Maximilian and the others walked out of the theater with a spring in their step.
Jade who still had a smoothie in her hand suddenly asked.
"Hey, wait. Z never came back. Where is he?"
The others suddenly realized as well.
"I'll go check on him" Maximilian volunteered and went to check the bathroom.
A few seconds later,he came back alone.
"He isn't there"
Jade suddenly panicked a little.
"What do you think happened to him?"
"Knowing his track record, I'm willing to guess he's got himself into trouble again" Zaria replied relatively calmly, earning a chuckle from Diane.
"Let's check inside. Maybe he's still there"
The five of them went back in and searched the entire theater but couldn't find Zen.
After a few minutes they regrouped outside the theater.
"Any luck?" Xavier asked.
"No"
"No"
"No"
"No"
"Does anyone have his contact?"
Zaria asked but was answered with silence.
"I'll take that as a no. What do we do now?"
"I'm sure he's fine, but it does ruin the mood for him to leave so early" Xavier said.
Jade still couldn't help feeling worried and asked.
"What if we check the dorms? it's the only other place he could.....why are you guys looking at me like that?"
Jade suddenly felt someone lightly tugging on her sleeves.
Looking down, she saw a familiar face.
A little girl 5-10 years old. Straight long blonde hair that reached her back, smooth and soft rosy skin, and a pair of innocent looking, somewhat unnatural pink eyes that seemed to release an eerie light. She was in a cute pink jacket,a white skirt with a pair of adorable little pink shoes.
It was Beatrix.
"Bea? What are you doing here?"
Beatrix put up her arms while looking up at Jade, saying nothing.
Jade quickly guessed what she wanted and bent down to lift her up.
Beatrix smiled happily, seeming content.
"Hi Jade, I wanted to see Zen today but I found you instead. How are you?"
"I'm fine. So I'm guessing you don't know where Zen is either"
Beatrix seemed surprised by this statement.
"He's not with you?She asked
"Ehem! Jade, aren't you going to introduce us?"
Diane suddenly interrupted before this could go on.
"Oh, right. Sorry guys. This little cutie is Beatrix, and she's actually Zen's friend"
"Hey, what do you mean I'm Zen's friend? We're friends too" Beatrix pouted and complained.
"Right, sorry. I meant she knew Zen first"
This time Beatrix smiled happily and waved at the others.
"Hello, I'm Beatrix"
They all greeted the adorable little girl with a smile, happy to have her here.
"So do you guys know where Zen is?"
"Sorry Bea. Oh wait, you should have his contact ,right?"
"Nope" Beatrix answered before sticking out her tongue.
"What do you mean? How do you not have it?"
"Never needed it. He was always close by" Beatrix answered.
Maximilian suddenly interrupted.
"I thought Zen wasn't from this planet"
"He's not, and neither am I. Some of my friends brought me here. Oh yeah, they should have his contact. Crowley and Julian..... but I don't know where they are. They said they would pick me up later after dealing with some important business, and....I....don't have their contacts either"
Beatrixs answered somewhat nervous and stuttering towards the end.
"Welp, guess that's it. He'll probably find us when he's ready"
Zaria said. She wasn't at all worried about Zen. If anything, she was worried about what whoever was unlucky enough to catch his eye.
Beatrix seemed to share her point of view as almost immediately she changed the subject.
"Is anyone hungry? I know a great place nearby"
************
Beatrix and the five of them walked into restaurant in the city.
None of them were native to this town, so when Beatrix said she knew a good place to eat, they all agreed easily.
They picked a table and sat down to chat. The conversation quickly shifted back to Beatrix who was sitting on Jade's lap.
"So Beatrix,tell us about yourself. How do you know Zen?"
Asked Diane.
"Hmm? Zen grew up with my sister, and i grew up with him."
"Your sister?"
"Yeah. She's always travelling around, and she's never home. Zen plays with me though, he's fun . He always plays with me and helps me out ".
They all exchanged looks. The way Beatrix spoke of Zen was reminiscent of a younger sibling talking about their elder sibling. She spoke as if Zen was someone she considered family.
************
A few hours had passed and it was getting a bit late.
Maximilian and his friends had gotten to know a bit more about Beatrix, and she was also getting attached to them. It would be hard not to when they all fawned over her like she was their own baby sister. She was just that precious.
She now refused to go anywhere unless Jade was carrying her, and quite honestly, Jade was more than okay with this.
Jade looked at the sun that was setting and worriedly looked at Beatrix who was still in her arms.
"Bea, it's getting late. How exactly are these friends of yours supposed to find you?"
In her normal cheery voice Beatrix replied.
"Don't worry,they always do. They're probably just busy with work stuff I'm mostly worried about not being able to see Zen before I leave"
On multiple occasions, Beatrix had brought up work, however, none of them had actually bothered to ask what this work was. Perhaps it was her natural charm and relatively young age, but they barely thought twice about anything she said.
Xavier suddenly realized that they were back at the theater they started at.
"Hey guys, can you wait up? Gotta use the bathroom real quick"
"Yeah,me too actually" Diane said.
"Fine, just hurry up.... and in case you guys are planning on having some fun, just tell us so we won't wait "
"Yeah yeah, screw you a-"
Diane suddenly held Xavier's mouth shut, pointing to Beatrix who was innocently staring at them, curiosity evident in her large pink eyes.
"Just go" Jade urged.
Xavier and Diane, and for a few seconds, everything was normal, but after a few more moments, Maximilian suddenly turned to look at the path Xavier and Diane had taken.
"Did he just say...."
They all suddenly heard Diane's worried voice.
"Guys, get over here,quick"
Hearing the urgency, and even slight panic in her voice, they all immediately headed for where the voice was coming from, finding Xavier and Diane standing in front of the door to the male bathroom while staring.
"Oh no"
Jade suddenly heard Beatrix whisper worriedly, and felt her tense up against her
"Zen... what are you..."
They all gathered in front of the door and the sight they saw was.... unexpected to say the least.
Inside, Zen was standing with a vacant expression on his face as he looked down at his hands.
Everyone in the room froze as they looked at Zen's hands, and it wasn't because of the blood.... okay,it wasn't ONLY because of the blood.
"Zen?"
Zen suddenly heard a familiar voice call his name . He turned around to see his and Zaria's dorm mates as well. Looking back at his bare hands, he realized that his mark was still conveniently visible despite the blood.
In the midst of it all, the only reaction Zen gave was
"Hmm. This is unfortunate"
"Zen? What is that? WHAT'S THAT THING DOING ON YOUR HAND" Xavier asked with hostility showing in his voice.
Instead of answering, Zen whispered
"Oh well,it was nice while it lasted....i think"
"ZEN!"
"What do you think it is?" Zen replied, not backing down.
Jade suddenly noticed that Beatrix had started shivering in her arms. She had brought her little hands to her heads in a fetal position while trying desperately to cover her ears.
"Stop...stop. Don't.... please don't fight"
Jade instinctively felt something was wrong with the way Beatrix was reacting, and immediately started doing her best to calm her down, softly stroking her hair while rocking her back and forth.
"Guys... I think you should stop. Let's just calm down" Jade said, desperately trying to de-escalate the situation. Something just felt off to her.
Unfortunately this seems to have only angered Xavier more
"Calm down? What do you mean calm down? Are you not seeing the same thing I'm seeing? He's one of THEM for fucks sake"
Zen sighed
"Time to leave"
He tried to walk past Xavier and go outside when Xavier suddenly grabbed him by his shoulder. Zen quickly raised his hand to block a punch coming from Xavier before immediately launching an attack of his own.
Xavier took the hit and was about to counterattack when they suddenly heard a scream.
"STOOOOOPPP!!"
Beatrix suddenly yelled,her pink eyes glowing ominously and psychotically. She seemed to be in agony as hot tears ran down her face as Jade kept trying to calm her down.
Her body constantly twitched strangely as Beatrix began to yell in a maniacal way that made her pain obvious.
"DON'TFIGHT,DON'TFIGHT,DON'TFIGHT,DON'TFIGHT"
"Bea? What's wrong? Guys stop, you're scaring her"
The thick smell of blood filled the room,a faint murderous aura began to emanate from her body as a certain mark on her neck began to glow brightly.
Xavier's initial anger was suppressed temporarily as he looked at the girls pitiful state. The others who were preparing to join in the frey decided to stop as well.
"What happened? What did you do to her?" Xavier directed the question to Zen who still seemed unsurprised
"Bring her here" Zen said, gently taking the girl from Jade.
Zen hugged the little girl tight, slightly rocking her as he whispered into her ears.
"Shhh,calm down. You're fine. You're safe, there's no danger here,no one wants to hurt each other , or you "
Beatrix desperately wrapped her arms around Zen like he was the only safe space anywhere, sobbing as she monologued in a slightly maniacal way.
"I don't want to die, Zen. I don't want anyone else to die too. Why are they all dying? Why are they killing each other....*sob* I don't want to kill anyone, Zen "
Zen sighed, and with no other option, started..... to sing.
Slowly Beatrix began to calm down as she slowly stopped crying. A few minutes passed and the only sound that could be heard was Zen singing, and occasionally humming.
After about half an hour, Beatrix slowly fell asleep in Zen's arms,a smile on her face.
Zen looked at Xavier with a look that said he wanted him to move. Not wanting to cause any more damage to Beatrixs clearly fragile psyche, Xavier complied quietly.
Zen walked outside and suddenly spoke to nobody.
"Come out already"
"Your singing voice is as good as ever, Zen" A voice suddenly answered.
A figure clad in black suddenly walked out of a secluded corner, clapping slowly as if congratulating Zen.
Jade quickly remembered this guy as the person Zen had fought in the ice dungeon.
"No time for games, Crowley. Take her, and hurry"
The name Crowley stuck to the others pretty easily as Beatrix had already mentioned him multiple times.
Crowley looked down at the sleeping Beatrix in Zen's arms and sighed disappointedly.
"Acted out again? Oh well, nothing to do about it, she's still fresh out of the oven. Ugh where the fuck is Chelsea when you need her?"
Crowley took another look at Beatrix and then at Zen.
"You know, she'd recover a lot faster if you came back "
Zen didn't reply and simply handed her over.
"They know who you are now, they don't trust you. They're going to hand you over sooner or later. Just say the word, and we can kill them all now"
"No" Zen replied without hesitation.
"What? Don't tell me you're going soft"
"Do whatever you want, just leave me out of it"
Crowley turned to look at them and seemed to be contemplating something. His expression was friendly but his eyes were empty.
"After a few seconds, he eventually spoke
"Thanks for taking care of Trixie, she hasn't been to earth in a while"
With that, he turned to leave, walking off with Beatrix sleeping in his arms.
Zen turned around and saw that Xavier had a blade to his neck.
"Talk"
"And if I don't?"
Maximilian suddenly spoke up.
"Do you really expect us to just ignore this"
"I really don't care what you do " Zen said while shrugging.
"What -"
Zen suddenly punched Xavier while he was speaking, and with a speed greater than what they had ever seen him achieve, Zen quickly dashed backwards before running and taking a sharp turn.
Maximilian and the others quickly went after him, but as they looked at where he went through, Zen was gone.
**********
"Alright, we'll tell you if we find him" Maximilian answered, waving off the girls before closing the door. He could still hardly believe what happened today.
"Oh, you're back"
The three boys suddenly turned around and saw Zen laying on his bed casually.
"Why are you here?"
"Not like i have anywhere else to go.... besides, you three alone can't kill me, you could try to report to the academy but i can escape whenever I want "
"What did you do?"
Zen knew he was talking about the scene of him with blood on his hands, and he decided to answer truthfully.
"I don't know. I blacked out, and when I woke up,there i was".
Xavier slowly walked up to Zen, seeming much more in control than before.
"Enough games, Zen. Explain yourself. Now. And don't even try to ignore me, I want the truth"
Zen looked up at Xavier and shrugged"okay" and started explaining to them how he joined the Arcade, and why he was here.
*************
Meanwhile in the girls room.
Diane plopped down to her bed, exhausted.
"I thought something was off about him, but who would've guessed he was one of them"
Zaria was panicking on the inside. Everything was blown. Zen was so careful. How did he make such a mistake. Wait a minute.... what exactly was he even doing there for his hands to be so bloody.
Diane noticed that both of her friends seemed to be panicking inside and felt that something was strange with their behavior.
"Hey, Zaria. Is something wrong? You've been pretty quiet since we came back"
"I'm fine it's just.... can I tell you guys something?"
"Sure"
One brief explanation later.
"What? He told you?"
"More like I caught him.... but yeah"
"Jade, can you believe this?"
Diane suddenly noticed a similar expression on Jade's face, like she was also hiding something.
"Talk" Diane said firmly.
"Do you guys remember the night of the lockdown?"
"Yeah"
"Well...."
Flashback
Around midnight in the girls room,Jade suddenly woke up.
"Hmm? Where's that coming from?"
She didn't know how to describe it, but it felt almost like someone or something was calling her.
Jade got up,her grogginess disappearing completely as she went out of the room, careful not to wake her roommates.
Jade's scoured her surroundings,her eyes constantly checking every single corner, looking for whatever it was calling her. Despite this, not once did she stop to get her bearings.
"Huh? Where did it go?"
Jade asked as the voice disappeared.
"Ugh,my head hurts. Maybe I'll find somewhere to sit down"
Jade only now realized that she had unwittingly gotten onto the stairs.
After a moment of thought,Jade decided to go up to the roof. She'd be able to relax there.
Jade slowly made her way up to the roof, making sure to close the door behind her.
Jade looked around her at the peaceful sight and drew a deep relaxing breath,her nerves calming down as she yawned.
Jade suddenly heard the sound of the door behind her close with a bang. She turned around as fast as she could, and all she could see was a pair of glowing eyes charging towards her at insane speeds.