. "The connotations are too risqué for me."

"Huh, but why?" Luna asked, looking up at Hiro in confusion.

"This is getting us nowhere Hiro, so hurry up and tell us where we're bunking already," Lachesis complained, and Hiro finally obliged. It went like this:

Tent 1, nearest the entrance: Hiro and Luna

Tent 2, one of four in the middle: Depra and Nyx

Tent 3, one of four in the middle: a.s.s and Prez

Tent 4, one of four in the middle: Aether and Hemera

Tent 5, one of four in the middle: Eros and Lachesis

Tent 6, the one nearest the forest: Erebus and Necessitas

"Why am I stuck with the weirdo at the back?" Necessitas grumbled.

"It is due to fate that we are once more together again my dear Dark Empress! Now come join me once and for all on-!" He got cut off by her pulling on his ear, his only visible eye squinting in pain.

"Nah, I just did it cuz I thought it would be funny," Hiro explained, and Necessitas started to chase him around the campground in anger.

I chuckled and turned towards Lachesis, who was musing to herself. "Yeah, it could work. Although, why aren't I with my boyfriend?"

"Because that would be too spicy for this story! We need to keep it PG!" Hiro said, appearing next Lachesis somehow.

"How the h.e.l.l did he do that!?" Necessitas yelled from the other side of the campground, and Hiro shrugged before turning towards me.

"So, no objections?"

Everybody except Necessitas agreed, and we finally began unpacking. It was the mid-afternoon now, with plenty of sunlight left in the day. I unrolled my sleeping bag next to Nyx's, putting my head where her feet would go, and dropped the rest of my stuff on my sleeping bag before heading back outside.

"What exactly are we even meant to be doing," I murmured to myself, and Prez appeared next to me.

"Swim of course!" She was in a bathing suit, along with everybody else. Well, everyone except me at least.

"I didn't bring one though…" I said as the others leapt off the nearby cliff down into the river below. I walked near the edge and sighed before sitting down, gazing at them having fun.

"Why the glum look?" I glanced behind me to see Hiro who also wasn't wearing a swimsuit, his necklace out in the open, and Luna, who was wearing a light blue one-piece.

"I didn't realize we were gonna swim."

"I see." He turned towards his sister, nudging her arm. "So, you gonna jump in like the rest of them?"

She walked towards the edge, shyly looking downwards before turning back towards her brother. She clenched her fists in front of her chest and nodded in the cutest way possible. "I'll do my best for you, big bro!"

Hiro clutched his heart suddenly, falling onto one knee. "A surprise cute attack huh? So cute d.a.m.n it!" He looked up at me, his face contorted in obvious fake pain. "Well, it looks like I can't swim now, so you can take my swimsuit Depra."

He pulled a black swimsuit out of his pocket and handed it to me.

I watched as Luna jumped up into a cannonball, holding her nose as she went down into the water before looking towards Hiro, who still hadn't recovered. "Thank you, but you didn't have to pull that huge stunt off."

"What're talking about? Luna's surprise cute attacks are super effective against Hiro's. Type advantage, duh."

I couldn't help but laugh at his funny way of helping me before ducking back into the tent to quickly change. Once I was finished, I approached the cliff once more, Hiro still incapacitated.

"You know, it is rather a long way down…" I murmured, having second thoughts before hearing a voice.

"In yah go!" I felt a strong push send my hurdling downwards to the river, and I felt the cold water's embrace before I resurfaced, pus.h.i.+ng the hair out of my eyes. I glared at Hiro, who was laughing from up above.

"Have fun down there Depra!" He said, cackling as he walked away, and I couldn't help but feel a bit p.i.s.sed at him, despite his good intentions.

"Oh, you actually had a swimsuit Depra!" Prez swam towards me, and she gave me a gentle slap on the back. "Good, now come join us for a splash battle!"

"Good luck Depra!" I glanced near the sh.o.r.e, and it was Hiro, wearing a green swimsuit. That little-!

But before I could make my way over to him and force in the water, I felt a rather strong splash of water reach my face, disorientating me before I managed to wipe the water off my face.

It was Prez, and she looked slightly annoyed. "Oi, you better get serious, since we're not holding anything back ya hear!"

I looked around to see everyone splas.h.i.+ng each other with their best moves, and I nodded at Prez. "You're right, no holding back!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun now setting, we all returned to sh.o.r.e, where Aether was watching having our own fun. Oh, fun fact, Aether can't swim, yet he was the first one to jump into the water.

"You're a dumba.s.s, you know that?" Necessitas said, giving him a light chop on the head. "If I didn't notice you sinking, you would be dead right now."

His sky-blue eyes simply continued to stare at the river before responding. "I was just faking it."

"Like h.e.l.l you were!" She shouted, punching him on the head. "Anyway, has anyone seen my bunkmate?"

"Oh, you miss him my dear Nessy~!? Finally taking the initiative?"

"Shut up Eros! Why I asked doesn't matter."

"He went off with Hiro somewhere," the a.s.s said, stretching out his limbs.

"You called?" and it was Hiro, who had appeared behind him, and Erebus, who had just walked out of the forest.

"Where the h.e.l.l have you been?"

"I've been out with Erebus here."

"Yes, me and him have been fighting the denizens of the night, keeping you all safe from harm. Hiro's strength was a boon in our fight, and yet, will it be enough to sate the darkness that lies on this mountain?"

"I wouldn't go that far. I just did some Hiro work is all." I couldn't tell if he said his name or actually "Hero" in this case, odd that may seem.

"Ugh, not you too Hiro. Don't encourage his behavior any more than its already gotten."

"I'm really not though. But he's not harming anybody, so it's all good in my book."

"Doesn't that mean you just encourage it!?"

"I'm not sure about you guys, but I'm starving. Can we make dinner already?" Aether said, and everybody looked at him. And while I couldn't say for sure, I'm positive we all thought the same thing:

You didn't even do a d.a.m.n thing…

"Aether is right though, I'm ready to eat an entire pack of wolves," Prez said, and that got another weird collection of looks.

"Why a pack of wolves? Isn't it usually a horse?" Hemera said, putting her index finger to her chin inquisitively.

Our banter continued as we made our way back to camp, and we began to set up to cook our food.

"Hey, so what exactly are we eating today?" Luna asked as we all brought out ingredients to use.

"The plan for today was curry, and we'll have two head chefs each leading a team." Lachesis explained quickly, and Luna nodded to herself.

"I just hope I'll be of some use…"

"Don't worry about that, since you're one of the head chefs."

"Oh, I see. Wait, huh!?" Luna's ears went bright red when she heard Lachesis say that. "Um, are you sure? I don't really think-!"

"I think it's a great idea Lachesis! I'll be on Luna's team obviously!" Hiro said excitedly, and Lachesis gave him a cold smile in response.

"Ah, but you're the other head chef Hiro. It wouldn't be right to have the siblings be on the same team." Ouch, he really must've p.i.s.sed her off today.

Anyways, the Luna's team consisted of me, Prez, Aether, Eros, and Necessitas, while Hiro's team consisted of Nyx, the a.s.s, Lachesis, Erebus, and Hemera.

"Why did this have to happen?" Hiro said sadly, sniffling as Lachesis placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Now now, that isn't a way for a leader to act. Come on, lets go." She dragged him away, tears streaming down his face. I couldn't tell if he was joking or serious with the tears though.

Still, Lachesis sure can be scary, I thought as I turned to our own team leader, Luna, who was trying to collect herself. I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to console as best I could.

"You can do it Luna. Just take your time and tell us what to do, okay?" Everyone around me nodded, and she looked at all of us before nodding.

"R-right! Okay, Necessitas and Depra, you'll be on prep duty!"

Necessitas and I nodded.

"Aether, you'll be on rice!"

"Hmph, sure you don't want to give me a harder task? Better yet, let me make the entire thing."

"Luna, you can ignore that idiot." Necessitas said in response to what Aether said, and she nodded.

"Okay, that leaves Prez and Eros on meat duty, and me with the sauce!"

"A perfect job for me, since I know my way around meat really well~!"

"Ah yeah, can't wait to cook this meat up baby!"

I'm kind of worried about what the meat's going to look like though with those two in charge, I thought as we pulled out cutting boards and knives to cut up the vegetables.

"So, you know how to use a knife then?" Necessitas asked, putting a carrot on her cutting board.

"Yeah, my mom taught me way back when," I said as I brought out a potato and started to dice it up with ease. She looked at me carefully before smiling to herself.

"You seem to be doing awfully well today. I'm glad that's the case, but don't push yourself too hard. I don't need you pa.s.sing out on me while holding a knife."

I chuckled. "I've actually been great today, ever since Nyx helped me out."

She scowled. "Nyx did?" She finished dicing up her carrot and locked her eyes into mine. "I guess she did. Never would've thought it could be used like that though. Guess her dark nature helped with that."

I really didn't understand what she meant by that, but I guess she did something. I really should thank her properly later on, I thought as I finished up dicing my potato and started to work on the next one.

"By the way, was it a good idea to let those two do the meat?"

"Eh, it should be fine. Hiro's sister is precious to all of us, so the last thing they would want is to disappoint her. And besides, I wouldn't let them goof around anyway, not so long as I'm around."

I nodded as I finished dicing up the potato and started work on the onions. "You really are the only semblance of normal this group has, you know that?"

"Hehe, aw thanks Depra. If only Erebus could act like you, then we would get along just swell."

"He isn't that bad," I said, trying hard not to cry. "He's able to express himself freely, and that's not something people can do easily. Then again, you're all like that in some way…"

"Are you saying you can't? Or you won't?" She too was trying hard not to cry.

I paused, stopping my work and staring at the girl next to me. Her different colored brown eyes were waiting for an answer. I honestly didn't have answer to her question. I furrowed my brow as I tried to come up with an answer to a question I had not once thought of asking in my entire high school career.

She smiled as I tried to come up with a genuine answer for her and went back to dicing up her vegetables. "It's okay if you don't know. Still, if you asked me, I would say you of all people express yourself the most freely out this friend group of ours."

"I don't believe that at all. I would say Hiro does it more than me." I too went back to dicing my vegetables, once again the both of us trying not to cry.

"He of all people would disagree with what you just said, you know that? Probably saying something along the lines of 'don't sell yourself short,' or 'don't needlessly compare us; I'm me and you're you, and we're fine just the way we are,' or something along those lines." She sniffled as she grabbed a tissue and blew her nose before offering me one.

I accepted it and blew my nose as well before nodding. "Yeah, that does sound like something he would say. Awfully specific though, don't you think?"

I finished dicing up the onions and wiped the tears away. "But I'll think about it."

She patted me on the shoulder, eyes red from the onion. "Good, you go do that."

"Um, what type of conversation did you two have to make you cry like that?" asked a sweet voice, and we both turned to Luna, who looked extremely worried about us.

Necessitas and I looked at each other and started to laugh, which only freaked Luna out more.

"are you two okay?" She asked, tapping her index fingers together.

"Yeah, this is from cutting the onions," I said, still chuckling.

Her face lit up. "Oh, I see! Thank goodness, I thought you two didn't get along or something. Um, if you're done, I would really appreciate it if you could bring the vegetables to the cooking area!" She really was nervous.

Necessitas put both her hands on her shoulders and gave her a nod of encouragement. "No need to be so nervous now. It's all good, so just relax."

And just like that, Luna calmed down awfully quick, much to both of our surprise. "Okay, follow me!" She moved in a stiff, robotic fas.h.i.+on, causing a sigh to come out of both our mouths.

Yep, she really is nervous.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the meals were prepared, we all sat around the campfire, my group eating Luna's delicious cooking. Hiro's group on the other hand, was less fortunate.

"Like h.e.l.l you cook meat until it's black! What stupid person would do that!?" Hiro was shouting at his teammates, all who looked extremely annoyed.

"Because black represents that darkness that threatens to consume my heart, the unholy struggle that one must suffer in order to fight the denizens of the night!"

"That doesn't mean we have to eat it black! And Merry, what the h.e.l.l were you thinking, allowing this doofus do as he pleases!?"

"I just thought it was funny."

"We have to eat that funny s.h.i.+t you know! And you!" He pointed towards the a.s.s. "Are you actually an a.s.s, because you might as well be worse than one. How can someone mess up cutting up vegetables that bad!?"

The a.s.s simply shrugged. "Never cooked before in my life."

"And the worse offender, Lachesis! I know you know how to cook, so what the h.e.l.l were you thinking, letting him do all that? h.e.l.l, what did you do!?"

She simply crossed her arms and turned away. "I don't know what you're talking about. I've never cooked a day in my life."

Hiro let out another cry of frustration, his fist shaking furiously as he lectured his entire team, except for Nyx, who did the rice in a normal way.

"I've never seen big bro so mad before," Luna murmured in awe, and I just shook my head. You should've seen him last year, I thought.

When he was finally done, he collapsed next to me, letting out the heaviest sigh I've heard from him. "Ugh, what an absolute nightmare. Hey Luna, you wouldn't happen to have leftovers, would you?"

As if on cue, she handed him a plate. Where she was hiding it from the rest of us, I had no clue. However, the opposing team, who were forced to eat slop, had their eyes bulged out of their head as they saw that transaction.

"Oi, how unfair is that!?"

Hiro stuck his tongue out. "I ate your c.r.a.ppy food too, so deal with it!" He quickly ate it and sighed once more, his anger finally subsiding.

"Feel better big bro?" Luna asked, a smile on her adorable face.

"Ah, after eating your cooking, I always feel better. What a wonderful dish indeed." He stretched, the last of his tension going away before he turned to Lachesis. "Hey, we're not doing that s.h.i.+t ever again. I say Luna's the permanent head chef from now on, ya hear?"

Lachesis scratched her head, nodding. "I wanted to punish you, but to think it was that bad…"

"If you wanted to punish me, why the h.e.l.l did you put me in your group!?"

"I wanted to sabotage, but it seems there wasn't a need for it huh?"

I laughed at their stupid exchange, and Hiro scowled at me. "Oi, it's not funny! If you were there, you would understand the pain man! The awful pain!"

He was slightly exaggerating at this point, and my laughter died down before I cleared my throat. "Okay, what exactly do we do now?"

"Obviously s'mores! We can't have an outdoor excursion without them!"

"But we didn't buy anything to-!" Lachesis got cut off by Hiro grabbing his bag, which had somehow managed to get behind him, and pulled out graham crackers, chocolate bars, marshmallows, and utensils to roast the marshmallows over the fire.

"I bought them while we were getting our supplies, since I figured it could add some life to this camping trip."

Prez's eyes lit up as she saw the stuff Hiro pulled out. "Whoa, I've never had s'mores before! Aw, Hiro, you're the best aren't yah!?"

"That's right, praise me more, it's okay."

"Hiro's the best, Hiro's the best!"

Lachesis rubbed her eyes and just shook her head. "Okay, I guess we're having s'mores too. Also, we're telling scary stories, so make sure everyone comes up with one as we're making some s'mores."

Everyone agreed, as we all made our s'mores before going around the campfire, telling each other scary stories.

"I'll go first," Aether said, a serious look on his face. Everyone quieted down in order to listen, and he began his story.

"There was a ma.s.sacre in the heavens. The end."

"Like h.e.l.l that's scary!" Everyone except Luna yelled out, who only looked confused at the story.

"Ooh! Me next, me next!" Prez exclaimed, and Hiro scowled.

"Oi, be serious at least."

"Whadda ya mean? I'm always serious thank you very much." Hiro shook his head but relented all the same.

"Okay, which one should I choose, hmm…" She paused for a moment, putting a finger to her lip before snapping her fingers.

"Ah, I got it!" Her entire demeanor suddenly changed, causing everyone to involuntarily tense up.

"It starts off with a young girl. The girl lived a relatively tranquil life with a bunch of friends she had made. But, that tranquil life could only last so long, as soon her friends started to die, one by one." She pointed at each us of slowly, as if checking off which of us had died first.

"It was an inevitable fate that awaited the girl, as she had been cursed the moment she had made these friends. Despite their best efforts, all those who tried to help her died, until there where three left." She pointed at Hiro and I but failed to point out a third person. I could feel my heart hammering nervously, as if we were hearing something that shouldn't be heard.

"The three remaining along with the girl, trying to outrun the one who brings death, got sent to a place filled with never-ending darkness by one, and then there were two friends left." Her finger lowered away from me, and I felt ice in my veins, unable to move as if I had been mesmerized by a spell.

"The second friend, sensing deaths approach, sent the girl and her closest friend back to a place far removed from which they had came, and then that friend died, his b.l.o.o.d.y remains scattered to the ends of the place filled with never-ending darkness. And then there were one." Only Hiro was left now, and he gotten paler as her story had been told.

"The girl, who had loved all her friends dearly, asked the final one remaining why they would go to such lengths to save her." An eerie smile arose upon her face, as if she was lost in her tale. "If you die too, I don't know what I'll do. The last one, the one she had spent the longest with, felt death rapidly approach, and gave her a simple answer:

"For you, it is worth it. Live for the sake of living and forget about us all. The last friend sent the girl to a place where death would be unable to reach her, and in front of the girls eyes as she was soon to disappear, the final friend died, being impaled mercilessly in front of her, but refusing to die until the deed was done. The final image of her dearly loved friend was one of absolute pain, crying tears of blood, with a smile." She lowered her finger away from Hiro, and it looked like Hiro couldn't breathe.

"The girl of death they eventually called her, the one who brings naught but despair to those who try to help her escape her inevitable fate."

With that final sentence her story was over, and everyone unfroze, sweating nervously, with Luna looking as if she was about to cry. But Hiro and I just stared at Prez, who still had an eerie look on her face as she looked at the both of us.

"What the h.e.l.l was that?" Hiro managed to choke out, and Prez just laughed.

"Oh, come on, it's a scary story, nothing to worry about! It's not as if it's real! Silly Hiro!" Prez went back to normal, a silly grin on her face.

"Oi, then don't make it sound as if you know it first-hand dumba.s.s!" And like that, it felt as if the ice in my veins had vanished, and my body relaxed almost too much, and I felt myself falling backwards to the ground behind me, but not before Nyx caught me.

"You okay?" she asked, and I nodded, leaning forward towards the campfire.

"That was surprisingly scary," Nyx muttered, and I couldn't help but agree.

After that, we went around telling our stories, and the mood started to lighten up from the dark one Prez managed to make. And soon it was my turn, and everyone turned towards me expectantly.

I frowned and thought for a moment before nodding to myself. "Yeah, that could work," I murmured to myself.

I looked up and clapped my hands. "Alright, let's begin. It starts off with a kid, not older than five years old. The kid had an enjoyable life, and two close friends she wouldn't trade for the world. One winter day, the kid went to find her two friends, but was only able to find one of them, although near a snowman you could see drops of red along with a singular glove. But she made no note of it, and instead continued to play with her other friend. But, as the days went on, she noticed that more and more people around were vanis.h.i.+ng in similar occurrences, but she only cared about her dear friend, and continued to spend her life in peace.

"Soon even people close to her started to vanish, without a trace to be had, with only a singular article of clothing and drops of red here and there. The kid, now almost 14, came back home to find her parents had vanished, with nothing except her dad's hat and her moms' scarf, with drops of red surrounding the articles of clothing. She soon heard a drip behind her, something wet and sticky dropping on the floor. It was crimson in color, and she followed them, wanting to find something of use to help her figure out her situation. She soon came across her dear friend where the drops of crimson had stopped, and he turned to her and gave a big grin.

"She hugged the friend, terrified of what was to come, and the friend whispered quietly in her ear: I love you, so forgive me for this. She felt a sharp pain inside her, and she watched the drops of crimson fall to the ground as she cried in agony.

"It's okay, the friend said. You can vanish like all the rest, and I'll be soon to follow. And all that was left of her and her friend was drops of red and a single pendant, with the kid and her dear friend soaked in crimson."

Everyone was stunned as I finished my story, and I frowned at everyone's reactions. Only Lachesis was different, as a single tear streaked down her face.

"Is that really…" She trailed off, saying the rest in her head.

"Hey Depra, you're actually pretty good at this stuff you know?" Hiro said, patting me on the back before getting up and stretching.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but Luna sure as h.e.l.l isn't sleeping tonight." I looked over at Luna who was shaking so bad that I quickly regretted telling my story. "Anyway, I think that's enough of the scary stories, don't you guys agree?" Everyone nodded, lost in thought as we all scattered to our respective tents.

I snuggled up in my sleeping bag, yawning as I watched Nyx get ready to sleep. She sat down on her sleeping bag and sighed. "Hey, are you sure you're okay with this?"

"I can sleep outside if it'll make you feel better," I said, confused on what exactly she was trying to ask.

She stared at me briefly, her expression shocked before chuckling. "You never change, do you?" She scooted closer to me, and I sat up to make room. "No, I'm fine bunking with you, but are you fine bunking with me?"

"Um, yeah, unless you snore really loudly." She laughed and shook her head.

"Never mind then, just forget I asked is all. Anyway, how've you been feeling? Better?"

I nodded, unable to believe it. "It didn't happen today, not once," I said. "Honestly, I can't remember the last time I felt like this."

She gave me a smile of relief. "That's good. I was hoping it would work, but it seems I didn't have to worry."

"Um, I really should be thanking you a lot more than I did." I bowed my head down towards her, eliciting an expression of shock. "I am truly grateful for what you did, however you did it. Even if it was for a short amount of time, I will owe you a great deal. Please, if there is anything I can do, don't hesitate to ask."

"Hey, don't be like that, I'm doing this because I want to. You don't owe me a thing, especially after…" She cut herself off, and I rose back up to see her biting her lip in anxiety.

"After what?"

"Don't worry about it too much. What we really need to worry about is our plan of attack against Hemera."

I smiled as we both got in our separate sleeping bags, and we ended up talking for quite a while into the night, as did everyone else in their own tents I later found out.

And soon, our conversation of words turned into a chorus of snores.