Winter: I Cried; And I Cried And I Cried; And Then, I Laughed PT. 5/6

I bolted up from my bed, a huge grin on my face as I quickly wrote out the scenario I had just seen.

After seeing my friend break, I had finally gained full control, and with it, I had spent three weeks looking over and seeing things over and over and over again, to the point where I thought I might have broken somewhere along the way.

But it didn't matter to me, so long as I could save him from committing what would be his final regret.

I wrote down everything I saw, all the way to the minutest of details, not sleeping or eating until I was sure I had everything I needed in order to formulate my plan.

I looked it over again, twirling my hair around my finger. But, with this plan, it seems I won't be the one to save him…

I shook my head. No, it'll be fine, so long as I save him, it'll be alright, regardless of who really does it in the end, regardless of what I might have to do.

"I swear Major, I will save you from this fate…"

So, I meticulously planned out everything I needed to do. I managed to figure out it would happen in senior year of high school, I found out about the girl who would save him, and all the events I needed to accomplish in order to reach this future that would save my friend.

And everything went according to plan. Major had gotten accepted into the most prestigious high school in this city, it being known for its academic prowess, and I managed to get in so I could keep an eye on him, using his family situation as my reasoning.

While it wasn't in the plan, we did end up joining the Hidden Club, which seemed to have cheered Major up quite a bit. When it's all over, I'll have to thank Mrs. Cardea in person.

Yep, everything went according to plan, until the day he showed up.

It was sophomore year when I met him, the boy, along with the silver-haired girl who always tagged along with him.

I first met him in a coffee shop I was planning to go with Major and found him chatting with Major.

I found it strange that he didn't wanna walk home with me that day, but even stranger when I saw him leaving the school with a boy I had never seen before.

I followed them, and there was my first confrontation with him.

I walked into the coffee shop, my anger rising as I walked to their booth.

"Yeah, so long as you keep being yourself, we won't have any problems."

"Then what about me?" I asked angrily, and Major nearly jumped out of the booth.

"La-Lachesis!? What are you doing here!?"

I managed to get Hiro to leave after that, but not before Major wanted to say goodbye to him. I waited by the booth, watching their farewell before Major came back in, sliding in the seat across from me, a smile that could almost be called his genuine smile on his face.

"So, what's up with you and him?" I asked, and he turned to me, frowning.

"Eh? Oh, he's someone I met in my class earlier today, and we became friends!" he said, nodding happily.

"Major, don't you know not to trust strangers like that?"

"Oh, speaking of Major, he even gave me a weird nickname!" He said before declaring the nickname he would go by thereafter.

"I'm The Depra King!"

Depra…? I felt my jaw drop at his words, my eyes widening. Major noticed and frowned at me.

"Is everything okay Lachesis?" He asked, and I quickly managed to recover.

"Um, yeah, sorry about that. The Depra King, huh? Do you like it?"

He shrugged. "I think it's pretty cool, although it has something to do with wordplay? I really don't see how it does though."

Ah, I see it now. I glanced out the window, the boy long gone now. Who the hell is that guy?

I closed my eyes, trying hard to see.

"Um, Lachesis, are you okay?" I opened my eyes in shock, looking at Major.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine, like I said earlier. Who was that guy earlier anyway?"

Major's face lit up. "Oh, I got his phone number, so it should be, wait, huh? Unnamed Boy? Why would he put himself as that?"

So, I don't even know his damn name? I let out a sigh, taking some of Major's strawberry shortcake.

"Hey, why did you take some?"

"You promised you were gonna come here with me first, remember? No complaining," I said, taking another bite of his cake.

Well, maybe I won't see him again?

Alas, it seemed this guy started to invade my life, wherever I went. He was always hanging around Depra, and Depra seemed to have taken a real liking to him as well, oddly enough.

One day, while I was eating lunch with him, he asked me a strange question.

"So, you haven't told me what I did to get on your bad side. I have to at least speak first for people to hate me."

I looked at him, scowling before glancing around the cafeteria.

"I can't see it…"

He rolled his eyes at me. "Vagueness is never a good fit for you."

"I just don't understand," I continued, lost in my thoughts now. How is it that I can't see whenever he's around? "Where did you even come from? You and that silver haired girl, this wasn't a part of the plan. How will this change things I wonder…"

What role might this boy have? Oh, if only I could see, this would be no problem at all.

Later that day, I found out that he went by the name of Hiro, and he was the first person who I couldn't see anything at all.

But other than that, things went pretty smoothly. The plan proceeded nicely, and then junior year came around, where I started to ramp things up once again.

I contacted our group for the first time in over 5 years, and they all managed to get into our high school, except for Eros, who only got in because Hiro helped him out at my behest.

And while I despised dealing with Hiro since I couldn't see whenever he was around, I do have to admit that he helped the plan out in more ways then one without even realizing it sometimes. Although, I still found it strange how he vanished for about half a year during sophomore year…

Anyway, after the events of Junior year, quite possibly the hardest part of our plan, we had finally reached the end goals. Despite Depra getting progressively worse, in part due to the actions taken within our plan, we were still on course.

Our fellow members helped Depra on their own in the hope that we could possibly bypass following this plan altogether, but once he got his memories back, it was then that I realized that this was how he had managed to get so bad, he would resort to using such methods to free himself.

"So in the end, was it all for naught?" Erebus murmured.

We were back in my house, having just finished trying to talk to Depra, but no matter how hard they tried, he couldn't hear them. It seemed that I was one of the exceptions however…

"Not true Eru~! He was absolutely getting better. It just so happened that he managed to retrieve his memories again," Eros said, a sad smile on his face.

I turned to Necessitas, who was staring down at the floor. In the end, she still hadn't gotten her memories back. The doctors said it was a psychological block, and they had no clue what the key could be to unlocking it. So, we ended up telling her everything that had happened back then, but even now, she doesn't realize just how important Depra is to her, or to us…

"Hey, I have a question. It's a long shot, but if it works, then maybe we won't have to follow this plan anymore."

Everyone tensed up, and Necessitas sighed. "I already know what you're about to ask, and no, I can't. It seems whatever I did in the past, I screwed it up so bad that I can't even remember that I did it." She looked up at me, a sad smile on her face.

"And I already tried anyway, just to check. I can't undo my ability, nor can I rewrite such a huge event either. In fact, I bet it's partially my fault that Depra lost his family that day, and why you couldn't see anything beforehand about it…"

"That isn't true, and you know it," Aether said, causing looks of shock all around. "We were all there, and you were trying to help the best that you of lower ranking than Depra and I to the best of your abilities. If anything, we're all at fault for learning more about what you could do."

"A-Aether…" Hemera murmured, and Aether shrugged.

"It's not really a problem of mine of what you people who are beneath me do, but when it messes with someone of the same ranking as myself, then it pisses me off." He glanced at Erebus and Eros and sighed. "Besides, you're crucial to this plan needing to work, so you can't back out now. If you really feel shitty about it, then use up your meagre life in order to help save the person we all care about. Then you can feel sorry about what obviously didn't do."

"You know Aether, you really do have a unique way of getting your point across," Hemera said, and Aether rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever."

"But it's what makes you, you, and it's what I quite like about you," Hemera continued, and Aether scowled at her before turning away.

"You should save your nice words for someone who might actually listen to you bright words."

I smiled. "Well, although it could've been better put together, he basically said what we were all thinking."

Necessitas looked away, hesitating before nodding to herself. "Honestly, you really need to work on your motivational speeches Aether."

"My speeches are fine."

"But thanks anyway. I may not have my memories, but…" She clutched her chest, looking at us all. "I feel that it's important to see this through till the end. So, I have no plans on giving up here, okay?"

Erebus let out a wicked grin. "As expected of my beloved Dark Empress! She always pushes through to see things through till the end!"

"And haven't I told you not to say I'm yours!?" We all laughed at their exchange; our resolve renewed once more.

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So, in the end, it seems today's the day, huh? Who would've thought it would've been this day of all days though, the day we tell our dear childhood friend everything that has happened to us over the past year, on his dear birthday.

I got tossed to ground, and I coughed, the pain from being carried still aching throughout me. I looked up to see a rusted over sword pointed at me, the wielder of the sword looking down at me with his glowing red eyes.

"So, it looks like today is the day you die."

But, the one thing I didn't consider at all, would be the boy standing in front of me, about to end my life here and now.

"I really don't know what you're talking about," I started, and his sword grew closer to my neck in an instant, pressing against my throat.

"I have but one thing to ask you before you die."

I looked up at him, scowling. "Yeah, what?"

"Your name? What is your name, so I can remember it with all the others I killed before you."

Seriously, who the hell is this guy, Shit, am I really about to die today?

"Answer me now."

"It's Lachesis." I said, and his eyes grew wide at my words as he pulled the sword back.

"L-Lachesis? You're not lying to me, are you!?" I flinched back as he yelled, the fear finally starting to creep into my being.

"N-No! I'm really not, my name is Lachesis!"

He grit his teeth as he sheathed his sword over his back. "Damn it all to hell then." His eyes stopped glowing, revealing a pair of black eyes. "It looks like it's your lucky day today then. I'm not allowed to kill one of you. You're too important to this world to die."

Eh? I watched him sigh, pushing his odd hair, which were white at the tips but transitioned into black the closer you got to his roots, away from his face as he glanced at me.

"If I were you, I wouldn't mess with that boy you were with. Him and the others, you should stay away from them."

He started to walk away, and I managed to stumble back to my feet before asking him something.

"Who are you?"

He stopped, looking back at me. "A living fucking Catastrophe, that's who."

I closed my eyes before opening them in shock. "I can't see anything with you either, just like with Hiro…"

"Don't compare me to that fucking bastard. I swear, I'll kill him one of these days," he growled out, his eyes flashing red before turning back to black.

"Wait, why can't I see with you either!?" I asked out, and he started to walk away as he waved me goodbye.

"Because there's nothing to see. Sorry for the trouble Lachesis, and I'll let you know if I find the others like you."

Huh? But before I could ask him anymore, he slashed his sword through the air and disappeared, leaving me alone at the bottom of the mountain, a small layer of snow on the ground underneath the clear blue sky.

"Oh, it stopped snowing," I groaned out, glancing up at the sky. Still, that guy is dangerous to be around. I shudder to think what might happen if I saw him with Iapetus in our plan…

I shook my head, pulling out my phone. I don't have a time to think about this right now, just follow the plan and everything will end up okay. "Okay, let's call this guy." I clicked on the contact named Stupid Idiot and called them, the phone ringing once before it answered with a click.

"Lachesis? Wh-!" Static cut him off, and I frowned at my phone before the static cleared back up. "Isn't here."

"Wait, what did you just say? I didn't hear any of that."

"Ugh, just… minute… okay?" Where the hell is he at where the reception is that spotty?

"Better?" His voice came out suddenly crisp and clear, and I let out a sigh.

"Yeah, it's good now. Where are you right now?"

"Hey, unless it's important, I really can't talk right now, since-!"

"It's happening today Hiro," I said, cutting him off, before a brief moment of silence on his end.

"Are you sure?"

"He got taken right in front of me before this catastrophe guy almost killed me."

"Wait, you don't mean the Invincible Catastrophe!? Why the hell was he with you? Wait, how are you not dead right now? He normally kills people like us without hesitation you know."

"So you do know him then," I said, starting to talk towards the bus stop. "I dunno what you did to him, but he seems pissed at you."

"Oh, he's just batshit crazy, don't really worry about him too much. He thinks I did something to him, but I only met him like 2 years ago. Enough about that, is it really happening today? You're absolutely certain?"

"Yeah, it is. Iapetus came and took him away about 30 minutes ago."

Silence again, before I heard a sigh on his end. "Damnit all to hell then. It just had to be today too…"

I stopped, glancing at my phone. "So, you can't make it?"

"No can-do sweetie, I've been preparing for something major on my end, and the plan goes into motion today. I might be able to get there later, but who knows how things will go…"

"Well, it was worth a shot anyway. I'll do this on my own, like originally planned then."

"You know, you really did go around this the wrong way."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," I said, continuing my slow walk to the bus stop, kicking up snow as I went along. "All this is for him and only him, so I can save him from doing something he'll regret again."

He let out another sigh. "And what about that other part, hmm?"

"Again, no clue what you're talking about."

"Like I thought, you really are a hopeless idiot. Hmm, what's up?" I could hear someone talking to him in the background. "Yeah I know, let me just finish up here, alright?" I heard the voice again, and even though I couldn't see him, I could feel the eye roll through the call. "Yeah whatever you say Miku rip-off."

"I'll send you the address just in case, alright?"

"Yep, thanks a bunch. And remember that a "Hiro" always arrives late just in time to save them all!"

"Shut up," I said, and he started to laugh.

"Anyway, Sayonara Lachesis."

"Yeah, bye Hiro." And with another click, the call ended, and I found myself in front of the bus stop.

I sat down on the bench, calling the next person I needed to speak to, the contact named Friend that is a Boy.

It didn't even ring once before it answered. "It's happening today then?"

"Yep, it sure is. How did you know that anyway?"

"You never call unless it's important, especially since it's today." Ah, so he did remember that today was important to me.

"So, what are you gonna do? I already talked it over to the others, so you're welcome to help with our plan."

"I'm good," he said curtly, and I scowled at his response.

"And why not?"

"Because I don't wanna be there when it happens."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, you know exactly what it is that I'm talking about, and I'm not going there just so I can see you fall flat on your face."

"… It'll work."

"Goodbye Lachesis." I looked at my phone in disbelief. He actually hung up on me. I called him again, and this time, he didn't answer.

I exhaled sharply through my nose. "Ugh, whatever. We should be able to do it with the seven of us." I looked up at the clear blue sky before sighing.

"It's gonna be a long day today."