Work Text:
The screaming and laughter that came from the school's sport's field cut through the silence in one of the classrooms on the second floor. It would be empty be it not for the six teenagers seated in different corners of the room.
One of them, a white-haired person with long carefully made braids and a masculine look, dressed in black gym pants and a crop top with a golden skull on it, peeled their back from the wall they were casually leaning against and slammed the only open window in the room shut with much more force than was necessary. They were smaller than the others but their body and posture could hardly hide their strength and power even if they ever bothered to try.
"I was enjoying the breeze, Nanook," a slender figure clothed in a long flowy tie-dyed shirt and loose purple trousers with the deepest pockets they could find lifted their eyes to their angry peer. They spoke in a quiet harmonious voice but didn't rise from the corner they were seated in to reverse what has been done.
"You know that I hate when they shout, Xipe. I can't think," the white-haired teenager gritted through their teeth, the golden skull decorating their black shirt rising and falling quickly with each heavy breath.
"It's not like you're able to do that in silence either."
The seemingly youngest of the group, sitting cross-legged on the teacher's desk and clothed in a long-sleeved and heavily patched shirt, clearly for the aesthetics not out of necessity, always enjoyed poking fun at them and this time was no different.
"Shut it, Aha!" Nanook shouted and lifted an arm in their direction with some unclear intent beside pointing their way but the immediate laugh they received grated on their nerves so much, they thought of throwing something, anything they could get their hands on.
"They're not wrong." The tone of another of their classmates was calm and dispassionate. Sitting perfectly poised at the student's desk on the left side of the second row and close to the door, was a bit of a blocky person in perfectly ironed gray shirt and blue jeans, with short slicked-back hair, a set of thin-rimmed glasses balanced on their nose and absolutely forgettable face.
Nanook scoffed and let the arm fall back to their side. Their anger was hardly quenched but for now it was quelled.
"Shouldn't we start already?" A tall muscular figure standing up until now silent and motionless at the head of the classroom by the blackboard was, unlike Nanook, built more like a swimmer than a MMA fighter. Their long black hair was tied with a dark green ribbon into a low ponytail and the marine blue tank top they were sporting was complemented by green shorts with an inseam. They folded their arms on their chest and winced a little, when the bandage on their left forearm brushed against their body.
"We're still waiting for Ix." The deep gravelly voice belonged to the last, seemingly oldest and definitely the biggest of the bunch. They were built like a brick wall and they could never be shamed for the few extra kilograms they kept. They were clothed in a bright orange shirt with some dark colored symbols on it and jean shorts ending a few centimeters above their knees.
"They're not coming, Qlip," Xipe shook their head.
"Just like always!" Aha gave out a high-pitched squeal.
"But this time it's important," the tall one by the blackboard clenched their fists and marched to the window.
"Maybe we shouldn't say it every time we invite them, Lan," Aha shrugged and watched the other student open the window and take a deep breath, readying themselves to shout.
"They can hear us, see?" Xipe lifted their chin and without either getting up or seeing what's actually happening outside, pointed their nose in the direction of a teen sitting hunched under the tree close to the main school building, clothed in a black hoodie and with a hood pulled up to obscure most of their face. All that was visible from this angle was part of their cheek and the outline of their big headphones through the fabric of the hood.
Lan knew that but that wasn't what discouraged them from shouting at Ix, it was another wave of laughter behind their back.
"They wouldn't care even if it was important," Aha laid their back on the top of the desk and folded their arms under their head.
"If it was? It is!" Lan hissed and turned to face Aha, their eyes piercing through their body like an arrow.
"They mean even if it was important to them but I don't think there's anything like that we'd agree on," Xipe shook their head, stood up with a long sigh and gave the teen in a patched shirt a scornful look. "And you, Aha, don't be so vicious. We all know what Ix is like."
"We don't need your middle of the road pep talk, we need decisions!" Lan turned to Xipe with the same sharpness they previously treated the young one to.
"I understand your anger," Xipe started again, her hands lifted in defense, but was swiftly interrupted, when Lan just waved there and headed towards the door.
"This was a mistake. We've done well so far, we can finish the rest."
"It's going to be hard if you can't find them!" Aha started laughing once more.
"I told you to shut it, before!" Nanook shouted again, making three threatening steps towards Aha, while the teen in patched shirt pressed their palms to their cheeks, pretending to be afraid.
"That's quite enough!" Qlipoth slammed their fist on a nearby desk. "If you can't keep this discussion constructive and if you,” they turned to Lan leaving the classroom, “can't even explain what help you need, then why do you waste my time?"
"It's because they know you can't help anyway," Aha bit their tongue mischievously.
Xipe, Nanook and Qlipoth turned their gaze towards Lan's back, clearly surprised.
The last of the group, Nous, just pushed their glasses towards the root of their nose. "What they say makes sense. Qlip can hardly protect Lan's people against themselves."
"What are they going to do, build another wall?" Aha chimed in, looking at them now with their head hanging down from the teacher's desk.
"Nanook cannot destroy what they can't find."
"Such a shame Aki..."
"Don't you dare speak out their name!" Nanook lunged forward, grabbed the hem of Aha's shirt and pulled them down from the desk, slamming their back against the floor.
Aha heaved and started coughing, but the mischievous smile left their face for barely a second. Not even Nanook's rage could stop the joy they were always overflowing with.
Qlip did a half-step forward, more out of instinct, than out of real intent to protect their peer. Then they relaxed and straightened their back again.
Nous was waiting for another wave of silence. "And Xipe," they added finally and just shrugged before they finished their thought.
"Yeah, what's Xipe going to do? Calm Yaoshi to death with her feel-good talks?" Aha wanted to laugh but the pressure Nanook exerted on their chest made that almost impossible.
Lan just sighed and without turning back to the others, they just nodded. "As I said, this was a mistake."
And without another word they just left the classroom.
Qlipoth rubbed their chin, still watching the door Lan just marched out of. There was a long pause as silence filled the room. All of them lost in their thoughts.
"Despite what you're all thinking, it's better for all of us that we can't see eye to eye," Nous spoke as they stood up from their chairs. "The last time the two of us agreed on any matter, we lost Ena."
There was a sudden quiet gasp that came out of Xipe's throat as they covered their mouth. Nous looked their way and it was hard to discern if there truly was a hint of accusation in that gaze or if Xipe was projecting. But why should they feel guilty? Ena was now part of them, they joined the voice that was now called Xipe.
"I still miss them from time to time," Nous added as if to speak what was previously left untold. They took a deep breath but their cold calculating stare was still firmly pressed against Xipe's form.
Xipe just gave them a reassuring smile. "I understand how you feel. It must be hard to lose someone who understands."
"And then there was..." Nous didn't acknowledge their words. Death of an Aeon was always fascinating to them, as much as a birth was but the sacrifice was sometimes heavy.
"Terminus," Qlippoth finished Nous' sentence.
Nanook felt something move inside their chest as that name was spoken. There was a hint of nostalgia or maybe remembrance they did their best to push down. Their fingers let go of Aha's shirt and they just knelt there by the other teenager's body, unmoving, silent, burning with rage so strong they thought it would tear them apart and maybe it already did a long time ago, but in that rage remorse could be seen burning.
Xipe felt a tug, there was a shift in the threads of harmony and their eyes drifted outside, seeking exactly what caused it.
The shouts and laughs from the sport's field still resonated through the school's grounds, the sun was shining brightly and the gardens were almost empty but the dark outline that Ix was casting in the shadows of the apple tree wasn't there anymore. Instead, they stood at the foot of the building, their head lifted to see straight into the window Xipe was standing at. Their eyes, inky black and deep like the void itself, were unnerving but they knew Ix wasn't there to threaten them, they heard what others spoke of and came to express their thoughts through their presence.
"I don't think you're the only one who misses Terminus, Qlip," Xipe remarked and their eyebrows arched with sadness.
Qlippoth huffed, a look of disapproval marking their face. "Leave nostalgia to Fuli, I have better things to do."
Nanook nodded and stood up. "I agree. There are things to do and this place is making me angrier than ever."
"What? You're leaving already?" Aha propped themselves up on their elbows.
Xipe turned to Aha in surprise. "You sound disappointed."
"Yes, I am!" They jumped up and cleaned their hands on their trousers. "Of course I am. You're boring, this is boring and I'm bored," they did a whole turn on their heel and shoved Nanook with both of their hands.
The white-haired teenager, surprised by Aha's actions, took two steps back when pushed and it took them a second too long to react before Aha just snapped their fingers and every teenager inside the classroom and the one under the building just crumbled to the ground, now nothing more than a pile of meat and broken bones.
- - - - -
In the depths of the eternally humming universe, on the further side of an asteroid belt that patiently gyrates around a gas giant sat the many-masked fool, the universal joker, the everlasting joyseeker and the funniest Aeon of them all. Their many fingers dangling in front of their many eyes, always curious, always laughing and now they were also bored.
"Ugh! Fuli!" Their voice resonated through the darkness of the universe. "Fuli! I need a better scenario. Give me something funnier!"
A bright shine of myriads of stars reflected by millions of mirrors cut through the shade of the asteroids and a jingle of glass brought Aha's attention to a single point in front of one their faces.
"And here I thought their sadness you inevitably caused would be enough to keep you occupied for much longer."
"Longer, shorter, left, right, none of that matters. What matters is..."
"You keep yourself occupied with the past but you're clearly not content,” Fuli interrupted them. “Are you so afraid of future disappointments?" The freezing cold that emanated from Fuli and that infected the space they resided in, covering it in eternal winter of nuclear proportions, flowed on their breath to Aha and wiggled their way under one of their masks with doubt and distrust.
The jokester shook and lifted one of their limbs to wipe away the frost.
"I just like where I'm at, you know. They're all too busy with themselves, nobody's paying attention to me which is..." They paused, the chorus inside their form mingling and thinking.
"Frustrating?"
"Yes. No. I just, hm, I just wanna be loved!" They shouted, their body exaggeratedly animated, flinging the asteroids in all possible directions.
Fuli was silent.
"Ugh, if you don't want to help me cook something up, then leave me be."
There was nothing more than silence from the Aeon of remembrance, their body still and not unlike a mirror, opaque and covered with snow, flickered into nothingness.
"Maybe they're right, maybe I should go and break something, just like Yaoshi. Then they're going to play with me again."
Thousand laughs carried over a burning star and a gas giant broken in half and dispersed by falling asteroids.