Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When you're the only magicless person in a magic-filled world, it's hard to fit in.

It's hard to fit in with those who have an advantage over you and mock you for being weak, for not being born the same as they were.

Yet Mash defies that. Mash defies the very grounding of worlds and molds it into something new.

Mash looks at the man in front of him, his white hair stained with grub and dirt from his attempts at killing him. He steps forward, only for the white haired man to snap his fingers and appear farther away. He narrows his eyes.

“Innocent Zero,” Mash says coldly, clutching his fists. “Stop trying to avoid me.”

Innocent Zero smirked, tilting his head like he was confused. “Why? It seems quite clear that you’re going to kill me.” He lifts a finger, sending his army of times snakes flying towards Mash. Mash swiftly dodges them, leaping forward and reaching for Innocent Zero. 

The man scoffs in response, “Really, Mash? I thought you were better than this,” sending Mash into his times snakes that had been lurking and waiting for another chance to strike.

Mash quickly gets out of there before any of them were able to bite him. He wasn't worried about getting bitten by these snakes and suddenly becoming older, rather he was more worried about his friends, who were covered with bleeding wounds and unconscious on the ground below. 

If only Mash was stronger and could protect them.

Right, his bracelets. Mash glanced at his bracelets briefly before taking them off, rubbing his wrists before leaning down and bolting for another hit on the man.

“Enough. I’m tired of this cat and mouse game,” Innocent Zero flicked his finger at Mash. 

“Timez Stop,” he commanded, his tone harsh.

Usually, whenever he used such ability everyone would stop moving and he'd be able to move around freely.

Except Mash did not stop, his fist coming into contact with Innocent Zero’s chest and sending the man into a building behind him.

He gasps, looking down at his body and seeing a part of his body jutted out and crooked. He groans in pain, attempting to stand up and get away before Mash was able to get to him, but it was fruitless. Mash appears a moment later thanks to his speed, landing another hit on him. 

And another. And another. And another. More and more until Innocent Zero’s body was crushed and could almost not be recognizable. It fell limp, the building the body had been leaning on unable to withstand Mash's punches and toppling over. Dust particles were sent flying.

Quickly moving out of the way as the building crumbled, Mash watched as a good chunk of it fell onto Innocent Zero, a bloody gash dripping down his forehead. He nade his way over when he knew it'd be safe.

He stood over Innocent Zero’s body, huffing as sweat dripped down his face. The only way he had managed to bypass his power was because he was, theoretically, faster than time itself. It was faulty, sure, and he didn’t even know if it was going to work; But it did.

And now he was dead. His mangled body covered by the debris of the building.

Mash’s white shirt was stained with someone else’s blood, his coat long having been discarded and thrown who knows where. He reaches for his head, brushing his fingers through his mushroom hair. “Hah….”

He looks down at his hands, which were scraped and bruised. He might've been shaking, but it was hard to tell with how everything seemed to be moving around him. 

But he had done it; He had defeated Innocent Zero. He had finally managed to beat the evil. The ones who were after his friends, his pops, his colleagues and mentors. Mash's hands curl up into balls, an unknown feeling overwhelming him.

He turns around to quickly put his bracelets back on, relief flooding over him as he feels the restraints to his powers once again.

“MASH!” A familiar voice calls from behind him. He turns around to find a messy-haired Lemon rushing up to him, immediately scooping his face in her hands and asking way too many questions at once. “ARE YOU OKAY? ARE YOU- DO YOU NEED HELP? YOU’RE INJURED, RIGHT? FINN!!” she yells, her eyebrows furrowing. “Why…. why the hell did you do that?” Her voice shook at the end, like she was scared for Mash.

“Do what?” Mash asked, gently taking her hands off him. He didn’t understand. That was what he was supposed to do, that was what people were telling him to do this entire time.

Lemon shook her head, her worry getting increasingly bigger as she checked Mash’s body. “God Mash, you don’t know how worried we were.” She paused when she saw Finn rushing up, Lance and Dot following closely behind. 

They all looked dirty and as if they came back from the brink of death. Hell, they probably did.

Finn immediately casts one of his butterflies to heal Mash’s wounds, while quietly talking to Lance who stood beside him. Lance speaks a little louder for a moment, intended for Mash to hear. “I was worried that Mash was going to die. How stupid of me.”

Mash turns to him, shrugging. “It’s okay. I had it under control.”

“From the way you’re looking right now, that says otherwise.”

Mash didn’t reply, reaching into his pocket and munching on a creampuff.

The three other mouths hung open in shock. Is he seriously-

They were interrupted by the sound of civilians cheering at Mash, all having bright smiles on their faces in glory. Although the majority of their town was destroyed, most people managed to survive thanks to Mash.

Mash, the one person who couldn’t use powers. It wasn’t like there weren’t others who were like him - powerless and unable to use magic - but Mash was the first to prove that magicless people could be just as strong, albeit strength and not actual magic.

Mash turns his head to the crowd, watching as thousands of people cheer and congratulate him for what he’s done. He stands atop of the rubble, like atop of one of those concert buildings and staring out into the crowd.

His lips curve upwards ever so slightly.

But they curve back down when he feels a tingly sensation in his fingers. He looks down, expecting nothing in particular but instead seeing-

Nothing. His hands weren’t there.

And his arms were slowly fading too.

Oh, and I guess his creampuff disappeared too. Damn.

Mash turned to his friends, not sure how to exactly explain what was happening to him. “Hey, guys, I-”

“You what?” Lemon turned to him in confusion, before halting when she notices his arms missing. She looks further down to find his legs were also fading. 

“No…. nononono fuck. FINN!!-” Lemon screams at the others, frantically trying to see what she could do to stop whatever was happening to Mash.

The other boys caught sight of what was happening, the relief on their faces turning into fear rushing over to Mash and seeing what they could do. 

“Mash- what-”

“What the hell is going on Mash!?-”

“NO. NONONO PLEASE MASH-”

“What the fuck- this can’t be happening-”

No one knew what was going on. As the crowd realized what was going on, the town erupted into chaos again, all trying to make it up the mess to Mash and help him. It was no use though; The rubble made it almost impossible for them to make it up there. Only his friends somehow managed, ans that was thanks to Lance’s teleportation ability.

“Mash, stop moving for a second. I’ll find a way to reverse this,” Lance urges, tapping his wand on Mash and casting some foreign spell. But it didn’t work, instead casting an explosion and sending Lance backwards.

Finn tried next, using his butterflies to slow the process of the spread. It was no use either, with him just slowly getting more tired and fatigued while using his powers.

Dot stood there, unsure of what to do. How could he do anything to help when his abilities were almost purely explosions like the one Lance just did? Instead, he shouted encouraging comments to try and calm the situation. Not like it ever would, though.

Lemon just completely stopped, however, tears dripping down her face as she wrapped her arms around Mash and refused to let go. “I can’t- why are you… I don’t understand,” she weeped, her face burrowed into Mash’s shoulder. The shoulder was already fading, her cheek falling off and forcing her to look him in the eye again. “Mash, please.”

Mash didn’t say anything at first, simply staring at them with unblinking eyes. Until he took a breath, and spoke.

“Uh... Thank you, guys, I guess.”

Lemons' eyes teared up even more, her breathing getting worse as the fade spread to Mash’s neck. Finn took his hands back, knowing that it was too late for him to do anything, simply burrowing his head into his hands.

“That's how you end these kinds of things, right?" 

And he was gone.

The crowd stopped moving or screaming, suddenly becoming quiet as their eyes drifted to his friends who were all crying.

Lance appeared back as quickly as possible, pausing when he didn’t see Mash anywhere. “Where did….” he paused, clutching his fists. “He…. he’s gone, isn’t he?”

Dot, who had been silent, looks at Lance and nods. “....Yeah.”

Lance slowly made his way over to Lemon and Finn, standing next to him in hopes of giving them comfort. At this point, even Dot was crying along with the other two. Lance was the only one who hadn’t yet. 

It wasn’t like he wasn't going to a few hours later, when he was out of sight and hiding in his bedsheets. Definitely not, he’d never admit it.

His lips trembled though, his eyes on the ground in sorrow.

That…. That wasn’t Innocent Zero. It couldn’t have been. His ability doesn’t do things like that, unless it’s the old age one. But even then, it wouldn’t look like what it did with Mash. 

If it wasn’t him, then….

Lance looks up at the grey and cloudy sky above them, as if staring into a mysterious foe’s eyes. He didn't know if he actually was or the feeling of someone staring back was just his imagination.

Who was it?

“SoooOOoOooOO DiZZy AAAAaaaAaAAAAaaaAAAAaaaaaAaAaAaaaaAAAAaaAa!!” Mash screamed, even if it wasn’t a very convincing scream.

Okay, turns out that disappearing suddenly, ends you up in a weird and oddly familiar tunnel leading to nowhere in particular. Well, maybe it did lead somewhere, but Mash didn’t know where and he wasn’t keen to find out. 

The tunnel, in all honesty, felt like a daydream, like it held memories of Mash’s, but also of others. It was odd, very odd indeed. Just what was this thing?

The only annoying thing about this tunnel was how it was forcing him to go a certain direction - like it was trying to beckon him somewhere.

Mash ventured around a bit, honestly quite curious about this new area. However, that curiosity faded when he touched hands with the swirly glowing stuff and he was suddenly being forced down the tunnel.

“Hwhahwhhahhaaaaa.”

Mash tried to grip onto something, anything that can stop him from being swished away to who knows where. It was weird to him, how this tunnel somehow managed to pull him along even if he used his full power and speed against it. And it was always the same momentum that he was pulled along with.

Okay, enough of this. He wanted out, and not the way the tunnel was trying to lead him. Why? Dunno, just sounds more cool.

He takes a step forward, leaning down for a moment before pushing himself against the current - somehow - and managing to latch onto some random piece of sparkles that weren’t moving.

He glances into the colours, trying to see if there was anything beyond them. He couldn’t see that far, but it seemed that there indeed was something on the other side.

Wait wait wait. Should he even break out of the tunnel and force himself into a situation that he might not be able to handle?

Mash was never one to second-guess things, he was someone of a simple mind.

So he brings his fist back, slamming it into the dust. Continuously until it eventually left open a crack. Mash peeked his eye through the hole, though it still was too blurry and hard to see what exactly was on the other side.

So he continued beating the crap out of the tunnel, even kicking at it a couple times, until it was a hole big enough for him to fit through.

He takes a breath, getting himself prepared to venture through the hole.

But the current that had previously been pushing him somewhere else had other plans. That same current suddenly stops, reverting to the now open hole and trying to guide him through. Mash almost hesitates, but it’s too late. The current pushes him into the hole where a bright blinding white light comes into view and he clashes into the ground face-first. He groans in pain, unused to such feeling, and rolls over while clutching his stomach. He lifts his face up slightly, before realizing how much it burned and putting it back down again. 

At least this time, he could tell what he was laying on. Grass and soil: Honestly surprising to him considering there could be a lot worse things he could've landed in.

After a few minutes of just laying there and taking breaths, Mash sits up and rubs his eyes, looking around.

It definitely wasn't his homeland in any way, though it had a lot of similarities. There were humans, luckily, so all Mash could hope now was that they were friendly and spoke in a similar language.

He took a better look at what exactly the setting of this world is like.

Tall rectangular buildings, weird architecture; and the weirdest of all..

Mash could not see a single human or thing using magic. Sure there was weird machinery and things that seemed to be some sort of transport other than brooms, but those weren't magic. He could tell. How could he tell? He didn’t know, he could just feel it.

He sat there for a moment, pretty much utterly confused on what was going on.

Wha he eh who wwatt what ah eh huh?? -whae wlere owah ajf aaaaaaaaa

He was mentally screaming inside. Wow.

He continues to do so until he feels a shadow hover over him, a hesitant voice calling out. “Uhm sir.. Are you alright?"

Mash turns, expecting to see something familiar. Honestly he didn't know why he was hoping for another familiar thing. It's a different world for heck's sake.

His mouth drops however as he stares at the woman towering over him. She, with curly blonde hair and sky blue eyes, wearing a rather interesting outfit for Mash’s tastes (he can't really say anything about it though, since he has no taste) wasn't what took him by surprise. Not by a long shot.

The woman….

She didn’t have a mark on her face, like everyone else has back home.

(Or pretends to have. Sorry, Mash!)

Chapter Text

Mash stares at the woman standing over him, a fazed expression plastered on his face. The woman didn’t have a mark, unlike almost everyone else back home.

Sure, this is probably a completely different world with different rules and stuff, but seeing humans without marks was something he didn’t really… expect. He’s glad there actually are people here though. He doesn't say anything, debating whether he should ask her about the lack of a mark on her face. But Mash ultimately decides not to, since this is a different world, after all, and might abide by some other rule or magic. He’ll ask about it later.

Sitting up, Mash brushes off the dirt smeared on his shirt, noticing some blood leaking from his untied shirt. Oh, the bloods still on it. He ties his cloak back up to hide the evidence, but it was pretty clear that the woman had already seen it. Damnit. What a great first impression.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he says, taking a step back from her and bowing politely. His stomach suddenly growled, however, and his mouth began to speak even before he could think-

“Is there any Creampuffs around here?”

The woman stared at him, stunned. She opens her mouth, closes it, then opens it again as if to confirm what Mash just said. “Is there Creamspuffs around here?" He reaffirms.

“Nono, I get what you mean, but you literally have blood on you,” she starts speaking in a more worried and frantic tone, pointing at his blouse which he had hidden. “Shouldn't we get you to a hospital or something-"

“Nope.”

The two stare at each other for a while, before the woman sighs and shakes her head. "Fine. At least let me help you with a change of clothes." Mash nods immediately, following the woman to who knows where. He doesn't even question it because he honestly didn't have anywhere to go. It was fine though, the woman seemed trustworthy to say the least - although he was hesitant.

They end up at a tall and window-filled building, people bustling in and out of it. They too didn’t have any marks, Mash noticed, instead they glanced at him and gave a questioning look. 

The woman noticed, turning to them and giving them an annoyed look back. “Hurry on then, c’mon.” The people hurryingly walk away, whispering to each other in hushed voices. She turns to Mash, nodding at him for him to come inside.

He follows her into a mysterious transportation device where they'd go inside through one door, and after that door reopened, they'd end up at another floor. It was hard to believe that they didn’t have magic, since this kind of… technology isn’t here at Mash’s homeplace. It should, honestly. It’d make life easier for him.

They walk through the hallway until they reach the end, where a slanted door frame read, ‘ Room 427’ on it. She opens the door and gestures for Mash to follow. He walks into the small, very small, apartment room, with a bed tucked in the corner, a messy couch next to a flat black.. thing? And clothing sprawled out across the floor. He made sure not to step on any of them though. "Sorry for the mess by the way, I haven't had company in a while,” she calls from behind him. Mash wanders around for a bit before sitting down on the bed.

"Is it... normal to bring random strangers inside your home to give them a spare change of clothes?" He was genuinely curious about this world's culture. I mean not really, but he was a little suspicious of the way she was just like 'OHOoooH LeT Me BBRinG U, A RANdoM StrANGER sOMe clOTHes!!'.

The woman laughs awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck. "Ah yeah, uhm well, you kind of just have that vibe where you wouldn't do anything bad?? I don't know how to explain it. It's either you have good vibes or I'm so lonely that i'd bring a random stranger into my house. I'm hoping it's the former."

He blinks.

"Oh! You can just call me Tris. Short for Beatris," she smiles at him, picking up the messy clothes while she speaks. She seems to love to talk as she rambled on and on, not even noticing that Mash had long stopped responding.

"Honestly it was a little surprising seeing a passed-out person on the ground with blood on them. I thought i walked in on a crime scene, haha. Not to mention the mark on your face," she points to her face for reference. "Reminds me of fantasy characters."

“Sorry.” He shrugs in response. He turns to the window behind the couch, watching the little vroom vroom things raced around on that track of theirs. Was that a sport that the people here liked to play? If so, it’s quite weird. 

Mash was going to just sit there in silence and wait until the woman left or some other thing happened, but Tris suddenly spoke up with a questioning tone, “Are you one of those crazy people? The ones that have been on the news lately about powers and marks.”

Mash pauses, glancing at her nervously. “Whahahahahaha, no. Definitely not.”

She points to her cheek. “You have the same mark as them, my bad. I’m guessing it’s a birthmark?... Nah, probably not. Although I'm pretty glad to know you aren't that crazy, I’m curious as to why you have that on your face." 

Mash could barely comprehend what she was saying as she was speaking way too fast, but he got the gist of it. At least he thought so. So it seems that the divine Visionaries also got put here by Innocent Zero. Damn.

He didn't even notice that Tris had stopped talking to him while waiting for his answer. "Ah, sorry. The mark isn't real it was just for... Dress-up." 

 "You're a dress-up kind of guy?"

 "...Yes."

Tris grins. "Oh i totally need to see you dress up. Show me sometime!"

Mash mentally sobbed. Just amazing, he dug himself into a rabbit hole.

Just as she was about to go on another half an hour rant about nothing in general, a ringing sound comes from her pocket. She pulls out a small rectangular item, tapping on it a few times as her facial expression changes. 

"Ughh, forgot I had a shift today. I'll have to leave you here for the time being. Alone. Sorry man." She quickly drops all the clothes back onto the ground, heading into the closet to change into a more work-suited attire.

"Actually, you can leave anytime you want since you probably have a house yourself or something but you're welcome here anytime!!" Putting on her shoes, Tris glances one last time towards Mash. "Oh, and make sure to get rid of the make-up and change into some better clothes. Otherwise you might be mistaken as a serial killer yeah? OK BYE!!!" 

She slams the door shut, her footsteps heard from the other side of the door until she finally leaves the building.

Mash sits there, thoughts blank. She had way too much energy to the point that Mash shut down his thinking process temporarily just so it wouldn't fry from all the information being pushed onto him. 

He smushes his face together, waking himself up from the shutdown. Mash quickly gets dressed into some of the clothes that Tris left next to him, noting that they were a little too tight for him but he’d probably be fine. He looks around a bit more before finding the bathroom tucked away in the corner, walking inside and realizing just how bad he looked.

His hair wasn’t even mushroom shaped anymore, more-so like a rag he just threw onto his head. The clothes looked tight and itchy on his skin - the only true part being the former - and his hands were bruised and calloused. 

Most notably though, was the mark that trailed from his eye down to his chin. His finger traced over it, before staring at the faucet below him. He turns it on, his hands going under the water before wiping his face. It felt cold. He gave it a good scrub before looking back up at the mirror.

His reflection in the mirror felt weird to him. It was him, Mash, without the mark. It was just him. His fingers trail where the mark used to be, now blank and empty, an unknown feeling dwelling in his gut. 

He didn't know how to feel. It was normal in this world for people not to have marks, but it just didn't feel.. right to him.

Oh well, whatever. Not like it matters.

Mash brushes his hair with Tris’ hairbrush, which was on the side, into his classic mushroom look.

He was ready to go out. Go out into the unknown and explore this world with a new mindset. All he had to do was step out this door. He didn’t really want to go out, still a little nervous for what this world could give and/or provide him. He raises his hand to the doorknob. One turn, and you’ll leave the one place that you’re safe in.

Do you really want to go out? Mash took some breaths, before slowly turning the doorknob and walking out.

What should he do then? There was nothing- IS THERE CREAMPUFFS? How could Mash forget! That was his mistake. He makes his way to the elevator, staring at the many buttons available to him. Oh well, I’ll just… tap them all.

During that time, unfortunately, a lot of people stood there with him and left at different spots, giving him a weird look as he was the closest to the buttons. He didn’t really understand why they were doing that, but they left soon after.

It took him a solid 10 minutes before he made it to the main floor that he walked in with Tris, making his way out the apartment building and standing there for a moment. 

I should head back in. I don’t even know why I went out in the first place.

But as he tries to turn around and go in, he gets a whiff of something… familiar.

Creampuffs.

And he takes off in the direction in which he smelled his favourite pastry. 

Chapter Text

It was another typical day for Mash Burnedead. He was out in the market getting Creampuffs, the usual.

Except it wasn't the usual. Mash was in a completely different world, where he didn't know where to go, and this world didn't have powers either. Luckily Tris, the one who 'adopted' him temporarily, told him creampuffs did exist so that put his mind at ease. The only thing that DID make him worry was the lack of where to get these creampuffs.

Mash wandered around in the downtown city, walking along the sidewalks that everyone seemed to use. Buildings one after another, most having ridiculous names like 'Starbucks' or 'Dollarama'. No sight of a single mention of 'Creampuffs'. He sighed, kicking a rock to the side. He ultimately decided to check each and every store out to see if any, any at all had them.

If not then Mash might just cry. 

Mash crosses the road once there were no cars in sight, making it to the other side swiftly.

But this wasn't the time to fret, Mash was on a journey for his beloved creampuffs. He first went to the Starbucks store that he saw earlier, a bell ringing as he walked into the place. The cashier at the front waved to him, inviting him over.

"What would you like to eat?" The cashier asked, tapping random buttons on the cash register while speaking, clearly not interested in Mash whatsoever.

"Do you have creampuffs?" Mash asked nervously, unsure of whether he should just leave.

"No, sorry. Anything else?" They tilted their head in apology, but it was clear they were just bored. 

Thankfully, he left as soon as the cashier spoke those words. Maybe the next store nearby will be of better use.

"Do you know a place where they have creampuffs?" 

"Nope."

Mash turned around, opened the door, and left.

Next place, i guess.

"Any creampuffs?"

"...This is a Tire Shop."

Mash left, heading into the next crossroad just down the street to the left. Oh, is that a store right there, hiding away behind garbage bins and with questionable-looking people huddled around a fire?

"Any Creampuffs?" Mash walked up to them, staring at the makeshift fireplace.

"Nah, sorry bud. But we do have some good magic mushrooms. Want some?" A scruffy bearded man said, grinning. Two of his teeth were missing, one being gold instead of yellow.

"No thank you," Mash quickly left that area. This didn't seem to be the right direction.

Oh! This seems to be-

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!??"

Mash stood outside their open window. "Do you know a place where they sell creampuffs?"

He gets a rubber duck smacked to his face.

It was sad, really. Throughout the entire day, Mash did not find a single store that had creampuffs. The only thing he managed to find was magic mushrooms - which he didn't take because the guys there smelled bad - and a rubber duck which he kept in his pocket.

He sighed, petting the rubber duck as he passed stores he'd already been to. Should I just head back? He wondered, not paying attention to where he was heading.

The driving vehicles that he had heard from others called 'cars' zoomed past on their pre-made passageways, while Mash waited patiently to be able to cross the road. He began to walk when most cars were out of sight, crossing the middle of the road while watching both sides.

Suddenly, his shoulder is yanked back by a stranger -or attempted to. Mash was a lot more sturdy than the guy thought - turning around and seeing a person with a weird shaved haircut. "Ow," he said, taking the persons hand off 

"What the hell man, didn't you see the green light?" The stranger yells, pointing at the weird black box that was above almost every road. It shone green. 

Mash stared at the stranger, confused. "Does the green light matter?"

"Do you want to get killed or something? Tes, it matters." The stranger stops for a moment, staring at Mash. "Do you... not know basic road rules?"

"No." Mash shrugs.

The stranger takes a breath before slowly explaining to Mash how exactly the road signs work and what to avoid. They always made sure to talk slow and simple so that he'd be able to understand, so by the end Mash was able to get the gists of it.

Mash stares at the light above the roads flashing red, turning back to the stranger and bowing. "Thank you, random-stranger-with-strange-haircut."

The stranger scoffs, shaking their head and walking off. Before they do though, Mash could hear a faint, "Whatever," as the person left.

Is that how most people act around here? 

Oh well, Mash didn't really care. He was just disappointed that he wasn't able to get creampuffs. Frankly, that was all that was on his mind. He crosses the road 

Mash should head back to Tris' place and ask if she knows a place where they have them. He should've done that in the first place. 

He heads up back to her apartment, forgetting that the rubber duck, which was in his pocket had disappeared. 

It took a while, Mash admitted. He still wasn't used to where everything was, so he got lost a couple times. But he immediately knew it was Tris' apartment because of its iconic dull blue colours. 

He made his way into the elevator, still a bit uncomfortable by it but could tolerate it, before ending up at Tris' room. 

At least Mash was pretty sure it was. He forgot the number that was on her door. 427.

He knocked, waiting patiently.

A few loud footsteps could be heard from the inside, before a disarranged looking figure appeared in front of him.

She pulls her scrubby hair back, a smile on her face. "Mash! Oh my god it's nice to see you! I didn't think you'd be back so soon - I mean it's not that soon it's been like 7 hours but stiiiill! What have ya been up to?"

"Is there a creampuff store around here?" he asked.

"Ah, a creampuff store?" she looks up in thought. "Don't think there's one nearby. Maybe there's one that's half an hour away if you drove by car, but nothing you can't get to by walking."

Tris looks at him. "Have you been... looking for a place with creampuffs the entire 7 hours?"

Mash nods, covered with dust. Heck knows where the dust came from.

Suddenly, Tris bursts out laughing, inviting him inside while she goes and cleans herself up. "I'd never imagine you as the type of person to be so persistent! Ah, well i'll definitely bring you over there tomorrow since it's a bit too late now," she looks at the time. "It's 9:45pm. Ya shouldn't be going that far out late at night. Plus I don't think that place is a 24-hour area. I mean it might be but-"

Mash interrupts her, knowing she'll continue to keep talking if she doesn't. "It's fine. Just tell me where it is."

She raises an eyebrow at him. "You have a car?"

He doesn't say anything. 

She gives him a look. "...I mean, sure I guess. Do you have a phone number that i can send the location to?"

"Phone number? What's that?"

"You living under a rock or sumthin'? Yknow, the phone number that you get whenever you get a new phone. Wait, do you even have a phone?"

Mash shakes his head. "No."

"Christ! You really have been living under a rock. You have strict parents I'm guessing?"

Tris puts her hair up into a ponytail, heading into the bathroom to get her toothbrush. She comes out talking while brushing her teeth. Mash found that a little gross. "Eh meen eh kud give ou mah 'ohne i' ya an."

"I don't understand you."

Tris goes back into the bathroom, spits into the sink, then reappears. "I said, I could give you my phone if ya want. But you have to be careful with it."

Mash nods. "Ok. How do I use your phone?"

"Ah, my boy, you really have been living under a rock. Here," she pulls out the rectangular thing from earlier in the day, tapping what he presumed a password in. She taps a few more times before handing her phone to him. "Keep the phone on so the tab will stay. My phone's a little wonky since it's old - and i kind of need an old one so if you break it please do - but that has the directions to the closest creampuff place."

"I've never actually tried a creampuff before but it'd be nice if you could bring me some-"

"Ok, thanks," Mash interrupts again, turning around and heading to the door. "I'll be back soon."

Tris nods. "Yeah- kay. Bring me some creampuffs too please!!"

Mash closes the door.

So off he goes trying to find the one and only creampuff store in miles. 

Chapter Text

Mash awkwardly stands in the box yet again, the ominous buttons on the wall telling him very bad things about his creampuffs.

He reached his shaking hand out towards the buttons, scared on which button to tap, until...

He tapped the one that said, 'Main Floor'. Horray for Mash. 

Mash walked outside of the building, making his way to an area where no one would see him.

Nobody had powers in this world. That was clear. So if anyone saw him being as fast or as strong as he is right now, he'd probably be sent away to their version of a death sentence. He couldn't show nobody this, not even Tris. Not even a baby. No one.

Mash holds onto the phone tight enough that he wouldn't let go as he braces himself into a running position, exactly the direction of where the creampuff place was at. 

He counts down from three. Three, Two, One- FWOOOOOSH.

Dust and particles swarm up from behind him as he rushes forward, avoiding every obstacle that came up his way. He jumps building to building, tree to tree until all there was left was a forest and a shaky road. Mash made sure to check the phone every few seconds to confirm that he was heading the right direction, before continuing forward. 

A squirrel. A normal forest squirrel which was peacefully nibbling on its nuts, had no time to react as a pair of human legs zoomed past it at unhuman speeds. It stood there unmoving for over half an hour, until it humbly put down its nut and gave up on life. Humans were too cruel.

Mash had gone on sprinting as fast as he could, not bothering to check the phone since all he could see was forest. He would stop once he saw a building of some sort. But the building that he very much wanted to see never appeared no matter how long he ran for. Eventually, Mash got tired and took a break, taking out the phone and looking at the location of where the creampuffs were.

Except the phone had turned off.

Panic set into him as he fumbled around with the phone, managing to turn it on. However, it was now stuck on the Password Page.

One Two Three Four, Mash typed into the phone. Wrong.

Nine Eight Seven Six, Mash typed into the phone. Wrong.

Zero Zero Zero One, Mash typed.

Zero Zero Zero Two, he typed. 

Zero Zero Zero Three-

"You must wait another 30 seconds before typing your password in."

Mash stared at the message, a look of dread on his face. 

"Aaaoaaoaoaaoaaaoaoaoaaoaoaaaaaaaaaaaaa."

He sat down on a rock nearby, staring at the ominous screen in front of him. What could be Tris' password? He definitely saw her tap it in earlier, but he didn't memorize it because he didn't think he'd need it so soon. 

Zero Zero Zero Four. 

Zero Zero Zero Five. 

Zero Zero Zero Six.

"You must wait another minute before typing your password in."

Mash put the phone in his pocket, not bearing to look at it for another second. Maybe he could just keep going forward and eventually find the place? But what if he was supposed to make a turn into the forest? Did he accidentally pass it?

While all these thoughts made Mash panic more, he knew the most reasonable thing to do was to keep going forward until he saw another city. 

He couldn't go back and just ask Tris cause' that's embarrassing. 

So Mash continued to run forward, an unknown feeling creeping into him as he ran further and further...

Until Mash collapsed onto the side of the street.

He hadn't known how long he ran for. Frankly, he had never run that far, even when he was back home with his pops. This was new to him, feeling worn out and tired. 

His breath was heavy and deep, trying to get enough air in him to keep going. But his body couldn't take it, so he just laid there on the ground, limp.

Ah... Is this where I die?.... 

All I wanted was a creampuff.... just a creampuff...

Even now I can smell my sweet creampuff..

Smell?

Mash looked up, doubtful. It was only until he saw it that his eyes lit up. 

"Creampuff Shop; Open 24/7"

Suddenly, he felt energized again. As if he could run infinitely. He had finally found his creampuffs.

He dashes into the store, almost breaking the door on the way in. The smell of freshly baked creampuffs floods his nose.

An old man glances at him as he pulls out a new batch. "Well well well, I haven't seen someone come in ages."

He smiles. "You can have this batch for free. How 'bout it?"

Mash hungrily digs into the creampuffs, sometimes stopping for a drink of water but otherwise completely DEVOURING these creampuffs, all while the old man smiles at his messiness and sits down beside him. 

"I haven't seen someone eat these creampuffs like you ever, at least i dont think so. Assuming that you came from the City, which is all the way down 50 miles from here, you really deserve these creampuffs," the man takes a look outside. "And no car too? Good lord, how long did you take just to get here?"

He doesn't reply, too busy eating up all the creampuffs. Almost all of them were gone already.

"I'll go get a new batch for you," the man smiles, sitting up and heading to the backroom.

Mash licks the icing off his fingers, glancing over at the old man who came back with a new patch. "Thank you," he finally spoke before taking another creampuff.

"No problem. I'd rather thank you for giving me the chance to speak to someone again, ahah," the man fumbled around with his hands for a bit. "A few years ago, my wife and I built this creampuff shop out here because there was rumours of a new city being built here. We thought it'd be best if we made it early."

"It was only until my wife passed a year prior that I realized they canceled it. So now I'm here alone most of the time, with the occasional troublesome teenagers," he laughs. "Sorry for sharing all this while you're having your creampuff time. It just feels nice to talk to someone, yknow?"

Mash nods, talking through a creampuff. "It's fine. Your creampuffs are good."

"They are? That's nice to know," he smiled.

The two sat in silence until Mash finished his second batch of creampuffs. "Why don't you move the creampuff shop closer?"

"Ah... I don't want to forget the memories that my wife and I had together here, that's all. It'd feel like I'm replacing her if I moved."

"Mm," Mash nodded, although he never really understood the feeling of loss all that well. "I can visit you. Sorry, correction, I WILL visit you. You're the only creampuff shop nearby."

The man covers his playful grin. "Did you miss the creampuffs shop closer to the City?"

"There's a closer one?"

"Yep."

"Ah," Mash's face flushes up in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"No worries! Did your GPS not work?"

"It's my friends phone and I don't know their password," he pulls out his phone and hands it to the man. "I've tried a few times already."

The man flips the phone over a couple times, before typing something in and handing it back to Mash. "Here."

"WHAHWHAHAHWAHWH??" Mash blinks at the phone in shock. The GPS tab was shown in all its glory, revealing that in fact, Mash had long already past the creampuff shop he was supposed to arrive at. "h-h-how did you get it???????"

"Your friend had their password stuck on the back," he said.

Mash quickly turns the phone around and reads the note out loud, "6969".

"Your friends a funny one, eh?" He nudges him, chuckling. 

His face turns completely red.

"Ah."

The old man, which he introduced himself as Dave, talks to Mash for an hour or two more before he eventually says goodbye to him.

"You promise you'll come visit?" Dave says, handing him a bag of creampuffs.

Mash nods, taking the bag in his offhand. "Yeah. It was fun hanging out with you."

He smiles. "I'm glad."

The two finally wave each other goodbye before Mash goes out of sight, getting ready to run again. 

He grips the bag slightly harder as he bursts into a sprint, feeling a bit better than when he first came here.

Mash really liked the creampuffs here.

Chapter Text

Lance stares at where his friend, Mash, used to be standing, his eyes darting from his friends while trying to figure out the situation. Before he was able to teleport back onto the rubble, Mash was somehow… disappearing, and by the time Lance managed to come back, he was already gone.

He walks up to the rest of them, who are either tearing up or looking down at the ground, trying not to cry. Lance's attention turns to Lemon, who was the closest to Mash before he left and was sobbing into Finn’s shoulder. “This can’t… no…. How could this have happened?...” she wailed, gripping even tighter onto the yellow and black haired man. Finn noticed Lance walking towards them and dipped his head slightly, his brow furrowing in worry.

“What the fuck happened to Mash?” Dot muttered after awhile, his tone harsh. “This whole ordeal doesn’t make sense. He couldn’t have just… fucking disappeared like that! That’s not possible, it can’t be.” He turns to Lance, his eyes tearing up. “It can’t be possible… right?”

"That couldn't have been Innocent Zero. I mean yes he was powerful, but I don't think he was that powerful," Lemon tries to speak through her tears, trying to include herself into the conversation but not very well, as she burrows her head back into Finns. 

Finn just holds her gently, not sure of what to do. “...Let’s head back into the academy and report this,” he suggests, the others nodding in agreement as they make their way back to the academy.

The crowd watches as they get teleported away with Lance’s magic, most staying quiet and staring at the debris that was left behind. What will happen now? They wondered, knowing that they won’t get the answer so easily.

Finn had managed to lead both Dot and Lemon into his room while telling Lance to go report it to Headmaster Wahlberg. It was obvious Finn was tired and exhausted from having to haul his friend into his room and calm them down, but Lance was extremely thankful for it and reminded himself that he’d owe it to Finn.

Lance stands in front of the large wooden door that leads into the Headmasters Headquarters. He attempts to open it, but fails and instead raises his hand and knocks on it with the metal hangers. "Headmaster Wahlberg, I request to speak with you.”

"Come in," an old wise voice says invitingly. Lance is almost surprised that the door is open now, as he pushes it and walks inside. "I assume this is the report for Innocent Zero? Your attire says you must’ve been through a lot while fighting.”

Right. And who’s fault was that? Lance wanted to argue, but instead clammed his mouth shut and bowed politely. It would’ve been a whole lot easier if Wahlberg had just come out of his safe academy and actually fought during the ultimate battle. But he hadn’t. Instead, he stayed inside like a coward, while literal teenagers were fighting against demi-gods.

Lance always found that stupid in most books. Why did teenagers go in the stead of the mentors, when the mentors clearly had more experience in that area? Because the teenager was special and blessed? Because the teenager was able to learn faster and catch on to the many methods of magic? Because they were the main character? There are no main characters, unlike what Dot says.

Lance coughs, realizing he was supposed to speak. “..I’d like to inform you that Innocent Zero has died thanks to Mash, who was barely able to finish him off.”

“Mash? I knew that young boy could handle it. Good for him.”

Lance grits his teeth. “Unfortunately, Mash has now disappeared and we have no way of finding him.”

Headmaster Wahlberg opens his mouth to reply but closes it and proceeds to stare at Lance. “...Elaborate.”

“He- I don't know. He was right next to us after finally defeating him when his hands suddenly disappeared and the next moment he was gone. Lemon, Dot, Finn and I were all right next to him when he disappeared.” He quickly added, “And the public saw everything that happened, too.”

Wahlberg stayed silent for a few minutes, seemingly lost in thought at the news that Lance had shared with him. Eventually and thankfully though, he speaks. "I see," he leaned back from his chair, reaching into a cupboard and pulling out a fat maroon book. He flipped through the pages, his eyebrows furrowing as he went further and further into it. Lance stood there in silence, trying to keep his face straight. 

"I don't know why or how that could've happened," he finally said, placing down the book. "This is something that... I have never seen before. At least from your description."

Headmaster Wahlberg, someone who used to fight with young Innocent Zero and defeated so many other magicians, didn't know the answer? Hahah, that’s just, that’s just great. The only person that I thought would know about this, in fact, doesn’t know. Oh, how stupid am I?

"You can take this book for reference and try to figure this out yourself, but I have to make sure this news doesn't get out," he says, standing up. "I'll make sure to keep the information about this mild and undercover, and in the meanwhile share the news about Innocent Zero's death for later. But what I need from you is for you to be strong. For Mash, for your friends, for your sister. Alright?"

Lance nods, staring at the ground. Headmaster Wahlberg hands him the book, which Lance mumbles a thanks under his breath. "I'll help you when you need it. Don't forget to tell Mash's pops about this. I think he deserves to know," he pats Lance on the shoulder while passing him. "Go along now."

"...Right," Lance follows as told, a sinking feeling in his gut. He was getting the hint that maybe Headmaster Wahlberg wasn’t as powerful as he thought he was, but put the thought aside and left the headquarters quickly. 

He could hear Headmaster Wahlberg talking to some other people in a hushed tone through the other side of the door, but Lance couldn’t understand what he was saying and decided to just leave and head back into his dorm to calm down. 

Lance lays on the side of his bed, staring at the rooftop while endlessly worrying about Mash. It wasn’t normal that he was worrying this much, he knew that himself. The only times he had really worried this much for someone was his sister, Anna, and he had a good reason because she was currently very ill and he didn’t know whether she was going to make it or not. It was the reason why he came here, after all. But Mash was his friend, so he supposed that it’s only right to worry about him.

A knock interrupts him from his thoughts, glancing at the door behind him and sitting up. He quickly fixes his hair while saying, “Come in.” One by one, Dot, Lemon, and Finn entered the room, each having a more nervous look than the last. Lance raised an eyebrow at them. “Did you need something?”

Finn stood in the middle of the room facing Lance, fidgeting with his fingers. “Uhmm.. Your roommate doesn’t come here often, right?”

He scoffs, his eyes glancing at Dot. “No, he almost never comes here.” Finn looks at Dot, surprised like he never knew they were roommates.

Dot just rolls his eyes before sitting down on his bed, his hand brushing over the blankets. “Okay, we need to talk about this whole… Mash situation here, don’t we?”

“I don’t see why we have to.”

“Well, right when Mash disappeared we were all crying except you, so we were kinda, sorta, maybe, worried for you,” Dot explained, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry if it sounds weird, since we know you’re not the type to cry n’ such, but it just felt… off.”

Lemon takes a breath and interrupts when Dot was about to speak. “What we were trying to say is that we want to ask if you’re okay. You don’t need to answer truthfully, but you’re probably the most affected out of all of us."

Lance narrowed his eyes, raising an eyebrow at the three of them. “And who said that?”

The three glance at each other nervously, avoiding eye contact with him. “Oh,” he scoffs, “So you all just naturally thought I would be? I’m not.”

"What Dot was trying to say was-"Finn tries to re-explain so the vibes within the room don’t get worse, "-we're all affected by the disappearance of Mash. He thought it'd be better if we could all cope together, that's all." Dot shot Finn a 'thank you' look, before nodding along with him. 

Lance sighed, shaking his head. "I don't get what we're supposed to do though. We're weak compared to Mash, to Headmaster Wahlberg, to Innocent Zero. Hell, we just stood there and watched Mash take the organization down! That's how useless we are!" He pointed to the two lines on his face. "These things mean nothing.”

"That's why we're here," Finn's voice was more forceful this time. "We want to work together to try and do something. I know it can work. It will-"

"Enough."

"If we could somehow use our powers together and-"

“I said - Enough.” The three stop talking, their eyes widening as Lance’s voice grows harsh. “...Get out,” he snaps, pointing to the door. 

Dot stands up. “This is my dorm room, I’m not leaving-” he tries to say in defense, but is cut off when Lance uses his magic to push Dot out the door. He lands outside with a thud.

Finn starts to shake as he hurrying gets up and runs out of the dorm and over to Dot. “Are you okay?...” Lance heard him say quietly.

Lemon who was the last to leave, hesitated. "You can.. come to my room whenever you want, y'know. I know how you feel, I’m his wife after all.”

You’re not his wife. Lance grips his bed sheets tightly, even more pissed off than when Wahlberg practically brushed off the entire issue with Mash. He never understood why Lemon thought like that, even though Mash had said multiple times he had never intended to marry her.

And i’m… going out of control again, goddamnit.

He stares at his hands, glancing at the door and burrowing his face in guilt. “Why’d I do that…” he muttered, pressing his lips together. He almost never acted out like that, so why now?

Lance looks over at the many frames of Anna hanging on the wall, reaching over and grabbing one of them. Maybe it’d help him calm down. But he knew it wouldn’t, even after imaging how disappointed she’d be at what he’d done.

He sighs, trying to put it back up where he had taken it but noticing the maroon book that Wahlberg had given him earlier. Quickly putting the picture away, Lance opens the book and takes a look inside.

Nothing was all that note-worthy, and some information was even false, but other facts and spells had some decent valuable stuff in there.

If he wanted Mash to come back, then he'd have to do it himself. No distractions from the others; only him. That was the only way to get Mash back. No friends, no sister, no school, as long as he found a way to get Mash back, it’d be okay. Surely it would.

He sniffled, a new determined look on his face. Taking out his wand, he casts a few spells to write down every important detail on one of the many journals that Anna had given him as a gift. This particular one was from years ago, back when her sickness had only just been discovered and she was still relatively healthy. 

From there, it was only until Lance found a clue that he'd be able to find out where Mash could be. 

Just a clue was all he needed.

Chapter Text

"Mash? I thought you wouldn't be here for- ACK-" A bag of creampuffs is thrown onto Tris' face. She takes it happily though, immediately digging in.

"I wasn't too late," Mash says, taking off his shoes at the front door.

Tris laughs, nodding. "Yeah, you weren't, don't worry. It is a bit late however." It was 11:29pm.

He pays no attention to Tris' comment, flopping down on her bed in exhaustion. "Here's your phone by the way." He throws it over to her, who caught it easily.

"Thanks," she raises an eyebrow at the cracks in the screen. "So? How'd you get there without a car? And don't you dare try to get out of it by saying you used a taxi - no taxi would go that far, especially this late of night."

Mash didn't reply, rolling over to the other side. 

"HEY!! TELLLL MEEEEEE!!" Tris suddenly puts her phone and creampuffs down to go sit - or rather step - on Mash, but instead of making a 'thump' sound, she just.. sits perfectly on him. Like he had rock hard abs or something.

"The heck? Do you have rock hard abs?" She flips his shirt upwards to reveal hidden creampuffs. "..Ah." 

Mash quickly hides them away from the disgusted look on her face, although she makes not much comment about it as she stands up again. "I'll go make a bed for you."

While Tris makes a makeshift bed for Mash on the floor - and ranting yet again - Mash wonders how his friends are doing. It's been around a day now, and he can't help but worry if they're doing alright, especially Lance. He's the strongest of them all, but he knows that he won't be able to last long. 

Mash fiddles with Tris' blankets, staring out the window that overlooked the entire city. 

This place is really pretty in its own way, i guess, Mash thinks to himself.

"And I swear to god, Lizzy was sooo pissed about it! I mean I was too, but like the anger in her eyes was like nothin' i've ever seen," Tris chatted while flipping around the pillows and laying them neatly atop of one another. "My job can be annoyin' like that sometimes, but that's what I like about it too! Not too mundane, ahah," she winks at him.

"What's your job?" Mash asks, blinking back.

"Did you not listen to a single thing I- whatever. I'm an investigator. Super cool, right?" She does a pose that looked as if she was about to cast a spell on Mash, but instead she just pulls him down onto the floor where the makeshift bed was. "Oh wait do I have clothes for your size? Uh.... hm.."

Mash shuffled under the blankets, finding it more comfortable than he thought it'd be. "It's fine," he called out to Tris, "I can sleep in these."

"Oh really?" Her head pops out from the closet. "Alright then."

As the both of them get comfy in their beds, Tris turns off the light and wishes him goodnight before falling asleep. Mash couldn't do the same as easily though. Too much was on his mind lately.

The sound of bustling cars and new things outside made it hard to sleep for him. Everything was practically new here. It made Mash feel nervous. Not to mention the fact he has to hide his superstrength because he doesn't know what could happen makes this all worse than it already is. 

But in all honesty, Mash just wanted to go home and see his pops as well as his friends. Even if he doesn't know how to get home, he knows he'll make it back eventually.

He just has to wait.

And so, Mash slowly but surely falls asleep in this mysterious new atmosphere.

He doesn't get much sleep as he'd liked, to be honest. Especially with someone so energetic in the morning. 

"Waffles are literally SO much better than Pancakes - IM TELLING YOU! The butter and syrup fit perfectly in each little square and makes it so much more flavourable and even when you put it inside your mouth, it's like the perfect combination." Tris takes the waffles from the toaster and smears butter on them, heading to the cupboard to get the syrup. "I know creampuffs are your favourite, but c'mon, just try these! I make really good ones!"

She hands a plate of waffles to him with butter, syrup, and berries atop of it. A fork was quickly handed to him afterwards.

Mash hesitantly takes a bite out of it, but agrees with her almost immediately. "Waffles are good, I like them."

Tris smiles.

"Oh! How about going shopping today for clothes? I haven't seen you wear anything else besides my bad clothes and those bloody pants. Frankly they look horrible on you."

He finishes his waffles. "Sure I guess."

Tris claps her hands in excitement, quickly heading into the closet to change. "ALLRRIGHT! Lucky for you its my day off so we can do this all day. Eeeek I can't waittt!! hmhhm!" Mash heard her hum under her breath from inside the closet.

By the time she came out with the most extravagant outfit ever - a very snazzy and well-fitted look along with her black hair tied up into two ponytails - Mash had already cleaned all the dishes and had put everything away. 

"Alright, lets go," she takes Mash by the hand and pulls him along with her pace.

Another agonizing moment of heading down the elevator; Mash gripped the side handles the entire time. It was gone before he had realized it though, and soon Tris was dragging him along yet again down the road to a certain spot that she wouldn't stop talking about.

"And I just adore their shoe options! Most shops don't have unique qualities about their shoes but this store has it all! Male options, good shoe options, literally everything!"

It was odd seeing the two together. A diva who looked like she just came from a runway show, and a guy who looked like he worked at Mcdonalds. But it was fine because it was Tris and Mash. 

However, something went wrong on the way to Tris' special store.

While she was talking to Mash like usual, a woman from behind her crept up, snatching her purse and making a run for it without her even noticing. Mash did though.

"Uhm, Tris. That lady just stole your purse," he pointed the direction the woman was going. 

"What?- WHAT," she suddenly began racing after her in her high heels, somehow still extremely fast. "HEY YOU THIEF!! GET BACK HERE!"

Mash, knowing Tris needed help, began to go into a sprint - one that wouldn't be suspicious for someone here to question - quickly running past Tris and catching the robber off-guard.

"AGH-" The woman yelped, trying to escape his grasp but unable to. Mash instead gripped harder.

"You little bit- ah, uh, you little twerp! Why'd you do that!?" Tris caught up easily, snatching her purse back and putting it in her pocket, huffing. 

The woman rolled her eyes. "Let go you ass. I gave it back."

"You did not! I took it MYSELF."

"WHAT. EVER. This man needs to let me go before I call the police. They'll believe me."

Tris pulls out her phone threateningly. "Oh really? I'll have you know I am an investigator and will likely be more believable than you."

"Sure you are. As if."

The robber took a breath. 

"HELP! HELP! IM BEING ASSAULTED BY THESE TWO PEOPLE!!"

Mash immediately let go of her, surprised. "But we didn't-"

 "HEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!"

"Would you shut up!?" A couple that was walking behind them suddenly appear, annoyed looks on their faces. "It's obvious this woman wanted her purse back after it got stolen. We saw the whole time."

Tris nodded her head in approval. "Thank you, Christ. Let's go Mash, before this lady gives me a headache," she holds out her hand, which Mash takes, and they begin to walk away.

The couple say goodbye to them as well before dealing with the robber on their own.

Mash was shaking. That was... a lot. wow.

"Tch. 'Tis is a normal day here in the City unfortunately. We have a lot of cases of stealing-" she glares behind her, "-But it's nothin' I can't handle as an investigator."

"That was scary," Mash admitted.

Tris gave him a sympathetic look, patting him on the head. "Hey, it'll be alright. I'm here for you."

He nods.

And with that, they finally make it to the fashion shop. 

A bell rings as soon as they enter - it seems to be a custom in this world - and immediately Mash smells the scent of clothing. Freshly washed and/or cleaned clothing. And boy did it reek.

Tris waved to the cashier working there, seeming like she knew him. "Yo Kelvin! Nice seeing you still working here after what happened." 

Kelvin's face brightened at the sight of her. "Awh.. Thanks gal. Yeah, the boss was pretty pissed about it but we managed - who's the new guy?"

"Ah, him?" she turned to Mash, who was checking out the shoes that she was talking about earlier. "He needs a glow-up," she whispered over to Kelvin, laughing a bit.

He could see it. The match between his outfit and his face was... questionable. Not to mention his hair looked like a mushroom. 

"Ihhhhh, alright," Kelvin stretched, getting off the counter. "Let's see.."

He walked over to Mash, checking him out for a little bit while squinting his eyes. "Hm...Hmmm.....hmmmhmmhhmhmh..."

Mash felt a little bit uncomfortable, standing up as straight as a twig along with a poker face. Kelvin noticed, giving a pat on his shoulder reassuringly. "Sorry, almost done."

Once he was done, he handed Mash some clothes that'd look good on him, and headed to the counter with Tris to pay while he went to change.

"Mhm yeah, honestly I really was surprised to see a bloody man in the middle of the grass just there - kinda funny for a first introduction-" Tris paused when she saw Mash's new look.

"Oh my god."

It was as if he was a completely different person altogether. He was wearing a light beanie that matched his striped top, along with a black jacket and dark grey pants. It was a simple outfit, very monochromatic, but it matched Mash's vibe and made him stand out - especially since he was a lot taller than most people. 

"Ahhhhh you look SO good!" Tris ran up to him, a huge smile on her face. 

Mash fiddled around with the clothes for a bit, not knowing how to feel. "I do?"

Kelvin nodded, feeling proud of himself.

"Kelv you're literally the best this is exactly why I adore you as my cousin. C'mere you~" She went in for a kiss on the cheek.

He flushed up in embarrassment. "Beatris.. Stawp.."

Mash stared at the two of them. "You guys are... cousins?"

The two of them turned to him. "Yeah, what 'bout it?"

"Nothing its just.. you look like a father-daughter kind of relationship."

Tris burst out laughing. "AHAHAHFUEWGNKANOWRG WHAT-"

Kelvin wheezed, placing his arm down on the counter to stop himself from falling over. "Am I- Do i look that old?-"

Mash went pink, immediately apologizing in shame. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'll make sure to remember that next time-"

"No need to be so polite man, we get that a lot. I'm 37, he's 34. The younger one," she finally managed to give him a kiss on the cheek before he pushed her away. 

Another customer walks in, stopping in their tracks when they see what's happening. "Am I... interrupting something?"

Kelvin immediately pushes Tris and Mash out the door, an apologetic look on his face. "Nope, nope. Don't worry about it."

From outside the customer could hear the words, "AND DON'T COME BACK BEATRIS!!" before he gives a small smile to them. "Sorry. Ya need anything?"

They laugh.

Tris scoffs, kicking a rock around. "Kelvins aaaalwaayyys like that. Super shy guy, but super sweet once you get to know him," she gives another look to his outfit. "You lookin' very slay right now, goddamnn."

"Eh, slay?" Mash tilts his head.

She ruffles the hair sticking out of his beanie, a smirk on her face. "You're just like Kelvin my god- It means you look good."

Mash lightly pushes her hand away. "Ah, okay."

"I should show you around the City now that we have enough time- we do, right? Yeah, we do. Alright. C'mon Mash - We're off on a journey!!" She bolts into a run, getting a HeadStart.

"Slowpoke!!" she calls out from behind.

Mash smiles, easily catching up to her but enjoying this nonetheless. "Okay, let's go."

Chapter Text

Mash and Tris spent the rest of the day exploring the city, with Tris telling Mash where everything - or anything she could remember which was a lot - was. She made sure to show all the secret spots she would hang out with her friends, as well as places she thought Mash would want to check out sometime. Whenever Mash asked a question about something, she would answer honestly, before moving on to the next topic as her attention span wasn't the greatest.

It was fun, to be honest. Hanging out with Tris and just enjoying the life that this world had to offer - even though there were a couple instances where it was worse - it made Mash feel more welcome than expected.

He still wanted to find a way home though. 

"This ain't fair!" Tris pouted, stumbling to keep up. "How are you so - huff - athletic?? Like sure, you're tall n' all, but this isn't - GAHHHh!!!" she flops over onto the ground, attempting to catch her breath. Mash was a couple feet ahead and hadn't noticed.

Mash went back lent a hand to her, which she took gratefully. "Maybe it's cause im old, damnit."

"You're not that old. Compared to my pops or mentor, I think," Mash said thoughtfully. 

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh yeah? How old?" 

"My pops is 40 years older than you - maybe - and my mentor hasn't told me, but I think he's around 80."

Tris sighs, glancing the other way. "They're probably just as athletic as you are then."

"No, they prefer magic over muscles-"

Mash shut his mouth quickly.

"Magic?" Tris turned around to face him, a curious look on her face. 

"No- uh, uhm, mmmmmmmmm," he tried to look natural but failed as Tris leaned in closer.

She squints her eyes at him for a moment and points accusingly, "hey. You sure you ain't part of that 'Divine Visionary' Group? When we first met you looked exactly like them and sure, now you don't, but it's still kind of suspicious."

"No, not at all," Mash stuttered, glancing the other way nervously.

"You super sure?"

"Uh huh."

"You really really really sure?"

He nods.

Tris gives him another look before sighing and patting his shoulder. "...Alright, fine. Tell me when you're comfortable. I don't want to force it out of yah," she walks off, not turning back to look at him.

Mash stared after her, not expecting her to give up so easily. But he was grateful that she was letting him take his time with things, even if she already knew. He caught up to her yet again.

Tris was staring at the sun that just so happened to have a good view where they were standing.

"Ain't the sun pretty?" She asked, sitting down on the smooth grass. Mash followed suite.

He nodded.

"I really like this City. It has a lot of good memories for me, and the views are amazing- I tell yah."

As Tris began to go onto another long rant, Mash sits there quietly, enjoying the peaceful scenery stretched out in front of him. It was cool to see people like him - people without powers - be able to do so well, be able to thrive. This was all something that the magicians back home would be shocked to hear about.

Maybe Mash was sent here not because of Innocent Zero, but some other force. He couldn't imagine him sending him to this place, where it's welcoming and beautiful. He just couldn't.

But then who sent him? Who, or what, sent him here? And what was its purpose?

He had a feeling that it-

"-So Mash," Tris interrupted his thoughts, "Care to tell me 'bout your friends or fam'? I remember you talking 'bout your pops and mentor - which are kinda funny names to use by the way - but, I'd love to hear more about you."

"Oh, uhm, okay," he said, turning over to the other side.

"Well, I have a friend group. I really like them. There's Lemon, Dot, Lance, and Finn. Lemon keeps saying that I'm her 'fiancee' or something, but she put that out of context. We're not even dating."

"Then we have Dot. Dot thinks he's the main character of a manga and everyone else as an extra, except me. He thinks I'm his rival," he picks at the grass as he speaks, more comfortable now with speaking.

"Lance has an obsession with his sister that needs to get checked out to be honest - but he's always there for his friends and would do whatever it takes to help us."

"Finn is probably the most normal out of all of us. He's timid, shy, and mostly a scaredy cat, but he knows when to stay out of trouble and keep us safe."

Before long, Mash had gone into a rant about his friends, his family, and everyone else back home. Tris probably rubbed off of Mash, which is why he was ranting for this long, but in all honesty he didn't mind. He wanted someone to talk to, and Tris was there for him. 

Mash felt an arm wrap around him, comforting him. He closed his eyes, continuing.

The sun soon began to set, and although Mash had long stopped talking, the two sat there quietly watching the sunset go down. What might've ruined that moment was the loud sounds of cars and vehicles and everything that was going on in the city, but he didn't mind; Neither did Tris.

"Do ya want to go to the Creampuff Shop before we head back?" Tris asked, looking down at him.

Mash nodded, yawning and standing up from Tris' lap.

Tris led him to an underground place that he hadn't seen before - thanks a lot Tris - when she opened a white car door for him. He entered on the right side, where she would enter the other side with the wheels, controls, and other things that he didn't know.

"How do you drive this?" he asked, curious.

"How old are you?" she says with a smirk.

"16."

"Mmm, you can get your Learners, I think. Do you want to drive this bad boy?" 

Mash tilted his head in confusion. "...Yes....?"

Tris starts the car, patting him on the head while pulling out. "I'll help you get yours when I have enough bucks, alright?"

"Okay."

Mash had no idea what the term 'bucks' was, but he assumed it was the currency here.

They swiftly drove out and began to make their way to the Creampuff Shop. They came to a halt at a completely different creampuff store, to mash's disappointment, and Tris noticed. "What's wrong? Ain't this the place you went to last time?"

Mash shakes his head. "No, I went to the far one." He hoped that she knew what he meant by that, since that was what Dave said.

"Ahhhh, yeah that's tots fine," Tris hums, pulling out again and heading a similar direction that Mash had went to the far creampuff store.

While they slowly drove their way over to the creampuff shop, Mash decided to go and test out the buttons on the side, which rolled down the glass from the door, and came in a gust of wind which began to blow wildly in every direction within the vehicle. Before Mash could apologize though, she says, "it's fine. Keep the window down if you like it."

Reluctantly, he did so. Resting his arm on the windowsill, he watched the sky turn from a fluttering pink-purple shade to an ominous blue black with stars sprinkled about. Mash stared, a happier look on his usual expressionless face, feeling the crisp air on his skin.

The drive was shorter than he thought as they came to a stop, arriving to the same familiar Creampuff Shop that Mash had been talking about.

Dave came out from the shop, a wide grin on his face. "Mash! It's good to see you. Your mom drove you this time, eh?"

"I- sure," Tris laughs, not wanting to make it awkward. Mash quickly enters the store before the other two could talk.

"You're lucky I have a batch ready for you. Same as last day too; I don't have many customers, so I tend to not make that many creampuffs. Maybe I should fix that habit, now that you lot' are coming more often."

"Really? Damn. Well makes sense, since your shop is basically in the middle of nowhere," the two older people chuckle as they begin to start small-talk with one another. Looks like they'll get along well, phew.

Mash digs into the creampuffs as soon as they get handed out, listening to them chat about more or less random or unimportant things. It was a weird detail that Mash found, most people in this world loving to mingle and talk with one another. He almost wondered how that came to be.

"Oh really? I didn't realize the news was still talking about that stuff-"

"I know, but it's still predominant around here. I've heard that they've been causing a ton of trouble with their 'powers' too.."

"What about?"

Mash wasn't focusing all that well anymore until he heard Tris speak in a more hushed tone, "I heard they're looking for someone called 'Mashle Burnedead'? Similar to Mash's name, but it's obvious can't be him since he doesn't have a mark like they do," she points to her face while munching on the creampuffs.

Is Tris... trying to give me hints or something? Why is she talking about this in front of me if she knows? Does she not know? Wha???

"I hope it'll get solved eventually," Dave sighs. "Don't want them causing more ruckus than they already are."

"Mhm."

The two begin talking about something else completely irrelevant, but Mash wanted to know more. He remembered Tris talking about the Divine Visionaries when they first met, but he hadn't realized that they were becoming an 'issue' in this world. How odd.

He chomps on his creampuff, finishing it in one bite before eating the next.

Mash stands up, thanking Dave for the creampuffs and putting the remains in a bag. He walked over to the car, trying to get in but it was locked.

Tris appears behind him, a confused look on her face. "Mash? What are you doin'? You wanna head back already?"

"Yes."

She stares at him for a moment longer before sighing, "Just wait a sec," and heading inside the shop to say goodbye to Dave.

She comes back a moment later hurryingly with a bag in her hand, opening the door for Mash before heading in herself.

"So?" Tris asks, starting up the car. "What's up?"

Mash doesn't say anything, fiddling around with his fingers. She gives him a worried look but doesn't say anything as they drive back.

Back in the elevator. It wasn't that memorable.

Tris sets down the bags of Creampuffs, closing the door behind her with a serious tone in her voice. "You sure nothin's wrong?"

Mash at this point, was unsure of telling her everything. What if she didn't believe her? This is starting to feel like when he was found out without powers all over again.

But instead, Tris leans over to him and places a creampuff in his hand, a warm smile on her face. "I just want yah to know that if you're feelin' more on the down lately, just let me know and I'll be more careful, alright?"

The mushroom hair pauses, glancing down at his hand before back up at her. "...Okay," he manages to say.

Tris nods at him one last time, but then proceeding to debate about why she picked up Mash in the first place, her hands moving as she speaks. She must be having a good time, Mash thought as he watched her. 

He leans on his cheek as he stares out the window again and at the sky, which had turned a dark navy with white speckles about. It's really pretty.

Chapter Text

It had been around 2 days now, and Lance had yet to find a clue. It was hard to find, or rather believe, that any of this was real and happening, and what made it worse was the fact that almost none of the books that he was lent had any clue about what might have happened to Mash.

"Hahh..." Lance sighed, rubbing his head in annoyance. Whatever, I'll just have to bear with it for the time being.

Lance hadn't talked to any of his friends either during this research. He found that keeping people out of his business was much more beneficial. The only times he would spot them was in the cafeteria or in the halls, but even then, they just simply passed each other. Finn was the only one who'd say hello when they passed. He didn't know how to feel about that.

"How are you doing?" Headmaster Wahlberg asked, sitting down next to Lance and peering over his shoulder. 

"Just fine," Lance says, clearly tired and put up with the headmaster. Just when was he going to leave him alone?

"Sure doesn't look like it," he peers over his shoulder, practically butting into Lance's personal space. Lance, in return, shuffles away from him. "I haven't found anything either, Mr. Crown. You don't need to fret so much."

"Right, right." Lance moves further away again, more firm about wanting his space between him. 

"I'm sure Mash is fine. He's a good boy who knows what to say and do when needed. I think the only thing he'll be upset about is the plausibility of there being no creampuffs there," he lets out a chuckle.

"Not funny."

Wahlberg frowned, turning to Lance with a more serious expression. "I understand that you care for your friend, very dearly at that, but is it really worth all this? Throwing your other friends aside just to research about something that hasn't even been written in the books yet?

"I've seen how you treated your friends lately, Mr. Crown. Pleased to say it was not-"

Lance stood up, brushing off the wrinkles of his coat and heading for the door. "Please don't get in my business, Headmaster Wahlberg. I understand that you're worried, but I can handle it perfectly fine."

He walks oout of the library, closing the door behind him.

I don't understand why everyone is so obsessed with me. I'm this close to finding a clue, anything, and they keep getting in the damn way, he took out a creampuff he had earlier put in his pocket, taking a bite out of it and remembering a funny memory about him and Mash.

Lance was teaching Mash how to make creampuffs without needing to cook it, which he was failing at horribly. It was something that he could do even without powers. Simply use an already hexed item like a spoon or fork, say a few words and tap the uncooked creampuff with said item. That was the way Lance had done it for years.

But Mash was different; Mash couldn't do it; He couldn't do the spell. Even though he had step-by-step help, his creampuff remained ingredients and refused to mix.

But you know what Mash said afterwards?

"I like the original way of mixing the ingredients together and baking them. Taking your time and focusing in on the moment is what makes the creampuff, a creampuff. And they taste good too," Mash takes a bite out of his freshly baked creampuff, a bright sparkle in his eye as the flavour enveloped his mouth.

Lance sighed, resting his head on his palm. "What's the big deal about doing it originally? Doing it the fast way is easier."

He handed him a creampuff. "It tastes different. The feelings you have while tasting it is different."

Lance wanted to roll his eyes at that, but he took the creampuff anyway and ate it. "Nothing, see? Same as the other creampuffs."

Mash shook his head, giving him another one. "You have to savour it. Twirl it around in your mouth."

"That's gross."

"Do it."

"Huff, fine," Lance took a bite, letting the creampuff swirl and move around the inside of his mouth. 

Although Lance never got to know what Mash was talking about in the end, they had a good experience. 

Lance liked Mash for thinking differently. That was his flair, per say.

Maybe what I need to do is do things the Mash way. So that I can figure this one hell of a mess out, he turned left down a hall, heading to the outdoor area. 

Oh, speaking of Mash, I forgot to tell his father about him. Lance hesitates as he pulls out his broom, glancing out at the forest that Mash and his father had lived together in solitude for years. How would he take Mash's disappearance? He was sure he'd mostly be okay, but he was still worried about the old man. 

Picking up his broom and ignoring the feeling in his gut, Lance flew far out from the kingdom; the place that Mash had grown up.

Lance jumps down from his broom a few minutes later, staring at the familiar house. 

Same old same old, he thought, a smile on his face as he walked forwards.

"Mr. Burnedead?" Lance asked, knocking on the door. 

"One moment!-" an old man's voice called back. A few clinking and clanking noises later - presumably something breaking or crashing, which later turned out to be true - came Mash's adoptive father, Regro Burnedead. His face had more wrinkles than he had remembered, his beard having grown longer too. 

"So sorry for the wait! Is Mash here by chance? I bought some creampuffs last night," he looked outside for a moment, only to be slightly disappointed.

Lance shook his head. "I should.. tell you something." He had forgotten to tell Mash's pops about his disappearance to be honest; not that it was going to make it any better waiting it out, but because he was too busy trying to find a clue. 

"Oh well do come in, it's been awfully cold outside."

Lance sat down on one of the old rackety chairs that were scattered about, taking off his cloak and putting it to the side as Regro set up the fireplace.

"Didn't you... uh.... have a police officer who stayed here with you?" Lance asked, a little confused. Mash had informed the friend group about that guy, who was the main reason for Mash even leaving the forest.

Regro turns his head around, giving Lance a smile before shaking his head. "He left when he heard the news of Innocent Zero being killed."

"Ah."

"So, what brings you here alone at this time?" Regro inquired, sitting down on a rocking chair nearby.

"It's about... Mash."

He raised an eyebrow at him. "About Mash? What could Mash have gotten into now? Last thing I heard about him was him defeating Innocent Zero! Which is very impressive."

Lance nodded, trying to get to the point sooner. "You see, after Mash defeated Innocent Zero, he kind of just- disappeared."

"What?"

"Yeah.... I know. We don't know how it happened either. It was one moment he was there- the next poof. The others and I think that Innocent Zero didn't do it, but there isn't any other plausible explanation-"

"Are you talking about the disappearances that have been going around after Innocent Zero's death? Those ones?" Regro looked upset about this, as Lance thought he'd be. But he paused at the mention of plural, meaning more than one person.

"The other disappearances?"

He nodded. "The other ones. So... Oh, I can't believe Mash became a victim to that, that's just-"

"Wait wait wait, there's others?"

"Well yes, but-"

Lance stood up, almost straight up bolting. "How long has this been going on for? How many people? Which people exactly? Do we know where they were before they disappeared?"

Regro looked shocked with the amount of questions that came at him (especially since he just got informed that his son has gone missing along with many others), but he quickly recovers. "I guess they started around the time that Mash defeated Innocent Zero? Although it seems that he was the first-" Regro sniffles, wiping his eyes with a cloth. "-I don't know much about what's been happening lately, but it's starting to sound really... quite scary."

He tries to wipe the small tears running down his face. "I didn't know Mash had also... Why didn't I get told this sooner?"

Lance looks at the ground in guilt. Why hadn't he told him sooner? He felt sorry for the old man. "I apologize for the delay. I was... busy."

He nodded at the young man's words, although they didn't comfort him much.

Standing up, Lance put on his cloak again and dipped his head. "I'll come back later but I just wanted to tell you the news. I'm.. sorry, again."

"...Yeah." 

Lance could hear Mash's pops crying from outside the small house.

He clutched his fists, determined to figure out everything and anything about the disappearances.

So that's what he did.

He used Anna's gift notebook where he'd write everything about the disappearances down, anything that he'd find available of use and could use it to find Mash and bring him back. He wouldn't give up, he couldn't. Mash was too important to everyone, leaving such an impact that simply leaving and forgetting about him wasn't a choice.

So Lance sat down in his dorm room, opened the notebook, and began writing, not knowing the rabbit hole he'd soon fall into.

Chapter Text

Lance bites his nails nervously as he flips through his notebook, trying to figure out any clues or connections that he hasn't caught sight of yet. He'd thought of three theories that matched the possible clues so far, but none seemed all that convincing.

He grits his teeth in disappointment.

Closing the book and carefully hiding it underneath his bed, where it was tucked away behind piles of magic books and unopened boxes, Lance takes a deep breath before going into his closet and picking up a different cloak he'd never wear usually.

His parents had gotten it for him when he was a lot younger, saying how him wearing it would bring tears to their eyes if they ever saw him wear it when he was older. In all honesty, he never really cared for his parents, more so his little sister who was terribly sick but had a cheery personality.

It was a dark navy cloak with white stripes near the ends of the sleeves and bodice, a little big for Lance but he could easily adjust it with a resize spell.

Before he left though, he made sure to hide one of his marks to seem normal - as well as putting on a spell to make him unrecognizable to anyone who knew him.

Swiftly and steadily, Lance made his way out of the underground without getting caught by Abel or Abyss, who were still using the underground for some other school project.

Heading into town was much easier than out of the underground. People with stalls, shops and decals, on and on it went; filled with personality and potential clues for Lance to find.

He comes across a flower shop. Pretty blue flowers blooming around it and a yellow sign in the front that read 'Garden Flowers and More'. The overall shop could be considered the most colourful out of anything there, really. Almost made Lance turn the other way.

But he head in anyway, knowing there could be something that he needed.

"Oh hi!!" A small girl at the counter waves at him, a large smile on her face. Two marks, he noted to himself.

Lance nodded at the girl, looking the other direction to check out the flowers. She didn't seem to like that though; walking over to him and crouching down to pat the plant he was looking at. "This one's name is Timothy. He's one of the oldest flowers here besides Peony. Peony's an actual Peony; isn't that ironic?"

He nodded, turning around again. Note to self that the girl working at the gardening shop is mental.

The girl pouted, putting her hands on her hips. "HEY! IM TALKING TO YOU!"

"You are?" Lance rolled his eyes. "I didn't notice."

She stomped her foot in anger, clearly fed up with him. "Mister, leave my store! Right now!"

"I said, RIGHT, NOW!" The girl screeched, raising her hands and shooting a lazer beam at his head. He dodged swiftly. "E-eh?"

"G-get out NOWWWW!!" She tried again, which failed. Each time she'd try to aim for him, it'd instead aim for one of her beloved plants. She screamed, getting angrier by the second.

"WHY. ARENT. YOU. GETTING. HIT!?-"

"Friji," a calm melting-like voice says from the counter. A woman Lance hadn't noticed - her presence was completely gone - sat atop of the counter, giving the girl a look of shame. "Tsk Tsk Tsk."

They looked eerily similar. Were they Siblings or Twins?

The girl turned in fear, immediately heading behind the counter and cowering. "...Sorry."

The woman smiled, patting her head. "Good girl. Let Mommy deal with this.. person."

 Ah. Mother and Daughter.

"Hello ma'am," Lance began politely, bowing to her. "I was just looking for a certain flower."

"I can see that," she looked down on him - as if he was just an ant. It made his blood boil.

But he stood still, a small smile on his face.

"I assume my daughter caused trouble for you?" she glanced behind him. "And for me as well, I suppose."

"Indeed. She wanted my attention but I just wanted to peacefully look around before leaving."

The woman shot her daughter a ferocious look that he's seen a couple times from his own mother, before turning back and apologizing to him. "I'm very sorry about her rude behavior. On my behalf, you can pick any flower you want. Free of charge."

"Oh no it's fine-"

"I insist," she carried out the 'sss' sound in the word, although her face was still kind and warm. It was a little creepy, to be honest.

Lance nodded hesitantly, not sure whether the lady was trying to be nice or had some ulterior motive. But he didn't care about that now. He just needed to find a specific flower that seemed to be associated with the 5 people - including Mash.

The Zinnia flower. For some odd reason, Lance felt like this flower might help him with figuring out the missing people, but perhaps, maybe, just maybe, he really wanted that damn flower.

The woman who'd been watching him for some time taps her cheek. "Are you looking for something perhaps?"

"Yes. The Zinnia Flower. Do you have it in stock?"

"Awh, deary. It's a shame to say that they ran out the other day. Of course - I'll send a notice over to you once I get them restocked. Don't you worry," she grinned at him, but it wasn't very 'happy' like.

Lance thanked the woman and left quickly, not wanting to be there any longer. 

He heads to the next area swiftly.

The Forest. Specifically the rotten side. After the death of Innocent Zero, the place where they had died turned ugly and dark. The trees would no longer grow, the grass turned an ugly shade of grey; it was a horrific sight to see.

Innocent Zero's body had already been taken away from this place, but the memories that Lance had here from them - as well as the forest around - couldn't forget the bloody bath of a battle.

It wasn't the battle that Mash had disappeared from, it was a previous, smaller battle that only a select people knew. Lance was included on this since the entire friend group had tried going against him, but had failed and instead created a death zone within the forest.

Lance gave his apologies quietly under his breath, still feeling a bit guilty about that blunder of his.

He stretched on, however, not wanting to delay his research any more than he already had.

Walking around in the forest actually felt quite nice, since the wind blew around his cloak and hair, and gave him a false sense of peace within this area. 

At some point though, Lance came across a rotting rabbit. Least to say that it wasn't the most pleasant sight to see.

It was fine though; as the day continued and as did Lance, the sun began to cast shadows over the dark brittle trees.

"Is it already that late?" he muttered to himself, glancing over at the sunset that casted yellow pink toned rays across the sky. He stood there for a moment, enjoying the peaceful view.

I wonder if... Mash is doing alright, he asked himself, his fingers curling up slightly. Has he seen the sunset yet wherever he is? I hope so.

Unfortunately, it was quite late and Lance wanted to continue his search the next day; so he put his hands in his pockets and began to head back.

But something happened.

As Lance walked, the further he seemed to get to home, where his sister was waiting for him. The scenery in front of him began to change too. Instead of a smoldering grey came a dark moody and pungent look of a forest. Was he going the wrong way?

I should just use a spell, Lance thought, not really affected by the issue. Casting his wand, he sputtered some nonsense which didn't seem to work. He tried again, which continued to fail each time he tried.

Lance sighed, already tired out from searching all day.

"Bloody hell..."

Chapter Text

After Tris and Mash had come back from the creampuff store, Tris seemed to be a whole lot busier than usual. That was fine for Mash, but it was also kind of boring stuck at the apartment. 

The two haven't talked much for the past few days either, both minding their own business when they pass. The only times that they would even remotely acknowledge each other was during breakfast, dinner, and at night where they'd sometimes say 'goodnight'.

"Tris," he began, standing beside her and watching what she was doing. She had a couple pieces of paper in her hand, written in the same familiar language that he spoke and wrote in back home, except maybe slightly different with its verbs and the way you ordered it.

Ah. Too many big words on the piece of paper. 

He turns his attention back to Tris. "Tris," Mash tried again, tapping her shoulder. She turned slightly, but wouldn't keep eye contact with him as she was reading the paper. "I need to tell you something."

"No need. You're accepted," she handed him the sheet of papers, standing up and making herself something to drink.

"Eh?-" Mash stared at the papers in his hands, not knowing how to tell her he couldn't read the ginormous words scattered about. "I got accepted for what exactly?"

Tris pours herself a cup of coffee peacefully, taking a small sip. "School. I managed to convince the school system to allow yah to attend." She smiles, as if proud of herself.

"What."

She glances at him, raising an eyebrow. "Thought you'd be happy to learn more, since it's really boring in this apartment, and teenagers ought to go outside and talk with other teens." She takes another sip of her coffee.

Mash sets down the papers, confused. "But I don't need to go."

"I'm not letting a teenager run rampant in the streets, don't pretend yah haven't been doing that. Especially one that doesn't know how to protect himself," she smiles again. "Schooling will help yah, I promise. You start next week." Seeing the rather worried look on Mash's face though, Tris coughs, "If yah don't want to do it, let me know. I don't want to push this on yah, I promise."

Next week?... That's not... Mash bit his lip, wanting to say his opinion but too nervous too. "I don't know."

Tris nods, standing up and brushing past him into the bathroom, probably getting ready for work. She comes back with her tired look easier to spot, her hair frizzy and outfit neat. It wasn't too obvious that she looked tired, just to Mash.  

She pats him on the head. "Don't get into too much trouble, alright? I worry for you, Mash," and with that, she left.

Mash stood there, not knowing how to feel about Tris. For the entire time he'd been here, she'd been showing unconditional support to him, but she was definitely considered weird in this world. It wasn't like Mash cared though; She had a good heart, through and through. 

She said not to cause trouble - not like he was trying to anyway - which was fine for Mash. Maybe he should head to the Creampuff Shop?

Mash glanced at the sheet of papers, staring specifically at the photos attached to it. It had one of Mash - which felt a little creepy since he never remembered her taking a photo of him, and another seemed to be the location of the school. He picked the picture up, remembering that building from when Tris was giving a tour to him around the City. He was glad he accepted that.

Mash brings a creampuff along with him as he headed outside of the apartments and down the road to the right. He can sort of remember the directions that Tris used to get to the school, so it might help him find his way.

Oh right, the green light, Mash thought, looking up at the streetlights to make sure he wasn't going to have the same thing happen to him prior. That was a memory he'd rather not happen again, even if it just a lesson he needed to be taught.

He makes it safely across the street though, continuing down the road and confirming every few turns that this really was the direction he was supposed to go.

It was. Mash soon came across a large red bricked building that casted a long shadow over him. Kind of gave him the creeps, like anyone who stepped foot within that building was suffering eternally. They probably were to be honest.

Comparing the photo and the real deal, it seemed that no one was at the school currently. He didn't know why; maybe it was because people just really hated it there or it was a day-off kind of deal.

The school system must be different in this world compared to his, and he was genuinely kind of curious to see how everything worked.

That was really all that Mash wanted to look at, so he went back to the apartments and waited for Tris to come home.

"I'm home!" Tris called out, noticing Mash sleeping on the chair, his head rested on the table next to the creampuffs.

She closed the door behind her, noticing a sleeping Mash on the table with a creampuff in his hand. She smiles to herself, patting his head as she set down her bag and coat. 

Tris also noticed, however, the photo in his hand as she was putting her stuff away. She lightly pulls it out of his grasp, wondering if Mash was curious about the school he was going to.

Well of course he'd be curious. He's a child, Tris. I should talk to him about it- Tris smacks her head, annoyed with herself that she'd thought otherwise.

Meanwhile, Mash had woken up from his sleep and was watching Tris curiously.

Tris turns to him, startled. "OH! Sorry, haha." She sits next to him, opening her mouth and beginning to ramble again. " I was at work, right? And there was this guy I was working with, and he kept trying to postpone the investigation we were doing since his daughter wanted to spend time with him. Reasonable, honestly. If i had a daughter or son I would want to spend all my time with them," she added, "Not that you AREN'T my son it's just- yknow- like-"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's fine."

Tris gave him a look of sympathy, before sitting down next to him and sighing.

She scratches her head, a little nervous. "If you, uh, have any questions about the Schooling thing feel free to ask. I know I kinda forced you into it, but I don't wanna go to jail for not giving yah the education you need. At least that's what the government says."

Mash listens to her, pleased that he can finally understand her. "What do we learn in School? How should I act there?"

"I mean, anything really? And for the second question- just don't get involved with others and focus on schoolwork. I'm sure you've been to school before," she eyes him, "Right?"

'I- uh- yes, of course," Mash adds, nodding quickly. She pats him on the head again before yawning.

"well imma go to bed now. Night Mash."

"Night," he gave a small smile to her.

She smiled back.

Mash looks around, uncomfortable being at the new phone store in town and looking for a new one. Tris had forced him to go, saying it'd be weird for a teenager not to have a phone of some sort. "I know you won't get addicted, so it's fine," was what she said. Very reassuring.

So here he stood, looking at the many phone options with around 400 bucks in his pocket. He just hoped that he'd had enough for whatever phone he picked.

The cashier from the side watched him curiously, a twinkle in her eye. Mash didn't get why she was so interested in what he was doing, but he quickly picked out a phone and rings it up from the counter.

As he finished off the payment however, the girl askes him, "Can I get your number once you've set your phone up?"

Mash glances at her, confused, before shaking his head. "Uh, no, sorry." Frankly he didn't even know what a 'phone number' was. He vaguely remembered Tris talking about it, but she never went into specifics with her ranting.

The girl looked disappointed, sighing on the counter. "Awh.. But you're probably the tallest teenage boy I've seen! How old are you?"

"16," he said.

"I'm 17, see? We can date."

"What?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Phone number? Age? Are you really that dense?" 

"Huh?"

The girl scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I'm asking if you want to go on a date, dumbass."

Mash pressed his lips together, turning the other direction and bolting for the door. 

"HEY- WAIT!-"

Too late. Mash had already begun racing back home without paying, where Tris hopefully had some creampuffs that they could binge-eat together and watch some shows that she'd been talking about lately.

"Mash hey- WOAH WAHHA-" Tris yelped as Mash tumbled over her, landing on the side of her bed awkwardly. "Agh... Mash what the heck??"

He held out his brand new phone in her phone, trying to ignore the pounding in his heart. Tris tilted the phone away, reaching up to Mash's face. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?.... Oh, yeah." He looked at himself - not bruised whatsoever. "I forgot to pay," Mash realizes, "Sorry."

Tris pauses, looking up at him before letting out a laugh. She stands up, taking the phone and getting it started. "That's tots fine, don't worry. I'll go back down and pay it for you. Later, that is. Eventually."

"With bucks?" Mash asks.

Tris perks her head curiously. "No... with cash."

"Ah."

"Cash, Debit, Credit, and others are money, alright? I should probably tell you how they work, whoops."

"Mmhm," Mash nods, finishing up the last bit of his creampuff he had unknowingly pulled out.

Tris glances over at the new phone on the table, snatching it up and taking a better look at it. "Ooooh, this is a good one! Has a case n' everything. Oh! Have you set the phone number thing up yet? I can do it for you if you want - but the passwords up to you."

"The password? Okay," he said.

A few minutes later, Tris nudged Mash. "Alright, what do you want your password to be? Letters or Numbers?"

"Uhm.. Can it be 'Magic and Muscles?'"

She looks at him curiously. "Why that choice?"

Mash shrugged. "Dunno. It just felt right."

Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.

"Alright, done," Tris hands it to him, getting back up onto the bed. "You're lucky you get to have a new phone and not me. I was planning to use that money to get a new one for me and myself, but I gave it to you instead. Like you're seriously so lucky...." There she went.

Mash stared at his new phone, not really knowing how anything worked on it but being happy nonetheless.

"Oh. I don't know how to spell 'magic' or 'muscles', sorry."

"You WHAT?"

Chapter Text

"Mash just hold still for a second- HEY!!" Tris pulled at his messy tie, trying to get a hold of his maneuvering body. 

No matter how many attempts she did attempting to catch him, it was futile. He was too fast. 

She finally did manage, however, to snatch his creampuffs that were hidden in his pocket - leading to Mash's reluctance in letting her fix his suit and tie. "Tsk tsk, sometimes I wonder if picking you up from the street was a good idea."

"I don't think anyone would do that in the first place," Mash added, leaning back and sighing. He just wanted to get this whole ideal over with.

Tris shrugged, seemingly unaffected by the comment. "Alright, finished ya' up. You know how to get into your phone right?" Mash gave a thumbs up to her in response. She smiled, patting him on the head. "Grade 10's gonna be hard for ya' if you can't spell things properly. But I'm sure you'll manage; you're a smart boy."

He nodded, picking up his brand-new black backpack and pulling it over his shoulder. "Bye Tris."

"Bye Mash - stay safe."

And so off went Mash to the highschool. He watched a couple videos on an app called 'Youtube' to know what to expect, but he was still a little nervous as to what actually went on in this heck of a building. The only thing he knew is that you should be careful about the students, not the work.

"Out of the way please," a high-pitched voice called, pushing Mash aside. Others soon followed, almost falling over as the group of mixed sizes swarmed past him. He coughed, an overwhelming smell coming from them. What was that called again? Perfume?

He continued until he finally breached the inside of the building, told by Tris to find the door number '427' on it. Over 400 rooms. Wow.

Not like it was as impressive as the Academy.

Turning to a sharp right, he found the classroom by chance, heading into it and immediately being taken back by the absolute chaos that was happening. Usually, a teacher from another classroom would come in and cast a spell to shut everyone up, but this was a world without magic, meaning that rebellious teenagers were unable to be reprimanded. 

A particular student caught Mash's eye. A boy with bright blue tips and a very grunge outfit. He was chewing gum while sitting on one of the desks, talking to his friends who were equally as 'emo' as him. 

Mash was very glad that Tris taught him terms like those. Otherwise this would've been a different experience altogether. 

I mean, sure it wouldn't have made much of a difference, but it was still good to know. 

The boy glances his direction, noticing him and pointing at Mash while talking quietly. His friends turn to look at him - curious expressions on their faces.

Mash sat down on the other side of the classroom, not wanting to get into a mess of whatever that was. The teacher came soon after, thankfully. 

"Alright, I'll be calling attendance. Candice Andrew?"

"Present."

"Elizabeth Ayne?"

"It's Liz."

The teacher adjusts their glasses, writing something down. "Liz.. Right, kay. Mash Beetlemoth?"

Mash raised his hand, the teacher thanking him before he put his hand down again. So... Tris' last name is Beetlemoth? That's cool, I guess.

The other students didn't though; they kept looking his direction and giggling at him. It was obvious that they did it while the teacher had their head down while they called out names, but Mash pretty much never noticed the constant tries to get his attention. Good for you Mash, be oblivious.

The teacher, after finishing up the rest of the calls, began to introduce themselves. It was rather a boring introduction - the only thing Mash remembering was that the teacher liked to swim - before they immediately began talking about more serious topics like subjects they were going to do. 

He was NOT ready for anything that he heard - not even being able to understand a single word that came out of the teacher's mouth. In all honesty, Mash just wanted to go back home and tell Tris about how he hated it there, but he had been told by her that he wasn't allowed to leave.

Isn't this practically jail?

The class ended just as quickly as it had started, and he moved on to the next classroom; Room 409. Unfortunately, the room was in fact NOT right next to the others - he had to head upstairs and all the way down the hall. Mash was grateful for having good stamina - watching the others collapse on the ground was not the most pleasant sight to see.

He sat down in the closet spot he could find that was similar to the past seat, waiting for the teacher to start class.

Suddenly, he heard a scream from the blue tipped boy from earlier. 

"AAAAAAAA WHAT THE HELL IS THAT??" he screamed, lurching back. One of his friends had pulled out a fucking spider.

The class quickly turned into a disarranged panic as the spider flew off of the friend's hands and onto someone's desk. Mash's.

"Ah," he said.

Leaning down under his chair, Mash grabbed a tissue from inside his backpack and gently scooped it up from the desk. "I'll be right back."

They stood agape as Mash carefully let the spider outside, before sitting back down as nothing had happened. Before anyone could attempt to talk to him, the teacher had called for attention and begun the class. The friend and blue boy got a minor scolding at the end of class.

It was a weird schedule, he thought, munching on his lunch that Tris had specially made for him. It went Section A, B, Lunch, C, then D, which would regularly switch between different classes. You were supposed to look at the front of the office to see what schedule you'd have for today, which he found a bit stupid. But oh well, it doesn't matter.

"Hey," a voice said. Mash looked up to see the blue boy from earlier crossing his arms while staring straight at him. "You brave or what?"

"I dunno," he replied, taking a bite out of his Creampuff.

Blue boy twitched in anger. "Righhhttt. Whatever, okay. How 'bout you and I become buddies, eh? Seems like a good idea, right? I knew you'd accept-"

"I didn't say anything about accepting."

"Ex-excuse me?"

Mash stood up, a creampuff in his mouth as he spoke. "Mmm Mm mm mm MMM m. MMm," before heading the other direction. Blue boy followed though.

"What'd you just say to me?" he snapped, stopping Mash in his tracks.

He glanced over at him, confused as to what he was doing. "MmMm MMm?" 

Mash easily broke through though, blue boy's strength being no match for Mash. It made him feel even more pissed off.

"You tryna start a fight? Come at me then! Stop being a wuss!"

"What..?"

A punch suddenly comes out of nowhere, Mash dodgingly it just as easily. His eyes narrow ever so slightly.

Blue boy grins - a malicious evil grin - taking another swing at him. "Seems like you know how to fight, huh? Knew it."

....Wow, he's slow. He takes a breath, reminding himself not to fight and accidentally injure someone. People in this world didn't have powers, so it wasn't exactly fair of him to use his muscle powers to his advantage.

Mash stops, waiting for an attack to come at him. As it did, however, he takes Blue boy's hand, and starts to drag him along to the principal's office. It was no use for the Blue boy to escape, Mash had one strong grip on him and he was keen on not letting it go.

The students around him were shocked, frightened even. Mash was able to move someone with a single hand. And it happened to be the most trouble-making person in the entire school.

"Principal," Mash called out, pulling the angry blue boy inside with him as he was kicked around and well - was pretty much thrown forward.

An old man who seemed to be balding glanced up from his seat, seemingly surprised by the face that he was seeing. "Vince?.." It was as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing right now - even rubbing his eyes a few times before quickly turning serious mode. "A-ah, my apologizes. What seems to be the issue?"

"Him," Mash brings him forward.

"And... What about him?" The principal frowned.

"He tried punching me and failed."

He sighs, motioning for Vince to follow him. "Thank you uh... What's your name?"

"Mash."

His eyes lit up at the sound of his name. "Ah! You're that student! Thank you very much."

Vince glares daggers at Mash as he was taken away. Mash walked out quickly, not wanting to deal with that issue any longer.

Another issue had arrived though. The rumours that had quickly spread around the school about Mash being in a Mafia of some sort. It spread to the point that even the teachers heard about it. It was horrible.

The day ended, oddly enough. Mash felt as if it was longer than it was but not really. It was a very weird feeling.

He couldn't wait to get home.

"Mash," Tris smiled, walking into Mash reading on the bed. "Sorry for being late again, had some business to attend to. How was school?"

"Horrible," he said, placing his bookmark in. "A kid tried to fight me and I got rumours spread around." Mash couldn't read half the things that were in the book in his hands, but he thought he'd might as well try.

"That really is a horrible day," Tris sighed, flopping down next to him and patting his head. "You doin' alright though? No injuries?"

Mash shook his head.

She smiled at him, relieved. 

"Good. I'm glad."

A thought came to Mash's mind. "Is your last name really Beetlemoth by the way?"

Tris paused, staring at him.

"Ah.... Surprise?" She lets out a nervous chuckle.

"No, the name is perfectly fine."

"Nono, it's my fault. I didn't know your last name while filing out the papers n' stuff so I just put mine - I'm really sorry!!"

Mash attempted to calm her down a few more times, which fails. "Well, uhm- Wouldn't that mean we're related now?" he said, trying to lift the mood.

Silence.

"You're right," she looked at him. "I guess.. that's pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, it is."

Tris turns to Mash, a soft smile on her face. "You have about 200 days to go until school ends. You excited?"

"Ughhhhhhh."

The two of them laughed.

Chapter Text

"Mash Beetlemoth?" the gym teacher calls out. Mash raises his hand, still unused to the last name but dealing with it for the time being.

The other students had stopped talking to Mash - not liked they tried to in the first place - ever since the incident with Vince. Vince too had stopped talking to him, instead spreading more rumours and talking behind his back.

Mash wanted to go back to the Academy where bullying was less prominent there. Sure, he did remember Finn getting bullied by that one guy - what was his name again? he didn't remember - but it had been quickly resolved just as it had started. I mean it did take 4 years for that guy to get expelled or something but HEY- Mash stopped the bullying in his first year, so it doesn't matter. Totally.

The teacher began speaking again. "As you can see, this is PE class. Our school has the privilage to have a more well-off budget so a good ounce of it had and has gone into this room," they glance down at the students, who were sitting on the ground and listening - for the most part. "I EXPECT y'all to treat this place as if it were private property, like it's the queen's throne."

Students whispered among themselves. 

"Queen's throne? Ain't she dead?"

"If this place was my own it'd be a wreck, hahahah."

"Are we allowed food and drinks in here then? Am I allowed to breathe?"

The teacher scoffs, pointing a long wrinkly nail at that particular student. "Don't ask stupid questions, first off. I want you all to take Physical Education very seriously."

"But teacher, what if I can't run?" Vince called out from behind. The others who were sitting with him laughed as her expression changed into frustration.

"Vince, I know your records. Don't make me send you to the office on the first day of school."

"Mehmehmeh," he shrugged.

"Alright. We're going to start off with a warm-up game of dodgeball. I'm sure every single one of you has played this game, but just a refresher," the Teacher grabs a red soft ball from a cart, throwing it up into the air and catching it. 

"Red ball hits you anywhere, you're out. You can only hold up to one ball at a time, and no teaming is allowed," they dart a look at Vince at that last part. He laughed.

"Oh, and headshots don't count. Alright? Let's start!"

Immediately, everyone runs over to the cart, picking up different coloured balls and throwing them at each other. Mash quickly fell back and hung around the wall, not wanting to get involved with that one hell of a mess.

Vince notices however. He rears back his ball, slamming it against the wall beside Mash's head. He didn't flinch.

"Wuss," Vince taunts, smirking at him. 

His other friends suddenly appear as well, all holding a ball and ready to shoot at him.

They fire all at once at the sound of Vince saying "THROW!!" as Mash was bombarded with balls from every direction.

However, not a single one hit Mash, instead hitting the wall behind him.

"The fuck??"

"Get more balls!!"

"He can't last long if we throw more!!"

More and more balls seemed to be thrown at Mash, yet none of them hit him. Eventually, the boys had almost no more balls to throw; all of them were next to Mash's feet.

Mash picked up the ball that dropped near him, staring at it for a few moments before back up at Vince. Should he have a go at this?

Putting a foot forward, he kneeled down slightly and aimed, gripping the ball ever so slightly harder.

Vince raised an eyebrow, about to laugh at the ridiculous pose that Mash was in, when suddenly...

A ball zoomed out of Mash's hand and smacked Vince straight into the arm, a loud snap following.

A scream suddenly comes out of nowhere, the boy falling over in agony. The other students who were minding their own business looked over, to see a crippled blue-haired boy - their mouths open.

Vince, with blood dripping down his arm where he got hit by the ball. 

Mash picks up another ball, getting ready for another throw, not realizing what exactly he'd done, when his foot brushes againt a ball that was rolling on the ground.

"Ah, I'm out."

Everyone stares in shock as Mash sits down on the bench, waiting for the next round to begin.

The teacher had no words to express as they saw what had happened, turning to Mash and whispering, "How'd you..." before shaking their head and turning to everyone else. "E-everyone! Continue playing or you'll get a penalty! As for Vince, please visit the nurse's office." They turn back to Mash, trying to figure out what to say.

"Mash..." they began. He glanced over at them, his yellow eyes staring into their soul. "You..." They ultimately decide to pat him on the back instead. "Good try - just don't... hit so hard, you hear me?"

"Yes teacher."

The rest of PE class went slowly; Mash getting himself out immediately each time (to Vince's dismay. Or relief.) and sitting out for the other games that they played. He didn't really know how to play them as he wasn't that focused on listening to the rules, but either way he didn't care much for PE. It was an okay subject, but not one that interested Mash.

He kept thinking back to that one moment in gym the entire day. He felt guilty, he was guilty. He hadn't meant to injure Vince that much, and he had heard from the others he had to temporarily go to the hospital to confirm nothing was wrong.

Mash wanted to apologize to him, he really did. Maybe making creampuffs for him would make him feel better. But in all honesty, it probably wouldn't.

Mash was enjoying his homemade lunch again near the back of the school, his favourite spot now, when a shadow looms over him. Vince? he thought to himself, only to see a blonde boy with a rather interesting haircut.

He sat down next to him, munching on his own snack - a bag of Goldfish.

Mash paid no attention to the boy, continuing to eat his Creampuff in peace when the boy coughed. "Eh-uhm, hi."

"Hi."

"You're a new s-student right?"

"That's right."

The boy munching on his Goldfish coughs nervously, glancing at Mash. "Ah. Well uhm, I'm in your class I don't know if you've s-seen me but - do you maybe want to be friends? We don't have to, of course!"

"Sure," Mash said nonchalantly. 

"Really? That's cool." A small smile spread onto the boy's face. "I'm Tristan, nice to meet you."

"I'm Mash-"

"Nono! I already know your name. Its fine," the boy giggled, seemingly more comfortable. Mash found it a little odd that this Tristan already knew his name, but it was probably because he already had a lot of rumours around him - and the recent incident that went on today. 

The two of them sat in silence again, but this time more content - relaxed.

Lunch passed almost just as quickly though - Tristan saying that one of his friends 'Liz' was waiting for him. Mash recognized that name from their class, and soon connected the dots as he saw a tanned-skin girl talking to Tristan, laughing and giving him a side hug.

He never talked to Tristan for the rest of the day. That was fine, of course - but it was kind of weird that he randomly wanted to talk to Mash and then proceed to ignore him. Whatever, it was fine. Mash had done that plenty of times also. 

Mash waited for Tris to come home yet again. She arrives earlier this time, thankfully. "Mash!! Nice to see yah bud," she says as she pats his head and sets down her things. "How yah doing?"

"The guy from before is trying to bully me."

"Oh, that bitch?- Sorry, language. Uhm, that idiot? Ugh, I hate those types of kids. Never learn their lesson," she sighs in annoyance.

"Mhm. I made a friend too, I guess. His name is Tristan and he's really awkward, but I think he's trying to be friendly to me and wants to be lunch buddies with me."

"That's nice. Well, I'm glad school is alright for you."

Mash pats her head in response. She looks at him and gives a warm smile.

"Well we have the weekend coming up soon - ain't that cool? We can head to the Creampuff Shop on Saturday. Just gotta wait a couple more days."

Right. Until Friday. Mash just had to make it to Friday.

"Okay," he nodded. "I'm sure the next few days won't be too much for me. Or you, either."

"Atta boy!"

The two talked for the rest of the day, watching the sun set from their window. It wasn't as pretty as the one they saw before, but it was still nice that they were high enough to see the sky turning different colours.

Chapter Text

"Alright everyone! Let's do some cool vocal stretches so that we can be more expressive - like that!" The drama teacher says smoothly. They were the drama teacher that was for the Acting class. There, of course, were better options to pick than Acting, but Tris was the one to unfortunately decide that instead. 

"You'll do fine!," she said, before apologizing immensely for choosing what he was going to be doing. 

Mash was not fine.

While the others blabbered loudly to each other to try and loosen up their vocal cords, a couple of students - including Mash - were not participating. the teacher noticed.

"Cmon guys!! Just stretch them like thhhhiiisss and thaaaaaat and WOOHEE!!" They attempt to convince them to try it out themselves but fails. 

Mash was now genuinely afraid of this said drama teacher, specifically when they do those sounds. Like i'm sorry, but that WOOHEE scared the shit out of him.

The teacher then began their long-ass speech that almost felt longer than Tris' usual ranting. "Alright kids. Now that you've practiced," they glare at the students who didn't, "We're going to do a specific scene from my favourite movie, Lemons burrow." (NOT A REAL MOVIE, lol.)

Everyone but them groaned, although they listened to what they had to say anyway. 

Fortunately, they were focusing on the other students, so Mash was able to hide away in the meanwhile. Of course, he knew that it wouldn't be long until the teacher caught on, but he was lazy and it worked.

It was the last class of the day, so Mash grabbed his backpack and began to head home when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Ah, uhm, Mash?" It was Tristan.

"Yeah?" he turned to look behind him as he talked.

"I- just wanted to s-say have a good day," the boy quickly said, rushing off another direction in embarrassment. Mash nodded, continuing on his path home with a more cheerful mood, even if his face didn't show it.

It was fortunate that Tris was home before Mash - he was always hungry right after school.

"I got noodles for ya," Tris patted Mash as he walked in through the door, the smell of the noodles overwhelming him. He didn't mind it though; not anymore.

Mash and she sat down, enjoying the noodles that Tris had poured a moment earlier, when Mash interrupted. "How many classes did you put me in?"

"Oh hm. I think like... five? Pretty sure at least. Drama, Cooking, Info-Tech, Art and... I think I might've put you in an extra class of PE but I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Okay," he slurped the last of his noodles.

It was finally the weekend, thank God. In all honesty, Mash couldn't understand how everyone else in this world was so- so used to how mundane and tedious everything is. He couldn't understand how Tris was that up-beat every single day. If she had been born from my world - with powers of course - she probably would have been a Divine Visionary, Mash thought, sitting on the carpet that she had laid out on the floor the week prior. 

Oh right. The Divine Visionaries. Didn't Tris say that they were searching for him?

He looked up on google with his phone - he learned the basics thanks to Tris - "Mash Burnedead".

Immediately hundreds of websites popped up, all of them having some sort of relation to his name. A couple photos seemed to be of a different person entirely, which Mash found was kinda cool. But what he found the most intriguing from the websites was the pictures of the Divine Visionaries. Not some fake group, or someone who was trying to look like them - it was most definitely them. The black lines on their faces, the cloaks - it seemed that they haven't gotten used to this world even though Mash had arrived here after them.

Wait, did he come before or after?

Mash bit his nails as he reflected on everything. He never actually knew about why he came here in the first place, how he easily managed to live life here normally - how it was as if he belonged here.

He knew he didn't; he couldn't be. His pops was waiting at him back home along with his friends. Sure, this world and him shared a common similarity of not having powers, but for the majority of Mash he didn't. fit. in.

He was too strong, too agile - too powerful for this world.

Is this what Innocent Zero felt? The feeling of being like a god? Someone who's almighty? Someone who's... this lonely?

Mash stopped for a moment, a thought coming to his mind. Did we ever figure out why Innocent Zero did what he did? I understand that he was drunk off his power and tried destroying the world - me included- but on the off-chance...

A hand reached down and took his hand out of his mouth. "No biting your nails, it's bad for your teeth."

He looks at Tris, specifically her nails. "I could say the same to you."

"Well I'm TRYING!! That's what matters, right!? It's hard to stop habits which is why i'm telling you now to stop!! I swear, if my parents ever told me.."

Ah. Mash was tired. Tired from school, tired from being here, tired of everything. He wanted to go back.

With Tris, Mash paused at that passing thought. I mean, yes, I do want Tris to come with me, but she doesn't belong there. His heart hurt a little.

If Tris happened to go to my world, would she be the same as me and want to go back? 

"Earth to Mash," Tris interrupted, poking his cheek. "Stop zoning out and listen to me for a minute! I get that it's addicting to bite your nails, but it isn't healthy!! Look at me!!"

Look at me.

Mash glances up at her.

"What would you do if, a random thing happened, and you ended up in another world? One with powers and magic n' stuff?"

She stopped, looking down at Mash. "What?"

Silence.

"Oh! You want me to answer that," Tris was surprised for a moment, but quickly recovered. "Hmm.. one with powers, you say?"

"I mean, if I did by the off chance that if I got put in another world, I'd probably just try to live my life like normal."

Mash was shocked at this. "But - what about your friends? Colleagues? Your cousin?"

Tris shrugged. "I only really talk to them since they're the only people I can talk to." Her facial expression changed as she realized what she just said.

"Ah, I mean," she sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "In all honesty, there's nobody here that'd I genuinely stay for - except you. I don't fit here.. I guess? I mean I've always been the weird kid but y'know. I wouldn't mind being somewhere else for a change."

"What about you, Mash?"

"Huh?" he said.

"What would you do if you got teleported to a world with magic?"

Mash hesitated, staring down at the carpet. "I think..."

"I think I'd be happy there. More than being here."

Munching on some Creampuffs, Mash walks around the city with no thoughts in mind. He didn't want to anyway.

It seemed that his body had led him back to that fashion shop that Tris had introduced him to earlier.

Shrugging, he walked in.

Kelvin was working with another customer when he noticed Mash had walked in. A wide smile appears on his face. "Mash, hello."

Once the costumer was done, Kelvin walked over to him. "How are you doing? I hope Tris hasn't been too weird, haha."

"No, she's fine."

"that's good," he said, ruffling his hair. "So what'd you come here for?"

Mash honestly didn't know either. "I don't know."

Kelvin tilted his head, confused. "Yah don't know?"

The two stood there in silence while his mind went into overdrive.

"Oh, uh.." 

"Want a creampuff?" Mash offered.

Kelvin sighed in relief, nodding. He wasn't the type to be able to handle confrontation. "Th-thank you, haha." He takes one gratefully.

"So did you and Tris fight or something? Ah, sorry if I was being rude!! I just didn't think you were the type to go to someones cousin and hang out with them."

Mash glanced down at the creampuff in his hand. Did he and Tris have a fight? No, not really.

"Not really."

Kelvin stared at him for a moment longer, before nodding. "Okay. Well you better head back now. Enjoy your weekend while it's still here."

"Okay, thank you."

Mash left the store with more questions than when he had entered. 

Everything was going too fast for him.

Chapter Text

It was another typical day at school for Mash. The teachers didn't like him whatsoever due to his quiet and straightforward personality, as well as the fact that he'd been involved with Vince multiple times throughout the first week. He gained the title of 'the one who does not care' within the school, but Mash didn't care about that. How ironic.

Tristan has made many attempts to try and befriend Mash; bringing him over to sit with him for him, inviting him to work at the library with him, even asking if he wanted to hang out at Tristan's place. Mash declined most of these invitations, knowing that Vince might get bullied like that one guy did with Finn. 

He always thought Tristan was quite similar to Finn actually. They're both timid, smart, not the greatest at talking, and are definitely not the popular kids within the school. Whether this was a good or bad thing - Mash didn't know. All he wanted to do was attend school so that Tris wouldn't get in trouble with the police, or something like that.

Unfortunately, there are times in which Mash is unable to get away from Tristan. Which has led him to this predicament.

"Alright. So for this group project, we should make sure to stay focused and on-track," Liz said, quickly showing that she wanted to lead the group. Another kid - pretty sure his name was Riley - shrugged, typing something on his chromebook. 

"Yadayada, whatever. It's not like this project gives us much points anyway."

Liz glared at him. "This project is VERY important to my grades, thank you very much. I need to have high grades to get into the college I want."

He raised an eyebrow in response. "Oh really? And what college does that happen to be? The college next door?"

The two at this point were ready to brawl. Meanwhile, Mash and Tristan were working together to get the slideshows started.

"We have to have a minimum of five facts per slide, and at least one image to go along with it," Tristan showed Mash how to use Gugle Slides since he didn't know how to; he was grateful for that.

It was easy to get the hang of it, thankfully. Mash worked quietly while the other two bickered. It seemed Tristan couldn't concentrate because of them though.

Mash headed to his next class: Drama. He would've preferred to have a different teacher - especially since this one didn't like him for some reason - but oh well. He'd probably talk to Tris after school about him. She always called him the 'tea', which he found kind of funny.

"SoOOooO everyone!! Did you have a good weekend?" Mr. L asked, a bright smile on his face. A couple students nodded and talked to him eagerly, while the other kids sat in their chairs twiddling their fingers. Including Mash of course.

"That's good to hear," he said, passing around a sheet of paper. "We'll be working on what we were doing last day - expressions!! Except this time, we'll also be including body language into it! We're going to play a fun game involving these two skills, so get ready for that."

The students each got a pencil and began writing different expressions and emotions that can be portrayed through the human body - as instructed by Mr. L - before handing it to the person on the right side of you. Mash had the unfortunate chance to be on the right-side of someone named Emily, a girl who took Drama very seriously.

The paper in his hands was covered, filled to the brim with different ideas that can be incorporated into poses and expressions. Mash was not going to have a fun time with this; he could tell immediately.

"Now that we have a new piece of paper, make up an idea from the paper and show it to the class! Why don't you go first, Mash?"

Mash had the urge to ask why he was chosen to go first, but the last time he did that he got a scolding by some other teacher. In all honesty he couldn't remember any of the teachers names - there were too many of them.

"Okay," he said, standing up and staring at the paper for something to act out.

He didn't do anything for a minute or so, instead standing still and waiting patiently for the next student to be called. Mr. L looked a little angry, but it was obvious he was hiding it.

Mash tilted his head slightly, a blank look on his face.

"Mash, why aren't you doing anything?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"There's a prompt on this paper that says that."

"Oh really? Could I see what options you chose?" Mash walks over to him, handing him the paper. A few seconds pass yet again, before Mr. L looks back up at Mash. "Where exactly are you seeing that expression?"

Mash points. Underneath a bunch of writing was the words 'confused and/or disorientated' along with 'bored'.

He wasn't wrong, to be honest. But that just pissed off Mr. L. "Try to do better next time, alright Mash?"

Mushroom man shrugged, not really bothered but agreeing anyway. "Okay."

As he was heading back to his seat though, he noticed the stares of his classmates digging into him like daggers. He's noticed that within this school, your reputation matters a lot. As well as the fact that being up with the trends is a must too. Mash tried to download an app called TeekTok, but was taken back by how fast everything was. Least to say, Mash does not know the trends currently going on.

Next class was art, and it was... okay. The teacher was nice, sure. But they weren't really worthy talking about or worthy talking to. The class finished quickly.

It was finally lunch and Mash was peacefully eating at the back of the school again. He found that almost nobody came here except for the occasional kids who were just wandering around. It was the quietest there, allowing him to think about things that happened to him earlier in the day.

Unfortunately, another thing that the back of the school was known for was secret talk, gossip, or bullying. Mash had seen a ton of gossip - as well as heard - many things throughout the first week. And let me remind you, the first week.

Today just so happened to be one of those days where there was a new gossip going around.

"Have you heard Vince completely dyed his hair blond? I swear he never changes his hair colour."

"Oh my gooodddd, I know right? I was so surprised when I saw him. He looked like a totally different person!"

The girl snickered, eating her snack while she spoke. "He totally looks more hot now though - glad he got out of his smurf phase."

The other girl laughed, the two of them slowly going out of sight. "Reeeaaall. Like I swear for the first week of him having blue..."

Mash couldn't hear them anymore. It wasn't like he wanted to hear this gossip, he definitely didn't. But most of the gossip was just normal day-to-day things. So what if Vince dyed his hair blonde? Some people back home dressed up like they just came back from a fashion show.

He did understand why they were talking about these things though. This world really was boring once you got used to it.

Finishing up his creampuffs, Mash began to make his way back to his new locker - he had to get a different lock than the other kids because he kept breaking all of them - when he heard a familiar voice.

"You need to beat this guy up for me, man. He's been annoying the shit outta me ever since he came here!"

It was Vince's voice. He wasn't bothered to check it out and was about to head in through the doors, when he heard yet another familiar voice.

"What's the guy like?"

Mash snapped his head around, unsure if the voice was coming from who he thought it was. Slowly, he crept over and took a glance.

His eyes widened.

Talking to Vince was someone that he could recognize from miles away. Someone part of the Divine Visionary, someone who Mash knew as a sort of friend.

It was Rayne. Rayne Ames.

Vince was talking to Rayne.

His heart almost burst out of his chest, a noise coming out of his mouth for some reason.

The two dart his direction, Vince's face growing serious as he took a step closer to where the sound came from. 

"Fuck, is there someone there?"

Mash held his breath, debating on making a run for it. I mean, they wouldn't notice right? He's fast enough to do that.

But as he got ready to run, Rayne stopped Vince. 

"There's no one there. C'mon, let's go."

Vince sighed, rolling his eyes. "If you'd let me check it'd make me feel better-"

"You know I'm right when I have magic and you don't. Plus, we had something else we were going to do, remember?"

The blonde-haired sighed, rolling his eyes. "Right, I know. Find yo man or wutev."

Mash heard Vince get smacked. Hopefully only the cheek.

"It's Mashle we're trying to find. Don't act so snarky."

...What.

"Yeah yeah, kay. Let's just go now!!"

The two walk off, leaving Mash to figure out what the hell just happened.

Was that really Rayne? The voice was similar, but their personalities were so- so different. But that one sentence he said was...

Concerning.

"You know I'm right when I have magic and you don't."

Rayne would never say that. I'm sure of it. So either this is someone else who came from my world, or this is Rayne and he's just changed. Mash glanced behind him, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

If that was Rayne by chance... What happened to him?

He wanted to talk to someone about this, but he couldn't tell just anyone. He didn't want to get anyone involved - especially Tris.

So Mash went home soon afterwards, even if school hadn't ended yet.

Chapter Text

"Mash, I got a call from the school saying you left early. Sumthin' happen?" Tris asked, sitting down next to him.

Mash doesn't say anything, not knowing how to bring up the topic of "Oh yknow, the people who i knew from a different world are here and are acting weird/different. oh! and did i forget to mention im from another world too? how funny.

He couldn't just say that out of the blue, so he instead kept his mouth shut for the better.

Tris glances his direction, a worried look on her face. "You alright?" 

"Yeah."

She waits for another minute or so, before sighing and sitting back up. "Okay. Let me know if you want to talk. You don't have to." 

"Oh, I got you some creampuffs from that one store we went to like.. a week ago? They might be a bit cold - sorry - but enjoy." Mash is passed a box of creampuffs which he takes gratefully.

"Thank you." The two eat in peace, enjoying the moderately fresh creampuffs that were sprawled out across the table.

Mash chewed his slowly, his mind somewhere else. If he had to be specific, he was thinking about the Divine Visionaries. He didn't want to just confront them about them coming here since it might cause some issues, but Mash wondered what exactly happened to Rayne for him to be so.. different. He was unsure of whether the others were different like him, but it was clear this world was leaving a mark on his personality. 

I wonder if Rayne just misses his younger brother or something. Mash glanced down at the box of creampuffs, noticing they were all gone. Tris, who had been watching him for a while laughed, handing him one of her own. He flushes in embarrassment.

Whatever. All these thoughts don't matter. So what if Rayne was acting different? He could go check on him later, or maybe they manage to find him and bring him back to where he belongs.

Although he wouldn't want that, he'd rather have that happen then spend time doing nothing.

"Sorry for leaving school early. I didn't feel well." It was half-true.

Tris smiled in response, patting his head. "It's fine! I had tons of those days when I was younger. Oh em gee wait, that reminds me. You went to Kelvins shop right? He told me through text.

"Didn't know you were the type of person to talk to someone without being asked to, lmao."

Mash tilted his head in confusion. "Lmao?"

"Laughing my ass off? Do you not know acronyms?"

"I really don't," Mash looked the other direction.

Tris stares daggers into him, but ultimately decided to just head to bed early. She knew that Mash was having a rather tough time at English and wasn't going to bully him like that.

"PASS!!" A braided hair boy yelled, his arms in the air. Another student swerves the direction of where the boy was, only to find the guy being surrounded by four other people. People really didn't know how to block - christ.

The student looks over their shoulder, trying to find an opening to pass to someone. And that's when they find it - Mash.

"MASH!! CATCH!!!" They throw over the ball just barely, landing into Mash's hands.

Mash hadn't listened to the rules this gym class either.

Shit. He had to make sure he wouldn't overuse his strength.

He stood still in place, his grip firm on the ball so that none of the other students could knock it out of his hands - but not too firm that he'd break it. Turning to the hoop that hung far from him, he glances between the ball and it, having an idea of sorts.

The student who had just passed to him yells from afar, right next to the hoop. "MASH!! OVER HERE!"

A couple others began to run over and block them, but they somehow manage to stay open the entire time. "MAAAAASSSSHHH!!"

Mash looks at the ball one last time.

Before bringing his hand up into the air, the ball balancing perfectly on his palm.

His teammates shouted and attempted to get him not to try to make a shoot - assuming that he wouldn't be able to make it.

But as the ball was thrown into the air, it was almost like slow motion. The ball spun effortlessly.

Most of the students, if not all were shocked at this. He managed to make the shot from across half the field.

And swiftly into the hoop.

"ATTA BOY!!" The gym teacher yells from afar. "CMON Y'ALL, PICK UP THE PACE." 

They got back on track, but Mash noticed a change. Everyone seemed to be.. Targeting him? The heck?

"MASH!! HERE!!" The person from earlier waves, open. Mash passes the ball over with ease, watching as the crowd of people surrounding him turn to them.

Mash's team eventually wins, and class ends. the teacher personally congratulating him for that impressive throw, but it was no biggie. He could've thrown a lot farther.

Not that he was going to and get caught. He'd rather chill at home with Tris and watch a movie or something. She did say something about a movie night actually.

Mash smiles, making his way to his locker. However, what he didn't expect was for a blond person to be standing directly in front of it, glaring daggers at him as well as a smirk on his face.

"Can I... Help you?" Mash asked, confused. Vince's smug grin widened, taking a step closer.

"Meet me after school. Skip and I might just do something reaaal bad," his voice sounded hissy, like he was rasping out the words.

Mash shrugged. "Kay."

Vince left him to open his locker, walking away with pride that Mash hadn't seen from him before. Just what did he want with him?

T ris,  I'm going to be a bit late from school. Someone wants to talk to me.

        Mash istg if its that one boy who keeps annoying you

istg? Also its fine because i can handle it on my own. You don't have to worry.

*i swear to god

And I don't believe you. You're just a kid Mash - you can't handle a gang fight if it ever comes to it

What if he's trying to beat you up!?

Please tell me you're not going.

Mash.

Hey Mash.

Please don't.

Read 3:55

"Look who showed up. Glad that our little Mashie boy ain't a wimp," Vince giggled, looking up and down at Mash. "And no precautions either? You must think you're so tough."

Mash didn't care what he was talking about. He wanted to get to the point. "Why'd you tell me to come here?"

"No biggie. Just wanted to have some private discussions with yah."

"Like what?"

"Certain things."

"Can you be specific?"

Vince grits his teeth. "Can you let me have my moment? Christ." He takes a step closer. "You may not know this, but I have a right to believe that you may be Mashle Burnedead."

Ah, is this what he was talking about? 

The issue with the 'Divine Visionaries' has been popular on almost all social media apps, each having their own little thing to add to them - whether good or bad.

The one thing that everyone knows about them, however, is the mention of a person named 'Mashle Burnedead'. 

"I'm not Mashle," Mash says nervously, his hands shaking.

"Liar. Your name is literally Mash except without the 'le', not to mention the fact you randomly appeared out of nowhere and came to school like you own the place.

I know you Mashle. I know you ran away from the Divine Visionaries. Who're you staying with now, huh? Someone who knows the tricks you're playing?"

"Mmh," he didn't know what to say.

He has it completely wrong, 'lmao.'  Totally.

Mash coughs, trying to keep his composure. "How'd you find out?"

Vince grins, crossing his arms. "I have my ways. From now on though, you won't try to go against me now will ya? I can spill your little secret so easily-"

"Kay."

The boy froze.

"..What?"

"Go ahead. It'd be better if the Divine Visionaries knew I was here." Mash picked up his backpack, glancing behind him at the trembling Vince. Now that it was confirmed he knew, it didn't really matter anymore. It was only a matter of time until they found him. And frankly, it was probably a good thing. He'd been meaning to talk to them in awhile.

"Cya man."

Vince stood there, his fists clutched in anger. "You fucking...!!"

"MASH I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO THERE-"

"It was fine," he said, relaxing on her bed.

"No, no it wasn't!! What if you got hurt!? I can't just let you go like that-"

Mash turns to Tris, noticing her worried expression. He smiles at her, patting her head.

"It's okay. I'm fine, really."

Chapter Text

"What's that?" Tristan pointed at a letter in Mash's locker. He takes it out, opening it up and reading the contents inside.

He immediately puts it back.

"Mash what the?? What was that letter about??"

"Nothing," he said quickly, walking away to leave Tristan to catch up to him.

"MAAAAAAASH!!"

"Hey bud," Tris says, leaning back from the table to look at Mash. "Its valentines. Got any dates upcoming?"

Mash flushes up. "Wh-wh-wh-what?? no, of course not."

Tris raises an eyebrow. "Riiiiight. Spill, whos the girl or guy?"

"I'm telling you there's no one-"

"You're blushing. Thats not something someone who isn't in love would do - at least I think. i havent had a love life since elementary."

What good love life knowledge you have, Mash wanted to say, but he kept his mouth shut, instead eating a creampuff. "I really- nom- don't- nom."

Finally she gives up. "Kayyy, whatever. Tell me when you do though!! I love hearing the tea."

Yet another love note has appeared in Mash's locker. Same writing style, same type of message; just who is giving him these letters?

He looks around in his english class, seeing if anyone was looking at him in particular. No one.

He checked his gym class - nope.

Drama was a failure too.

Mash sighed, chilling at the back of the school and eating his creampuffs. Honestly, he didn't know why he was so obsessed with finding out who this mysterious love letter person is. I guess it could've been his curiosity got the better of him?

That's when he hears a familiar female voice. "MASHHH MY FIANCEEEEE!!" 

He looked up to see a flying cupid with a very familiar face, body shape, and hair to someone he knew.

Oh god - It was Lemon.

"HOWD YOU FIND ME??" Mash made a run for it, however it was no use as Lemon's large angelic wings - where did they come from?? Mash thought - allowed her to travel speeds faster than light itself.

"Doesn't matter!!" she squealed, flying around poor Mash. "I finally found my husband and that's all that matters."

Mash stared at her, not knowing how to reply. That's when ANOTHER familiar face came in, except they wore the outfit of a demon. It was Dot.

"Lemon..." Dot said, his anime eyes blinking in sadness. 

She looks over at him, confused. "Dot...?"

"I thought that... we could be together forever... even if our love wasn't allowed.."

GASP. A forbidden romance, he says? Lemon grins, before continuing into her role as the cupid. "Oh, Dot. I'm so sorry I tried leaving you!! Please forgive me!!" Having forbidden romance is better than a normal one, muhaha.

Dot takes Lemon hand in hand, flying away into the sunset that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Mash stood there, not knowing how to react. He glances down at the half eaten creampuff in his hand, deciding that at this moment, this creampuff can be his 'lover' or whatever. At least for the time being. He stuffed it in his pocket and headed his way back to class.

"WHOS YOUR LOVER??" Tristan and Liz asked, both eager to find out after asking for a week straight.

Mash sighed, tired of them asking and finally complying.

He pulls out a moldy creampuff. "My lover..... Lance."

It wasn't like the two were going to know Lance by any means, but even Mash cringed a little bit at that. He would never believe it if him and Lance were dating.

The two gagged before leaving him.

Mash shrugged, finishing the creampuff.

"I don't want to get involved with romance ever again, hopefully."

So Mash would be single forever, for the rest of his life, while Dot and Lemon would have a family of 6 children and soon-to-be grandchildren.

Where Lance is? Trying to find pretty flowers for the love of his life, while Finn is back at home talking to Regro about romance books.

The end.

Chapter Text

"Christ, I've been here for hours," Lance grumbles to himself, trudging through the muddy ground. He hadn't done anything that big, so why the fuck is he still here? Not to mention it's as if it goes on forever. Just what he needed.

His shoes were filthy with mud - not that Lance cared - which was slowly creeping up to his knees. He's noticed by now that the ground he stood on was turning into some sort of quicksand, intended for him to get sucked under and most likely suffocated. 

He was a bit annoyed at the fact that this cloak was going to have to be washed though.

Whoever created this trap was smart in leaving no traces of their magic, as if this was natural within the landscape. Lance obviously knew it wasn't since he's been here multiple times, but it grinded his gears that someone this powerful managed to not be found out yet.

Lance kept going forward, not minding the fog flooding his vision. The trees that had been visible earlier were now like a blur, looking like weird broccoli creatures. 

I wonder if there's going to be a monster of some sort that pops out. Hopefully not. It'd make things more troublesome than it already is.

One thing that he knew for sure however, was that this wasn't Innocent Zero's fault. His ability to do time-based powers has almost nothing to do with.. well, whatever this is. Perhaps an accomplice? Maybe someone who's seeking his revenge?

Both of those ideas had to be false, of course. Mash had already killed all his henchmen with the help of Lance and the others. They've seen them get killed. This was why he crossed out Innocent Zero completely in his notebook.

And even if any of them did have this kind of power, they'd most likely be known to the magic academy as a threat. He would have known beforehand, but he wasn't since no one has this kind of power.

It'd be better to stop thinking about this.

"Just great. And i'm still stuck in this hellhole."

Trotting on, Lance finds a broken tree, hung over and leaning heavily on the other trees nearby. Almost all the trees here were identical, so he knew this must be some sort of clue to get out. Reaching his hand out, he brushes over the bark with the tips of his fingers, feeling the texture of the tree and comparing it to the others. It seemed to be more smooth.

Yet there was nothing else special about it. It was just that - dead and fallen over.

He groaned in annoyance, sitting back up and brushing the dirt off his hands.

He hoped that he would be able to get back soon.

It has been seven fucking hours.

At this point Lance gave up. Where was he supposed to go? What was he supposed to find? How could he escape when there literally is no exit?

He sat on the roots of the broken tree, muttering nonsense under his breath.

That was until Lance heard a low grumbling-like sound. 

His head jerks to the side, trying to figure out whee the sound came from.

The fog. The sound came from afar, where all he could see was white and the occasional shade of dark grey.

He sits up, reaching for his wand in his pocket. Is this a creature of some sort? A hallucination? 

One thing was clear though. It was coming closer.

"Invasbilvan," he muttered under his breath, casting an invisibility spell in case it was a monster like he'd predicted. His body immediately vanishes, only leaving the remains of his magic use and his footsteps in the wet mud.

He debated on hiding his footsteps as well, but ultimately decided against it. It probably won't find me anyway.

A few minutes pass, and the low sounds slowly become louder, a weird fizzing noise now being heard. Lance raised his weapon, ready to attack.

He saw it - the creature.

It was black and veiny, tree-like branches swaying from its sides as two white pupils glared into the unknown. It stood tall, looming over the trees and making them seem much less noticeable. 

The creature hissed a few times, moving its branches around and letting a few leaves fall.

One landed in front of Lance. 

He watched the creature cautiously, but it seemed it hadn't noticed him. It made its way past, each step making the ground tremble ever so slightly.

Lance knew he couldn't defeat that thing. Even if he used his most powerful ability, it would be no use.

Yet this one encounter with the monster - this one moment gave an exciting feeling to blossom within his chest. It was something that he hadn't felt before, and it felt nice.

Hiding there for a few moments longer, Lance crept out from behind a tree, immediately getting to work.

This monster seems to not sense magic or have quite the poor eyesight because of its height. I can use it to my advantage and try to trap it.

He mutters a spell under his breath, the tree which he was hiding behind forming into a different shape.

Ill try this my way first. If it doesn't work...

It has to.

So what exactly was he planning?

First off, he had to make sure the monster wouldn't detect or find this trap of his - that was obvious.

Secondly, he had to ensure that he himself wouldn't get caught by the monster. After seeing it once, its as if hes near that monster everywhere. Multiple times he's had to stop for a moment and hide since that monster wouldn't go away.

The trap itself was time-consuming and tedious, causing Lance to work on it more than he liked. 

All because that monster might be able to detect magic, he grumbled to himself. I shouldve tested that beforehand, fuck.

Whatever. No going back now. The trap was almost complete, able to easily kill this monster if everything went accordingly. It was thanks to Lance's special type of magic, Graviole.

All he needed now was for the monster to head his way.

He waited, listening out for any sounds or signals that would indicate the arrival of it.

Nothing for the first five minutes; then a soft whisper or two, until eventually Lance could feel the ground tremble as its steps got closer. He pulls out his wand, ready to attack.

The monster was finally in view, its tall figure easily distinguishable compared to the other trees.

Lance waited a couple more minutes for it to get close enough for the trap to activate.

And it did.

The trap activated quickly, sending roots from underground to come reach up and tangle around the creatures' legs. The roots were thick, able to hold down the monster for awhile. The creature growled in retort, struggling to free itself.

He took this chance to cast a spell.

"Graviole Chain Epicurus," he chanted.

The air around the creature felt heavy as a sudden pressure pounds on it, screeching in alarm as its limbs were slowly crushed.

Lance used more magic into the spell, furrowing his eyebrows as it became increasingly more difficult to continue the spell. Almost there- almost-

The monster stepped to the left.

And the spell vanished.

Lance froze in shock.

What-

He almost had no time to react, however, as Lance felt an immense pressure surround him, almost causing him to fall over. He chokes on the air, kneeling down and gasping for air. Looking up, his eyes widened.

the creature was looking down on him; with glowing yellow eyes.

It took a step towards Lance, its hand reaching out towards him. 

"Shit, shit, shit!" Lance hissed, attempting to crawl away from the large hand. It was no use - the hand scooped him up and brought him eye level to the creature.

Is this how Lance was going to die? Stuck in someone's spell, getting killed by some tree monster? He didn't want to die, not yet. Not until he could find Mash.

Fuck it - he just wanted to see his friends again.

A sudden voice rings out.

"Why have you come here, so early?"

The voice was raspy and dagger-like, chills running down Lance's back.

...What?

The creature tilted its head, waiting for an answer. "It isn't your time to come here, no? I believe he did not want you here yet."

He didn't know how to react. Who doesn't want him here? And why - or rather how - is this monster talking?

"You- how-" 

"I assume you have questions. I understand. But you need not worry. You'll be the one to help." The creature's head leaned down towards Lance, closing it's eyes.

"I am sorry to not be able to guide you any further. Be patient, Lance. You'll see me again soon enough."

As the creature said it's last words, Lance's vision began to blur - the feeling in his fingers fading. "Wait, what- what do you mean by this?- GIVE ME SOME ANSWERS-"

Lance was back. Back at the forest where he was originally. He gasped for air, sitting up straight and looking at his hands. They were shaking, trembling.

"Lance? What're you doing here still?" A voice called out, one familiar to him. It was Mash's father.

"What do you mean?" he asked, standing up and wiping the dirt off his coat. There were no traces of mud on his shoes - he noticed.

"Have you been sitting there since we talked? If you wanted to stay in, you could've just asked."

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. "And how long has it been since we talked?"

Mash's father raised an eyebrow. "Around a day or so. Have you no sense of time?"

Great. Just great. Hahaah. Does this mean I just got teleported back to Regro?

He shook his head, taking a breath. "N-no, it's fine. I'll be on my way now."

"If you say so," Pops said. He looked at him for a moment longer before heading back inside the house.

Lance bit his lip, teleporting himself back to his dorm and yanking out the notebook.

He scratched off everything, anything that he had thought was useless. That monster, or whatever the fuck it was - it changed everything that Lance had thought what's been going on. 

Someone had done this, that was proven by the mention of he. At least Lance got that right. The thing that messes everything else up is the fact that he doesn't want Lance to know about the reason the disappearances that are happening. Yet. 

"I believe he did not want you here yet."

Lance sighed, taking a step back and looking at the empty board in front of him.

He takes a pen out, scribbling big black words over some of his scribbled out notes.

     SOMEONE.

WHO IS HE AND WHY DID HE DO THIS?

WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?WHY? WHY?

Lance rips out the theories he had written in his journal, throwing them in the trash. 

He has to find out who this person is. He needs to. For Mash's sake. For everyone. 

Chapter Text

Mash sat at his desk, bored out of his mind. The teacher - his english one - was talking about the history of 'egyptians' and other things like that, which Mash couldn't understand whatsoever since he could never really got a good grip on the cultures of this world, or rather the history. Haha, get it?

It's funny. Mash thinks it's funny. You should too.

Tristan takes a glance at him, noticing his efforts in trying to grasp the concept of what they were learning, and how he was failing.

"Psst," he whispers, nudging Mash. He turns to him. "Do you need some help?"

Mash stares at his blank sheet of paper for a few moments, before looking up at Tristan and nodding. "Yeah, I do."

The freckled boy smiles. "Okay. Do you want to work with me during lunch, after s-school, or?..."

"Anytime is fine."

"Ah, alright. After s-school is fine, I think. Meet up in the library then?"

"Sure."

"Alright."

The two of them go silent, listening to the teacher ramble.

From behind them sat none other than Vince, who was carefully intruding their conversation. 

I need to get Mash to owe me a favour. I have to. My reputation at this school is at stake here. I have to prove that he's under me.

The boy gripped his table, a wolfish gleam in his eye.

Just you wait, Mashy boy.

Mash, where are you?

Here.

wait

hhold on

aa

ajkakkkl

Almost here.

You... okay? lmao.

Why wouldn't I be?

LMAO

sure, kay.

You better come here soon !!

"Mash, what took you s-so long?" Tristan laughed, pulling out a chair next to him. Mash thanks him, sitting down and scooching up a bit.

"I've never been to the library before. Got lost," he admitted.

"NEVER?? You're new, right? Sh-shouldn't you have gotten a tour guide or s-something?"

Mash shrugged.

"What's that?" he pointed out.

"Oh, this?" Tristan said, shuffling a huge stack of books and handing half of them to Mash. "They're for s-studying."

That's... a lot of studying, Mash thought to himself, flipping open one of the fat books. Inside was tons of pictures and references that he didn't understand, staring blankly at the page.

"Wow."

Tristan gasped, gesturing for him to swap that book with another. "That one might be too much for you right now, s-sorry. This one's better."

He showed him a rather small book, with more pictures than the previous one as well as a bigger font. 

"Is this for children?"

"..We're in highschool, so uh, no."

"Okay." Mash went through the book page by page, occasionally asking Tristan on certain events and getting the help he needed. It wasn't until the librarian asked them to leave that the both of them realizes they had been there for hours, the sun already getting close to the horizon.

"I've let you two stay here longer than allowed, but I can't let you stay the entire night," the Librarian grumbled as she kicked them out. "Go find a different place to study."

Tristan mutters something under his breath, his face flushed. "S-sorry Mash. I didn't realize hours had already passed by."

"It's fine," Mash assured him.

He glanced up at the rose-tinted sky. "I'm probably going to head home now. C U Tristan."

"Ah, okay." The freckled boy raised an eyebrow. "Uhm.. C U? You mean See you, or Cya?"

Mash stared at him.

"..See you Tristan."

Tristan giggled at his mistake. "Yeah, 'C U', haha."

The two of them separate soon enough since Tristan apparently lived quite far from the high school, and he was meant to walk home that day - a rare occurrence for him. Mash walked home every day, of course. It was natural; the apartment complex wasn't far in the first place.

Mash turned to the direction of the apartments, kicking rocks on the pavement as he went just for fun.

The sun casted glimmers through the buildings and trees, almost like a flickering light dancing around Mash. It shined him a couple times in the eye, making him flinch and close his eyes, but it was otherwise peaceful - and quite serene at that.

That was until he heard a familiar voice.

"Hahhhh, how long does it take for you to get home?" 

It was a scraggy voice, one that believed it held high authority; maybe it did honestly.

Vince quickly caught up to Mash's pace, giving him a vulpine grin. "Heading home? You just came back from the library, right? Can I walk with you?"

Mash shrugged, not bothered by his presence. "Sure, I guess."

His eye twitched slightly.

"Annnyyyway, why don't we hang out more? I've been wanting to get to know you more."

"Because the Divine Visionaries want me?"

Vince smiled through gritted teeth. "Not at all! I just want to be friends."

"Kay."

"..."

The two walked in silence for a fat five minutes. 

As they came closer and closer to Mash's apartment building, it was clear that Vince was frustrated. 

"You alright?" he asked.

"...Why aren't you pissed at me? Or scared? Or - fuck - even giving a reaction? It's like you don't care."

"Because I don't," Mash said nonchalantly.

Vince stopped, his face turning more serious. "Why? I thought..."

Mash looked behind him. "Because the Divine Visionaries told you that I was from another world? And that they were too?"

He stopped.

"You knew?"

Mash fiddled with his fingers. "I mean, yeah. They're the type of people to go around and do that kind of stuff."

"Don't you want to see them then? Why didn't you go to them first? Why didn't you try to go home with them-"

"Too many questions. Shut up for a moment," Mash raised his voice slightly, effectively shutting Vince up.

"I didn't come to the Divine Visionaries since I didn't know they were here at first, plus I didn't know where they were, and I was already having trouble with fitting in here.

"Secondly, none of us know why we were sent here. I killed off Innocent Zero and I appeared here - simple as that." Mash didn't want to mention the weird portal thing he had to go through, and he assumed he didn't need to either. "I'd rather take my time and figure things out step by step than try to solve it all at once."

Vince stood there, mouth agape. Mash really just... told him everything? Without hesitation? Without worrying that he'd tell someone? He bullied him - tried to at least - and was even planning on blackmailing him. Mash knew that too, and yet he's unfazed by it?

"I don't get why you're telling me this," he snapped. "Just because I asked you doesn't mean you have to tell me everything. Ever heard of secrets?"

"I don't understand why you don't want me to answer if you asked me the questions first."

"BECAUSE YOU'RE FROM ANOTHER WORLD, FOR FUCKS SAKE. DON'T YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THAT IS!??" 

Vince clutched his fists, his body shaking. "Shouldn't that- fucking be important? Shouldn't you be scared? You should be, you have to be. How could someone not-?"

Mash takes a step towards him.

He places a hand on Vince's shoulder, squeezing it.

"I don't know, Vince."

"I don't know."

Vince's eyebrows furrowed, a confused and frantic look in his eyes.

Just as he was about to say something, another figure appeared behind the two of them.

"...Mash?"

Chapter Text

Mash froze.

Half yellow, half black hair - two stripes connecting his eyes to his chin, and a look in his eyes that Mash swore he'd never forget.

A look of emotion. Something Mash almost never saw from Rayne unless it was about his little brother. The little brother who definitely wasn't here.

He saw a tear a drip down his cheek.

"It's you, right Mash?" Rayne took a step closer, not knowing how to react to this sudden reunion. "I didn't think you were..."

Mash stares at him. "I'm here, I'm fine."

"I know that now, but I thought that maybe you were like the others who didn't make it." Rayne lowers his gaze, his hands trembling. He hid them behind his back, trying to hide his anxiety.

What? There were... others? Mash froze, staring at him.

Vince, watching from afar, stood there in shock. It seemed that he too had never seen Rayne act this way.

Rayne managed to gain his composure, taking a few breaths and drying his face with a cloth he'd pulled out of his pocket. "It's-it's good to see you again. How come you never contacted us? We tried reaching out multiple times but- nothing."

Mash gave a slight shrug in response. He was still genuinely surprised about seeing Rayne cry that he couldn't muster up any words. And he was also still digesting the fact that there were others along with him and the Divine Visionaries that came here. 

Rayne sighed, shaking his head. "...Alright. Well, now that I've found you, you should come with me back to the Divine Visionaries."

"..What?"

"We're trying to find a way to get back. Back to the way things were," he glances down at Mash. "Did you forget we're in a different world?"

"Nono, I get that. But- already?"

Rayne's eyes grew dour.

"Mash. It's been over a month. We decided to try researching about finding a way back home only a few days ago. We've been waiting for you. What have you been doing all this time?"

It's been a month?

Mash didn't know how to react. Time had flown so fast that a month had already gone by. The time with Tris, Tristan, Liz - heck, even Vince - were all memorable one way or another. At some point, Mash was genuinely enjoying himself here. He didn't know when it began or how it started, but at some point, he began to feel as if he belonged.

A feeling that he almost never got back at home.

Yes, he'd lived there all his life. Yes, his pops and friends loved him dearly; but the world was full of magic - something Mash didn't have. That alone made him feel isolated, even if it was slight.

Here, he was able to feel accepted by the others. Even if he had to hide his strength so that he wouldn't get caught by the 'FBI', (Tris had told him about the FBI at some point. She was watching a show that revolved around them,) he still felt freer than he had originally been.

"Mash."

Mash looked up at Rayne.

"Do you.. like it here more than back home?"

What should he say? That he felt more appreciated and welcomed than back at home? He liked it here, a lot, but at the same time he longed for his birthplace.

No, Mash thought. They wouldn't understand, it'd just cause more problems.

With one last glance at Vince, he opened his mouth and spoke.

"No. I just want to find a way back home on my own."

Silence followed.

Mash gripped the strap on his backpack, nervous. "It's nice to see you again, but I want to be as open-minded as possible and try to find more than one solution."

It was a shallow excuse, he knew that. He knew Rayne picked up on his lies, and how he didn't want to speak about his honest thoughts. Mash felt horrible lying; it was something he never liked doing in the first place.

I think... that as I spent more time here in this world, I've been lying more often. 

He didn't know how to feel.

Rayne looks him in the eye, an unreadable expression on his face. Did he understand what Mash was trying to say? Did he mess up?

Finally, he sighs, pushing his ruffled hair back. "...Fine. If you want to contact us though, let us know through him." He pointed at Vince, who flinched at the sudden mention. He looked back at the mushroom haired boy one last time. "Don't disappear. Please."

"...Okay." Mash watched as Rayne turned around and left, acting as if nothing had happened. 

And he was gone.

Mash stood there a few seconds longer, before taking a step back; and another, and another, and another.

Eventually turning around and walking home.

Vince, who had watched the entire event unfold, was in shock. He didn't know what to say in all honesty. It felt as if he was intruding on their conversation - which was not his fault, by the way - and that he unlocked some sort of secret plot from a video game.

"Hahhh, fuck.." he grumbled to himself, kicking a rock off the pavement and heading his own direction. Whatever, this wasn't something he had to deal with.

Mash closes the door shut behind him, flopping down onto the ground and lying flat on his back.

"What's wrong?" Tris asked, noticing the deflated look on him. She had her headphones in, sitting on the couch and watching something on her phone. Most likely another TV show.

"I'm tired."

"Damn, that sucks. Wanna come lay next to me and chill?"

Mash shook his head.

Tris lowers her gaze at him, bringing her headphones down to her neck. 

"...You okay?"

He hesitated.

"...Yeah."

Another lie. It felt like they were becoming a habit.

Tris sat down next to him, rubbing his head to comfort him. She speaks with a soft voice, "Mash, I know you're not."

"I am."

"You're not. You're lying, you know that just as much as I do."

Mash rolled closer to Tris, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"I am not," he fumbled, burrowing his head into her leg.

She sighed, brushing her fingers through his black hair. It had gotten longer throughout the month - she'll probably need to get it cut soon.

Tris focused her attention back on the glum-looking Mash. "You can tell me. Y'know that, right?"

"Ihh' know."

She chuckled softly, tilting her head to the side. "Do you want creampuffs to cheer you up?"

Mash paused, before nodding slightly. "Yweah. Ih' do."

Tris huffs, gently bringing Mash out of his embrace. "Alright then. Let's go."

They arrived at the creampuff store quicker than most times they've went, as Tris closes the car door and waits for Mash to follow. "After you, good sir," she smiles, opening the front door for him.

As the bell rang above, Dave emerged from behind the counter, an old manly grin on his face. "My my, it's been a while. How ya lads doin' as of late?"

"The usual, thanks for askin'." She greets him back, taking a seat next to Mash. "Any new recipes up in the making?"

"Ahhh, not really. It's hard getting inspired when ya' this old."

Tris laughs in response. "I feel ya. Being thirty ain't easy."

"Try being twice that age!"

The two of them chatter while Mash waits for his creampuffs eagerly. Well, not exactly eagerly; but he wasn't that gloomy either. He was glad that Tris knew what cheered him up.

"Ey Mash. Do you want to try a different kind of creampuff? You've always been having the same kind - wondering if ye taste buds are doing alright." Dave attempted to make an old man joke which instead came out awkward and wrong. He coughed in embarrassment. "Ermm, if ya' want to, of course."

"Okay."

He grins, disappearing into the back kitchen.

Tris pats him on the head, looking over at him. "I hope this makes you feel better, Mash," she whispers.

Mash nods as Dave reemerges from the kitchen, handing out an odd-looking creampuff for Mash and a couple coffees for him and Tris. "These were my wife's favourites," he said, "Nobody really likes em except her, but I thought that since you're a creampuff fanatic, ya' wouldn't care."

He carefully picks up the creampuff in his hand, staring at it in awe. "I didn't know creampuffs could be shaped like this."

The old man chuckles. "Well, most creampuffs ain't; obviously. She wanted it to be based off a flower."

"What kind of flower?" Tris asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

Dave thinks for a moment, rubbing his chin. "Hmm... I think it was a Zinnia flower? There used to be a whole bunch around this area. Sucks that winter killed most of em' off."

He and Tris watched as the young boy, Mash, took a bite out of the creampuff, licking his lips as his expression slowly changed. 

"..It tastes good," he said, taking another bite out of it. "Thank you."

The old man smiles, the sides of his eyes curling upwards as he sits down and faces them. "Nahhh, you remind me so much of my wife. I remember her saying that too." 

"Good times, haha."

Tris continued to look at Mash long after he had finished the Zinnia creampuff, and even while she talked to Dave, she would occasionally give glances at him.

There was a spark in Mash's eye. Something that Tris hadn't seen from him in a while.

A faint smile grew on her face, hiding it with a sip of her hot coffee.

Chapter Text

"Mash?" Mash's math teacher asked, looking around the classroom to find an iconic mushroom haired boy. He found him near the back of the class, raising his hand with a blank expression on his face.

"Here," he said. He was sitting next to Tristan who was whispering quietly to Liz. They seemed to be really close, Mash noticed. Whenever he saw one of them around, the other would follow - like they were stuck together with glue.

Pulling out his black binder, he flips to the most recent page for math. Mash never really knew how to do math at his birthplace, but seeing it in a different world brings him a sense of familiarity, even if he was bad at the subject.

"Alright class," the teacher began, "Have you all reviewed the math sheet from tuesday?" 

None of the class spoke except for the occasional mutters among students who weren't paying attention.

She sighed, turning around and writing something on the board. "Since none of you are good etiquette students, I'll have to explain this step by step."

"Shouldnt the teacher be explaining it step by step anyway?" Liz grumbled, laying her head on her stretched out arms. 

Tristan shrugged, following the teachers writing on the board. "Dunno. This teacher isn't my favourite, to be honest." He glanced over at Mash. "Do you have a favourite teacher?"

Mash also shrugged. "Every teachers the same."

The freckled boy sighed in boredom, scribbling some doodles on his sheet. "Alrrrighttt."

Mash's pencil was dull, so he went to go sharpen his pencil with the help of the teacher, who pointed where it was, heading over to the sharpener and putting it in.

He wasn't paying attention to the teacher as he did so, until someone suddenly shouted, "TEACHER, I HAVE A QUESTION."

The teacher wore a scowl on her face as she realized who it was. "Yes, Vince?"

Vince cleared his throat. "May i go to the bathroom?"

"You shouldve just asked me normally. No."

He rolled his eyes, fooling around with a piece of paper - presumably his math homework. "Why? I have the work right here," he shows the crumpled-up paper, a smirk on his face.

"Funny, real funny. Go to the office."

Vince stood up, slowly but surely pushing his chair in. The result of that was metal grinding against the floor.

The students around him winced, their ears in pain from the horrible sound. 

Mash watched as he walked up to him suddenly, nudging him. "Hey," he leaned in. "Meet me at the same place from before."

Vince left before Mash could say anything.

The teacher sighed before continuing her lesson, Mash quickly going back and sitting back down next to Tristan. His pencil was a lot smaller than before. He noted to himself that he'd have to learn how to sharpen pencils later.

Mash didn't listen to Vince for a week straight.

It wasn't that Mash couldn't, it was that he didn't want to get into more incidents like the one with Rayne. it was too much for him, and frankly he didn't like Vince anyway. He'd often spend his time hiding away from Vince's glaring eyes, even attempting to hide in the garbage once. It was no use though; Mash knew he was going to get caught eventually.

But he just hoped that not yet. That he'd be able to have more time, avoid his problems.

All was fine, for a while at least. His plan worked most of the time. However, something that he'd never expect happened.

One of the teachers had paired the two together for a group project. Two people per group. Just Mash and Vince.

Mash genuinely debated on leaving school altogether. Tris managed to convince him otherwise; so here he was.

"You've been avoiding me, eh?" Vince said, a sly smirk on his face. "Care to explain why?"

"What parts do you want to work on?" Mash asks, changing the topic. 

Vince stares at him. "What?"

"What part."

"You just ignored my question-"

Mash taps a few times onto the laptop, sharing a doc to Vince. "Are you okay with me getting the info and you decorating n' stuff?"

"...Mash."

He turned to him.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you want to go back?"

Mash stopped, surprised at the question. "I-I don't know what you mean. Totally."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Mashle," he muttered the last part under his breath; his tone cold.

"Are you.. being serious right now?"

"No shit."

The two stared at each other for a moment, each not knowing what to say. 

Tristan comes up from behind Mash, looking over his shoulder at the work they've done. "Mash, Is Vince bothering you? I knew he wasn't the best person to work with, but I didn't think he'd affect you like th-this." he glanced at Vince, "if you want to get a good grade on this project, don't annoy M-mash. 'Kay?"

"I didn't," Vince snapped back, his eyebrows furrowing. "Mash and I were just talking. That's all."

It was obvious that Tristan didn't believe him, but he didn't say anything, instead turning back to Mash. "This project's harder than the previous ones, s-so if you need help just let me know, alright?"

"Okay. Don't worry about me," Mash assured him as he walked away. He went back to researching for the project, deciding to not talk to Vince in the meanwhile. 

He did not take that lightly; constantly tapping on random keys in the doc.

"Can you stop?" Mash finally said, annoyed by the constant tapping.

"Nuh uh, not until you stop ignoring or avoiding me, and actually try to converse with me. I'm telling you that i need to tell you something."

"Okay."

"No, not 'Okay'. Don't say it like that. You're supposed to- ugh."

"I swear Mash, sometimes you're so... so... " he stopped himself, pressing his lips together and focusing on the work instead. 

Mash didn't react to Vince's words, content on getting a good chunk of his research done.

"Mash," Vince came up behind him, holding his shoulder lightly. "Can you please, for the love of god, talk to me?"

"Why? We don't have a good relationship." Mash walked to his locker, Vince following.

"Because... just, pleaseee?"

He put his binder in his backpack, pulling it out and closing his locker. "Okay."

Vince said nothing at his non-chalant comply.

The two walked together back to where they last met: The Library. Well, not the library per say, they actually met outside of it; but neither gave a damn about the logistics here.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Mash inquired, kicking a rock that had appeared on the pavement yet again.

"The Divine Visionaries," Vince began. "They have... powers, right?"

Mash nods. "Yeah, and?"

Vince let out a soft laugh. "Kay, alright, yeah. So why don't you have any?"

"..."

"Did I hit a nerve or something?" Vince stared at Mash, who had an aloof expression on his face.

Mash snaps out of it, shaking his head. "No, not really. I was just thinking about something else."

"Like what?"

This guy is really pushy, isn't he?

Mash shrugged. "My friends, I guess."

"From the other world, right? Do you want to tell me about them?" Vince looked quite eager to learn about the world and people Mash used to live with. He found that a little humourous, considering that this guy was supposed to be bullying him.

Mash looks up at the pale blue sky. It hadn't gotten dark yet. 

"Well, one of my friends, Lance, might be a lolicon."

Vince gave a disgusted look. The other boy nodded. "Yeah, gross. Then we have Lemon. She thinks I'm her fiance."

"Dot thinks he's the main character, but I don't think anyone is. If there was, he'd be a side character."

"My pops is a really nice person - I love him a lot."

"And..." Mash paused, uneasiness creeping into him. He couldn't really remember anyone else. It had been so long that it was hard trying to recall people's personalities or events that had happened. It was all becoming fuzzy.

Mash bit his lip. "...That's it."

Vince raised an eyebrow. "You sounded like you were going to continue. Why'd you stop?"

He shook his head in response. "I don't know why I even talked to you in the first place." Mash went ahead of Vince, gripping his backpack tighter.

"Oh comeeee onnn!!" Vince ran up behind him, wrapping his arms around Mash. "Tell meeee!!"

"No," Mash grunted, attempting to get him off; easily knocking him off with a tap of his finger.

Vince went down with an "Umrph!" before getting back up quickly and walking beside him. "You're annoying. And boring. And rude. I don't like you."

"Kay," Mash replied, turning left down to his apartment.

Vince glanced at him one last time, stopping in his tracks. "Mash."

Mash turned around, tilting his head. "Yeah?"

"I... Fuck. I'm sorry for bullying you."

He raised an eyebrow. Why is he apologizing now? I thought that Vince was going to be mean for the rest of my time in High School. 

Vince interrupted his thoughts. "This does NOT mean we're friends, in any fucking way!! No way!! We'll never be friends! I'm just saying that so that you don't try ratting me out," He grumbled the couple last words to himself.

Mash looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face. It changes though; a delayed reaction that turned into one of a smile. A gentle and welcoming one.

"We'll see about that," he says, before heading into his apartment building.

Vince huffed, crossing his arms.

"...Fuck, fuck, fuuck!!"

He turned around and left.

"Mash? You came early," Tris noted, placing down her bag and putting her coat away. "You usually hang at some other place when school ends. I was kinda surprised, ahah."

Mash pointed at the Creampuff box in her hand. "For me?"

She grins, handing it to him. "Yeah, for you." Inside, was the Zinnia creampuffs that Mash had said he liked.

Sitting down next to him, Tris turns on a show from her phone, scrambling around to find her headphones. Mash finds them and gives it to her, who she thanks gratefully.

The two sit together in silence, enjoying the peaceful quiet. 

Mash leans over, his head on Tris' lap. 

She looks down, smiling softly as she brushed her fingers through his hair. 

It's comfortable here, Mash thought, closing his eyes and listening to Tris' heartbeat. Really comfortable.

The creampuffs were put to the side by Tris, who made sure not to disturb Mash's sleep.

He probably needs it, she lays back down, school's tough for a guy like him.

She pauses, rubbing her palms and looking at him with a melancholic face. 

In all honesty, Tris didn't like how Mash never told her anything anymore. Ever since he was sent to school, he's been hiding things from her, instead bottling them up inside. It was obvious that something was bothering him too, yet he never said a word about it.

It panged Tris.

She didn't want to intrude though; in case she made him uncomfortable. She was new to all this, having someone who needs to rely on her. It was almost always just her. Sure, she had her cousin and her friends, but none of them were really... close to her. She's been alone for such a long time that it's hard to get close to anyone now.

Tris wonders if Mash could've been the first person she's genuinely enjoyed talking to in years.

I hope.. Mash tells me one day. She brushes the hair out of Mash's eyes. 

Please tell me one day. Tell me what you're troubled with. I want to be here for you.

But Tris doesn't say anything, instead resting her head on Mash's.

Chapter Text

"Yo Mash."

"Yeah?"

"Are you really going to stay in for the entire weekend? again?"  Tris was sipping a cup of coffee while looking his direction. She had just made it, leaning next to the counter closest to the coffee machine.

Mash shrugged, watching the news on the TV. "I don't know."

tris huffed, "what do you mean you don't know? There's tons of things you can do outside instead of dawdling around inside." She takes a couple steps forward, leaning over Mash. "You're going out today, okay?"

"Mmm, do i have to?" 

Mash was dragged out by the woman of the house to god knows where.

They were in the car, Mash sitting next to a very annoyed-looking Tris. To be honest, he didn't get why she was so frustrated over him not wanting to go out on the weekends. School was already tiring enough.

"Almost there," she said, turning left and stopping at a rather large parking lot. Stepping out of the vehicle, she looks around for a moment before spotting something. "C'mon Mash, we're on an adventure."

Mash begrudgingly caught up to her.

In front of them was a very large building, dark grey with a bright neon sign above saying, 'MOVIES AND FUN'. "What is this?" he asked. He didn't understand why they were going to this weird place, but he got no answer as he was pulled inside by Tris.

The inside was very, very different compared to the outside. Bright colours everywhere. The only thing Mash could see the resemblance from was the neon lights from the sign above the building. There seemed to be a line as well, families waiting patiently to get whatever they were waiting for.

Tris made her way into the line, becoming a mob within the groups of people. Mash decided to stay out and wait for her to get whatever she was looking for instead.

Minutes later, hes handed a bag of popcorn. He looks down, confused. 

"They're butter and salty flavour," Tris says from beside him, a grin on her face. "Y'wanna head down to get our seats now?"

Although Mash was still unsure about what was going on about, he nodded and followed her down a corridor and into a dark moody room, lit with sidelights and a large screen plastered on the wall.

Mash sat down on one of the folding chairs - which he was confused about for a moment but was helped by Tris - waiting for something, anything.

"What are we waiting for?"

"Shh," she shushed him, "wait for the screen to turn on."

It was only until a few minutes later that a blaring light fell onto the screen, followed by a commercial about fruits.

Mash sat there confuzzled. "Is this...?"

 "Oh my GOD Mash, just wait a few minutes!!"

He obliged, hesitantly.

It was worth it though. Soon enough, the screen rolled over to a fantasy looking movie with cool characters and action scenes.

 Something that Mash had found interesting was that they had powers close to ones in his hometown. Wands, broomsticks, cloaks; it was all so familiar and foreign at the same time.

"I'll end your tyranny, bald-nosed man!" A young man, who was the protagonist of the story, yelled, pointing their wand at the villain and casting a powerful spell. The protagonist had started out without powers, alone and lost. That was until they came across an academy where they taught people how to use powers.

It reminded him of himself, to be honest.

Of course he didn't earn powers like the protagonist of that story, but it was an interesting thought.

"Did ya like the movie? I dunno if ya did since you weren't reacting to anythin' that happened," Tris pouted, fake tears in her eyes.

"No, its okay," Mash assured her.

A soft smile appeared on Tris' face, taking his hand and pulling him outside of the building. "Good."

"So!" she clapped her hands, "where should we go next?"

Mash shrugged, looking around the area. "Dunno."

She brought Mash along with her as she transversed through the new and foreign areas that he hadn't seen before. It was quite nice actually.

They were walking on a trail within the woods, enjoying the peaceful skies and sunlight peeking through the tree's branches. 

Tris turned around, her eyes widening slightly before a warm coy smile formed on her face.

Mash too, had a smile on his face. Small, yet impactful. He was enjoying the view that the forest has to offer.

She took his hand, gesturing for him to follow her off-path and towards the top of the hill that they were climbing on.

Up they went. Farther and farther up, until the trees were vast and all they could see was the distant city and mountains across the horizon. Clouds sometimes covered the sun, but were soon cast aside as well, allowing the two to bask in the sunlight.

"We're here."

Tris let go of Mash.

Mash stood there, an unreadable expression on his face as he looked around him. It was as if the world surrounded him like a basket - a cradle of sorts.

As if the world knew he wasn't meant to be here; that he needed to be comforted and protected.

He takes a breath, closing his eyes and letting the calm cool air flow around him.

Suddenly he feels a warm body press against him, one that was familiar to him. He wrapped an arm around her, content on staying right where they were.

Oh how he enjoyed being in this world.

"OKAY OKAY, WHERE NEXT?" Tris exclaimed, running around in excitement. After heading back down from whence they came, they were both stumped on what to do for their 'new adventure'. Of course, Tris was enthusiastic about it as always.

"I don't know anywhere around here, so you have to show me," Mash pointed out. 

Tris sighed, before reluctantly nodding. "Kayyy. Hm, we could.. go to the park?"

"Sure."

She brought the two of them to a children play park area, with wooden chips flying everywhere and little baby children screaming their heads off. Mash never liked kids all that much - they were really loud and obnoxious, similar to Tris he's noticed - and the experiences he's had with children at this homeland wasn't all that great.

One of the kids, a dumpling-lookin' cutie, walks up to him, handing him a handful of wooden chips. "Fo' you," the little girl grinned, a gap between her two teeth.

Mash froze, not knowing what to do. "Err, uh, uhm, ehhhuahhh-"

"Awhh, look how considerate you are!" Tris interrupted, reaching out and taking the wooden chips for herself. mash silently thanked her and went the other direction.

As Tris played with the little children, Mash enjoyed sitting on the swings. Occasionally a child or two would come up to him and strike a conversation, but Tris always made sure to check if Mash was comfortable talking to them beforehand.

"Any kids?" One of the fathers asked, holding hands with his lover as their children ran around the monkey bars. Tris had somehow managed to begin conversing with the adults instead of the children. Tris is really easy to get along with, huh, Mash thought, glancing back down at the ground.

Oh wait.. I think that's the couple from.. that one incident a month ago? I don't quite remember but they remind me of that couple who stopped that crazy lady from calling the police. I guess that's kind of cool that everyone knows everyone 'round here.

"Ehhh, noo. Of course not. Children are totally not my thing."

"Awh, really? You seemed really good with the kids back there," the lover pointed out, slightly squeezing their husbands hand. He blushed slgihtly, embarrassed. 

Tris didn't notice. "Nah, I'm fine on my own. Plus I got my very own teenager which I found laying passed out on the grass!!" Tris looks over at Mash, winking.

The couple laughed awkwardly, not getting the joke but assuming that it was supposed to be funny.

Mash let out a huff, turning the other way. 

Tris knew that he was smiling even if he wasn't looking at her.

It was finally sunset, and the energy that had been in Tris previously was almost completely gone now, replaced by a calm and friendly vibe instead. 

"Like what the couple was saying earlier, I don't really like children all that much which is why I don't have children; but its also because I'm not that interested in finding a lover. Love is hard to maintain personally, and I can't really ever get the grip of how to sustain it, yknow? Like..."

She still found a way to ramble on though.

"Oh look, do you remember that one place we went to when I first met you?' She pointed onwards.

"You mean that one random grass spot?" 

"Nono, the other one! Here, c'mon," turning around, she lended a hand for Mash to grasp. He takes it, being led towards an area that he was unsure of remembering. He could only wonder what Tris was trying to show him.

As he was led to this area, Mash's fuzzy memories began to clear as he finally realized what this place was. 

"The place with the good sunset view?'

"Yep. I thought you liked it here the last time we went, so I wanted to come here again. I still really like it here, I do." She flopped down and leaned back a bit, watching the sky slowly turn a pinkish purple.

Mash sat down next to her calmly, not knowing what to say besides the fact that the view was pretty. It was as pretty as it had always been.

He realized something as Tris talked though. She doesn't.. know that he's a part of the Divine Visionaries, right? Or he hasn't told her at least. 

He should've done it sooner. After all, she took him in and pretended that he was just another average person within this world. Mash knew that she knew about him, yet she stayed quiet for his sake - he remembered that.

He waited, twiddling his fingers around nervously and debating on whether he should tell her or not. ...Should I?..

"....Tris," Mash began, albeit hesitantly. Tris stopped talking to listen to what he had to say.

Taking a deep breath, Mash confessed. "I... You know by now that I'm not from this world. That was... obvious, I think. I know I haven't been all that truthful ever since you've taken care of me, and I feel as if I'd taken advantage of your kindness. It's just that I wanted to go home first so I was planning to wait it out a bit so that I wouldn't have to tell you anything by the time i left but now I don't know if I want to stay or not and, and-" his words were beginning to get jumbled and thrown around.

"I just feel bad for deceiving you like that, even if you knew. Not to mention- about the boy that was bullying me for the past few days at school - he was bothering me, like you said he was. I just didn't want to put all this pressure on you because your life was already hectic enough as it seemed and I just- I just-"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm really sorry."

It was quiet for a few minutes or two. Neither of them spoke; neither of them knew what to say. Tris gazed into the sunset with an unreadable expression on her face, her lips pressed against each other.

Mash waited, for something, anything that could've been a sign that Tris wouldn't accept him. He braced himself for it, closing his eyes and hoping that maybe, just maybe, she'd accept him.

Until he felt someone pat his head. Two arms reached around him and squeezed him, a soft whisper in his ear. "Mash, it's okay."

He burrowed his head into her shoulder, not crying but still upset and regretful. Rather Tris was the one crying. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay," she cooed, brushing her fingers through Mash's hair as she attempted to comfort him.

"To be honest.. I knew, yes. A long time ago that you were from the Divine Visionaries. Practically at the beginning. But you were.. different from them. You didn't just talk about magic and Innocent Zero and getting back home - you tried to see this world for what it was. That was what persuaded me into bringing you into my home. "

"You were more.. human than them, Mash. You felt like a son to me - fuck that - you are my son. I love you a lot more than what you may think, alright? And I know that it's hard for you to bear all this as a teenager. That's why I'm here for you."

Tris paused for a moment, sniffling a bit so that the drool wouldn't get onto Mash's coat. "We're all human, trying to be something we're not. You're not from this world, yet you try so hard like you are. I'm so, so proud of you Mash."

She let her head droop, her hands trembling. Mash took one of her hands and rubbed her palm back and forth.

"I'm such.. a baby, ahah. Look at you, being all mature and trying to help your older peeps, meanwhile me crying into your shoulder. Ahah... ehehahah." Tris began to laugh, rearing back and letting go of Mash. "You've always been mature, Mash, ever since I met you. I can't tell if that's a good thing."

Mash smiled at her. "Yeah, it's.. fine. Thank you for everything, really."

She pats his head one more time. "Of course, Mash. I'll always be here for you." Standing back up, she stretches her limbs. "Now, enough of the sad parts. I'm genuinely going to keep crying if we stay here so let's head home - yah?'

Mash follows, nodding. "Okay."

The two head back to their apartment, making their way up the building. They were in the elevator once again, but it felt fresh, new; as if something had changed within the two. 

It's just an elevator. A normal, very normal, elevator.

Heading into their room, Tris called him over to the couch and turned on a brand-new series that she had started recently. "Wanna watch it? I promise there's nothing sad in it. I know we watched a movie earlier but like, this is really fun too."

"Are you saying that so that you won't cry again?"

 She laughed. "How'd ya know?"

The two spend the rest of the night binge-watching the series - which turned out to be an FBI themed thriller - and eating popcorn. 

Mash was glad they had gone out this weekend.

Chapter Text

It had been yet another tiring day of Tris' work, ending up back on the couch like someone who had just gone through hell. She probably had, to be honest.

Mash comes a lot later than what he used to, which is fine, but sometimes it makes Tris feel a little bit lonely at home. They used to talk often, now it's like they were simply roommates.

She shudders. Her roommate experience was rather unpleasant. Her roommates frequently left their - soaked - underwear sprawled out across the small apartment, not bothering to clean it up themselves and leaving Tris to deal with it. "My god," she grumbled to herself as she picked up underwear with a towel. "I understand that it's good to have some 'fun time' once in a while, but at least clean after yourself!"

Of course, she's mentioned this to her roommates and even the HQ at some point, but all she got was a few measly words that did not improve the situation whatsoever.

When Tris got her new job as a detective, she moved out of that place asap. She swore that the underwear that was underneath the kitchen stove was still there when she left. Heck, maybe they were still there. Who knows.

The only thing that Tris didn't like about this new apartment - other than the fact that they didn't allow pets - was how small the place actually was. The old apartments, sure, were made to have roommates, but this was a new small that probably wasn't allowed in building policies, whatever it was.

It was fine though at first, since it was just Tris and herself. That was until a few years later, when a certain 'Mash' came in.

She met him along the sidewalk, a passed-out boy with black line tracing down his left cheek and wearing a messy cloak. 

Tris had heard of the news that had been going on at the time, about the 'Divine Visionaries that were from another world'. Apparently, they had powers and were causing a ruckus within the city, giving Tris a headache while at it. Tons of reports came in at work, and she was practically forced to work overtime to get these cases done. All of them were related to the Divine Visionaries, and at that point she was planning to either quit or deal with the group herself.

It was surprising to see someone who looked similar to them, nonetheless one that was on the grass just lying there.

They all had marks, right? On their faces? Tris thought to herself, looking down at the hunched-over mushroom boy.

Should she wake him up? She didn't know. If she were to wake him up, she could get involved in the case personally, or even worse, cause a commotion for her co-workers. Tris already had a bad reputation there.

With a breath or two, Tris leaned down and tapped the boy on the shoulder. "Uh... Hello?" He didn't respond.

Shit, is he dead?

No no, he's not. Look, he's breathing!

"Uhm, sir.. Are you alright?" She nudges him again.

That was when she noticed blood pouring out of him. 

The boy wakes up suddenly, startling Tris. He had a surprised and confused look on his face, almost bewilderment. It became more confused when he finally noticed her though; his mouth dropping open.

Is he.. okay?? At this point Tris wanted to quickly leave and let someone else deal with him, but she had already talked to him, not to mention he was bleeding. Fuck.

Fortunately, he says something. "Yeah, I'm fine." He shuffles away awkwardly. "Is there Creampuffs around here?'

Tris paused, staring at the boy. ...What did he just say?

"..What?"

"Creampuffs," he spoke in a slower tone, trying to make her understand him. She did understand, however she was puzzled at why he wanted creampuffs when he was just passed out a couple seconds ago.

She shook her head quickly, "No, I get what you mean, but you literally have blood on you. Shouldn't we get you to a hospital or something-" 

"No."

That was one hell of an impression she got from him. Someone who was injured, who had woken up after being unconscious for who knows how long, and the first thing he asks is if there were creampuffs. Tris sighed, giving up on what any of this could mean. Is this a premonition to her saying that she needs to focus on her job or something? Why does she need to deal with someone who's like.. like, that.

It wasn't in a bad way. More-so it just felt like it was meant to happen, like this was supposed to happen to her. Not that she wanted it to, but that was the main reason that she let him into her house and stay.

The boy, who called himself Mash, was odd; proving to Tris multiple times that he was different from others, that he wasn't from this world. She didn't say anything though, intrigued by the new presence near her. And as the weeks passed by, that curiosity only got bigger.

"Tris, what the hell are you doing?" One of her colleagues laughed, watching her organize the largest stacks of papers that they had. "Y'know ya don't need to do that, right? Is sumthin' going on at home? Don't wanna be there?"

Tris turned to them, shrugging. "Don't know. I just... want to."

"Weirdass," they said, walking away. She didn't care about other people's opinions, at least most of the time. To be frank, she didn't know either as to why she was so motivated to do things again, but there was a feeling that it had something to do with Mash.

"Welcome back," Mash said, laying on the couch and eating some creampuffs that he had gotten earlier. He really did like creampuffs, didn't he?

"Hey. Work was so boring today, I swear," Tris began, flopping down next to him. "Nothin' goes on nowadays. In fact, I was so bored that I started organizing the papers that NO ONE looks at!! Something has to be wrong with me."

Mash listened to her rant. She's noticed by now that he tends to listen more than talk, which she was fine with. He has secrets, so did she. They didn't need to share among each other what those secrets were. 

"There was a huge ruckus goin' on a few weeks ago and that was so, so painful to go through - but now there's nothin'! Nothin' at all! Ain't that annoying?"

"...Why don't you just not go to work then?" 

Tris cackles, leaning back. "You think I can? I'll probably get fired, ugh."

"Then get fired."

She paused, turning to him. "..What?"

Mash fiddled with his fingers, a little nervous. "Well, I was just thinking that if you quit your job, you'd have time to do other things. Like, uhm, reading or something."

"Ahah, I can't obviously. We wouldn't be able to live here then."

He looks at the ground before up at her. "Then what do you want to do?"

"What?"

Something from those words made her stop thinking completely. Although Mash didn't know at the time, that question changed Tris' thought process of what she wanted to do in life. She's never had a goal, always going where her life took her. But that one- those few words that Mash probably never thought of again, made Tris want to change.

Tris showed him around the city, each and every spot that she had memories with. She showed him the beautiful views that she had found in her spare time during work, anything that she thought Mash would enjoy. Most importantly though, she found things that she herself thought was interesting. 

She learned that she liked pink more than blue. That she liked looking and being fashionable when out and about. That she preferred having a creampuff along with her morning coffee. These small, miniscule things that meant nothing: They were everything to Tris.

And now here she was, taking care of Mash as if she were her mother.

Mash had finally told her about him and the Divine Visionaries just a few days ago. She was, and still is, proud of the fact that he told her. It must've taken a lot of courage to do so, something that Tris herself never had.

But this feeling of joy didn't last long.

"What?"

"I told you. We need to get this 'Divine Visionary' shit outta' the way. Don't you know they're still causing trouble 'round the city!? Fuck, Tris, you haven't even realized because you were demoted to a detective assistant - to someone who never comes to work might I add - and have been dilly dallying ever fucking since! Get your head straight."

Tris sat down at her desk afterwards, searching up the drama that was the Divine Visionaries. 

They were right, they still were an ongoing issue. And it had gotten worse without Tris knowing. Turns out that they had found the person who they were looking for and that they were ready to finally start finding a way back. The ways that they've been experimenting have been disrupting the internet, lights during traffic hours, etc. People have begun to lose their lives because of them.

She presses her lips together, searching up 'Mashle Burnedead', where tons of articles pop up about the mysterious person that the Divine Visionaries had been trying to find.

'An interview with the leader of the Divine Visionary group, Rayne Ames.'

Click.

"Rayne Ames, what is your and the Divine Visionaries goal?"

"To find a way back home."

"What is stopping you from doing so?"

"We were searching for someone. We found them and are now looking up ways to find a safe passage home."

"Who is this person that you were trying to find?"

"Mashle Burnedead."

"Do you know that your tests for finding a way back home have been destroying the lives within this City?"

"We're focusing on ourselves, so even if it was, we don't need to feel empathetic."

"Where is Mashle Burnedead now? I don't see any new faces among your group."

Rayne grits his teeth, his hand curling up. "We're done the interview. Goodbye."

"Wait but that was-"

"Fuck off."

The Interview cuts off suddenly, most likely not from the interviewer himself.

Tris stares at the screen for a moment, taking a breath and closing her eyes, albeit only for a moment.

Are we really still having to deal with them? Why can't they just...

"Tris." 

A familiar voice. She glances up to see her supervisor watching her with crossed arms. "Your goal for this investigation is to find Mashle Burnedead and bring him to the police, officers, anyone who's associated with the government. We already know his location, so you just need to head over and convince him to come with you. He rejects, and you call in backup. Should be pretty easy."

Tris stammers, "Wait, sir- How do we know if it's even Mash- Mashle?"

He leans closer to her. "I'm sure you'll figure it out," he whispers, turning around and heading over to a co-worker nearby. They glance over at Tris while they speak, nodding before parting.

Tris bites her lip, hands trembling. They want... Mash? Fuck, fucking shit. I need to bring Mash back home and keep him safe. He doesn't need to go to school, he definitely doesn't need to. He's in trouble.

Stumbling out of her chair, she turns off the computer and bolts out of the building, texting Mash furiously to get home.

If the Supervisor had told her a month ago to bring Mashle to the government, she would've. But it was Mash, the boy she now loved as his son. Tris knew that it wasn't his fault. He didn't want this all to happen. What he's said and done over the past month, none of it was horrid or destructive. He just wanted to live life the way he wanted to.

Just like Tris had.

Mash.

Come home right now.

I'm in class right now, I can't.

This is urgent. The government's looking for you. They plan to hold you hostage until the Divine Visionaries cooperate with them.

What?

Read, 11:21am.

Tris?

Delivered, 11:22am.

Mash looks at his phone for another minute or too, waiting for her to reply. She doesn't though.

As the teacher talks, Mash stands up and makes his way to the door, opening it and running out. "Wait- Mash? MASH!!-" The teacher tries calling after him, but he's long gone.

Vince glances at the open door, a serious look on his face. Quickly, he makes his way to the front of the class. "I'll go get him."

"What? No, we'll get the supervisors to go find him- VINCE-"

Vince left.

Tris didn't know what could happen. But there was one thing for certain: Things were getting dangerous, and Mash was the one in danger.

Chapter Text

Whats going on?

Mash was confused, obviously. Tris was never this serious or as urgent as she had just texted right then. It was the first time that he'd seen her this.. worried? frantic? He couldn't find the right word.

As he rushed off the school grounds, he could hear a panting voice behind him, trying to keep up. It was Vince.

"Go back," Mash said. He didn't have time to deal with whatever antics Vince was up to this time. This was serious.

Vince shook his head, panting heavily as he caught up to Mash. "I'm coming with you. This seems like somethin' fun."

Mash didn't respond, deciding to ignore him and deal with him later.

How much later was he willing to wait, though? 

As Mash and Vince made their way up the apartment, he could feel a sense of dread creeping up his spine. It always took a while for this elevator to make its way up to Tris' floor, and the fact that the police is coming for him and that.. he's with him, it leaves a sickly feeling in his gut.

He runs out as soon as possible when the door opens, not caring about there being cameras in the halls that can see him being faster than humanly possible. 

Vince took a step out and stopped, astounded at how fast the mushroom boy actually was.

"Tris," Mash called out, breaking the door open and looking around. Tris was already grabbing some necessities that they'd need. The door fell off its hinges, landing with a thud.

"Mash," she jumped, before breathing a sigh of relief and making her way over to him. She wraps both of her arms around him, squeezing him tightly. "I'm glad you weren't caught while getting here," she glances at the phone in his pocket, snatching it and throwing it across the room. "Phone tracking."

"Ah," Mash nodded. From behind him came Vince, who was out of breath and collapsed onto the couch. Tris jumped in alarm, immediately pulling Mash behind her.

"Who are ya!? Apart of the Government?" She eyed him suspiciously.

Vince laughs half-heartedly, looking between the two. "Why would I be a part of the Government? I'm a regular ol' high school student, obviously."

She didn't believe him, but since Mash wasn't saying anything about it, she ignores the other boy and focuses on Mash. "The thing is Mash; the government knows where you are. Better way to put it is that you're in danger."

Mash nodded, "you did mention that in the text, lmao."

"Wrong time," Vince whispered, but Trus shut him up.

"I don't know how the information spilled out; I swear. I was looking through the files and found that they've somehow found where you, and while they don't know exactly where you are," she took a breath, "they know that you go to Lukemen High School."

Vince's eyes widened. "Does this mean that...? Wait, Mother of Mash or whatever, how do you even know this info? Is it all on the internet?" He pulls out his phone, trying to see if it could be on Google.

Tris shook her head. "Nono, that's not- I work with the Government. As a detective, i mean, detective assistant. I wouldn't be this freaked out if it was on the internet, but the fact that it's in our files and in the 'important' section just.. rubs me the wrong way.

"Mash, I'm going to be honest here. They're definitely going to try holding you hostage or sumthin'. There's been issues about the Divine Visionaries, and it seems that the Higher-ups are tired of it."

This was some information that Mash hadn't heard of whatsoever. I mean sure, he knew that the Divine Visionaries were causing trouble, but to the extent that he could be kidnapped? He never expected this to unfold, thinking that this world was more simple and able to stop crimes compared to home.

Vince sits up, a dour look on his face. "So what? They don't know who he is yet - We'll be fine."

It was obvious that Tris was getting more frustrated by the second. "No, fuck, that's not the problem. The problem is that they know what school he goes to, meaning they'll most likely call a lockdown and try to find Mash's identity." She clenched her fists and spoke under her breath, "I shouldn't have made you go to school, damnit."

Mash heard, however. "Tris," he began, "even if you hadn't brought me to school... I think that they still might've found me, somehow some way. I'm just glad I was able to learn more about this world than stay stuck inside your apartment all day."

"I know, but as someone who has first-hand access to top secret stuff, I should've been more careful!..." 

"Enough of the sobbing then," Vince crossed his arms as he stood next to the two. "If Mash's identity is about to get uncovered, then the best solution for this is to bring him to the Divine Visionaries, where he can find a way home before things get out of hand. I have Rayne's contact in my phone, so it'll be easy to get ahold-"

"Why are you doing this?" Mash asked after a few seconds.

He glanced at him. "What?"

"Why are you trying to help me? It's nice to get some help, but I don't understand."

"You don't understand shit-" Vince was about to say, but quickly stopped himself. "Eh-hem, what I was going to say is, that I just want to. Y'know how fucking boring it is at school? Boring as hell. I'd rather have fun going along with your whole 'running from the police thing' than stay cooped up in that jail."

Although both Mash and Tris knew that Vince was lying about his motives, did they really have a choice in this situation?

Finally, Tris nods. "Alright. But you're going there with him and staying there. Is that clear?"

Vince stammered, "Wait wait but what-" but was quickly shut up again, this time by Tris' finger.

Mash glanced at the black bag Tris had earlier placed next to the now broken door frame. He walks over, picking it up and taking a peek inside.

Inside was a whole bunch of Creampuffs, as well as a toothbrush, hairbrush, a couple random other items that Mash didn't know she had, and most notedly...

A picture of Mash and Tris sitting together while watching the sunset. It was clipped to tons and tons of other photos, all having Mash included and a few of Tris. Each had their own theme and story behind it. When did she take these? Mash thought to himself, his thumb rubbing against the corner of a particular photo. 

His lips trembled slightly.

Tris and Vince were squabbling in the background when Mash spoke up again, throwing the bag over his shoulder. "Okay, let's go." The two stopped fighting, their faces turning more serious again. 

"I just.." Tris hesitated, giving Mash another hug. "Will you be alright? I know this is a lot n' all, but I'm just worried for ya."

Vince pats Tris on the back, trying to comfort her. "Yo Mash's mother! I'm sure he'll be fine, alright? Y'know how he is. Super strong, super fast, he's practically invincible!"

"...Right." Taking a few breaths, she puts a brave grin on her face, looking Mash in the eyes. "Be safe, 'kay? I love you."

As Vince and Mash made their way out the door, Mash turned around one last time, a faint smile that showed at the corner of his mouth.

"I'll be back, Beatris."

They were walking towards a direction, or rather an area, that Mash had never went to before. It was weird, seeing new places that Tris hadn't shown him. It made sense; the city was quite large. But it was still weird anyway.

"Sheeesh, you and your mother had a whole angst thing goin' on, y'know that? It was superrrr awkward waiting for y'all to make up quickly. On that note, is she really your mother? Cause' of you being from another world n' stuff..."

Mash shrugs. "I don't know. I don't have a 'real' mother. Innocent Zero made me with only his powers. But Pops adopted me when I was abandoned, and Tris.." he thought for a moment before continuing. "I guess she'd be considered my first 'mother figure.'"

"Did I venture onto a sensitive topic here?" Vince pepped, looking away awkwardly. Mash quickly shook his head, trying to convince him otherwise but it was no use.

They came upon a hole in the ground, hidden away by an alleyway. How creepy. 

"We're here," Vince says, shoving Mash forward. "Hop on in."

"Didn't Tris say for you to come with me?"

"Ehhhh? I don't remember her saying that at all!!- AAAHHH WHAT THE HELL MASHHHH??......" he screamed as Mash yanked his body down with him.

Mash held onto him as they landed onto conveniently placed pillows - fluffy pillows at that. Vince managed to roll out of his grip before tripping and falling over onto the pillows again. "Fuck... Every time I come here, this place sucks..."

He was about to say a comment about Vince when he heard a voice.

"Mash? And... Vince?" The figure looked down at Vince's remorseful body, raising an eyebrow. It was a woman, taller than average and dark-coloured hair. What was most odd was the rose flower on her head, which reminded Mash of the rose-shaped Creampuffs that Tris had tried making (however, they failed horribly.)

"Oh, ew, it's Sophina.." Vince grumbled, getting up and scowling at her.

"Who?" Mash asked.

The woman looked at the both of them in annoyance. "...Really?"

That was when Mash noticed she was wearing a Divine Visionary uniform. Ah.

"S-sorry, my bad," he apologized, only getting a 'hmph,' in response. He lowered his head, flushing his cheeks embarrassingly.

"I'll lead you to Rayne," she spoke sharply, turning the other direction and heading deeper into the hall.

But he took a step and continued. He knew he didn't want to go back home just yet, but he also didn't want Tris to be in danger more than she already is. The Divine Visionaries is a group of people that's smart and know what they're doing, but Mash would much rather not be there at all. Back with Tris was where he was most comfortable. In fact, he'd also be okay with going back to school, maybe say hi to the Gym Teacher that favoured him for some reason. What was her name again?...

Enough, me. Focus on what's important.

Guess the only way to go now was forward.

Chapter Text

Lance was tired; that was a fact.

Even though his adventure in the mist forest wasn't anything too extraordinary - excluding the tall tree creature - he was still tuckered from just being there in the first place. That never happened to him either. It was clear that his mind couldn't handle the vast scope of that land, and that the monster was most likely telling the truth about him not supposed to being there.

Another thing that he noticed was how time seemed a lot slower nowadays. He found that he had more time to do things, people seemingly going at snail's pace. Of course Headmaster Wahlberg and many other Great Magicians were exceptions, but Lance assumed that it was because of the time difference between the mist forest and reality.

He was laying in his room as always, wondering what he should do since the flowers he asked for was no longer needed. Ah, should he head down right now and tell the lady that he doesn't need them?

Just as Lance sat up and was about to leave, someone knocked on the door and crept their head in. "...Lance?" It was Finn. Finn was always the shyest within the friend group, and probably the most mature and reasonable too. 

"Come in."

"Ah," he dipped his head as he went in. "Sorry, I was just.. wondering how you were doing. You haven't talked to the others in awhile. They're worried about you."

Lance shrugged. "Sorry I guess."

"You haven't contacted your sister either." Lance was known as the one who was obsessed with his sister, hero-worship almost. Multiple times on their journeys, he would suddenly leave to go and visit her, since she was sick. Mash called him a siscon once.

"Ah," he rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't realize."

Finn pressed his lips together, a worried expression on his face. Sitting down next to Lance, he tries to smile and let the mood be more comfortable so that Lance wouldn't be so uptight. "Uhm.. Would you like to tell me what you've been doing for the past few days?"

Lance thought for a moment. He didn't want to tell him about the forest and the secret he found, so...

"Nothing much. I've been wandering around the city looking to see if there were any clues to Mash's disappearance."

Finn nodded. Luckily, Lance didn't notice what he was trying to do, and continued. "I met this..  lady at a flower shop. She was interesting, I guess. Didn't get much out of it. I did order something from her, but I don't need the flowers anymore so I'm planning to ask if I could take them back."

"Oh really?" Finn asked, leaning in a bit. "Do you mind if I go with you? I wouldn't mind taking those flowers instead." Lance raised an eyebrow at him but didn't object.

"Okay, let's go." The two leave Lance's room and head down towards the city. The city was average size, at least to their standards. Small buildings with blankets over a couple of the roofs that needed fixing - colours consisting of white, pastel orange or yellow.

This was all normal to them, of course.

Turning right, Lance and Finn finally made it to the flower shop, the one that seemed out of place compared to the other shops next to it. It was quite colourful, which probably explained it. Coming up to the front door, the little girl who had caused a ruckus with Lance the last time he visited was waiting, an annoyed look on her face as well as her arms crossed. She hadn't lost her baby fat though, so she just looked silly.

When she caught sight of the two of them, a scowl crossed over her face as she turned around. "Hmph, come on in. Mummy has your flowers ready." 

The inside was even more bright and energetic looking than the outside, catching the two boys off-guard. The woman who ran the store was sitting at the counter counting something, before looking up and smiling at them. "Welcome. You're here for the Zinna flowers, correct?"

"That's right," Lance said. Finn glanced at him, wondering why he wanted those flowers in the first place. The woman went into the back for a moment, before reappearing with a bosque of beautiful puffy flowers, all having different pretty colours carefully put into. Finn was surprised at how pretty they were, with their dome-like shape and how they seemed to carry a sense of warmth in them. Maybe the lady had powers related to flowers, since they were so perfect.

She hands him the flowers, grinning and starting the payment process with Lance.

While Lance was busy figuring out the cost of the flowers, which seemed to be incorrect, the little girl that led them inside from earlier reaches up and grabs Finn's cloak. "Eh?" he looked down to see her shushing him, signaling him to follow her quietly. He makes his way out the shop, following the little figure as it traversed through different areas. Eventually though, they came across a very bland field. 

A bland field was not something Finn expected, to be honest.

"Thank you dear. So sorry for the trouble- I'll make sure that it doesn't happen again the next time you come," the lady smiled warmly at him. "Now, you should probably go find your friend, hm? He seems to have left with my daughter." Lance looked behind him to find a missing Finn.

Why would you come if you were going to leave just as fast? Lance wanted to leave Finn to do whatever he was doing with the little girl, but a feeling in his gut said otherwise. He sighed, obliging grudgingly.

The lady called out before he left, "oh! Could you also tell my daughter to not cause trouble again?"

Lance turned around, confused. "What do you mean by that?-" But he had already left the store. Since when did he-

Whatever, let's just go find Finn.

Luckily, he was able to track Finn through the small footsteps that the girl left behind. She had mud on her foots, leaving a trail of steps leading him exactly where he was.

Unfortunately, he lost his way a few times - this was a busy street after all - and soon enough the shadows of buildings began to overwhelm the scenery. The sun slowly sank down the sky. It was weird, since earlier in the day it was too slow, and now it was too fast. Was it really just a him thing?

Lance didn't have time to think much more about it, as he saw a flower fly past him. He stared at it, bewildered before quickly regaining focus and heading to the direction that the flower came from.

At last he found Finn. But it wasn't what he expected.

All around Finn was flowers that seemed to resemble him, rows upon rows with the occasional rotting one scattered about. However, it emphasized the beauty of the others, seemingly just what Finn does.

Next to Finn was the girl, a triumph look on her face. It dissipated as she caught sight of Lance stepping towards them. 

"What are you doing?" Lance interrupted, standing next to Finn.

Finn jumped. "Lance!? O-oh, you scared me. The little girl was showing me her powers." 

The girl gleamed, pulling out her wand and pointing it at Lance. "I can make flowers based off of people's personalities. Useless for battle, my mother said, but good for business." She flicked the tip of the wand a couple times, sparkles in her eyes.

"So you're the one who makes the flowers?" he asked, "not your mother?"

She shook her head. "Nuh uh, I dunno what powers my mother has, she never showed them to me. Stupid her, humph." As the girl was about to go on, she stopped, looking up at Lance with a new idea in her head. "Hey... Why don't I see what your personality looks like?"

"Nono, it's fine-"

"I insist," she snickered.

"Nono it's fine-"

"Mesero Bloom!"

As she casted the spell onto Lance, he could fell a sense of warmth wash over him, his eyes unconsciously closing. 

"Oh..." Finn and the girl whispered, assumingly in awe of what they saw.

Lance tried to open his eyes to see what it was, but he, for some odd reason couldn't.

"Hey Lance," Finn muttered, right next to him. "You... what have you gone through?"

Lance finally snapped open his eyes.

However, as he looked out across the field, he suddenly wondered whether he really should have in the first place.

The two, Lance and Finn, were heading back to their dorms, exhausted and out of energy to do anything else. They headed into Finn's room instead of Lance's since his roommate always came around this time and was almost always a nuisance. 

Finn sighs, flopping backwards on the bed and stretching his arms. "Is that what you do every day? I barely had enough energy to last today."

Lance lowered his gaze. It was, but this time he seemed out of energy. More than usual, at least. "Dunno," he finally said, shrugging. "It's just something I do every once in a while."

The black-haired boy laughs, curling up around Lance. "That's, ahah, that's really interesting. You've never told the group about that before, y'know that? You've only told me this kind of stuff... now."

"I didn't know that."

"Well, makes sense. You're a lot more closed-off than what you think, Lance."

"We don't know much about you other than your sister and a bit of your personality. We don't know your interests or hobbies."

"Makes us feel like you don't view us as friends, I guess."

Lance paused. Finn was lying next to him, doing his own thing on the other side of the bed. The boy didn't realize how much those words left on him.

Lance wore an identifiable look on his face, like he couldn't understand the emotions that were brewing within him. One that not even his sister has seen, and he thought his sister had seen it all.

Did he really close them off like that? He never had any interests to begin with, but he never would've guessed that the people near him wanted to know them, wanted to know him. 

He gripped the sheets ever so slightly, not knowing how to feel about all this. 

I guess I did isolate myself for a couple days after Mash disappeared, but it wasn't that severe. My friends should know that by now. They should know that I view them as friends. Are they stupid or something? No, obviously not. Then what's the problem? What are they getting so worked up about?

He pondered for longer than he'd realized, the sun already hidden behind the mountains that stretched above the horizon. He looked beside him to find a peaceful Finn sleeping. 

Lance huffed, brushing his fingers through the boys' locks and pulling the covers over him. He sits up, leaving the room quietly.

Mash was still missing - they all knew that. With the news of his disappearance spreading throughout the Academy, it would only get worse as time went by.

But what was the harm in that? Lance was sure they'd be able to handle it on their own. If not, they could ask Headmaster Wahlberg, aka one of the strongest Magicians out there. He was sure everything would be fine.

It was all fine. They were fine.

Chapter Text

It was the early morning, the sun not yet fully risen and the sky tinted yellow. The academy was quiet during this time of day, most of the students sleeping in due to the lack of projects that theyve been giving lately.

It was most likely because of the disappearances that had been going around, that made the teachers decide to let their students have breaks. Not to say that none of them have been getting any work done, but it was the majority that took advantage of this and slouched off.

Lance was reading books on his bedside, learning about the newest subject from potion class, when he hears a knock at his door. He'd been having a lot more visits from Finn, he's noticed, most likely because he's been separating himself from the friend group.

He was fine with having Finn come over a couple times, but each time he did it was obvious that Finn was trying to persuade Lance into going back with the friend group. It wasn't that Lance was purposefully trying to ignore them, but he just had other things he wanted to do, like find Mash and the rabbit hole of the forest and weird creature. 

A couple of times he'd debated on telling Finn about these premonitions, however he'd fail almost every time because either he was busy, Finn was busy, or it just wasn't the right time.

This was one of those days. Finn seemed to be more down than usual, and although Lance appreciated the fact he still came over to his dorm, he also didn't like how Finn was pushing himself constantly for him.

"Finn," he spoke. Finn looked over, caught off guard by the sudden name-calling. The two of them would never say anything if they were reading together; instead peacefully enjoying their books while sitting in the same room.

"Yeah?"

Lance shifted his chair over to face him. "What are you still doing here?"

Finn fumbled in surprise, almost dropping the book he was holding but somehow managing. Coughing, he says, "what? I- I dunno what you're talking about, I'm here cause we're friends. Obviously," before giving him an awkward smile.

The blue haired boy sighed. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Why dont you go back to Lemon or Dot? I'm sure they have more fun things to do than me." Frankly he was only saying this because he needed Finn to go away so he could do more research about those topics, but nobody needed to know that.

"Well, you see-" Finn shuffled around. "I was gonna ask if you wanted to go to the upcoming broom tournament with the group. Of course you don't have to but-!"

"Sure."

"You- you what?"

Lance shrugged, setting his book down and sitting up. "Lets do it, I don't mind." Finn was bewildered. "Well? Are you coming?"

It'd be better to just deal with his attempts head on, even if it costs me time. Lance most likely had more than enough time to save Mash wherever he was, if he was still alive, and hitting two birds with one stone ain't so bad.

Finn refocuses back to reality. "Ah, I mean, yeah sure, no probs," he scratched the back of his head, following Lance as he headed out the door.

To be honest, Finn thought itd take much longer to convince Lance to do anything with the original group. After all, he had been avoiding them for the longest time as well as doing weird things that Lance has yet to explain.

Of course he was waiting for Lance to finally tell him and the others about what he was doing, but for now Finn was content with hanging out with him. Persuading him to go along with them and hanging out was just a step towards going back the way things were.

It wasn't to say that Finn liked the old - nono, he definitely doesn't. He just... wanted it be like before. He did miss his best friend, after all.

"Finn, what took you so long?" Dot called, waving his arm in the air before halting at the sight of Lance. "And... Lance?" There was a slight edge to his tone.

Finn and Lance had made it to the tournament, although barely. The actual tournament was quite far from the academy, and Lance didn't actually know where it was, so he couldn't just teleport him and Finn to the area.

Anyway, it works out since the both of them are rather athletic. He was surprised to see Finn run faster than him, though.

Lance understood why Dot was acting rather harsh with him as he came to sit down next to them. "Hey guys, sorry for disappearing like that."

Lemon scoffs, "Sure you are. I almost thought you disappeared like Mash! Which is NOT the way to swoon a girl." She tilts backwards, motioning a very dramatic girl-like pose. Cause of course she'd do that. She's Lemon.

Dot swatted Lemon away from him, before turning back to Lance. "So, what brought you here?"

He shrugs. "Just felt like it."

".... Right, well," Dot took a breath. "Let's see just how good youve gotten in the past month."

Its... Its been a month?

"Wait-" Lance began, but was cut off by the announcers.

"Welcome broom-riders to our broomtacular tournament! We are very happy to host a competition after the recent... err.. incidents as of late."

The crowd grew more quiet as the announcer spoke, a little surprised to hear that they were actually going to talk about the recent ongoings.

"As most of you know, Innocent Zero, the big bad, was defeated by none other than Mash, the one who doesn't have powers. Isn't that crazy? The world we live in purely managing on Mana, yet Mash defies that. I'm sure the news was a shock to you all."

The announcer took a second before continuing.

"And I'm sure that all of you also know about the disappearances going around after the big bads death, the first being..."

Lance looked up at the announcers seats, a little confused as to why they were sounding different than before. That was when... they weren't... the Divine Visionaries? There was that one girl who was always the announcer of things, but he swore that only Divine Visionaries would host Tournaments like this. Where'd they go-?

"Mash," they finally said. "And soon after, all of the Divine Visionaries. Now as I speak, more and more people have been going missing, causing chaos within the city."

The crowd whispered among each other, each seemingly knowing about all of this. All except Lance.

Finn glanced over at the trembling Lance, noticing how his hands clutched his seat. "Lance...?"

He turned to him. "I didn't.. I didn't know the Divine Visionaries were gone too."

Dot interrupted. "Well, that was kinda old news. I guess you haven't caught up on the recent drama, have you, Lance?"

Dot, fuck off. Not the time, Lance wanted to say, but he shut his mouth and decided to dissolve the information that he was just informed of. 

Right. It's been a month. But Lance swears that he hadn't done much throughout the month. In fact he felt like he'd done too little.

Time was too fast, then it was too slow - Lance didn't know what to do, and his head was hurting from this.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you alright? You're not looking so good." It was Finn.

Its always Finn who comforts me.

Lance breathes a sigh of relief, leaning into his hand. "I'm fine... I guess."

Dot scoffs. Finn is worried, and no one knows where the heck Lemon went off to. 

"Lemon's gone," Dot said, a concerned look on his face. "I'll go get her before the tournament starts." It seems that was a common occurrence.

Lance stared down at his feet, still astounded at the shocking news. 

"Lemon's been doing that a lot these days. Y'know, randomly leaving and coming back. Reminds me of you, to be honest." Finn twiddled with his fingers, biting his lip from saying more.

Its like this friend group is falling apart without Mash.

"Oh," Lance said after awhile. His complexion did indeed look better, but Finn felt like he was hiding something.

"Anyyywayyy. Enough of the bad news!" Lance snapped back to what the girl was saying. It seems that Headmaster Wahlberg had stopped her from going further, as he was right next to her with a disdainful look. "The Divine Visionaries wanted to celebrate the death of Innocent Zero by broom-racing! Get your brooms and let's head out!"

The crowd cheered, grabbing their brooms and heading in the general direction of where the starting line was. 

Lance walked forward when a hand gripped his arm tightly. He turned back to see Finn, who fixed his nervous composure quickly. "Ah- uh, I don't like getting lost in crowds."

He nodded. "Kay, c'mon."

Finn was relieved he believed his lie, or at least went along with it. He didn't know which was the right answer. He just needed to make sure Lance wouldn't run away.

Dot groaned. Lemon was at it again.

She'd been doing this for quite awhile, randomly leaving to do some random bullshit and coming back like nothing happened. He didn't even know what to make up of it, since it felt like she was trying to copy Lance or something.

Not like that was a good thing, definitely not. In fact, Dot was debating on giving her a damn good scolding after this. If she listens unlike Lance, that is.

"Lemonnn, where are you?" he called. No answer.

Typical.

He sighs, hauling himself up onto a rock and waiting. She usually only took half an hour or so, which was in itself fine, but the tournament was about to start and Dot didn't have time for this - neither did the others.

Dot wondered if the other two were doing alright. He's seen how Finn acts with Lance, trying to be friendly with him without pushing his buttons, slowly getting closer and closer to him so that he can bring him back to the friend group.

And well, it must've somehow worked. Lance came.

"Lemonnn?? LEMONN?" he called. Nothing again.

Anyway, he didn't want to dwell much on Lance. He was particularly excited about this tournament. Recently Dot had been practicing his broom-riding skills, and was more than ready to show them off.

It was too bad that he was the one to go fetch the wandering Lemon, wherever the hell she was. He was regretting his decision.

"Lemonn-? he called, just as he sees a familiar yellow head walk up to him in a messy manner. Her hair was frizzled and her clothes muddy, it couldnt be anyone but Lemon. She did look like she came back from a life-or-death situation though.

Her half-lidded eyes look up at Dot. "Oh, hi."

Dot grumbled under his breath, hopping off the rock and heading over to her, fixing her hair. "How'd you even get it to be this messy?"

Lemon shrugged. 

The two were quiet while Dot casted a few cleaning spells on her, making sure that she looked decent. They both began making their way back to the tournament.

"Do you still think you're the main character?" Lemon randomly spoke, glancing at him with a smirk.

Dot rolled his head. "For your information, i AM the main character. I just haven't had my big moment yet. I'll get my glow-up soon enough."

"Sure you will," she laughs. "I remember how you were pissed about Lance being more handsome than you? And how I liked himmm more than youuu." She pokes him on the side, the smirk widening.

"Oh yeah? What about how you think Mash is your fiancé?"

"BECAUSE HE IS!!!"

Dot grinned as they finally made their way to the podium, only to find that there was nobody there. Lemon looked around, confused. "Where is everyone?"

"They headed over to the starting line," he shrugged, "You must've took too long. They already started I guess."

Lemon bit her lip. "I... Damn, alright. My bad."

Dot began making his way to the starting point, before stopping suddenly.

"I get that you're troubled with Mash n stuff, but I do hope that you realize Finn and I depend on you. You're becoming more and more like Lance these days."

Lemon looked at him with guilt, but said nothing and followed him closely behind.

"The tournaments about to start." Finn fumbled around with his broom. Where is Lemon and Dot?

"It's fine," Lance assured him, "They'll be here any minute." Although he appreciated Lance trying to comfort him, it didn't help as much as he knew. 

Finn grips his broom tighter, pressing his lips against one another.

"Alright everyone. We'll be starting the race in 30 seconds!" The crowd chattered about, all excited and anxious about who might win.

"Apparently, there's a prize for getting first place," one of the students whispered.

"Super ready for this. I've been practicing so hard to get my speed up!" another praised.

Lance looked around the area, not too impressed with the cast. He honestly wasn't into brooms - mainly because he could teleport, but that's besides the point - and knew he most likely wasn't going to win. 

Of course, Finn was the complete opposite of him. Before Mash disappeared, Finn would frequently go out to train and work on his flying skills. Lance would say he was a pro at it. 

"TENNNNN SECONDS!!" the announcer called out enthusiastically, raising their arms in the air as they summoned a timer above the crowd. It was glittery and bright as they screamed.

"NINE!"

"EIGHT!"

"SEVEN!"

Finn glanced at Lance nervously. He smiled back.

"SIX!"

"FIVE!"

His lips press against each other tightly. Please please please please.

"FOUR!"

Lance grips his broom, getting into position.

"THREE!"

Are they really not...?

"TWO!"

Finn closed his eyes.

"ONE!"

As the counter fell down to zero, a loud bell rings, and off people went. Lance followed suit, while Finn straggled behind.

So they're... he stopped himself, taking a breath and flying after Lance.

I guess... No. I'll find another chance to keep the friend group together. For Mash. I just need another way to get them together.

"Aren't you going to go ahead?" Lance interrupts his thoughts, slowing down to reach him. "You can go a lot faster than that."

"...Right."

Finn flew ahead of him, leaving the boy behind.

Chapter Text

Mash was expecting the Divine Visionaries' temporary headquarters to be fancy and etiquette, however he didn't expect them to literally make the walls out of marble, or even have intricate details on the pillars.

"Hey," Mash pointed to one of the pillars as they were walking down the hall. "Why'd you make these so detailed? Aren't you leaving soon?"

Sophina responded coldly, "You wouldn't understand, since youve been up there doing who knows what."

"Yeesh," Vince butted in, pushing the two of them apart. "Whats your deal? Don't you like being polite or sumthin'? Stop bullying Mash."

She ignored him.

Turning a sharp left, they made it to a more natural or rather cozy area, wood on the walls rather than marble, two large couches laid out in the middle. Two of the Divine Visionaries were laying there, one having a snowflake on her head, and the other was giving a very confident look as Mash walked in.

In all honesty, Mash didn't know many of their names, only Lance, Rayne, and.. Orter? Was that his name? He wasn't exactly fond of them after trying to kill him when they found out about him being powerless.

Of course, that was long ago, and him and the others are much more comfortable around each other than before. They even helped in killing the other members of the Innocent Zero Organization.

Mash probably wouldn't have been able to fight Innocent Zero if they haven't joined in on the fight.

Kudos to them, I guess.

"MASH, WASSUP?" The purple haired, the one who had the aggressive look, jumps up and runs to Mash, squeezing him tightly. It did nothing to Mash, but it was funny seeing him try.

"I WAS WONDERIN' WHERE YOU'VE BEEN," he says, smacking his back.

Mash turned to look at him. "What's your name again?"

He pauses.

Vince bursted out into laughter, leaning on a nearby wall and trying to stop himself, before going into another fit and collapsing on the floor.

Sophina stood beside Vince, whispering something to him with a scornful glare. Vince shut up quickly, pressing his lips together and looking like a duck.

The purple-haired rubbed the back of his neck, a little annoyed. "You don't know my name? Did you lose your memory while comin' here?" Mash shook his head, in which the purple-haired sighed.

"Wutev, I guess. You better remember my name, got it? It's Renatus. STICK THAT IN YOUR HEAD."

Mash nods, embarrassed. "Yep, noted."

Right, Renatus. he remembered Renatus. He kept asking Mash to fight him, since he was so 'powerful'. Mash won, and now Renatus acts as if they're friends.

They're not. And he'd rather not be.

All of a sudden, Mash heard a familiar voice behind him. "Mash."

Mash halts, turning around and seeing a familiar yellow hair.

"Ah, Rayne," he tilts his head down, not knowing how to talk to him after the incident.

Renatus takes a step back, watching the scene unfold along with Sophina and Vince. 

The snowflake girl seems to have left without notice.

Rayne looks down at him.

"...."

aaaaAAAaaAaAaaaAaAaaaAaAAA, Mash thought.

"You don't need to be so formal."

"Eh? What?"

Rayne sighs. "It's fine. I'm already over what happened. Plus, the troublemaker other there," he glances at Vince, "already told me whats been going on."

Mash silently thanked Vince before speaking. "So what am i supposed to do here?"

"Just hide here until the government gets off your back."

He was confused. "So, you're saying that I just.. wait here?"

"Yeah."

Mash felt conflicted about this. On one hand, he understood that this was probably the best solution, but on the other, he was worried about Tris. Was Tris okay? How is she doing? Mash didn't know.

A hand is placed on his shoulder. It was Vince, though he was looking the other way. It was obvious that he noticed Mash upset, and was trying to comfort him.

Mash didn't feel better even with Vince, and he thought it never would. Vince bullied him, after all. He never exactly feels comfortable with him either. And honestly, the way Vince suddenly changed personalities rubbed Mash the wrong way. He guessed something must've happened, but he didn't know what.

Not like he wanted to either.

Anyway, Mash cleared his throat. "Sure, 'kay."

Rayne nods at him, before swiftly turning the other direction. "I'll be in my office if you need me."

The others watched as he closed the door behind him. 

As soon as Rayne left, Renatus clapped his hands. "Well, let's head out."

Sophina nods.

"Hell yeah! Lets go," Vince grinned, stepping next to the two.

"Language."

"....Rightt."

Mash stood there, unsure of what to do. "Am i.. allowed to come with you?"

Renatus shrugs. "Dunno. You'll have to put on a disguise or something."

"I'll stay here," he quickly said.

"Suit yourself." Renatus walks off, Sophina following. Vince, however, glances back at Mash. 

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Are you really, really sure?"

"Yes."

Vince sighs, muttering, "bastard," and catching up with the others.

So here Mash was, alone. Rayne and a few other Divine Visionaries were probably here, but in terms of his friends..

Mash was alone.

The interior, although beautiful and very stylish, was also unpractical and had nothing else going for it besides looks. 

That was a problem for Mash.

Unlike Tris' apartment, which was filled with necessities, there was nothing to do here. Sure this was meant to be a temporary base, but really? Putting this much effort into looks? Who thought doing this was worth their time?

Orter would, the bookworm guy, Mash taps on the pillars, wandering 'round the halls. Where even was Orter in the first place? He was usually with Rayne.

Mash walked over to Raynes door, knocking on it. "Is Orter with you?"

A grumble came from inside the room. "Why would that annoying bitch be in my office?"

"Weren't you friends with him?" Rayne almost never swore, so something must've happened while they were here. Great, we looooove relationship issues.

"No." And that was that. He didn't say more.

Well, one things for sure. The Divine Visionaries have changed, greatly. Orter and Rayne hated each other, some of them were acting off, and Vince somehow managed to be in with them.

Mash rubbed his forehead, annoyed. He wished he was back with Tris. She managed to solve every problem with ease, even if she was loud and sometimes weird. 

Whatever, Mash will just have to find something to do.

What exactly, though?

"Mash? What are you doing here?" Dave asked, handing him a plate of creampuffs.

Mash digged into them eagerly, not replying to the man. 

He'd managed to leave their headquarters and went to Dave's Creampuff shop, because no one was going to spot him, and because a good creampuff will definitely boost his mood.

He looks up at the old man, lending a creampuff. "Wan' sum?"

"Nono, it's fine," Dave sat down next to him as he spoke, "You're a little down, eh? I hope you feel better soon."

"Thank you."

"Of course," he smiles at him, turning towards him. "Anything for my top customer."

Mash smiled softly, before finishing off the last creampuff. "Can i have some more?"

The old man laughed. "Of course."

As he headed into the back, Mash stared into nothing, really. There was nothing to do anymore. Everything was more fun with Tris around.

Tris Tris Tris, it's always Tris. Is there anything else that i want? he pressed his lips together.

Maybe... is Tristan doing okay? and Liz? Ms V.? Mr... whatever the drama teachers name was? 

He tried thinking of more things he wanted, but was cut off by the arrival of a new batch of creampuffs.

"Yo," Dave began, a smirk on his face. "How 'bout you come over to my creampuff shop tomorrow and I'll show you 'round these mountains? I know them like the back of my hand."

"Back of your... hand?" Mash tilted his head.

"Ahhhh, i mean, I meant i really know the area 'round here. Trust me. And a plus is that you'll feel better afterwards. You wanna?"

Mash thought for a moment, before nodding. "...Okay."

Dave patted him on the head. "Come over tomorrow, remember that."

"Yuppp."

"You better!!"

Mash sighs, "Yes, i will. I promise."

"YOU BETTER!"

Mash arrives back at the base with a box of creampuffs and a rather tired look on his face.

Vince glances at Mash, raising an eyebrow at his rather up-beat look. "Sumthin' happen?"

"No, not at all." It was really, really obvious that Mash was lying. 

Mash fiddled around with a pen he found on the counter, wondering when he should leave. It would be stupid of him if he left now, cause he'd get caught by the others, but then when exactly should he come over?

"Mash," a soft voice spoke. He looks to see the snowflake girl creeping up from behind him. It startled Mash.

"You want to go somewhere, right?" she whispered, nervously looking around. 

Mash nods, albeit hesitant.

She gestures for him to follow her, leading him to her room. It was freezing in there. Mash shuddered as they continued.

In all honesty, the girls room was quite nice. Books stacked on top of one another, a white rug underneath her rather small bed, and little blankets over parts of the wall. It had a very at-home vibe, besides the fact it was quite cold.

The girl moved one of the blankets to reveal a secret passage. "Ill let you go if you let me come with you."

Mash was confused. "Why do you want to come?" And also, why do you have a hole in your wall?

"Well I've been thinking, hoping that maybe this world has a way to make me feel warmth. Ive always hated my powers because of how cold i am." she looks at her white-tipped hands. "But maybe, just maybe this world has a way."

Mash didn't want to question her, because that honestly was a pretty good reason, and the pros outweighed the cons. The only thing he was concerned about is Dave and whether he'd be fine with someone coming.

Too late to find out now.

"Alright, c'mon."

The girls eyes lit up.

The two hurried into the tunnel, making sure they were extremely quiet as they went. As they reached the top of the tunnel, the girl went ahead and peeked her head out.

Mash hesitated on asking something. "Uhm.. What's your name again?"

She glanced at him.

"...You... don't know?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"... It's Tsurara."

"Thank you, Tsurara."

She smiled softly. 

"Mhm."

Chapter Text

The only thing that could be heard in the daylight, besides the blaring loud cars screeching and the occasional person screaming their heads off for who knows what, was the heavy breaths of Tsurara as she and Mash snuck out of the base and made their way towards the Creampuff shop.

Mash was fit, obviously. That is known to you readers from the very start of the anime and/or manga. However, Tsurara is not fit.

Due to being cold for her entire life, she'd never had to run all that much, or even preferred to.

This moment was probably the longest she'd been running for, and GOD was she tired.

As Tsurara had sweat running down her face, skin flushed and all pink. Mash felt like he was on a morning jog.

He turns to her as they ran. "Do you need help?"

"Huff, huff, uhm, I don't know," she wheezed. Clearly, she needed help.

Mash ran a bit closer to her, before reaching for her legs and pulling her over his shoulder. "AAA-" she fumbled around, trying to get out of his grip.

"If you try to make me let go, you'll get hurt," Mash put his hand under her legs, making sure he doesn't touch her bootie.

She didn't say anything as he began to run faster, barely hanging on but managing to hold on.

Eventually they make it to the shop, and Tsurara flops onto the pavement, trying to catch her breath. Mash looks up as Dave comes into view.

"Mash!! And..." He raises an eyebrow. "..Uh, is she okay?"

He shrugs.

After Tsurara manages to catch her breath, she stands up straight and brushes the dirt off her skirt. "S-sorry. I'm Tsurara." She reaches a hand out.

Dave gives an awkward smile in return, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet- Yikes! You're really cold! Are yah sure you're okay? Com'n, com'n!" He hurriedly brings her inside.

Mash walks in from behind them.

Inside, Dave hands Tsurara a warmed blanket and a cup of warm cocoa, asking her every few seconds if she's alright. She assures him that she is and that this is normal, but Dave is obviously still worried.

Once he's left to make a new batch of creampuffs - to warm the insides of Tsurara, however that would work - Tsurara laughs, holding the cup of cocoa and taking a sip.

"I feel bad that for him to do that." She takes a sip, slightly disappointed that the drink becomes cold as soon as it touches her lips.

Mash walks over to her, patting her head. "It's okay. I'm sure there'll be a way."

She presses her lips together, setting down the cup. "Right."

Dave came in as the mood got awkward. "Alright, Tusahra, here's some freshly baked, warm creampuffs. Hope ya feel better soon," he gives her the batch, as well as Mash his own.

"Its 'Tsu-ra-ra'," she corrects him, taking a bite out of a creampuff.

"Tu-ra-ra."

"Tsu. Put your tongue at the back of your teeth like youre saying an 'ssss' sound but do the T sound instead."

Dave mutters under his breath, before trying again. "Ss- Tsss. Tsu. Tsuuurara."

She smiles. "Right."

"Im sorry for not being able to pronounce your name ahah. I ain't used to foreign names." He scratches the back of his head. "Mash is a lot easier to say."

Mash and Tsurara nod in understanding, both saying "it's fine" and each looking at each other, slightly embarrassed.

Dave laughs, clapping his hands. "Well! I assume y'all came here to go to the mountains with me, so let's head out, yah?"

The two nod.

Finishing up the rest of the creampuffs, they begin their adventure behind Dave's shop, which Mash had never seen before.

"It's nice, eh? My wife always told me to keep this place pretty. Always sayin' 'My darn husband, yah better get your ass out and fix the backyard right this second! I ain't living in a DUMP,' or somethin like that."

Tsurara perked her head up. "You have a wife?"

Mash glanced at Dave, knowing where this is going. But what he didn't expect is how straightforward Dave was with it.

"Ah, I had one. She was a real beauty, Loved her to bits. She's gone now, been a year or so."

The mood got more dark. "Ah," Tsurara muttered, "Sorry for being intrusive."

Dave went back a bit so he could walk alongside her. "It's fine. You remind me of her, yknow that? Always trying to care for everyone."

"But i wasnt?-" 

"You look a lot like 'er, too."

Mash, who was in front of them, turned around. "You've said that to me too."

"I have?"

"Yeah."

"Whoops."

Tsurara laughs, puffs of air coming out her mouth. It seems even the air around her gets colder.

"Huff, huff," two figures heaved their way up the mountain, sweat dripping down their faces and their bodies flushed.

Who those two were? Not Mash, of course. Mash was yards ahead, ever so often stopping and letting them catch up, although even when he did stop, he didn't stop for very long.

"Oh Mash you're really- huff- athletic. No wonder you were able to find my shop, ahah," Dave gasped, hunching over as his back made way. Tsurara raced over to him, barely catching him before he fell onto the grass. 

She looks up towards Mash with a pleading look on her face. "Hey, uhm, Mash; do you mind slowing down? I can't use my- y'know, and Dave can't catch up that easily because hes.. uh..."

"I'm old, just say it!"

"Right, old," she nods hesitantly, before turning back at Mash. "Please?"

Mash stops, unaware that he was even causing them this much exhaustion in the first place. "Sorry, I didn't know." 

Tsurara thanks him before helping Dave walk up the mountain. Mash suggested he could help Dave because he's able to carry people rather easily, but the old man objected, saying that he can handle it on his own.

But you're having Tsurara help you? he glances at them, confused. Oh well, he figures that Dave is just being stubborn.

"So, do we know where we're going?" Mash asked after ten minutes or so, the forest getting more and more cramped with trees.

Dave shrugged. "I uh, dunno. My wife usually is the one to give directions. I just follow."

Tsurara halted, turning to him. "You're saying that.. we've been going in random directions for over an hour now?"

The two foreigners stared at each other, before back at Dave. Dave gives a smile.

After Dave gets quite a good scolding from his younger peers, the two collectively decide that they should head back down from whence they came.

Oh, but why are they going up now?

There wasn't a stone part there...

.....

...Well shit.

"We're lost," Mash commented as they traversed through the now VERY crowded forest, so much so that there's barely any room to step.

Dave grits his teeth, moving away from Tsurara. "Hey, do you mind just- moving away for a moment? Its like its always cold around you or something."

Tsurara nods, a frown on her face. "Of course, that's fine."

Mash felt bad for Tsurara, he really did. Most people avoid her because A. She's a Divine Visionary that is lesser known and therefore 'weaker', and B. Because she's always cold.

At times like these, Mash was glad to not have powers, ones that he would be shunned by.

Not like he wasn't already shunned constantly. Whoops.

"Tsurara," he whispered. "Do you think you van use your powers to find our way back?"

She nods. "I'll try." She glances at Dave one last time before heading the other way.

Dave apologizes to Mash. "I thought this'd be a fun trip, but it turned out to be a bum. We ain't even got to see the cave!"

"The cave?"

His eyes light up. "Yeah, the cave! My wife n' I would normally go camping there during summer. Oh! We should go camping sumtime. How 'bout it?"

Mash looks up at the sun. "Sure, only if there's enough people."

"Awh, I'm sure you'll have tons of people coming with us camping! You'll see," he grins his old man grin, walking beside Mash. "I'm sure of it."

A few minutes later, Tsurara comes back. 

"So?"

"I, uh," she rubs the back of her neck. "We're really lost."

Dave raised an eyebrow. "How far?"

"We may or may not be on the other side of the mountain."

"WHAT."

Ah. That may or may not have been Mash's fault. He'd been going so fast that the others didn't notice how far they were walking.

"Well!" Dave claps his hands. "Looking on the brighter side, let's find a good place to sleep! Lucky for you younglings, i used to be a pro at sleeping in weird places!"

"Is that really a good thing to be proud of?" Mash added.

"Oh shut it, you."

While Dave gave instructions for a makeshift base, Masha and Tsurara followed closely and adjusted when they were told they were wrong.

"Branches?"

"Check," the two exclaimed.

"Leaves?"

"Ah-" Mash quickly patted the rest of the leaves down. "Check!"

"And lastly," Dave glances at Tsurara. "Fire?"

There was no fire. Tsurara couldn't make it.

"I'll teach you, c'mon," Dave had said, but as they kept trying it was getting more clear that as long as Tsurara was near, the fire wouldn't work.

"Yah sum' sort of dire sucker? Damn," he grumbled as the fire finally sparked shen Tsurara was farther away.

Her head looks down. "Sorry."

"It's whatever. Now! I'll be in our new home until the sun comes up again, since I'm the old man."

"Shouldn't the ones who actually did the work get to relax?" Mash asked.

"ELDERS FIRST," Dave shushed him.

Mash complyed, though still confused.

Tsurara and Mash laid next to each other while Dave slept inside.

They were fine with it; they had worse when doing missions back at home. But it was still uncomfortable.

Not to mention the fact that both of them are more or less introverts.

Tsurara wrapped her arms around her legs, placing her head on her knees and sighing.

Mash glanced at her. "You okay?"

"Eh- Yeah, totally!" She was caught off guard.

"Alright."

The silence ensued.

"...."

"...."

hoot, hoot.

An Owl watched them from a distance.

Occasional rustles could be heard. From the forest or the people; no one knew.

".... I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Leading you out here. They probably know that we left already."

Ah, Mash forgot. "We won't get caught by the FBI though, so it's fine."

"I know, I know," she fumbled around a bit with her fingers. "I just wanted you to... know."

Mash watched her face turn sour, her lips trembling like they were cold. They always were.

"Come with me," he stood up.

"What?"

He grabs her hand and pulls her up. She lets out a yelp. "Hey, what are you-"

"Don't let Dave hear you," he whispers as he makes his way deeper into the forest.

This forest was familiar, at least somewhat. He'd seen it a ton while Tris was showing him around the area. 

Of course, he didn't know exactly where he was supposed to go, but he knew there wss something he wanted to show.

Tsurara continued to protest even when she had no chance of escaping, even trying to freeze him a couple times to try and get away. The attempts failed.

"Almost there." Except Mash didn't know where they were going.

"AAAAAAAAAA-" Tsurara silently screamed, knowing that it was no use.

At last though, they made it. He drops Tsurara onto the ground, gently.

"What is it?" she asks.

Mash points.

".....Huh."

In front of them was a lake. More specifically, a hot spring.

"You can go in," he pushes her forward. Tsurara hitches, looking back and forth between him and the spring. 

"But you know that I'll-!"

He places a hand, a warm hand, on her shoulder. "I have a feeling that it won't change. There's no mana in this world, remember?"

Right, there was no mana. The only reason why everything around her was cold was because she was releasing Mana, not because the world had Mana. As long as there was more water than Mana, she would feel warmth.

Her heart did a little jump in anticipation.

She takes a step forward, then another.

Tsurara stands over the hot spring, reaching down and putting a finger in the water.

Her breath hitches, her finger trembling.

It was warm.

Chapter Text

Tsurara's heart pounded against her chest as she dipped her whole hand into the warm water, swishing it around a couple of times.

"Ah..." her voice trembled, barely able to comprehend the feeling. She put her other hand into the water, letting the feeling sink into her skin.

Mash watched, careful as to making sure she has her moment. 

To be honest, it was weird seeing someone be so in awe of heat. Mash, as well as almost every other living being, knew and interacted with heat in day-to-day life. It was normal for them.

But to Tsurara, who only knew the frigid and bitter feeling of ice, it was like a whole new world opened up to her.

Her eyes glimmered with an unknown light, as she rolls up her sleeves and puts her whole arms in. "You..." She turned to Mash, lips trembling. "...Thank you so much, Mash."

Mash nods. "Do you want to swim in there?"

"I can?" 

"Who's stopping you?"

Tsurara huffs, before standing up and taking her clothes off. 

Yikes, Mash looked away.

Excitedly, she takes a breath.

And another.

Before jumping into the hot spring.

A few water droplets splash Mash, but he didn't mind as long as Tsurara was happy.

She lets out a few shouts of glee, swimming around the water with this new sense flowing around her.

"This is, oh my gosh Mash, come in with me!" She stretches her hand out to him.

Mash took a step back, raising his hands. "Nono, you're naked. That's weird, that's really weird. I have my clothes on too-" As he protested on and on, Tsurara rolled her eyes and reached up, yanking him down into the water.

Obviously she wasn't strong enough to actually pull him in; it was Mash who let it happen.

"AAAA."

Tsurara laughs at Mash as he crawls out of the water, now drenched. It was warm, he will admit that, but he had clothes on and now he was going to be freezing for the rest of the time out here. "Really?"

"Totally."

It was a secret that the two of them would keep. They both agreed that they would sneak out together sometime each month and go swimming in the hot spring (of course bringing swimsuits because Mash did not want to see someone naked ever again. Not that he saw her, it's just he'd rather not accidentally do so. He swears on his life he didn't look at her the entire time.) 

Dave was oblivious to any of this happening. He'd woken up a few hours later complaining about some squirrels nibbling on his toes while he was sleeping, but other than that it was normal.

"Right, I forgot we were lost," Dave admitted, sighing and shaking his head. "So sorry, younglings."

Mash and Tsurara turned to each other, nodding. "It's fine. We found a way back."

"Yah did?" The old man was surprised.

Luckily, while they were out finding their way back, Tsurara had found the creampuff shop. They didn't mention the 'hot spring' part to Dave, only saying they wanted to look around the forest for a little bit more. 

"That's great to hear. Now c'mon Tsurara, lead the way!!"

They made it back safely.

Dave slumped down on one of the chairs, exhausted. His old man bones probably couldn't handle the same amount of exercise as the younglings, but comparing anyone to Mash's extensive exercise (and athletic abilities) would just be dumb.

"Well," he began, "I think that was a good walk, yah? Sure we got lost, but that's part of the experience!"

Tsurara shrugs, glancing at the window. "Yeah. Uhm, Dave, we're probably going to have to go now because, uh-"

Mash shushed Tsurara up. Even if he was alone and living in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean they should tell him.

"We have to go to school," Mash finished.

Dave nodded in understanding, although clearly a little bit upset. "Yah... That makes sense. Come back sometime soon, alright Mash?"

Mash nods. "I will, Dave. Thanks."

"Sorry for not letting you stay longer in the hot spring," Mash said, stuffing another creampuff into his mouth as he spoke. They made a quick detour to ensure that they wouldn't get caught by any bystander walking past.

Creeping into the tunnel, Tsurara closes off the entrance with her powers before catching up with Mash. They had made it back, hopefully uncaught by the other divine visionaries.

"Do you think they know?" she had a tone of worry in her voice.

"Dunno," Mash shrugged.

But as they waited for someone to call them out on their escape, or even anyone questioning where they'd been this entire time, not one person spoke.

And the reason why?

Apparently, everyone was either busy working or sleeping.

Mash sighed in relief, sitting on the couch alongside Tsurara. They were lucky this time around.

That was until they heard a thump from behind, along with Vince flopping onto the ground.

"Ghrgrhhahhh..." he grumbled, reaching his hand in no particular direction. "Why did we.... go so... fjdjsjsj.... farrrrrrr...."

"Oh, shut your yap," Sophina said, crossing her arms.

"You shut your yap!!" 

"Manners," she snapped.

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO STARTED IT FIRST-"

"Hahh.. Enough, both of you." Renatus is the last to arrive, leaning over Mash like a huge boulder. He really was big, Mash noticed.

Vince sits up, towering over Sophina with a smirk. "You and your 'manners'. Don't you know that nobody cares?"

"...."

At this point, Sophina and Vince were at each other's throats, causing tension to envelope the entire room. It was rather quick, how the tension just rose up out of thin air. Mash assumed that this happened frequently.

Tsurara used this moment to sneak away. Mash didn't call her out because, well, it made sense to leave this shithole of a mess.

"You're the one who's quite the troublemaker. Have i need to remind you of what you just did an hour ago?"

"Funny of you to say that, considering that was YOUR FAULT."

Sophina scoffed. "Oh really? That was my fault?"

Vince smirked. "Yes. Yes, it was."

Suddenly, Rayne appears from outside his office with the most mean, annoyed glare that anyone could ever see.

"Vince. Sophina."

Oh shit. Mash at this moment, thought that maybe he should've left along with Tsurara.

Vince froze as Rayne stepped towards him. "What are you doing?" Rayne looked down at him. "Causing trouble again?"

"Well- she- she-"

He stares even harder.

"IT WAS HER FAULT." He points at her face.

Sophina rolls her eyes, clearly fed up with this guy. "Excuse me? You were the one that started it. Don't try to accuse me of starting this."

Rayne sighs, rubbing his head. "Right. Next time I won't be putting you two together. I thought I'd try to make you two make up but- no. You're both petty. Go to your, different, very far apart, rooms. Right now."

"Yes sir," they both say in unison.

Renatus sneaks over to to Mash, whispering, "Isn't that kind of cool, how Rayne can easily take control of the situation?"

"I mean, sure," Mash replies, rubbing the back of his head.

As Mash turned back to Rayne, he notices him looking directly at him.

"Mash."

Mash gulped. "Rayne."

Silence for a few seconds.

"...Are you doing alright?"

"Eh? What?"

"Well," Rayne began. "You've been very quiet about all this, and I just wanted to make sure that you were alright. You haven't come to my office that often. In fact, you came once and that was about-"

He stops himself, knowing about Mash's 'unable to understand large sentences' issue.

"Anyway, I just wanted to know if you're good."

"Eh? What?"

Rayne stares at him. 

Mash stared back.

"Fine, whatever. That was stupid of me to ask that in the first place. Bye." And with that, he left back into his office.

Mash was smacked in the back by someone who turned out to be Renatus. He had a sort of are you joking look on him, but Mash paid no mind.

"Welp, I'll be off," he says. He didn't even say where he was going.

Now it was just Vince, Sophina, and Mash. Except Sophina left just as fast as Tsurara had earlier. Damn.

"So," Vince began, kicking the ground around Mash. "Yah wanna do sumthin'?"

Mash shrugged. "What would we do? I can't leave."

"Wearing a disguise would work-"

"Nope."

Vince scowled. "Why don't you want to wear a disguise? I'm sure the magic from your world can do that just fine."

"Still nope."

He sighs, kicking Mash in the shin. It did nothing, of course. "Youreeeeee aaaaa stuuuuupidddd baaaaaasssssterd."

And yet, Vince sat next to him, waiting for him to do something.

He wasn't planning to do anything in all honesty; he was already tired from going out with Dave and Tsurara. Not saying that Mash was tired PHYSICALLY; rather he meant mentally. 

And so Mash goes back to his room, hopping onto his bed (alone. He'd told Vince earlier he didn't want him in) and staring at the roof.

He didn't like thinking too much into details - especially when there's big words involved, though Tris did help a lot with that, as well as Tristan. Thank you horrah horrah.

He misses them. Maybe Tris more because that's the obvious one, but Tristan was also a pretty decent guy. It annoyed him slightly that their names are too similar though.

Maybe the next day would be better. Or maybe Mash would stay inside and do nothing. He was lucky that he always has an extra dumbbell on him for times like these.

Oh right. He hasn't worked out in forever.

Mash sits up, immediately starting on his daily workout.

It really had been awhile, it seems. He hadn't been able to reach his normal 95,382 pushups. It was a goal for him, back in the day, to reach 100,000 pushups, but as of now he might not be able to reach it.

Damn. That sucks.

"Mash?" The math teacher calls out, looking around for a moment before shaking his head. "Where is Mash these days? He always used to be here."

One of the smartasses responds, "I thought he was bad at math!! Why're yah wondering where he is???"

He frowns. "Because he's my student? And even though he's bad at math, he still puts a ton of effort into what he does. Unlike you who says that they go on 'daily party nights'."

The smartass scoffs, turning away.

From the back of the class, Tristan repeatedly clicks the top of his pen. He was a lot more jittery these days.

Where is Mash? He's always here hes always here so why isn't he here I don't understand why isn't he here WHY ISN'T HE HERE-

"Tristannn," Liz taps his shoulder, a bored expression on her face. "Would you stop clickin that pen and pass it over' to me?"

"Oh, s-sorry," he hands it over while speaking in a hushed tone, "its just that im worried for Mash. He's always here yet he hasn't been for the past few days and I'm really-"

"Oh shut it, he's fine. Didn't you see him in PE? He's literally a god. Don't worry 'bout his stupid ass."

Tristan presses his lips together, not so sure about Liz's words.

....I guess.... Hopefully he's doing alright.

He goes back to working on his worksheet.

Chapter Text

It was a fine day in the life of Mash. The sunlight casted shadows inside the base of the Divine Visionaries through their newly improved windows. Mash had been asking for quite awhile to, "give me some light" aka let Mash actually see inside the base. He was starting to think that they were some sort of night gremlins, able to see and live in the dark.

He was very, very glad when they finally approved of his window suggestions. Though the only reason as to why they accepted was because Mash wouldn't shut up for once. 

It has been... 2ish weeks now. He'd been counting with the help of Tsurara - because Mash wasn't that good at counting, at least not anymore - and frankly he was extremely tired of the interior of this place.

Yes, it's pretty. Yes, Mash was in awe when he first saw it, but now? Seeing it everyday kept giving him migraines. If only Finn was here to use his healing abilities.

Oh well. He can't do much about it.

What he could do, however, was strengthen his deteriorating muscles, which he had put on hold since the day he'd arrived here. Tris was the type of person to never work out, so it wasn't a surprise when Mash did the same.

Luckily, it seems the Divine Visionaries were already ahead of him in that thought.

Vince picks up a random book he had found on the ground, assuming it was Mash's and heading over to his room to drop it off. 

Mash had reminded the Divine Visionaries that, besides Tsurara and Rayne, he didn't want anyone inside or even near his room. It was weird, sure, but it sorta made sense since he was being held here against his will.

Well, not really either. Mash might've secretly escaped at some point or something and that's whats keeping him sane. Not that Vince cared, it wasn't his business. 

Vince goes up to Mash's door, book in hand. "Mashh?" He knocks a couple times, waiting for a sound or notice that Mash heard. Nothing.

"Mashh???" Trying again. Yet nothing comes from the other side of the door. Vince sighs, rolling his eyes as his hand went for the doorknob. "I'm coming innn."

He barged in quickly, throwing the book at the first thing he saw. The first thing that he saw was a very, muscular, bearded tall man with beautiful gorgeous black locks falling down on his sides.

Vince screamed.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?- WHO ARE YOU-" The figure who had been in front of him disappears, just as he's suddenly shushed by a familiar finger.

MASH!? NO WAY, DID MASH GROW A BEARD AND LONG ASS HAIR WITHIN A WEEK THAT I'VE SEEN HIM?? NONO, THAT CAN'T BE. HE COULD NOT HAVE JUST....

But it was true. As the man came back into view, it was more than obvious that it was Mash. With his yellow eyes and non-existent line, you wouldn't be able to say otherwise.

Vince stood there for a moment, shocked, astounded even. "...What the fuck... happened to you??"

Mash shrugged. "I was training my muscles." 

His eyes glanced over next to Mash, finally noticing the absurd amount of gym equipment just out of view from the doorway.

"Mash, how in the- no, wrong question, why did you do this? You could've just... i dunno, ASKED?"

Mash shrugged again. "I don't like it out there." Right, that was the perfect excuse. Totally. It's not like nobody hangs out of their rooms nowadays, only for the occasional mission sent by Rayne.

After awhile, Vince took a breath, turned around, left, and slammed the door behind him. Unfortunately though, the door hinge cracks and breaks off from the wall, the door plummetting down onto the poor soul.

Vince doesn't notice it as the door towers over him with a demonic smile. "Muhahaha!! Feel my wrath, you sly Door-slammer!" the door screeches.

Oh, and down he goes with a thud.

Mash hurries from behind him, a worried look plastered on his face. "I'm so sorry. Sorry, sorry."

Vince winces, shakily trying to heave himself up while glaring at Mash. "Care to... huff.... explain?"

"I didn't want anyone coming in because I couldn't tell whether the door was a push or pull, and because of that the door was so frustrated that a demon was able to possess it and now its-"

"Shut. Up. Say it in one, small, simple sentence."

Mash grabbed his hand and heaved him up. "Is the door a push or pull?"

The door behind them thrashes around violently, ready to attack yet again. "You impudent fool! I'll end you and your wicked reign against us, the door species!!"

The two of them paused. "Huh?"

Andddd back to the present. Turns out there was no demon door possession, only the figment of the two's imagination. Though the hinge on the door did fall off. Damnit.

Mash looked down at himself, no longer seeing or feeling a beard on his face. 

Sometimes, both Vince and Mash would go through those weird deja vu? Memories? Whatever they are, together. Mash had told Rayne this at some point, and the only thing he had replied was "probably something having to do with being transported here, or something."

And with only that one sentence, Mash was sent back to his room.

"Hahhhh...." he sighed, rubbing his head. If only Tris was here. None of the Divine Visionaries take anything seriously; not anymore.

Tris, although sometimes childish and stupid, knows when to take situations by the handle. 

Where did the competent and good-working Divine Visionaries go? Where did Orter, Ryoh Grantz, and all the other ones go? Did they not make it? Why does no one mention them?

And for fucks sake, how did Vince even manage to get in contact with these unintelligible idiots!? 

Too much at once, too much. Mash needs a break. Mentally, and physically. (He had been working out for a week straight after all.)

Mash felt sick. Maybe it was because of the hallucinations, but he didn't think so.

it wasn't in the way that he wanted to throw up, or that he was tired of living in an underground basement. He didn't know why exactly he felt sick. He should be fine, so why?

Munching on another creampuff he had stashed in his pocket, he sat down on one of the many gym equipment in his room. It sort of made sense that he was feeling off the weather, but this just felt like... well, he just felt sick.

He finished the creampuff quickly, getting to work with his muscle training and ignoring his previous thoughts.

Now before i continue, as the author I'd like you to know that Mash has a very... peculiar way of using the equipment. Specifically, having at least 80 tons attached and the rule that 'he can't use his arms and legs at the same time.'

He then proceeded to work out for the next five hours. Straight. By the time Mash was done, he had sweat dripping down his face and he was panting like a dog out on a summer day.

Mash struggled to walk out of his room to get some water, dragging his legs across the ground with a 'sccrrhh' sound.

Goddamnit he shouldn't have gone training. But what other time could he have done it? It was only a matter of time until

Vince had gone to school earlier in the day, so he couldn't ask him for water. Renatus isn't exactly the most trustworthy person with a cup of water, Tsurara's out and doing who knows what, and...

Should he ask Rayne? Or Sophina? No no, definitely not Sophina. She'll go on another long tangent about life morales. Mash was not interested.

Okay, well seems like the only person to ask was Rayne. 

"RAYNE," he called out rather pathetically. No one answered.

Mash tried again, this time hauling himself onto the couch and staying still, just for a moment. He'll get up soon. He'll get up when Rayne comes over, yeah.

But as the days of not sleeping began to dwell onto him, the constant worry, the workout he had just done, his eyelids closed and he was out soon after.

a cold plastic bottle is pressed against Mash's cheek. He groans, turning over and leaning into it like his life depended on it. His face was full of sweat, pink and puffy.

"I heard you call my name," Rayne said, dropping the bottle onto him. Mash took it eagerly, sitting up, taking off the cap, and chugging it eagerly. It was astounding, how Mash was drinking it without a single breath of air in-between.

The bottle had no more water in it by the time he was done with it, handing it to Rayne and wiping his lips. Rayne stared at the bottle, a little concerned.

"You're sick, aren't you."

"Am not."

"Are so," Rayne replied, walking away for a moment before coming back with a wet towel and thermometer. He places the towel on Mash's forehead, and puts the thermometer in his mouth.

It was lucky for Mash that Rayne used to tend to Finn whenever he was sick.

Mash squirmed around. "Do I haf' to do 'dis?" he mumbled.

The yellow-haired nodded. "Once Tsurara comes back, she'll cool you down and you'll be back on your feet." He pats Mash on the head. "Don't overdo yourself, alright? I don't even get how you could've gotten sick here."

Mash simply shrugged. Rayne gave him one last look before leaving him to fend for himself.

Oh well. This gives Mash a moment to recollect himself. Y'know, not think about all the stupid shit thats been going on, because who needs to?

It was lucky of him that both Finn and Tsurara are able to heal others, albeit in very different ways. One's with magic, the others with common sense.

Hopefully he'll get better soon. He didn't like being sick.

Chapter Text

Mash lays in bed like a mummified mummy. Any particular reason? No, he just felt like it.

With a damp cloth on his sweaty forehead and a feeling of nausea overwhelming him, Mash felt like throwing up. This must mean he's sick, damnit.

He hadn't gotten sick in what, almost three years now? Thanks to his balanced diet, regular exercise, and overall just having a pretty damn good immune system, he never had to feel how bad being sick truly was. Now that he exercised left often than not, it seems the pesky bacteria managed to make its way through Mash's ultimate defense.

Funny how Innocent Zero couldn't break through, but bacteria did. Maybe all he needed to do was be smaller than Mash, to beat Mash. Hm.

Tsurara, even having been notified of Mash's current state, still hasn't come back. She's the type to leave things off until the last minute, it seems. Oh well, at least they had Rayne.

Except he didn't.

"Eh? What?" Mash groaned, looking up at him with a sickly face. "You're too busy?"

"Yeah, you should know that by now. We still haven't found a way back." Rayne flipped through the papers in his arm, flicking one particular paper up and holding it out for Mash to read. "See these reports? None of them connect to each other whatsoever."

Mash blinked. "I don't understand."

"I know you don't, which is all the more reason for me to get back to work." And off he went.

Great, just great. At this point, he was a couch potato, barely able to raise a finger without breaking into sweats and panting in exhaustion. Mash has never felt weaker in his life than now.

Shifting around, Mash wraps a blanket around him tightly, checking every few seconds to ensure that there were no entries for the brisk air to enter and cause him to go into another painful experience. He never expected to be this aware and cautious for the cold. Is this how Tsurara has always felt?

He felt kind of bad, to be honest. He should ask if she wants some hot cocoa later, if it has the same effect as the hot spring. But Mash is sick, so for now, he'll be curled up on the couch dead.

Another few hours have passed by. Mash doesn't know how long it's been exactly, but he's guessing it's been awhile from the tired looks of the Divine Visionaries wandering 'round him. They've all come back, except for Tsurara.

"You okay?" Renatus said from behind the couch, looking at his nails in boredom, like he didn't actually care. 

Mash's eyes fluttered open, his mouth opening slightly before closing it again. His throat was completely sore, dry, itchy, like it was on fire. He winced, tucking the blanket over him even tighter. 

Renatus noticed. "You need more blankets? 'Kay," he says, heading into his room and coming back with a heavy, purple coloured blanket, throwing it on Mash. "There you go."

Mash quickly got himself sorted out, finally feeling a bit better after being handed the blanket. "Thank you," he managed, his voice hoarse. Renatus shrugged in response, leaving soon after. 

The other Divine Visionaries weren't paying any attention to the crippled Mash on the couch, most likely because they had other plans and they didn't like him in the first place. I mean, it made sense. Mash had been chosen to be a Divine Visionary before the final battle, someone who doesn't have powers - though this entire world is devoid of it as well - turned the position down, and then defeated Innocent Zero like it was nothing. Like he was making fun of the others for not being on par with him.

To give him credit, it was a very, very rough battle. Many citizens died, Innocent Zero killed all his children to be more powerful, excluding Mash, and almost even destroyed the entire continent and possibly the entire world. They were lucky Mash killed him before that happened.

Right, Mash killed his father, his biological one. His siblings had been persistent on reminding him that as they fought battle after battle, saying how blood is thicker than water and attempting to persuade him to come to their side.

"Pops," Mash said, his voice lowering in worry. "My... my siblings want me to come to their side."

"Who?" Regro asks, taking a sip of his coffee. "Oh you mean- you mean them."

The boy nods.

Regro pauses for a moment, looking at him with a somber look. "Mash, what do you want to do?" He sits up as he talks, walking over to Mash and standing in front of him. He was shorter; Mash was tall from his excessive amount of daily exercise, while Regro was old and couldn't do nearly as much as Mash.

"...Mash," he says again, putting a hand to Mash's face and rubbing the fake mark. "What does your heart say?"

Mash stares back with a blank face, biting his cheek and placing his hand on top of his pops. "They said that blood runs thicker than water... but I don't understand. What do they mean?" Right. Mash was oblivious to most sayings that had deeper meaning in them.

Regro takes a breath before explaining, "The saying, 'Blood runs thicker than water' means that family should be more important than any other relationships, or that's the basic premise of it," he puts his hand down. "And while yes, that fact is true, the actual meaning can be interpreted as whatever the reader wants."

Mash stares at him blankly again. "I don't understand."

"Is blood-related family more important to you?"

He was quick to answer. "No."

Regro lets out a huff, a smile forming on his face. "Very well then." 

[ I'm proud of you, Mash, he wanted to say, but he doesn't.]

Mash wonders what his pops wanted to tell him then, but just as he was pondering more about it, a familiar figure appears over him, giving him a glare. "Why do you have Renatus' blanket?.."

It was Rayne, because of course it was. The one who said they were too busy to help him. Mash replied, "Because I was cold."

Rayne reaches out and rips off the top blanket.

Mash groans as the chilly air surrounds him once again. "Why'd you do that..... ghahhhggghhhh....."

"It makes you more sick, now get up. I'm busy yet I'm still trying to help you," he scolds as he hauls Mash up, the second blanket falling helplessly back onto the couch. "I managed to get you some medicine, so c'mon."

Off Rayne and Mash went, heading to a room that was meant to be for injuries or sickness. A medical room. Just why did they have this, when Mash was sure they didn't need it?

He sat on a tall metal bed while Rayne went looking for the medicine, scanning through the many different cabinets they, for some reason had. They had way too many useless things in this base. Mash was going to figure out why one way or another.

"Why are you helping me?" Mash inquired, his feet kicking the bed back and forth, stopping once they started to hurt.

Rayne scoffed as he closed a drawer. "Do I need to tell you?" His eyes turn to the cabinet in the corner, walking over to it and opening it. 

"Well, it's weird."

"Everything is weird to you because you don't understand shit."

Mash raised an eyebrow. "No?"

Rayne rolled his eyes. "Yes," as he spoke, he pulls out the medicine he had been looking for, turning around and grabbing Mash's head. "Now tilt your head back and open your mouth."

"Ackkkckk- Wh- why can't i just do this myself-" he attempts to say before a large fat pill is shoved down his mouth. He wasn't nearly as strong when he was sick, another weakness of his.

Mash shudders, leaping forward and gagging, his hand immediately reaching up to his neck as he felt the pill make its way down his throat. Rayne seems satisfied, grinning. "You should heal up in a day or two. The lady said so."

"Th- the lady?" the sick boy mumbled, sticking his tongue out and trying to see if his tongue muscles were able to lurch the pill back out. No success, of course.

"Yeah, the one you used to live with. She said she bought some in case you ever got sick at her place. Apparently, you didn't, but she insisted on bringing these over anyway."

Mash paused, looking at Rayne with an unknown emotion dwelling in him. "Tris did?"

Rayne shrugged. "She must like you." Since he finished up what he set out to go, he waves at Mash. "I'll be going back to work now. Don't you dare get worse."

Silence.

Mash sat there far longer than he needed to. He stared down at the ground with an unreadable expression, not moving even an inch. Tsurara came back after awhile, walking in and seeing Mash. She looks worried. Mash is fine, he's always been.

Mash is healed up quickly, thanks to Tsurara's excellent cooling ability and killing off the bacteria within Mash. Does that make sense? No. But Mash wasn't going to question it. He heads back to his room and sits on his bed. 

Mash waited. Waited for what? He didn't know. Maybe he was hoping Tris would come and be like, "Oh don't you worry, Mash! The government was never looking for you in the first place. I was safe after all!" and the two of them would go back to normal.

Mash would be able to go to school, visit Tristan and Liz and.... even the gym teacher, though he's not particularly fond of her.

Mash misses her. Mash misses Tris. But it's okay, because Tris will come back, he knows it. Tris is strong, she's a 'badass', she'd call it.

Oh.

Oh.

He can just visit her using a disguise, like Vince suggested. How stupid was he?

He waited for Vince to come back to say something about it.

"Oh, so now you want to?" Vince grumbled, swatting Mash away. "You wouldn't listen to me before, what changed? Gosh."

"Please," Mash said, seemingly trying to plead but doing a terrible job of it. 

Vince rubbed his chin for a moment, before nodding. "Fine, whatever. I'll get your disguise in like, two days. You'll have to wait a bit since I'm busy, but you get what you get."

A light flickered in Mash's eyes. "Thank you."

"...Righttttt," Vince looked away, uncomfortable with how Mash was acting. "Anyway where's Rayne? I need to talk to him. RAYNEEEEE-" and he was gone.

Mash's mouth crept upwards into a small smile, excited to see Tris again. Hopefully she was doing alright.

Chapter Text

Not long after Mash had run away with the Divine Visionaries, the FBI had come to Tris' house.

They never found anything, thanks to Tris' smart thinking that gave her enough time to throw away all the evidence before they arrived, however they were still suspicious of her and thought of her as a suspect to be thoroughly investigated. That was fine with her - as long as Mash was safe.

She obliged with the FBI's questions, orders, anything that they asked of her. She showed them everything that they could possibly need to confirm her identity, her occupation, etc etc. At some point, while Tris was showing them her old pictures of her kid self, one of them began to snap at her for 'bringing too much proof to the table' and accused her of faking all that.

How could she though? No one believed them since there was just too much evidence that led to her being innocent. So the FBI left, giving her a warning that they'll be back.

Tris waved to them goodbye with a smile on her face, up until the door closes in which she lets out a breath she had been holding. She looks down to her shaking hands, pressing her lips together and staring out the window. Please, please let Mash be safe. I beg of you. If there's a god out there, keep Mash safe.

She wasn't in a religion by any chance, but if there really was a god... Tris hoped they'd listen to her.

And so the days past. Days turned into weeks, weeks turning into a month, so on so forth. All the while Tris in her home not bearing herself to leave. She didn't want to, after all she was the one that had let Mash been found out.

Tris shook her head. No, no. Don't think of it. You're fine, Mash is fine.

Perhaps Tris had gotten attached to someones company in her abode, so much so that she was possibly going insane from it. Occasionally, she'd go outside for groceries, but the look in her eyes made the people around her uncomfortable. One time, a little kid pointed at her and asked, "Momma, what's wrong with that lady?" before being abruptly pulled by their mother who wore a shameful face.

Tris' cousin, Kelvin, had come over multiple times to check to make sure she was okay. She was. She knew it herself.

The sun rose and set, over and over. Tris stared out the window each time, remembering how Mash and Tris would sit together and talk about their days while the sky turned amber and gold, pink and magenta, and then a dark dark navy that made the stars shine brighter than ever.

Tris remembered when Mash finally told her about the Divine Visionaries, how vulnerable he had been when he spoke, how he acted while doing so. 

She hoped that even if Mash was an awkward and very mundane person, someone from the Divine Visionaries or hell, even some random person, would take care of him like she did to him. She had made sure that he was comfortable in this world; she didn't want someone like the FBI taking that away from him.

And why even are they going after Mash?? They know the location of the Divine Visionaries, she had checked earlier in the weeks in one of the stacked document files. Maybe it was because he was someone who didn't have powers, like the people in reality?

Is this even reality? Which world was real?

Tris took a breath, letting the silence overwhelm her thoughts instead of her own thoughts. She wouldn't let this happen, not again.

She went to the store. She went back. Tris went to the school to console with the principal about Mash needing some excessive time off for the next two months or so (she was told in response that he should still do his work at home if he's able to. Tris noted that for later) and made sure to remind herself to ask Vince how Mash is doing, if the time comes.

Time was slow and excruciating. Each day went by quickly, yet oh so slowly. It was like she was back in the olden days when she hadn't met Mash - alone.

She had Kelvin. She had her colleagues and friends and family. But they were simply people who she could laugh with. She could never tell her true thoughts or show her rather crazy side of herself to others. Except Mash. It's stupid, I know, that I'm relying on a kid like they're some sort of god, Tris knew this was ridiculous of how dependent she was on Mash. 

It was all the more reason for her to have sent him away. Tris, though practically twenty years older than Mash, was stuck to him like glue.

Keep thinking nothing, she told herself, you can be normal again.

At some point Tris never looked at the sunset whenever it came down. Eventually, Tris put on a fake fascade of a boring, non-chalant person. The FBI came back a month after the original intrusion, only to find a completely different person. Yet they were, genetically, the same person.

The apartment room, however, was much, much messier than they had seen it previously.

They were confused. They were worried. They asked if she was okay. Tris said yes. One had recommended her to a therapist, just in case.

Tris pressed on about being okay, and the FBI reluctantly left.

Kelvin came soon afterwards, a worried look on his face as he saw what Tris had become. "Tris," he paused, reaching his arm out only to revoke it. "You.... Are you okay?"

Tris' eyebags were a deep indigo. "I'm fine." She had a strained smile on her face.

Right, she was fine. As the days continued to pass on without her knowing, Tris began to finally be normal again. Her eyebags were less visible, she began to dress up as she did before, she even at one point asked if Kelvin and a few other of her friends wanted to hang out with her.

Everyone was happy. Everything was going well.

Until Tris came across Vince again. A month had passed by then.

She was walking alongside a road, minding her own business and scrolling on her phone, when a short blond hair boy stopped in front of her with a gasp.

"Tris, is that you? Goddamn, you had a glow up," Vince smirked, looking her up and down before regretting it. "I DIDN'T MEAN IT IN LIKE A SEXUAL WAY- SHIT-"

Tris stared at him for a moment, before bursting into laughter, "AHHAAJGINJJAIT- NO NO, AHHA, NO IT'S FINE." She walks over to him, a bright smile on her face. "It's been awhile, hasn't it? You've gotten better, haven't you?"

"Eh?" Vince tilted his head. "Whatdoyah mean? I'm the same as always."

The woman cackled even louder. "Nono, you were definitely different. You bullied Mash back in the day, had a much more nasty attitude," she pauses, "Now you're like, grown up! I'm proud of you."

Vince laughed along with her. "Don't act like you're my mother, pfft."

Silence followed soon after, both not knowing exactly what to say after so long. That was until Vince coughed, "Mash is fine, if you were wondering."

"Oh really?" She breathed a sigh of relief, the creases in her brows lessening. "I was worried because i haven't heard from him in awhile- NOT THAT ID WANT HIM TO, 'CAUSE Y'KNOW, THE GOVERNMENT."

Vince grinned. "Well, I'll let yah know when he's in disguise, out n' about."

Tris raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"He's being stubborn, ain't wanting to disguise himself so he can go out," he grumbled on to himself, "I don't get why he's so persistent about it."

"Well, that's Mash for yah."

Vince nodded. "Mhm." He glances out behind Tris, gripping his backpack and nodding again. "Well, I better uh, go now. Cya, Mash's step-mom." 

He walks away, Tris watching him as he became smaller and smaller until she couldn't see him anymore.

Once he was gone, she looked at the ground and began to tear up.

He's okay, he's okay, oh my god.

Tris felt a heavy weight being lifted off her shoulders. Everything was going to be fine again, she could breathe easily.

And now we're in the present. Although Tris is still recovering from her... issue from before, she felt better than ever. She regularly visits Kelvin, goes out shopping often, even dressing up more elegant than ever.

Every morning, Tris would wake up, do her hair, get dressed for work, and head out the door. She'd wait as the elevator slowly went down, not caring about the cracks that had formed in the corners.

She'd go to work, say hello to her co-workers, and start work on the Divine Visionary investigation. Of course, she would put false information to throw the other people off who were working with her. Nobody noticed. After all, Tris seemed livelier than ever. Who would accuse her of doing such a thing?

Co-workers talked to her more, talking in casual speech and laughing at her jokes. They tell her how they were too nervous to talk to her previously because of how different she was.

Tris laughs. As long as Mash is okay, everything would be normal. Be okay.

Her advisor tells her to keep up the good work, and Tris nods. She'll do exactly that. 

After work, she heads over to the creampuff shop that she and Mash would always go to, stepping out of her car and walking into the shop.

Dave looks surprised to see her. "Beatris? Nice seeing you here."

Tris nods, sitting down in one of the more comfy chairs within the store. "Same as usual. How yah doing?"

"Ahah, same as always." Dave heads into the back for creampuffs.

While he does whatever he's doing in the kitchen, Tris taps her fingers on the table, her head leaning on her other hand and looking out the window. Water droplets fell from the rooftop, the sidewalk and road getting progressively more wet.

It seems it's raining today. It never rains that often, so she was a bit surprised at the sound of patter outside.

Dave glances from outside the kitchen, raising an eyebrow. "Damn, is it raining? It's been months since I've seen rain," he mumbles to himself, shrugging it off and turning around. "Welp! Get yourself comfortable, Tris. Don't want you getting into an accident from the slippery roads."

Tris chuckles, dismissing the comment with a wave of her free hand. "Oh come onnn, I'm good at drivin'! I swear!"

"Right you are."

After a few minutes of pondering and the occasional surprise droplet - in which it'd slam against the window like throwing a book at a window - Dave re-emerges with a smaller usual batch of creampuffs. They were the Zinnia flavour, the one Mash quite liked.

The woman noticed, pointing at it and chuckling. "And what's this about? Tryna make me think Mash is here too?" She doesn't reject the creampuffs though, eagerly taking a bite out of one.

Dave scratches the back of his head, a tint of pink on his face. "Well, I thought I outta do you a favour and let you bring some of his favourites back home. I'm sure he misses them after not coming here in so long. He used to visit so often." He had a sad look in his eyes as he spoke. "Is he doing alright?"

Tris glanced up at him, the creampuff that was heading towards her mouth stopping. She presses her lips together, before nodding politely. "Yeah.. he's been doin' alright. Good in school, good at home. He's a good kid, he is."

The man listened, nodding his head along as she spoke. "Right, right. Say, when is he coming to visit with his friend again? She seemed quite nice when we last went out for the hike."

Tris perked her ears. "Hike? Friend?"

"Has he not told you yet? He visited me with his friend, named Tsurahra or sumthin'. We went all the way up the mountain and got to see a pretty view while we were at it too." Dave grins, his one tooth jutting out. Tris never noticed that tooth before. Cool.

She turns her thought of direction back to the main topic. "You mean... Tsurara? And Mash visited this place with her?"

Dave nods again. "Did he not tell you? Oh my, is he in his troublemaker phase?"

Tris laughs. "Haha, no. Don't worry about it." She sits up, thanking him for the creampuffs and taking the rest home in a small blue box. "I'll be off now. Cya."

She waves goodbye, hopping into her car soaked to the brim with rain. The rain, while they had been talking, got much harsher than before, resulting in Tris to be drenched. It was fine though, she didn't mind the cold all that much.

Luckily, Tris drove the rest of the way home safe and secure even if in the end it did take longer.

It had been raining far more often lately. Tris wondered why. 

She wasn't able to go outside and do the normal things she'd typically do, which was fine in itself, but when you're stuck in your house and all you have is a TV and phone, it makes you seem like an electronic addict. Tris swears each time that's she's not.

Unfortunately she also wasn't able to go to work due to the absurd amount of car crashes that appear during rainy days. The city wasn't meant for rain, that much was obvious. She was grateful.

Turning on the TV out of pure boredom, Tris scrolls through the endless options and catalogs, seemingly uninterested in all of them. Why? She didn't know herself. All she knew was that she was bored and nothing cool was on.

Tris caught sight of the thriller show she and Mash had watched, pausing and scrolling back up to stare at it. She hovers her thumb over the play button, still unsure about whether she should watch it.

In all honesty, the show was amazing when they watched it. Tris was at the edge of her seat, waiting in anticipation as the bad guy was finally defeated through unfair means. Though she preferred when bad guys had a better advantage over the good guys, the show managed to convince her to try a couple other similar ones.

Off she went, proceeding to binge-watch for the rest of the day. She didn't notice when the sun had long set and her alarm clock began to ring.

Tris looks over, astounded that she spent the entire night doing something as unproductive as binge-watching shows.

Though... she didn't really mind it. Having a break every once in a while helps her calm down better.

And also helps her stop thinking about Mash. She had a feeling in her gut the past few days that something was going to happen. Didn't know what, but a promination is all it takes for Tris to spiral down the rabbit hole on Is Mash okay?? Do i need to come over and check on him????? Surely not, hopefully.

It was okay. She was okay. Tris took a couple breaths, and everything went back to normal.

A notification pops up on her phone. She opens up her messages to find it was Vince who texted her. She forgot she had gotten his number, whoops.

hi

mash wanted to say hi

he got sick but hes better now

is he okay???

yeah

pretty sure anyway

thats not helpful

thats all bye

pfft, alright

tell him i said hi too lol

Tris stares at the message, a smile forming on her face. 

The promination was most likely wrong. After all Mash was insanely strong, so much so Tris would consider him a demi-god of sorts. Who could even attempt at beating someone as strong as him?

Well, maybe if he was sick. That would be the only time at getting a chance at defeating him.

"GRAHHHH!!" Tris smacks herself in the face. "STOP THINKING ABOUT USELESS THINGS, DAMNIT." She grabs her coat, heads out her apartment, and slams the door behind her. A walk is just what she needs.

Chapter Text

"Mash won't be here for the next month or so," the Teacher informed Tristan, shuffling their papers and setting them on the desk. "Anything else?"

Tristan shakes his head, thanks them, and leaves quickly. Liz was waiting outside of the classroom, her arms crossed over one another while leaning on the wall. She turns to him with an annoyed look.

"What took you so long?"

The boy shrugs in response. "You don't need to worry about it. C'mon," he says, grabbing Liz's hand and pulling her to their next class, P.E.

P.E. passed quickly, although Tristan did get hit around, eh hem, eight times in the face. Most of it was from Vince's friend group unfortunately. They always had picked on him ever since he arrived at this high school, and even when Mash was there for him and was around with him most of the time, the group somehow managed to ensure that they'd ruin his day.

It had gotten worse with Mash leaving. Rats in his locker, the glances they'd give him when he turned his back, the way they managed to get the teacher to insult and berate Tristan. It was infuriating to not be able to do anything, but what could he do? He was rather weak compared to others, short for his age, and was a total bookworm. Hell, even his friend Liz was stronger than him.

A strategy that Tristan would use during the school day was to lie low, never standing out of place and keeping to himself. The pros of this was that he doesn't get bullied for most of the week, but when he does, it's worse than if he just acted normally in the first place.

Sometimes Liz would help with him staying out of sight,.but that was a rare case. The only reason why Tristan had been alright these past days was because of Mash, and now that he wasn't here...

It had gotten worse more than ever.

Liz and Tristan sit at their more iconic spot, the stone table situated far off compared to the other tables outside. It was older and run-down, but it was still in-tact, so the faculty kept it.

"Sumthin's up with you," Liz grumbled, chewing on the granola bar she has in her hand. "You've been acting more sluggish, annoyed even. You're never like that."

Tristan stopped eating his noodles, glancing up at her with a confused look. "I don't know what y-you're talkin' about."

"Oh shut your trap, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's because of Mash, ain't it? Always him and saving you from those bullies o' yours." Liz took another bite of the bar, placing the wrapper down onto the table and crinkling it up. 

"Frankly, I don't get why you liked him in the first place. He isn't smart, not the best at communicating, and is quite literally one of the most known kids in this school because of his great athleticism. Don't even get me started with his humour! Almost never makes any jokes, stays quiet for the entire day, and when he DOES make a joke, ITS BLAND."

Tristan didn't know what to say to Liz' rambling. He liked Mash for all exactly those reasons; it was a matter of preference whether you liked him or not. "Well, uhm.." He scratched the back of his head. "He'sss a nice guy, I guessss."

Liz scoffed. "So you like boring guys, eh? Or you attracted to him? You gay?" She raises an eyebrow at him, pointing accusingly at him. "You one of those homos?"

Tristan spat out the drink he had been sipping, astounded at the question that was asked of him. "No...? Why'd you think th-that?'

Liz glared at him for a couple more seconds before sighing, leaning back on the bench and stretching her arms. "Kayyyyy, whatever. I'm going now, cya." She stands up, shoves her wrapper down into the crevice of the table, and leaves.

The boy fiddles with his fingers for a bit, hesitantly reaching and picking up the garbage. Putting it into his pocket to dispose of later, Tristan sits up and goes back inside. Lunch was going to be over anyway; no need to stay here longer.

As normal, Tristan would get driven home by his father, who would frequently rant to him about all the troubles at work. He didn't mind, in fact he was happy that his father took the time to talk with him albeit with odd means.

It took around half an hour for them to get home.

"Tristan, welcome back home," Tristan's mother beamed at him, ruffling his curly hair and handing him a bowl of grapes. "I bought these just for you since you kept asking for them."

He looks down into the bowl, spotting a large scatter purple grapes. They were definitely ripe, not the kind that was soft and would squish juice out as soon as you picked it up.

Tristan smiles back, thanking his mother before heading into his room with the grapes. As he opened the door though, he caught a whiff of a pungent odor spreading about his room, one that made him gag on the spot and almost drop the grapes.

You've got to be kidding me. I just cleaned my room, why is it so stinky?

Tristan sighed in annoyance, going on the search for the source of the odor. Yet he found nothing, the only thing that could've maybe been the source - except Tristan didn't think so - was his pile of clothes tucked away neatly in the corner. They were dirty and mother never bothered to give him a basket, so it was normal of him to put them there.

Setting the grapes aside, he sat down and turned on his phone. Nothing interesting, it seems. Like the usual with phones. He looked back at the bookshelf from across the room, filled with thick, thin, odd books of all kinds. Mother had gotten it after witnessing his room and the absurd amount of books on his floor.

Tristan was glad that his mother cared enough to buy it for him. His fingers trail the top of the shelf, making its way down as he browsed over the books available.

None seemed intriguing enough to read, but maybe that was because he had already read them and knows all the plot twists.

He didn't like knowing the ending of stories. It ruined the mystery that was behind every untold book. Even when he was on his phone, he'd make sure to not get spoiled by anything that came his way.

Tristan sighs and sits back down on his bed, twirling his fingers around in boredom. Things were boring without Mash, he's realized awhile ago, now that he had nothing to do. He used to text Mash often, even if the boy responded in weird replies.

He laughs to himself as he scrolled at a couple conversations they had together.

Wheres the homeowkr?

for english?

Its in Ms. Os room

do u need the test sheet or sumthin

I need it.

Please.

But why tho

youre like a genius you dont need it

I neeeeeeeeeeeed it.

is that sarcasm 

🤓

Read, 1:56pm

mash what's your type for girls

or boys

sorry

gotta be inclusive

I don't like anyone right now.

no but like if you were to have a lover

No.

wow

Read, 10:45pm

You still up?

am i?

well you just texted me back so that's a yes

i wanted to ask you smth

okay, spill.

🧍

ok wutev

where did you used to go to besides this school?

cuz you moved in the middle of the semester

it was a big school, ig.

very big.

what was it like there?? 

competitive.

everyone wanted to be better than everyone.

sounds a lot like ours lol

yes but no.

people would die to get stronger.

It wasn't very nice there.

but i liked my friends, they made me happy and kept me going.

oh.

did anything funny happen there.

yeah. someone thought that climbing the building would be a good idea.

(it wasn't.)

I CAN IMAGINE LMAO

Memories that are between the two of them, ones so special to Tristan because it made him feel welcomed somewhere. It was hard for him to find a place he could call 'his own', but with Mash he felt like anywhere he'd go he'd be okay with.

The only thing that he was worried about now was if Mash was alright. He hasn't texted him, called, come to school, and seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth; Like he was just a figment of his imagination. But it couldn't be, because all the other teachers and students remembered him. They all remember how well he can play in PE, how bad he is in studying, at making friends, but most importantly they all remember how he managed to reprimand Vince without any consequences.

Tristan never got bullied from Vince specifically anymore. Although yes, his friends had gotten worse at bullying him, Vince himself left him alone. It gave Tristan a sense of comfort, knowing that Mash was able to convince Vince somehow.

He smiles as he continues to scroll through the messages, up until his thumb pauses on a specific sentence Mash had sent to him.

You are a good friend, Tristan.

He traces over the message with his thumb, a deep warmth covering his heart, like Mash reached out from the phone and hugged him, heart to heart.

Heart to heart. That's what Mash does. He gives a piece of his heart to everyone he meets, to everyone he talks to and comforts.

That's what makes him such a good person.

But then came way a more worrying thought: How much of his heart did he give to Vince? How much did he sacrifice to stop him from bullying Tristan?

Oh well. It's fine, it has to be. Mash would be alright when he comes back. He'll have a small smile on his face, like always, talking monotone but somehow having emotion intertwined within his words.

And Tristan would be glad that he's back.

However, when Tristan came back to school the very next day, he was surprised to find a brand new student at the front of the class, a bright beaming smile on their face and their hands clasped together.

"Hello. I'm Mash- Mashelle. Nice to meet you."

Chapter Text

The teacher clicks her tongue as they speak, a rather annoyed tone in their voice. "This is Mashelle, the new student who's registering late into this school year. Came from XXXX school, XXXXX. Why don't you introduce yourself, Mashelle?"

Students whispered quietly among each other, all glancing towards the brand new hot chick standing at the front of the classroom. Long black hair curling around the sides of her face, bangs that almost cover her honey-coloured eyes. Facial shape was perfect, her body like it came from a model from a magazine;

She was, quite literally, the definition of a hot and perfect girl within high school expectations.

The girl coughs, a nervous sweat appearing on the side of her cheek. She spoke in a soft tone, "Hello, I'm Mashelle. Nice to meet you all."

The boys in the back, even a couple girls swooned over the sound of her voice. It was like a lullaby to their ears.

Mashelle coughed again, fumbling around with her hands. "Well- uhm, some of my hobbies are gardening and body-building. I'm also quite an introvert, so I'm sorry if I'm not good at communicating." She squeezes her eyes shut, bowing slightly and taking her seat in an empty chair close to the teachers desk situated at the front.

The teacher nods, bored as ever as they continue from where they left off. "Alright. Grab your laptops and get to studying for the upcoming Chemistry Test."

One by one, students came and grabbed their designated numbered laptop, chattering amongst each other while doing so.

As Mashelle went to grab a laptop, however, a hand pulled her back and a laptop drops into her hands. Number 24, it read. That's Vince's laptop number.

Vince looked at Mashelle with a menacing smirk, reaching down into the cart to grab another laptop. "You're welcome, new girl," he whispers playfully, a mischievous gleam in his eye.

She looks at him with a less convincing, who are you? look, but thanks him and sits back down next to Tristan. From the corner of her eye, she could see Vince's lower lip tremble in anger, before huffing and leaning into the cart for another laptop.

Mashelle was less than interested in having to work on their upcoming Chemistry test, especially since she hadn't been here in a couple months and does not know what's been going down- oops. She's been here before?

Not to anyone's surprise, Mashelle was actually Mash, dressed up as a pretty damn convincing girl outfit and hair look. The face shape was the same as well as the eyes, but Vince had been thorough with making sure it wasn't obvious it was Mash. It would also be quite awkward if people found out he was cross-dressing.

The teacher speaks in a serious tone as the class sets their laptops up. "As we get farther into the school year, you all should be prepared for the end of the year exam thats coming up. I will give you the appropriate sites and tips, but it is ultimately up to you whether you can pass this exam." They glance at Mash. "Mashelle, come here for a minute."

Mash stands up, and waddles over to the front desk where the teacher was sitting, arms crossed and a serious look on their face.

"Mashelle," they begin, their fingers pondering through their unorganized files. "Since you've arrived here a lot later into the year, I'll let you have a lower passing grade to make it fair." Their eyes flick back up at him. "Instead of having to get 65%, you have to get at least 50% for a passing grade."

Mash gulps, nodding hesitantly. "Yes sir-" but gets cut off by the teacher.

"If you fail to show your evidence of learning and how you've grown in your academics, specifically math," they pause, their eyes looking into Mash's eyes. "I'll be sure to fail you and contact your parents."

The mushroom hair - now long banged girl nods her head, muttering a hesitant, "Yes, sir," before sitting back down again.

The teacher gave looks towards Mash for the rest of the class, sometimes even purposely putting him in the spotlight to solve questions. Mash didn't know them, but managed just barely thanks to the classmate beside him, Tristan.

After class ended, however, the first thing Mash did was make his way over to Tristan. He was at his locker, grabbing some heavy thick books for who knows what. They weren't any of the ones that Mash had seen him with the few months prior, though he supposed that was to be expected.

Footsteps gradually became louder as two feet in black sneakers walked up to the nerd boy. It was Mashelle, with a hand on her hip and an odd... distrustful glint in her eye.

Tristan turns around in surprise at the tap on his shoulder, immediately freaking out by the look she was giving. "AHSHFJFKSLLF- What the- Uhm, hi, did you need s-something?" He coughs, his hands clasped next to his body like glue. Mashelle was holding an odd looking purple lunchbox on one hand and something else on the other, something that Tristan couldn't see from where he was standing.

Mashelle leans forward for a better look at his locker before swiftly putting her secret hand in and depositing a lined piece of paper. She waves goodbye and leaves right after.

Tristan stands there, frozen and without a train of thought. He turns around slowly, his hand reaching for the paper and flipping it open. The handwriting seemed familiar, as if he had seen it before. Though it was definitely rushed, Tristan was still able to read the contents of the paper.

[ Sorry for having to use Mashelle to bring this paper to you. I'm okay Tristan. I'm just being hunted down by the FBI or whatev they're called. Mashelle knows about this so be friends with her. Bye.    -  Mash ]

Tristan pauses, his eyes scanning the paper over and over again, his hands trembling as his eyes slightly tear up. He tucks the piece of paper into his pocket, his thumb rubbing against the corner before pulling his hand out, and just... standing there. He turns around to see a missing Mashelle; Perhaps she knew that he'd be this emotional over knowing his friend was okay.

Could Mash even be considered a friend though? They had barely hung out, Tristan remembers, and the few times that they truly did hang was for school work and whatnot. They never bothered to know each other's interests and would merely give a wave to each other when they passed through the walls.

But Tristan considered Mash a friend. Mash was someone who he could trust, and that was all he needed. He clutches the books in his arms ever so tighter, a small smile coming over his face at the small chance that maybe, just maybe, he could be friends with Mashelle too.

That he'd learn how to talk normally with people.

Mash ran out of there as soon as possible, barely managing to not be spotted by Tristan. Mash wasn't worn out from running that fast - it wasn't his fasted anyway - so out of pure boredom Mash began to roam the outside skirts of the school grounds.

There seemed to be more garbage cans about, as well as the tables seeming a lot more refined than before. He was glad for that, since he'd seen the other kids throw a fit about how bad the tables were the few months prior. In all honesty though, they were never that bad in the first place - people were just overly picky, he supposed. 

As Mash continued walking along the schools walls, he comes across his old sitting area, tucked away at the back of the school. It was the same as before, the broken concrete, the bland walls with weird holes in them, the familiar smell of garbage; It was all here.

And there, leaning on the wall and sucking on a lollipop, was Vince, who at the sight of Mash gave a menacing smirk.

Mash almost rolled his eyes at the sight of him.

"Wassup," he grinned, a popping sound coming from him pulling the lollipop out of his mouth. "Didn't expect to see you here, Mash- elle."

Mash nods, albeit hesitantly. "I thought I'd check out the school grounds." It was a lie, of course. He wanted to sit down and eat in his happy little corner at the back of the school, but thanks to a certain someone, he couldn't.

Vince lowered his gaze at the lunch box in Mash's hands, standing up and gesturing towards the wall. "Go ahead, I won't bother a girl." He puts on that same smirk again.

Mash doesn't notice, or maybe he just didn't care. He sits down, opens his lunchbox, and munches on his creampuff sandwich.

Vince, although having said he wouldn't bother Mash directly, still managed to annoy him in other ways, which was difficult to say the least.

Well, not really. All Vince had to do was be near or beside Mash and that'd be enough to bother the mushroom boy. He took out his own snacks, all junk and other treats that Mash had never seen before. He debated on asking him what they were, but went against it since that'd just convince Vince to start yapping again. So he kept quiet, finished up his creampuff, and went back inside the building.

Vince watched as he went inside, the smirk on his face overthrown by a concerned frown. He pulls out his phone and begins to text someone, his eyebrows furrowing as the receiver proceeds to say something obnoxious.

"You fucker," he grumbled angerly, gripping his phone tightly before pushing it back into his pocket. He throws his lollipop into the bin next to him and follows Mash once he'd cooled off.

Mash arrived back into the hideout along with Vince. Why Vince came? He didn't know himself. But it was obvious that he was up to no good.

"Raynneeee, pass me some of the sheets you're workin' on," he paused before adding a "Pretty please?" to his question. 

Rayne scoffs, looking down at Vince and swatting him away. "No. Go home, Vince. You have no need to be here." He proceeds to cast a spell that makes the papers in his hands disappear - presumably to his office.

Vince scowls in response, but says nothing else and slumps over onto the couch. "There's nothin' to dooooo hereeeeee. I wanted to stay with y'aaaall since this world is borrrring but even you'reeeeeee boringggg. Let me go to your world, how about that?" He clicked his fingers like he made some great idea of sorts.

Rayne rejected his request, told him to go home once again, and shortly after left to get back to work. The only people that were now in the living room was Mash, Vince, and... 

Sophina?

How long has it been since Sophina was seen?

She was standing next to a wall next near the TV, reading a book that was way too complicated for Mash's puny brain. The only difference that Mash could see with Sophina since the last time he saw her was the fact that her hair was more frizzy and she seemed burnt out. Like something was taking all her energy and she was barely holding on.

In fact, Mash wasn't able to notice at first because of the book hiding her eyes, but when did she get such large eyebags?

As if Sophina could feel Mash watching her, her eyes glance up at him. "Do you need something?" She asks, her voice polite as always. That's a relief, at least.

Vince butts in before Mash is able to speak. "Where have you been, m'lady? I haven't seen you in months!!" He grins, leaning back on the couch. "T'was worried that you died or sumthin'."

Sophina raises an eyebrow in response. "What is with the way you're speaking right now? It sounds horrid coming from you."

The boy paused, gritting his teeth and standing up. "I was TRYING to be polite, but I guess even that doesn't suite your taste?" he begins to speak with a  sour tone in his voice. "What's next? You want me to be Prince Charming, like in the book you're reading?"

"The books I read have delicate writing with their way of words. They have almost no such thing as 'romance', or even your ridiculous thoughts of 'Prince Charming'. I suggest you find better books to read than read stories meant for children." The entire time she spoke, her speech weren't harsh and was consistently polite, even with the vulgar language included.

Mash slowly makes his way to his room as the two begin to bicker once again. It had been awhile since he's since this, he's realized, but he assumed that every time those two interacted, it would turn into a fight.

Maybe they both really really liked fighting with words, he knew Vince did - along with regular fighting - but perhaps Sophina had a weird kink for it. Not that he knew so, but it was a thought to think about.

Or not. Definitely not.

Closing his bedroom door, Mash glances down at the gym equipment scattered about, making sure not to step on any as he made his way to his bed. He sits down, staring at the wall and thinking of nothing in particular.

How was Mash doing? He didn't know himself. Sure, dressing up as a Mashelle was fun (or humiliating) but it almost felt the same as any other day.

He sighs, picking up a 200 pound dumbbell and lifting it. Hopefully tomorrow will be more eventful. Not too eventful, but just enough to convince Mash that what he was doing at the moment was worth it.

Chapter Text

Mash watches as the class erupts into cheers at the boy who managed to goal the last score, resulting in their team to win. They never included him all that much, to be frank, because he would stand far away and do his best not to get passed with the fly, (Was that what they called it? Mash didn't know) and in return no one would talk to him.

Except Tristan. Tristans been getting awfully more comfortable around Mash. That was fine in itself, but as time went by yet again, it got more and more obvious that Tristan was trying to find something about this 'Mashelle.'

Tristan scratches something about math onto his lined sheet of paper, seemingly focused on the subject at hand. Mashelle, on the other hand, was having a very difficult time at figuring out what they were supposed to do. Since when did Math include cats?

The teacher continued to rant, however, not leaving Mashelle nearly enough time to digest what the information actually was. So during the majority of that time in class, she'd spend it just doodling random things on her note sheet. She wasn't good by any means, never wanted to get good at it in the first place, but it was something to do. Some of the kids in her class were seriously talented, though. 

Class ended quicker than she realized.

Next class was drama, and it was alright. The teacher was a little too extroverted and loud for her tastes, but other than that it was fine. Nothing interesting happened either. All normal things.

Now lunch - unfortunately for Mash, both Tristan and Vince wanted to hang out with him during this time. And well, that's not exactly what he had in mind. He wanted to chill at the back of the school as always, eat his creampuffs, think about nothing while eating said creampuffs, and then head back inside again for the next class. The two boys who sat right beside him on either side, however, had other plans.

Tristan fumbled around with his snacks, casting nervous glances at Vince every minute or so. He kept shuffling around and apologizing for doing so, but it was obvious that he was uncomfortable with Vince. He never tried to speak up about it though, seemingly staying just for the sake of Mashelle.  

Vince, on the other hand, kept complaining while leaning on Mashelle. 

"Tristan, can you leave?" He asked, his tone harsh and annoyed. "Mashelle and I want to be alone here." He scooched closer to emphasize his point, wrapping an arm around the girl. 

Tristan shook his head slightly after awhile. "Mashelle s-said she was okay with me being here with her," he explains, taking another bite of his sandwich. "I'll leave if Mashelle wants me to."

Vince scowled in response. "Oh really? When did she say that? I don't remember?"

"How could you? We're on the other s-side of the classroom. You wouldn't be able to hear that far, and I don't want you to anyway," he paused after saying so, realizing exactly what words came out of his mouth. He clamps his mouth shut.

Vince's eyes narrow at Tristan. "What'd you say? You can't say anything, especially since you stutter every goddamn second." 

Oh.

Mash comes to a realization.

Vince used to bully Tristan before he joined the school, before he befriended both of them and they managed to settle things without him needing to confront them about it. Honestly, he can't even recall them ever talking about it, the only faint thing that he could recall being Vince and his friends talking shit about the two of them behind their backs. That was only for a small time for Mash, but maybe it'd been going longer for Tristan.

Bullying wasn't cool, Mash was pretty sure Vince knew that, and he also should know that Mash wasn't cool with it either, but here he was, suddenly badmouthing Tristan. Mash never realized just how... bad of a person Vince can be.

And Vince didn't stop.

"Wait-" Mashelle tried to interrupt, only for Vince to stand up and walk over to Tristans side of the wall, slamming his fist into it; Right next to Tristans head. 

"Just because I've been letting you off for the past month doesn't mean you can retaliate," he warns, his face almost touching Tristans. He glares into the smaller boys eyes, almost daring him to back down and see what happens.

Tristans breath hitches, his eyes filled with fear as he crawls up against the wall to try and gain as much space between the two of them. It didn't work though, with Vince just moving closer and yanking his hair to the ground.

Tristan winces in pain, his hands going up to try and remove Vince's hand but being stopped by his foot, which stepped on one of his wrists. It hurts.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND? DO YOU HEAR ME?" He groans as his head collides with the ground, his wrist on fire as Vince pushes more weight onto it. He couldn't even move his other hand because of how Vince was holding him down. Fuck, he has to get out of here- he needs to-  he has- 

"Enough." The hand gripping his hair goes loose and a cry of pain follows. His wrist flicks upwards at the release, and he rolls over in pain. The cry wasn't from Tristan though. He looks up, his hands over his head.

But what he saw was something he'd never expect. Something he'd never think of seeing in the first place. His mouth hangs open slightly, before it closes. Mashelle.... What.....

Mashelle was holding Vince to the ground, almost in the same pose as Tristan was in, except much more brutal and painful looking. Vince's face was covered with blood, his face having been scraped against the concrete floor. The look in Mashelles eyes was something- something that wasn't from here. Something that wasn't human-

Like she didn't belong here.

Vince hissed in pain as Mashelle held him, only stopping once she seemed to realize what she was doing and letting go of him immediately. She stares at her also scraped hands while Vince visibly gagged, turning around and lunging right back at Mashelle. She didn't do anything nearly as horrible as before, her face now semi-calm as she easily swung Vince off her. throwing him to the ground.

She had to be holding back, Tristan felt it. She was holding back because she knew she could injure him more than what he'd just seen.

He scrambles onto his feet, grabs his lunch, and leaves as quickly as his scrawny legs could take him. He takes as many breaths as possible while fixing up his scuffed hair, wiping the gravel off of his face and making his way into the building. 

He tries so hard to ignore the glaring eyes that the other kids give him as he ran inside.

Mash lets him go, looking back down at the terrified Vince. "What the hell..." Vince whispers, fear in his eyes. It was the first time that Mash had seen this look on Vince.

Just what... 

"I'm sorry," he says quickly, bowing apologetically. "I didn't want you two to fight, it was getting out of hand."

Vince stumbled as he stood up quickly, his eyebrows furrowing. "Out of hand? OUT OF HAND? WHAT YOU DID TO ME WAS OUT OF HAND, WHAT THE FUCK." He almost raised a fist towards Mash, but halted and reared back, instead using this moment to wipe the dust off of himself.

"No, I don't like how you bully Tristan. What'd he even do to you?"

Vince scowled and retorted, "You don't need to know! That's my fuckin' business."

Mash pauses for a second, trying to calm the situation. "But Tristan's my friend and-"

"You're a fuckin' bastard, not a friend," he spat, throwing him a middle finger and leaving shortly after.

Mash stood there, watching Vince walk away before looking down at his messed-up hands. 

He was probably right on that; Even Mash can admit it.

He had gone out of hand. He didn't mean to use that much strength, but he forgot that people in this world are much weaker when fighting. Mash had never fought in this world, physically at least. There was no reason to, unlike back in his homeland where it was pretty much the norm, and everyone was much stronger.

He'd only meant to restrain Vince, not tackle him like he did to Tristan.

....

...Tristan probably thinks that Mashelle was the one to do this, but did that make this situation any better? Was what Mash did really worth it?

If only Tris could confirm his troubles. If only Pops or Headmaster Wahlberg or anyone who he could trust would tell him so. If only Dot, Lance, Lemon, and Finn could be here for him and help him solve these issues. He was never good with emotions; he knew this himself. He needed someone to lean on - someone who could talk to him and comfort him.

He walks off school property, knowing the teachers would most likely not care about his lack of presence anyway, making his way to the only place he wanted to be at the moment. 

He entered the building, making his way over to the elevator and tapping on the buttons and visiting each floor until one seemed familiar to him. Until it was that one door number that someone, someone he loved, lived in. 

And then it was in front of him. The doorplate 427 slanted sideways as always on its hinge, right at the very end of the hall. 

Mash made his way over, slowly. Each step was like an attack to his heart, beating faster and faster until he was face-to-face with it. With the door that may or may not have Tris on the other side.

Why did he come here? He could get caught. There's cameras in here, ones that would definitely catch him and put both him and Tris in danger. He should go back and think things over and inform Rayne that he wants to go back and see his friends and family and home and everything he's been missing. He wanted everything back from before.

He raises his hand to the door, his knuckles inches away from knocking. He stares at the number on the door, reminding himself over and over of what he's about to do. He stands there, letting himself hesitate as his hand fell slightly.

He takes a breath and raises his hand again.

And he goes back into the elevator, back out the door, and back into the base where the Divine Visionaries were staying. He closes his door behind him, and crawls onto his bed, stuffing his face into his pillows. 

He wouldn't cry. He never cried, that wasn't who he was. 

He was going to be okay.

...

Mash takes a creampuff out of his pocket and munches on it.

Tris unlocks her room key and walks inside her room, flopping onto her bed and stuffing her face onto the blankets. She grumbles something intangible, not wanting to get up.

Going outside was horrible - she hated it. She hates it so much, she doesn't want to go outside anymore.

Okay, well maybe she'll go out for groceries, but other than that she won't go out. Her recovery idea was fruitless. Tris wouldn't get better, that was just how she was.

She sits up after awhile, her hand trailing over the wet blanket sheets. Damnit. She stands up and shuts the bathroom door behind her, the sound of flowing water following. 

"FUCK!!"

Chapter Text

The broomracing competition didn't last as long as Lance thought it would. In fact, by the time he had crossed the finish line, the announcer had already left because everyone else had already made it. Finn was waiting for him while Dot and Lemon were still catching up on the race.

Lance sat down next to Finn, staying silent. The atmosphere was uncomfortable, and he knew that it was his fault, but at the moment he'd prefer not to speak.

Finn kept glancing his way however, his fingers fumbling around nervously as he tried to open his mouth to speak, but closing it after some thought and just staring at the ground below instead.

Okay. The silence was getting a bit overwhelming. Lance had to say something to calm it down, otherwise when Dot and Lemon come back they'll be greeted with the most awkward tension, and he didn't really want that.

He coughs, "So, how's your day?"

Finn almost looks startled at the question, his eyes darting up at Lance with confusion. "...Good, thanks," he says after awhile, nodding. "Uhm... What about you?"

"Good." It went silent again, the two not really knowing what to say. Maybe asking that question was stupid, after all small talk wasn't really Lance's thing.

Luckily, they could see Dot and Lemon making their way over, seemingly having a.great conversation. "I told you, I am the main character," Dot huffed, looking up at the two waiting and waving to them. "Hi," he whispers before continuing his conversation with Lemon.

Finn waves to the two of him, putting a smile on his face as he stands up and walks towards him, Lance following behind blindly. He wasn't really paying attention at this point, kinda just doing whatever the friend group was doing. By the time he had realized they had all sat down in Finn's dorm room and were playing a different version of Go Fish, it was too late to back out.

Lance fumbles with the cards placed in his hands, placing a queen of spades and hoping for the best. He was never that good at games.

Dot wasn't in his dorm room as always, so Lance took that as a sign to work on his journal. He didn't really have anything to write, since ever since the encounter with that weird... figure, nothing has been happening. Not even one notice of someone disappearing.

That didn't stop Lance though, nono. That just made him more determined to figure out why everything was the way it was.

He tucks his journal inside his robe, which was the one Anna gave him, and headed to the library, specifically the section where it explains mana and its mysteries and stuff. Lance wasn't overly interested in how mana worked, but he was definitely looking for why mana existed and such. 

Because mana was probably the only reason why Mash disappeared. Lance had been thinking for awhile that maybe, due to Mash's lack of mana, that mana made him - poof. Lance furrows his brows at his theory, knowing that it was false. At the time that Mash had disappeared, the Divine Visionaries had followed suite, as well as many other bystanders. 

(He was glad that Anna wasn't one of them, but he was worried that it was plausible.)

Anyhow, most of the books that were on the shelves were of no use, making Lance more and more frustrated as time went on. Nothing was being of use.

The Librarian, who had been watching him for a bit, waves him over. "What are you looking for?" They ask once Lance walks close enough, a warm smile plastered on their face as they point to the mana isle. "I saw that you were frustrated about something with those books."

"How was mana created?" Lance asks, waiting patiently for the dumbfounded Librarian to speak. 

They cough, clearly not expecting what he had asked. "I mean... It's always been here. I see no reason for a book to write such a short... erm.... story, about 'mana has been in this world as long as it had been created'." They shrug before leaning their head on the back of their hand. "You doubting the research that hundreds of scientists have concluded? That humanity as a whole had realized?"

"...." He didn't know what to say. This Librarian wasn't helping, so he might as well just leave. However, as he does so, they call from behind him.

"I have books that you're looking for. In the compartment behind me." 

Lance turns, raising an eyebrow as they glide over with their movable chair and look through the many stacked and unwrapped books, eventually stopping and pulling out around 20ish books. They place it on top of the table, a michievious smirk on their face. "Is this enough?"

"I don't know if it's exactly what I'm looking for though," Lance ushers, only for the Librarian to interrupt him and stand up.

Oh, he hadn't even noticed that they had purple scraggy hair hidden behind their big round glasses. "This is exactly what I've been searching for in all my years of being a Librarian. Someone who defies the status quo."

Lance immediately takes a step back, alarmed by how excited they were acting. "Nono it's fine I'll just-"

"NO," they say sternly, the smirk still viewable as they come from out of their little Librarian spot and towards Lance. "These books are banned from almost anywhere, and I've been dying for someone to be like me; Curious."

"Look, look, you don't have to put as much effort as me, but it'd be very appreciated if you were to join me in this ongoing project of mine. This is something that, I feel, everyone should have put more research into."

What is this person saying, I just wanted the goddamn books-

They look back at the books, before back at him with a pleading look. "Please."

Lance stares back, his eyebrows furrowing. "No." And with that, he leaves.

As he left, however, he swore he could see a defeated look from the Librarian as they turn back to the books, carefully picking them up and putting them back from where they had taken them from.

He sighs, rolling his eyes. He didn't want to delve into some random research project anyway, he can find somewhere else that'll have clues for him.

He pauses as he brings his thoughts back to the forest that had the mysterious creature residing inside, a lightbulb lighting up in his head. Why hadn't I thought of this sooner? he thought bitterly to himself. 

How hadn't he? It was an obvious decision he should've done a long time ago- he's such a fucking idiot.

Lance races over to his dorm room, practically slamming the door open and diving underneath his bed for the notebook. Pulling it out, he quickly writes, 'going back into the forest. will report during time there.' 

However, as he makes his way out the dorm room (since there's a rule to no using your powers in your dorm room, and they even have a detection system for it.) he finds a certain red head standing there, a concerned look on his face as he spots Lance and waves to him.

"Lance."

He steps towards him, crossing his arms. 

"Where you goin'?"

Lance shrugs. "Just going into town to get supplies, that's all." He makes sure that the notebook is tucked away out of sight for Dot. He'd never want that man, of all people, to find out about this. 

Though he was sure that Finn probably knows already.

Dot narrows his eyes slightly, but he shrugs and nods. "Kay, whatever. Just letting you know that mana around the area has been acting up and it's harder to find and, or, use now."

"What." What.

"Wait wait wait, hold on-" Lance tries to speak, but Dot had already turned the other way. He looks down at his wand for a moment, gritting his teeth and heading into the bathroom nearby.

Once he'd locked himself inside one of the bathroom stalls, he pulls out his wand and twirls it around for a good moment, trying to see if he could feel a sort of difference in the weight, or just anything in general. 

It seemed fine, so he flicks it upwards with his wrist and quietly chants, "Traseez," pointing it to the toilet paper beside him. Now this ability usually allows him to change an object into something else, and it never took that long or made him feel dizzy in any way. It was an easy spell.

So when he casts the ability, and suddenly gets a massive headache, he stops.

"Ahah... Ahahah, where the hell did Dot even get that information?" he laughs to himself, sitting down on the toilet seat and putting his hands to his face. "....Goddamnit."

This definitely had something to do with that weird creature back then in the forest, how it told him it wasn't time or some stupid sentence. Mana? Of all things, suddenly not working? The singular thing that allows this world to function? It wasn't right, it didn't make sense in Lance's mind.

He wanted to write it all down, but the throbbing in his head only continued to get worse, and frankly he felt like throwing up. The world around him was spinning, his body failing to get itself to stop moving as it tumbled over and banged itself onto the stall. He groans, rubbing his head but unable to do anything else.

He didn't understand what was going on. He did one spell, one measly small spell, and he might just pass out because of it. Scratch that, he probably will from the way his gut keeps acting up.

There must be... something I can do, he trembles as he reaches into his robe and tries to see if anything would help. His wand wouldn't, the notebook and pen wouldn't. What could- ?

There was a creampuff neatly tucked away at the back of his robe. Lance stops for a moment, his eyes staring at it. 

Mash wouldn't be so conflicted from this. 

He would... he would try and solve the problem directly.

That's what he'd do. At least, I think he would.

Hesitantly, Lance reaches into the back pocket, pulling out the creampuff and bringing it towards his face. He almost forgets to open his mouth when the cream started dripping onto his lips and down his neck. He takes a bite bigger than he can handle, however, almost gagging half of it as he forces himself to swallow. 

He knew that this wasn't the thing he had to do. He had to bring up his wand with his shaking hands, and cast a spell to make himself temporarily pass out or teleport him to the infirmary. The infirmary would be much better than in here.

But he continued to eat, forcing the entire thing down and wiping his lips. He didn't feel better, in any way, and frankly he just wanted to pass out even more. But the thought of Mash somehow brought him to his knees, as he stumbles out of the bathroom stall and into the halls.

Lance didn't know where he was heading as he wandered, his vision all fuzzy to him, only able to make out shapes in front of him. He walks forward, almost slamming his head into a door as he turns the knob, frustrated that it wouldn't open until he could hear a click from the other side and a loud gasp heard as the door swung open.

"Lance... LANCE?" A voice quite familiar to him, yet he couldn't put his finger on it as he falls limp into the strangers arms, huffing. 

He wraps an arm around them. "Please... just... give me some water... " he manages to say as the stranger carefully lifts him onto their bed and hurryingly went to get some water from the water fountain nearby.

When they came back, Lance's head was lifted slightly as they handed him a glass of water. He thanks them before chugging the entire thing.

"Lance... Are you okay?" They ask, sitting down next to them.

He turns to them, his eyes half lidded. "Who are... you?" 

"It's me, Lemon. You walked into my door and tried to get in. Are you okay?" She asks again, the worried tone in his voice clearer now.

Lance stares at the figure, before nodding as he notices the cute bow on her hair. "Oh, Lemon. Sorry. I'll go." He tries to sit up but is forced down by Lemon, who had grabbed a thick heavy blanket and laid it on Lance.

"Don't leave. You're sick," She says sternly, taking a deep breath. But Lance raises his hand to stop her from saying more.

"Did... did Dot tell you about the mana thing?"

Lemon pauses, like she had gotten caught or something. "The mana thing?"

"Mana isn't mana'ing anymore. It's all.. fuzzy.. now."

Lemon stares at him for a moment before sighing. "I mean.. I guess I could tell. I'm not able to detect nearly as much mana as before. It's almost like-" she pauses again. "Wait, Lance, did you cast a spell?-"

Lance groans in response, fumbling around with his fingers before giving her a slight nod. He couldn't really tell, but he was sure that she was clearly upset. Whether at herself or him, he didn't know.

"Okay, well. I want you to get some rest, and then once you get better we'll... talk to Headmaster Wahlberg about it or something."

He tries to argue with her, but she presses a finger to his lips. "No. Sleep first."

Lance rolls his eyes at it, but even he could feel sleep gnawing at him. He rolls over, pulling the cover over his head and curling up into a tight ball. He closes his eyes, and for once in his life, he's worried about something other than Anna.

Himself.

It always took awhile for her to get there, since she had to use her broom to fly her way over, and the fact that she wasn't really a good broom flyer in general wasn't much of a good thing. Luckily, she arrives safely and makes it to Regro's home.

She knocks on the door, brushing whatever invisible dirt that had been collecting on her.

"...Hello?" Regro asks as the door creaks open, his eyes widening in surprise as he saw Lemon standing outside of his home. Regro looked a lot more fatigued, baggy eyes and scruffy attire, his hair - and beard - tied up into a singular ponytail. It looked quite painful, Lance will admit.

"Mash's father, I have something to ask of you," Lemon says, pleading with him. "Please."

Regro tilts his head, raising an eyebrow but not questioning the rather pleading look on Lemon. "Go ahead. What do you need?"

"Your wand."

He pauses in confusion. "My... wand? What do you need my wand for?" 

Lemon fiddles with his fingers nervously. "I promise that I'll get you a new one," she adds, "I need it so I can heal someone. Please?"

Regro seems startled at her words, trying to calm her down a bit. "Wait wait, calm down just a bit. You need someone to be healed with my wand? My wand isn't good for-"

"Lance needs mana to heal him. I think he got sick with the sickness that his younger sister has."

Regro presses his lips together, contemplating on what he should do. "But he was a healthy young man last time I saw him, besides the disorientated look in his eyes."

Lemon raises an eyebrow, getting slightly impatient. "That doesn't seem healthy- Anyway. I promise to bring you a new wand, fresh n' stuff. Just give me your wand."

Regro sighs before pulling it out of his pocket, holding it tightly while asking, "How did Lance get sick?"

"There's been a lack of mana all around in general apparently. I don't know much about it," she shrugs, "but it seems like it's been affecting everyone." She pauses, looking up at him. "Have you... had any incidents like that?"

"Besides the news of people disappearing? No, not really. There seems to be an abundance of mana within this forest. Let's just hope it stays that way."

Lemon slowly nods before bringing her hand out. "Now the wand, please."

Regro places his wand into her hands, still looking a bit nervous about the whole thing.

As Lemon tucks it away safely and gets ready to fly back home on her broom, Regro calls from behind her, "Tell Lance to come here when he's healthy again! I have something to tell him!"

She nods again to him, before taking off into the sky and making her way back. 

It seemed it was more difficult to fly on her broom lately, she realized, her broom sometimes dipping down without her knowing and almost zigzagging around. 

She shakes it out of her head though, keen on trying to make Lance feel better.

After all, the both of them were in the same boat, she was just better at hiding it.

Chapter Text

Lemon was tired after taking care of Lance's passed out body for who knows how long. Multiple times throughout the day, Dot and Finn had come to visit the two of them, but they never did anything useful and left sooner after. Even Finn's powers weren't working since there was a lack of magic, the despair clear on his face as he stared at Lance's unconscious body. 

Lemon felt guilty the entire time they tried to help him, knowing that there probably wasn't a way to cure him right now. 

It was her fault that Lance had gotten this sick, that he was passed out in his bed, muttering utter nonsense as his fever sometimes spiked.

But weirdest of all, he'd mutter Mash's name under his breath, and when he did so, it was like the fever calmed down ever so slightly.

She was grateful for that, since that usually meant she could relax, albeit for small periods of time before having to sit up again and put a new cold damp cloth on Lance's forehead.

Now, should we explain why Lemon had supposedly caused this whole situation? 

Back when Lance had been avoiding the others, Lemon was frustrated at his reluctance to do anything, staying in his room all day and doing nothing. Like sure, you're grieving for your friend, but it seemed a bit more than just that. Even she wasn't as sad, and she was Mash's wife.

That was until she spotted him sneaking out of his room one day with an odd-looking robe and notebook stashed away in his pocket.

She followed him, very carefully at that, not wanting to get caught by the two-liner. She followed him into the forest, where the ground began to turn into mush, and it was getting increasingly harder to step quietly behind him.

It didn't feel long, however, when Lemon felt a tremble on the ground for each step a certain creature took, fear overtaking her as she darted behind one of the more thick-rooted trees. She just barely managed not to get caught as Lance snapped his head around where she had been standing, walking over and taking a look at the mud. 

She held her breath, hoping that he wouldn't pay any mind to it. He didn't though, and that was what made her more worried.

Lance was smart, smarter than her even. Lemon didn't have the greatest handle over her powers, and wasn't even strong at that. She was just her, Lemon. So when THE Lance, the only two-liner within their friend group, the one who's most likely the smartest of them all - but not the most rational - dismissing the fact that there's a second batch of footprints, she was beginning to think that something was amiss. 

She had no time to think otherwise about this though, as a large tree monster was stepping towards them, making her fall as the ground shook with each step it took. She literally had to hold onto the tree for dear life so she wouldn't jump at every step. Damn her and being short.

Eventually, the creature left and out stumbled Lance, who seemed more determined than ever. Probably to capture it, Lemon assumed, as he waved his wand in the air and got to work.

Her stomach begins to grumble and she sighs, waiting for Lance to finish up whatever he was doing and start walking again. She was sure that if they kept going, they'd find a way out, but it was Lance and Lance tended to overthink things.

Lemon perked her head over, watching as Lance was almost finished with whatever kind of trap he was doing. Pretty sure it's a new one, since I've never seen him use roots for his powers. Frankly, I've never seen anyone use roots with their powers. Wonder if anyone uses them. 

As she continued to think about random and off-topic things in her head, she hadn't noticed that Lance was already ready to lure the creature into his trap, and when she suddenly jumped up in alarm, she shook her head quickly to rid of such thoughts and focused on watching Lance.

Now, to fast things a bit forward - and to avoid having to explain every little detail all over again but in Lemon's perspective, let's move on forward to when Lance was suddenly transported back to the front of Regro's house.

Lemon wasn't. She was stuck in the forest still, and the creature knew she was there as it kneeled down and stared her in the eye, its white eyes seemingly digging into her skin and peeling it layer by layer. Lemon shudders at the thought, her arms instinctively wrapping around herself to confirm that her skin was still intact.

She paused, however, when she noticed something on the creatures face. "Is that-? Is that makeup?" She barely muttered out, breathless.

The creature stared at her for a moment longer, before a low growl comes from deep within it. It must've been some sort of chuckle, because Lemon was picked up gently by its hand and led up into the sky. Lemon held in her scream, holding onto one of the creatures many branches, intertwined into a sort of human hand.

"Lemon," the creature spoke, tilting its head slightly as it continued to gaze into her eyes.

Lemon gulped, nodding slightly. "Yup, uhm, that's me."

The creature growls again, tilting its head at her. "It is a pleasure to meet you," it spoke, "He's been waiting."

"Waitwait- who?" Lemon stumbles with her words, confused as to what this creature was yapping on about. Just who's been waiting for her? "Are you talking about Mash?" she adds, a hopeful tone in her voice.

The creature shakes its head. "No, Mash is doing something very important as of now. He has no time to visit you, and soon you too will be the same."

"I don't understand."

"I understand that, but let me explain myself."

Lemon clutched her fists. "No. Why isn't Lance allowed to know this? I just saw him, fuckin- fucking disappear!! And you expect me to listen to you when this could be something dangerous?

"And also, how do you know if I won't tell anyone? I could literally tell Lance about you as soon as I get back. You have nothing on me, you're just-"

"But you don't want to get caught, do you?" It said, a curly like smile spreading across its slanted face. "If he knew that you followed him, do you think that in his state of mind right now, he'll be accepting of what you say?"

Lemon cursed under her breath, staying quiet for a moment before reluctantly saying, "Okay then. What is it that you want me to do, huh?"

The creature nods, another low grumble coming out of it - except the branches that intertwined the limbs of the creature began to shake and start shaping back into straight trees, tumbling onto the mud below.

It stops, glancing down before closing its eyes. "For now, we want you to find five gems of mana. They'll be bright and easy to spot, don't you fret dear, located around your homeland somewhere. Come back and you'll find the answer of the question you've been seeking."

Before Lemon was able to protest and ask questions about what exactly she was going to do, the creature bent its head down towards her. "If you do so, we will also tell you where Mash is."

Lemons eyes widened, but her mouth doesn't open fast enough as she feels herself slipping from the creature's grasp, a white blinding light suddenly covering her vision.

"Lemon, it will be all okay," it assured, its voice fading away.

When Lemon kept going missing multiple times during those past few days, she was actually searching for the mana gems.

During her attempts to find such gems - in which she had no clues as to where they were - Dot went out to find and bring her back to the event going on. Lemon wasn't really interested in that whole broomracing competition, mainly because she sucked at it, but also because she had better things to do.

She did have a nice talk with him though, she will admit. Felt like she could ease up a bit and relax along with the others. Comparing it to her friends is kind of a bad example, since they too, are paranoid and freaky.

Whatever. Lemon used the rest of her time searching for these gems wherever they were.

She couldn't find any at first, until she did.

It was behind some sort of garbage dump area, its yellow hue glistening like a sore thumb out of all the other trash. She walked over to it, picking it up.

However, she hadn't expected for the gem to literally float out of her hands and go inside her. 

"What the-" Lemon stammered, feeling some sort of thing in her gut. Most notably though, she felt like she could see more mana around, see her surroundings better and react faster.

She opens and closes her fists, not sure exactly what to do with this. She turns around, looking at the academy where her friends lived in.

Would they notice? Hopefully not. They better not, she didn't want to get caught because she'd get ravelled into their whole paranoia thing. The creature was right, goddamnit.

But as she walked back to the large, usually mana-filled building, she could clearly now notice that there was a lack of mana in the air, like it had been sucked away into something unknown. Some of the mana even started floating towards her, scaring the shit out of her as she made a run for it into her dorm room.

WHAT THE FUCK!?? THAT CREATURE NEVER TOLD ME THIS??  She started panicking at that moment, contemplating whether she made the right choice on this. Well, she never even had a choice, it was literally just given to her, and she was expected to follow its orders.

I mean, she did follow them, but it was still annoying that it hadn't told her.

Slamming the door shut, Lemon takes a couple breaths, trying to understand what exactly is going on. So, mana will now basically zoom towards her whenever near, which will most likely get faster as she collects more of those mana gem thingys, Next, she doesn't know what's going to happen once she collects all these said gems. Will Mash come back? Will a new Innocent Zero appear and wreak havoc across the land? Lemon didn't know.

She groans, rubbing her throbbing head. "It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine," she mumbles to herself as she flops down onto her bed. "No one's going to knowwww, no one's going to knowwwww."

A nap was what she needed, yes. That was exactly it. She closes her eyes, curling up and wrapping her arms around her comfort pillow that she had placed on the side of the bed. It was times like these that she was glad to have brought a comfort pillow with her. 

Lemon starts dozing off, beginning to fall asleep.

That was until she heard a loud slamming coming from outside her door, following grunts and an oddly familiar voice grumbling under their breath.

She lazily hops out of bed, making her way to the door while slightly annoyed. "Who is-" She started to say, only to stop and pause as she stared at the blue haired boy in front of her.

It was Lance, except very fatigued and probably about to fall over and collapse. He leaned on the frame of the door, his half-open eyelids blinking up at her in confusion. 

"....huh?....."

Lemon ran over to catch him as he almost went straight to the floor. 

"Lance... it's going to be fine... probably..." She tried to assure him, but she wasn't really sure that he could hear her at that moment. Placing him on her bed, she rushed out to grab a towel to use and cool him off, do anything to help him.

They had a bit of a talk before Lance passed out shortly after, leaving Lemon to sink into her increasingly worried thoughts.

Ever since Mash had disappeared, things had gone wrong. Lance is frantically searching for him, Lemon was working with a literal tree creature, no idea what Dot was doing but he seemed rather conflicted and stuck in this, and Finn...

Finn was barely holding on, trying so hard to get the group to stay together.

Lance coughs, his face sweaty and red as he attempts to roll over, only for Lemon to push him back on his back, putting the cloth on his head back where it was originally.

She stares at him for a moment longer, her hand reaching out before pulling back again.

Mash was the one keeping everything together. But now that he was gone, everything was in shambles.

She sniffles, pressing her lips together as she sat up and made her way to the bathroom. She stares at her reflection in the mirror, small eyebags under her eyes, her face flushed pink from the tears that had been unknowingly dripping down her face.

"Ah."

Leaning down into the sink beneath the mirror, she runs her face through the cold water, letting herself close her eyes and take a few breaths.

Mash was the one who kept everything together, was the one to keep everyone together and save the world and bring it to what it was now. He defeated Innocent Zero with the cost of something - Lemon didn't know what. 

She turns to the window that revealed the houses and shops and other buildings that stretched yander from the academy.

There were people walking about, some with bags that carried valuables, others wearing hats or dresses, some smiling and others just living their lives peacefully. But they all had one thing in common with one another:

They were alive. 

If Innocent Zero hadn't been stopped, if he had managed to defeat everyone who came his way, everyone would be gone.

So maybe, even if Mash has disappeared and no one knew where he is - along with the Divine Visionaries, but we're trying to be emotional here - then maybe it was a good thing.

Well, Lemon took another breath, shaking off that numb feeling she had been holding onto for awhile. Glad I was about to sort that out, I guess.

Suddenly, she hears a loud thud from the other room, she attention immediately being brought over and running over to check out what's going on. "Lance-!?"

Lance had fallen off the bed, the cloth on the ground as he cursed under his breath, rubbing his forehead.  

He looks up, spotting Lemon and widening his eyes before pausing, then letting out a shaky sigh.

"Oh, hey Lemon," he says calmly.

Lemon crouches down to his level, grabbing the cloth and tucking it in her pocket and turning to face Lance. "How're you... feeling?" she asks, a little nervous.

Honestly she was quite freaked out when he had fallen off the bed, but she put that thought aside and put her focus on him instead.

Lance shrugs, glancing around. "I'm... fine.... probably. I should go now." He tries to stand up, only to tumble down again and almost hit his arm on the side of the bed.

"Lance, stop," Lemon says sternly as she wrapped her arms around Lance and helped him sit back on the back. "You're still recovering from that mana overdose."

"It wasn't really an overdose though."

Lemon narrowed her eyes. "Yes, it was. The lack of mana in the air means that you use the mana within you. We learned that in second grade."

"Oh," Lance mutters after awhile. "Forgot, sorry."

The only thing i won't mention is that two liners or more have more mana to use. Meaning that either he tried to use an extremely mana-using spell, or had already used all the extra mana within him.

Two liners or more always have an abundance of mana, and are able to create mana within themselves and release it into the environment. That's why they're much more powerful than one liners like me.

But I don't need to say that. Lance probably knows that too.

She sighs. "My point proven. Do you want to keep resting or do you want me to get Finn and Dot so we can talk with you?"

"Talk with me about what?"

"How you keep exhausting yourself, avoiding us, y'know, everything you've been doing."

Lance tries to argue, "I have to find Mash-"

But Lemon shuts him up with a retort. "Well, so are the rest of us. There are many other people who are also searching for your said Mash. You're not the only one."

The blue haired boy snaps his mouth shut. Lemon smirks, satisfied that she won the argument. "I'll get the others." She sits up, glancing one last time at Lance. "You okay with that?"

Lance hesitates before nodding, avoiding eye-contact with her. 

Lemon leaves, coming back a few minutes later with the familiar main-character Dot and timid Finn. They all stand around awkwardly, except for Lemon who scoffed and waved her hand.

"Sit down, it's fine."

They nod, sitting down on some chairs nearby.

"So," Lemon claps her hands as she speaks, looking between the three boys. "You all know what we're here for, yes?"

"Yes," they say in unison, each with different tones, which was frankly quite funny to Lemon.

"Alright, well then I believe that I shall take my leave, since I'm not important in this conversation-"

"Stay," Lance orders, staring menacingly at her.

"W-w-well I don't really belong in this conversation here!!-"

Lemon just hoped they'd listen to her and let her go early. After all, Lance was the one that needed to talk to them, not her. She was fine, totally. A strong woman like her needs to stay strong and never stand down.

And it wasn't like she doesn't know what Lance is going to say.

Finn was about to protest until Dot interrupted. "Fine, whatever. Go ahead and leave, Lemon. Just don't try to deny that you're acting like Lance is."

She paused, looking at Dot. Dot probably knows a lot more than Finn about what's been going on around here. For fucks sake, she's pretty sure that he already knows about the lack of mana.

Main character syndrome, much?

Whatever. Lemon stands up, muttering a goodbye under her breath and walking out of her dorm. Closing the door behind her, she stands there, unsure of whether she did the right thing.

She had to have. She must have. It was only right for her to not tell them - this was something that could put her friends in dangerous.

And if it puts her in dangerous, so what? This is what she wants to do. Like Finn, she wants to mend things and fix the issues that need to be fixed. If something happens to her, it doesn't matter, because she was never a favourite within the friend group.

As long as in the end, they're able to fix everything, the things that she's doing is okay. 

So she leaves the academy, searching for the next gem to restore their friend group and keep the academy in balance.

Chapter Text

Lemon had been searching for those weird orb things all week, and it's getting a little annoying at this point. Most mana orbs just suddenly start moving to her for no apparent reason, kind of freaking her out. It's not like all the mana around is moving, thank the lord, but there's enough to stop Lemon from investigating further. 

Sucks to suck, she supposes. It's a relief that she's been slowly getting used to their sneaky tactics and avoiding them as much as possible. She hated the feeling of one seeping into her skin. It felt cold and frigid, almost like an icicle being stabbed through her heart. Oddly, however, it made her feel like she had more energy to spare when casting spells.

Lemon never had much energy to begin with, so it should be a good thing. But for some unknown reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was up and that she'd better avoid those orbs, at least for awhile.

Anyhow, life has been mundane, and there's not much to do about it.

Class ends quickly, not to Lemon's surprise, and she heads back to her dorm. This was her routine, most of the time. Go to dorms immediately after finishing classes, fix up her looks (and bow, that's very important) then come back out to hang with the friend group.

Maybe the last part of this said routine has been subsided for a few days now, but hey, it's fine. She still hangs out with them often enough to convince them that she isn't like Lance and won't just completely break contact with them.

She could never, she isn't like him. And the fact that he's still acting as avoidant as ever proves to her that Lance really hadn't told the whole story to the other two.

Not like she has either though.

Lemon sighs, scratching the corner of her homework with her pencil and scribbling complete nonsense. The new worksheet everyone had gotten was annoying and tedious. It wasn't all that difficult, since socials was something she was decent at, but it required her to pay more attention and actually focusing on the subject.

"Hahh.... Of course school tries screwing me over..." she sighs, cursing under her breath.

A knock is heard from her door, the sound of shuffling feet and hushed mutters coming from the other side.

Is this the second or third time someones knocked on my door this month? Lemons steps up from her homework, walking to the door and opening it.

To her surprise, it was Finn, Dot, and Lance all standing there. Awkwardly.

"...What brings you here?" Lemon asks, rather curious as to why the three of them arrived together.

Dot clears his throat, avoiding eye contact as he spoke. "Finn wants us to go out into the market."

"For what?"

"Dunno. Ask Finn."

Lemon narrows her eyes at the yellow and black haired boy. "Well?"

Finn too avoids her eye contact as he opens his mouth, but Lemon interrupts him with a harsh tone. Or at least, the harshest she could with Finn. She didn't want to accidentally hurt Finn. "Look me in the eye when explaining, please and thank you."

"Oh, uhm, yeah, sorry," Finn says, his eyes slightly hovering right below Lemons gaze. Good enough, whatever.

"I thought it'd be nice. It's just like when we went to the broomracing tournament! It hopefully won't be as disappointing though..." he pauses, pulling a strand hair away from his face. "I just think we should all relax and go have some fun."

"Aren't we already relaxing? Nothing's going on lately," Lemon points out, raising an eyebrow. 

"well, yes, but I just really want to-"

Dot interrupts, raising his tone as he does so. "He wants you to hang out with us, okay? For once in your goddamn life, actually listen to us and stop gasping over Mash. We're all trying to cope here."

Lemon narrows her eyes, clutching her fists and taking a small breath. ".....Fine, whatever. I'll come with you in half an hour. Meet me in the garden next to the golem statues."

Dot nods, still staring at her with suspicious eyes but saying nothing else. Finn thanks her - for some odd reason - and the three of them leave. 

"Hahh..." Lemon collapses onto her bed, groaning into her pillow. "Of course I have to do this.... like life couldn't get any better...! Yay....."

As promised, Lemon arrives at the school garden, wearing a tank top and some shorts while having a very bored expression plastered on her face.

She hears a familiar voice call out to her, before suddenly being jumped and falling over onto the grass. "Gah- What the hell?-" She stutters, glancing over to see Dot sitting on top of her, a cheshire smirk forming.

"Get off me you idiot," Lemon scoffs, using her legs to back kick Dot off her. He lands with a thud to the side, rubbing his back.

"Thanks, Lemon," he says with a sarcastic tone in his voice, only stopping when he spots Lance and Finn walking up from behind the two of them. "What do you so long?"

Finn lowers his head. "Sorry- Lance wouldn't come out of his room again."

Dot raises an eyebrow in response. "And why is that?"

"I had to get changed," Lance shrugs.

Lemon scowls at the boys, brushing the dirt off herself and standing up again. "Well! Now is a great time to get going, yes? I'd much prefer to go as soon as possible."

Finn nods. "Uhm, yeah, that's okay with you. You too?" he glances at Dot and Lance, who had a heavy presence surrounding them for some odd reason.

"Yeah sure," they both say in unison. 

The group follows Finn as he leads them out of the Academy grounds and into one of the more populated streets around town, stopping at a couple stores to peer inside. Ultimately though, he never went in.

Lemon wasn't really having the funnest time around. She kind of expected it, but it still bored her as she wandered around the merchant stalls and stared blankly into the sky.

The sky that was filled with thousands of mana orbs that she could only see, that is. So maybe it was slightly entertaining in one way or another.

Finally, they actually stop and enter one of the many places, turning out to be an arcade store. 

"This is where you wanted to go?" Lemon raises an eyebrow, not apposed to the idea but certainly surprised.

"We'll do more, I promise!" Finn fumbles with his hands, handing the cashier some money so they could get tokens. Finn takes them and evenly hands them out between the four of them.

"Cool," Lemon shrugs, turning to the duck game that caught her eye.

"Thanks Finn," Lance says, dipping his head and taking the tokens before heading to the corner of the store where some of the older arcade machines seemed to be.

Dot just nodded at Finn, took the tokens, and walked off. Wow.

Lemon inserts a token into the slot, watching as the game starts and allows her to choose what character she wanted to be. It was a pixel game, she noticed, but it was simple in the way that your only goal was to cross the street.

It was a little odd for the game to have weird characters as options, including a duck - which was the default - a lime, a cat, a creampuff?.... and a red ball.

Curious with the available options, she picks the lime character since it matched with her name.

And off Lemon went, proceeding to gamble all the tokens that she used to have an abundance of, now an empty cup.

By the time Lemon finishes, she barely catches Finn walking up to her, still with a couple tokens left.

"Hey," he says, staring at the cup. "You need more?" 

Lemon shrugs, taking her hands off the controls. "It's fine, you can keep your tokens and use them for yourself."

"Nono, it's okay, I can give them to you-"

"I insist, Finn. You bought the tokens so it's only right for you to use them." Lemon narrows her eyes at Finn, glancing between him and the other two boys who were busy playing different games from when the started.

She picks up her cup. "You asked the other two as well, right?"

Finn opens his mouth but closes it, unable to maintain eye contact with her. "...Yeah."

"Finn, it's fine. We're all still friends, so just worry about yourself for now, 'kay?" Lemon says, lightly patting Finn's shoulder. "C'mon, once the other two don't have any more tokens left, let's head into some more stores."

Lemon pauses, staring out the windows of the store, watching the mana orbs pass by. Some disappear into the stores walls, probably being used to run the arcade. 

"And I'll pay next time, so go have fun with what you planned."

Finn stays silent, before nodding slightly and walking off in another direction, his hands curled around his cup as he held it to his chest.

Lemon scoffs at the sight, sighing once he's far enough away and going to the counter. "Bathroom keys?" she asks, the cashier complying and handing her the key in which she heads to the bathroom and shuts the door behind her.

"Hah..." she rubs her head, eying herself in the mirror. "I look like shit, fuck."

The mana orbs that were in the arcade was slowly getting a little much for Lemon to handle. She never thought that was possible, considering it's only been a week or so, but it also makes sense.

The creature said that doing this would be difficult for her, right? Is this what it meant?

So it's almost forcing me to get more of those bigger and weirder mana orbs, great. Just what I needed.

It had been awhile since Lemon had truly enjoyed herself to something, and even though this little group activity that Finn set up wasn't living up to her expectations, it did give her a breath of fresh air that she desperately needed.

I'll be fine, definitely. I'm THE Lemon, after all.

Washing her face with the tap water, Lemon meets back up with the others outside and heads to the next area, which turns out to be a food market.

"I want some pretzels," Finn says, a cheerful smile on his face as he points to the pretzel stall. 

Dot turns to him. "You have any money for that?"

Finn pauses, reaching into his pocket only to find nothing. He looks back up with a flushed expression. "Ah."

Dot rolls his eyes and hands him a few coins of his own. "Go get those pretzels."

"Thank you!!" And off he goes.

Lemon chuckles as Lance appears behind her, staring blankly at the excited Finn.

Lemon didn't really know what to say to him, especially after the stunts he's done. But she supposed the least she could do was say Hello. So that's exactly what she did.

"Hello."

Lance turns and stares at her, confused. "....Hey."

"So, like, you have any hobbies?"

"What do you think?"

The awkward smile on Lemon's face fades. "Right, right. Uhm, well! You like pretzels? I can buy some for you."

Lance shakes his head. "Finn's already gotten some for all of us."

"What do you mean-" before Lemon could finish her sentence, a large bag of salty pretzels were placed onto her hands. 

Lemon looks up at Finn's grinning face, watching as Lance is also handed a bag of pretzels.

"Enjoy," Finn says sheepishly, glancing at Dot before back at the two.

Dot held a slightly smaller bag of pretzels, but it didn't seem like it mattered. All that Lemon was staring at was the goofy grin plastered on Dot's face.

Lemon smirks, walking over to him. "What's with the grin, eh?" She lightly nudges him from the side, the grin seemingly spreading to her.

Dot scoffs, shaking her off. "Oh shut it. Let me have a good time once in awhile, will you?"

"We're all trying to have a good time, Dot."

The red-haired boy opens his mouth, but closes it. He looks at Lemon's smiling face, and for once, he thinks that maybe Finn's idea might actually be working.

He coughs, letting his voice be a little louder for the two boys in the back to hear. "Hey! Why don't we go explore other parts of the area? This place kind of seems, I dunnooo, fun?"

Finn's eyes widen in surprise, before the goofy smile appears once again. "Yes! I'd love to!" he turns to Lance. "You want to come to?"

Lance shakes his head, but is quickly pulled along by Lemon. "I assure you I don't need to be here." He continues to be persistent, yet it was obvious that he was having a decently fun time.

Lemon glances between the three of them, glad that the once sour and awkward mood had been overhauled by a more bittersweet tone.

Despite Lemons and Limes both being considered sour, Limes are more sour than Lemons. 

Lemon doesn't know this fact, only that the events in front of her is telling her that things might get better.

Finn persuaded them all to come here, and now none of them want to leave. Well, maybe Lance, but Lemon knew that he was at least amused.

The four, once again a group, head around the market place and check out the many different options available to them. New and old laughs could be heard, and Lemon...

Lemon didn't care about that immenent feeling in her gut. The one that had appeared after meeting the creature. The one that had her stuck in her room, just as Lance had. 

She didn't know what Lance had seen or done to make him have that immenent gut feeling. She knew he had it, by the way his eyes darted around in caution and his figgity fingers.

They both had the same feeling of doom. But both at the moment, were feeling less sour and more confident as the day went on.

Lemon thought to herself, Maybe I've been overreacting. I could have been overwhelmed from the huge events that happened within a short time span, and my mind couldn't handle it.

So I should relax and enjoy the time I have. I should try and hang out with Finn, Dot, and even Lance.

Lemon laughs awkwardly to herself. Dot turns around with a raised eyebrow. "What are you laughing about now?"

She dismisses him with a wave of her hand. "It's- it's nothing, don't worry."

Even if this gut feeling of hers happened to be something dangerous, it'd be alright. Because by the time it does happen, she'll have grown thanks to the mana orbs. She'd finally be able to stand on her own and fight back.

In all honesty, Lemon had been feeling stuck for awhile, always left behind due to her lack of power. Mash had no powers, unlike her, but still managed to become one of the strongest and known people in the land. Hell, he defeated his own biological father, Innocent Zero. 

What has Lemon done in her life? Nothing. So this time, she'll be able to do something and save her friends.

"Hey Lemon, catch up," Lance calls from afar. She hadn't noticed that the group was still walking, whoops.

She smiles softly. "Coming!"