The next morning, while the trio of lovers rest after a long day of chaos and realization, Viper's ringtone plays. Hinata opens her eyes, "what the heck is happening? Where's that music coming from?" Luna is still asleep even despite how loud her ringtone is playing. The most that comes from her is a shift from one side to the other, if only to keep herself from waking up.
Viper quickly sits up, checks her phone, and whispers, "Sorry..who the fuck is calling me?"
In the background, the sounds of dishes clattering, running water, and assorted voices can be heard. The voice who speaks sounds like Chandra, “Erm, Viper? Did I get the right number?”
Luna perks her ears up and then they immediately flatten against her skull upon realizing just who this man is.
Viper nods as she answers, "Yeah....you got the right number, sounds like you're alive." She sounds like she just woke up, her voice is deeper than normal and a little hoarse.
Chandra’s voice sounds pained, "Ugh, barely. I don't even remember what happened. I just remember feeling a searing pain on my chest and then the next thing I knew, I woke up on Mom's couch. Where the hell am I? It's like a forest out here. And speaking of, are you okay? Tell me you were able to escape without harm."
Luna grumbles, puts her shirt back on, then walks out of the bedroom. Hinata notices Luna leave and follows her right behind after saying, "Uuhh I'll take care of her Viper."
Viper sighs somewhat sadly as she notices Luna leaving the room as she nods "Yeah, I'm unharmed, you should probably attend to your wounds though, I can hear the pain in your voice"
Chandra then sighs and his voice softens quite a bit. Viper has never heard this side of him before, like a proud roaring tiger suddenly becoming meek, "I am so glad Viper. I became so incredibly terrified that you would've been murdered back there. Last thing I wish for my subordinates - ADMIN, Grunt, or friend alike - is for their suffering. All of this happening is my fault, I should have stepped in sooner, threats of my death or not. I am not even supposed to be alive right now. I cannot undo my mistakes, but I want to help rectify."
Viper thinks for a moment or two then asks "Have you tried to make amends with Luna? Maybe try to get her to understand your objective?"
Chandra pauses for a few moments to collect his thoughts. It sounds like he wants to try, but just as he says so, he changes his response to, "I'll tr-- I cannot. It is impossible to undo the many sins I've committed against her, my adopted sister."
Viper shakes her head and sighs "You can help rectify them though, you cannot undo your sins but you can attempt to rectify them"
Chandra exhales heavily, "If you believe so, then I will try. I'd better go. Take care." He hangs up.
Viper nods as she puts her phone back in her pocket and gets up as she heads out of the room to go find Luna, not realizing that she's only wearing pants and a sports bra.
---
In the living room, Luna and HInata are relaxing on the couch together and watching something on TV when Viper walks out.
Viper steps out as she looks over at the two of them "Sorry for waking you two up with my ringtone, I should've put it on silent"
Upon seeing Viper enter including her wardrobe malfunction, Hinata focuses herself away from her girlfriend, “uuhhh Vi--..”
Luna just stares blankly before her eyes turn deep green. In a completely monotone voice, Alais responds, "Critical Wardrobe Malfunction. Miss Viper, you may have forgotten a crucial piece of clothing. Miss Luna is currently overwhelmed by your beauty."
Viper raises an eyebrow then looks down at herself as she sighs, "Forgot my shirt, I'll be back" she starts walking back to Luna and Hinata's room. Hinata recovers from her debuff and relaxes next to her love. Luna eventually returns to normal and she lays her head on Hinata's thighs. Viper returns wearing the same shirt she was wearing yesterday as she asks "Did you get what I said or were you two....distracted?"
Hinata shakes her head, "Uhh you said something about your ringtone being on. Then you went back to our bedroom to grab your shirt."
Luna sighs, "I'll be honest, I was a bit predisposed that I got swapped out with Alais."
Viper nods as she responds "Right, well I apologized for having my ringer on. Someone decided that calling me while I'm sleeping with my girlfriends was an amazing idea."
Hinata smiles, "it's okay Viper. Just. Look, I'm not nearly as affected by his existence as Luna is, but I don't like the man still. He actually scares me. I'm rarely scared."
Luna raises an eyebrow, "you say that but you screamed a lot during our Minecraft playthrough together."
"Nuh uhhhhhhh, I just get a little jump- AHHHH!" Luna poked her thigh carefully which scared Hinata. "Okay fiiiiiine." Hinata groans.
Viper shakes her head as she snickers at the two's antics then nods, "Understandable, he's very....." Viper taps her finger on her chin for a moment then continues "Stoic? I don't know how to put it but I get it, if I was in your shoes i'd probably be scared too"
Luna seems confused, "Stoic? Alexander?? That's.. new. Usually that man is so fucking over the top with his bravado. Every time we've fought, he's like larger than life, sometimes literally with his transformation magic."
Hinata, with a similar level of confusion, asks, "What even happened? I didn't know you two were friends."
Viper shrugs as she answers, "He's just my boss. I'm trying to help him get rid of Spark, considering Spark roped him into this whole evil scheme bullshit involving Nova."
Luna gets up from the comfort and warmth of Hinata's soft skin, "wait really? That's... not what I was expecting honestly. I thought Chandra was equally at fault with all of this, like Elara." She snaps her laptop to her lap and types some stuff in.
Viper shakes her head, "Chandra wants nothing to do with Spark's plan. He's trying to stop it, but there isn't much he can do himself, which is why I've been helping him. He was genuinely terrified that I could've been killed. As far as I can tell, he doesn't wanna hurt anyone anymore."
Luna goes quiet and deep in thought.
Hinata speaks, "Wow. It's nothing like I remember him. I'm glad he kept you safe."
Viper nods, "I'm glad too, I'd like to keep my life, it's a nice one" she smirks slightly at her own partial joke and looks over at Luna with slight concern, hoping that she didn't make the problem worse
Luna takes some time to deep breathe. When Viper looks over, she gives a slight smile and responds, "Look, I can't trust him. But.. if he's willing to help us stop Spark, then...." She then pauses, as if unable to finish her statement, "I- I don't know. I can hope he's not playing the long game for my destruction."
Viper nods and responds, "I'm not gonna force you to talk to him. You won't ever need to see his face again as far as I'm concerned." After a pause in thought, she continues asking, "Quick little question then we can change topics, love: if he could do something to make it up to you, what would it be?"
Luna immediately responds, "I don't think there is."
Hinata quickly adds on, "Understand that he's been our biggest enemy ever since we were teens Viper. He orchestrated the Blood Moon Raid, he's the reason Eclipse Blade even exists. Our minds got completely destroyed following that, to the point where a certain rhythmic bell patterns can force us into being someone's pawn. Chandra ruined our lives. So I don't blame her for. not trusting him."
Viper nods as she responds, "Understandable, moving on from this topic that i'm sure both of you don't wanna talk about" she pauses for a moment then continues "How'd you two sleep other than my ringtone waking both of you up?"
Luna exhales then smiles, "I remember passing out really early on. I think I might have overdone it a bit in the Cube. My muscles feel super sore today."
"Mine don't. I'm feeling fine after last night." Hinata grins. She then gently and playfully bumps Luna on the shoulder, "That was a really fun match Lu. Thanks for playing with me. We really gotta do it again."
Viper smiles as she snickers with a smirk "I could imagine, seemed like a pretty intense match." She silently wants to do a match in The Cubes herself but knows that she should probably learn how to use the dagger first.
"It was a good time though, and it's super fun to play to a crowd. Something about treating combat like a performance really speaks to me. Anyway," She turns to Viper with the biggest grin imaginable, "shall we try out that dagger of yours, or do you wanna wait for another day?"
Viper's eyes light up as she nods, "Hell fucking yeah! If you’re up for it then I'm up for it." She shows her iconic beaming smile.
"Okay uh, give me 10 or so minutes to prepare and then meet me outside." Luna's eyes swap to purple as she turns around and walks outside. A few minutes later, both Viper and Hinata hear what sounds like something hard hit the house, but it doesn't seem to be anything dangerous. They also hear her say "shit! oops. Wait, no I got this." but it's kinda muffled.
Viper raises her eyebrows as she looks over at Hinata "The fuck is going on out there?"
"So you know how we have The Cubes? There's a good reason for it, and not just because it gives people temporary mana regeneration while inside. It also lets people go all out without affecting everything outside. So anytime we train new people in Magic, we usually set up barriers to prevent bullshit." Hinata explains as the window leading outside becomes encased in translucent purple material. A soft purple glow leads into the house.
Viper snickers, "I would say that I'm not gonna do any damage, but I’ve never really used magic before sooo…”
Hinata smiles back, "Better safe than sorry. The last time we trained someone with a Shard of Legend, Violet almost set The Outskirts on fire. They had the Flamebearer Feather which has an incredibly strong fire blast attack attached to it."
Viper nods as she smiles "Let's just hope I don't accidently cast something super powerful or anything like that." After a few deep breaths, Viper walks outside ready to have her dreams come true.