The bus kept rocking, while the three Night Guardians sat in silence. They wouldn't even look at each other. Their previous fight showed how their lack of teamwork. Their powers just weren't compatible with each other unlike the other three girls.
Jack kept to herself while she concentrated on her memories. Some were blurry and they were all mismatched. Events were jumbled within her. At one moment, she saw her fighting other Light Guardians, and in the next moment, she recalled a regular day at home with her parents. But she didn't quite know when these happened, so she just closed her eyes and let the memories just flow within in.
Yune sat in the middle thinking about what she should do. She still knew that they had to stick together, but after realizing that their teamwork was weak, she needed to figure out a way to improve it.
Mary just looked out the window and let her mind wander. She thought about just leaving the other two, but even she knew that she needed allies in this new world that was unfamiliar and alien to her.
While Mary was looking out the window, she watched as they drove by a cactus. A minute went by and the same kind of cactus came by. She thought it was a funny coincidence, but then another minute passed and the same cactus passed by them in the same exact position. She looked more closely and after another minute, it passed her again.
"Uh, are we going in circles?" Mary asked Yune and Jack.
Yune awoke from her deep thoughts and replied, "Huh? I don't think so."
Jack sat there quietly and they even heard a snore coming from her. The
"Just... let her sleep," Yune said whispered, "We all had a long day."
And so Yune and Mary watched outside the window. A minute passed. Exactly one cactus. Then, another minute. Another cactus that was the same. One more minute, and nothing changed.
Even the scenery became familiar to Mary. The formation of the sands. Some of the bushes and shrubs.
"See. Something is wrong," Mary confirmed.
Yune also became suspicious. "Alright, let's go talk to the driver."
"And say what?"
"Just going to ask how much longer it will be. Then, we'll see what to do from there."
Yune and Mary didn't sense any Night Demon nearby, so they didn't begin to suspect anything related to those monsters. They thought perhaps it was human error or the driver making the wrong turn. Although, neither Mary nor Yune remembered them ever making a turn during their trip.
They walked by seats of other people fast asleep. A couple of businessmen. A mother and her young child. A boy, who was still wide awake, playing with some care toys. An elderly couple.
When they got up to the driver seat, Yune asked the driver, "Excuse me, sir. How long will it take for us to get to the next stop?"
The driver looked back at Yune. One of his eyes was just pure white with veins popping out. He smiled and assured Yune, "It should take around a couple of hours. Just sit tight, and we'll be there."
"What's wrong with your eye?" Mary asked.
And in that moment, the eye spun back into place revealing a bloodshot eye.
"Oh, nothing's wrong. Nothing's wrong at all. Please take your seat. It'll be a long ride. You might want to take a nap," the driver said in a hurry.
Yune and Mary still didn't sense any Night Demon nearby and so they shrugged his weird behavior off.
Mary whispered, "Your time has strange people."
"Hmm. It doesn't seem like there's anything here. But -"
And at that instant, a small chill fell down their backs. Mary and Yune sensed a Night Demon and became wary, however the feeling faded. The demon seemed to be far away and there was nothing that they could do about it.
"Let's just take our se-" Mary said but was interrupted by loud coughing from the other passengers.
"Oh, god. It's the plague," she panicked, "Cover your body."
And then the chill came again. It was only a slight chill, but this time it was constant. It didn't fade away like the last time. Mary and Yune looked outside, but they didn't see anything. Just the same cactus that pops up every minute.
"Mom. Are you ok?" the young boy said while shaking his coughing mother.
Jack continued to snore away and looked like she was having a pleasant dream.
Yune ran back to the driver and yelled, "Stop the bus!"
The bus driver still drove the bus normally. But when she looked at the driver, his head was missing.
A sudden shriek of terror came over her, but she took a deep breath and remained calm.
Yune transformed herself covering herself with a dark shroud. And Mary did so, too.
They both looked back at Jack and noticed her still fast asleep. They both looked around them and saw their cramped space and both nodded in agreement that it would be too dangerous to wake her up for this fight.
A bug-like creature's head popped out of the driver's neck. It was the head of a giant louse. It grabbed a nearby baseball cap and said in a scratchy voice, "Fahrerlause. This is your captain speaking. We'll all be taking a slight detour to wherever we were going." Then, it ripped out the driver's organs from the inside and just made clicking noises.
Yune took her hook and tried to decapitate the Night Demon in front of her. However, she was still surprised by how little the chill the creature is giving. Usually, when they are this close to a demon, their senses would be going off in a craze.
The Night Demon jumped out of the driver's skin and onto the roof of the bus. It's body was that of a giant louse. A parasite. But once the creature got out of the body, Mary and Yune's back was instantly covered in chills. The driver's mangled body was still driving on the road without swerving or hitting anything. It was driving normally as if it was still under the demon's control.
It's sudden appearance even made Jack jump out of her slumber.
"What the hell? How did this thing sneak up on us?" Jack said in a daze.
"I think it hid itself inside the driver. I don't know how, but by hiding inside a human, it covered up it's own foul stench," Yune replied.
Jack quickly transformed into the hulking red-armored Night Guardian. Mary and Yune began to worry for themselves from the danger of being near that beast.
But as soon as she completed her transformation, she was too big to actually walk around. Her weight alone in the back made the bus stop in it's tracks.
She looked around and saw many coughing bystanders. Then, she looked at herself and knew that if she tried to do anything, the people in the bus would also get hurt. Without a second thought, she transformed herself back to normal.
The demon said one word in between it's clicking. "Fahrerlause."
The bystanders began to cough out blood. Mary dashed up towards the monster, but it quickly evaded her claw barrage. Each claw instead ripped at the roof of the bus. The bug-eyed creature went through the cracks and crawled on top of the bus. It's two pairs of hind legs began to grow out into that of a humanoid's. It's front two arms extended into pincers. It screeched at the hot sun, but looked down at it's captured food.
Mary jumped at the roof and clawed open a hole for her to get through. Yune kicked down the bus door and climbed to the roof. Jack stood helpless. She remembered her own past and had the desire to help, but if she transformed in this situation, she would do more harm than good. She knew that she could easily just crush the Night Demon, but she would also bring danger to the people near her.
The people who were coughing up blood began to convulse, and within seconds hordes of flying paper bugs came out of them. They cut through skin to form a white cloud in the process of covering the whole inside.
"Of course, they're only focused on the monster. Not a single one cares about the people getting hurt on the sidelines," Jack said with rage in her heart.
Jack saw the people, but she knew there was nothing that could be done about them.
Yune called to Jack, "Hey, get the boy. He's still alive. Get him out of there!"
Jack looked around for a young boy and there he was. She saw only one boy crying as his mother laid there. The paper bugs didn't come out of her, yet, so Jack grabbed the boy who tried to fight back, but to no avail.
"Wait! My mom!" he yelled.
Jack transformed into her Night Guardian form. The boy screamed in terror at what he was seeing. A giant monster. Jack broke through the walls of the bus while protecting the boy. She leapt onto the hot sand while the bus was moving. However, as Jack touched the ground, she looked back and the bus wasn't moving at all. There were paper bugs covering all of the bus windows and moving the wheels of the bus and occasionally shaking it. The paper changed color on the windows giving a moving picture.
Yune and Mary concentrated on the Night Demon, although they also noticed that the bus wasn't moving at all.
Jack gave a thumbs up to Yune and she gave one back. But the demon didn't surrender. It continued to fight as it was surrounded on two sides. Mary one one and Yune on the other. Mary tried to claw the demon with extreme speed and alacrity. Yune threw in her hooks and tried to chain up the monster. The Fahrerlause was fast as well. It could dodge and parry any attack that it was given.
"Food. Food," it repeated, "I deserve it."
It felt like ramblings of an old man, but the two girls paid no attention to it.
Paper bugs stopped the charade of moving the bus and began it's assault. They rushed out of all the bodies inside the bus. Out the cracks and broken windows, and into the hot desert.
Mary and Yune jumped back off the bus as these bugs swarmed the entire bus in a sphere. They flew around in a frenzy while Fahrerlause screeched and licked it's pincers.
Jack held onto the boy tightly who held his eyes shut in fear of everything around him. He couldn't believe anything that was happening.
Jack, Yune, and Mary all lined up together side-by-side.
"I don't know how we're going to pull this off," Mary said worryingly.
Jack looked at Yune and wondered, "Why did you tell me to save the boy?"
"It would be the right thing to do," Yune said without any hesitation, "We might not be Light Guardians, but we don't have to act like complete monsters."
Jack gently smiled and with a grin remarked, "Good answer. This means I won't have to kill you."
Mary and Yune both said in shock, "What?"
"Nothing. Just a bad joke," Jack said with a slight laugh. Usually, she expects Light Guardians to hunt Night Demons over anything else. Over protecting people from said Night Demons. Over saving lives. All over for a black coin.
Fahrerlause's eyes stared at the boy and Jack noticed. It kept repeating, "Food. Food."
And with that Jack thought of a reckless plan. If she was wrong, then all three of them would be overwhelmed. But if she was right, then the only one that would get any harm is only her.
The masks hid any semblance of emotion for the Night Demon to sense. It had no idea what Jack was planning, even though, she was plainly smiling with malicious intent behind her mask. Jack touched her red mask and remarked, "I do love wearing masks. Helps to hide what my ugly face a lot."
Jack looked at Mary and Yune. "I have a plan. I'll be in front and grab the attention of that Night Demon, while you two go in for a pincer attack."
"Oh, I'm familiar with that tactic," Mary commented.
"Got it. You don't need to explain. Let's go with your plan," Yune said.
And so, Mary and Yune stepped back while Jack stood her ground and faced the hordes of paper bugs surrounding Fahrerlause. There was no fear in Jack. She would feel nothing from the bugs. The only thing she would feel is remorse if she failed, but she never planned on that.
And so, her plan commenced.
Jack lifted the young boy up.
"Wha-!?" the boy screamed.
"Hey, Fahrer-loser. Want some food. I got you a nice, chewy kid right here," Jack taunted while waving the boy up.
The demon salivated while looking at it. "Food. Food. I deserve it."
"Ooh. Risking a child's. Sounds dangerous and illegal," Mary said.
"Get ready," Yune mentioned towards Mary.
Fahrerlause pointed it's long pincers at Jack and made a loud screeching noise. The paper bugs charged with incredible speed all towards Jack.
She smiled and held the child back. She dropped the child behind her and covered him with her own body. Her red-hot armor covered the entire boy. He was in tears. No idea what was happening. Only a large feeling of fear. The paper bugs tried cutting through the armor and some were able to fight weak points. Their small and flexible bodies cut through those points as blood spurted out. But Jack couldn't feel it. Only the slightest sense of something there.
The boy began to weep.
"Shh. Shhh. It's ok. It's ok," Jack calmly said. Her frost mask slowly melded back into the rest of her armor.
She smiled gently. Tears dropped from her face onto the boy's. "You'll be ok. You'll be ok," she said not knowing what was happening outside.
The boy calmed himself. "It's hot in here," he said in discomfort.
"Oh. I think I can move my body heat elsewhere. Somewhere away from you. Is that ok?" Jack calmly asked.
The boy nodded.
Meanwhile, white the paper bugs swarmed over Jack, Yune ran to one side and Mary to the other. They sprinted as fast as they could. Mary got to one side of Fahrerlause first. She readied her claws to cut the bug in half. But the bug saw her and prepared to parry her attack.
But Yune was just in time to throw in a hook. A throw straight through towards the Night Demon without it even seeing it. The hook and the chain wrapped itself around Fahrerlause's whole upper body. It's arms constricted and Yune held tightly to the chain so that the demon wouldn't try to run away. And before the monster could react, Mary yelled a battle cry and with her shiny red claws cut through the monster's head in half until she reached the chain. White post-it notes began to spill from it's disfigured face and body.
"I'm still hungry. I'm still hungry," it garbled with it's mouth cut in two.
Fahrerlause began to disintegrate into just a bunch of white post-it notes.
"We did it," Mary said, but they both looked at Jack. Those paper bugs still swarmed her.
"No. No. This can't be happening. Those things should've disappeared with main Night Demon," Yune said in shock. However, when they looked back at the notes, a message appeared. Each one began to have one word on it - "Food".
Each note and each paper bug began to have "Food" written on them with black ink.
Jack was becoming tired. The paper bugs weren't able to go through the armor, but their consistent cutting tolled on Jack's body whether she felt it or not.
"It's ok. Everything will be ok. I'll try making it cooler for you," Jack said to the boy who started to trust her. Dusk fell, but the paper bugs kept coming. Yune and Mary tried to cut at them, but they were too small and too many.
She started to transfer heat from her body to behind her.
As Yune tried to think of a plan, she noticed that some of the paper bugs were catching on fire as they touched Jack's heavy red armor.
"Of course. Jack!" Yune yelled as she realized that Jack had no idea what was happening behind her.
Jack could hear her, but was too tired to yell anything back.
"Increase the heat. Make it hotter on your back!" Yune said.
Jack's eyes began to drift, but as she looked at the helpless boy underneath her, she was reminded of herself. She wouldn't let this child die because of her.
With one big push, she used up all the energy she had. All the heat from her body and created a blaze of fire behind her. The flames reached up and up. The paper bugs were incinerated instantly. Those that were nearby caught on fire and fell. Even a couple of birds flying overhead fell as they got cooked.
And when Jack was done, all of the paper bugs were either black dust or burning on the ground.
"Good job, Jack. Good firing up," Mary cheered.
Jack pushed herself off of the boy and laid on the ground breathing heavily. She transformed back into human form. Night fell upon the three girls.
Jack looked back at the boy and saw him with his eyes closed. She thought he must have fell asleep. Even she was ready to sleep right there on the sand which suddenly became very cool for the three.
Yune and Mary transformed themselves back.
"Damn. That demon must have implanted some kind of eggs in those unknowing people like some alien," Yune said with remorse.
"Hmph. That's too bad," Mary replied with no care. And upon hearing that, Jack woke herself up.
"Y'know, I don't like it when you say things like that. I have a feeling you don't care about regular people," Jack said.
Mary looked back at her and said, "You're right. I don't."
"C'mon, guys. Let's not fight. We worked together as a team. I think that was some real team effort," Yune said.
Jack sighed. "Yeah. I guess you're right. Sorry, I'm still pretty tired. Let's set up some kind of camp inside the bus and wait until morning."
And so, Jack went inside the bus and saw that all of the bodies were gone. Not a single drop of blood was left from them. Those paper bugs consumed them whole leaving no trace. It's like it was never there.
"You know, I'm wondering if it dropped a black coin," Yune said.
"Oh, hell. I didn't see any black coin," Mary panicked.
"Don't worry. I'm sure it dropped somewhere around here."
"Also, if we find it, let me do the talking. I don't want to teleported to some indigenous hut land."
And so, Yune and Mary looked around for a black coin, but it was nowhere to be found. But on top of the bus, there was a stack of paper notes. A gust of wind blew them away to reveal a black coin.
Mary hopped on the bus and grabbed it with surprise.
"What a stroke of luck," she said happily, "Hey, guys. I-"
Suddenly, a large hawk grabbed the coin from Mary's own fingers and flew away. Mary was stunned as she looked at her empty hand and then to the hawk flying away. She didn't know how to feel. Confused. Perplexed. Angry. Dissapointed. It was more like all of those feelings at once.
"Did you find it?" Yune asked as she came up to the bus roof.
"Uh, no. Sorry, I'm just, uh, I just got my period."
They both looked at each other in complete silence.
"Ok. I'll just leave," Yune said to spare any more of their embarrassment.
Jack lied there silently asleep in the back seat with the young boy. He slept, but tears kept flowing on his cheeks. "Mom," he said quietly to himself in his sleep. And Jack could do nothing, but feel regret for not being able to do more.