"..." Vivillian blinked and took in the question, a little surprised at John's change in attitude.
But it's expected if it's a person of the black market.
"Are you going to speak kid, or are you going to waste my time?" Slowly stretching out his words, John began to walk closer.
"..I want to meet up with Black Hydra."
"..For what purpose?"
Stopping in front of Viv, John raised an eyebrow.
"Don't all things in the black market stay confidential?" Vivillian tilted his head, looking intently back.
There was a silence between them, as John let out a scoff.
"Ha."
John retracted his icy gaze and seemed a bit disinterested. "A smart, yet boring response."
"You have connections with Black Hydra, don't you?"
"Oh?"
John scoffed, as he turned back to Viv.
Was I thinking too obviously?"
Without letting Viv respond be continued.
"I'll cut you a deal, I'll let you meet someone in Black Hydra if you can do a favor for me."
"I don't do anything dangerous or revolting."
"It's not gonna be a request like that." John looked annoyed. "Just think of it as a favor for in the future, if you do manage to get into the Black Hydra's good books."
Viv wanted to think about this more, but he only had a few hours left before he had to go. And currently, the only lead to one of the most mysterious organizations in the black market was cutting him a deal.
"I agree to your terms."
A grin crept onto John's face. "Great, you'll be interesting enough for him."
Walking forward, John tilted his head slightly without looking behind.
"You coming or not?"
"..."
Silently, the pair made it through the market, the eternal night strong as ever as the moon didn't seem to budge even an inch.
Even though Viv walked quite a distance and twisted through several turns, it still seemed they were still nowhere near.
Anxiousness gripped Viv as he checked the time on his pocket watch, 2 and a half hours left before he had to go.
"We're here."
Stopping suddenly, Viv let out a sigh of relief as he looked in the dingy alleyway.
Without caring much of Viv behind him, John threw some trash out of the way, revealing a dirty alleyway wall.
"Get in." John stuffed his hands in his pocket, and walked through the wall, much to Vivillian's unease.
It's still strange seeing some people casually defy physics.
Following behind John, Vivillian entered a dark, dimly lit room, it seemed to scream shady.
"...?!"
Before Viv could even turn back, a hand shot forth from the shadows and yanked onto his hair, dragging him back to the wall.
"Aurgh...!"
Letting out a cry of pain, alarm bells began to blare inside his mind as Viv felt someone trying to gag his mouth.
Without hesitation, his bones cracked creepily as he morphed into a cat in an instant, ditching his old form as he scurried out of whoever held him.
"Oho?"
"You brought an interesting person this time, John."
As Vivillian tried to escape back out the entrance, a large great sword several times larger than him whistled through the air and landed directly in front the exit.
Narrowing missing his nose, Viv could even feel a few of his whiskers get lopped off, as he froze and turned behind him.
The lights in the room slowly turned brighter, causing Viv's pupils to shrink, as the dark room was revealed to be a comfy looking wooden study.
On a faded red couch, a young boy around the same age as him rested his head on his hand. With his long white hair draping over the old couch, his red eyes blinking almost animal-like as he observed Vivillian.
Behind him, John stood with a casual smile on his face, leaning on the couch as if he had done nothing wrong.
"I've never seen anything like it."
A voice came from behind Viv, it was a man who lowly whistled, stubbles on his chin as his chestnut colored eyes shone with interest. "John, you sure this kid is a human?"
It seemed he was the one who had thrown the great sword and the one who had tried to muffle him, as he casually stood side by side with the monstrous looking sword.
"It's definitely a monster." The kid on the couch grinned, as he set down the set of cards he was holding. It seemed the kid and the stubble guy was playing a game of cards before Viv had barged in.
Vivillian was really uneasy as he slowly backed away from the approaching kid, a hiss involuntarily escaping from his mouth.
"Are you scared?" The kid cooed. "I'm flattered really, I should be the one in your position."
"You can't back up forever, kid."
Suddenly, the stubble guy grabbed Viv's scruff in a flash before he could even react and held him like a paper napkin.
Letting a meow in protest, Viv could only watch helplessly as the kid reached forward, and gently took him from the stubble guy's hands.
"What's your name, little monster?" The kid grinned as he held the small cat in his hands. "You can call me Sid."
John chimed in from the sidelines, letting out a huff.
"Now's your time to get in the Black Hydra's good books, kid."
Tilting his head, John looked pleased that Sid had taken interest in Viv. "You are looking at the Master of the one and only Black Hydra."
"Ah, he stiffened up."
The corner of Sid's lips grew higher as he felt the cat in his arms tense up. "Hey, turn back into a human, would you?"
"You aren't leaving if you don't." The stubble guy added.
"Don't scare him, Alamis." Sid chided, which Alamis brushed off with a hand.
"..." Viv just stared at the kid named Sid in response.
"Come on, you can do it..." Sid cooed. "I won't hurt you...yet." He whispered the last part, but Viv could hear it with his acute feline senses.
"...."
He'll play dumb for now.
Hesitantly, Viv pushed himself away from Sid, and began his transformation back.
The trio stared with still rather shocked eyes as the cat's bones creaked and shifted, and a delicate boy with blond hair and green eyes appearing with a simple long gown. It was totally in contrast to the gruesome process of shifting and contorting that was painful to look at.
"Nightmare fuel." Alamis let out a breath.
"Give me proof that you are who you guys claim to be." Viv's voice was soft but firm as he solemnly stared at Sid.
Not letting the slight smile disappear from his lips, Sid went to a certain spot on the bookshelf, pulling out a large book and fishing out a golden insignia from within.
Engraved in it, a three headed serpent with a sword going through it was carefully carved on.
"This is the one and only insignia that only the owner of Black Hydra possesses." Sid explained slowly. "But this is only common knowledge to black market dwellers, and it seems we have a little outsider on our hands..."
"I believe you."
Viv unexpectedly said.
"Eh?"
He wasn't sure about it before but...
Eyes as red as rubies, hair as white as snow and a handsome young face to boot.
Though Viv would have to check in his journal later on what exactly the black market capture target looked like in LaD, he was most certain Sid was him.
Alamis let out a bemused laugh as he casually leaned onto the couch.
"And here I thought this little noble was smarter than this."
"I know your customs."
Viv disregarded Alamis, as he continued to look at Sid. "I'm willing to exchange my help for some of yours."
"Ah, business, of course it was something along these lines." Sid nodded his head knowingly, as he motioned Viv to sit. "Though I'm a little surprised you are this naive..."
"I wish I could, but we must meet another time." Ignoring Sid's last mutter, Viv turned away.
Anxiously finding his silver pocket watch that had been unknowingly thrown in the corner during the scuffle, a sense of some sort of trust filled him when he learned that at least Sid was from apart of the game. That meant his character wouldn't be too graphic or gruesome for an all ages otome.
Checking the time, he grit his teeth when he saw he had around an hour to get back to the academy before his powers would wear off with the moon setting in the distance.
"Ah, you're in a hurry then." Looking somewhat disappointed, Sid shrugged as he motioned for Alamis to step away from the door. "Unfortunate, but we can always discuss business another day, and it seems you want your identity hidden."
Waving his hand, Sid motioned at John, who nodded and carefully grabbed something from a rustic, wooden cabinet, and handed it to Sid.
"Wear this mask when you go to the pub, or around areas where you think the entrance to the Eternal Night lays."
Sid held out a round white mask, with a few black streaks lining the face, it seems to glow almost enchantingly with the light reflecting off it. "John could probably find you, and we can continue our discussion. He loves to laze around, after all."
Taking the mask cautiously, Viv wondered whether to check if it had tracking magic implanted on it.
"If you're wondering that you're getting tracked, you can always get it appraised at a magic specialty shop later." John spoke gruffly. "Black Hydra uses special one of a kind masks to conceal and help us identify each other if we want to keep our faces hidden."
"...I'll come back soon." Viv said simply, as he stepped to go outside.
"Do you even know where the exit to the Eternal Night?" Alamis raised an eyebrow.
"..." Viv didn't respond, as he exited the distorted magical array, and stepped outside.
Since he was holding more then one item to bring back now, he couldn't just transform until a bird anymore with a pocket watch in his beak.
A pair of black wings sprouted from his back, as he took flight back to Einsvul.
30 minutes until sunrise.
Breaking through the Eternal Night's spell, Viv felt the black market slowly turn fuzzy under his eyes, until it dissipated completely, and turned back into the normal, empty daytime market.
His guess was right, just flying out of range of the magic array will undo the spell, it's not a different dimension after all.
As Viv finally arrived back at his dorm, he felt exhaustion hit him like a ton of bricks as he almost collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep.
The adrenaline rush of thinking he had been tricked earlier had its consequences, and Viv felt the punishment kicking in.
Transforming back into his original form, Viv was dead to the world as he closed his eyes, sleeping very soundly.
..
"Are you still not up?"
Elva grumbled as he opened the door, pausing when he realized that Viv was still asleep. "Ugh, how late were you staying up until?"
Passing by Viv's bed, Elva picked up a piece of trash he planned to throw away, and noticed a white object lying next to Viv on the bed.
"Hm?" Elva touched the mask, looking intrigued. "What a weird toy he has."
Fiddling with the mask, he set it on Viv's bedside stand.
"I'll tell your teachers you need makeup work today." Muttering disinterestedly, Elva casually made his way back out, closing the door gently behind him.