(Sunday, 6th of Lover's Harp Moon, 2021)
"OI, HERAKLES, OPEN UP!"
Jack was back at Sanctuary, standing with Juana, Maria, Eddy, Caroline, and Zane outside of Herakles' apartment door. It was late, so Freya decided she was headed to bed. You were knocking on the door of Herakles' apartment. It was 1 in the morning, so he was most likely asleep. Still, that didn't stop Jack in the slightest from being a stubborn mother fucker. Herakles was forced to wake up due to Jack's persistence, and opened the door in a pissed off manner.
"What the hell do you want?!" Herakles' door slammed open to reveal the headmaster was wearing a set of rabbit onesie pajamas.
"Basically Jauna here is the Lady of the Candle is gonna die tomorrow so now we need to protect her." Jack pointed at Jauna, and Herakles looked at her, and Jauna waved.
"Oh if it's the case of saving someone, I'll forgive you." Herakles put on his signature red leather jacket. "Come on, let's go visit the resident doctor to see if she has any medical problems."
"Nice pajamas." Jack complimented the rather muscular man, who looked down at them.
"Thank you, my mother got them for me when I first became headmaster of this academy." Herakles informed Jack, and instantly, Jack was curious as to what Herakles' mother would look like. Maybe like a muscular female Herakles?
"I am happy to see your mother cares deeply for you and is proud of your achievements." Jack followed behind the muscular man, with Maria, Eddy, Zane, and Caroline following the two closely.
"I can't believe you can get away with waking up the scariest man on the continent, if not the world." Maria pulled her collar, signaling that she felt somewhat nervous.
"There are exceptions to everything, Maria." Herakles' low and somewhat intimidating voice. "If Juana's cause of death is a medical issue, maybe Elizabeth can do something about it. No matter what though, I'm increasing security around Sanctuary in case. Caroline, Zane, gather all your classmates so we can set up a plan."
"Wait, Galahad gets stronger with the sun, maybe we should wait until daytime before waking him up." Zane informed Herakles, who thought for a moment.
"Good idea, I should run a quick overview over all available forces before sending them out just in case their abilities work better with certain conditions." Herakles took out his phone and began looking through it.
Jack followed Herakles until all of them came across the doctor's office, which looked like an actual doctor's office, with a waiting room and everything. Herakles walked up to the receptionist and explained that he wanted to give Jauna a checkup without explaining her current dilemma. The receptionist agreed and led all of them to an available room, which all of them were waiting in. Jauna sat in the bed, the rest of the group was standing up.
"Word of advice for you guys; don't think of anything involving relationships, or anything negative about her in general." Herakles rubbed the back of his neck. "Elizabeth is a psychic, which allows her to know exactly what's wrong with someone, but she can also read people's thoughts. She can't turn off this ability, and she has low self confidence."
"How the hell did she become a doctor?" Maria scowled in a judgemental manner, and Eddy rolled his eyes.
"Well she didn't officially graduate from a medical college, but I had her as a personal doctor for three years, and she's never let me down even once, so I trust her as a doctor." Herakles crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
"Ooohhh, as your personal doctor eh~?" Caroline was making this way more inappropriate than it has to be.
"Listen kid, not only is she 40 years my junior, but I also don't see anyone in that way." Herakles glared at the brown haired girl. "I've only done such things with one person, my wife, and ever since she died, I've never done anything of the sort with anyone ever again. Nor will I ever desire to."
"That's surprisingly romantic, especially coming from the guy who fought armies using his bare hands." Zane commented while Herakles leaned up against the wall.
"There's more to everyone than meets the eyes, kid." Herakles watched as the door suddenly opened to reveal a blonde woman wearing a doctor's coat, with blood on her gloves. "Everyone, meet Elizabeth Blackwell, our psychic doctor."
"Sorry I'm late, I'll get started right away!" Elizabeth apologized and set down the bottle of rubbing alcohol on a counter nearby before taking off her bloodied gloves. "It's rather rare that we get to have a celebrity at the school, you know?"
"I guess you weren't kidding about her being psychic." Zane sweatdropped, and he suddenly exited the room. "I'm just gonna head out now..."
"It's okay, I won't tell Galahad a thing!" Elizabeth shouted, and Zane turned bright red, most likely thankful that almost everyone was asleep. "Wait, maybe I should have whispered that..."
"Doubt it, I think all of us knew about his crush." Caroline was scrolling through her phone.
"So Miss Blackwell, what can you tell us about Juana's condition?" Herakles asked while the blonde stared at Juana.
"I'm not sensing anything, no pain or anything out of place in Juana's body." Elizabeth kept on looking at the girl's body, as though she had x-ray vision. "I may need to run more tests, but I don't think there's anything medically wrong with the girl."
"Then that leaves an accidental death or murder as our most likely causes for death." Herakles sighed. "I'll alert the faculty and ask those that are on missions to return to the academy."
"You don't have to, it's just a waste of resources, especially since I'm going to die no matter what happens." Juana was then met with a glare from Herakles. "Maybe I'll have to sacrifice myself to our god."
"What?" Jack was getting real tired of people willing to die for their gods, like with Atitihad and Deshret.
"If the gods decree I die, I should at least die in a ritual that honors my god." Juana seemed okay with this. "I must tear open my chest and offer my heart out to my god."
"Jeebus is everyone on this continent a religious fanatic?" Jack groaned.
"Don't worry, it's a different religion than Atitihad and Deshret." Caroline pat your back. "This one is way more bloody and possibly worse."
"Miss Juana, a god's will implies that everything is exactly how the universe wants it, but here in Sanctuary, there are more than one's fair share of oddities." Herakles opened the door and was about to leave. "In other words...destiny is irrelevant here."
"Wow, careful guys, we got badass Herakles today."
"Shut it, Jack."
(Later that Morning.)
Apparently, Sanctuary has a dock. It's kind of like an indoor dock, which kind of looks like a massive train station, but with water instead of train tracks. There were also large cuts in the pier to allow ships to park. One of the more obvious ships was a fancy navy ship, one that Mifu allegedly boarded for a mission. Speaking of Mifu, she was waiting with Jack. Jack, Alice, Othelia, Nico, Rico, Zane, Galahad, Molly, Caroline, Damini, Eve, Freya, Hero and two new people named Mary and James were all at the docks, and Jack looked around. Jojo was asleep on Jack's shoulder.
"I thought only main characters were invited to this actual main character get together?" Jack asked everyone while they did their own thing to help pass the time.
"Correct." Everyone answered in surprising synchronization.
"Put your hand up if you think you're a main character." Jack ordered all the people on the dock, and every single person put their hand up. "Today's been a long day."
"Wait, so if we're guarding Juana, where is she?" James wondered while he played cards with his sister, Mary, and the twins.
"She's in Herakles' office with Geppetto and Herakles." Jack informed the man, who had an anchor beside him.
"So why are we out here?" Rico questioned while turning his palm into a mirror to look at his twin brother's cards.
"We're waiting for one of the Guardian Instructors to show up, Maui, I think his name was." Jack took out his phone to check the text from Herakles, confirming that Maui was the man's name.
"So why are all of us stationed out here?" Nico followed up his brother's question before grabbing the opposite twin's wrist that hovered behind his head.
"Mary's class is sailor, meaning her class depends on a boat." James pointed his thumb at his sister.
"Oh, so kind of like me?" Othelia questioned while she held a standard assault rifle. "I'm a Mecha Pilot, so my class skills depend on me piloting a mech."
"Speaking of your mech, why aren't you piloting it right now?" Alice wondered out loud while she drew some magic circles over her arm using a black sharpie.
"It's getting some adjustments done." Othelia answered as she looked into the distance. "Hey look, there's a ship coming."
Jack turned his head to the ship in question, only to see a fishing boat was passing by. You were about to dismiss it until you noticed a massive figure that was at least 7 feet tall and he was shirtless whilst wearing a set of swim trunks. The giant man then waved to whoever was controlling the ship before stepping forwards. The man fell into the water, and disappeared from Jack's view. Jack was guessing he was the guy that would possibly kill Juana, so Jack summoned Wellerman, the fishing line. Mary's eyes were glued to the water, as if she were trying to spot the man. From the edge of the water, something erupted out and landed on the stone dock. Everyone looked at whatever popped out of the water, and grabbed their weapons. Mifu and Galahad prepared their swords, Freya summoned her new axe, Nico turned into a mirror for Rico to hold on to, Alice had a black aura surrounding her arm, James got his anchor, Molly held her wrench, Hero grabbed the shortsword, and Caroline summoned a lightning bolt. The mysterious entity soon landed on the stone ground, and stretched his body.
"Man, it's been forever since I've been here at Sanctuary." The man smiled whilst looking around, and you thought that this man was twice Jack's height. "Oh hey, who are you kids?"
"We're students here, but who are you?" Mifu questioned the unknown man as she reached into her pocket to pull out some cherry blossom petals.
"I'm Maui, one of the professional Guardians who work here." Maui introduced himself. "Herakles called me and let me know some serious shit was possibly going to go down, so I figured I'd show up. Also there were some prisoners that are apparently going to start working around here, so I figured I'll help out by making sure the prisoners don't cause shit."
"Prisone- Oh! You mean those hooded guys!" Damini needed a moment to remember who the prisoners were. "It's fine they were totally weak sauce."
"For total 'Weak Sauce', they sure gave you trouble, didn't they?" Mifu raised an eyebrow at the brown haired girl.
Before Damini could respond, Maui left to go find Herakles or something. Jack wasn't sure. Jack's group decided to guard the courtyard, but Mary had to take a cannon with her to ensure she wasn't entirely unarmed. Jack's group reached the courtyard to see it was surprisingly empty, almost no one was out here. Othelia went to grab her mech, while the rest of them sat around a statue of Alexander, the first high king and creator of the artifacts. He looked around Jack's age, with short, curly hair and holding a curvy sword up into the air. Jack wondered if the sword was an artifact, then he realized he was holding the sword you got from that box in Ebony Horse. Othelia soon arrived back with her mech, and Mary finished sitting up the battling gun.
"So...we're just gonna wait until someone starts something?" Galahad questioned while he leaned against a tree that Zane was typing under. "How will we know what the possible assailant even looks like?"
The moment after Galahad asked that, a massive explosion came from the entrance of the academy, followed by the sound of boots meeting stone coming down the hallway that led from the entrance to the academy and towards the arch that led into the courtyard. The figure emerged from the darkness to reveal herself as the woman Jack saw that day, the woman who calls herself Joan. Her eyes were glowing a red color, and she was holding her massive sword as though it weighed nothing.
"Well that's conspicuous." Alice prepared a pitch black colored magic circle and aimed it at the woman.
"Wait, that's the tall goth woma- I mean giant lady who tried to kill me!" Jack pointed his finger at the tall woman, and instantly everyone looked at Jack, except for Hero. "HEY! JOAN! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HERE!"
"I'm here for the head of the Lady of the Candle." Joan answered without a second thought, and Jack gestured to the woman with your hands.
"THANK YOU FOR BEING HONEST!" Jack shouted back at the woman, and everyone got into a fighting stance. "Okay, here's the plan: Attack her until she dies or something."
"Your genius is frightening." Alice watched as Jack got into a stance with the Wellerman.
"Hey Jack, I can use some of the Wellerman's abilities thanks to my class affinity with it." Mary informed Jack. "While I can't use it as much as you could, I think I can do just enough to make a couple ship parts."
"Alright, give it a whirl." You handed the fishing rod to Mary and swiftly summoned the red cloak named Red Riding Hood, the flintlock rifle known as Father Time, and the dice called Rumplestiltskin.
"Guess we should see how durable these walls are." Mifu suddenly vanished, and James threw his anchor over the wall, hooking it onto something before using a cannon to launch himself into the air.
Galahad's sword began glowing a brilliant golden color as the sun began rising higher and higher into the sky. Mifu appeared behind the woman with cherry blossom petals covering the blade as it spun clockwise. Mifu tried using this sword to decapitate the mysterious woman. Before her blade could reach the woman's neck, Joan used her thick sword to block the swing, only for the cherry blossom petals to fly past the woman's face. The petals cut the woman's face like tiny knives. Mifu guided the wind carrying the petals by jumping to the other side of Joan before spinning her blade. Mifu was soon swiftly met with Joan's boot colliding with the dark haired woman's chest, sending her into the branches of a nearby tree. Galahad jumped into the air with his sword covered in golden flames. Galahad tried slashing down at the woman from above, only for Joan to side step and deliver a gut punch to the stomach of the boy before turning her attention to James. James was using his anchor to swing around using the towers before unhooking his anchor from the tower and aiming the cannon down at Joan. Before James could fire, Joan appeared above James. James was swiftly met with an axe kick to the back. James was sent barreling towards the ground, only for the ground to be turned into sand to help cushion the fall.
"Eeeerrrrgghhhh..." James got his face out of the sand and blinked a couple times to get the sand out of his eyes. "Thanks Damini."
"Thank me later." Damini created a wall of solidified sand to block Joan's landing, which was originally going to be on top of James.
Joan tried piercing Damini's heart, only for the blade to go straight through her, as though she was nothing more than a hologram. Joan was confused until she was suddenly dealt an uppercut by Hero, who didn't even unsheath his short sword yet. Joan tried cutting Hero in half, only for the boy to vanish into thin air. Joan stood still to try and assess the situation, only to be met with someone cutting her side. Joan closed her eyes before jumping up and delivering a roundhouse kick, colliding with something. The thing her foot collided with was Nico, who was sent flying into Damini, knocking the sand sage out.
"Crap, Caroline, protect everyone!" Freya shouted before making a set of dual axes appear in her hands.
Mary used the Wellerman to summon a line to transparent, blue cannons that fired one by one. Joan used her sword to cut through each cannon ball, distracting her from Eve's robot, who snuck behind her. Eve's robot's limbs suddenly broke apart to reveal numerous chains, which wrapped themselves around Joan's body to constrict her movements. Freya was now in front of Joan and slashed at the tall woman using both hand axes, weirdly enough, Joan was perplexed, as though she wasn't able to see the axes at all. Joan flexed her muscles, breaking both the chains and the robot. Joan delivered an uppercut to Freya's chin, but amazingly, the small girl's eyes glowed red and she continued to fight on. Joan was about to swing her sword down atop of the girl, only for the sword to be struck by lightning that came from Caroline's hand.
"Guys, I have a terrible idea!" Molly shouted while she tinkered with some kind of metal cube. "Cover me for a bi-"
Freya slashed both her axes downwards, only for Joan to disappear and reappear next to Molly. Joan suddenly landed a solid bunch on Molly's face, sending her straight into the tree Mifu was in, and somehow knocking Mifu out of the said tree. While Joan looked at the now hiding Zane, some sand snakes up her legs to try and capture her. Jack reached onto his shoulder and threw Jojo at the tall woman.
"YEET THE BADGER!" Jack shouted as Jojo hissed in the air, only for the confused Joan to catch the badger. "FACK!"
Freya tried cutting Joan in half from behind, only for Joan to deliver a roundhouse kick to the poor girl's stomach. Jojo bit Joan's wrist, causing Joan to drop the badger. Jojo then clung to Joan's leg to continue biting it. Joan shook her leg to try sending the badger off into the air, but Jojo was one stubborn mofo and clung to her leg to bite it. A pitch black magic circle appeared above Joan, confusing Joan for a minute before Caroline created a bolt of lightning above the magic circle. The lightning passed through the black magic circle, and came out a pitch black color after it went through. The lightning struck Joan head on, but did almost no damage. Instead, Joan responded by kicking Jojo into Eve's face, causing Eve to fall on the ground. Damini grit her teeth before conjuring numerous sand spikes below Joan, but Joan jumped into the air and landed on Damini's chest. Damini coughed up blood, and Jack fired his flintlock, only for the bullet to be deflected back at him. Before the bullet could strike Jack though, Jack used Red Riding Hood's ability to create a small puppet. This small puppet held a shield that blocked the bullet from harming you.
"Weird, how did I know how to do that?" Jack asked himself, and the answer is plot convenience.
"That would have been helpful before half our squad's been knocked out!" Mary commented before looking at Othelia's mech, which had hoses sticking out of its body and reaching the others. These hoses emitted a green mist that healed everyone. "Othelia, we could use your missiles right now!"
"Sorry, I'm using a new healing potion spray to heal the others!" Othelia answered as Jack created two Lance-wielding marionettes, and sent them towards Joan.
Joan spun her sword like a fan to deflect all the marionettes, then she tried slashing at Damini, only for her sword swing to be blocked by Hero. Hero used his shortsword to try slashing at the woman's stomach. Joan jumped back before kicking Hero into both Alice and Jack. Damini tried crushing Joan with a pile of sand, but Joan grabbed the tanned girl before launching her into the barely conscious Freya. Caroline, Othelia, Zane, and Hero were now both the only ones standing. With Hero being able to get up, contrary to Alice and Jack, both of who were seeing stars. Jack wasn't a martial artist or anything like that, but he felt as though Joan was holding her power back. Hero ducked underneath Joan's sword swing before using his free hand to deliver an uppercut. Caroline used her wind manipulation to gather all of the unconscious people into one area, allowing Othelia to use her healing hose on all of them at once. A drone with a machine gun overhead suddenly appeared, and it fired its machine gun at Joan. Joan responded by picking up a rock and throwing it at the drone, knocking it out of the sky.
"Well, I did everything I could do." Zane then pulled out an uzi gun from his pocket and fired it at Joan, missing every shot he shoots. Jack was about to use Rumplestiltskin to enhance Othelia's healing mist, but the sound of puppets made him stop.
"ENOUGH!" Geppetto's voice boomed behind you as two massive puppets walked behind him carrying a club and greatsword. "So this is the assailant? Say...she looks pretty familiar..."
"What?" Joan suddenly stopped defending against Hero, and Hero suddenly stopped attacking. Joan sounded like she was hearing a voice that the rest of them couldn't hear. "Fine, I'll retreat. The Lady of the Candle gets to live another day."
Joan then disappeared in a pitch black magic circle, one that was eerily similar to Alice's magic circle. Jack would have thought she was the one who cast the circle, but considering how she was barely conscious, that was incredibly unlikely. Geppetto created a small group of puppets out of earth to carry all the injured people to the infirmary of Sanctuary before asking Zane, Othelia, Caroline, and Hero for their reports on what happened. Jack was now laying on a bed, prosthetic leg on the side of the bed while bandages covered his chest. Despite the pain of broken ribs, Jack smiled.
Because the Lady of the Candle lived to see another day.