Summer: Within Dark Clouds Lies Rays Of; Light PT. 3/4

"I really don't like how I was used in this situation!"

We were now at Pinkie's house (I think she said it was just a vacation home, but the way she said it makes me wonder), and she had already gotten into an argument with Hiro, who was just chuckling it off. Lachesis too, seemed angry, glaring at him from Pinkies side.

"I just knew you lived around here, and you did tell me it was gonna rain here, so I decided to take a chance and take a visit!"

"At least warn me first douchebag! I don't even have anything prepared!"

"Eh, get Heracles to do it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Ugh!" She started to throw a barrage of punches, and Hiro was just laughing the entire time, slightly blocking them with his arms.

"So, you mean to tell me that you knew this was going to happen?"

"Well, I did say trust me, didn't I?"

A vein bulged on Lachesis' forehead, and she too started to throw punches, although a lot harder than Pinkies.

"Hey, these actually hurt you know!"

"Stupid dumbass!"

"I hate you so fucking much!"

I could only sigh at the predicament he managed to get himself into to. Ah well, he'll probably be fine. I scratched my head while scanning the place we had ended up at.

It was a big log cabin, about two stories tall. At the front entrance, where we were currently at, a giant chandelier hung above us, sparkling as it illuminated the room below. There were paintings lining both walls, all of them woman with varying hair colors, all dressed similarly. Right by the door was a place to put all our shoes, which was filled with all of ours at the moment, and the door to get in was a double door with windows on both side and a large arched window above the doors. Beyond the two ladies and their punching bag, their looked to be stairs leading up to the right around the corner, along with a kitchen underneath the low ceiling, which was caused by the second floor. Although I couldn't see it properly, it looked as if there was a door leading to what I would assume was a dining area. Straight ahead was a patio leading to a grand backyard, with giant wooden stakes pointed up keeping out any woodland creatures from the forest beyond. To the left was the living room, and a stone fireplace along with a chimney leading up to the ceiling. The living itself was rather big, with about five comfy looking couches and three reclining chairs stationed around the fireplace, with a large wooden table in the center of it all, a basket of fake fruit adorned the top.

Pinkie, having finally calmed down, ran a finger through her hair. "But I get the situation though Hiro. But you owe me after this is all over, you got that?"

Hiro, who had finally shaken off Lachesis' barrage, nodded. "Yep, just tell me what you want later. I really do owe you for this."

She rolled her eyes and turned towards the rest of us. "Alright, the rest of yah, go pick out a room to sleep in. There should be enough for all of you if you bunk up. I'll have to tell Hera that we're bunking though…"

"That works, so the girl-boy pairs is still on!"

I felt a slight nudge and turned to find Nyx trying to edge away from the group, and I quickly got what she was trying to do.

We managed to sneak away, the only one noticing Pinkie, who winked at me before looking back at the group. We quickly went up the stairs and found ourselves looking at a hallway.

"Which one do you want? I don't really have a preference you know."

"Near the back, where we can see the backyard." So, that only left three. Two doors at the end facing each other, and a single door all the way at the back of the hallway.

"Split up?" I asked, and she nodded before we rushed to the last two doors facing each other. I chose the left, and she went right.

The room I chose was rather small, with their barely being any room for the two beds that were in here. The walls were lined with bookshelves, filled with a variety of books. Actually, I don't think there's even a window in here, so that's out.

I quickly left to find that Nyx had done the same. "No luck?"

She shook her head. "No windows. You?"

"Same here. No windows." We then turned towards the final door, and I quickly opened the door and had my breath taken away.

It was a rather spacious room, with two king size beds, one with black sheets and covers, the other with white, fitting in with relative ease. There was what seemed to be a bathroom near the back on the right, and sliding doors leading to an overhead patio were covered in white, elegant curtains. There was a dresser with a large mirror attached to it made entirely out of wood in between the beds, and to the left was a door that looked as if it led to a closet. Nyx quickly opened the curtains and revealed a breathtaking view of the mountain, albeit with thunderclouds roaring in the sky above.

We both looked at each other and grinned.

"This is the room."

"Wow, this is probably the best room here. Damn, I kinda wish I decided to go with you."

We whirled around to find Hiro behind us. It looked as if he had beaten everyone else up here, and he was nodding to himself. "Yep, I want the room nearest the stairs all right. It's the second-best, but you guys did beat me after all."

I damn well knew he could've easily beaten the both of us to this room, but I appreciated his kindness nonetheless. "You better take it before someone else does."

"Oh, I already did. Luna's putting her stuff in as we speak. Still, I kind of feel sorry for the others, since they're pretty much getting crap."

Puzzled, I frowned as I scanned the hallway once more. "If the rest of them are crap, where the hell is Pinkie's and Heracles room?"

"Oh that. They sleep downstairs. You probably didn't notice, but there's a room near the kitchen. Now that's the best room for sure. I know Pinkie sleeps there, but I have no clue where Hera sleeps though. The couch maybe?"

"There's another room in the dining room." A new voice, this time Pinkie, had appeared behind Hiro. Now it looked as if everyone else was coming up here.

"It's technically connected to my room, but, well, it's complicated. He'll just sleep with me."

Hiro looked down at the mane of pink hair next to him. "You sleep with him often."

She stomped on his foot in response. "Can it douchebag. You already gave me enough trouble as is. You're grateful no one else was around. If I hadn't found you…" She trailed off before biting her lip. "But that doesn't matter. More importantly, do you guys have enough food? Because I don't have enough food to feed 14 people here."

"Do you really think we would go camping and not bring enough food?" Nyx asked, frowning at the absurdity of her question.

"Knowing Hiro, he would pull a stunt like that."

"Aw, thanks!"

"It wasn't a damn compliment!" She sighed before pushing her hair back. "Dealing with you just gives me anxiety, you know that?"

"Huh! Little ole me?"

"In any case," she started, finally starting to ignore Hiro much to his disappointment, "You guys can stay here as long you need. It'll be storming for another day or two, so I wouldn't recommend leaving until the storms gone and the path is safe. Seriously, if only I knew…" She trailed off once more, biting her lip.

"Thank you for letting us stay," I said, and she let off a grin when she saw that.

"Aw, anything for you Depra! If only your friend could act a little nicer." I bent down, and she patted my head, something that she had started doing since the latter half of sophomore year.

"I'll never get used to that," Hiro grumbled, watching our strange exchange before heading back to his room.

"Hera should be back soon, so once he gets back, we can eat, got it!?" Pinkie yelled out to Hiro, and he waved without looking back. "Man, I really don't know how you put up with him son."

"He's pretty neat when you get to know him mom," I responded, and Nyx just looked alarmed.

"Huh?"

"Oh, it's a long story," Pinkie said, waving off the issue before turning back to me. "So Depra, wanna hang out for a bit? It'll be a while until Hera comes back, so I could use some help outside."

Outside? "Um, you do realize it's storming outside, right?"

"Yep, which is why I need you!" Ah, so she's just using me then.

I turned to Nyx, who had furrowed her brow. "What are you gonna do?"

"I need to talk to Lachesis, so go on ahead." I nodded, and Pinkie grinned at me.

"Alright, to our outside adventure we go!"

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We ended up meeting Hera as we were coming back, which gave him quite a scare. We explained the situation to him at dinner (we ate in the dining room), and he just sighed at the whole affair.

"Yep, sounds like something Hiro would do. By the Depra, are you gonna get those cuts checked out?" He pointed with his fork towards my arms, where my self-inflicted injuries were still slightly bleeding.

"Huh, I didn't even notice that," Pinkie said, who was sitting next to me. Oh, we ended up having barbeque for dinner by the way. She examined my arms and scowled at me. "Hey, I don't appreciate this son."

"…Sorry," I mumbled out, and she rolled her eyes as she speared a sausage.

"It's fine. After dinner come to my room and I'll handle it, free of charge of course!" She stuffed the sausage in her mouth, moaning in delight as the taste hit her taste buds. "Mmhm! Delicious! Luna's cooking really is the best around isn't it?"

I nodded a silent word of thanks and caught Lachesis looking at my arms. She was biting her lip, lost in thought when she caught me staring, which only caused her to bite her lip harder.

"Hey Lachesis, you shouldn't brood so much," Hiro said, nudging her on the arm. He somehow managed to sit next to her without her complaining, much to everyone's shock.

"Whatever Hiro. I need to talk you to later, so meet me on the patio, you got that?"

"Oho! A secret excursion in the pouring rain! What sort of event will this be?" Hiro bit into his hotdog slathered with ketchup, chewing his food quickly before nodding. "Alright, let's do it before bath time, since we need to bathe together!"

Everyone froze at his words, and he quickly realized what he said. "I meant same gender damnit! You know what I meant yah damn perverts!" Pinkie just rolled her eyes before taking another bite of her sausage.

I took a bite out of my hotdog as I watched the others continue with their various conversations. Luna, who was sitting next to Lachesis, was talking to Erebus and Aether, the latter of which somehow managed to sit at the head of the table. Hiro was happily chatting with Lachesis and Hera, the latter of which who seemed to happy catch up with him. Next to Hera was Hemera, who was talking to Eros at the end of the table and the Ass across her. Prez and Pinkie were talking to one another, which just left Necessitas, Nyx, who was sitting to my left, and I the only ones not speaking.

Ah well, I'm eating, so I guess it's fine. I continued to eat my hotdog and watched as Nyx and Necessitas started up a conversation.

"So, it's us three once again? I wonder what fate has in store for us?"

"Taken straight out of Erebus' one-liners."

"Oh, quiet you. Let's steer away from this topic."

"I couldn't agree more. So, let's talk about your friend Hiro, shall we?"

They both looked at my while I was in the middle of stuffing a hotdog in my mouth, and they both started to laugh.

"Bad time Depra?" Nyx said, the first to recover.

"Lev mh ulne!" I said through a mouthful of food.

"Okay, so how did you meet him? He's kind of mysterious."

"If we're going down that lane, my pessimistic buddy is also mysterious too."

I managed to gulp down my food with the help of some soda before burping aloud. "Whew, excuse me. Um, it was the beginning of sophomore year and he said he wanted to be friends. I agreed, and that was basically it."

Both girls looked confused. "Wait, seriously? That's it?" Necessitas asked, pushing up her glasses.

"Yep, pretty much. Did you think something else happened?"

Necessitas frowned. "That seems far too simple for him. Hey Hiro!" Hiro, who was still in the middle of his conversation, turned to her.

"What's wrong?"

"How did you two meet? You two never talk about it."

"Oh, I walked up to him and asked him if he wanted to be friends. He agreed, end of story."

"Their story's the same! Nothing else was involved, no incentive!?"

Everyone had taken notice now, and now even Aether was interested. Pinkie looked at the two of us and nodded. "Yeah, that makes no sense. Hiro, there must've been something."

"Now that I think about it, you guys got close awfully quick," Lachesis murmured, and now Hiro looked worried.

"Hey guys, seriously, you're trying to make somethin' out of nothin', so leave it alone already."

"From King I can believe, but Hiro, nah, can't be true." Erebus said.

"Hey, why am I the only one scrutinized here!" I laughed, and Hiro looked sadly at me. "Aw man, you too?"

"No, it's just funny that they think you're this super-layered person," I said, still laughing. "He really isn't that complicated. Tell em Hiro."

"That's right!" Hiro suddenly shot up and raised his finger to the ceiling. "I'm Hiro, a man of culture who loves animoos, mangos, girls of both 2d and 3d, and knows how to treat his friends right!" He pointed at me and winked. "And that's all there is to it."

Everyone except me and Hera was stunned into silence, and I could only clap for his performance.

"… So, he really is just an idiot," Pinkie mumbled.

"A bonafide genius I think you meant to say!"

Necessitas just rubbed her eyes from underneath her glasses. "You know what, forget I even asked. A man such as himself is only troublesome."

"Hey!" And everyone started to laugh.