Fall: ...And Inevitability That Which Begets; Despair PT. 2/5

[Some Time Fifth Grade]

"King! Wake up King!"

I opened one eye to see Erebus shaking me frantically. I groaned as I sat back up, stretching out my arms. "What's up Erebus? It's only the first day back, what's got you so worked up?"

"I have found her, the one I've been searching for!"

"Who?"

He grinned; his red eye gleaming at me. "The Dark Empress! She's within the confines of this group of scholars! But the true reason I am so excited is that I have had a revelation!"

My eyes grew wide as I grinned. "You mean she's in our class! Oh, heck yeah! Oh, what's this revelation you had Slayer?"

"She is no ordinary girl King, for she was my lover in my past life!" Erebus proclaimed.

"Whoa, that's so cool! Oh man, does she know about this?" I asked, looking around the classroom for her.

"Well, that is the problem King," Erebus said, frowning. "I tried telling her, but it seems she didn't want to listen for whatever reason."

"That's strange. Where is she?"

"If you shall follow me King," Erebus said, and he led me to the front of the school, where she was talking to Lachesis.

"There she is. What shall we do?" Erebus asked, and I brought my hand to my chin as I tried to think.

"Hmm, let's try asking her again. Maybe since I'm here she'll listen?" Erebus nodded, and we walked up to the two girls, both of them noticing us.

"Oh, it's Major! Hiya!" Lachesis said, waving at me, while the Dark Empress scowled at the sight of Erebus.

"We meet again Dark Empress!" Erebus started, and we all quieted down so he could speak. "It is fate once more that brings us together in this life, my past lover!"

"I'm not your lover!" She exclaimed, and one well thrown punch later shot Erebus into a nearby wall, spider web cracks creeping their way outwards from the point of impact.

"Whoa, you're as strong as Erebus," I murmured, watching Erebus get back to his feet, brushing the dust off himself.

She blinked as she realized what she did, and her face flushed red. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean too!"

Erebus chuckled, grinning to himself. "Nonsense Necessitas! That brutish strength of yours is just more proof that you are indeed my past lover!"

"Yeah, it's cool that you guys were lovers in the past! Why are you so against it!?" I asked, looking into her different colored brown eyes.

"Eh, you too!? But, but isn't that…" She trailed off, her face growing redder by the second.

I felt someone tug at my arm, and I turned to Lachesis glaring at me. "You shouldn't do that Major!"

"Do what?"

She pouted, shaking her head. "You can't just say stuff like that to girls! You have to mean it when you say it!"

"Hey Erebus, do you mean what you say!?" I asked, and he gave me a thumbs up. "See, he means it. Plus, it's cool, so why wouldn't anyone like it?"

"Okay, imagine I said you were my lover in a past life then."

I felt my face grow warm at her words. "Wh-what are you saying- oh I get it now."

Satisfied, she gave me a pat on my back. "I knew you would get it Major! Now tell Erebus to stop, got it?"

"Fiiiine…" I grumbled, and I left a giggling Lachesis to reach Erebus, who was frowning. "Hey, we should still totally do this."

He gave off a wicked grin. "I knew you would agree! So, how should we go about this?"

"Maybe if you tell her enough times she won't feel embarrassed anymore?" I thought aloud, before a thought crossed my mind.

"Hey Dark Empress!" I yelled out, and she looked up, her face still flushed red from earlier.

"You're a part of our group now, right?"

"Eh? Oh, if you want me too," she said, readjusting her round glasses. "I never really asked, but you seem cool, so I guess it's fine or something…"

I grinned, a plan formulating in my head. "Great, then we'll lead you to the hideout then." I turned to Erebus and brought him close so he could hear my plan.

He glanced at me as I finished, his red eye gleaming with curiosity. "I like the sound of this plan King. Although it sounds like it'll take a while to complete."

I nodded, looking over at Necessitas. "Yep, it will. Probably around a year. It's ambitious, but it'll all work out in the end, I promise!"

Erebus held out his pinkie, and I wrapped my own around his as we said the phrase:

"Cross my heart, hope to die, swallow a thousand needles if I lie!"

We connected our thumbs at the top to finish it off, sealing our second promise together, one that I wouldn't be able to finish off…

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Fast forward to about three quarters through the school year, and I had already gotten suspended for a week since they caught our group fighting one another during recess and had once again gotten in trouble at home with my mom and her new boyfriend.

Anyway, I was hanging out in the treehouse alone one day, working on "Coolest Notebook: The Fifth," when I heard shouting from below. Peering down from one of the windows, I saw my friends waving me down.

"Hey Major, come on down already!" Lachesis yelled, waving at me with a grin accompanying her soft blue eyes.

I frowned, closing the notebook. Wonder what this is about.

I went down one of the slides, landing in front of the gang. "What's up? Is there something wrong? Demons attacking us? Adults out to get us?"

They all looked at one another before smiling at me. "Happy birthday Major!" They all yelled out, except for Erebus, who called me King.

It was also Erebus who brought out a present for me, and I was stunned into silence as I held the two presents, looking down at them. One was long and cylindrical in shape, with an odd shaped end, while the other was a rectangular box with a bow adorned atop it; the first horrible wrapped and the second sealed close by a ribbon.

I looked at my comrades, my mouth slightly agape. "I, I uh…"

"It is your birthday, right Major?" Hemera asked, her sunny smile lighting up the area.

"Yeah, March 6," I said, looking down at my presents. "When did you guys have time to do this?"

"Hmph, it is quite easy for one such as myself to hide things from people," Aether said, and Nyx glared at him.

"You were the one who constantly wanted to tell everybody dummy."

My lip started to quiver as my vision grew hazy, much to my surprise. "Huh?" I wiped at my eyes to find my hand wet, and my vision grew hazy again as my face grew wet, and the taste of salt started to pervade my mouth. "What's wrong with me, I didn't mean to cry…"

I trailed off as my switch went off, the tears watering the grass beneath my feet as I cried, and I felt someone hug me from behind.

"There, there, cry it all out Major~." I soon felt more people surrounding me as I continued to cry, all of them giving me warm words of encouragement as I fell to my knees, my emotions in turmoil.

Did I really deserve this?

"Th, thank you! I really really really mean it, thank you!" I wailed out, and their warmth comforted me, setting my tumultuous emotions at rest.

After crying for who knows how long, I wiped my face, sniffling as I stood back up again. "Um, sorry, that really wasn't cool at all. I don't even know why I started crying to begin with…"

"Well, even heroes need to cry sometimes too, right King?" Erebus said, and I let out a small smile.

"Yep, although they cry when no one's looking because that's the cool way."

"Hey, open your presents already Major Crybaby," Lachesis said.

"Hey, I take offense to that!" I yelled out, and they all started to laugh as I felt my ears grow red. "Oh, fine, let's open this one first."

I ripped open the wrapping around the cylindrical present, and I let out an audible gasp when I saw it. "No way, is this what I think it is?"

I ripped off the rest of the paper, revealing a metal staff with a black jewel at the top. "Whoa, this is amazing…"

I felt the cool metal touch my skin as I held it in my right hand, gripping it tightly. "I can feel my Mystic Arts reaching a new level of power guys!" I grinned, hoisting it up in the sky. "Ooh, what should I name it!?"

"Oh, we came up with a name for that actually," Necessitas said, and I turned to her as she proclaimed my new weapons name.

"Its name is Vanesco, The King's Scepter! I'm pretty proud of that one actually," she said, grinning to herself.

"Vanesco," I murmured, looking down at it. "I like it! Oh, but why the King's scepter part?"

"We shall see shortly, now come, open the second gift," Erebus said, nodding to himself.

I shrugged, leaving it alone for now. I took the ribbons off before opening the box, in which inside was…

"A crown?" I half-said, half-asked, and I took it out, examining it in my free hand. It was a six-pointed crown, golden in color, with a different colored jewel adorned near each of the pointed tips. The colors, in no particular order, were yellow, orange, purple, pink, blue, and red.

"It's cool, but why did you give me a crown?" I asked, frowning at as I spun it around in my hand.

"Isn't that simple?" Aether said. "It's because you're our leader, duh."

"Oh, of course- wait what!?" I yelled out, whirling my head to look at all of them. "I'm not a leader, so who decided something like that!?"

"It was a group consensus," Lachesis said.

"Without my vote!?"

"Eh, don't sweat the small stuff Major! Besides, why wouldn't you be the leader?" Lachesis asked, and everyone around me nodded.

"It's true! You were the one to bring us all together after all," Hemera said, smiling to herself. "I doubt us misfits would've met one another, and our problems still unresolved if it wasn't for you."

Nyx nodded, a small smile arising on her face. "Yes, I must agree. If anything, think of this as our thank you."

"Hey, I really didn't anything! Okay, what about you Necessitas, what did I do for you?"

"Oh me? Well, I got friends since I've been with you, so that's something," she said, smiling at me. "We're not taking no for an answer either Major."

"You have to be King, since you saved us," Erebus said, and I watched the breeze move his hair to the side, revealing his right eye to me for the first time

"Wha—Erebus, is that…"

He smiled, pushing his hair back to cover his right eye. "I told you, remember? I got it for arguing with my mentors, and they did that to my eye to try to help my training go faster. In the end though, it was you who taught me advanced techniques, such as named moves."

I was stunned by what I just saw, and it dawned onto me that his epithet made a lot more sense now after seeing his eye. I shook my head, scowling. "But, but!"

"We basically owe you a debt that will probably never get repaid," Aether said, "So I see no reason why you shouldn't take this position as compensation."

I looked back down at the crown.

Do I deserve this?

I shook off the thought. Well, why not? Not as if I have any real reason to refuse, especially if they're so insistent on it. Besides, leaders are the coolest ones, so that has to be me.

"If you guys insist," I said, and I plopped the crown atop my head, it leaning slightly down as I hoisted my scepter into the air.

"I will be the leader of this merry band of demon slayers!"

I expected cheers, but instead I saw everyone bowing themselves towards me. "Eh, aw c'mon on guys! Don't do that, we're friends!"

Eros chuckled. "For you King, anytime you need me, I'll help you to the best of my abilities."

He looked up, a smile on his aloof face. "And that's a promise I intend, no, we all intend to keep."

"Well, not me," Lachesis said, and she got jabbed in the side by Hemera. "Okay, maybe me too."

I sighed, my face growing warm. "You guys are ridiculous, you know that!?"

But, I didn't mind them all that much, these friends I had made over the years. I wonder if you would like them too…