A torrential barrage of curses and muffled profanities echoed from behind the locked door of a public restroom stall. It was a verbal onslaught fierce enough to threaten the heavens themselves, born from a sudden, volatile spike of pure frustration.
Sunny sat on the closed toilet seat, his hands pressed against his temples as he desperately tried to process what his shadow's ears had just picked up from across the wing.
"Nephis has a brother. Nephis has a brother..." he muttered repeatedly under his breath, trying to force himself to accept this brand-new reality.
With a heavy, exhausted sigh, Sunny dropped his head forward, burying his face in his hands. "Seriously, where the hell are all these people coming from?" he demanded of the empty tiled ceiling, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Were they all just locked away in a box somewhere, waiting to be recycled back into the world? Did they gather in some secret, far-off corner of the globe for who-knows-what reason, only to suddenly pop back into existence?" He began spinning the most absurd theories just to establish some semblance of a reference point.
<
"Yes, I know. I get it," Sunny snapped, gesturing vaguely ahead the locked door of the stall. His mind remained focused on the sight his shadow from the reception room. "But this... this is absurd. It's practically paranormal. We aren't just off-script anymore—we're literally inside the plot of a completely different writer with a twisted mind." [A/N: XD.]
***
"It has been a long time, dear sister," said the man with silver hair and silver eyes. The sharp contours of his face and his presence immediately brought to mind a presiding judge commanding a military court-martial.
He sat with perfect posture behind the bare desk, which held nothing but a curious red candle filling the reception room with an intoxicating scent of lavender. His arms were stretched loosely along the armrests, his fingers lightly gripping the polished handles. His expression remained calm and smiling, as if he held absolute authority over the room.
"William," Nephis said flatly. The muscles in her legs tightened and relaxed in a split second; her fingers twitched and uncurled at the mere sight of the man before her.
The man called William crossed his hands beneath his chin, propping his elbows on the desk as he leaned slightly toward her. "You don't call me big brother Will anymore like you used to?" he asked with a sigh. His voice carried a vague sense of nostalgia, though it felt buried beneath something far more sinister.
"My brother is dead," Nephis replied, gritting her teeth as her eyes ignited with a brilliant, molten silver.
"No! Your brother shouldn't even exist in the first place, to be honest!" Sunny added under his breath from his toilet stall a short distance away.
"What do you want?" Nephis demanded, shifting her weight and planting her right foot forward.
William kept his elbows on the desk, lowering his head as he let out an exhausted breath. "I see your communication skills are as rich and refined as ever," he mocked, shaking his head slightly. Raising his gaze to lock his metallic silver eyes onto hers, he continued, "Let us get straight to the point, then. I bring a message from our father: 'Stop throwing tantrums and playing hide-and-seek in Song's domain. Come home, Nephis. That is an order.'"
Hearing those words, Changing Star's knuckles turned white as she clenched her hands into tight fists at her sides.
Meanwhile, Sunny, still sitting on the closed toilet seat, dug his fingers into his hair in utter bewilderment. "WHAT?!" he screamed loudly.
'Nephis was in the Song Domain? But why?! What the hell is going on here?' At that exact moment, he wanted nothing more than to kick the stall door open, march over there, and beat the answers out of her brother.
"And he sent you to force me," Nephis said bluntly, cutting straight to the point. It wasn't a question; it was a certainty. Her muscles tensed, the silver-white flames in her eyes flared to life, and her skin faintly glowed, making it clear she was ready to fight tooth and nail if necessary.
Seeing his sister's radiant hostility, William offered an innocent smile, raising both hands in the air to show he was unarmed. "That was the plan, but..." He slowly lowered his arms, resting his hands back on the chair's handles as he relaxed his posture. "The moment I saw you walk through that door, I knew you were a lost cause."
He shrugged, casually dismissing the matter. "Our father is already used to viewing me as a failure anyway, so why should I go out of my way to disappoint him?" He chuckled softly, a sharp edge of bitterness bleeding into his tone as his gaze drifted toward an empty corner of the room.
Sunny hissed from his stall. 'Damn! Now I actually want to give the guy a hug. Well... at least Broken Sword didn't sell him out to that creepy Dreamspawn pedophile like the King of Swords did with his own son.' He scratched his head, deeply unsettled.
<
"If you have nothing else to say, I'm leaving," Nephis stated, turning on her heel and marching heavily toward the door.
"Oh, come on. Leaving so soon? We haven't seen each other in years, Neph. Heavens! I recently found out you received a True Name in your First Nightmare, just like our mother did. Aren't you even going to chat for a bit with your dear older brother to catch up?" William asked in a perfectly calm voice. His words made Changing Star halt, her hand freezing just over the doorknob.
Nephis turned back toward him, her hand still resting on the handle. Her eyes shot dangerous sparks for a brief moment before settling into a cold glare. "You and I have nothing to talk about, you bastard."
"Whoa!" Sunny muttered from the restroom, holding his hands up. "Watch the language! I get that there's some resentment between you two, but... Watch. The. Language!"
William chuckled softly. Pushing his chair back, he stood up and casually walked around the desk, showing no sign of anger. He perched himself on the edge of the desk, leaning his weight against it as he crossed his arms over his chest, looking thoroughly amused. "Nothing to talk about? Oh, my! My dear sister, we have plenty of things to discuss."
Master William raised an eyebrow, a teasing glint in his eyes. "For instance, I happen to know that your fiancé is among this year's batch of Sleepers. Tell me, have you crossed paths with Han Li Caster yet?"
BANG.
The restroom stall's right wall was violently introduced to Sunny's forehead for the second time in less than five minutes.
"Okay, what the actually f***?!" Sunny screamed, keeping his head pressed hard against the tiles. 'Where does Caster even fit into this? Why is Nephis engaged to Caster? No, but... out of all the arrogant young idiots in the Legacy Clans, why did it have to be Caster?!' He stared up at the ceiling, raising his hands in mock prayer, silently begging whatever benevolent divine being might be passing by to look down and bless him with some answers.
<
"Yeah, but why Caster?" Sunny repeated, his thoughts spiraling. "Hell! The character of Caster did only one good thing in the original story: die. And he didn't even manage to do that properly!"
The moment the last word slipped from her brother's lips, Nephis closed the distance between them. She crossed the room in a few tempestuous strides until her furious eyes were locked onto his, a mere few centimeters away. Two mirrors of stagnant silver clashed with two windows peering directly into a silver hell.
"Don't you dare ever mention that worm from the Han Li Clan in front of me again," Nephis uttered. Her voice was terrifyingly calm, tightly containing the sea of flames that threatened to combust her stomach and scorch her face. "If you had actually stepped up all those years ago—when Grandmother died and Mother became a hollow—that piece-of-shit father of ours wouldn't have pawned me off to that cur."
Sunny clicked his tongue from his stall. "So... the brother is a bastard, the father is an asshole, and the mother is a hollow..." He carefully counted along his fingers. "Damn, what a thoroughly dumpster-fire of a family!" He waved his hand in the air to emphasize the sheer irony.
<
William tilted his head slightly, looking down at his sister with an air of smug superiority. He knitted his silver brows. "Always dredging up the tangled webs of the past, I see."
The Master sighed, rubbing his forehead with his left hand. "Just satisfy my curiosity, Neph. Are you still completely obsessed with destroying the Nightmare Spell?"
"Of course I am!" Nephis shot back instantly, planting her foot firmly against the floor.
Sunny, still sitting on the closed toilet seat, extended his right hand, palm up, toward the Cricket. "BOOYAH! I won the bet. Pay up, bug."
Sighing in bitter defeat, the Jiminy Cricket reached into its pockets and pulled out a microscopic wallet. It began counting out imaginary bills. <
William burst into a mocking laugh, his hand sliding down his face. "Hahaha! Neph..." He looked at her with pure pity, his voice taking on the condescending tone one might use with a five-year-old child. "We aren't children anymore. Do you finally understand that, or do I need to draw you a map?" He took a sudden step forward, forcing Nephis to instinctively shift her weight back.
The atmosphere in the reception room shifted drastically. The flame of the red candle on the desk flickered violently for an instant.
Despite the pressure, Nephis smirked. A mocking, icy smile curled her lips as she leaned her upper body back slightly, her burning rage compressing into a far colder emotion. "Draw a map? Please, don't make me laugh. You can't even function on your own. You wouldn't survive a single day without someone holding your hand. Tell me, who buttoned your shirt this morning and drove your PTV all the way here? Your secretary?"
William took another slow step forward, freezing in place. His gaze was as rigid and unyielding as cold steel. "You think you're being funny, Neph?" He straightened his spine, staring down at her until Nephis relaxed her combat stance, matching his posture. "Do you remember that massive tree in the garden of our old manor? The one you used to climb constantly, even when Grandmother begged you not to because it was too dangerous?" he began.
"I don't care about the tree, bro! Can we please get back to Nephis's tragic backstory?" Sunny complained to the empty bathroom stall, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
Changing Star didn't interrupt her brother, curious to see exactly where he was going with this.
"And did you ever listen to her? Nooo!" William drew out the exclamation, though his tone was entirely devoid of any actual playfulness. "When have you ever listened to anyone? Always so full of yourself, so drunk on your own arrogance. 'If this is my will, who dares stop me?'—that's your favorite line, isn't it? Too bad that whenever you inevitably slipped and fell, I was always the one who caught you before you broke your damn neck. Have you forgotten that?" He raised an eyebrow.
Nephis's hands clenched into tight fists at her sides. Her jaw tightened, and the silver sea in her eyes flared dangerously, though she kept it under wraps.
"And in the end," William added, his voice rising as years of buried resentment began to bleed through, "I was always the one who took the blame and got punished. Did you forget that part too?"
Her fists clenched even harder as his voice grew louder, echoing off the minimalist walls.
"So how did it always end, Neph? You committed the crime, everyone else paid the price. You got the glory, and the rest of us got the misery! Thank the dead gods they finally chopped that decrepit old tree down. But that was just one example of a lifelong pattern. And it's not just me, either! It's everyone! Wherever we went, whatever we did, you were always the one dragging people into your brilliant little schemes. And when the dust finally settled, you were the only one standing victorious while everyone else was ruined. YOU! ALWAYS!"
An oppressive, suffocating silence descended upon the reception room. It hung between them, as tense and sharp as a razor's edge, while two burning flames clashed in midair above a silent shadow. A quiet and everlasting witness.
The siblings stared straight into each other's eyes. William waited for a response, but Nephis gave him nothing. Finally, the Master exhaled heavily, running both hands over his face to forcibly cool his temper.
"Neph," William said, his voice returning to a calm, quiet gravity. "We aren't kids anymore. The world isn't our private estate, and we can't treat it like a playground. If the world is old and broken, we can't just chop it down and throw it away. We've grown up, you and I. Our actions have severe consequences now. If we break something, there is no adult coming to bail us out or clean up our mess. Do you even understand what I am trying to tell you?"
Nephis eyed him up and down, entirely dismissing the weight of his speech with a look of pure indifference. "Are you finished?" she asked flatly.
"Fuck you, Neph!" William shouted loudly, throwing his hands up. "I am so incredibly done with you." He offered a bitter, self-deprecating laugh to mask his anger. "In fact, want to know something hilarious? I actually used my own connections to contact a Transcendant I know—Saint Tyris. I was going to arrange for you to bypass the solstice entirely so you wouldn't have to face your first expedition as a Sleeper. For the gods' sake, I even bought a handful of Memories out of my own pocket to give you as a gift. See what a horrible, bastard brother I am?"
William paced back and forth across the room, venting his frustration into the empty space. "But you know what? Fuck you!"
At the second insult, something finally snapped inside Changing Star. The calm facade shattered, and her voice cut through the room like a jagged shard of glass. "I don't need your pity, William, and I certainly don't want anything from your pathetic Immortal Flame Clan!" Nephis spat, her voice laced with venom. "Keep your Memories. Take them, take your little arrangements, and tell our father he can go straight to hell for all I care! If none of you want to help me, fine. I don't need you. I will find the allies I need on my own terms—even right here, in this Academy."
At her words, Sunny felt a violent, cold shiver run down his spine.
William smiled, but it was a dark, malicious twist of his lips. The temperature in the small room was visibly rising, the air shimmering from the sheer intensity of the hidden soul force circulating between the two blood relatives.
"Fine, Neph!" he sneered. "Go get yourself butchered in the Dream Realm, then. Let's see how much fun you have!"
With that, William marched past Nephis, heading straight for the exit. As he walked away, the red candle on the desk dissolved into a faint shower of radiant sparks.
When he reached the threshold and pulled the door open, he paused. He turned his head slightly, peering back at his sister one last time with a single, piercing silver eye. "I almost forgot..."
Nephis looked back at her brother once more. The sharp edge in his voice had vanished, replaced by a quiet, uncharacteristic note of genuine interest.
"How is she doing?" William asked.
Changing Star snorted softly. "Since when do you care about girls?"
Sunny tilted his head in his bathroom stall, knitting his brows as he raised a finger to pose a silent question. "In what sense?"
<
"Rain is doing well," Nephis answered immediately after, offering no further elaboration.
"Hm." William nodded, accepting the brief answer without pressing for more. He was far too accustomed to her sparse communication skills. Turning his back to the room, he finally stepped over the threshold. "I'll see you around, Neph."
Those were the last words he would speak to his sister for a very long time. The two siblings wouldn't utter another word to one another—not until Changing Star made her eventual, harrowing return from the Forgotten Shore. Once again, they parted ways, leaving behind a hollow vacuum of unspoken truths and bitter words meant to wound, regardless of intent.
***
"Huff..." Sunny let out a heavy, long breath, followed by his signature speak: "What a headache."
His pitch-black eyes were completely dull.
His mind was a stormy sea, churning violently under the sheer weight of the massive information dump he had just received by eavesdropping on Nephis and her brother. Within his thoughts, several loose threads were finally beginning to connect and make sense, only to leave countless others completely frayed and meaningless along the way.
He was thoroughly lost in the fog of his own thoughts, drifting without direction, until a voice as soft and clear as crystal water pulled him back to reality. "S-Sunny?"
Sunny blinked, looking down only to find Cassie standing paralyzed in his arms, her face completely flushed a deep crimson.
Ever since he had returned from the restroom to the still-crowded cafeteria, he hadn't spoken a single word or even glanced at the girls. Instead, he had simply reclaimed his usual seat and instinctively pulled Cassie into a tight embrace just to soothe his frayed nerves.
"W-What are you doing?" Cassie asked, finding herself utterly unable to wiggle out of his grip. Her voice was high-pitched and thoroughly embarrassed as her blush deepened by the second.
"We are all but lost sheep on the long, winding road of life, Cassie. The world is cruel, and each of us must walk a cold, solitary path," Sunny preached solemnly, tightening his embrace and gently resting his cheek against her golden hair, finding genuine comfort in her warmth and sweet scent. "Sometimes, the simple strength of a hug can restore our power in dark moments, guiding us back to the light from the bleak abyss where we would otherwise sink."
Cassie let out a tiny squeak, clenching her small hands against his chest and closing her eyes tight, looking exactly like a prey animal playing dead to deter a predator. In truth, she didn't actually dislike the hug—but right here, in the middle of the crowded cafeteria while everyone was still eating...
After a few more moments of this, Yuki, who was sitting across from them, apparently decided she had seen enough. She calmly stood up, walked around the table, and physically pried Sunny away, breaking the embrace.
Cassie let out a sigh of relief, placing a hand over her racing heart. But a mere second later, two arms as cold as glacial ice wrapped securely around her.
'Why?!' Cassie genuinely wanted to cry right then and there.
Now it was Yuki holding her in a vice-like hug. To make matters worse, unlike Sunny's, the ice beauty's body was as cold as a perpetual winter and didn't warm up at all upon contact. 'Why does everyone suddenly want to hug me?' the blind seer wondered, shivering inside the Snow Woman's freezing embrace.
Watching his friends bickering in this rare moment of peace and quiet, Sunny smiled gratefully. The chaotic storms and raging waters inside his mind finally settled, giving way to a calm, sunlit serenity.
He glanced around, looking down at his plate and picking his fork back up, determined to finally finish his breakfast in peace.
But then... in the remote corners of his mind, he sensed the terrifying presence of a certain shadow approaching.
Lifting his gaze, Sunny watched the peaceful illusion of his morning shatter into a million pieces.
He instantly recalled Nephis's parting words about finding the allies she needed right here at the Academy. Having experienced firsthand just how devastatingly stubborn Changing Star could be, the blood froze in his veins.
'No no no no no no no NO NO NO NO NO NO NO...' He shook his head furiously, desperately praying that this wasn't actually happening.
Nephis had picked up her breakfast tray and was walking straight toward their table. Silent as death, and as inevitable as a curse of impending ruin.