Fall: ...Slothfulness That Begets; Inevitability... PT. 3/6

"Nyx! You're finally back!"

About a month had passed since we saw her go away in that black car, and as quickly as she disappeared, she showed once more, waiting for us as we walked out of school, the school day over.

She gave us a merry wave, a smile on her face, and as everyone came to hug her, I scowled. It's the same as last time. "It's as if the smile doesn't fit…" I murmured, trying hard to figure out what was wrong.

"Major? What's wrong? Aren't happy to see Nyx?" Lachesis asked, releasing Nyx from her hug as she approached me.

"Hmm, I don't get it!" I yelled out, mussing up my hair. "Oh, it's whatever. I'll figure it out later."

Lachesis frowned as she tilted her head. "You say some weird things sometimes."

Nyx ran up to me, giving me a fierce hug. "Heya! I'm back, sorry it took so long! You didn't do too much cool stuff without me, right?"

"Of course we did! But we couldn't come up with our group combo without you!" We let go of each other, and I saw her dark-grey eyes light up.

"Whoa, a group combo!?" She exclaimed, and she pumped her fists in the air. "Oh man, I can't wait!"

I pulled out "Coolest Notebook, The Fourth," and opened it to Nyx's part, which was mostly empty. "We need to figure out everything you can do, so that's what we'll do today!"

We spent the next two days working on what Nyx could do, and when we finished, we finally had our plan.

"Alright, here's our first group combo!" I exclaimed, and everybody crowded around me, looking at the plan I had wrote with the help of Aether. We were hanging around outside during recess, near the edge of the forest where Erebus and I first trained together.

"Alright, first thing we do is have Lachy tell us what the Demon can do!"

She saluted me, a silly grin on her face. "A simple task for me Major!"

I nodded before continuing. "Then, while Lachy tells Aether so they can formulate a plan, Hemera will blind the enemy with her brightness!"

She nodded, a loose hair falling from the bun she had made with a ribbon. "No problem! You should give me a harder job next time!"

"Next, I'll disarm the demon with my Mystic Arts while Eros distracts the demon so Aether and Lachy can tell us what the demon can do!"

He winked at me, sparkles darting all around us. "Of course~! A simple task for a charmer like me~!"

"Then, we'll use Nyx's ability to incapacitate them, and that's where Erebus does his finishing move, Shadow Slicer!"

"The enemy won't even know what hit them King!" Erebus exclaimed; his red eye gleaming at me. "And then that's when they'll tremble at the might of our group!"

"So cool! Oh, what's the name of the attack Major?" Nyx asked, and everyone turned to me, their eyes shining with anticipation.

"That's easy," I said, standing up as I raised my hand in the air. "It'll be Group Attack Number 1: [Redacted]!"

(The memory grew hazy as I watched myself say the name, but I was unable to hear it, and then the memory returned to its previous state.)

"Whoa, that's our King for yah! The master cool, I really have learned from the best!" Erebus exclaimed, and everyone nodded.

"Alright then, let this group combo be the first of many!" I declared, writing our first combo in "Coolest Notebook, The Fourth."

"Yeah!" Everybody yelled out, smiling and laughing with one another, and once again I noticed it. Nyx's smile, filled with happiness, and yet, what was this feeling something was wrong with it.

It wasn't just those times either. Over the course of a week, it seemed I alone noticed those off-putting smiles, fine by itself, but when I looked at the entire face, there was something there I just couldn't put my finger on, until finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

It was during indoor recess, and the girls had gone off to do their own thing, so it just us guys. It was then I told them.

"Hey, something's been bothering me lately," I said, and they all looked at me as I stopped writing in my notebook.

"Hmm? What is it Major? Nothing ever bothers you," Eros said, his sparkles starting to slow down.

"Well, it's Nyx. It's her smile. I can't put my finger on it, but it feels weird, I guess."

Eros nodded, leaning back in his seat. "I noticed it too. It feels forced."

"I wouldn't say that Incubus, but something about it is indeed strange. Maybe she's hiding some dark secret, like demons are manipulating her in the shadows, forcing her to use her abilities against her will!?" Erebus exclaimed, shooting to his feet, causing looks to be thrown at us, and the teacher glared at us, holding a finger to his lips.

"Inside voice boys."

"Sorry!" I yelled out, and he shook his head at my response.

"You weren't meant to yell out the apology either…"

I pulled Erebus back down to his chair. "Hey, we can't let Nyx know either you know, so keep it down."

He nodded, folding his arms as he leaned back in his chair. "Well, whatever the case may be, it is a problem. What shall we do King?"

I leaned back in my chair as well, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know what's wrong, so I can't help. Hmm, do any of you guys know what's wrong?"

Aether nodded. "Yep, I got it."

"Got what?"

"I got the fact that I have no clue what you're talking about." I pushed him for that one, rolling my eyes.

"Okay, any serious answers? Eros, do you have an idea?"

He shook his head, messing with his blondish-pink hair. "Alas, I don't Major~. Should we try asking her?"

"Asking her what?" Golden-yellow hair filled my vision as Hemera looked at me from above.

"Gah!" I fell back, yelling in pain. "Ugh, don't scare people like that Hemera!"

She giggled, brightening up the room. "Aw, sorry! I didn't mean to. What are you guys talking about anyway?"

I got up from my chair, glancing at the guys, who nodded. "Okay, I guess we can tell you. By the way, where's Nyx and Lachy at?"

"Oh, they're in the library. I just came from there. So, what's up?"

After we sat down, I explained to her my strange feeling with Nyx, and when I was through, she gave me a sunny grin.

"Oh, that's simple! I can figure it out for you," she said, slapping the end of her ponytail on the table.

"How?"

"Oh, I can check how happy someone is. For example," she grabbed my hand and nodded to herself. "Major here is pretty happy overall, but since he's worried about Nyx, it drops it to about 40 points on the Hemmy scale!"

"Wait, you can do that!?" I exclaimed, and she nodded.

"Yep, it's been a while since I've really used it though, so it probably isn't very accurate right now…" She trailed off, a small smile on her face. "But I'm gonna use it a ton more, just you see!"

"Well, whenever Nyx is smiling again, we need her to hold her hand," Aether suggested. "Hemera, can you make up excuses to do that?"

"Well, it doesn't have to be the hand, but it's just easier like that. It should work though. I'm friends with her, she has no reason to refuse!" She started to laugh, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit worried for Nyx, since I know how clingy Hemera could be.

The bell rung, and the teacher clapped his hands. "Alright, everyone back to their seats!" Everyone returned to their seats, and the people who went to either the computer lab or the library returned as well, and once everyone was situated, he cleared his throat.

"Now, I have a special announcement to make. If you look on the calendar, you'll notice that we have a three-day, two-night trip before summer break three weeks from now. What I'm passing out now is a permission slip to go out in the woods with us."

He started to hand out slips of paper to all the students, and when he reached my table, he spoke again. "Now, if you don't get the permission slip in a week before it's due, you won't be able to go." I was just about to grab one before he stopped and looked at me. "No exceptions. I also don't need trouble on this trip, right Major?"

I rolled my eyes. "Why are you calling me out!? C'mon, give it already!" I heard laughs throughout the class, and he looked at me carefully, glancing at the slip.

"I mean it, no trouble on the trip. Understand?"

I hated it when teachers did this. I snatched one of the slips from his hand, sticking my tongue out. "I'll behave, so stop it already."

"Stop it already, sir," he responded, emphasizing the "sir" in the sentence.

"Sorry sir," I said, and he finally relented, giving the other slips to the rest of our group.

"You're quite the troublemaker now~," Eros purred, and I rolled my eyes.

"I am not, and you know it Eros. You've gotten in trouble plenty of times too. You just get away with it since you can charm people. My Mystic Arts don't help in situations like that."

"Also, you need to get into groups of four, alright? Boys and girls can't be together, but other than that, you can group with whoever you want."

"We already have our group King," Erebus said, and the guys of the group gave each other high fives.

"O-oh man, we have to get someone else to join, huh?" Hemera mumbled, and Lachesis started to twirl her hair.

"Well, with me, Hemera, and Nyx, we do. Oh, but who to choose. I can get one of my other friends if that's alright with you two," Lachesis suggested, and Nyx nodded.

"Sure, I don't mind!"

Only Hemera seemed nervous, as she fidgeted in her chair and pouted. "A-alright I guess…"

"What's wrong?" Lachesis asked, tilting her head, still twirling her hair.

She shook her head, slapping her cheeks with her hands, leaving them red. "No, I'm fine. I trust you Lachy, so choose someone great okay?"

In the end, they couldn't find a fourth person to join, much to their disbelief.

"Oh, this sucks," Lachesis muttered, and I could only laugh at them.

"Sucks to be you guys! I guess you're not gonna go on the trip Lachy," I teased.

"Oh, you can be so mean sometimes Major!"

The teacher took note of our argument and frowned as he looked over a list. "That's strange, there should be enough people for everyone to have a group of four." He scanned the list and with an "ah," continued.

"Right, so it seems someone isn't here today, so she'll be with you ladies, alright?"

"Yes sir!" They responded, and Lachesis elbowed me, a sly look on her face.

"Heh, look who's laughing now."

"Whatever, you got leftovers!" She gave me a light punch, glaring at me.

"Hmph, this girl will be the bestest partner we'll ever have! Right guys?" She turned to Hemera and Nyx, the former who smiled, brightening the room, and the latter who started to laugh.

"Yep, we'll show those boys who's boss!" Hemera exclaimed.

"Oh, I can't wait to go!" Nyx exclaimed, and Hemera grabbed the both of them in a fierce hug.

"Girl Power!" Hemera yelled out, before her eyes widened. "Oh, we should come up with a move together! What do you say?"

"Yeah let's do it!" Lachesis said. "Let's show the boys that we're way better than them!"

Hemera grabbed Nyx's hand, looking at her with wide eyes. "What do you think Nyx?"

Nyx smiled, the same as the previous ones that felt so off to me. "Sure, let's do it!"

It wasn't until after school was done and we were walking to the park that Hemera was able to report her findings.

"The smile was fine Major!" She declared, and I scowled, looking at Nyx talk to Lachesis and Eros while Aether and Erebus talked a little bit ahead of us.

"Really, there wasn't anything else?"

"Well, although the smile was fine, everything else is, well, it's hard to explain," she said, readjusting her backpack.

"What was the Hemmy points?"

"… 5."

Huh? "5? Not 15, 50, 55, none of those?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not. It's just plain ole 5. It would've been lower if she wasn't smiling then."

I ran my hand through my hair, my brain trying to understand. "How low does the Hemmy scale go?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know. I just thought it was 0, but it felt like Nyx's was less than 0."

"Wait, numbers go that low?" I asked, my brain trying to wrap my head around that concept.

"How am I supposed to know!? I never experienced anything like this," Hemera retorted, pouting.

"Numbers lower than 0 are called negative numbers," Aether said, and Hemera turned to him, frowning.

"How do you know that?"

"I read it in a book," Aether said, nodding to himself.

"… Are you actually smart? I don't know," Hemera muttered, and I laughed. After the incident last year, Aether preferred it if people didn't know how smart he was, which was fine with me, but it has led to quite a few misunderstandings.

"I was there too, Lady of Warmth and Optimism," Erebus said. "It was in a book we accidentally found open, and it was for pretty high-level math."

"Okay, so what would the scale be if we had these 'negative numbers' then Hemera?" I asked, and we all looked at her as she closed her eyes, scrunching up her face.

"Um, maybe around negative 90, I think?"

We were all hushed into silence by her words, and I glanced back at Nyx, who was still talking amicably to Lachesis and Eros. "So, that's bad, right?"

Aether nodded. "The higher the negative number, the lower it is. Negative 1 is greater than negative 3, stuff like that."

I shook my head, starting to understand how these "negative" numbers worked. "Okay, so it's bad."

"What do we do King? If she isn't happy, why does she hide it?"

"I don't know… You're meant to say when you're sad, right?" I turned to the others, and they all looked down. "Hmm, am I wrong?"

Aether cleared his throat. "Anyway, we can't help unless we ask what's wrong, but if she hasn't told us yet, I don't know if she will."

"Well, there's one other thing I'm confused about," Hemera said, and we all turned to her.

"I don't understand, maybe since it's been a while, but there's something else."

"Something else?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"That's all I know. I just feel something else, like maybe it's making her feel that way, or something…"

"Then we just need to beat it, right guys?" Erebus asked, and Aether and I nodded while Hemera shook her head.

"No, I…" She trailed as she tried to think, but then gave up as she started to look dizzy. "Oh, I don't know! I give up! We'll figure it out later, my head hurts from thinking too much about complicated stuff."

"Yeah, mine does too," I said, and we decided to put out conversation on pause.