Summer: Within Dark Clouds Lies Rays Of; Light PT. 1/4

The next morning Nyx and I woke up late, so late in fact that Lachesis and Hemera had to drag us out of our tent so we could eat breakfast.

"Noooo, it's too bright outside!" Nyx hissed as Hemera dragged her out into the sunlight.

"Five more minutes Lachesis," I said, trying to crawl back into the tent before being met with blinding sunlight.

"Listen, breakfast started at 9, and it's been two hours since then. We have shit we wanna do to!" Lachesis grumbled, somehow managing to pull me out despite my best efforts.

"Then go without us!" Nyx and I exclaimed, but to no avail as we were forcefully dragged and had our faces buried in the cold river water.

"There, that should do Lachesis!" Hemera said, smiling as Nyx and I coughed, having been officially woken up.

"Ugh, did you have to go that far?" Nyx grumbled, squeezing the water out of her hair. I simply shook my head fast, sending water droplets flying everywhere before pushing the hair out from my eyes.

I glared at Lachesis, who was wearing a dark yellow shirt today, with jeans and tennis shoes once again, although this time her hair was down instead of a ponytail. "So, what's so important that I have to get up before noon?"

"The fact that you even wake up that late is a problem, but I'll put it on hold for now." She twirled her hair around her finger before nodding to herself. "We were planning on going exploring today, since no one really knows much about this mountain to begin with."

"Ugh, nature," I grumbled, and Nyx giggled next to me, understanding the reference from yesterday. Lachesis however, ignored us and silently bit her lip.

"But, I'm kinda worried…" I groaned as I got up and frowned.

"What's up?"

She quickly shook her head and let out a sigh. "If only he wasn't here, this wouldn't be an issue. Ugh, whatever, you two need to eat already, so hurry it up."

We obeyed and went to the campfire, where Hiro and Necessitas were chatting.

"Hey, give them some food you guys. I gotta prepare for later," Lachesis said vaguely, and she and Hemera left without saying anything else.

"So mysterious, I wonder what's she up to?" Hiro asked jokingly, but he quickly dismissed the question as he turned to us. "So, the dead have finally risen eh? About time, I didn't know how long we could keep this food hot for you guys."

He handed us two plates, filled with eggs and sausage, and they were still surprisingly hot, as if they were just made. "Did you just make this?" I asked, getting handed a fork from Hiro.

"Nope, been made since 9 this morning!"

"And you say Lachesis is the mysterious one," Nyx murmured as she also got handed a fork.

"Well, don't worry about the how, just eat before Lachesis kills me," he said chuckling to himself, although with how she's been acting, I wouldn't put it past her.

"Anyway, Hiro and I were trying to figure out where we should go today," Necessitas started to explain as she pointed at a nearby map. "Since most people don't ever come here, we thought should at least explore to see if we can find any nice viewing spots."

"So you can hang out with Erebus alone?"

"Where the hell did that even come from Hiro!?"

Nyx frowned as she took a pause from eating. "Now that I think about it, where is he? Also, how did last night go with you two sleeping together?"

"Hey, don't word it like that!"

"Luna seemed interested in whatever Erebus was doing, so those two left somewhere together. I'm not too worried about them though." Hiro quickly explained. "But I'm curious how it went with you two as well."

She let out an exasperated sigh, shaking her head. "Does it even matter?" We were all silent, staring at her expectantly, and she hesitated for a moment before her cheeks went slightly pink, and she quickly covered her face.

"It went fine. He was willing to sleep outside, but I refused, telling him it would be alright. After that we just talked for a long time." She uncovered her eyes, which were looking down at the ground. "It really was nice…"

Hiro all the while was nodding to himself. "Told yah we needed to experience the apex of our youth. How about you two, did you guys just sleep?"

"Nah, we tried to come up with a plan to take on Miss Optimistic." Nyx said, finishing up her food before taking a swig of water.

"Yeah, we plan on taking her on with the power of negativity. But then we got sidetracked. We ended up talking for quite a while." I too managed to finish, setting my plate down on top of Nyx's and taking it over to the trash can before sitting back down. "What did you do?"

"I had to calm Luna down since she was scared shitless after your scary story Depra."

"Sorry…"

"Nah, it's all good. I ended up having to tell her a couple stories of my own that my mom used to tell me, along with some of my own original tales. But when she was finally asleep, her face was so adorable that I found that I stared at it for hours."

Both the girls looked disgusted at his last statement, and I could only laugh. "Yep, sounds like the siscon Hiro I know."

"Hey, it's a very pure and wholesome relationship here! None of that dirty crap you guys think is going on."

"Yeah, you just said you stared at your sisters sleeping face for hours. If that isn't creepy, then I don't know what is."

"You're telling me you don't wanna take a look at Erebus' face when he's sleeping?"

"Gh!" Ah, he got her there.

Hiro just patted the now embarrassed Necessitas on the back. "There there, it's okay to do this with people you love."

"Who said I loved that idiot!?"

"Stubborn as always I see," Nyx muttered as she let out another yawn. "Anyway, where do you plan on going today?"

"Towards the forest near the west. According to the maps, there's a blank area between the western forest and the west side of this mountain." Necessitas pointed it out on the map for us to see. "Honestly, this mountain is so mysterious, with the map having many blank spaces, yet it's like no one cares what's in those spaces, you know?"

Hiro peered over at where she was pointing, and a brief look of shock passed over his face so quick, I was probably the only one who noticed it. It was soon replaced with a scowl as he cracked his neck.

"Hmm, I wouldn't go over there if I were you. Although, maybe we could depending…" He clutched his key and a deeper scowl showed on his face, and he glared at the nearly cloudless sky.

"Hey, was there anything about rain today?"

"If there was rain, we would've planned the trip to go around it. Why, you think it's going too?"

"Nah, it's nothing, forget I said anything. But, I'm game to go there, although I would prefer it if we all went there."

"So nothing happens to us huh?" Nyx mused darkly, picking at her nails.

"Hmph, you've got a dark sense of humor there, but that's partly it. If something happened to one group, it would be next to impossible to find one another. After all, our phones don't work up here."

"He has a point. We'll just have to confer when we're ready to leave. Let's gather up the others."

"Alright, Nessy, go find your boyfriend-!"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"And bring him and Luna back. Nyx, can you go get Lachesis and Merry?"

Nyx nodded and walked back to where the two had disappeared. Hiro then turned to me.

"As for us, we're finding the Aether, Eros, and the ass as you so aptly put it."

I rolled my eyes at his extra statement at the end. "Whatever, what about Prez?"

"Oh, she's over there observing birds." He pointed to the edge of the campsite, where Prez really was watching birds, trying to spot them with a pair of binoculars.

"So random," I muttered.

"Yep, that's our President for yah. Anyway, I think the other guys said they were going downriver to try to fish, so they shouldn't be far."

"Ugh, can't we just leave the ass there?"

"I'd really rather not get on Lachesis' bad side anymore than I already have thank you very much. Honestly, she's really mad this time."

We started to walk down towards the river, talking as we went.

"It's not as if you've done anything though. You just had convenient timing. I'm glad you decided to come, otherwise who knows what plan she would've had for me."

He looked at me curiously, gently grabbing his key before letting it go. "You seem rather chipper today though. Something good happen?"

"Oh, Nyx helped me out yesterday. I feel as if there's a huge weight off my shoulders. I don't even remember if there was a time I felt like this," I responded, stretching upwards.

He went quiet for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess you did."

"Eh, you saw it!?"

"No! Of course not! I mean, have you seen yourself? You really do seem happier. It's been almost 2 years since I've seen you this happy."

"Ah, you mean sophomore year then."

He nodded and gave off a grin. "Man, that was a wild time indeed. A much simpler time too. Ah, but I guess wasn't around for the second half huh?" His smile faded as a somber look passed over his face, and I knew he was thinking about our 8th member of the Hidden Club, the girl with the long silver hair…

I really wanna ask, but that face holds me back every time. He caught me looking and gave a melancholic smile. "If you wanna know, just ask."

I already knew the story about her, how she went overseas with Hiro and got dangerously sick, so she's stuck there until further notice. But, I believe even now, that if I asked him then, he would've told me the truth right then and there.

Instead, I shook my head. "No, just as you don't wanna ask me, I don't wanna ask you. You'll tell us eventually, right?"

A genuine look of shock, a rare look for Hiro, stayed on his face as he stopped, his mouth slightly open.

"I'll tell you about mine soon, so don't you dare tell it to me yet, okay?"

Finally starting to recover, he nodded, and I went ahead of him, but not before I saw him quickly start to wipe his eyes and mumble a word of thanks. We've all got secrets, don't we…

I walked by myself for about a minute or two, and then Hiro caught up, his face back to its cheery self. "Anyway, I think they're there, aren't they?" He pointed to three people with lines cast out in the water, to which I could only assume that it was three we were looking for.

"Hey, we're about to go out!" Hiro said, waving his arms to the three-man group.

All but one heard us, the furthest one away, the ass of the group. He casted another line, and it looked like he already had a couple fish in his bucket. Hiro patted me on the back before greeting the other two, forcing me to deal with the ass. Damn him.

"Hey, did you hear Hiro? We've gotta get going for the meeting."

He side eyed me before sighing. "And if I refuse?"

This little son of a-! I stopped the thought as I took a deep breath and tried to relax. Don't let him get to you Depra, don't let him get to you. "Then I guess you can live with your fish then. Have fun fishboy."

I turned around, about to leave before I heard him chuckle. I turned my head back towards him as he reeled in another fish. "Hold on, I'm coming. Give me 30 seconds."

"15," I said flatly.

"Are we seriously fighting over how long I should take?"

"Call me petty I guess."

"Hmph. You know, I don't particularly hate you yah know. I would at least like to be able to have civil conversations with one another."

Memories from the previous year tried to surface, but I pushed them down with anger alone. "I'm not about to be civil with you, so hurry it up." I started to walk back alone, Hiro and the others already halfway back up to the campground.

Before I could get far however, I heard a loud crack from behind me, and I whirled around to see another tree fall, this time heading for the ass. I honestly was about to just let it fall on him, but a slight pang in my heart made me curse myself.

"Damn it all to hell, you stupid ass!"

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"Depra, what the hell just happened?"

I glared at the ass, who was on the doors of death just a moment ago. He had leaves over his clothes, and a couple scratches on his person, but nothing major. Still, what the hell are the odds of that happening?

"Does it matter? You're alive right?"

I turned away to see Hiro and the others had already reached me, with Hiro coming first.

"Depra, did you…?"

I scratched my head and shrugged. "Let's just go. I'm pissed at the ass, pissed at myself, but most importantly, I am really starting to hate fucking nature."

The other two looked stunned as well, but I ignored them as I walked past them. Still, what the hell are the odds huh?