Fall: ...Slothfulness That Begets; Inevitability... PT. 2/6

A couple of hours had passed now, with all the Trials having now been completed. I was the one who would be announcing the results, and the three girls sat while I stood on top a bench, clearing my throat.

"Well, the Trials have been completed, and after meeting with my companions, we decided you all suck."

"Another unexpected development!" Nyx proclaimed, leaning back as if in shock.

"Aw, but I thought I aced all of them Major!" Lachesis complained, pouting as her soft blue eyes glared at me.

"I-I see, so I failed…" Hemera muttered, her long hair covering her face.

"Well, you all failed. Even I don't know how you guys managed to do that, but you all suck! Lachy failed where it counted in every single Trial, despite knowing what to do, Hemera only passed the Trial of the Present, and Nyx only passed the Trial of the Future."

They all grew quiet at my rant, and I sighed before letting out a big grin. "So, that's why you all pass!"

"…Huh?" They all said, and I nodded towards the guys, who started to clap for them.

"Well, you guys seem cool, so I guess it's alright. And think of all the cool combos we can do together now that we have 7 people now! Oh, this is so exciting!" I hopped down from the bench, feeling satisfied.

"Ah yeah! I've finally joined this dandy group!" Nyx yelled out, pumping her fist in the air.

"Yay! I'm able to be with Major now!" Lachesis said, giving me a fierce hug.

"H-hey! Stop that already! Why do you hug me so much anyway!?" I yelled out, trying my best to push her away.

"Because I luv you, duh!" She said, hugging me even tighter.

"I love you too Lachy, but seriously, you can't be hugging me all the time!" I said, but I ended up relenting, hugging her back.

Oh man, why do I feel so warm right now? It's weird. I thought as Lachesis released me, giving me another smile.

"Oh, look at you Major~!" Eros shouted out, and I rolled my eyes.

"You can clean up with the girls then!" I retorted, and he gave me a wink, sending me sparkles.

Nyx nodded to herself, her charcoal-grey eyes sparkling. "Maybe, just maybe now I can…"

She trailed off as she saw a black car approaching, and she froze, her eyes widening as it pulled to a stop. An old man with skin as dark as Nyx's came out, and he readjusted his sunglasses, motioning for her to come.

She bit her lip slightly, and I noticed her hands tightening into fists before she relaxed, and a smile appeared on her face. "Well, it seems I have to go now. I'll be back tomorrow, so don't do anything too cool without me." She ran off, and I frowned as I watched her run to the black car, all of us waving her goodbye.

"What's wrong King?" Erebus asked, and I shrugged, unable to pinpoint what exactly felt off.

"I dunno, her smile felt weird is all. It's as the smile wasn't matching the face?" I half-said, half-asked. "I don't really get it myself."

We watched her leave in the car, and it was then I felt someone tugging on my backpack. I turned around to see Hemera, her yellow eyes wavering between conflicting emotions.

"It's okay, right?" She glanced away, gripping onto my shirt as her lips started to shake.

"What's okay?"

"Fo-for me to be here, isn't it?" She gripped my shirt even tighter, taking shaky breaths now as she squeezed her eyes shut.

I scowled, sighing. "I think this is the fourth time something like this has happened. What's up you guys!? Why the heck wouldn't it be okay!?"

Her eyes darted back to investigate my own, which were glaring at her. "H-huh?"

"Seriously, what the heck!? I said you're welcome too, so what's the big deal? You can't change your mind, since I won't let you! You're stuck with our group, so be prepared to join in with the cool!"

I held eye contact, anger welling up, and her yellow eyes finished wavering, giving off the last send off with a laugh. Hemera started to laugh, letting go of my shirt as she clutched her stomach, and my anger dissipated, leaving confusion.

I looked at the others, who were giving me knowing grins. "Uh, did I say something funny you guys?"

Aether shook his head. "Nope, it fit you perfectly, just as I expect someone at the same league as me."

We all turned back to Hemera, who was still laughing, seemingly growing brighter each second. "I-I'm sorry, I-I wasn't expecting that, I'm sorry!" She fell back, laughing even harder, and I could only feel my face growing warmer by the second.

"H-hey, this really isn't funny! I meant it you know!"

"I know," she said, still chuckling as she sat up. "I just," she cut herself off, instead giving off a grin that could light up the world and tackled me, giving me a hug fiercer than the one Lachesis had given me earlier. "No, of course I accept! I have no intention of leaving now!"

"Not you too, get off of me!" I yelled, trying and failing at pushing her off, making me feel warmer by the second. "Oh, this isn't cool at all!"

She laughed, and I relaxed as I hugged her too. "I don't get what I did again, but if you're happy, I guess it's alright."

She nodded, releasing me. "I feel way better, thank you Major!"

"I didn't even do anything!" Everyone around me started to laugh, and I could only pout in return, gaining three members in our group.

However, it would be a while until we were all together again, Nyx having disappeared for almost a month.

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"Wait, since when have you been in my class Hemera!?"

It was the next day, and we had spent the remainder of yesterday afternoon cleaning up the remnants of the Trials before going home for the day. I had just walked into the classroom to find Hemera sitting at my table along with everyone else, more specifically sitting next to my chair.

"Oh, hello Major!" She rushed me, almost causing me to fall over with another hug. "I've always been in this class, duh!"

"Since when!? I didn't even know you existed until two days ago!"

"Now, now, it's not nice to treat girls like that Major~," Eros purred, sending off sparkles at the sight of me. "How couldn't you have known a girl like this was in class?"

"Why is it my fault all of a sudden? And get off me already!" I managed to push her off, and we both went to our seats, where I noticed once more that she was wearing the same old clothes she had been wearing for the past two days.

"Hey Hemera, don't you have any other clothes?" I asked, setting my backpack down next to my seat, and she tensed up, looking away as her radiance dimmed.

"Um, this is only pair of clothes I have… Oh, but I handwash them every day though!" She slunk back into her chair, her face pink as she seemed to be awaiting something.

"Oh, I didn't know that. Hey Lachy, do you think you can give her some clothes?" I turned to Lachesis, who was sitting across from me.

"Eh!? Why do I have too?"

"Because you're a girl! She probably likes wearing girl clothes, duh!"

She pouted, slinking into her chair as well. "Oh, but I like my clothes."

"Huh?" We turned to Hemera, whose gaze was darting between Lachesis and I. "You don't… care?"

"Care about what?" I asked, and the look of shock passed.

"Um, never mind then."

"I can offer clothes as well! I have plenty of training wear that you can wear on our adventures to slay demons!" Erebus offered, his red eye gleaming.

"Ooh, playing dress up? I wouldn't mind dressing a girl every once in a while~."

"I guess I can give clothes to people beneath me, since I have no need for it," Aether offered, and we all turned to him.

"But you're wearing clothes right now…" I muttered, and we all started to laugh, everyone except for Hemera, who was hiding her face in her shirt. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"No! Don't look! I-I'm fine, really!" She turned away from us, her shirt completely covering her face.

"Now that I think about it, a lot of your stuff is pretty old huh? Are they hand me downs?" I asked, looking at her backpack which looked to be stained with mud, one of the straps holding on by just a couple threads. And just like that, I had another one of my brilliant plans.

While Hemera was still hiding in her shirt, I motioned everyone to come closer and told them my idea.

"Well, what do you think?" I asked, glancing to make sure Hemera was still incapacitated.

"That's our King. I have no objections," Erebus agreed, and everyone nodded at his words.

"Alright, can we do this by Friday?" I asked.

"Maybe, we just need a place to hide them, so she doesn't notice," Aether said, and I scowled at his words, not thinking of that part.

"Well, we could hide them at someone's house," Lachesis suggested. "Major's house is pretty big, and they don't really use their basement, so we could store it down there. I can help Major out if he needs help, and if it's too much, we can get Minor too."

"I don't think Minor would be too thrilled to help out, but I like the idea Lachy. Any objections?" They all shook their heads, and I grinned. "Great, let's get this operation underway!"

"Right!" They all said, and the bell rang, signifying the end of our planning and the start of our plan. Oh, and class too.

We spent the next two days sneaking around Hemera, making sure she didn't notice anything odd. I was put on distraction duty, since she seemed to be really attached to me for whatever reason. Luckily for me, I was able to do my job in my home, so it didn't bother me too much.

I had to also explain what we were doing to my mom, and when I did, she seemed so enthusiastic that she helped me grab what I needed, saying we needed to clean out the house anyway.

And so, after two days had passed, we were able to put the plan in motion. We had canceled our normal demon-slaying activities that day in order to pull it off, and I had to somehow distract her long enough before I could leave school, giving the others enough time to prepare everything.

After about 30 minutes had passed, I decided it was time to leave, and I led Hemera back home with me.

"Hey, where are we going Major?" She asked, tilting her head as we walked on the sidewalk. "Aren't we going to the park?"

"Nope, we decided to cancel today's activities."

"Oh, so you wanted to spend more time with me?"

"No! Why is that the first thing that comes to your mind!?" This girl was really weird sometimes.

She laughed, her long golden-yellow hair bouncing, practically shining in the sun above. "Well, you have been spending a lot of time with me, despite your complaints, so maybe you do like me?"

"Of course I like you," I said, readjusting my backpack. "What would make you think otherwise, we're friends right?"

A broad grin appeared, and she nodded. "Yep, I have friends now!" She started to skip, humming a jolly tune to herself. "Friends, friends, I really do have friends!"

"By the way, how come I never noticed you in class before?" It was something that was bugging me for quite some time, and I couldn't help but be curious.

"Oh, that," she said, and her smile faded as she stopped altogether, looking up at the sky. "My parents never really liked sending me to school too much."

Huh? "But why? Are you like Erebus? He told me his mentors thought school was a waste of time."

She shook her head, looking down at the ground as the tip of her shoe tapped the ground. "Well, it was mostly cuz they didn't want me in trouble again…"

"You can cause trouble? Whoa, and I thought my group were the only ones who could do that…"

"Eh? What do you mean?"

I started to laugh thinking about it. "Well, I got in trouble first grade because they saw me fighting Erebus, and I got suspended for a week. In second grade Eros, Erebus, and I were messing with a girl too much, and then they suspended all three of us for three days. Oh, and last year we got in trouble helping Aether after the school found out we went into a testing area without permission and figuring out we messed with Aether's grades. All four of us were gonna be expelled, but we had evidence the teachers had done bad stuff to Aether, so we got off with getting a two-week suspension. I have to wonder what we'll do this year…"

"Y-you did all that, and your parents didn't want you to not be at school?" Hemera said, her mouth open with her yellow eyes widening in shock.

I laughed again. "Oh man, mommy was so mad at me, I got grounded for a month after the last one, plus a beating too. Yeah, I don't wanna go through that again!"

"A-amazing…" she uttered in awe, and I shrugged.

"You really think so? Me and the guys have decided to try and keep the streak going, so who knows what'll happen?" I gave her a grin before walking again. "We have to hurry or else we'll be late!"

"R-right!" She hurried up next to me, and we continued walking back home, Hemera deep in thought.

"Ah, we're here!" I proclaimed, having reached my house. Hemera stopped as she saw the front yard, and her eyes widened at the sight.

"Wh-what is this Major?"

I walked to the others and grinned. "It's a surprise, duh!"

Our surprise consisted of many clothes, much that we either didn't wear or didn't need, a relatively new backpack, 6 pair of shoes (unworn), and a vehicle to carry it all in (mommy would be driving it all back to Hemera's house).

She walked unto the grass, her backpack dropping on the ground as she walked towards us, until stopping halfway. "Huh?"

"It's for you!" Lachesis said, walking up to her and handing her a ribbon. "It's only old clothes, but they should all fit you! Oh, the ribbon is to tie that long hair of yours!"

"Y-you guys gave me all this? B-but why?" Her voice was trembling, as she took a small step forward, her eyes wide at the sight of our surprise.

"Well, you only have one pair of clothes, and we all have so many, so I thought it would cool if you could have more! After all, all of us in our group have to look cool!" I exclaimed, and she let out a laugh as she fell to her knees, clutching the ribbon tightly.

"Although, clothes are a lot heavier than they look~," Eros murmured. "I'm glad we had Eru~ to help us out there!"

"Why must you call me that nickname yah Incubus!? But I must agree with King, it would be unfair if only we looked cool slaying demons! You too Hemera, must look cool, and once we get you that epithet, you'll for sure be one of the coolest!" He flashed her a grin and thumbs up.

"Y-you guys!" She sniffled, tears starting to fall onto the green grass.

"Eh!? She's crying! Did we do something wrong mommy?" I turned to her, and she shook her head, smiling warmly at me, rustling my hair.

"No, I don't think that's it. It's because you did something right."

Aether walked towards the sobbing Hemera and gave her a hug. "I don't have much clothes, but I gave you underwear."

"Hey, those aren't consoling words at all Aether!" Lachesis exclaimed, starting to cry as she hugged Hemera as well. "Oh, it's okay, you don't need to cry!"

We all came in for a group hug, consoling and crying among each other, the loudest being Hemera, who was in the middle of it all. But despite crying the hardest, she had on the brightest grin I had ever seen, lighting up the world with her tears and her overwhelming happiness, only crying out four words:

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

We had also decided to repeat that tradition every year, and after that, I wasn't able to remember a time after that moment where her smile wasn't able to light up the room, causing smiles all around…