Phoenix Drop University- Softmore Year

13: Halloween Ball (Part 2)

The Cafeteria, or Great Hall is filled to the breaking point with people magical bats and floating pumpkins, slow, classical music seems to be of equal volume throughout the room.

Tables reaching their capacity with mountains of food on golden plates, the lighting, orange, and students are milling about, socializing and awkwardly dancing.

"Aphmau! Aaron! Over here!" Travis calls from the corner of the room, Katelyn is next to him dawned in a long, ocean blue dress. Travis in a grey suit-jacket with a similar blue tie.

"Wow Aph, you look amazing!" Travis compliments her, and she smiles thankfully.

"Heh, thanks. Hey Katelyn." The girl in question nods while taking a drink off some obscure liquid, looking out of it.

"I think she's nervous... or she could be ignoring me." Travis whispers to her, his face falling slightly.

"I'm beginning to think it's the latter."

Lilac.... Where are you?

Aaron's blood runs cold, his hair stands on end and his tail stiffens. He looks up to see a massive vent gate above them.

Something is in the walls?!

He looks around the dark room panicking, he doesn't spot Lilac anywhere, but with so many bodies she could be hard to miss.

But he does spot Grey  near one of the tables absolutely gorging himself on food, he's got a crowd cheering him on and chanting 'eat it! eat it! eat it!'

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go get some food, I'll be right back." He excuses himself and drags Grey away from his crowd, he looks ticked, but the expression on Aaron's face quells his irritation.

"Dude. What's wrong?" He asks quickly, his brow laced with concern.

"Do you know where Lilac is?" Aaron replies and Grey looks confused.

"Um... Yeah, she's sick so I sent her up to her dorm." Aaron's face flushes with fear, knowing that he didn't have much time.

"Find her, and stick to her like glue okay?"  Grey's face erupts with color, and he starts to open his mouth in protest.

"Grey do you love Lilac?" Aaron asks suddenly, and Grey stops in his tracks, looking solemnly down at the floor.

"Y-yes. More than anything..."

"Then do what I say, trust me." They lock eyes, and quickly Grey nods.

"Yeah, alright. But you gotta tell me what's happening later!" Grey sprints full speed out of the Hall and up a staircase to his left, there, he makes a sharp right and explodes into Lilac's dorm.

Ice fills his veins, every surface is covered in a dripping, thick Ink, And Grey recognizes it, the same Ink that came gushing out of him last year, the same that almost killed him, Lilac and Aphmau.

"Lilac!" He calls out desperately, he gets nothing in response, except the walls starting to rumble, and breath like they themselves are alive.

He stares in fear as the Ink peels off the wall like paper, and a black, yellow eyed figure begins to form on the floor.

Teeth reveal a sinister smile, blood dripping from the yellow fangs, but, Grey still feels another presence, a smaller, terrified presence.

"Good to see you again... Danny, You sure came in here awful fast, are you looking for something, or... someone?" The eerie politeness Grey was no stranger to, Drake had once before polluted his mind and made him do things he didn't mean.

"What... the hell, do you want from me?" Grey asks in a growl, his tail stuck up like a board.

"Nothing from you.... unless you want to offer me something?" Drake's malformed, dripping hand raises to imply a trade, and yellow meets yellow.

"Never. Where's Lilac!?" At this name, Drake's smile gets larger, and his eyes flick to Greys forehead.

"If only I knew, for such a strong girl she's so... weak, and... elusive yes? Always surrounded by people, always with someone." Grey knows that Drake is just biding time, the longer they kept this up the more noise Lilac would make.

"She's loved, as it should be. What do you want with her anyway?" Grey's eyes scan the dorm, there is a walk-in cupboard, there, he could sense her.

"Now that would ruin the Climax, wouldn't it? To tell you what I'm doing is like turning to the last page of a book you just started."

Drake's eye scan the room once more, and sighs in disappointment.

"But it seems that she is not here. Hmmm, I'll be seeing you." Drakes form has begun to deteriorate, his human shape slowly breaking down.

"Oh, and say hello to Aaron for me..."

He slips into a vent on the ground, and after a few minutes of silence, Lilac burst out of the cupboard, breathing heavily.

"Lilac!" Grey slides over to her, holding her up as they rise off the ground together, Lilac gripping him for comfort.

She whimpers like a terrified puppy, and Grey's blood fills with sorrow, and worry.

"Shhh... it's gonna be fine, he's gone."

"You little Mutt!" He slams his fist on the table and slaps her for no reason.

"God... I'm so sorry..." Lilac looks up still crying from fear, but Grey doesn't meet her eyes, he doesn't deserve it.

"Dan?" Her voice wavers, the nickname makes Grey's heart break In half.

"Lil, Lilac... I'm so... so sorry, what I did... I don't deserve anything..." He finally meets her tear filled baby blue eyes.

"You've already-"

"I know. I've apologized so many times, but you... I'll never stop feeling this way, I treated you like dirt... no less than, you never deserved that."

"Dan, Danny, Daniel, You were going through a lot of abuse, and you reacted the only way you knew how." Lilac although still somewhat uncomfortable in his arms, looks up into those yellow eyes that so often hit her, and saw nothing but regret.

"That is no excuse, I hurt you, I beat you without reason I-"

"Come on, Mutt! Show me!

"Ah, Yeah...~"

"I made you do things that made you uncomfortable, I... I just want to make things right again."

"Daniel?" He looks up again, Lilac leaning in hesitantly into him.

"Y-Yeah?" He wants to hide the several tears pouring down his face, it's the first time he's ever cried, in from of anyone.

"You already have. Grey doesn't exist anymore for me, just you, Daniel."

Grey, no, Daniel smiles down at her and wraps her in a warm, emotional hug.

       "T-thank you Flower, thank you."