"You're done with it?" Ajax asked as I gave the final words to the notebook.
"They'll never touch my neck again, master." I muttered, the pencil over the middle of the pages writting down effortlessly the last words I said towards anyone inside that place.
I closed the book and stood up from my desk, I held the book up to him and he looked at it carefully before taking it.
As soon as he grabbed the book my hand flew anf grabbed him by the arm, my hold firm, impossible to escape.
"Read a single page and you're getting the medusa treatment." I said in a low tone before letting go, opening the door of our dorm.
"One last time, as soon as we're out I expect all of you to be outside." I said before closing the door.
...
...
...
"Explain yourself better, you only started babbling half words before we jumped into the boat." Wednesday said as we finally hit the dock.
I stood up from the boat, my eye carefully looking at our side where there was an empty boat.
"I came here some time ago and saw something interesting inside Crackstone's Crypt, it may be related to Goody." I said while I expertly calmed myself down with a heavy breathing.
'He's hiding something...' Wednesday thought watching the boy next to her breathing in slow motions, after a spending most of her time with either him or Enid, she became really good at reading them both, even when Dante had a changing personality, and a mysterious past she can only wonder when she'll finally get to hear.
After a silent walk both teenagers reached the Crypt, which both entered without any preamble, one next to the other.
As soon as the doors closed the air of the place suddenly tightened in her throat, the place became eerily quiet and only small murmurs could be hear.
The silent whispering hard to decipher as all the words overlaped one over the other.
"If whoever is hiding doesn't come out I'll make it more painful once your limbs detached from you." Wednesday said trying to sound as menacingly as she could, as she took slow steps around the sarcophagus.
"Happy birthday!" Enid,Ajax,Xavier and Eugene yelled, finally stopping lurking behind the sarcophagus, the gorgon holding a cake as Enid and Eugene held up boxes.
"..." Wednesday stared in silence at them as the ominous creeping aura inside the crypt stopped flooding the place.
"Seriously?" Wednesday turned around to only see the smirking teenager boy she trusted the most in here, suddenly a big feeling of betrayal lingering in her eyes.
"Yes Wednesday, why shouldn't we celebrate your birthday?"
"Because it's a reminder of how slow yet certain death is to anyone."
"And that's what good! If everyone was inmortal like me, then everything would be pointless." I said while I swung next to her, grabbing a box from the ground behind the sarcophagus.
"This one is mine, only you and Enid and obviously Thing allowed to read from it." I said as she took the box.
"I hope it's a witch's book." She said in a flat tone opening the box, watching the inside contain a leather sealed notebook, the carving on the black leather reading "Dante."
"I'm delighted, a self-admiration book of you from you." She said sarcastically as she closed the book.
"You'll see." I said with a calm smile, only finding amusement in how coy she looked about us giving her gifts.
"This one is mine!" Enid said jumping in front of her, the box somehow looking colorful despite the exclusive use of black colors, even the black ribbons looking miraculously colorful.
Wednesday opened it to find a black scarf with white details on it.
"I have the other, now we can match whenever we go out bestie!" Enid said with an excited smile, to the point she looked like trembling from sheer happiness.
"How thoughtful, I'll have it decorating my wardrobe for a long time." Wednesday said closing the box.
"And this one is mine." Eugene said holding up the box, which inside clincked together like glass bottles.
Wednesday opened the box,finding vials filled with a strange liquid.
"Bee venom." Eugene said with a smile while Wednesday finally looked interested.
"Finally something that could be useful." She said putting the vial back into the box with the others.
...
...
...
It was late at night, the soft clicking of the typewriter and the loud music of kpop both one over the other, Enid giggling on her bed, texting Ajax as her legs swung idly.
At the other side, Wednesday having her own form of amusement, writting her novel about the intriguing and never comprender Vyper, her fingers were fast over the typewriter as she only stopped when she was finished with one page, Thing pushing the paper aside for her to keep the pace.
This kept on for 10 minutes until Enid read a message from Ajax which made her realize something.
"Wednesday the book!" Enid said standing up from her bed to stand right next to Wednesday, who kept writting.
"Book?" Wednesday inquired.
"The one Dante gave you, why don't we read it?" Enid said, and finally the goth girl stopping the clicking, her eyes staring at the paper in front of her before taking it and putting it on a pile of others.
She opened the drawer from the desk and took the book gave her earlier these days, her eyes staring at the engrave that simply had the name of the boy.
Enid loomed over Wednesday like a moth attracted to a light, both girls intrigued by what could possibly contain the book.
Wednesday finally opened it, finding the first page having only a paragraph of words written on it.
"These days I told you how my power worked, how it doomed to roam eternity, later you showed to appreciate life, not only admire the preciousness it holds but also to share that spark everyone has, a spark I was sure was never in me to begin with."
Wednesday passed to the second page, the left one having a drawing which seemed...
Irregular nothenless.
A white room filled the page, in a corner of the room a small fragile looking kid who didn't look to surpass the age of 3 was crying, tears which only left a red stain on the white cushioned floor.
"The first day I remember there was a man, a really old man which only spoke some an asian language, I was crying after having for the first time my eyes poked with needles, apparently they were testing if they would be absorbed or pushed out by my eyes." Wednesday read, her face had a small frown when she understood what the picture meant,understood why Dante always mocked the pain and damage he recieved.
She always thought and assumed he couldn't feel it, how the descriptions he said were only about the sensation of how skin treated and bones break, but never that he could completely feel it, now how she stabbed his neck the first time they met making her feel a sense of guilt.
"God..." Enid let out a soft gasp, making Wednesday turn around to see the girl crying, her eyes red as she tried wipping the rapid water falling from her eyes to the floor.
"Sorry... keep reading." She said between quiet sobs, and that still made Wednesday eyebrow quiver, if the remaining book were to be like this, Wednesday would have a find a boat before sailing in Enid's tears.
"Get a grip Enid, if you can't keep hearing get your headphones and listen to loud ear drenching music."
"Yeah yeah..." Enid muttered finally taking a nosy breath in.
"Ugh..."
Wednesday moved to the next page.
The left one filled with a drawing, the entire page coveted in red, the floor looked flooded with blood, pure wine-red blood, the one that only came from the deep cuts or really heavy damage.
A kid, around 6 years old was on the floor, his guts spilled around him as he seemed to scream in agony.
"That day they thought that by only keeping my heart and lungs there and drugging me to stop myself from falling unconscious, I would become a lot faster with my healing factor, but the pain numbed any sort of thought about trying, and the steady and slow action self healing was the one working, one who couldn't completely work if the guts we're outside already bit still connected to me, I had to cut them myself afterwards for me to finally heal."
3 hours
They kept reading page after page, most talking about failed 'experiments' and how they shaped his power, other talked about his only friend, a woman who spoke to him through a wall which separated them from seeing each other face.
And three quarters up from the book a page read "escape" and the whole story of how his freedom was gained was finally developed in front of Wednesday and Enid.
Now the pages were only texts, only some had brief drawings under the text complimenting the words.
"I stood in front of the group of armed men, I saw how it spread more and more,further until they were hitting the walls and my eyes were filled with them."
"I had two helmets, one in each hand, both visors were down and from them blood dripped from inside, I held them up and asked to all of them if they could guess who was in each one."
"After no one responded I threw them into the crowd of guards, the first helmet was opened and it was just a head completely normal in the standards of beheading, but the other one was opened to reveal the helmet was filled with explosives."
"Before they even said something the entire crowd including me were blown up, and in the span of 20 seconds I was already on my feet, walking over the pile of corpses and killing the remaining unlucky oned who survived."
And under the text that fragile pale skinned skin like a ghost, holding two helmets with his hands, and a empty expression on his face.
1 hour
They were already on the last pages, Enid went from all the stages of duel through the midnight and the sun was already rising over the horizon, they stayed up the entire night reading the book.
"I watched the man quivering on the ground, the first time I smiled in the entire time I was in there as a psychopath finally reaching his victim."
" 'Cain obey your master!' He shouted with a weasel voice, fear making him stammer as I only kept walking foward.
I explained to him how much I wanted this, how much I longed for it, how much I wanted to be free, and that if he kept being my master even until now, then there was only one way for me to be completely free, free from the man who haunted my very own first memory.
"You'll never touch my neck again, master." Wednesday read before closing the book, and a big breath was taken by both girls.
Enid eyes were red, dried tear marks on her cheeks.
And Wednesday was furious from the inside to the outside, she felt like a trip to hell wouldn't compare to what she would make those people suffer, and how merciful Dante was at the end, how merciful that their death was only seconds long while he endured 15 years of suffering for him to only mock it now.It was not fair in the slightest.
...
...
...
Wednesday looked the same even after not having a single moment of sleep, she sat straight on her chair, looking down at Dante who was a few seats lower, the boy sat with a lowered stance as he kept writting doodles on his notebook, somehow the biology class about venom and poison didn't pick his attention, a shame, at least it was for Wednesday.
"Mister Dante." The teacher Fitts said raising his voice over the muttering the class was getting enveloped.
"Yeah...?" Dante raised his head from his notebook, his attention obviously barely hanging to the old man, this only seemed to add more fuel to the teacher's rage.
"I suppose since you're so uninterested about my class, that means you know what I'm teaching here." Mr.Fitts said, the intention of his words clear as suddenly the whole class went silent, all staring at the boy.
Dante only raised his eyes over Fitts to see the board, which had written on it Nightshade.
"I do." The boy said looking at the teacher again, his voice was not a mocking one, neither had a sense of superiority while he spoke.
"Then tell me so, what is the real name of the plant we call Nightshade?" The angry teacher seemed to finally calmed down a formed a rational thought, still, a thought only made to apparently make the inmortal finally pay some attention to the class.
"Deadly Nightshade is cientifically known as Atropa Belladonna, it has shiny black berries, it is known to cause blurred vision, nausea, headaches, slurred speech, hallucinations, convulsions and obviously a sure dead, the effect takes different time depending what part of the plant you ingested, but roots and the fruit are the parts which contain most poison."
"Very w-"
"Also, if the one who ingested the poison dies due to it, the skin will have a blue shade and the body will decompose at a much slower time." Finally after even cutting down the teacher, Dante lowered his eyes again, going back to drawing doodles om his empty of notes notebook.
"As I was saying, very accurate..." Fitts said, Wednesday realizing how good Dante was about this class, she now understood he wasn't interested because he already knew, he surely already tasted how hurtful nightshade is.
"Teacher it's already time!" A girl shouted towards the teacher, which made him look to the wristwatch he was wearing.
"Yeah I noticed, everyone can go." He said making a waving notion towards the door.
Everyone started packing their books hurriedly, taking little to no time until everyone was already out.
Dante stepped out of the classroom but stood next to the door, door which Wednesday went through after moments.
"I suppose you stayed up all night reading it." Dante said, his voice distant, a form of distance which was waiting for some form of pity.
"How'd you know?" Wednesday said staring at the boy, who only smiled at her with a calm state.
"Your eyelids, normally they're a bit higher, somehow inepressive expressiveness, did you read it with Enid?" The boy asked.
"We did."
"And?"
She only looked at him, their eyes meeting the other's as they started walking, better said, Wednesday started walking and Dante followed her.
After a long walk through the halls, the place started emptying out of students, one way or another, Wednesday found the only place on this school which would be empty at this moment.
"When I met you..." Wednesday finally started talking as she sat down on a lone bench on the hall.
"Yeah?" Dante also sat, looking expecting at the goth girl.
"I thought of you the same as young inmortals were portrayed in media. Cocky, arrogant, and a feeling of superiority which only was shown through their calm smile, as if the world couldn't move them." Wednesday said looking away, her thoughts gathering in her head, she found it ironic how much she was going to say about her thoughts, normally she's really open with her sharp comments and connotations, only to disrupt people's status and break their comfort.
Now she was breaking her own comfort by what she was doing.
"And then I started noticing the small things, the incredibly subtle way of how you seemed to acknowledge the pain but it didn't even move you. How you let slips of your past come up in conversations..."
"That made me think a lot, see you as a puzzle, after you made me look at you as an equal rather than another person in this world, I denied myself from straight up asking you, so I started taking you as a puzzle."
"Now you're solved, and normally puzzles just bore me after they're done, the only important thing about them being their mystery, the uncertainty of solving them and knowing what they are." Wednesday said as her voice lowered, the idea of saying the last part stirring inside her black heart, but she was sure that if she ended the conversation with only what she just said it'd hurt her more, somehow she accepted she got attached to the boy next to her.
"After you were solved... you became more interesting, the simple idea of you being just inmortal, you're inmortal, and that made you feel more pain than everyone in a timespan anyone can live normally."
"You're a lot more interesting than I thought, and you now own a spot in my brain that tries to unravel each layer of you." Wednesday finally let go of her final words to the boy, her eyes still staring at nothing because she couldn't bear to look at him right now.
"Wednesday..." Dante whispered, and she turned around to see him, and she regretted the move she just did.
He had the suggestion smile on his face, thrill? Nah. That seemed like joy, one sort of joy she recognized from Enid, how she would come to be so happy about small things like her and Wednesday matching scarfs.
Now it was splattered on Dante's face, getting one single straightforward form of a compliment from her feeling like a life changing achievement.
"Cut it." Wednesday said looking again to the other side, and a blurred yellow shade passed in front of her at a incredible speed.
"Dante!" Enid yelled hugging the boy carefully, her hand caressing his hair as the other was around his torso, it was like a mother hugging their child after almost losing then.
"Hi Enid..." Dante said, his voice muffled by the girl shoulder while she started hugging him tighter.
"Oh Dante..." Enid voice broke down as tears started filling her eyes and running down her cheeks.
"What happed Enid? Did Ajax break your heart?" Dante asked with a smile, the small joke coming naturally to his tongue.
"Oh you unbelievable idiot..." Enid only muttered between her cries as she was the one now wetting Dante's blazer.