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Chapter Text

Finn was very content with his life. He had great friends, he had reconciled with his brother, and he is now living a peaceful life. This was what he had always wanted, so why couldn’t he shake off this feeling of envy? Wait, envy? To who?

Well, to everyone. If you hadn’t noticed, Finn is friends with the heroes of this world. All of them, are strong, brave, and selfless, did he mention strong? Like, the people he associates with are really strong. People practically worship the ground they walk on. Mash as the universe’s saviour, Lance as the new divine visionary, Dot has his own demon bloodline too, and he’s suuuper overpowered. His brother is the sword cane with his shed full of achievements, and not to mention the divine visionaries he often hangs out with– they can’t be described with words.

To put it short, Finn is nothing compared to them. He’s gained a second line, shouldn’t he be grateful? But he can’t help but want more. To be deemed worthy of being in their circle– why can’t he stand out just like them? This might be ironic, since Finn hated attention... But it’s not like he hated it entirely! He hated it simply because the attention he used to get was all negative. Seeing all his friends enjoying their praises, it made him feel left out. He doesn’t blame them, of course– it was all his fault anyways.

But sometimes, just sometimes, he wished he was a little bit stronger. Maybe strong enough to be deemed a hero, just like his friends. If only… if only he had magic that would be useful in combat. Finn might not know this, but perhaps Gods do grant wishes.

—

The next day, Finn awakes in his dorm. He tosses over in his bed and looks across the room to see his roommate, Mash Burnedead. Even in their second year, they were somehow paired up once again. He turns off the alarm and got ready. Their day goes on as normal, until comes the time for the yearly outdoor learning activities. The premise was the same as last year, hunt down magical beasts, collect points, submit them in exchange for grades.

The friend group decided to team up again, this time making sure Mash doesn’t get separated by himself again. They slayed monsters with ease, accumulating points in no time. Finn notices how most of the work were done by everyone but himself. He couldn’t help but start thinking bad of himself once more… damnit, he promised he wouldn’t do this anymore! But he can’t help it, he’s just so– so useless.

He was getting caught up in his own thoughts again. That second line gave him some confidence boost, but it wasn’t enough. Since when was he so greedy? Finn was truly embarrassed of himself. He continued walking while being in a state of trance until he bumped into the person in front. “Ah– Dot! Sorry… I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Hm? Oh, it’s fine. But you seem pretty out of it man.” Dot turned around and took a good glance at him. “You good?”

Finn couldn’t possibly tell anyone about his shameful thoughts, especially not to his friends who had always been so supportive of him. He could only nod unconvincingly as he pushed the red head away and told him he’d catch up with the rest of them. Dot couldn’t pursue it further and just left it at that.

He, in fact, did not catch up with the rest, and ended up stranded by himself. How could they just disappear within the blink of an eye…? Oh well, he can’t always rely on them. He wandered around by himself, seemingly a bit lost. He soon spots someone in the distance. The figure had silver hair and two lines on his face. Finn knew exactly who he was.

Silva, the same exact guy that caused trouble last year. Finn felt a hint of nostalgia, but he wasn’t scared. Last year, he’d be curling up on the ground by now, but look at him now. At least he knows he’s improved a little bit. He would still like to avoid unnecessary interactions since he isn’t completely aware of how the third year behaves now.

Finn sneaks away before getting stopped by the giant scorpion that lurked behind him. He stood still, hoping it wasn’t interested. It definitely was. The scorpion wasn’t the only one interested though, as Silva caught wind of the final boss and would like to be the one who defeats it. Finn’s first instinct was to run.

However, he was stopped as the scorpion decided to make the first move. Finn quickly dodged, only to bump into Silva. “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

“S-sorry!” Finn exclaimed. Silva previously had a ticked off expression and was ready to scold him, but concerningly, his face was painted with worry within seconds. Finn sensed something was off. If something has gotten Silva this worked up, then Finn definitely won't dare to turn around. “...what’s behind me..?”

Silva could only stammer. Only then does Finn knew they were in deep trouble. A hissing sound from behind startles him as he jumped back to his two feet, realizing the hoard of scorpions surrounding them. They had walked straight into the scorpions den. Finn was worried at first, but then remembered the man beside him was quite powerful.

“What are you acting so scared about? A-arent you a double liner? You’re really strong, right?! These scorpions should be nothing compared to you… right?” For lack of a better words, Finn was projecting.

“Dude…” Silva had paled. The usually confident and boastful mage is acting out of character. “You better thank that mushroom-head friend of yours. I don’t know why myself, but ever since I received a beating from him, I’ve been completely nerfed!”

“S-Seriously?!” Finn cried out. It was safe to say, the two were cooked.

His life flashed before his eyes– literally. He remembered everything he went through, all the struggles to get to this point. Hasn’t he improved a lot? Why is he cowering in fear like he used to? Finn took a deep breath as he gathered up all his courage and stood up to face the scorpions, all by himself.

Silva swore he was seeing things. “...Where’s Finn Ames and what have you done to him?!” He mumbled in disbelief. Finn ignored his remarks and pulled out his wand.

“Nalcos!”

“Dude! You’re seriously using nalcos to fight those things?” The third year wishes he was stuck with anyone other than him. Finn sensed a hint of hypocrisy. “At least I’m trying! If you’re so fussy about it then how about you charge at them? You won’t die, I’ll be right here to heal you.”

Silva backed further away. “No way!”

“I figured you were a coward…” Finn mumbled under his breath. The other heard that and was about to protest, until the scorpions had enough of their bickering and spit venom at them. Silva barely dodged, having his robes disintegrate upon contact. In that moment, Finn complained once again. God, why can’t I be a little stronger?!!

And to his luck, God heard him. Almost comically timed, he felt a familiar sense of rush. That was the only way to describe it. A feeling, rushing through his veins, and to the end of his finger tips. Next thing he knew, the scorpions were gone. Finn stood there, wide eyed. He looked around. They were gone. All of them– without a trace. He turned around to see Silva, who had his mouth gaping wide and his eyes practically bulging out due to shock. They just stood there. Confused.

One thing Finn noticed, was the amount of butterflies surrounding them. The venomous scorpions had seemingly been replaced by butterflies. Usually, he would asume he summoned these butterflies himself, but this time… the butterflies weren’t white– they were black.

“What the…” Finn noticed the butterflies were heading towards him and freaks out a bit. As if it understood his reaction, the butterflies simply flocked around him and waited until he calmed down. Finn felt kinda bad and reluctantly held out his hand. The butterflies immediately landed on his palm, slowly fading away once they touch him. Finn, again, was totally freaked out.

If Finn was freaked out, Silva was FREAKED OUT. Poor guy was speechless. All he could do was stammer inaudible words while pointing at the younger’s face. Finn thought really hard about what he was trying to say, but to no avail. Not long after, they hear footsteps rushing towards the cave. Who’s footsteps? Well, everyone. Mash, Lance, Dot– and even the teachers came to check up on them. “W-whats wrong?”

Dot looked Finn dead in the eye. “What’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG?!” He grabbed his shoulders and shook him frustratingly. “You tell us what’s wrong!! AND WHAT’S WITH YOUR FACE?! IT’S PISSING ME OFF!!”

To cut it short, Finn was confused. Everyone else was also confused. They were all looking at him like he was some sort of monster and Finn had no idea why. It wasn't until Lemon pushed Dot away and shoved her pocket mirror into his face. Finn focused his eyes and stared into his reflection. He blinked. Then he blinked again. He rubbed his eyes before rubbing the mirror’s surface. It took a while for him to register the whole situation, but according to what his eyes were seeing, Finn had gained an additional third line. “hu…HUHHH?!!”

—

Long story short, Finn has gained a third line, making him a triple liner. Finn and his friends were sitting in the headmaster’s office, with Silva being there as a witness. They were sitting awkwardly as Finn was looking into a pocket mirror, desperately trying to smudge away the lines on his face with a napkin. “Aah, why won’t it go away?!”

If you didn’t notice, additional lines that you obtain will fade away until you awaken it once again. It was the same when Finn got his secondth, it disappeared after he was done using it. But this time, for some weird reason, it just would not disappear, and Finn is losing his mind over it. Lemon was right beside him, trying to get him to return her mirror. “We’ll figure this out later! Now give me back the mirror, looking at it is just going to cause you more stress!”

“She’s right. It’s obviously not going away, you’ll just turn your cheeks red,” Lance advised as he sat with his legs crossed. Finn reluctantly puts away the mirror upon hearing his comment and continues frowning.

In the midst of all the chaos, they heard a knock and the door opened, letting Headmaster Wahlberg and a certain sword cane inside. The room immediately falls silent. They took their seats and started the meeting with a forced cough. “So… the issue to be discussed today is…”

All eyes turn to Finn. Feeling the pressure, he gulped before managing to stutter through his sentence. “I’m sorry for all the commotion… Um, so w-what happened was… we accidentally stumbled into this scorpion den… and there were a lot of them– so I tried fighting them off, but then t-the next thing I knew they were all gone, and there were lots of butterflies! And everyone’s saying I did that? But there’s no way, right?!”

“A third line…” Rayne muttered. He thought hard about his own experience on gaining a third line and he soon remembered that each third-liner has the ability to summon a god. “Did you manage to summon anything?”

Finn shook his head. “I don’t know… It all went by in a flash.”

Everyone disappointedly sighed before turning their heads to Silva, hoping he would have more information. Silva rolled his eyes before refreshing his memory. “Well, just like the coward said, we were surrounded by scorpions. I couldn’t do anything so he stepped up. We were kind of arguing? Then there was this light, and this sound, and he was yelling? Turns out it was a third spell, but I thought he was totally bluffing!”

Silva took a deep breath before continuing. “It wasn’t until he summoned this… huge, and I mean huge– butterfly looking humanoid? It was super creepy, by the way, dressed in black clothing and had this menacing aura.”

“Doesn’t that just sounds like his secondth spell though?” Mash interrupted. Lance thought for a bit before opposing that thought. “No… If I remember correctly, Butterfly Sanitatem was quite pleasant to look at. White robes laced with gold, a peaceful and welcoming aura, beautiful butterfly wings.”

Rayne nodded. It was the same in his memories, the most majestic thing he had ever laid his eyes on. Truly fitting for someone like his brother.

“Beautiful? You’re kidding... This was nothing like that.” Silva furrowed his brows, almost shivering at the thought. “Honestly, it looked more like a moth than a butterfly. Ah! I forgot to mention… Before this bright light, I caught a glimpse of Finn– he was entangled in a cocoon.”

Just hearing his description, Finn was done. There was no way all those things happened to him, right?! He covered his red face out of embarrassment. “I’m so sorry… I can’t believe I made such a big mess…” Mash comforted him by giving him a pat on the shoulder.

“Now here’s the crazy part! After all that, there’s all these butterflies right? Tons of them. And get this– everything they touch, EVAPORATES! All those butterflies needed to do was land on the scorpions, and poof! They’re gone! AND they turn into even MORE butterflies! That happened with literal rocks too. The butterflies landed on the rocks, AND THE ROCKS DISAPPEAR INTO THIN AIR???”

“Look dude, I can’t make this shit up, okay?” He points at Finn, clearly very immersed in his own story. “That guy right there, he’s a menace! He’s danger to society and those butterflies are going to be the end of the world! Can you even phantom how dangerous it is for someone to be able to absolutely destroy things with mere butterflies? I don’t know what would happen if a human were to touch that thing, but it’s not looking good!”

Silva was basically ranting his heart out. He panted heavily, out of breath from cramping an essay worth of information into one paragraph. “So, that’s all from me.”

“....”

The room was silent. They were each busy imagining how the scene played out, and by the look on their faces… it’s not going good. While they were having fun in ther own heads, Finn was mortified. He sat there, clutching his robes, practically sweating buckets. His face was pale, he looked like he was about to pass out. Seeing Finn so restless, Dot had something to say of his own. “No way! You’re speaking nonsense. Finn? Dangerous? Yeah right. Just look at this guy! He won't hurt a fly…”

“Look, It’s fine if you don't believe me, but don't say I didn't warn you when the world ends!” He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “We already had that innocent zero incident… haven't you learned anything?”

His comment struck them hard. Rayne hates to admit it, but Silva was right. If what he said was true, a power like that would be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. But they don't know the full story yet, so Rayne opted for more investigation. He suggested to the headmaster that Finn take a few days off campus and spend time under the watch of the divine visionaries, maybe they’ll test the waters to see how his powers work. Headmaster Wahlberg thought it seemed like the best idea for now.

Rayne explained more in detail about what he had in store. He said he would get Kaldo to run a few harmless tests and weigh out the results to see if any measures should be taken. Truth be told, Finn was totally down in the dumps. Him? Being under watch? What is he, a criminal?! No way, no way this is happening! Why can't I just live a normal life???

(Be careful what you wish for!)

So the discussion ended sooner than expected as everyone agreed it was probably the best choice. Mash was comforting Finn the whole time by trying to give him a creampuff yet Finn keeps telling him now is not the time. Rayne notices Finn’s reactions and called him over after everyone disbanded to talk about a few of his concerns.

“Finn…”

Rayne had his eyebrows furrowed and a small frown visible on his face. Finn also noticed light eye bags under his eyes. This made him even more guilty than before. His brother was already so busy with all his duties, how could he cause more trouble? His thoughts were basically plastered on this face. “Sorry… I really don't know how it happened, sorry for being such a bother…”

The sword cane sighed and placed a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder, giving it a pat. “It's not your fault. Stop looking so miserable… we’ll figure this out, okay?”

All this time, Finn has been a jumbled mess of emotions. He was still struck by the shock factor, so he hasn't had time to sort out how he was feeling. It wasn't until now that Finn realized how upset he was. Hearing the older’s words, he couldn't help but choke out a few sobs. Rayne’s expression immediately scrunched the moment he saw his brother show signs of crying. He noticed that his frown grew wider, his fists balled up, and he started shaking. Before he knew it, the few drops of tears forming at the edge of his eyes had turned into a waterfall.

“Rayne… I, I don't know anymore… Why did this happen? All the bad things always happen to ME!” He managed to say in between sobs. Out of reflex, he hugged his big brother like he used to when they were kids. He remembered he used to hug Rayne just like this whenever he had something to complain about, like when the neighbor’s kid used to pick on him. “D-did you see? Their stares… they were looking at me like I’m some sort of… m-monster. I hate it…”

Rayne expected this to happen, he just didn't know what to do. He couldn't think of anything to say yet, so he simply embraced his brother. While patting his back, he tried to think of what to say. “It’s okay…” He felt that the silence went on for too long, so he said a few words to open the conversation. “It’s fine, everything will be fine. You're not dangerous, not at all. That’s why we’re going to the bureau of magic to prove it, okay?”

Finn buried his face into the other’s embrace. There was a part of him that felt bad for dirtying his brother’s valuable uniform, but he wasn't ready to pull away. His cries slowly grew softer as Rayne ruffled his hair. “That silva was surely exaggerating. Comparing you to innocent zero? What a stretch. There’s nothing to worry about, I know my cute little brother wouldn't do anything like that.”

The younger Ames couldn't believe what he was hearing. “R-rayne…!” Not only was his nose red from all the crying, but so were both of his ears from the embarrassment. How could the esteemed sword cane say that out loud?

That said sword cane could only chuckle at the reaction he successfully managed to fish out. “There we go. Cheer up and trust me, won't you?”

“Mhm,” he nods as he reluctantly pulls away from the hug. He was too caught up in the moment to realize, but he’s only realizing now how embarrassing that was. Why is his first reaction to any sort of problem was to cry?! He really needs to fix that habit.

“We can start today. The tests should only take three days at most, so pack up a bit. Do you want me to accompany you to your dorm?” Rayne was getting a little too comfortable with teasing the other. He was glad their relationship had improved to this point.

“N-no! No need, I’ll be quick, so just wait by the gate!” He rejected the teasing offer and rushed off without waiting for a response.

Seeing him gone in a flash, Rayne could only helplessly smile seeing his antics. He made his way to the gate as he replayed the scene of Finn going in for a hug over and over again in his head. He’s grown up so much, but he’s still Rayne’s little brother, no matter what happens. Today is a good day, he thinks. He passed by the empty halls with a radiating aura. Even the school staff and a few class-skipping students were confused as to why the sword cane, who was infamous for his coldness, was suddenly in such a good mood.

On the other side of the academy was Finn, running at full speed. His eyes were still a bit blurry from the tears as he ran through the empty hall as fast as he could. He didn't want to keep Rayne waiting for too long, surely he had better things to do. All Adler students should be in their respective classes, so Finn truly wasn't expected to bump into a familiar figure. He was running at full speed and could only see a blurred silhouette, so didn't have enough time to stop. He crashed into the strange man, knocking both of them down.

Finn took a moment to rub his head and process the situation. As soon as he realized what he had done, he immediately got on both knees and started apologizing. Force of habit. “Sorry! I’m really sorry! I wasn't looking! Sorry!!!’

His forehead practically touched the ground, and it wasn't until the man spoke before he realized he hadn't taken a good look at who he bumped into. “It’s fine. You’ve said sorry three times. You should stop, it’s getting annoying…”

Uh oh. This voice. Finn quickly recognized the voice he was far too familiar with. How could he forget the same voice that taunted him just last year? He hoped his speculations weren't true. Why would a certain Orca student be wandering the halls of Adler’s dorm?

He slowly lifted his head to meet the other’s gaze. Dull, wide eyes. Definitely him. Finn jumped to his feet and slowly backed out. The burgundy haired student picked up his scattered notes and tilted his head. “... shouldn't you be helping me?”

“H-helping you…?” Finn was baffled. Had he bumped into Carpaccio so hard that he hit his head? Why would Carpaccio need his help in collecting notes?

“Yes,” He confirmed as he stood up and brushed the dust off his robes. “Margarette once told me that when I accidentally make a mistake, simply apologizing isn't enough. That applies to you too, right? Last time I recalled, he said that everyone does this.”

Finn was trying to wrap his head around what this man was saying. Due to Carpaccio’s questionable explanation, Finn concluded that Carpaccio wanted to make him pay for his mistake. “W-wait… I didn’t to do that, okay?! Also, what’s an Orca student doing here anyway? Technically, it’s your fault for being here in the first place!”

Carpaccio listened to his reasoning before concluding that he was sort of right. “Hm, that’s true. But I have a reason to be here– wait.” The orca student notices something off. He takes a step closer to Finn, causing him to back into a wall. Carpaccio was uncomfortably close and Finn felt like he’s going to faint. The taller boy stared dead into the other’s eyes with his deadpanned glare. Finn wondered what he did wrong– he figured Carpaccio was reacting to the sudden appearance of his third line. Much to his surprise, however…

“Were you crying? Your eyes are red.”

“...Huh?”

Finn totally didn’t expect someone like Carpaccio to notice something so trivial. Although he soon felt the embarrassment kick in. “W-well… no…”

“You’re lying.” Carpaccio didn’t take his eyes off Finn’s red and swollen eyes. He suddenly reached his hand out closer to his face and the Adler student’s first reaction was to flinch. Seeing him flinch so pathetically, Carpaccio frowned as he pulled his hand away and gave him some space. “What’s there to cry about? Shouldn’t you be happy on such an occasion? I don’t get it, human emotions are so weird.”

“....” So he wasn’t talking about the third line afterall. “Why’re you so unsurprised by… this?” He pointed to the messy line down his left eye.

Carpaccio, as you know it, has a strange hobby. Experimenting and analyzing, all that sciency stuff. “I’ve heard rumours of what happened, so I’m here to see it myself. I’m glad what they said was true. I wish to see what your new-found powers could do, albeit being unnatural. In most cases, a healer stays a healer. But from what I’ve heard, you’ve got quite the destructive ability.”

“Look,” Finn sighed. Of course he was only after the scientific data. “I’d love to help you and all, but the divine visionaries are already running tests on me, and I don’t really want to feel more like a labrat than I already am. So unfortunately, I’d have to reject your offer.”

“Oh. Then, can I come along?”

“Come along… to headquarters?” Carpaccio nodded in response and Finn couldn’t find a way to turn him down. He’s lowkey still terrified of that guy. There’s no telling what he’d do next! “You’re seriously going to skip classes? The Carpaccio is going to skip school?”

Carpaccio frowned lightly hearing the tease. “This is for the better. It’s not like I’m skipping school to have fun. This way, I’m actually learning much more.”

Although this was obviously only to satisfy his own curiosity, Carpaccio insists that this would be great information for a life-changing science paper. Finn gave in and told Carpaccio to go ask Rayne. To no one’s surprise, Rayne instantly declined. As Carpaccio tried once again, a huge sword was sent flying his way.

“I won’t interfere I promise, I just wish to observe the–” clank! Another sword sent his way. “Look, it would be a good learning opportunity and as a divine visionary, you should be supportive of my thirst for knowledge.”

“And why should you? This has nothing to do with you,” the sword cane stops his attacks briefly to let the other speak, due to his brother’s requests. Finn had been begging Rayne to stop attacking since he was worried that when Carpaccio gets hit, it would backfire on Rayne instead.

“Because I’m going to be this year’s divine visionary.” Carpaccio confidently answered. “It’s good to have a head start.”

“What? They haven’t even started accepting applicants yet, h-how are you so sure?” Finn peaked from behind Rayne to voice his opinion.

Carpaccio shrugged without a care in the world. “Have you seen my opponents? Isn’t it obvious I’ll win?”

“I mean… Confidence is nice, I guess.” Finn scratched his head. “Although there is a very fine line between confidence and being cocky. I’m not sure which one you are.”

“It’s more of a fact, actually.” Carpaccio once again confidently corrected. Finn could only roll his eyes and Rayne sent a few more flying swords his way before having Carpaccio tail them to headquarters anyway.

—

They soon arrived at the bureau of magic and were led by Rayne into the divine visionary’s headquarters. Finn nervously smiled at every divine visionary he passed, not wanting to offend them in any way possible. Those said visionaries were mainly confused as to why a mini version of Rayne Ames was cautiously walking through the halls. Carpaccio stared at every passing staff with wide eyes, which understandably freaked them out. But he didn’t mean anything by it, he was just wondering why the staff were so ill-equipped.

After making their way to Kaldo’s office, they sat awkwardly as they waited for the flame cane to finish brewing them tea. Rayne sternly told him it wasn’t necessary, yet Kaldo insisted that a good discussion should be had over a good cup of tea. They weren’t exactly on the same page when imagining the ideal cup of tea, as Finn expected there to be about eight tablespoons less of honey. Finn took a sip with a pressed smile just to be polite. Rayne didn’t bother to even touch the cup given to him and instead got to the point.

“Kaldo. I’ve already told you the situation. As the head of the magic talent administration, you should know what to do with Finn’s… new ‘talent’. I trust he will be in your good hands?” Rayne stated with a less-than-friendly tone.

The flame cane chuckled at his worriedness. “Such is expected from an older brother…” Kaldo mumbled inaudibly to himself. He puts on his usual smile and nodded confidently, “There’s no need to worry, you can count on me. Finn and I have a good mentor-student relationship, isn’t that right?”

“Uhm, y-yeah…?”

“Right! Now, to address the elephant in the room…” Kaldo’s closed eyes remains closed as his happy mood immediately switches. “What’s this one doing here?”

He was very clearly addressing Carpaccio, yet the boy adorning Orca’s uniform pretended not to notice. Finn sighed as he asked to get this over with. Kaldo and Rayne tried multiple times to remove Carpaccio from the picture, but for plot reasons, they failed. And so they began the ‘tests’ as soon as possible.

Finn’s first test was power scaling. Rayne called upon his trusty spider, Arachnabus. With its black and red stripes, Arachnabus waited for Finn to showcase his abilities. Kaldo asked if Finn could try his best to recreate what happened earlier that day, yet Finn himself wasn’t so sure he could actually use his newly gained powers again. He didn’t even know how it all happened, or even what happened.

Kaldo encouraged him to give it ago and Finn tried his best to get the feels. After the flame cane set up a safety forcefield just in case, Finn closed his eyes and recalled the event. He took a deep breath and with a troubled look, quickly felt the rush run through to his fingertips. The young ames begrudgingly lifted his wand and opened his eyes, only to find that he couldn’t see anything. Normally he would be panicked, but this time, he didn’t feel anything. Soon he realized that he was unable to control his limbs, since he tried to move his finger yet to no avail.

Strangely enough, he still didn’t feel a sense of urgency like he usually does. Unlike previously, he gained his vision rather quickly. Not from his own eyes, but from eyes that is of a spectator. He frowned and scrunched his face as he sees his physical body wrapped in a green layer of… some sort of cocoon. Finn noticed the butterflies from before, painted in black and surrounding ‘him’ as if helping ‘him’ to emerge from said cocoon.

’What the…’ The question echoed in his mind. He couldn’t wrap his head around what was happening before him. The cocoon inevitably started to crack, but not a single soul could see what truly happened as they were met with the blinding light that poured from the cracks. He couldn’t stop his eyes from squinting and when he was finally able to open them, a sense of dread washed over him. Before him was most definitely the butterfly entity from his secondth spell– except, as Silva said before, fully dressed in depressing attire.

Finn couldn’t bear looking at ‘himself’, so he turned his attention to the audience. If Finn was confused, everyone else probably thought it was the end of the world. Rayne paled the moment he laid his two eyes on what was before him. “...He wasn’t kidding.”

“That’s huge…” Kaldo raised an eyebrow, while still keeping his eyes closed. He has to admit that Finn’s summoned entity might be the most majestic thing he had ever seen. With long robes and covered eyes, not to mention it’s wings– it truly did look like a moth. He then sighed and scratched his head, not sure of what to do with the situation. “This isn’t looking good.”

“...You can see?”

“Yes??” Kaldo slightly tilts his head at Carpaccio’s question. “Just because my eyes are closed, doesn’t mean I can’t see. Actually, it helps me focus much more on what I want to see, and just so you know it’s definitely not you.”

Carpaccio picked up on the shade and calmly responded. “You better get used to it, seeing as I’m bound to be this year’s divine visionary.”

The flame cane wasn’t having any of it. With a sarcastic smile, he retorted, “We’ll see about that. It just so happen to be that I’m Head of the Magic Talent Administration, Think you can become a divine visionary without my approval?”

“That’s enough.” Rayne stopped their distracting feud. He scolded them to focus on the matter at hand. He noticed a strange yet familiar sound coming from his left. Oh, turns out Arachnabus is going into overdrive. Where has this happened before? Right, with Mash. But as Mash’s results were zero, Finn’s results were… immeasurable. Meaning, the numbers in its eyes would not stop spinning.

“I think that’s enough testing…” Kaldo winced seeing the current state Arachnabus was in. He tried calling out to Finn from outside the forcefield, hoping he could hear. “Finn! We’ve gotten the results already! You can stop now!”

Finn did in fact hear him, yet there wasn’t much he could do about it. If he could convey messages, he’d say something like “Wish I could!! I don’t have any control over this thing??”

Without hearing the news from Finn, the three spectators soon figured out that ‘that thing’ is probably not Finn, and Finn couldn’t do anything about it. They started brainstorming on what to do. First, Rayne sent Arachnabus far far away before it had the chance to explode from being exposed to something so overpowered. Second, Kaldo opted to trigger the ‘forced forcefield shutdown’, which Carpaccio argued that it really was just sleeping gas. Before he had the chance to do so, Kaldo noticed something was off.

“Wait… I didn’t do anything yet. Doesn’t it kinda look like the forcefield is…” Kaldo’s eyes practically widened with realization. I say ‘practically’ because he didn’t actually open his eyes at all since he’s Kaldo, but you get the idea.

“Butterflies…?” Carpaccio watched curiously as the forcefield was torn apart bit by bit by mere insects.

Rayne held his head, feeling a headache kick in. “Those aren’t any normal butterflies.”

“Obviously,” Kaldo interrupts. He looks a bit ticked off by the fact that Finn’s army of butterflies is disregarding his magic. He worked hard on that forcefield. “This is getting out of hand. Any ideas on how we’re going to stop the bureau of magic from hearing about this?”

No one responded. It’s not as if they had any ideas either. “We need to figure this out as soon as possible… If not, I hate to say it– but Rayne? Your brother might not get out of this unscathed.”

Don’t forget that Finn is still listening in to the conversation. And like any normal person, hearing of his untimely demise causes him to panic. “W-wait seriously? Come on!!” He whines in frustration– not that anyone could hear him. “Why is everyone so calm? Do they want me to get locked up? RAYNE?! DO SOMETHING???”

“Woah! What’s with those butterflies over there?” Kaldo pointed out that some of the butterflies has found their way out of the dome and is currently making their way to the nearby trees. He watches in dread as he sees them disintegrate whatever surface they landed on. Kaldo immediately turned to confront the sword cane. “Hey, hey now– You didn’t tell me they were destructive!”

“...You were supposed to figure out how dangerous they were. That’s your job?” Rayne replied with little to no shock factor.

Kaldo just now realized the heavy amount of bias Rayne has towards Finn. “Look, I know that’s your lovely little brother, and don’t get me wrong– I love having Finn around, he’s a great guy!” He started breaking the news. “But isn’t this a bit too much? You don’t even have to ask for my opinion, isn’t this obviously too dangerous?!”

By now, Kaldo was dramatically gesturing to the scene before them. Rayne furrowed his brows as he looked back and forth between Kaldo and ‘Finn’. He wasn’t convinced at all. “So you’re saying you don’t have this under control?”

“I hate to admit it– but NO!”

Even Carpaccio knows that Kaldo rarely shows this side of him. Most of the time, he is a cunning and ruthless man. That’s the image he had on most divine visionaries. So seeing two divine visionaries act without rationality is… turning him off. He mumbles to himself as he writes on his observation board. “Suddenly I don’t wish to become a divine visionary anymore.”

“We heard that,” Kaldo crossed his hands. He sighed and raised both of his hands. “I don’t know what to do anymore. Rayne, you go and talk him out of it or something…”

“Or something?” Carpaccio questions. “You don’t have a plan?”

“Well, I didn’t have the time to construct a plan seeing that someone didn’t tell me the full story.” Kaldo makes a snarky remark.

Finn watched as they bicker amongst themselves. He felt totally hopeless. He could just imagine what would happen next– first, he’d get trialed, then they would deem him a threat, next they’d lock him up in some max security prison, and worst to come, his prison roommate would be innocent zero and that freaky doom guy! His life is over, totally over!

As Finn laments over his fate, he remembered the promise made to himself. What do we do in unfavourable situations? Definitely not giving up and accepting your fate! Finn balled up his (non existent) fists and focuses hard on the matter at hand. He tried to take control of the summoned entity. He did technically create that thing, so he figured he would be able to control it like some sort of mecha robot.

And to his surprise, it worked! Instead of being in spectator mode, his point of view changed and now he’s seeing through the eyes of the entity. He was a bit puzzled as he felt like he was seeing through the eyes of a fly. Apparently, he could see what the butterflies were seeing too. Seeing a hundred visions at once is overwhelming. Finn took a while to shook off the headache and tried to focus on one single pair of eyes. He chose a butterfly and told it to fly closer to Rayne, trying to communicate.

Seeing as the destructive insects were flying towards them, Kaldo starts batting them away with his arm. The butterflies didn’t move any closer and instead hovered in spot. Noticing that the butterflies probably didn’t mean any hard, they lowered their guards. At this point, none of them knew what would happen if one of Finn’s black butterflies were to touch humans. If white butterflies healed, then do the opposite happens with these ones? I don’t know, Finn doesn’t know either.

“Is it trying to communicate?” Carpaccio thought that it was being unusually friendly. “Maybe Finn has figured out how to control that thing afterall.”

Hearing Carpaccio utter those words, the butterflies seemed overjoyed and started flying around his head. Kaldo still kept his guard up and slightly moved to the side, avoiding contact. Rayne on the other hand, was very much pleased. “So he can control it after all. There’s nothing to worry about, just like I said.”

“R-right…” Kaldo was forced to agree as he figured Finn could listen to their conversation, and he didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “Well, Finn… would you please turn back to normal? Let’s move to our next evaluation.”

The butterflies flew up and down as if to show they understood. All the butterflies in the area retreated and started to fly in a loop around ‘Finn’. Next thing they knew, the huge entity disappeared and was instead replaced by a dazed Finn Ames. He had turned back to his human form, still having a visible third line on his cheek.

“Uhm…” He held his head as he felt the world spinning. The three spectators rush over to check on him. Rayne offered support and Finn gratefully leans on him. “That was… unexpected.”

“Unexpected?” Carpaccio glares at him. “That was more than unexpected. I don’t have the words to describe it, so if you would…”

His words trail off as he shoved his research board into Finn’s face, showing him his thoughts. What Finn saw, however, was four pages full of scribbles and badly drawn drawings. Even at a moment like this, Finn still went out of his way to try to soften his words even though he had nothing good to say. “I-is this me?”

Finn points to the humanoid-shaped scribble and Carpaccio nodded. “Yes, that was what you looked like. Here I wrote down more detailed descriptions, like how the wings had seven holes and the black butterflies each had four legs instead of eight– and yes I checked, their legs weren’t folded. They really did only have four legs.”

“...”

“That’s… interesting…” Finn muttered with a forced smile.

Carpaccio felt proud of himself. However the same couldn’t be applied to Finn, who soon started to apologize on his knees for causing so many troubles. Kaldo shook his hands in denial, trying to calm him down. In his head, Kaldo was cursing the universe on why they would throw such a complicated predicament his way. He was thinking of a way to get around having to write this in the report so that Finn’s next destination wouldn’t be max security prison.

This was going to be a long weekend, he thought.

Chapter Text

They decided to take a break. Kaldo insisted he would treat them to afternoon tea at a cafe nearby. Carpaccio was told he’d have to pay himself, but he wasn’t bothered. He did come from a wealthy family, I guess. They sat around a table and talked over snacks. Kaldo tried his best to distract Finn from the matter at hand, while knowing damn well he was going to have a very long talk with his brother. Finn couldn’t help but notice the weird atmosphere.

“So…” Finn started the conversation. He was curious to know what they thought of the incident. “About the test? W-what were my results?”

“It went well…” Kaldo averted his gaze as he answered. This aroused Finn’s suspicions. They already knew it went terribly, so why bother lying? “I’m afraid I can’t decide on the results now… But I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

It was obvious that Kaldo was covering up the truth. When Finn turned to Rayne with a scrunched face, he avoided eye contact and continued sipping his tea. Even his brother was acting weirdly. He paid no mind to it as he thought of what everyday life would be like from now on. The stares from other customers weren’t helping either– not to mention Kaldo for some unspoken reason decided to choose a table near the entrance. People pass by with whispers and stares.

Yet again, he attracts negative attention. This causes him to slouch in his seat and sigh. Before he got to enjoy any of the snacks, break time was over. They headed to another spot in the woods, far more secluded. Kaldo mentions that if Finn were to lose control this time, no one would see and Finn’s future wouldn’t be jeopardized. Well, at least not yet.

Since they’ve reached the conclusion that Finn’s newfound powers were indeed very destructive, Kaldo has moved on to the interview section. They found a somewhat comfortable-looking log to sit on and gathered in a circle, kind of like a campfire gathering. He explained what they were going to do next. To shorten things, Kaldo needs to make sure that Finn, with his destructive abilities, does not have the intention to wreak havoc.

“Now, I’m sure you have no thoughts of doing anything dangerous, but this is just a formality– so please don’t take offense.” The oldest amongst them clarifies. He whispered something to Carpaccio, and to that the student nodded before flipping over a new page in his writing board and preparing a pen. Kaldo then looked Finn straight in the eyes as he summoned a parrot. It wasn’t any normal bird, it was some sort of voice recording device. “Everything uttered in this interview will be recorded, so do choose your words wisely.”

Finn tensed upon hearing the warning. Kaldo noticed the other stiffen and lightly chuckled. “Apologies, I didn’t mean to scare you. Just answer honestly, you have nothing to hide anyways, right?”

“Uhm, right.” Finn coped with his nervousness by fidgeting his fingers. He watched closely as the flame cane signaled the parrot to start recording. Kaldo hasn’t even started throwing questions at him and yet, he could already feel cold sweat on his back.

It did help a little when Rayne gave him a pat on the shoulder and a firm nod. He took a deep breath and braced himself for the first question. Kaldo started by clearing his throat. “Finn Ames. Ever since gaining your third line, have you had any thoughts on what to do with them?”

“Not really… I’ve thought of ways to get rid of them but–” Finn widened his eyes when he realized how that sentence MIGHT be used against him in court. He feels the need to clarify. What if that recording parrot glitches and the clip gets taken out of context? Well, that's a bit of a stretch, but the possibilities are never zero. “A-and by ‘them’ I mean the powers! I don’t particularly enjoy having destructive powers.”

“So by your own words, you admit that your abilities are destructive?” Kaldo was currently in professional mode. He made quotation marks with his fingers when he said the word ‘destructive’.

Finn bit his lips, thinking of what to say. At the same time, Rayne was facepalming with a frown. The younger Ames noticed his brother’s gesture and that only made him even more nervous. Carpaccio noticed Kaldo making eye contact with him. He nodded and did what they discussed prior. He starts scribbling on paper while Finn stalls for time.

“Well…” Finn slightly looked over to the left and saw Carpaccio holding his board towards him, intending to give Finn an idea of what to say. Seeing the orca student’s messy handwriting, Finn lost all hope. He appreciated the gesture, but who in the world could read that?!

The boy tried shaking his head softly, saying that he couldn’t read. Carpaccio tilted his head and took a look at his writing in confusion. “What is he saying? It looks fine to me.”

Rayne overheard Carpaccio’s whispers and took a look for himself. He was immediately taken aback and glared judgingly at the writer. “...You should get your eyes checked.”

While they were still arguing over whether Carpaccio’s writing was readable or not, Finn had already come up with an acceptable answer. No thanks to them. He swallowed his stutters and forced himself to speak. “There's no denying that my powers could potentially be destructive, b-but that’s only when used incorrectly. If it falls into the wrong hands, then y-yeah, it would be dangerous. But there’s nothing wrong with me! So I think it’s okay.”

Kaldo seemed satisfied with the answer and gave a secret thumbs up. He continued to press the topic. “Are you confident in that statement?”

“Yes,” He answered somewhat sternly. “I’m sure I won’t misuse it.”

“It’s not as if I don’t trust your words, but we’ve had cases where people change their minds later on.” Kaldo put his hands together and rested his chin, leaning in closer to intimidate him. “How can we make sure the same doesn’t happen with you?”

Finn had to pause for a while. The more he thought of it, the more it sounded like a possibility. But that’s impossible! It’s not like he’d wake up and randomly decide to end the world one day, and it’s not like he has any reason to either! Most villains have petty reasons such as anger, revenge, envy– wait.

Envy… oh, doesn’t that sound a lot like him? But it’s just a thought! He was just thinking about how life would be easier if he was special like everyone else, but he didn’t even think about it that much!! Finn was doubting himself. Could he trust himself with this great of a power? If he couldn’t trust himself, how would everyone else trust him?!

While Finn was debating himself in his head, Carpaccio started writing down on the board again. He had only written a couple of letters when Rayne stopped him and took control of the pen. Carpaccio looked over the other’s shoulder and frowned as he couldn’t do anything to protest. Kaldo was still waiting for an answer. He sees that Finn is silent with a perplexed expression. In the awkward silence, his ears perked up hearing a whispering noise to the side. Of course, it was Rayne and Carpaccio doing whatever it was they were doing. Kaldo side-eyed them so hard with his closed eyes that the two turned down the noise.

After what felt like an eternity, Finn was pulled out from his chain of thoughts when he heard whispers from Carpaccio. He was making those “pssst” sounds and pointing to the paper Rayne was holding. The writing was noticeably better, Finn figured his brother wrote it. It took him a bit of squinting to read but on that piece of paper were words like “Self-control” and a whole sentence saying “My brother is a divine visionary so I won’t do anything out of line and even if I do he would take care of it.”

“????” Finn furrowed his eyebrows in skepticism. Doesn’t that make it sound like nepotism is at play? There’s no way he could actually say that, right? It’ll just end with him dragging Rayne down.

Rayne was making gestures with his hands, urging Finn to answer.

Finn sighed and again, decided to make up an answer by himself. “There’s no guaranteed way to ensure what I will do in the future, b-but I can assure you that I’ll try my best to use the ‘blessing’ I was given for good. Even if I make a mistake, I have friends and Family who will uh…” Finn pondered on how he could properly put together what he was about to say. In reality, his friends would probably beat some sense into him (literally). Still, he couldn’t say that. “...p-put me back on the right path. I have faith in them and I’m sure they’d stop me.”

He noticed that he used the word ‘blessing’ to refer to his third line, but it’s honestly more of a curse. If he could make one wish right now, he’d wish for it to disappear. He let out a heavy sigh of relief as he finally got those words out of his mouth. Finn heard Kaldo chuckle as he clapped his hands. “Well said, well said.”

Finn couldn’t help but smile hearing him say that. Rayne, who was on the sidelines, also felt instant relief. And with that, the interview session was over. Kaldo signaled the parrot to wrap up the recording before he got up from his seat and approached Finn. His mood changed a hundred and eighty degrees, back to his regular cheery self. He pats his student’s shoulders, relieving the tension quite a bit.

“Sounds convincing enough, I’m sure the higher-ups won’t bat an eye to your predicament,” Kaldo smiles widely. His signature smile was charming… too charming in fact. It gave Finn the chills knowing that he was in professional mode just a second ago. Isn’t it weird how he could just switch on and off? Kaldo continued, “I also noticed that you barely stuttered on your last statement. Good job!”

Finn didn’t have the strength to reply and instead simply forced an awkward smile, alongside two thumbs up. Carpaccio suddenly appeared behind him, causing him to jump to his feet. “I told you he was a cunning man.”

“AAH..!” He hugged himself on instinct. He soon realized it was just a fellow student, a terrifying student but– it was just Carpaccio. “Oh, uhm… yeah? It’s quite impressive…”

They soon notice that it’s getting dark, and they should probably call it a day. Carpaccio noted that he’d have to return to his dorm before lights out, or else he’d get in trouble. The orca student summoned his broom and prepared to take off. Finn was about to return to Easton with Carpaccio until Rayne grabbed his shoulder before he could get on his own broom as well.

“Finn, you’re staying with us for tonight.” Rayne broke the news to him, leaving Finn visibly disappointed. Kaldo told him to cheer up and promised that he’d give him a midnight snack. Finn’s imagination had already wandered far, thinking of what kind of holding cell he’d stay the night in, but turns out he was just going to sleep on a couch in Rayne’s office.

Carpaccio bid them goodbye and said he’d be back tomorrow. Rayne told him to get lost and to NOT come back tomorrow. But we all know that’s not gonna happen.

They make their way back to headquarters. Finn watched as Kaldo explained the situation to one of the staff. That said staff member gave Finn a weird look, and to that, Finn smiled awkwardly once again. The front desk lady paid him no mind and continued writing on some paper, then handed Finn a special pass. Rayne explained that he wouldn’t be asked questions as long as he wore the pass around his neck.

They headed to headquarters and split up as the brothers went to Rayne’s office and Kaldo returned to his, saying that he still needed to write that report he mentioned. Finn feels bad that he’s been causing trouble left and right. Because of him, both Rayne and Kaldo are working overtime to make sure his future isn’t in shambles. He’s going to have to thank everyone over a meal after this. Rayne never stays the night at his office, so today’s going to be his first time. Finn knows that Rayne is a very light sleeper, so trying to get some shut-eye in an office is hard for him. All the more reasons for Finn to feel bad.

Rayne prepared dinner, which was cup noodles, but Finn was grateful. It reminded him of when they were kids, they used to eat cup noodles together. Back then, it felt like a luxury. I guess it still is now, as they don’t get much quality time together. Even in situations like these, Finn’s glad there’s still some benefit to it.

“It’s been a while since we’ve… sat down and talked,” Finn started the conversation.

Rayne was pouring hot water as he replied, “...That’s right. Has the second year made you more busy? It was like that for me. Less textbook learning and more projects.”

“Yeah… More projects. Seriously, I’ve never spent so much money on materials before– no wonder the book fees were suspiciously cheap, we barely use them,” Finn huffed.

Rayne chuckled hearing his brother’s complaints. It reminded him of his own experience during his second year of school. That year, he became a divine visionary. It was quite hectic, seeing as he prepared his whole life for that moment. He recalled the intense competition, but it still gives him chills to this day. But all those sacrifices were worth it.

“I barely remember anything I learned from my second year,” Rayne admitted. “I was too busy training for the selection exam. Of course, I still kept up my grades, but I often study the night before tests, and I forget about it entirely after I pass.”

Finn got excited hearing his brother agree with him. So even the amazing sword cane had his hard moments at school? That somehow makes Finn feel closer to him. “Right! I hate theoretical tests, I don’t need most of the stuff they teach me! I don’t learn anything, I simply view it as a test of memory… not helpful at all.”

“There will be even fewer written tests during your last year. Based on my experience, I was more busy with internships. They take up more than half of the semester,” He shares.

“Ah, right…” Finn recalled a memory he was reminded of. “There was this incident that happened while all the Adler third years were away on internships. It was something that involved Abel… but come to think of it, you were there too.”

Rayne knew exactly which incident Finn was talking about. He winced to himself when he remembered how cold he was acting towards his brother. Those were dark times, he prefers not to remember or else he wouldn’t stop beating himself up over it. “Mhm, I had to return early. I was pardoned early since headmaster Wahlberg personally called me for a job.”

“So that’s why… I was really surprised when you suddenly showed up,” Finn pauses to slurp his instant noodles before continuing. He had been talking all this time that he had forgotten to eat, and now it’s getting cold. While still chewing, he continued his words. “But it’s a good thing you were there! Or else… We both know what would’ve happened.”

The older sighed. “I still wonder how you got yourself into such a strange predicament. It’s concerning how many dangerous situations that Mash Burnedead has dragged you into. It’s even more concerning how those things still happen to this day.”

“Well… every day is interesting when you’re friends with Mash, I guess,” Finn shrugged.

After talking over a meal, they didn’t even notice that the moon was fully up. Time passes when you’re having fun with your big brother, huh? They decided to settle in for the night. Rayne insisted that Finn should sleep on the sofa.

Finn looked around the room, realizing that there was only one sofa. It’s not like the divine visionaries’ quarters had dorms or anything, so where would Rayne be sleeping? “I take the couch? Where would you be sleeping then?”

“Mhm, the chair is fine.” He answered nonchalantly.

“Y-you mean that one over there?” Finn pointed to the office chair, which was right next to the desk. “...you’re seriously sleeping while sitting up?”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

Finn frowned, not liking how Rayne was making so many sacrifices for him. First, he works overtime, then he has to deal with all the trouble he stirred up, next he has to stay the night at the office, and on top of that, he has to sleep on a chair?! Finn was not going to let that slide. He persisted, “You should have the couch, you’re going to need a lot of rest. I know you’re a light sleeper…”

Rayne ignored Finn’s objection and instead threw a thin blanket at him. He didn’t bother responding as he immediately turned off the lights. Finn couldn’t argue further and reluctantly went to bed. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

___

Yeah, right. About that…

Finn couldn’t sleep at all. His eyes were wide open throughout the night. Whenever he did close his eyes, all he could see were envisionings of the future— all the bad stuff. It’s like all these things were glued to his eyelids. The next thing he knew, it was already morning.

Rayne got up from his seat and exited the office, probably to go to the toilet, Finn thought. He sat up straight on the sofa and rubbed his eyes. He felt his eyes sting a bit, but it was expected seeing as he stayed up the entire night. He stood up and went for a glass of water. As he was pouring himself a cup, Rayne walked through the door and immediately caught on to his fatigue.

“...Did you not sleep at all?” Rayne’s flat toned voice startled the younger Ames as he almost spilt his water. As if he switched on big brother mode, Rayne was ready to scold.

“Well, I tried to…” Finn noticed Rayne’s frown as he stared. He winced, “My eyes aren’t that red, are they?”

Rayne didn’t reply and instead furrowed his brows further. Finn was starting to get intimidated, so he gulped down his glass of water and skipped over to the washroom to get himself ready for the day. He looked into the mirror and sighed disappointedly, seeing three lines still resting on his face.

He got ready and then headed back to Rayne’s office. They immediately started the day with a simple breakfast. Finn kept sighing as he ate. Rayne noticed the awkward atmosphere, but he couldn’t really do anything about it. They stayed silent until Kaldo stopped by the office.

“Rise and shine!” Kaldo greeted, rather suspiciously happy. Rayne raised an eyebrow at his antics. The flame cane ignored his colleague and went straight to Finn. “So… it’s still there, huh?”

Finn sighed once again as he put away his utensils. “I don’t know anymore. What things do we have to do today?”

Before Kaldo could answer, they were interrupted by the door creaking open. Carpaccio has arrived. Upon seeing his ‘friend’, Finn’s first reaction was to flop face-first onto the table. It’s safe to say he was not at all excited. Carpaccio paid it no mind as he started reciting today’s schedule. “It seems yesterday’s data was not sufficient to prove my hypothesis, so we will have to do a few more test runs today.”

The boy continued as he grabbed a scroll from his inner robes. “From what I’ve gathered, Finn has the ability to somewhat control his new powers. Last night, I stayed up to make a list of all the things that would benefit us if Finn somehow is able to fully grasp his thirds.”

He threw the scroll at Rayne, who caught it easily and quickly skimmed through it. “...Where’s the rest of it?”

The sword cane’s comment intrigued Kaldo. He looked over Rayne’s shoulder to find a short list, consisting of only three points. He notices a fourth sentence scribbled out in black ink. He could somewhat see what it was and read it out loud. “Weapon of war? That doesn’t sound like a benefit.”

“Exactly. It would benefit the country, but it also counts as a burden for Finn. So I didn’t include that one,” Carpaccio explained. He then reaches in to grab another scroll, this time noticeably longer. It opened to reveal a long list of misfortunes. “And these… are all the bad things that would happen if Finn continues to have this destructive ability.”

Finn wasn’t thrilled to hear this statement. Aside from the fact that Carpaccio was just repeating things he already knew, he was annoyed at the drastic difference between the two scrolls. It felt as if reality had slapped him in the face once again. He reaches out for a glass of water, just wanting to drink. Instead, he sees his own reflection in the water. He sees the three lines sitting on his face. Will he have to deal with this for the rest of his life? Really?

“Anyways, shall we begin the day?” Kaldo questions if his disciple is ready to begin the day. It’s not as if he had a choice, so Finn reluctantly nodded.

They headed to yesterday’s testing spot. Deep in the woods, Finn sat on what was left of a cut-down tree. On that log, he is dazed as he listens to his companions discuss what to do next. Carpaccio had a few ideas that he believed would benefit his research, but most were denied by Rayne, as he thought it would be too risky. And of course, Finn had no say in this.

In the midst of their discussion, Kaldo remembered that Carpaccio mentioned something about insufficient data for his hypothesis. The topic piqued his interest. “Say, Carpaccio… what is this ‘hypothesis’ of yours anyways?”

“Oh, right. According to my speculations, the current data might prove that Finn’s third line may not be permanent,” the boy explained as he flipped through his notes.

Hearing Carpaccio’s statement, Finn immediately snapped out of his daze and beamed with hope. He tried not to get his hopes up, hearing that it was still a speculation, but he was excited nonetheless. He demands a much clearer explanation. “...Tell me more.”

The researcher smiled slightly as someone finally showed interest in his work. “I’ve noticed an unusual pattern yesterday. That giant thing you morphed into… it also had lines on its face. Compared to the angelic creature featured in changeas secondth who did not have lines on their face and acted as a completely separate entity, changeas thirds seems to be a reflection of yourself. This is further confirmed by your ability to control it physically.”

Finn tilted his head. “Meaning…?”

“Meaning that if certain signs were found on that thing, it might as well apply to you,” he further explained. He then flipped through his notes and landed on a page where it had a very rough sketch from yesterday. He pointed at his drawing, “Do you see this? It has three lines on its face. When I observed its movements, I noticed its third line was blinking, slowly fading away. By the time you were in full control of it, the third line completely disappeared.”

Carpaccio put away his notes and brought out a separate set of notes. Then he disclosed his theory. “I know this is a lot of information to take in, but if I am correct, your third line– or even, your entire changeas thirds, might disappear the moment you master its power.”

Upon hearing of the slightest possibility of being rid of this hell hole, his eyes were practically shining. He stuttered, “Are you sure about that?”

“Well, not yet. As I said, it is only a hypothesis. But the data is insufficient to prove or deny this theory,” he shrugs. He then looked at Finn with his empty eyes, which lowkey freaked out the poor ames. Carpaccio shows Finn his notes, pointing out a missing column in his research paper. “If I manage to fill in this part, then we will have our answer.”

“Alright,” Finn sighed. “Do whatever you want.”

Chapter Text

And do whatever he wanted he did. Finn slightly regretted telling Carpaccio to do whatever he wanted, because this man has no sense of boundaries. After a few days of his non-stop experiments, Carpaccio finally gathered enough information to identify the problem. The ‘save Finn’s future’ squad has gathered once again after Carpaccio called them saying that he has found a promising solution. Now they’re sitting on the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting to hear the new found solution.

“Okay. I think I understand what’s happening now,” Carpaccio declares. Without much empty talk, he got straight to the point. “My initial hypothesis is somewhat correct. I have gathered more evidence that suggests that by mastering this power, ironically- will cause your third line to disappear.”

Rayne has a hint of doubt in him, so he questions further. “Care to explain what evidence you have that suggests that?”

Carpaccio immediately turned to his pile of reference books and took a moment to pick the book he was looking for. It was a rather thin book. “I’ve read from a few sources that claim to be historical records. Although quite old, all those sources tell the same story with little to no contradictions,” he explains as he flips through the pages. He lands on a specific page and reads it aloud. “You shall be given exactly the things you asked for, only to feel deep regret upon receiving it. And once you come to terms with those regrets and begin to feel joy, what was once given to you shall be taken back.”

“....”

No one was actually sure what Carpaccio was waiting for, as the room suddenly fell into silence. The boy then closed the book and unexpecting shoved it into the sword cane’s view, causing him to flinch and instinctively summoned a few daggers. After realizing it was just a book, Rayne frowned as he squinted his eyes to read what the book cover wrote. “Folktales with morals for children's bedtime stories..?”

“Right. The quote I read just now came from a story which features a main character who was never content with his life. As the story goes, he kept whining about how useless he was until one day the gods got so sick of it they decide to teach him a lesson, by giving him what he asked for and making him suffer with it, then finally taking it away once he learned to coexist with it,” he paused and looked Finn dead in the eye. “Sound familiar?”

Finn, who was already drenched in cold sweat, could only chuckle awkwardly, realizing that the gods must be cursing him out for how much he complains.

“...I didn’t expect you to be someone who believed in fairytales,” Kaldo chuckled.

“It’s not a fairytale. This is based on a real historical figure, there's even an artifact that they left behind. It's in the national museum,” Carpaccio argued. “Anyways, learning about Finn’s predicament reminded me of this. So I figured this is a classic case of… curse from the gods above. My solution is that we follow the initial storyline and have Finn master his new powers in hopes of it going away in the end.”

“That sounds… cruel,” Finn sighed. “I’m going to have to put in all this work just for it to go away in the end? Come on…”

“There you go, complaining again,” Rayne playfully commented.

Finn immediately covered his mouth with both his palms, silently praying to the gods for forgiveness. “I didn’t mean it like that!”

On the other side of the sofa, Kaldo was calmly watching the scene unfold. With his eyes closed yes, but that's not the point. He then noticed Carpaccio fliping through his notes and realized something missing from his story. “Hey kid, your research is great and all, but what does the tests have to do with this? I recall you ran some… specific… experiments on Finn.”

“Oh… that. Well, that was for… personal research purposes.”

“W-what?!” Finn overheard. “Wait, what does that even mean??”

Rayne was already interpreting Carpaccio’s words negatively. He awaits for the boy to explain himself before throwing hands. The burgundy haired teen deadpanned at the negative reaction from the Ames brothers before bringing his finger to his own lips to think how he’s going to word out his excuses.

He flips through his notes once again and simply said, “I was curious how such a magnificent creature could belong to someone like Finn Ames.”

Finn tilted his head in confusion. “...is that a compliment or…?”

“You can interpret it however you wish. But don’t worry, it’s not like I’m going to do anything weird with the data I collected,” Carpaccio stated somewhat reassuringly.

“?????” is the only way I can describe what expression is on Finn’s face right now. He then followed up with– “You seriously give off mad scientist vibes, so how am I going to take your word for that?!”

“Okay, okay. Settle down now kids…” Kaldo puts down his cup of tea and uncrosses his legs. “Without wasting more time, let’s put Carpaccio’s theory to the test, shall we?”

Everyone seemed to agree to his suggestion, so they all began to focus on the matter at hand, and that is to figure out a way to get Finn to fully master his new powers. Thanks to Carpaccio’s concerning tests, Finn has slightly adjusted to his third form.

As they arrived at the testing grounds, Carpaccio had set up their needed equipments beforehand. No one knew what he had in plan for today. The burgundy haired boy disappeared on his broom for about five minutes, before coming back with two crates in his hands. How did he fly the broom without his hands? Finn wanted to ask.

Both the crates were covered in a white cloth, giving an aura of mystery. Carpaccio gently put them down and got to explaining. “Before we begin further testing, there is one experiment I’d like to do. To test whether it is safe or not to continue with further experiments. And that is…”

He left his words hanging to add suspense as he walked over to unveil the crates. Before he lifted the cloth, Finn chimed in. “it’s nothing weird, is it?”

“Of course not. They’re just guinea pigs,” he answered confidently. He then paused to realize he had ruin the surprise. He frowns at himself.

“G-guinea pigs?!” Finn exclaimed. “W-what are we doing with literal guinea pigs?!”

“Not literally… I meant… guinea pigs. Lab rat, test subjects– whatever you call it!” Carpaccio quickly unveiled the white cloth after rushing to clarify. He then stares at the crates and exhales. “Ah… well, our test subjects seem to be literal guinea pigs after all.”

“Why are you using guinea pigs?” Kaldo asked curiously.

Carpaccio crossed his hands and huffed, “Well I had planned to use rabbits instead as they are more commonly used, but then a certain someone would be after my throat.”

The healing cane wielder could already feel the glares carving a hole into him. He shrugged without much care and continued explaining. “Anyways, as you can see, this guinea pig is alive and well. Although we can’t say the same for this one.”

“Actually, that’s not right. This one is alive but is definitely NOT well,” he corrected himself. “Which is why we are using it in this experiment.”

Finn was nervous already. What are they going to make him do to those poor creatures? “Don’t tell me you’re planning to…”

“You’ve guessed correctly. We’re going to see if your butterflies can evaporate living beings.”

“No, no, NO! There’s no way I can do that!” Finn rejected the idea immediately.

Carpaccio knew Finn was going to show some retaliation. He tries to convince the other that it’s not as inhumane as he thinks. “Don’t worry. With how quick your butterflies destroy things, these creatures won’t feel a thing. And besides! This ones already dead. That other one on the right has an incurable disease. We’ll be doing it a favor… kind of like a euthanasia.”

“B-but still…” Finn hesitated.

“I can’t force you into doing it, of course, but it would be useful for the research. We’re still wondering whether or not your butterflies are harmful to humans, and this is probably the closest we can get to finding out… it’s not like we can use actual people.”

Now that Carpaccio compared it to using actual humans, Finn was starting to see the benefits. Reluctantly, he eventually agreed. Carpaccio explained that they were going to try with the corpse first and then with the live guinea pig.

In the end, they discovered that the butterflies in fact DO destroy living beings– animals, at the very least. When the guinea pig corpse dissintegrates into thin air, Rayne was already skeptical of the results, but still hoped that a carcass wasn’t considered a living being, therefore it doesn’t count. Then round two came along and shattered all his positive thoughts. The test proved that the butterflies can in fact detroy living things.

“This wasn’t the outcome I expected,” Carpaccio admitted. “I was hoping it wouldn’t work.”

Kaldo and Rayne both looked at the results and back at eachother. They both nodded in sync, coming to some kind of agreement. Before long, they stated in unison, “We must NEVER speak of this.”

Finn and Carpaccio were confused on what the two divine visionaries were planning. Finn was still shaken up from finding out what a monster his abilities were, and the confusion was not helping. Without any warning, Rayne walked up to Carpaccio and snatched away his research notes.

“What… are you doing?” Carpaccio wanted to take back his notes, but convinced himself to trust the divine visionaries judgements.

But without saying anything, Rayne walked back to Kaldo and held out the notes as far as his hand could reach. Kaldo held up his pointer finger and lit a small fire at the end of his fingertips. Without hesitation, he burned those notes to ashes.

Carpaccio’s eyes widened in disbelief. This is the last thing he expected to happened. “What… WHAT?!” his voice raised unexpectedly. Finn flinched a bit as he was startled by the sight. He’s never seen Carpaccio lose his cool before. The scientist was beyond speechless. So speechless that he has a thousand things to say right now.

“Why would you DO that?! We’ve spent the entire afternoon gathering information– very valuable information at that! Why would you?? Burn my notes???”

“...What information?” Kaldo played dumb. “Did we do any experiments to gather information this afternoon, Rayne?”

“None that I recall.”

“Right!” Kaldo reaffirms. “I’m not sure what this brat is talking about.”

Carpaccio was dumbfounded. Finn could only watch in silence as the visionary duo kept persisting with their awful attempt at gaslighting both Carpaccio and themselves into believing nothing happened today. But no matter how much they tried to cover up the fact, they all knew deep down that Finn was in great danger. Those butterflies are dangerous indeed.

The rest of the day was spent in the woods once again. This time, they acted as if nothing happened and continued with endurance training– meaning Finn just tried to stay in his third form as long as possible. He now finds it a little less exhausting to maintain his form and discovered that he can stay a record-breaking six minutes and thirteen seconds before passing out from exhaustion. It’s more impressive than it sounds, okay?

As Finn transformed himself again for the forty-seventh time (yes, Carpaccio counted each one and wrote down the duration of each run), Kaldo suddenly remembered something he had been meaning to tell the others.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you something,” Kaldo suddenly voiced during Finn’s training. Rayne’s attention turned to him while Carpaccio still focused on timing Finn’s forty seventh run. “Just so you know, we have about… two weeks? Before the higher ups are going to do something about Finn if we don’t show them that he can control his abilities.”

Just as he finished his sentence, Carpaccio’s head turned so fast. Almost like an owl, especially with those empty eyes of his. And upon hearing this, Finn also immediately lost his focus, forced to turn back into his normal self again. Although distracted, Carpaccio still managed to stop the timer in time and wrote down the duration.

Finn, who was still exhausted from the transformation, lays on the ground panting heavily. He manages to choke out a few concerned words. “What… WHAT.” Is all he managed to say.

“I know, I know. I’m not very happy with the news either. I was meaning to tell you all, but for some reason I’ve actually forgotten until now,” Kaldo admitted.

Rayne has that sour look on his face again. He’s not happy with this– as expected. “For how long have you forgotten about this?” he asks sternly. Depending on what Kaldo’s answer is, they could be in deep trouble.

“Well, it’s been about… a week,” Kaldo scratched his head.

“Okay. They told you a week ago. Okay, alright. That’s fine,” Rayne tried to sound as calm as possible. “We still have time right?”

“Yes.”

Rayne nods to himself and turns his back on Kaldo, walking towards Finn who was still lying on the ground with Carpaccio just hovering around him, which wasn’t a very nice sight for Rayne to see. After death glaring Carpaccio to signal him to move away, he helps Finn up back to his feet.

Although, he still felt this uneasy feeling lingering inside him, so he decided to ask Kaldo once again, just to be sure. “And we still have two weeks, yes?”

“...No.”

“What..?” Finn subconsciously answered instead of Rayne.

Kaldo sighed as he tried to make this sound as unnerve wracking as possible. “The higher-ups said we have two weeks, a week ago.”

“So we have a week before they take action?” Carpaccio simplified.

“It seems so,” Kaldo answers unenthusiastically, still wondering to himself how something so important managed to slip his mind. Must be for the plot.

The atmosphere was met with silence as everyone simply stared at Kaldo, with Carpaccio questioning his competence as a divine visionary. Maybe it’s because he’s had so many things to do lately. Finn kind of felt bad cause he’s the reason Kaldo is always working overtime. He looked over to his brother, who had his eyes twitching in frustration.

Rayne really wanted to throw swords right now, but he soon remembered the flame cane was technically his senior, so he couldn’t do that. Instead, he needed to find another target to unleash his pent up rage upon. He turned his head slightly to the left and saw none other than Carpaccio Luo-yang and that annoying flat emotionless ugly face of his. “...You,” he mumbled.

“Huh?” Carpaccio innocently tilts his head.

“Why’d you take so long to come up with a solution..? If only you didn’t take an entire week to do so, maybe Finn would have more time,” he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Oh… so it’s my fault?” Carpaccio said so with such a flat tone that Finn can’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Finn kinda felt like Carpaccio had put on a pitiful expression but maybe he’s hallucinating.

“A-atleast he came up with an actual solution!” Finn didn’t know what came over him, but here he is trying to defend the man he fears the most. “Don’t be so harsh on him, I-i’m sure he’s trying his best… right?”

Carpaccio just nodded slowly.

Kaldo suddenly marched on over to a nearby log and sat down. He stretched his legs and smiled to himself before he suddenly switched into professional mode. “No worries Finn, just focus on doing your best to perfect your skills. Don’t let the time limit pressure you, I’ll figure something out.”

“Right,” Rayne agreed, “He always defies all odds… one way or another. Sometimes I’m not sure what he does is legal, but as long as it gets the job done.”

“Okay now you make me sound like a shady guy,” Kaldo chuckled.

“So we’re trying again?” Carpaccio asked as he picked up his chart once more. After getting confirmations, he made a comment towards Finn before he went for his forty eight attempt. “Finn, you’re going to need to last a lot longer this time. I’m going to count your average score at the end of the day, and your last round is going to drag it down. You lasted fifty one seconds last time.”

“Wait what? That one doesn’t count!” Finn protested, “I only stopped early because I was distracted.”

The scientist shrugged, “Well, you shouldn’t have been.”

They went for a couple more rounds before the sunset. It got a little too dark for their liking so they made their way out the woods and back to headquarters, deciding to stop for dinner along the way. It was rush hour for the restaurant, so they had to wait a little to be seated. They got a seat at a small round table at the corner of the bistro. Kaldo said it would be his treat. So without much thinking, Carpaccio started pointing at a couple of dishes to order.

This is the first time Finn noticed that Carpaccio eats quite a lot for his size. Kaldo is already drenched in cold sweat, kind of regretting offering to pay once he saw how much Carpaccio ordered. While they waited for the food to arrive, they sat quietly staring at one another. All they could hear was the hustling background noise of other customers. Carpaccio paid it no mind as he considers it an opportunity to review today’s collected data. He pulled out his chart and started calculating Finn’s ability chart for today.

“hmm… this is pretty good, I guess.” A low mumble slipped from him as he looked at the final score. He looked to Finn, who sat next to him. “Your average time is 5 minutes and thirty six seconds, and your record time is six minutes and thirteen seconds.”

“Uhm… okay? That's nice…” Finn wasn't sure what to say to that. He then looked down at the table and started fidgeting with his utensils out of boredom.

Seeing that Finn was uninterested, Carpaccio slightly frowned before turning to the man on his left side, the flame cane. “Would you like to hear about my conclusion of today’s training?”

“Sure, sure,” Kaldo responds unexpectedly. “I’ve got nothing to do till the food comes anyways,” he shrugs.

“That's good,” He states. “As of right now, Finn can only control one of his butterflies at a time. He says it takes a lot of focus to even command one. I consider the humanoid as a mechanical robot that Finn can control. When he's inside the ‘robot’, he claims to have eyes like those of a fly.”

Seeing Kaldo raise a brow, Carpaccio opted to explain. “Meaning that he sees what the butterflies see. Through hundreds or perhaps thousands of lenses, all at the same time.”

“Yeah, it really gives me a headache… always moving in different directions, seeing different things. It feels like my attention is scattered– equally divided into three thousand,” Finn sighed. “I can only control one at once, so I usually pick a random vision and focus my entirety on that single butterfly.”

Carpaccio nodded. “Taking this into account, Finn will be deemed not a threat by being able to control all those butterflies, all at once. Making sure none of them lands on anything by their own will. Only then can I consider Finn to have truly mastered his powers. The bureau of magic should have the same opinion.”

“Well, then I better say my final goodbyes then,” Finn half-joked as a wave of hopelessness swept away his will to even try. Everyone just deadpanned him.

“You're telling us something we already know, kid.” Kaldo criticized, “Also, you're missing a key detail.”

“Hm?” Carpaccio tilted his head, waiting to be enlightened on what part of his explanation was missing.

“On the first day, Finn mentioned something about… having a third person's point of view?” He brought up the topic.

Finn’s eyes widened as he was reminded of it. “Right!” He accidentally slammed the table while standing up, bringing all the attention to him. The rush of adrenaline caused him to stand up for no reason, so he just awkwardly sat back down with a red face. “S-sorry, I got a little excited there… A-anyways, it's true that the first time I transformed, I was put in a third person's point of view. It's as if I was a spectator– I was floating in the sky and I could see myself! It's like my soul was away from my body for a split second.”

“But I managed to pull my focus and suddenly, I was uhm, ‘inside’ the butterfly humanoid, and was able to control it to an extent,” he continued. “Ever since then, I never had that experience anymore. It was just a one time thing.”

Carpaccio thought for a second. “Another advantage… ah, perhaps it never happened again because you never tried to. During your training, you only ever focused on the butterflies, right?”

Finn nodded. The burgundy haired boy continued, “You’ve only been able to control one single butterfly so far. We haven't tried controlling the entity itself, have we?”

“Oh… That's true,” Finn looked down at his palm, closing it then opening it again, feeling his fingers. “Everytime I'm in my third form, I can only see what the butterflies see. I never see through the humanoid’s eyes… and I never thought of moving my hands while being in it either.”

“Has anyone actually seen it make any sort of movements?” Kaldo curiously asked after realising that he doesn't seem to remember if the humanoid figure moved or not. Everyone collectively shook their heads. “So the figure doesn't have a mind of its own then.”

“Logically, Finn should be able to switch in between some kind of… mode. One where you see through the eyes of butterflies, and one where you see through the eyes of the humanoid,” Carpaccio theorized. He stopped to think. His eyes slightly widened as he pulled out his chart and flipped to a page. There, a drawing he made during Finn’s first test. He looked closer at the drawing of the figure. He pointed at the chart, “blindfold..? So that's… I see.”

“What are you mumbling about?” Rayne pushed for him to share his findings.

“Finn’s third form doesn't have eyes. That's why he sees with the help of the butterflies’ eyes. The soul-out-of-body experience is what the entity sees without its butterflies. It plays the role of a spectator… that's why it doesn't do anything. I suspect that even if he tries to, Finn wouldn't be able to control the huge figure itself. Only the butterflies.” He explained. “So in all technicality– it's a peaceful entity, when seperated from the butterflies.”

Kaldo had this slightly disappointed look on his face. “So it's not like a mechanical robot after all… it would’ve been nice.”

“I’m not following your logic…” Finn sighs.

“I wouldn't blame you. Our minds work differently.”

“Hey!”

Before they could break out into another argument, a waiter comes over and serves their food. They decided to put the discussion on hold and instead enjoy the meal. After spending a good 40 minutes munching on their food, Kaldo, with much regret, went to pay the tab. The activities ended for the day, continuing tomorrow.

—---------------

“Day two of research. Today we will be running a few more experiments, mainly to find more information on whether Finn could take control of the humanoid figure and switch inbetween point of views on demand. If my hypothesis is proved correct, we will push forward with the idea of it being a peaceful entity, which will lead to experiment number– “

“Uhm, are you talking to yourself..?” Finn concerningly asked Carpaccio, who was mumbling to himself while scribbling into his board.

“...oh, it’s nothing.” He shrugs. Not bothering to explain to Finn that it was just a weird habit of his to brainstorm to himself. “So, let’s start with the first round, shall we?”

Without further ado, they got straight into testing. Kaldo sets up the protective barrier around Finn before he begins his transformation. Finn, now in control of the humanoid figure, was met with the usual sight of seeing through the hundreds and thousands of butterflies’ eyes. Feels as if he’s looking at a thousand circle mirrors.

He remembered what Carpaccio told him to do and tries his best to unfocus on the butterflies. He closed his eyes… which did nothing. This is the first time he realized that he can’t actually close his ‘eyes’. There’s no way to stop seeing through the eyes of the butterflies, which notably made him dizzy.

No matter, there’s other things to test out. He tried to move his hands– the same exact hands he couldnt see, nor feel. He tried THINKING about moving his hands, hoping that would get it to move, but to no luck. He thought about swinging his hands back and forth, but he couldn’t feel anything happening. But another thought came into mind. What if he CAN control his hands, but he just doesn’t know it since he couldn’t see whats happening?

Click! New idea unlocked. He’s going to pick a butterfly and tell it to look straight at himself so he can get an idea of what he looks like. GOD he’s so smart. Why didn’t he think of that earlier?

He focuses his eyes onto one butterfly and soon he’s gained a new pair of eyes to see with. He tells it to turn around to face him. And soon enough, lo and behold! He can see himself now. And wow… seeing it once again sure is a sight. It’s just as majestic as everyone claimed it was, yet just as terrifying as they described. He soon shook away his thoughts and got straight to proceeding with his plans, before he runs out of stamina and loses his form.

While he looks at himself, he tries to simultaneously think about moving his hands. Which, does not work. He tried a couple more times to move something, anything, but the entity didn’t flinch a bit. So he concluded that he can’t control the body afterall.

Disappointing… but that’s okay. He doesn’t have time to waste. Next thing to try is that weird out of body experience he managed to do on his first day. Without much time interval, he quickly unfocussed his sight out of the butterfly and back to default screen. Then again, focussing his entirety into ‘trying’ to force his soul out of his– no, the entity’s body.

First time, didn’t work. Second time, it just made his stomach hurt. Third time… his head hurts again. Who knew trying to force your soul out of your body would be such a hard task to accomplish? Time is almost up, he’s running out of energy. One last try wouldn’t hurt, right?

He gave it his all and tried really really REALLY hard to accomplish his goal. He shut his eyes for full concentration, and surprisingly, it worked! When he opened his eyes once again, he was greeted by a terrifying height. He shrieked in shock, but soon realized he was floating. He looked down more carefully to see the giant entity from before, still encased in a protective barrier. A couple meters from that barrier, were the others waiting for him.

Finn was so happy to be in spectator mode. This proves one of Carpaccio’s theories, and it also means he has mastered a new ability! He gives himself an imaginary pat on the back. He also notices that he doesn’t feel exhausted anymore. It seems his energy regenerates when he’s in spectator mode. No headache, no eyesore, nothing stamina draining.

“Hey, this is kinda cool!” Finn thought. “It’s peaceful and the scenery is beautiful– wait. What’s that..?”

Uh oh.

Finn feels a sense of dejavu. The butterflies are all grouping together, flying towards a certain spot on the barrier, causing it to slowly crack. That escalated quickly. Soon, the butterflies were swarming out of the protective dome, spreading to all kinds of directions. Seeing that, of course Finn begins to panic.

This happened the moment Finn switched to spectator mode, so he figured going back inside the entity would make the butterflies stop going feral. So he tries doing just that. Except… it’s not working. He must have used up all his energy and still needs time to recharge.

Uh oh.

On the other hand, the group on land noticed something was wrong. Kaldo tilted his head at the sight of his protective barrier being torn down. “That’s not supposed to happen. This hasn’t happened since… the first time Finn transformed.”

“The butterflies are escaping..!” Rayne somewhat exclaimed. They watched as the butterflies started landing on nearby rocks and trees. “Why is it happening a second time…?”

Carpaccio furrowed his brows, tapping his pen on his chin. “Finn should be able to control it well enough at this point. If the butterflies are being destructive again, then…”

“There’s no way Finn would do any of this on purpose, something must have gone wrong.” Rayne was quick to defend his brother from any negative theories.

“...That was what I was going to say,” Carpaccio slightly rolled his eyes. The visionaries didn’t know he could do that. “He must be in the ‘spectator mode’ right now. I assume he managed to do that somehow, meaning there’s no one controlling the butterflies. Without Finn inside the entity to control them, they are now roaming around freely– with their destructive nature.”

“But when this happened a while ago, Finn managed to regain control, correct?” Kaldo asked a rhetorical question and received nods as a response. “So he should have it under control. Should we just wait?”

Carpaccio looked around before stating, “The butterflies have destroyed quite a few properties… we can’t wait for long. What measures will we take if Finn takes too long to regain control?”

“I suppose we will have to find a way to stop them?” Rayne chimed in.

“Right… and how are we going to do that?” Kaldo sighed.

“You could always put up more barriers.”

After a few minutes pass by, they noticed it wasn’t getting better. No signs that Finn had this under control either. And by then, Finn wasn’t the only ones panicking. They all were. Kaldo set up a stronger barrier to stop the insects, yet they broke through in half a minute. The fire cane kept trying to contain them, putting up barrier after barrier even if they were all destroyed one after another.

“This isn’t good… I think they’re actually breaking each barrier faster than before!” Kaldo grew tired of flicking his wrist to cast more spells. “Please think of another solution to contain them.”

“What are we going to use to contain something that destructive?” Carpaccio asked himself outloud. “If only we knew whether or not those insects have a weakness, or if there exists something that’s immune to them.”

Rayne thought for a moment. “I think… there should be an artifact that could help. It’s in the bureau… would it be suspicious if I asked to take it for a walk..?”

Kaldo shook his head, “there’s no way they’re going to let you take it out of storage without a propper reason. Come to think of it, there’s probably not a single reason you can come up with that’ll be convincing enough. So maybe… justttt maayyyybbeeee…”

Rayne deadpanned the senior visionary. Kaldo was about to reply until he had to reconstruct another barrier. “Ah, well, I’m not going around teaching kids to steal or anything… but desperate times calls for desperate measures, yeah?”

Without much thinking, Rayne sighed and hopped on his broomstick, zooming off to fetch the magic artifact he spoke of. Meanwhile Kaldo and Carpaccio are thinking of a temporary solution. Half of Kaldo’s brainpower is being drained by the repetitive move of casting a barrier, so it really was just Carpaccio trying to come up with ideas. `

While the entire fiasco was happening, Finn was still spectating. He watched in guilt as his friends were trying so hard to contain the butterflies. Meanwhile here he was, not being able to do anything. He’s been trying so hard to return back inside the entity, but to no avail. Out of habit, he started crying to the gods again.

As he was pouring his heart out, complaining and whining, the butterflies seemed to multiply. When he realized this, he started crying harder. What on EARTH is going on?! Why do the gods hate him so much!!!!

Back down on the solid ground, Carpaccio also noticed the butterflies multiplying. Now they're splitting into two groups!

“Uhm… can you cast two barriers at once? They’re going in different directions…”

“I can see that,” Kaldo felt his eyes twitch. He made two barriers, this time notably smaller but still contained the butterflies. Although they still broke free after a few seconds. This repetitive cycle is clearly draining his energy. He got so fed up that he tried to light the butterflies on fire inside the barrier, but none of them caught fire. “This is ridiculous… what is taking that Rayne Ames so long?! WHAT’S TAKING BOTH THE AMES SO LONG??”

“There’s no need to lash out, Mr. Kaldo. Help has arrived.”

A not so familiar voice echoed behind him. Kaldo froze in spot, not having the guts to turn around to face the figure. This is bad. This is REALLY bad. He swallowed his fear and slightly turned his head as he casts another barrier spell. “...Sir Grantz, What a surprise.”

“I… got caught,” Rayne tried explaining himself.

“Well evidently so!” Kaldo exclaimed with a harsh voice.

“Now then, there’s no time to have an internal quarrel. Whatever your reasons might be for keeping this from the bureau… we can discuss that later,” Ryoh Grantz stepped forward, now right next to the struggling flame cane. Yes, the bureau knew of Finn's predicaments, but they were under the impression that it was nothing destructive... as Kaldo forged the report. “Let us tend to the matter at hand.”

“As of right now, I hereby declare that this entity, or should I say… Finn ames…” Ryoh seemed saddened as he pronounced Finn’s name in a low tone. Rayne flinched as he heard his brother's name. The light cane forced a cough to remind himself and continued. “Will be deemed by the bureau as a high level threat. With such destructive powers… the bureau will exhaust all possible means to stop this!”

Of course, Finn is watching this all unfold. He could only watch helplessly as he saw the other divine visionaries gathering in front of ‘him’. After hearing the official declaration that he’s now a nationwide threat, he’s basically lost all his will to live.

Good grief, now his life is ACTUALLY over.

Chapter Text

“I wish you luck with your mission to stop those butterflies,” Carpaccio stepped forward. “Believe it when I say we’ve tried every possible means, it’s just not possible. On top of that, they’re immune to fire.”

“Right,” Kaldo sighed. “Never once in my life have I been met with insects that cause so, so much trouble.”

Wasting no time, the officials had made the first move. They flew up with their brooms to take a closer look. One of them had tried to contain the butterflies with a spell once again, even though Kaldo had told them it wouldn’t work.

There’s only one thing that benefits Kaldo from this whole ordeal, and it’s that his wrist can finally take a rest as the other visionaries took over the case. His rest would be cut short as a certain Wirth Madl has arrived.

“Well, Kaldo… Would you classify this as ‘magical talents’ or a type of incredibly dangerous magical power?”

The flame cane knew this was a rhetorical question. No matter what his answer was, Orter would just end up ruining what little plans he has. But still, Kaldo opt to defend his beloved student anyways. “Seeing as his powers are… unrefined, I’d say it’s a type of talent. Doesn’t that mean it would fall inside my jurisdiction?”

“I hope you are able to separate your duties from your bias,” the dessert cane scolded. Everyone knew how strict he is, especially after what happened with Mash. It’s a well known fact that all divine visionaries were quite fond of Finn, including Orter himself. But whether he likes it or not, duty comes first. “Magical talents can be used incorrectly. And as we see right now…”

“He’s not doing this on purpose.” Rayne was quick to defend. “If Finn really wanted to do evil with his powers, he would’ve done so sooner. Something clearly has gone wrong, so what we need to do is help him, not… make him out to be some monster.”

“So that thing Finn Ames?” Orter pointed his wand at the giant humanoid at the center of the butterflies. “It’s…well, not exactly unsightly. It simply has an eerie feel to it. Does he have control of the insects?”

Carpaccio shakes his head, “Not at the moment, no. I doubt he is even inside of that thing, let alone be able to control it. If he could, this wouldn’t be happening.”

Ryoh Grantz lands his broom near the ongoing conversation. “I've made a critical discovery.”

“Whatever it is that you have discovered, I’ve discovered it already.” Carpaccio chimes in, wanting his research capabilities to be shown. “And up until now, I can confidently say that none of my discoveries has aided us in stopping these butterflies.”

“Hmm? Is there a reason why you specifically choose to address to these insects as ‘butterflies’?”

Carpaccio was confused. “What reason? They’re butterflies. What else am I supposed to call them?”

Ryoh simply laughed in amusement. “Well that’s the thing. They’re not butterflies, are they? They're moths.”

“M-moths?!” Rayne, Kaldo, and Carpaccio exclaimed in unison.

“Did you not know this? I heard you were an excellent upcoming scientist, Mr. Luo yang. How could you miss such an obvious detail?” the light cane teased.

“But… there’s no way. I examined them so closely how could I…” Carpaccio trailed off before realizing something. Apparently that realization was so great he dropped his notes onto the ground, causing them to spread everywhere. “Oh.”

“...I’ve never actually examined the species…” He admitted. “I’ve always been so focused on their legs. I figured that if they destroy something by landing on it, the secret would be on their legs. Apart from that, I never inspected it’s identifying features… I’ve always assumed they were butterflies since… Finn is…well, very butterfly-themed…”

“Are you kidding me?!” Kaldo was dumbfounded. “And we all took your word for it! Tell me Rayne, when and WHY did we collectively decide to leave the researching to him???”

“You were the one who insisted…and somehow I went with it….” the sword cane thought hard about how he managed to trust the mad scientist. But soon he shook his thoughts away. “But that’s irrelevant. Does it make a difference whether they’re moths or butterflies?”

“Moths are known to be more destructive than butterflies,” Orter voiced. “Especially to fabric. But now they’re destructive to everything. Let’s just hope they’re not dangerous to living beings.”

Hearing that, Kaldo froze. The atmosphere fell silent. Rayne had this stiff guilty look on his face and made himself look more suspicious by avoiding eye contact. Carpaccio pursed his lips as he felt sweat run down his entire body. Their sudden display of awkwardness raised Orter Madl’s suspicions.

He raised an eyebrow. “They’re not, are they?”

“No… of course not,” Rayne denied.

Orter didn’t buy it one bit. He glared at Kaldo, urging for a response. To that, Kaldo chuckled awkwardly to himself and did everything in his power to avoid eye contact. Carpaccio itched to tell the truth. It pained him to act as if his research never happened. But nontheless he keeps silent so the situation wouldn’t be worse for Finn.

After hearing that the butterflies weren’t dangerous, Ryoh Grantz proposed an idea to get up and close with the insects, which Kaldo frantically refused.

Soon enough, Ryoh came up with another idea. He figured that if moths were attracted to light, they’d be able to lure them with his light magic and trap them somewhere.

Kaldo thought about it for a bit, but wondered. “As we’ve stated before, they’re not at all affected by fire. They’re immune, and from what I observed, they don’t take interest in it. They actively avoid it, even though it doesn’t seem to hurt them. So what difference would it make if we tried using your light?”

“To begin, the light we’ll be using shouldn’t pose as much threat as your fire magic does, so they shouldn’t be avoiding it as much. Secondly, moths much more prefer to follow artificially made lighting in contrast to flames,” Ryoh explained.

After hearing the explanation, they all agreed that it sounded plausible– if only there exists something that could actually contain those destructive butterflies– sorry, I mean moths.

While they brainstorm away, taking turns casting barriers in an attempt to slow the moth’s spread, Finn was still stuck in the air. It felt as if ages had passed already, yet he hasn’t figured out a way to transform back. He watches over them as they struggle to contain the insects. Finn himself was shocked to the core when he found out along with the others that the insects he’s been controlling this whole time weren’t butterflies at all. Aside from that, praying to the gods is the only thing he can do.

But the gods have a sense of humor– a very unique one at that. So instead of things having a turn for the better, Finn notices the moths were going feral. The insects were getting quite upset at the fact that they can’t advance further through the forrest, since Kaldo was still keeping up the barriers. No longer do the moths form a giant clump that moves in sync, they decide it would be more efficient if they spread apart.

And spread apart they did. The moths began to spread in all kinds of directions, landing on all sorts of things. Seeing that, Finn panics. “Thats… NOT! GOOD!!!” he screamed only for himself to hear. “Oh my god oh my god ohhhhh my GOD!! Why does this keep HAPPENING!!!”

Back down on the ground, the very clear change of the insects’ behavior was stirring up concern. Kaldo can only put up so many barriers at once, and when there’s thousands of moths going in thousands of directions… yeah, tough luck.

“Uhm… anyone else know how to put up fire barriers? I seem to be needing a little help here…” Kaldo nervously smiles as he tried to keep his composure.

“Only a little?” Orter asks sarcastically. He kept his hands crossed as he observed the destructive nature of the moths that could no longer be contained. Within a few seconds, a huge chunk of the forest has been destroyed. Whether it be the trees, rocks, or even… the ground. Yes, the ground– the soil now has large craters that form whenever a moth decides to land on the ground.

The divine visionaries try their best to cast all possible spells to halt the moths from progressing. Ryoh Grantz had tried to cast his light beams a few time, which actually worked to an extent. The light he created earned the insect’s attention, but that was as far as it went. The moths were distracted yes, but distraction could only last so long. He realizes that the situation is starting to get out of hand, so he called for more back up.

To the left side of the forrest, was the mountain area. To the right of the forrest, was the village. When the visionaries realized they can’t exactly stop the insects from going anywhere, they decided that the best course of action would be to direct them to the mountains, to keep the people from harms way.

Whenever some of the moths would proceed towards the village, some sort of obstacle would block their way. And after a few dozen times, they got frustrated and instead decided to go directly to the divine visionaries’ way. Kaldo and Rayne, being the only visionaries to have the pleasure of knowing that the insects ARE infact destructive, actively start producing cold sweat. Kaldo instinctively dispersed whatever spells he was casting and instead used the most powerful barrier he could conjure up protect the visionaries and all the bureau staff.

In doing so, a large half of the moths got away and made their way towards the village. With a perplexed expression, Orter scolded the other. “What are you doing? The moths are getting away!”

Kaldo couldn’t figure out a way to explain his unusual decision while keeping up the illusion that the insects were not destructive to living beings. He kept silent as he focused on keeping the barrier, even while Orter was chewing his head off and the moths were slamming themselves onto his magical forcefield that’s threatening to break at any given moment.

Knowing it was inevitable, Rayne sighed. As he gestured at Carpaccio, hinting at him to break the news. Carpaccio furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if this would be fatal for Finn’s case. But after seeing Rayne’s sturdy expression, he gave in. “To tell the truth, the insects’ powers also apply to living beings… well, we tested on a living animal and it completely vanished, so do with that as you will.”

“....”

Silence filled the air as Ryoh rubbed his forehead in distress. ”I appreciate you coming clean now, but… that’s far too late.”

“You two are divine visionaries,” He looked at both the flame cane and the sword cane. “You should always put the people’s safety first. That’s our oath as divine visionaries… and for you to do something as reckless as this… it’s… even if it’s Finn…”

Kaldo and Rayne both know very well that they are in the wrong. Hiding a possible threat from the bureau, trying to fix it without them knowing, making it worse… they’re ready to take the blame on that. Rayne took another glance at ‘Finn’, then back at the light cane. “We know, and we’re sorry. I know no amount of apologies is going to fix this, but I’ll take full responsibility once this is over.”

“But for now, please help. We should’ve asked for help sooner, but we need it now the most,” Kaldo also admitted. And as if comically timed, the back-up Ryoh called for has arrived. Orter summoned a mini sand storm to wisp away the moths to somewhere a bit further as the much needed support joined in. Kaldo could finally disperse his barrier and put it to use elsewhere.

The dragon cane, who had just arrived, was standing wide-eyed as he observed the gigantic creature infront of him. He kept his usual emotionless expression, but it was obvious he’s a little too happy about the situation.

“Agito? You good man?” Renatus, who was also apart of the backup squad, found raised an eyebrow at his colleagues’ odd behaviour.

“I was just observing that majestic being… I heard it was destructive,” he pondered. “I wonder what type of pain would be inflicted to you if you were to ‘dissapear’ by it’s powers.”

“Geez, man… it’s really not the time,” The immortal cane scratched his head. “Anyways, Ryoh! I got what you asked for.”

Renatus revealed a box, inside the box was the exact item Rayne had attempted to ‘steal’. An ancient magic artifact, that could potentially be the solution to this problem. He brought it closer to Ryoh Grantz. The light cane unlocked the protection spell around the box with a flick of a finger. He slowly opened the box and removed the cloth that wrapped around it. The item was carefully examined before he confirmed that it was fit for use. The artifact was in the form of a butterfly net, only the size of an arm.

“It’s basically a bug catcher. Convenient, no? I didn’t even know this existed,” Ryoh presented the item to everyone before handing it over to Rayne. “So… what does this do, Rayne? Are you planning to catch the moths using this?”

“Actually…” Rayne accepts the item and flipped it over. “This is how you hold it. Unlike a regular insect net where you hold it by the stick, the propper way to use this artifact is to… hold it by the net. Like such.”

After holding it the propper way, he flipped it over a few times as he recalled how to use it. “When I was studying the records, the story goes that this was left behind by the Goddess of light, who created this artifact to duel a deity of… insects.”

“It’s actually some sort of lazer shooter. The insect net casing is just to taunt the insect deity, I guess.” Rayne shrugged as he wasn’t very sure if the legend was true. “I was thinking that if this was used against a literal insect deity, it would also work against the moths. It’s supposed to incinerate everything in it’s path.”

Everyone thought it was plausible. Ryoh grants a nod of approval and Rayne explained that the artifact needs some time to charge on energy and has a very long cooldown. So they really had to use the chance wisely. How do they maximize the lazer’s abilities with all the moths so spread out? They carefully pieced together a strategy as the device gathered energy.

At this point, almost an hour has passed by. Everyone was exhausted, still trying their best to stall for time while hoping the artifact would charge sooner. Finn on the other hand, was having the worst guilt of his life. He could only watch the chaos, not being able to do anything about it. He was useless. At the end of the day, he’s just useless.

Not only could he not do anything to help, he himself was the core of the problem. If he knew he would bring everyone so much trouble, he would just stick to being useless. He may be a burden, sure, but at least he wasn’t a burden that was actively trying to kill people!

His eyes were already puffy from all the panic crying he did. He did everything he could to try and take back control of the humanoid. He tried focusing really hard, he tried banging his head onto the humanoid’s forehead REALLY HARD hoping that he could merge with it once again, and he even tried praying really really hard to the Gods. None of it worked.

As more time passed by, Finn noticed that the ‘moths’ were starting to figure out who was causing them so much trouble. “They’re getting smarter… Are they starting to target the people from the bureau?” Finn thought to himself.

He followed the moths that drew closer to the visionaries. Although the others couldn’t see him, he still couldn’t bear to look them in the eye. Not after causing so much trouble. He could only sigh as he watched everyone work so hard to fix the mess he made. God, this really wasn’t what he wanted.

Finn was standing right beside Rayne, who kept casting his swords against the moths despite them always destroying his swords within seconds. He reached out to touch his brother, only for his hand to go through him completely. He retracted his hand and sighed. He’s basically a floating spirit now… what if they never find a solution? What if he has to live the rest of his life as a floating ghost..?

“H-hey! Requesting back-up over here! They’re getting closer to the artifact!” Finn flinched as he heard his mentor requesting assistance. He immediately directed his attention at Kaldo’s way. The flame cane was sweating buckets at this point. The amount of magic he’s used so far is concerning.

While fighting, he let out a quiet mutter. “Damn it… could really use Finn’s secondth right now… “Sanitatem” has buffing abilities right? That would be useful.”

Finn heard that. His eyes widened as he processed Kaldo’s words. “Useful..?” He mumbled to himself, coming to a realization. “I… was I already useful to them?”

“Finn has regenerative abilities as well. Perhaps he could have countered the insect’s attacks…” Carpaccio added upon hearing Kaldo’s words.

“Well, he would certainly be ten times useful than you are in this situation,” Rayne rolled his eyes.

“It’s not as if I could do anything about it…” Carpaccio frowned. “Unless… Since I’m immune to pain, do you believe I could be immune to their destruction? Perhaps I could transfer their destructive powers back to them.”

Ryoh overheard his plan and showed up out of nowhere. He placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder and smiled eerily. “Haha, let’s not try that. No reckless plans, got it?”

“Has any of you tried to target that thing instead?” the sand cane suggested.

Kaldo nodded, “When Ryoh Grantz was experimenting with his light beams, he tried directing it at the entity. The entity is covered head to toe in robes, and they’re reflective. When we aimed light at it’s face, nothing happened.”

“Most likely because it’s already blind, so aiming at it’s eyes won’t do anything,” Carpaccio added.

“I strongly believe that the humanoid entity is the core of it all. I suggest we direct the artifact towards it instead,” Orter Madl stated his opinion.

Rayne made it clear that he objected the idea. “The entity hasn’t moved a single inch since this whole ordeal started. I don’t think it’s connected to the moths… and besides, it could be… harmful…”

“Harmful to Finn or not, we need to try every possible way to stop him.” Orter didn’t wait for the other to finish his sentence. “Earlier– what was his name again…” he paused for a moment. “Carpaccio. Right, he explained to me this… spectator concept. Meaning your brother is currently separate from that entity. Which shouldn’t be a problem, correct?”

“What if he suddenly takes back control? It could affect–”

“Rayne,” Kaldo gently interrupted. “It’s going to be fine. First and foremost we need to stop this as soon as possible. I mean, imagine how guilty Finn would feel if we fail to prevent him from hurting people? You know how he is. He’d beg us to stop him at all costs.”

The older Ames was understandably reluctant. He doesn’t know whether or not his brother will come out of this predicament alive or not. He doesn’t know what the bureau will decide once the problem settles down. There’s a lot of things he doesn’t know, but he does know that Kaldo was right.

After overhearing many of their small conversations, Finn noticed a pattern. Despite all of their complaints about how powerful and annoying these moths were… no one had said a word of blame for him. Not a single person had blamed him. He really caused this much trouble, yet they still…

“The device has finished absorbing enough energy! Ready for use, sir!”

Finn watched as everyone took their positions and got ready to execute the plan. He watched as the artifact was directed at ‘him’. It didn’t bother him one bit. Sure he’s kinda scared that it’s gonna hurt, but anything for this whole ordeal to be over.

Most importantly, Finn noticed each expression that was plastered on everyone’s faces. The divine visionaries, the back-up staff, and even Carpaccio–who usually has a flat face– now displays their anxiousness. Especially his brother… Rayne. The face he’s making… worrisome, uncertaint, nervous, tired, denial, anger, sadness– and helplessness. All those emotions combined, and even more.

“Ready! Take aim! One… Two…”

It’s just so heartbreaking to see such a face. Those expressions aren’t suited for his usually cool and composed older brother. And it’s all because of him. For such a selfish reason– trying to fix a problem that never even existed. Only because he was the only person in the world who didn’t realize his worth.

“God… if you can hear me… this really isn’t funny anymore…”

All sorts of regret and realization washed over him. Too many thoughts and emotions to process all at once… and with that, the world darkened.

“Th–”

“WAIT!”

Just as the ancient artifact was about to be activated, the sword cane launched a spell to redirect the aim, to instead be launched at a slightly tilted angle. Afraid that the misdirected lazer would cause more harm than good, a nearby staff made the quick decision to turn off the device. Everyone was caught in the collective shock, not a single dared to comment.

“Rayne Ames! What do you think you’re doing?!” Orter Madl firmly questioned, with quite the harsh voice.

The sword cane remained quiet, only looking at the humanoid entity, who was now reflecting a bright light. Kaldo, noticing that this was a symptom of Finn’s de-transformation, deactivated his protective barriers to let others see that the moths were dispersing into thin air.

“They’re… gone..!”

__________

The first thing his eyes saw was a gray, dimly lit ceiling of a room. He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the lighting. He stood up, and looked around.

Strange, why is the room so depressing? Fully gray walls… lot’s of scratches on the wall… a toilet at the corner of the room… innocent zero sitting on a bed across from him… bars on one side of the– wait WHAT?! INNOCENT ZERO??!!!

“Huh…HUUUHHH?!!!”

Finn was in utter shock. He immediately freezed up and started shaking. “W-w-w-w-whaaaat?!”

The man across the room, Innocent Zero, started to chuckle eerily. He stood up from his bed and approached the terrified kid. Finn could only babble incoherent words as he stared wide-eyed in disbelief. The man’s tall shadowy figure stood tall before him.

With a terrifying wide smile, he hauntingly welcomed the other. “So… the bureau of magic finally found a criminal worthy to be my cellmate, hm?”

“W-what?” Finn was mortified. Did they REALLY put him in the same prison cell as Innocent Zero? Was he really that bad? “No, no way… there must be some sort of mistake… I didn’t even do anything yet… I think? M-maybe it’s just a temporary set up…”

“Hahhahahaha… entertain yourself as you will, but both you and I know the truth…” Innocent Zero continues to taunt him. “This isn’t any normal prison, you know? If you’re in max security prison, then…”

The man simply kept laughing maniacly, not bothering to finish his sentence. He knows that Finn already knows what this means.

Still in denial, Finn slapped himself on both cheeks, hoping it’s a nightmare. “No, no no no, no!”

“There’s no use in denying it… we both will be here for a veeeeeerryyyyy long time. So how about we get along, hm? We’ll be best buddies, roommate.”

“No…NOOOO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY………………………………”

___________

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa…ah?” Finn’s cry of distress gradually fades away as he took a good look at his surroundings. A clean and organized office is what he sees, no where near a max security prison. Instead, he recognized that this is Rayne’s office. He looks down to see that he’s wrapped in a blanket and was laying on the sofa.

“F-finn? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” His brother worriedly approached him and kneeled at the side of the sofa. Finn made stared in disbelief as he watches Rayne put his palms on his forehead to check his temperature. Finn simply blinked in silence. “Finn? Can you hear me? Maybe I should I call a paramedic…“

“W-where’s innocent zero?”

Rayne was taken aback by the abrupt question. He furrowed he brows and tilted his head in confusion. “Innocent… what? Finn, are you okay? Innocent zero has been imprisoned since last year–”

It suddenly clicked in his head that this was probably the result of Finn’s overthinking that manifested into his dreams. “And no he is not your prison roommate. You were never in prison, Finn. Did you dream about that?”

“Oh… how… did you know…” Finn sighed in relief and leaned back onto the sofa while pulling the blanket closer to himself. “So uhm… that was just a dream… okay. Am I a wanted criminal orrrr…”

“No, you are not a wanted criminal either.” Rayne stated with a blank face. “Actually, while you were unconscious, we had already resolved the matter. And good news is, your thirds is gone.”

“R-really?!” Finn instantly touched his cheeks and grabbed a glass of water that was on the table. He looked into the water’s reflection and sees that his third line was actually gone, and there was only one line sitting on his face. His eyes light up in joy as he had the biggest wave of relief wash over him.

But that sense of relief didn’t last long, as it was soon replaced with a wave of dread. As he put back down the glass of water, he soon remembered all the horrific things that went down. He slouched back into the couch in defeat. “So… what’s the bad news…”

“Bad news is… I may have been… suspended…”

“WHAT?!!”

“Only for a few weeks! Don’t worry about it… Think of it as a prolonged leave, I needed a rest anyways,” Rayne immediately tried to lessen the guilt Finn was having.

Finn covered his face with his two palms and groaned. “This is all my fault… I'm soo sorry..!”

Rayne ruffled his younger brother’s hair and chuckled lightly. “Hey, didn’t I tell you not to worry about it? It’s fine, really.”

They both kept silent for a moment, before Rayne sighed with this guilty smile. “If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I never noticed you were still… struggling with self-esteem problems. As your brother, I should have been able to make you feel like you were needed. And you should know that you are.”

“You were never a burden. Even if you’re different than everyone else, that just means you have a special role to play. Your healing powers are just as important as other people’s powers, so try to love–... Finn..?”

Without himself noticing, tears ran down his face. Finn sniffed and used his hand to wipe away the tears running down his left cheek. He wasn’t sobbing or bawling like how he usually does when he cries, right now he was just… tearing up.

Rayne instantly stiffed up and rushed to take some tissues from under the table. “Sorry, did I say something wrong?”

“N-no…” Finn took the tissues offered to him and paused to take a deep breath. “I was just touched, I guess. I… realized the same thing too. I thought that I needed to do better in order to make everyone like me. Turns out it was all in my head. I was the only person in the world to have thought that I was useless.”

The tears wouldn’t stop flowing. Without much thinking, he went in for a hug. Rayne was startled by the sudden gesture, but was delighted. He quickly returned the embrace and the two shared a heartfelt moment.

“What I was going to say was… try to love yourself. But it looks like you figured that out already.” Rayne playfully remarked while ruffling his brother’s hair once more. Finn giggled as he pulled away from the hug. He saw his brother let out a rare genuine smile before saying, “At the end of the day, it’s resolved now. No use crying over spilt milk.”

Finn awkwardly chuckled as he thought of all the people he had inconvenienced. “I think I owe everyone a well-deserved apology…”

The End.

Chapter Text

“Sir Kaldo… I’m… I’M SO SORRY!!!” Finn fell to his knees while begging for forgiveness.

Kaldo, who was extremely startled by the sudden banging of his office door and of the sudden teen crying at his feet. “Oh… Finn! You’re okay now?”

The flame cane bent down to meet his disciple’s eye. “Hey, forget about it. A little mishap like that? Canon event! Happens to everyone.”

“R-really..?”

“Well… no, but… it’s fine anyways.”

Finn then bowed twenty three times before Rayne came and dragged him away.

=========================

**At the divine visionaries’ lounge

“I am deeply DEEPLY sorry for my sins and for all the trouble I caused!!!” Finn cried out while doing 90 degree bow.

The lounge fell into silence as no one really knew how to react. Rayne, who stood beside Finn, gestured to everyone to give a propper reaction, or God knows what the sword cane would do.

“I-it’s fine, wasn’t anything the bureau of magic couldn’t handle!” Tsurara forced herself to reply. “Actually, I forgive you because… I wasn’t even there…”

The ice cane awkwardly smiled and hoped the other visionaries would ease out the awkward atmosphere. “Yeah, yeah, not a big deal. Sure it was hella annoying but whatever, Agito seemed to enjoy it.”

“It was a sight to behold. I’m grateful for the opportunity,” The dragon cane honestly stated.

The room fell silent once again.

“Again, I’m really really really really sorry!!! I’m so so so so sorry!!”

The divine visionaries were awkwardly staring at each other, wondering what to do. Rayne sighed and once again dragged Finn away to the next room.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Sir Ryoh Grantz... I deeply... apologize for my reckless behavior..." Finn apologizes once again with a 90 degree bow.

"Ha, kids these days..causing nationwide trouble hm? First it was Mash, and now you.. should I be watching out for your group of friends?"

Finn suddenly becomes ten times nervous. "Please don't! t-this has nothing to do with my friends! it's all my fault!! IM SORRY!!"

"h-hey now, relax! I was just joking..." Ryoh awkwardly shakes his hand to dismiss Finn's misconception. "It's fine, all's well that ends well. Don't try to blame yourself too much. It's a good learning experience, I tell you."

"Everyone struggles with different things, but know that you'll always be special. I don't know how you came to the conclusion that you were unneeded... In fact..." Ryoh paused for dramatic effects before continuing.

"Someday, you'll be the only one."

--------------------------------

**at Easton Academy

“I can’t believe it…” Finn whined as he flopped his face onto the cafeteria table.

“Woah… it was seriously that bad?” Dot was lowkey impressed.

“From what I heard, yes…” Lance calmly replied while he sipped his tea. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to help… it’s just that… I would be lying if I said I didn’t deliberately ignore the emergency call. I heard from the report summary and…”

“HA! The wimp’s deathly scared of bugs. Can’t believe this guy was the one to become a divine visionary…” Dot rolled his eyes.

“It’s okay Finn, at least everything's okay now.” Mash reassured. “Here's a creampuff.”

“Geez… thanks Mash…” Finn looked at the sugary puff and sighed, “although I’m not quite in the mood for desserts…”

“Can I have it then?”

“Oh, sure– CARPACCIO LUOYANG???!?!?!!” Finn shouted, a little too loud.

“Hello.” Carpaccio sat down right besides him and took the creampuff straight from his hand, muttering a “Thankyou” before eating it.

“Huh? What are you doing all the way at Adler’s cafeteria??” Dot questioned.

“I came here for a friend.”

“Did you find that friend yet?” Lance flatly asked.

“Ofcourse. He’s right here,” He nonchalantly says as he casually puts a hand around Finn’s shoulder.

Dot and Mash was gagging in shock, but Lance was unsurprised and simply raised an eyebrow. “...I heard you made him your test subject–”

“False.”