The Other Side of Darkness

Second Chances

"...Lev....Levili...I swear....Leviline!"

Lev groaned as she was shaken awake. "...What?"

Above her, covered in some sort of dark dust, Lelie sighed. "For the love of all that is good. You can't go five minutes without jumping into trouble can you?"

"Shut up...I have a headache," Lev grumbled back. She propped herself up onto her forearms and looked around. 

Beside her, Epel and Lelie knelt on the ground, covered in black dust. A still-unconscious Grim was in Epel's arms. Her heart calmed as she saw his tiny chest move up and down. She took him from Epel and held him close to her chest. Finally, they were all safe. Although--

"Idia," she remembered. "Where--"

Lelie pointed to behind the Prefect. "He's over there. Don't worry. Schoenheit was able to grab both you before you fell into the 'Underworld.' Though..."

"Though what?"

Lelie sighed again. "Best you see for yourself." She held out a hand to help her up, but Lev got up in her own, holding tightly onto Grim. The trio limped to a stunned Idia and Rook, the latter of which was comforting an old man who looked an awful lot like...

"Vil!?" Lev exclaimed. She ran to the man. 

Sure enough, while the man was much much older and had an uncharacteristic depressed look on his face, he wore Vil's dorm clothes and crown. There was no mistake.

"What happened to you?!" she asked, gently grabbing his shoulder with her free hand and looking him up and down. 

Epel answered for his Dorm leader. "Vil jumped after you and Idia as you fell into Tartarus. The energy drained him of his vitality, giving him this appearance."

"Almost died getting out too," Lelie huffed. "Humans are so fragile."

Lev glared at her. "I thought I told you to be quiet." The demoness opened her mouth to protest, but similar glares given by Rook and Epel got her to shut it again. Lev turned back to Vil. "Are you okay? Why would you risk your life like that for us? You almost died."

Vil gave her a pained smile. "You jumped into danger to save Grim, didn't you? And me when I Overblotted?" Lev pursed her lips. She couldn't agrue with that. "Besides, we need Idia to fix the security systems and get us out of here." He looked at his fellow Dorm Leader. "Right? You're going to fix the mess you made."

Idia nodded solemnly. "Yeah, yeah, I got it. I already closed the Gate, didn't I?" 

Lev looked below them. Sure enough, the hole at the bottom of the tower was closed once again, keeping behind it the hordes of Phantom that hadn't yet been released. 

She looked beside her. Idia too watched the closed gate. His gaze was much more melancholy. She walked over to him and grabbed his arm, startling him.

"W-what do you want?" he stuttered, pulling his arm away.

"I'm sorry about Ortho," she said quietly.

Idia's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh? What....oh....don't worry about it." He smiled a bit. "I think I understand now." 

Lev raised an eyebrow. "Understand what?"

"Guys!"

Lev groaned. When would people stop interrupting her conversations? Two Chariots settled onto the large stairway. Off them came the other students. Jamil and Leona jumped off one, Azul and Riddle the other. For a moment, Lev thought Riddle was covered in dust. But as he came closer, she realized that his hair had actually turned a bright white.