"Damn it!" Linda and Alina were in their room, and Alina had just flopped on the bed. "Why do they have to be so hard? Can't they just accept- I can't even tell you guys why!" Fucking rules. She was free of some, but not of others. It was probably for the best, anyway, but it was undeniably frustrating to keep peace when they couldn't find it in the first place.
"We'll all get through it, eventually." Linda soothed, sitting on the other bed, watching her. The last time Linda saw Alina genuinely angry did not end well.
"'Eventually' is too long! Furthermore, we don't have time to stay here and settle this ourselves! We have things to do, witches to find, and fucking griffins to go after."
"Take it as it comes, remember?" Linda muttered, repeating what Alina had once screamed at her, six years ago. The image, the memory, flashed through her mind. Alina's tear stained face as Linda and her friends laughed.
Alina didn't speak for a while.
"You know, I almost didn't recognise you. You've grown a lot, Jones." she finally whispered.
"Says the one who punched me on the shoulder as a goodbye. That fucking hurt, and we were 11." Linda mustered a strained smile.
"You didn't recognise me at first, did you?" Alina asked, her voice clear of any evidence of frustration, while her heart was still full of it.
Linda shook her head, "You're confident." She answered simply. Alina didn't respond.
Korū face planted onto his bed the moment he entered his room, his thoughts never ceasing as they haunted him. His mother. His uncles. His grandfather. The curse.
Hikari, on the other hand, was doing a check on the pack's medicines with her mentor, while Kumori seemingly vanished into thin air.
***
"What the hell do we do now?" Alina asked the next day, both she and Linda sitting on their respective beds, wondering if they should take the risk and venture out. They knew next to nothing about the habits of this pack.
"Are you guys awake?" Linda mindlinked Cayne.
"Fuck off," was the response.
"The guys aren't awake yet. I have no idea how or why." Linda notified Alina.
"But I'm bored." Alina complained. Linda chuckled a little. She was oftentimes so childish, as if she were perpetually bouncing back and forth between being naive, and being wise.
Quick, anxious footsteps outside caught their attention. Kumori was headed somewhere, muttering loudly enough for the girls in the room to hear, something along the lines of "Why am I a fucking peacekeeper-"
Korū was apparently getting into fights on his second day back home. Early in the morning.
"I love our hosts." Alina grumbled. She knew, though, their responsibilities did not revolve around making sure the guests get taken care of, "Let's talk about what we're doing next."
"Well, we should be meeting the dragons to see if we can get them on our side. We need Kaito for that." Linda said. Both of them glanced expectantly at the door again, hoping that a friendly face would show up and tell them how they are expected to act, as Bloodmoon visitors.
"Are we running on a schedule?" Alina asked, feeling like something was off.
"Not as far as I know. We'll have to make this trip again if we don't break the curse, or find a way to break it, before Night Stalker tells us to go back." They lapsed into a silence again.
"The Betas are back." The murmurs spread through the entire tunnel system, relief in the voices of the messengers.
A few minutes later, the door opened. Korū stood in the entrance, a few more scratches added to the collection of scars on him. "We can make a move soon. The Betas are back."
"Epic opening line." Alina stated, getting up. "Morning."
"Fuck off." He mindlinked Cayne. "Oi. Wake up."
He heard a groan in response. "Fine." Followed by shouting coming from the next room.
"What's happening?" Linda asked worriedly.
"Sounds like the guys." Alina said. "Hey, thought you said something about the Betas being halfway across the world?"
Korū decided to ignore her and go help Cayne in waking the others up. He practically kicked their door down. "Wake the fuck up."
"Why would anyone wake up at such an ungodly hour of the day?!" Liam demanded.
"How the hell is 8am ungodly? Everyone here is up and about by 7."
"I usually wake up at 6, so give me a break." Cole mumbled, covering his face with the blanket.
"You've already gotten two hours more. Get up." He gave Cayne an exasperated glance.
Cayne just shrugged.
"I swear." He beckoned to Cayne. "You're the only decent one. Come on, they can stay behind for all I care."
Cayne chuckled. "Gee, thanks." He turned to the other guys. "Mindlink me when you're done."
Korū left the room with Cayne, knocking on Alina's door again. "Oi."
"Yes sir." Alina said, Linda following closely as they exited the room. "What are the plans for today, exactly?"
"The Betas are more open-minded. Go talk to them." He looked slightly annoyed. "I won't be talking for you. I have shit to do."
"Okay…" Alina answered hesitantly.
"Kagerou-san," Korū called. "Aai-san. The...visitors are here."
"Come in," a voice responded. Korū opened the door to reveal the two Betas sitting in a pretty comfortable space. "Sit down," the male, Kagerou, invited them.
The three of them filed into the room and sat.
"So... What do you need our pack's help with?"
The three glanced at each other in a silent debate as to who should speak.
"If we cut the long story short, we basically need your help to communicate with some dragons and negotiate for their help. This is to hunt down a group of griffins and perhaps a mix of a few other races. Night Stalker is leading the investigation at the moment, and their help would be appreciated. It would be good if your pack is willing to get involved too. This concerns murderers, Betas. It also involves a few of your pack members." Linda said.
The Betas glanced at each other, communicating silently. "Alright," the female said. "Say we lend you our assistance. Tell us exactly what happened that made you come all the way here for our help. We can't go anywhere without knowing what we're up against."
Linda and Cayne both turned to Alina, who sighed. "Like she said, it's a long story, that we are still missing pieces of."
"It started perhaps slightly more than 6 years ago. I assume you remember the incident before the 19th Gamma Tournament?" She paused.
"It was my group that was attacked by a large group of rogue griffins. Every time they killed, they made sure to carve into the stomachs of their victims. The Japanese letter 'A'. It's a detail that slipped my mind at that time. I was the only one of that travelling group to make it out alive. Except, I only recently realised that I talked to a friend before the attack, but when I reached the venue, she was already there.
"About twenty days ago, my pack's Gammas went missing, leaving a note that said they were embarking on the Mission. They were found dead together with Korū and Hikari's mother and one uncle. The other made it alive. All of them had the same thing carved into their stomach. There was evidence of help from at least one dragon, which is suspected to be Korū and Hikari's grandfather.
"We later discovered that the Beta family of Night Stalker were all part of this, their adopted daughter the 'friend' that I mentioned earlier. We found out that they had taken the ikrar, and that the grandfather is definitely involved, but they escaped through reinforcements. Anyone we captured committed suicide." Alina finished, settling back into her chair.
"Okay. Apart from the investigations and the dragons, what else do you want our help with? Say you have access to whatever we have," Kagerou offered.
"... Kagerou-san, Aai-san, I have to go. Akiri-sensei is calling me." After receiving nods from the Betas, he turned and left the room.
Alina cocked her head to a side thoughtfully, then said tentatively, "I need your pack to authorise an investigation on an… incident that your Alpha has suspected involvement in. I can't disclose any other information, but the Council will be sending someone official to investigate this, and what happened yesterday. If the pack cooperates, the process will be faster, and everything will be settled more quickly, with less hassle. I thought I'd warn you."