Everett Ailan's/Malefici's P.O.V
Arch carefully helped him stand up. "Lay low for a while, okay? You don't exactly have the best reputation after nearly killing Malefici, Justine, and Demonaris."
"Killing? When did that even happen?" He turned his attention to her. "I don't even remember anything!"
"Relax, everyone is fine." I reassured him. "Demonaris and I just have some small burns, and Justine just woke up from a few scrapes a minute ago. You were controlled by those monsters, so it's not like you intended for anything like that to happen."
Arch tucked a green lock of hair behind her pointed ear. "He's right, Galifici. You had your magic drained by Justine, so you had to be put in Black Water in order to get your strength back."
"Black Water?"
She frowned. "It's not actually black water. Apparently it's something from the Dark World that is used for healing purposes, so Life suggested that we use it to fix you." She glanced at her arms. "The only problem was finding an energy source."
I walked over to my brother. "I'll take over here. You need to rest."
Arch looked like she wanted to resist, but she put her hand up to her head. "Thanks Malefici, I should be fine in a few minutes. " She turned and left the room without another word.
"What happened to her?"
"She was that energy source, stupid. You better thank her the next time you see her."
He sighed. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. All you did was burn me, and that'll go away in no time."
I helped Galifici leave the room and walk down the hallway, and we somehow managed to pass by Justine's room.
"Hold on Malefici." He used the door frame to hold himself up, then he careful walked inside.
He looked down at Justine, who was still knocked out from the whole mess earlier.
"I thought you said she woke up?"
"She did, she just fell asleep."
His face fell. "Those aren't just scrapes. Did I really do that?"
"She's fine, Galifici! Neither of you were yourselves last night, so don't worry about it!" I unintentionally raised my voice. "Everyone messed up last night, and this is the price we payed for it. We're okay, Galifici."
He shook his head. "Something doesn't feel right. Justine was controlled by the monsters, right? If I was also controlled, then why would she go against me?"
I remembered seeing Justine use herself as a shield, even though she wasn't the White Wizard anymore. She couldn't even remember that part last night, so it's not like we could just ask her.
A large thud shook the entire building, nearly knocking both of us off our feet.
"What was that?!" Galifici tried his best to scramble over to the window.
A giant crater was caved into the terrain. The only thing I could see that caused it was a tiny figure in the center.
"It's a person, I think."
"Can you see who it is?" Galifici pressed his face to the glass.
I squinted my eyes. "I think it might be a Hero."
This one wore a lot of pink and green, and two giant wing-like pieces of fabric protruded from her back.
"Who do you think it is?"
I looked a little closer, before mentally slapping myself in the face. It was obvious who this one was supposed to be.
"That is the Fairy. Can't you tell?"
I briefly wondered as to which Villain was unlucky enough to have her as his partner. This Hero looked weak, and it would surely bring that Villain down.
The cloaked figure from earlier walked out of the building and to the crater. Annet took off the white fabric before helping the Fairy User up. After a brief conversation, another figure joined them outside.
"That's-" I was cut off by my brother.
"That's that Werewolf User!"
I whipped my head around. "How did you know?"
He laughed to himself. "I saw that guy leave with some other Villains that one night where they attacked Justine, remember? He's actually a really nice guy."
I frowned. Anyone involved with that deserved to die. I still had trouble forgiving Demonaris, let alone the other three.
The Werewolf User smiled at the two, and the Fairy seemed surprisingly relaxed about the situation.
"It doesn't make any sense. That guy is a killer."
Galifici frowned. "And so is a Demon, a Vampire, a Dragon, do you see what I'm getting at? I'm sure he hasn't actually killed anything, anyway."
After Galifici finished his sentence, I felt a strange presence in the building that differed from the Heroes and Villains.
I turned away from the window.
"What are you doing?"
"What do you think I'm doing? I'm waking her up." I gently shook Justine, but she was still out cold.
"Why? Why can't you just let her be? Last night must have been hard on her." Galifici ran over to me.
"Something isn't right here, we need to wake her up and see what's going on. Do me a favor and remove all those tubes. I have an idea."
He reluctantly agreed and slowly removed the tubes. "I guess this is what happens when you flip that switch when they are awake. I'll have to use some magic."
"What kind of magic? There is no way someone like you has the magic to wake someone up!"
I climbed up onto the hospital bed and drew my arm back. I managed to make my arm intangible by using only a little dark magic.
"What do you think your doing?!"
It looked like I stabbed her, but she was perfectly healthy. My hand had the same abilities as that ghost from earlier, so it allowed me to find the Hero Star.
"I'm trying to find the Hero Star."
"Hero Star?"
"It's the mark that the mentors leave on their hosts as verification. It should be close to the heart. If I could just find it, I'll be able to wake her up."
"Are you sure that's safe? What if something happens to her?"
I found a five pointed object after another minute of searching. "Got it."
After applying a little magic to it, the star triggered an alarming reaction from Justine. She screamed as she thrusted herself forward. I had to catch her so she wouldn't throw herself off the bed.
"See, she's fine."
She took a few shallow breathes. "I. Hate. YOU."
"Goes both ways. We need to get going."
"What are you talking about? You knocked me out, forced me to wake up, and now you want me to help you?"
I crossed my arms. "You're obviously fine, since you were up and around earlier. Even Galifici is here, and he's alright."
My brother clung to the door frame and just watched. "More or less."
She glared at both of us. "I was only up because I was checking to see if you were okay." After she swung her legs over, she attempted to stand up again.
After letting out a small gasp, she collapsed over herself. "Why didn't that happen before? Why does it hurt more?"
It had something to do with that strange presence I sensed, and it was only getting stronger.
"C'mon, we need to move." I said as I helped her up. "There is something dark here."
She grew tense. "Is it-"
"Yeah, we need to find the others."
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Lucy Rudolf's/Justine's P.O.V
"Malefici, you know we can't kill these things now. We're a mess."
"Well, what do you suggest we do? Stand around and let ourselves be killed?"
I summoned my staff. "We need to see where they are and get out of here."
"What are you doing?" Malefici said as he took a step back.
"I did this last time to find that monster. If you guys can just be quiet for two seconds and let me concentrate, I'll be able to find it."
To my surprise, the demon and the vampire went dead silent. A bright green light slowly appeared inside the crystal, and a few red and blue ones appeared a few seconds later.
The monster was somewhere down the hallway, which was beyond terrifying.
"The monster is 5 doors down to my right. If the monster hasn't done anything yet, it'll probably keep to itself as long as we can get away from it." I whispered.
"5 doo-?!" Galifici said a little too loudly. Malefici had to slap his hand over the vampire's mouth to shut him up.
"What should we do? Both of you are in pretty bad shape, and there is no way we can just waltz out that door and expect to be fine!" Malefici shouted as quietly as he could while still sounding menacing.
I sighed. "I think our best bet is to get rid of all these bandages and be ready to fight."
Malefici started to choke. "Are you crazy?! You were nearly sliced to bits last night! There is no way you can fight this thing!"
I smiled. "I'm already healed, Malefici. The wounds are gone, it's something else that is physically hurting us right now, and I think it has to do with the monster."
He stared at me for a few more seconds before turning to look at Galifici. "Do you think you can fight if you have to?"
The Vampire nodded. "Let's hope that is not the case though."
Malefici turned back to me. "Does anyone know where the exit is?"
"Just try to find the the first staircase to our right, and we should good."
He nodded before sneaking out of the room. Galifici followed silently behind him, and I focused on the position of the monster on my staff heading out.
For some reason, the vampire abruptly stopped in his tracks, making me bump into him while also knocking my staff clear to the other side of the hallway.
I panicked and almost shrieked while reaching my hands out. Right before it clashed with the cold floor, it paused and floated back up.
I looked at Malefici, who gave a disapproving look, while Galifici looked just as nervous as I felt.
After I took the crystal staff back in my hands, I looked into the center again. The little green dot switched places.
"Wait, that's us." I muttered before turning around.
We came face to face with the giant monster I found a minute ago. This time, I actually did scream.
Before it was able to make any contact, Malefici summoned his scythe and blocked his arm from poisoning us again.
Malefici laughed. "Guess it couldn't be avoided."
I looked around to see if I could find the vampire, but he went missing as soon as Malefici finished his sentence.
The monster shrieked before collapsing over itself. Behind it revealed to be a dark-blue haired man in a black mask.
"That was too close." Galifici commented as he stepped over the black mass after putting his cane back.
Malefici frowned. "That was too easy, we need to get out of here. Has anyone seen the Knight?"
A figure rounded the corner and nearly jumped out of her skin.
"What is that???"
I pointed to the monster. "That? That's one of those monsters that attacked us last night. It somehow got in here."
The Knight took a few cautious steps towards it. "Is it dead?"
Galifici shook his head. "No, but it shouldn't be getting up for a while though. Don't you think we should just kill it?" He said as he turned toward Malefici.
"No", Annet spoke softly. "I'll take care of everything here. I think the monsters are after everyone they saw last night, so the three of you, along with Demonaris, will be targeted. It'd be safer to get back to Earth and remain human until things settle down."
"Go back? How can we just sit and do nothing while all this is going on?" Malefici raised his voice.
Annet snapped her fingers, and our normal battle attire replaced the bandages from before. "Trust me when I say that this is the right thing to do right now. If you don't care about yourself, then think about your friends, okay?"
Malefici opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again.
"How do we get back?" I said a little too abruptly.
She turned her attention to me. "You'll have to be transported there."
Annet whipped out a golden sword from her sheath and made circular movements in the air. The design made a silvery tunnel-like portal.
"Hurry up and get through. I'll make sure Demonaris gets there as soon as possible."
The two continued to resist, but I managed to shove both of them through the portal at the same time. If this situation wasn't so serious, I would've laughed.
I gave a small wave to Annet before stepping into the portal.
On the other side was an open field, hopefully someplace close to home.
Both Malefici and Galifici were on the floor, struggling to get up. "What's wrong with you guys?"
Malefici glared. "We're not made of light like you, being in the light realm did not heal us." He cringed before carefully standing up.
Galifici just laughed. "I'm not hurt, just a little tired. Arch managed to fully heal me, so I'm alright."
I looked up at the sky. "It's pretty dark out. What time do you think it is?"
"Midnight? Either way, we should probably get some rest. We have a long journey ahead of us." Malefici sounded distracted.
The silver-haired demon carefully stood up and looked at me. "Go home and get some rest, okay? Be careful and watch out for those monsters."
He was about to turn to leave, but quickly looked back. "And about what happened that night, don't feel bad about anything. It was my fault for not being there. None of that would have happened if I was there."
Malefici turned his back and raced into the forest before I could think of anything to say.
"Malefici." I whispered. That was one thing I didn't expect coming from him. I guess that served as a reminder that Malefici was human too, through his demonic appearance and attitude.
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Everett Ailan's/Malefici's P.O.V
Galifici climbed through the window and transformed back into his human form.
"We've been away for an hour." He stared at his clock.
"Only an hour?" I said as I retransformed and crashed on my bed.
"I think it had something to do with being in the Light Realm. Time is pretty messed up there." Everest took his brush and ran it through his long red hair.
"Why are you brushing your hair? It's 5 in the morning."
He stared at himself in the mirror and tried to pull his hair into a low ponytail like his vampire counterpart. "Do you think it would be too obvious if I had my hair like this?"
I face-palmed. "No, stupid. Even if you didn't have your mask, I still wouldn't be able to recognize you. But don't keep your hair like that, it looks girlie."
Everest turned to look at me, then frowned. "Anyway, what do you suggest we do now? We can't just ran around town as Heroes and Villains with those monsters after us."
I rubbed my eyes before sitting up. "Let's just do what we have always done, you know, when we weren't demons and vampires."
Everest cracked a smile. "Sure, but I think you're gonna want to see someone tomorrow."
I narrowed my eyes. "And who would that be? I hate just about everyone."
He laughed and waved his hands. "Just wait until tomorrow, then you will really want to see them. Good night, Everett."
Everest stood up and left the room without another word.
"Stupid Everest. I hate everyone, so there is no reason to go see anyone tomorrow." I reached over and turned off my lamp before dozing off into a dreamless sleep.
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I was woken up by a sharp voice. "Everett!"
There was a knock on my door before he walked in. "Mom needs you, Everett. I think it might have something to do with what happened last night." Everest spoke quietly.
I sighed before crawling out of bed. Mom stood by the door with a giant case in one hand, ready to go. "Off to work?"
She nodded. "Where were you and your brother last night?"
I froze, the only way I saw out of this was to tell the whole "I snuck out to see some friends" lie that every teen eventually had to go through. There was no way I could tell our mom that I had to turn into a demon in order to save my wizard partner and battle weird black monsters in the middle of the night.
"I went to see some friends, okay? I didn't know it was that much of a problem."
She ignored the whole "sneaking out" part and freaked out. "Since when did you have friends? I thought you didn't like the people at your school."
I forced a smile. "I guess I turned a new leaf." I practically choked the words out. "I do have some friends now, Mom."
She smiled. "I'm proud of you. Since that bad guy, Malefici, destroyed your school a few days ago, you'll have the next two weeks off. You should go to town or something and hang out with your brother."
I nodded and waved before she closed the door behind her.
"I can't believe you actually said that." Everest stood next to the door frame of my room with his arms crossed.
"Trust me, I didn't want to. Are you feeling better?"
He grinned. "Never better, actually. How are your burns?"
I went over the burns with my hands, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt no pain come through.
"I think they faded away. I didn't realize that even Mom sounded exhausted from what happened at school the other day."
Everest laughed. "When you destroyed the school? I thought it was pretty funny, but don't let her know it was you. She would never let you hear the end of it."
I frowned. "That'll make things a lot more complicated. We're gonna run out of excuses sooner or later", I explained as I walked back to my room to throw some clothes on.
As soon as I walked back out, I came face to face with the vampire. "What are you doing?"
He crossed his arms and turned away. "I know that lady told us to remain human, but I need to make sure that Arch is okay."
"Are you crazy? She's probably still in the light realm, how are you even planning on getting there?"
"I'll just find Life, which shouldn't be too difficult." He said as he started to climb out of my window.
"Everest! Wait a seco-!" I ran after him, but he jumped out of the window before I could catch him. I let my anger get the best of me when I threw one of my shoes out the window in the direction he left.
"That idiot, those monsters will be after him soon. Hopefully Sullivan gives him a piece of his mind." I huffed as I left the house to retrieve my old shoe.
A flash of yellow caught the corner of my eye, and I turned to find Lucy walking around town with another girl at least a foot shorter than her.
I mentally debated with myself if I should confront her, but I knew full well I would be risking a monster attack if I transformed now.
I wouldn't be surprised if monsters were already on their way here, since Everest transformed a minute ago, and if one did show up, I would just kill it. I wanted to go talk to her, but not as Everett.
After retreating back to our house, I traced the demon's mark on my arm, turning back into Malefici. Once I ran back out, I made haste with finding Lucy again.
I didn't really care at this point if I was making a scene. I was a nervous wreck from what happened last night, and I was lost without Everest here.
I lost track of how many stares and gasps I received from the civilians, but I ignored them as I searched for the short, blond-haired girl.
Once I spotted her, I put my gloved hand on her shoulder. She grew tense and whipped around to see who it was. "Malefici?! What are you doing?"
Her friend also turned around, and I had to do a double take. She looked almost too familiar, it wasn't until I noticed weird circular marks on her arms before I figured out who it was.
"Wait a second." I shifted my attention. "You're-"
Her eyes grew wide and she turned to whisper something into Lucy's ears. Lucy nodded, and she turned to look at me.
"Malefici, we need to talk, and by the looks of it, you need to as well." She took my hand and dragged me into an abandoned alleyway. After checking to see that no one was around, I spoke again.
"You're that elf from earlier, aren't you?"
The smaller girl slapped her face. "Was it really that obvious? How did you even figure it out?"
"The marks on your arms from last night, you were trying to save Galifici, remember?"
Her face turned from being frustrated to that of extreme worry. "Have you seen him lately? Is he alright?"
"That's what I came to talk to you about. He just ran off to look for you a minute ago, he still thinks you're in the light realm."
"What?" The two Heroes said in unison. "You need to stop him, Aurora." Lucy advised her friend.
She stared at the ground. "I'll go, but you guys stay back here. If I'm not back in an hour, look for me, okay?" she spoke to Lucy quietly.
Aurora traced a green mark before transforming into the elf that attacked me that day at school. After jumping onto the nearest building, I could start to feel the light magic fade away.
Lucy frowned when she looked back at me. "This vampire is too troublesome, Arch got back a few hours after we did. Did Galifici not know?"
Before I had the chance to answer, I sensed the presence of something dark.
"Stay back, Lucy." I summoned my scythe and stood in front of the blonde girl.
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
This magic seemed to be of a Villain, but it was one that I haven't met yet. Something was very off about this one.
Once the figure broke through the blackness, all I felt was confusion.
It was a girl with an appearance very similar to the Mermaid, but this one was radiating dark energy.
"Is that the Mermaid?"
I shook my head. "It can't be. If a Hero turned like you did, they would still have a trace of light magic, this one doesn't. All I sense is darkness."
She slowly walked up to us, without showing any signs of hate or willingness to fight.
"Malefici, is it? I've been so eager to meet you." She flashed a white smile.
"And who are you?" I gripped my scythe tighter. "I haven't seen you before."
She let out a bubbly laugh. "I am the Siren, but I'm sure no one has said anything about me, I suppose?"
I shook my head. "No, I didn't think that there was even an female Villains. Let me get straight to the point; are you the enemy here?"
She gasped. "Me?" then she laughed. "I came here to see if we could work together to destroy those monsters. I haven't met anyone else yet, and I wanted to start with you."
The scythe disappeared in my hands. "Yeah? I'll need a little more proof than that, sweetheart." I said as I was about to walk away, but something black caught my eye.
"What's that?"
"What's what? That? I found this one this morning about a half an hour ago." she motioned to one of the smallest monsters I've seen during my days as a demon.
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Lucy Rudolf's/Justine's P.O.V
The siren shifted a little to see behind Malefici. "And who is this? She seems awfully important to you."
"She's just a random civilian. She has no use to me."
The dark blue-haired girl smiled before standing directly in front of Malefici. "You wouldn't lie to me, would you? There is something about her, I just can't put my finger on it."
She stared at me for a few seconds, then I could see that something clicked in her head.
"You know, my magic can do a lot more than destroy. It can give any Hero or Villain more power." She put her Prussian blue gloves on each side of his face. "Just imagine how strong you could be, Malefici".
She took a step back before waving to Malefici. "I've got to go, I forgot I had something to do. I hope to see you soon, Malefici."
The demon stood speechless. I had to physically walk in front of him to get his attention.
His mouth and eyes looked like that of a cartoon, and his face and neck were crimson red.
"Are you blushing?"
He quickly changed his expression. "What are you talking about? There must be something wrong with you if you could even think that."
The demon turned around to leave, dashing through the streets and over the rooftops.
I sighed. "Polori?"
A white mist took the shape of the female wizard. "I saw what happened too. Something is off with that Villain, I just can't see what it is."
"Yeah." I agreed. Why was I so jealous of them?