It's another night at the ever busy Adventurers' Guild turned LGBTQ+ club. Luna and Hinata are doing their usual thing and will be doing this usual thing for most of the night. Hinata continues to rack up tips while guys attempt to flirt with her and fail miserably, straight guys at the gay club smh. And Luna serves drinks and food to the patrons while grooving to the beat of whatever DJ Phantom is spinning. They work extremely well together, but that's not super surprising considering at one point they were the most feared duo of assassins in the World, Project Eclipse Blade.
Alais note: It is unknown what happened between the beginning of their shift, but at some point, Luna and Hinata fell asleep. I am unable to provide further information on why they fell asleep. Just know that the two of us, Krystal and Alais, were knocked out too. It is strange. I did not know we had the capability to be put into an unconscious state. Please keep this in mind, I have a terrible feeling this may be an important clue. Anyway, they fell asleep and from what I can tell, they entered their Dream states at the exact same time, almost as if experiencing simultaneous mirrored, though separate, dreams. When you read the dream logs below, understand that both happened at the exact same time.
[Location Tag - The Dream Realm]
Luna is walking around a realm of darkness that reminds her of somewhere in Capital City. All of the buildings have a similar theming but nobody else is around them. Luna has no idea where she is going but her legs do not stop, as if her body knows exactly where it wants to go despite the brain not knowing. No other people or sounds are in the area, in fact, all that's visible and felt in this realm is the chill and the sight of the full moon in the sky, far away from where she's walking.
Regardless, Luna continues to walk forward until her legs stop. The sky brightens slightly and a sound is heard, something so wonderfully relaxing but restrictive and cold that she can't help but listen to it. It's painful yet soothing, cold yet warm. Comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Like a blanket wrapped around her tightly as it gets dunked into ice cold water. She hea--
Hinata is walking around a realm of light that reminds her of somewhere in Capital City. All of the buildings have a similar theming but nobody else is around them. Hinata has no idea where she is going but her legs do not stop, as if her body knows exactly where it wants to go despite the brain not knowing. No other people or sounds are in the area, in fact, all that's visible and felt in thisrealm is the warmth and the sight of the sun in the sky, far away from where she's walking.
Regardless, Hinata continues to walk forward until her legs stop. The sky darkens slightly and a sound is heard, something so wonderfully relaxing but restrictive and cold that she can't help but listen to it. It's painful yet soothing, cold yet warm. Comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Like a blanket wrapped around her tightly as it gets dunked into ice cold water. She hea--
--
Krystal note: I don’t get it. What could be capable of causing this? And why did it happen?
--
Hours later, Luna and Hinata wake up in a room unbeknownst to them. It's probably somewhere in the Guild, but where exactly they don't know. They've been on the floor for who knows how long, and their heads are throbbing in sheer pain. like being clocked upside the head by an MMA fighter's bare fist. Eventually, Luna gets up from the ground, her head still throbbing and memory of the previous night gone. She goes to wake Hinata up from the ground. "Hey Hina..? Hey wake up sleepyhead."
"I'm up Lu. Wh-where are we?" Hinata’s voice is rather tired still despite being alert, "And why does it feel like we got hit in the head by a projectile semi-truck?"
"eh? You too Hina?" Luna wipes her legs from the dust in the room. The room is pretty dark though a single bare lightbulb shines in the very middle of the square room. They both appear to be bleeding from cuts on their bodies. They stick together and begin to look for a door to leave. The room seems to be slightly bigger than they expected, the light from the lightbulb not reaching the walls.
Luna and Hinata put their fists up and close their eyes to hyperfocus on sounds in the area. Silence. They struggle to find an exit as well, but when they eventually do, they find out it's locked.
----
|
ALAIS - ...uhm where are we? Krystal - Unknown. Their GPS tracker is picking up a signal at the Guild but past that I don't know. And this is why I tell them to bring us with us! Violet - Everything ok guys? Krystal - Negative. I can't reach Luna and Hinata. Violet - What? What's going on? How can you not reach them? Krystal - Last night, Luna and Hinata left for work. Their shifts should have ended at 8am but they never returned home. Then #dream-world updated. That's where I'm confused as well Violet. I'm currently in her locket and Alais is in her transmitter, yet for some reason, my connection to both of them are weakened. Violet - Shit! Maybe they were kidnapped? Or something... ALAIS - Unknown. The little bit. I am able. to Gather. States. We are still. Within. The Adventurer's Guild. In Central Square. Violet - Really? Weird... ALAIS - It is like. A GPS. Violet - Want me to go check it out? Krystal - I'm sure I won't hear the end of it from Luna, but if you would like to, go right ahead. |
[Location tag - Central Square]
Violet quantum jumps to Central Square and is looking around and searching for the Adventurers' Guild. Central Square looks like a winter wonderland right now with lots and lots of snow on the ground, multicolored lights hung up, and a massive Christmas tree in the middle of the road. Violet is pretty easily able to find the Guild, as it's directly in the across from the Christmas tree, which is ironically across from where the duel with Chandra happened five weeks earlier. The exterior of the Guild looks like a massive nightclub with a light show and spotlights shining in the sky near it. The only strange thing about it is the lack of music playing. It's... oddly silent in the area actually. Plus no one is going inside of it. Weird. She enters the Guild to investigate.
Violet walks inside as she looks around, curious why no one is inside the building. The building is quiet and dark. All of the lights seem to be out or not working. What's more, the usually extremely busy club of people dancing, eating, and drinking is empty. It feels completely off. Violet steps cautiously as she looks for a door of some kind, perhaps a secret wall or trapdoor. It's much too dark to even see inside of there. The crunch of glass can be felt underfoot. Violet focuses and summons a lit torch, looking for a light switch of some kind before moving on. With a little bit of difficulty, Violet is able to find a light switch. Turning it on doesn't seem to affect the lights at all, as if the power is completely out in the building, though something can be heard down the hall in front of her, almost like the sound of something sparking.
Violet moves towards the sounds of sparks with her torch, looking around to see if she might see anything with her new found light, even if it might not produce much. The sounds lead her into the main dance hall of the Guild. A stench of some kind permeates the area. It smells oddly sweet but the worst kind of overly sweet mixed with the odor of something else. Walking around the dance hall, it's clear something bad has happened here. The awful stench mixed with the puddles of something she steps in plus all of the broken glass just feels wrong. Something is not right here. Violet continues to look for a door of some kind, perhaps a secret wall or trapdoor. Hoping to find anyone.
Violet does not find anyone, but by going on the stage, she notices that behind the curtain there's another large area to investigate. It's another mostly empty room with various sets of DJ equipment, some bottles of alcohol that gets stored back there, and another door in the back of the room. She searches the room for anything of interest before opening the door in the back and finds a piece of paper on the ground. The words THE END. 125 DAYS. and the same sickly sweet scent is on the paper.
"What in the world??" Violet pockets the paper, moving over the the back door, opening it up.
[LOADING… ONE MOMENT PLEASE]
The room opens to a much larger and much colder room in the Guild, one, considering the dust that's collected, doesn't seem to be used very often. Violet can see a small hint of light far away from her, appears to be rather dim. The vibes in this room are off, as if something, or someone, has cast a spell in here of some kind. The sounds in this room are quiet, though Violet can hear someone familiar talking coming from near the light. Violet carefully walks and approaches the light, hoping whatever spell is set upon this place does not affect her. She arrives at the light and sees Luna and Hinata sitting on the ground criss cross apple sauce, both drenched in blood. They seem to be struggling to focus and think and they reach out towards Violet. Their eyes are a deep glowing red. Thankfully, neither of them have weapons on hand.
"Oh my gods… let’s get you guys out of here!" Violet quickly grabs both Hinata’s and Luna’s shoulder and quantum jumps back to Central Square, while worried the pair of former assassins would strike her. Violet, Luna, and Hinata reappear outside of the Guild. Violet, who still holds the shoulders of the pair, looks to them with a bit of worry. Luna and Hinata are still completely drenched in blood and their eyes flicker back to sapphire and emerald respectively. They collapse on the ground as if their puppet strings had been cut, covering the snow in blood. People surround the three as police sirens can be heard in the distance. Luna mutters, "the door... why can't i open the door," under her breath. Hinata doesn't seem to be faring much better.
The chill of the snow pulls them both out of whatever trance they were in.
"Luna? Hinata? We have to get out of here, unless you want to be arrested by the police. You guys here with me?" Violet looks to their faces and makes sure they're alright.
They both nod though silently. Their breathing seems to be slightly ragged.
Violet looks around, hearing the sirens getting closer, "Alright I’ll get you guys out of here. No need to extend our stay." Violet grabs their shoulders again and quantum jumps to the woods where they first reunited. As soon as the quantum jump happens, Rebecca arrives on the scene confused and groaning.
----
Violet, Luna, and Hinata appear once again in the forest, now surrounded by trees as Violet sets Luna and Hinata carefully against a tree.
She leans down to them as she pulls out some bottled water for the both of them from her bag and offers them. Luna and Hinata still seem out of it judging by how unfocused their eyes are and mumbling. On taking the water bottles, and feeling how cold they are to the touch, they seem to wake up a bit more. Luna looks at Violet, almost staring at her in confusion, "wha-- wha happen.."
"I found you both in a backroom in the guild hall covered in blood, as you can see. There seemed to be some spell that was putting both of you in your Rage mode," Violet explains.
Hinata's eyes are just as unfocused, she eventually slides down the tree to the ground. "Ugh.. that explains a lot.. fuck my muscles hurt."
Luna collapses on the ground once more.
Violet continues while trying everything in her power to not freak out, "I don’t want to leave you guys here, and I need to get you guys cleaned up if possible. Is the house near by here? Maybe I can take you guys there."
Hinata nods. On one of the trees near them, a carving of some kind is noticeable. "I've been out here a couple times, not super far. Just go that way," she points. Violet takes a quick look to the carving that has peaked her interest, then looking in the direction of the house.
The carving on the tree is rather sloppy so it's hard to tell, but it seems to say, "I'll never be good enough for her" on it.
Hinata gets up slowly onto her knees but it seems to be a struggle and a half for them. Their muscles feeling as sore as they do, like a charlie horse except all over, causes grunts and growls of pain to come from them. Eventually, they do get up and pick Luna up as well, "Right uh.. lets go home?"
"Need a shoulder to lean on? Because I am sure enough you two won’t make it all the way without passing out again due to exhaustion," Violet offers. Hinata leans on Violet's shoulder silently. She's also carrying Luna, who's currently asleep in her arms. Eventually they reach the front yard of The Gang’s house.
Violet knocks on the front door and Cole answers.
Cole opens the door with a sigh, he has his right eye shut. Violet waves awkwardly at Cole. He sees Violet in a more humanized form with Hinata on her shoulder and Luna in her arms. They are both covered in blood.
Cole's right eye snaps open as Cole looks incredibly concerned and worried, "What the fuck happened?!" Cole steps out of the way of the door. Luna is knocked out and sleeping. Hinata still seems out of it, leaning on Violet's shoulder. They're both wearing the same clothes that Cole saw last night; their usual uniforms. Hinata usually wears some kind of a fishnet top with a neon yellow camisole underneath it and a navel piercing with ripped jeans. Luna is in a hoodie and shorts, shivering while knocked out.
Violet moves inside as she takes Luna and Hinata to the couch. Then she explains to Cole, "Luna and Hinata went missing, turns out they were at the Adventurer's Guild in a back room. I found them like this so I bought them back here to recover and get cleaned up. Seemed that they were under some spell in the room of the guild hall but they seem to be better then being there."
Hinata chooses not to sit on the couch and instead walks out to clean up. Not a word has left her mouth. Luna is still in her arms as they head to the bathroom to shower and recover.
Cole looks even more concerned, "Last I heard they were going into work, what the fuck happened between then and now?!"
Violet shrugs, “That’s the thing! We don’t know. My guess is someone forced them into their rage mode and someone or a lot of people died. Where the bodies are is a guess as well. It was dead quiet. No pun intended."
Cole sighs, "So what you’re saying is that someone could remotely enable both of their kill drives?"
"I’m not sure if it can be remotely done. But it seemed so be some kind of spell that forced them into rage mode. Probably someone at the guild."
Luna and Hinata both walk back in looking refreshed. There are some bandages on both of them, specifically Luna's right arm and Hinata's lower left leg are bandaged up.
"So I don't think we're heading back to the Guild any time soon," Luna sighs with a yawn.
"Ughhhhhh man I liked working there too," Hinata groans and looks down to the ground.
Violet nods, "Rather safe than sorry. But I’m glad you guys are safe now."
Cole shakes his head, "Who in their right mind would do that though?"
Luna shakes her head, "I have no idea. Usually whenever I'm triggered and pushed into Rage mode, I remember hearing bells or I remember some kind of hypnosis, but not in this case."
Hinata shrugs, she looks tired.
"Hmm weird. Well hopefully we can get this figured out. I’ll have to look into magic and if anything can do what it just did." Violet nods.
Cole nods as well, "Right, well you two probably need some sleep after whatever the fuck just happened."
Luna nods and promptly passes out on the couch. Hinata does the same.