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Mason woke up alone. Normally, he wouldn't be alarmed, but when you share a bed with your twin sister, have a history of being the earlier waker, and wake up to find that said sister is missing, it usually spells disaster.
"Belle?" He asked the air. "Mabelline!"
Quickly freshening up and getting dressed for the day, Mason headed downstairs to look for Belle.
"Good morning, Grunkle Lee." Mason greeted.
"Mason? Up already?"
"I smelled coffee."
"Ah. By the way, where's your sister?"
He kept his voice calm. "Don't know. She woke up early."
"I see. Anyway, Soos will be here in sometime to finalize the arrangements for your show."
"Okay."
Mason finished his breakfast in record time and excused himself to his room. He busied himself with reading the Journal he'd recently found. Belle could handle herself.
It's contents were... interesting to say the least. He began reading aloud from a page.
"Attempted to catch a sight of a werewolf, but instead, I came across a VAMPIRE COVEN! Hidden deep in the woods of Reverse Falls inside a cliff lies the secret coven."
There was a small drawing of an unnaturally steep cliff-side and some weird symbols Mason didn't bother to decipher at the moment. He continued:
"I succeeded in sneaking in with L. Note: Not all vampires are pale, or have dark hair. Many of them also have strangely colored eyes, as I observed many with eerie golden eyes and a few with teal and amethyst irises.
"As we wandered further in the Coven, L and I saw a woman on a dais, who appeared to be in deep pain. At first, I thought she was an innocent human who had wandered in like us and who was being drained of blood, but apparently she was a vampire. She seemed to be yelling at a blue-haired woman who looked to be her age, and then all of a sudden broke free from her bonds.
"She instantly spotted us, and on transforming into some kind of horrific owl-beast lifted us up in the air with her talons and flew out into the forest.
"Once she transformed back into a more human form on drinking some strange yellow liquid that a wooden owl provided her, she introduced herself as Eda the Owl Lady. She was more than willing to answer my questions."
Masons mind began wandering, already making preparations for an expedition in the forest. If he could properly examine a vampire, maybe forge an alliance with them...
"We should find one." A voice spoke from behind him.
"Ah!" Mason hurriedly flipped the book shut and threw it behind the couch cushions. "Be-Belle! Didn't, ah, didn't see you there. How's it hanging, sister?"
"I was standing behind you for a good 2 minutes, Mason. Nice book you found on the school grounds, by the way." She dryly said as she plopped down next to him.
"Fine, yes, I found this in the school. And according to this book, Reverse Falls has a secret dark side!" Mason said, glowing with a child-like enthusiasm. "The Author of this Journal mysteriously disappeared! It says here that he was trying to hide his Journals from someone, but then the pages just stop! Belle, do you realize what this means?!"
"You look cute when you're all excited about a mystery." Belle tapped his nose.
Mason flushed at that. "Don't call me cute! I am a handsome young man and-"
"Cute."
"Handsome."
"Cute."
"Handsome!"
"Handsome."
"Cute!"
"Aha!" Belle said, snapping her fingers. "You admit it!"
"Did not!"
"Should I say 'did too' so we can have a 5-year old's conversation?"
He was prevented from answering by the echoing of the bell through the Manor.
"It's Soos." Mason explained to Belle as they walked to the front door, previous squabble all forgotten. "Lee said that he'd help us with our show preparation and it needs to be perfect."
The doorbell rang again just as Mason opened the large door.
"There you are, Soo- oos." Mason trailed off as he looked at the man. He wore a deep purple hoodie and had twigs and leaves stuck in his hair. He was extremely pale with dark bags under his eyes, though it seemed like he tried covering it up with concealer, and was that BLOOD ON HIS FACE?!
"H-Hi." He waved his arms at an awkward angle, his voice suspiciously chirpy.
"Oh, Norman! There you are!" Belle moved to hold his hands. "I'm so excited for our date today!"
"Norman." Mason jerkily nodded. "I need to borrow my sister for a minute." He shut the door on Norman's face and turned to Belle.
"You managed to find a date in Reverse Falls already?!" He furiously exclaimed.
"Relax, brother." Belle waved a hand nonchalantly. "I do need to build up a reputation, you know."
"What? As the romantic dimwit? The serial dater? Again?"
"They can't know about our other activities... Besides, no one'd suspect me if they only thought I was a stereotypical boys crazy girl!"
"You think that the same trick will work twice?" Mason sighed. "Look, I don't trust that... Norman, but I trust that you take care of yourself."
"Don't worry, brother mine," Belle kissed him on the cheek, "I got this." She opened the door, grabbed Norman's arm, and dragged him off to Axolotl knows where.
"Hey dude!"
Mason really needed to find a way to stop people from sneaking up behind him. He didn't hear anything, did he?
"Soos. Good to see you." He attempted to keep his voice calm. He was going to get a heart attack at this rate, dammit! "We can finally get started on the preparations."
"Yeah, man! It's nice seeing you twins here, y'know. Mr. Lee seems much happier with company around." Soos chatted as they got in the car to go to the Tent.
"But he has you and Wendy."
"Dude, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but- GOAT ALERT!"
The car sharply swerved to avoid Grompers, who was chewing on a patch of grass in the middle of the road.
Soos sighed with disappointment and opened the car door, picking up Grompers and placing him in the seat next to the driver. Mason was thankful that the creature was not next to him.
"Sorry about that, Mason. This, heh, this mischievous lil' Grompers here always manages to escape."
"Why do you even have him, then?"
"He makes for a good attraction, the lil' guy eats anything!" Soos chuckled. "Well, we're here!" He parked the car in an empty spot.
"I'll go on ahead." Mason pointed to the Tent and slinked away, leaving Soos to deal with Grompers. He didn't know why, but he hated that goat.
Entering the Tent, Mason was surprised to see some tourists near Wendy's desk. It looked like another palm reading session was going on.
"-is life line here? It's short, dude, the shortest I've ever seen. You'll get a heart attack at 31, unless you buy one of those charms we sell, they help in longevity, you know." Mason could make out that she was pointing to one of the shelves behind her.
"Seriously?" The man's voice was skeptical.
"Unless you wanna risk dying. I mean, it's not like I care whether you live or not, was just trying to help you, man. Sheesh!" Wendy rolled her eyes. "Have fun at your 30th birthday! Next."
"No, no, I'll buy them!" He desperately called out. "How much did you say they were again?"
Mason barely suppressed a snort. "She's good."
"Yeah dude! Personally trained by Mr. Lee." Soos wistfully remarked. So he looked up to Lee. Interesting.
"Speaking of which, how did you manage to get a job here? At the Tent?"
"That is one long story dude."
"I'm listening."
And thus Mason came to hear Soos's whole life story, his parental abandonment issues, and his admiration for Lee.
It was a waste of three hours in his opinion.
By the end of the day, Soos and him had finally managed to set up a stage on the backyard of the Tent. There were some spare curtains in Soos' office (which was really just a junkyard in a room) which they managed to put up. He thought the blue shade matched Belle's eyes.
"I think we did a good job, dude!" Soos exclaimed, holding a palm out to Mason.
He flinched before looking at the offered hand with disdain. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It's a high five! You just slap your hands together, see?" He demonstrated around a dozen times.
Tentatively, Mason lightly touched Soos' hand. He beamed. "You did it, lil' dude!"
Mason didn't like to be spoken to condescendingly, but he supposed Soos was okay.
It was 11 when Belle got home. Lee was sitting in the living room, watching the newest episode of Baby Fights. Hopefully he wouldn't hear her over the noise of the televis-
And no, he turned to her, just as she was removing her shoes. Dammit! She couldn't even pretend she had been sleepwalking or something.
"Belle," Lee slowly began, "what were you doing?"
"Lee, I-"
"No, more accurately, who were you doing?" An eyebrow was raised. This wasn't good. She could still make a run for it, but then she'd have to do some awkward explaining in the morning, and she wasn't in the mood to let Mason know.
"I wasn't doing what you think I was doing." She finally said.
"What do you think I think you were doing?"
"I think that you're unfairly accusing me, Grunkle Lee." Belle folded her arms. "I walked through the forests as an almost-midnight stroll when my jacket got stuck in some branches. Took me a while to free it, and now it's shredded." This was getting weird. Back before, Carl and Katie never bothered. This... was different to say the least. She hated it when people asked questions.
"Your date-"
"Ended at 9:30. You can ask Mason, I messaged him."
"Okay..." Lee looked unconvinced.
"I'll just... be going now." Belle made a move, but was stopped by Lee.
"I didn't mean to, what I meant was, Just- just take care of yourself, okay Belle? You're a pretty girl and some areas of the fores-" Lee fidgeted uncomfortably.
Belle's eyes softened slightly. "I know. Thanks for looking out for me, Grunkle Lee."
"Anytime kiddo, anytime."
Apparently, yesterday was an Act 1 Scene 2 of Soos' life story. Mason would kill someone, preferably himself, in the next 15 minutes if Soos didn't stop talking.
How was knowing the Ramirez family tree going to aid his understanding of Soos' personality? Mason already knew that- annoying, hard-working, annoyingly positive, dude and talkative. Very talkative.
"Are you S-Soos?" Someone tapped his shoulder. Mason privately made a note to curse whoever dared touch him.
"Who are- oh. It's you." If looks could kill, Norman would be dead seven times over. "What are you doing here?"
"Woah, chill out man!" Norman held his arms out in front of him defensively. He was wearing an obnoxiously bright green hoodie this time. Mason wondered if he was double jointed, his hands moved weird. "I-I get it, you're a protective older brother and you hate me for dating Bluebell, but can we move past that? I- I don't want us to be this way, Mason. Can we atleast be civil?"
"Bluebell?" Mason incredulously mouthed. "Norman, I believe I have always been perfectly civil with you. I've never insulted you, not harmed you in any way. But I believe that is about to change unless you move in 30 seconds. Don't expect me to believe that you're here just to make amends." Plus, Norman had a very high-pitched voice. Mason found it grating on his nerves.
"Worth a short." Norman shrugged with an infuriating smirk. "I was here looking for my Bella, but I suppose I'll find her elsewhere. I mean it though. I don't want us to be enemies." He said, rather ominously in Mason's opinion as he walked away.
Like that pathetic brat could lay a hand on him or Belle! His nicknames for her were also seriously weird. Bluebell?! Seriously? Mason would strangle him on the spot the next him he saw that-
"Woah dude. Getting a bit dark there." Soos commented.
"What?!" Was Soos some kind of magical mind reader? Was that why Lee hired him?
"Nah, I'm just a regular human. But you have this tendency to talk out loud when your mad, lil dude." Soos chuckled. "Honestly, I can relate. When I was 14, no, wait, 14 years and 2 months old, no, wait, 14 years 2 months and 25 days old, no, wait-"
Mason sighed. This was going to be a long day.
"Hey, Jason? Can you pass my my purse?"
"It's Mason." He turned to shoot a withering glare at Wendy.
"Like I care."
"Give me a hand with this, atleast!" Mason huffed, trying to carry a large dressing table.
"No can do, kiddo. My dress'll get ruined!"
Mason placed the table on the ground, not daring to use magic in front of the likes of Wendy Valentino. That woman was a blabbermouth.
"You are literally wearing a plain black dress."
"Excuse me?!" Wendy looked at him with a disdainful glare. "My boyfriend, Eli, gifted this Dior dress to me. And this bracelet? I made it out of glass myself, and nearly got burned. So no, I'm not risking any part of my outfit, kid."
"The heart on it is cracked." Mason pointed out. "If you fixed it once, you can fix it again."
"Nope. You'll have to try harder." Wendy smirked and fished out her phone.
Mason just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why did I even waste my time with you?" He went back to his task, cursing Soos all the way for his absence.
What was he doing anyway?
"Soos, I need someone to fill in for Wendy! Axolotl above knows where that girl's off too." Lee shook his head. He needed to fire her soon.
If not for her absolutely insane people skills...
"Of course Mr. Lee!" Soos happily exclaimed. Lee watched his enthusiasm and smiled. Soos was a good man... child. A good man-child.
Mason still didn't know what was up with Norman, but he was determined to find out. Belle, as usual, was ignoring all the red flags springing up. She really was terrible with romance, real or fake, and he was getting tired of looking out for her... and eliminating some rather unsavory prospects, but she didn't need to know that.
Norman was unnecessarily clingy. He could easily break glass and metal with his bare hands without even a bruise. He had weirdly sharp teeth and could chew and swallow almost anything. He had the worst taste in pasta too. Always going for the penne when the ravioli was right there!
He'd never know why Norman took Belle to Grande Hotel that one time. Absolutely horrid table manners!
And this charade had gone on for a rather long time in his opinion. Operation Make The Break was in progress.
"Belladonna? I was thinking-"
"Your brain's constantly working, I know, but why are you calling me that?"
"He came up with such pathetic nicknames and you're okay with it?" Mason shot back.
"The day my dear boyfriend calls me by such names, he will suffer a painful death long overdue." Belle said with steel in her voice. She didn't like nicknames. Not at all. Especially ones bestowed upon her by her boyfriends.
Mason nodded at that, relaxing minutely. "Okay. Okay. That's good."
Belle found this suspicious. "Why did you even think that?"
"Huh?"
"Couple names."
"I, uh, had the pleasure of meeting your precious Norman the other day."
"Ah."
"Exactly."
The siblings sat in amicable silence for a few minutes, before Belle broke it.
"Mace?"
"Yeah?"
"You aren't him."
A fortnight after that incident, Belle was getting ready for another one of her dates with Norman.
Mason was practicing some card tricks for the show, shuffling and drawing them out.
"Mason, you're really obsessed with the show. Relax, brother mine. It'll be fine."
Mason didn't listen and continued shuffling.
"Hey, which earrings go with this dress?" Belle asked, holding up a bright blue dangly earring to one ear, a shiny silver stud to the other.
Mason drew three cards and laid them on the table.
"Mason? Are you even listening to me? You've been ignoring me since days." Belle huffed, finally deciding to put on the blue ones.
The Moon. The Tower. The Magician. Interesting.
She smirked. Time to use one last tactic. "I'm breaking up with Norman today."
Mason's head snapped up so fast, she thought he'd broken it. "Doth mine ears decieve me, sister beloved?"
"Yes, cooping yourself up in your room for days on end will turn a person into a Shakespearean character."
"About time." Was the only reply Mason gave. She didn't know whether it was for the breakup, or if it was for his lifelong dream which he achieved.
Once Belle deemed she looked acceptable enough to crush someone's heart, she gave a self satisfying nod.
Before she left, however, Mason suddenly grabbed her arm. As she looked at his face, she saw that his eyes were shut and his birthmark was glowing, casting a blue light over the room.
"There's an illusion. A manipulation. A fork in the path. Leading to joy, leading to wrath. He is not what he seems. Hope nothing unravels at the seams. For where you see destruction, you shall find liberation."
Abruptly, he pulled his hand away and went back to shuffling his deck, pretending like he didn't do anything unusual.
Belle was staring at him in open-mouthed shock. Did he just-
"I believe your date's waiting, Belladonna."
"Ye-yeah. I'll just... Yeah." Belle shakily said as she stepped out of their room and shut the door.
As Belle and Norman made their way to a cove in the forest, she could tell that there was something awkward in the air between them.
Apparently, so could he because the next thing she knew, he worriedly looked at her with those weirdly pink eyes and asked, "Belle? Everything okay, sweetheart?"
"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine!" Belle waved her hand causally and entwined her fingers with Norman's. "Just was a bit shaken up, but seeing you made me feel a whole lot better." She cheekily winked.
Norman blushed. "Aw, you're the sweetest. I really could just eat you up, cupcake."
They walked together, hand in hand, Belle wondering how on earth his hands were never sweaty unlike Mason's, when Norman stopped them again.
He nervously glanced around before blurting, "I- I really need to tell you something, Belle."
"Oh, me too! But you can go ahead first."
"Wheew. Okay. Just promise you won't freak out, okay? Just- just keep an open mind, that's all I'm saying."
"O..kay."
To her horror, he began reaching for the zipper of his hoodie. He slowly pulled it down.
She could feel the seconds tick by in agony.
Was he horribly disfigured? She wasn't going to judge, but she was still breaking up with him once this awkward situ- HOLY AXOLOTL WHAT IS THAT?!
"Is this too weird? Do you need to sit down for a minute?" A tiny fairy-like creature with abnormally pointy teeth asked her.
"I'm sorry, but what?" Belle calmly asked, trying to keep her composure.
The creature slapped her head. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Bluebell. We forgot to introduce ourselves." She giggled, oblivious to the way Belle's eye twitched violently. "I'm Jane, that's Lois, Halley, Greta, and, I'm sorry, i always forget your name?"
"Shmebulina."
Jane clicked her fingers. "Shmebulina! Thanks! And as you can see, we're Barf Fairies."
Belle sagely nodded, like she met boyfriends who were actually a bunch of fairies in a hoodie on a daily basis. This suddenly reminded her of the time when she and Mason were kids and they used to dress up in Carl's suits pretending to be him and pranking his business associates. It suprisingly worked more than once. "Okay. Cool. Anyway, uh, this is a bit awkward because I'm straight and you guys are a bunch of female fairies, so... I think we'll have to break up. I'm sorry, Norma- err, Jane."
Jane looked truly heartbroken. Belle thought that she should feel atleast a pinch of guilt, but she didn't. Besides, she just had the perfect excuse to break up.
"It's okay, Belladonna." She smiled sweetly for a moment, showing her viciously sharp teeth. Belle thought 'Water under the bridge!' "Originally, we were going to make you our queen. But that's fine because we're going to kidnap you and the feast on your sweet flesh."
Belle's eyes widened. She instantly pulled a wicked looking dagger out of thin air and readied herself for a fight. "Over my dead body!"
"That's exactly what we want." The four barfairies chorused and dived.
Mason waited till Belle had left for her date, and then went after her.
He, for the first time in his life, had made a Prediction. It was a strange and thrilling incident to be a vessel for the Times. For a split second during his trance, he saw out all the paths laid out before him and Belle. One in which she died. One in which they were put in prison. One in which they attained the power the journal spoke of. He had tried to see further on that path, but a lot of it was a blur to him. He suspected the Times didn't want him seeing what he and Belle were capable of.
But it was no use dwelling on his experience. He knew for a fact that this breakup would be one involving a lot of blood. The Times had shown him that atleast. Belle could either be alive and throwing knives around, or dead and boiling in a cauldron. He couldn't admit to himself that the second option scared him a lot more than it should.
Running out into the depths of the forest, he quickly shut his eyes and tried to focus on the Twinnection he and Belle had. He let his sense take over, the only thought in his head to find and save his sister.
When he finally arrived at the clearing, Mason was relived to find her still fighting. Belle was a tornado, slashing anything she could find in her path. Her skin and a portion of her dress was singed from where the Barfaries acidic spit had corroded it, but she was still vicious as ever and could hold her own against what looked to be a hundred of them. Mason could have stood there for hours simply marveling Belle's abilities. She moved agilely, using her magic to make herself invisible for a few seconds at a time and to hurl bolts of blue incinerating energy. He was pretty sure there was a generous sprinkling of deadly curses in the volley. He closed his eyes and summoned a force field to knock the Barfairies out of the the air. Belle instantly cursed the ground beneath them to turn into boiling hot magma. There was an acrid stench in the air as Belle turned to shoot a withering glare to Mason.
"Took your own sweet time, huh, brother mine."
"I couldn't interfere before. The Times showed me that." Mason said apologetically and Belle supposed that was all she'd get out of him.
"By the way, how did you even-"
"YOU!" A furious cry arose from the heated patch of grass, interrupting their conversation. It was Jane, who had miraculously managed to survive. "YOU AND YOUR PESKY ANNOYING FOOLISH MEDDLING LITTLE TWERP OF A TWIN BROTHER!"
"Yikes. That's a lot of unrequired hatred, Jane." Belle said, buffing her nails against her dress.
"Let's give her a reason for that then, shall we Belladonna?" Mason let a wicked grin spread across his face. He snapped his fingers, a blue flame appearing on his index.
Belle lifted up Jane and let her hover in thin air, immobilizing the other survivors and doing the same. Let them see what happened to those that messed with the Gleefuls. She made a weird handsign and with a flash a crystal dropped out of thin air.
"Focus the spell on this side of the crystal, Mason. It'll magnify its effects." Belle said, placing it in his palm.
Mason picked up the crystal and held it up in the sunlight. "When did you even find this?"
"In the forest. Midnight expedition."
He could see little dust motes floating around it. He'd examine it at a later time, however. There were more pressing matters to attend to. Like the annihilation of their enemies. "The 100 Deaths or The Shattered Bones?"
Belle grinned and took Mason's empty palm in her own. She did love it when her brother was sadistic.
Lee came back from work early that evening. Business was slow, it was just the start of summer after all! He wanted to take a break, maybe do something special for the twins. Poor children, losing both their parents at once, not even allowing themselves to grieve.
Lee decided to cook dinner. Maybe some steak and a salad, something light. He was just about to remove the lettuce from the fridge when the doorbell rang. Belle must have just finished her-
"Hello Lee." Mason said flatly. He was dressed formally, not a leaf or a twig on his shirt. The displaced portion of his outfit was his upturned collar. The concerning part was the tiny flecks of blood and matter on the sides and bottom of his shoes. There was no way in hell that Lee wouldn't recognize what crushed intestines looked like. He'd had experience handling things like that back when he and Stanf- back before.
"You kids okay?" He asked, brushing the soot and what looked like congealed acid out of Belle's hair.
She gave a smile that was a little too vicious for his liking. "We're fine, Lee. Just a little exhausted."
"What hap-"
"Don't mind us. We'll come down for dinner." Mason said politely, swiftly cutting him off. Lee understood the real meaning behind his words. Don't dig too deep when you're not going to like the answer. Or even get an answer.
He sighed as they trudged up the stairs, leaving bloody, muddy, dirty footprints as they went. He'd have to clean that up himself later.
They must have got the vicious streak from his brother. He wished they didn't.