[Nadaig-Awelasamen]: I think I found us a target.

[Italian-gentleman]: Aren’t I the job finder here?

[Nadaig-Awelasamen]: This is a good one. Trust me, the viewers’ll love it. A sickeningly sweet girl named Strelitzia. Pretty, innocent, and judging by her online profile, she likes taking pictures of food (how original) and animals that she finds on walks. There’s plenty with her and her brother too. So let’s give the people what they want while ripping someone’s heart out.

[Ice-gentlewoman]: Are we really ripping someone’s heart out?

[Nadaig-Awelasamen]: No, as much I know you’d love to mutilate someone, we’re going emotionally. I can’t wait to see Lauriam writhe at school when we post a picture of her death on her profile. It makes me giddy just thinking about it.

[Fall-Maiden]: Causing chaos hmm, finally something worth doing.

[Mercury-Maiden]: So we aren’t actually ripping someone’s heart out then?

[Spring-Maiden]: Learn to read! Also change your name!

[Mercury-Maiden]: But I just changed it to match you and Cinder’s.

[Fall-Maiden]: Wolf, you’re clearly inept at anything but engineering aren’t you?

[Mercury-Maiden]: I am not!

[Spring-Maiden]: You’re using your own name for your profile on top of using our real names!

[Mercury-Maiden]: It’s fine, with the tag of maiden, they’ll be looking for a girl instead of a boy. Besides, this is a secure chat isn’t it? No one’ll see it anyway.

[Italian-Gentleman]: As fascinating as your inferior brain is, Wolf, I have to get on with the job. What’s in it for us, Jack? There’s no buyer this time so I’m having to assume it’s just you being homicidal. What? Did school not go well today? So sad but not my problem.

[Nadaig-Awelasamen]: Don’t patronize a god!

[Ice-Gentlewoman]: You’re awfully uptight today, Jack. This one must mean a lot to you.

[Nadaig-Awelasamen]: A little. Let’s just scope her out more and get to know her so we don’t leave any traces. They were warned so let’s make her feel extra safe, then rip that security away from them all. Let’s start a revolution. Show that they have a new rule to obey.

[Mercury-Maiden]: What? You mean like the Phantom Thieves? They’re pretty sweet. I’d love to be one of them.

[All]: …

[Nadaig-Awelasamen]: Oh for fuck’s sake., Wolf, go with Witch and Siren and get close to Strelitzia and Lauriam. Roman and Cat will scope the house while they’re at school. Do what you want, but don’t raise anymore suspicion. Ever heard of a game, keep that shit down. Shouldn’t be hard for anyone but Wolf apparently.

[Mercury-Maiden]: When did Roman die to make you leader?

[Nadaig-Awelasamen.]: You’re right, I should just kill myself so I don’t have to deal with dipshit teammates.

[Italian-Gentleman]: Relax, me and Cat’ll watch the house for you, get a feel for it and maybe set up cameras and rig the window to the girl’s bedroom to get in.

[Ice-Gentlewoman]: Mangling?

[Nadaig-Awelasamen]: Sorry, Cat, she gets drowned by Witch and Siren. Maybe next time.

[Ice-Gentlewoman]: :(

[Fall-Maiden]: Sometimes it makes me wonder if you really are a god, Jack. Otherwise how do you know how she dies?

[Nadaig-Awelasamen]: Kid from school said it. I’m just taking inspiration from a loon.

[Fall-Maiden]: Right…

[Italian-Gentlemen]: Settled then, let’s get working shall we.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

“You feeling better today, Ven?” Aqua asked from the edge of the bed she sat upon. Ventus merely stared to the ceiling.

“Aqua, am I bad person for being so violent apparently?”

“It only matters if you act on those thoughts, Ven. As long as they’re just thoughts, you should be fine.”

“But I never even remember having them. Everyone just tells me things I said and threatened. How am I supposed to control myself when I don’t even know it’s happening?” His hand clutched into the comforters of his bed, hugging them close as he tried to bury himself against them. Tears slid from his eyes, dampening the pillow beneath him. “I mean, what if I act on any of those thoughts and can’t do anything about it?”

Aqua leaned forward to wrap her arms around the crying boy. She pulled him close to her, bringing him up and off the bed and instead against her chest. He was limp, refusing to accept her embrace. She still gave it to him anyway.

“You can’t sulk forever, Ven. It’s been a week.”

“A week since I said I’d kill everyone apparently and collapsed.” Ventus whimpered.

“Oh c’mon, I’m sure no one is even talking about that.”

“Really?”

“Highschool’s peculiar. They’ll latch onto one thing, then the next so once they find the next thing, you’re old news.”

“Everyone’s gonna forget me?!”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” She recoiled, pulling the distressed boy closer to her once again. “I mean that they’ll find some rumour to obsess over instead of fussing about you.”

“You’re sure?”

“That’s anything for you. That’s just how the world works.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Oh you mean with how the Phantom thieves were so hot, then they just kinda disappeared!”

“Uh...yeah like that, Ven.”

“They were so cool! I wonder where they went.” He mused, wiping tears from his face with a smile. “I wish they’d change the hearts of bad people here.”

“You mean like our bastard grandfather?” Terra asked. Ven looked up, and as usual for him, his brother stood, leaning against his door frame with crossed arms.

“Yeah like him!”

“C’mon, guys, dad’ll hear you.” Aqua warned with a weak smile.

“Is dad even home?” Ven asked. “Wait, what time even is it?”

“About noon.” His sister informed.

“What about school?!”

“You missed a week to sulk in your room, now you’re concerned about school?” Terra asked with an amused smile. “Relax, school’s off today anyway.”

“Well now everyone’s gonna think I’m weird that I missed a week after that proclamation.” Ventus griped as he pulled at his blond hair with sleeved hands.

“It’s fine, surprisingly no one knows about it. Or at least, I haven’t heard anything about it, and something like that would usually get around the school in seconds so whoever you proclaimed it to as you say, you’re either safe to talk to them or they’re terrified of you. I’m gonna go with safe though because you’re not exactly the most threatening person.” Terra responded, a knowing and playful smirk on his visage.

Ven smiled himself, picking up a pillow from his bed and whipping it passed his sister and at his brother who easily deflected it with his arm. A shame, but he laughed nonetheless. What else could he throw? Oh a stuffed animal. That’s funny, he didn’t remember having any of those, but he threw it anyway.

“Ven!” Terra and Aqua yelled. Aqua shook the clueless boy while the former caught the thrown cat. It wasn’t until after looking again at the now terrified animal, that Ven remembered he idly put Matir in a jacket. “Sorry, mom!” He called out, hand cupped beside his mouth to better amplify it. He’d probably be having some choice words from that one. Terra sure got the brunt of it by getting scratched to let the poor and terrified thing go.

“Ven, don’t throw the cat.” Aqua scolded.

“Sorry, I got excited and thought she was a stuffed animal.”

Sighing with exhaustion, the blue haired teen set Ven back on the bed and patted him on the back. “You don’t have stuffed animals. Just a lot of real animals.”

“Really? They looked stuffed sometimes. Especially Goofy.” Shoving at the large great dane that took up half the bed, he carried on further. “Like a stuffed rock.” Ventus patted the big, old dog rather hard and audibly on the back. Goofy scratched with his back leg to his belly on instinct, leaving the bubbly blond to chuckle jovially.

The doorbell rang then, bringing attention to all but Ven who continued flopping Goofy’s ears as he sang about it, completely oblivious to the alarm.

“I guess I’ll check on mama while I’m getting the door.”

“Thank you, Terra. I’ll make sure he doesn’t throw any more animals.” Though he seemed pretty preoccupied by bothering one of the family dogs. Where was the other one? Most of the animals seemed to be in his room, just out and about and hard not to step on. Did he set everyone free while he was sulking.

“Don’t you think you should collect your animals, Ven? They might get lost.” Aqua offered a look of uncertainty.

“I wanted company.” He replied glumly yet matter of factly. His mood seemed to dampen dramatically then.

Aqua didn’t say anything, he didn’t see what she did either if anything. His attention was kept on Goofy to the point that Ventus practically melted against the dog.

In his depressed state, the boy plucked out his hearing aid. He looked down upon it, teeth gritting as his hands clenched tight. He rounded his arm up and moved to throw only for Aqua to stop him, grabbing his arm just before he could throw the earpiece.

She didn’t bother saying anything, instead merely pulling him into another embrace. This one which he sobbed heavily against. Her shirt became damp and wet with tears and snot within seconds, but she didn’t mind. Aqua simply held him close as he had her and rocked him back and forth.

He could tell by her movements that she lifted her head up and looked back after so long though. It prompted him to as well, and the sight he saw was both stunning and embarrassing. Quite a few of his classmates were here, and bore witness to his sobbing. What to do about that one.

Ventus fretted in putting his hearing aid back in. Agh, they were talking but he still couldn’t hear them. Piece of shit gadget. He could hear Aqua at least, but she was right next to him so not an accomplishment.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have thrown it at a wall before.”

“I thought it was evil.”

“And now it buzzes and barely works because you broke it.”

“Who are you talking to, Ven?” Strelitzia asked, stepping closer to his bed with arms folded behind her and a sweet smile on her face. So entrancing all of a sudden. His face seemed to heat up at the mere sight. Did this happen before?

“Do you fall for everyone?” That voice was also familiar. Fuu? It was her now that she stepped closer for him to hear. Also harsh, and untrue. He didn’t fall for Pyrrha or Ruby. But Pyrrha also looked pretty taken by Jaune so. And Ruby? Well she looked more like a little sister. Yang though. Yang was pretty amazing. And Blake looked cute. Nora looked like a psychopath. And Weiss seemed unobtainable.

Speaking of them though, they were all here. And in his extraordinarily messy room with critters roaming about and tears and snot all over his face. This was good. A good thing to come into.

“Uhh I’ll be right back.” Ventus excused himself.

He hopped off the bed, vaulting over Goofy and narrowly missing the blue collared duck named Donald. Good lord there were so many small animals on the floor. Lizards, mice, snakes. Someone was going to get eaten. What was he thinking?

“Please keep the door closed so no one gets out. And Aqua can you start picking people up?”

He couldn’t quite hear their responses, but he’d just have to trust that they listened to him and kept anyone from escaping. Or getting squashed for that matter. Or eaten. Maybe it would be better if the whole squad waited out of his room.

Thanks, Terra. Thanks for letting them see me all messy and sobbing and just trampling on my pets.

Regardless, he made it to the bathroom connected to his room, shutting and locking the door, but this was such a mess in several ways. Why was everyone here? Were they here to angry mob him for admitting violent thoughts?

I don’t think that was even me though. The boy whined internally. What was he going to do? He couldn’t just leave. They were all out there and they’d know he skipped and he’d have to come clean the next day he went to school which would be tomorrow probably. This was good.

There wasn’t much he could do though. Save for wash up and confront them anyway. That sounded terrifying though. Couldn’t he just leave?

“Not without being obvious.” The young, leopard masked sin chimed. He sat on the top half of the toilet for some reason. To be tall Ven guessed, but the sink would have been the more obvious option. Then again, he needed to use that so he was a bit thankful that he didn’t have to wash himself off through a cocky asshole.

He made quick work with that too. Everyone was waiting out there so he couldn’t stay away too long. That’d be suspicious

It would, wouldn’t it?

Whatever the case, Ventus finished up quickly with rinsing his face off and drying. And by the time he got out of the bathroom, everyone but the student council were looking for pets to grab and relocate. Aqua must’ve told them to help. She could be pretty forceful sometimes. When she wanted to be anyway. Actually, by the look of it, they were just about all put up. Pyrrha had the last mouse, Mickey, and plopped him in the cage with Minnie by Terra’s direct.

“You picked them all up.”

“Better than them getting hurt right?” Strelitzia gave her seemingly signature smile.

“You wouldn’t want them lost or squashed would you?” That voice was actually new. How’d they know to annunciate for him though? Actually, two people in the room were new, not that there was much room left in his bedroom with the sudden crowd.

“Who?”

“Oh, sorry, my name’s Emerald.” The dark skinned, mint haired girl offered her hand to him to which he shook with uncertainty but also interest. With her other hand, Emerald motioned back with her thumb. “And this is Mercury.”

“How can you not know us, Ven, we talk to you all the time. You just talked to us last week.” For some reason, Emerald glared at Mercury for that. Why? He couldn’t be certain in the slightest. She elbowed him then. “What?” The silvered haired boy asked with offense. “It’s true. He just told us to watch over Strelitzia a week ago.”

“So it was you that gave me my body guards.” Strelitzia mused sweetly. She stepped up to Ven, giving him a kiss on the cheek, leaving him beet red, stiff, and stuttering. “Thank you, Ven. You really are looking out for me.”

“I g-guess, but I really don’t know what they’re talking about or who they are honestly. I’ve never met them before.”

“You’re right! You’ve never met us before!” Emerald tried but she seemed a bit frantic as she nearly yelled it and held up a finger to further exaggerate it. “Mercury must have you mistaken for someone else!”

“But we’ve all seen eachother.”

“Oh, maybe it’s Roxas then. He looks just like me but decided to put green contacts in and dye his hair brown so people wouldn’t mistake us at school. I really should have been the one to do that because I was the second one, but he offered first. Guess he wanted a change or something. Maybe you’re thinking of Roxas though.”

“Roxas?” Mercury asked “But-”

“But nothing, Mercury. You mixed them up. Just deal with it.”

“Is he like your twin then?”

“I mean he could be, but I don’t think I have any actual blood relatives.”

“Can we hurry this up?” Seifer chimed in loudly from the back. “We rented the place out so I’d like to get there eventually.”

“Wait, what’s going on? Why are you all here again?” Ven asked, blinking with confusion.

“We’re picking you up to bring you to an arcade we rented out for the night. You haven’t been in school and your facebook is full of sappy and sad posts, and pet photos, so we figured we’d cheer you up y’know.” Rai jumped in. “What were you sad about exactly though, you never said.”

“Oh uh, it’s nothing. Just dumb stuff really.” Ventus waved off. “So to an arcade apparently? Wait, you know my facebook account?”

“It’s just your name.”

“Time to change it.”

“But I would love to see your pets, Ven. They’re amazing!” Strelitzia beamed, hopping up and down with clapping hands.

Ven couldn’t help but smile at that. He opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted.

“Chat on the way, time is money.” Seifer insisted again, causing grumbling teens to finally depart the cramped room. A little scary, but nothing he couldn’t handle. It was actually kinda nice having people read his suffering and check up on him. So maybe this wasn’t all bad after all.