Valeria:
Eclipse is dead.
Okay, maybe not dead dead, but he sure looks like it, sprawled across the Academy hall like an overcooked noodle, pale as a ghost.
I crouch beside him, shaking his limp shoulders. "You... dead?"
"He's not," Silva says flatly, approaching.
"Oh." I clear my throat, easing up on the dramatic flailing. "Are we sure? He looks kinda—"
"Breathe too close, and you'll hear him snoring."
I squint at Eclipse's barely parted lips. A faint breath escapes, confirming he is, in fact, still alive. Just…unconscious, battered, and looking like he lost a fight with a horse carriage. Which is weird, considering he was the one who dragged me here in one piece.
A nurse rushes over before I can finish that thought. She looks like she's been wrangling a dozen panicked students all day, her patience hanging by a thread. What actually happened in the forest?
Just as she reaches for Eclipse, Silva steps in, all polite authority, tilting her head in a perfectly measured bow.
"This is my master. He requested my care personally."
Well she is his maid...
The nurse glances between us, eyes narrowing slightly. I suddenly become painfully aware that, unlike Silva, I am neither in a maid's uniform nor an Academy badge. Instead, I am wearing—
"Uh," I fumble, yanking at the frayed edges of my clothes. "Uniform got torn in the forest. This is just… a spare." I flash what I hope is a convincing smile.
The nurse gives me the same look you'd give a drunkard trying to explain why his pet goat is in the tavern, but thankfully, exhaustion wins over suspicion. She moves on to tend to the next half-dead student.
Silva wastes no time. With a glance at the barely conscious students slumped against the wall, she nods once and hefts Eclipse onto her back like he weighs nothing. I scramble to grab his belongings, nearly fumbling the bag in the process.
"Is this your doing?" Silva's voice is quiet but sharp.
I gape at her. "What? No! He was fine when we got here!"
Her gaze lingers, assessing me like she's deciding whether to believe me or just stab first and ask questions later.
"Did you force him to bring you?"
"Force him?" I scoff. "Are you kidding? Eclipse Warbringer voluntarily brought me here. And he did it out of his own free will."
...Which is suspicious. Very, very suspicious.
"What is in for him?"
"Uh... I think he just wants to talk to me?"
Silva goes quiet for a while before saying, "so you have sold your body."
Heat rushes up my face and involuntary, "It's nothing like that!"
I hope.
I follow closely as we navigate the halls, the noise fading into an unsettling silence. Every step closer to Eclipse's quarters, the weight in my stomach grows heavier. Something about this feels…off.
Silva deposits Eclipse onto his bed with practiced ease.
She seems to be a good maid. Did she changed her profession the last time we met?
Then, with the calm precision of someone peeling off a disguise, she locks the door, strips off her maid's uniform, and reveals the assassin's gear beneath—daggers, dark gloves, the whole I'm-here-to-kill-a-man package.
Ah, well that answers it.
"Finally," she murmurs, flexing her fingers around the hilt of a dagger. "My job is about to be done."
Ahhh, crap.
I step in front of Eclipse before my brain can stop me, arms out like a human shield.
Silva's eyes narrow. "What are you doing?"
I risk a glance at Eclipse. His face is pale, still and vulnerable in the dim light. The guy is a walking disaster, but… he did help me. Maybe not out of kindness, but it still counts. Right?
"I… I can't let you kill him," I say, voice barely above a whisper. "Not yet."
Silva's gaze sharpens. "Do you… care about him?"
I nearly gag. "No. Definitely not."
"Then why?"
"The, the only reason I can keep being in the academy is him."
She raises her eyebrow up, waiting.
I glance down, feeling hot. "Eclipse... allowed me to be his maid for a moment..."
"Move."
I don't. I should, but my legs stay planted. Silva tilts her head slightly, as if weighing the effort it'd take to just go through me.
Then she smirks. "Tell me, thief. Why are you here, aboveground, instead of lurking with your sisters in the depths?"
I stiffen. She knows.
"That's exactly why I'm here," I say, meeting her gaze. "My sisters… they've gone missing."
A flicker of surprise. Gone just as fast.
Silence settles between us, tense and unreadable.
And then—
Plop.
We both freeze.
From across the room, Eclipse's bag shifts. Something blue and gelatinous wobbles out, landing on the floor with a moist, humiliating plop.
A slime.
Small, jiggly, with an almost guilty-looking wobble.
Silva and I stare. Then at each other. Then back at the slime.
Silva's eyebrow lifts. "Are you seeing this?"
"Uh… yeah."
The slime quivers. As if it knows we're contemplating its demise, it hesitates—then ever so slowly starts oozing back into Eclipse's bag like a child sneaking back to bed after getting caught in the cookie jar.
Silva exhales sharply. "Should we… kill it?"
I frown. "We probably should. But…"
The slime shudders violently, clearly aware of its own impending doom.
Then, with the slowest, most pitiful wriggle, it retreats into the bag.
Silence. Neither of us speaks. We just watch as Eclipse Warbringer, unconscious and utterly unaware, continues to collect the strangest problems I have ever seen.
I exhale. "Yeah. I don't even know what's happening anymore."
Silva pinches the bridge of her nose. "Welcome to my world."