Lucky Guy- sorry, The King- laughed, then lit his hands with blue fire, admiring himself. "̸N̶o̸w̸ ̷t̶h̷a̶t̸ ̸I̵ ̷a̷m̴ ̶k̴i̶n̵g̴,̸ ̸w̴h̶y̴ ̴d̴o̶n̷'̷t̵ ̶I̷ ̵s̷t̸a̵r̶t̷ ̴b̴y̸ ̶e̶x̷e̴c̸u̵t̴i̸n̴g̷ ̴s̸o̵m̴e̶ ̵t̶r̵a̷i̵t̴o̴r̴'̸s̶ ̵t̸o̸ ̴t̷h̸e̶ ̶k̷i̶n̸g̵d̵o̵m̴?̶"̸he said, then blasted the fire towards some rocks above Aesop’s head. Aesop quickly dodges the falling rocks, rolling to the side. He tried to stand up, but for some reason couldn’t move. The King laughed (again?), having fun with his powers. Seeing Aesop’s expression, he knew that his powers worked and that he was unable to move by his will. The King moved his hand, fixating it on the ceiling above and raining rocks on Aesop once again.

“AESOP!!!” Eli screamed, running forward and pushing Aesop out of the way. The rocks smashed the floor, releasing a sandy fog that blocked my vision. “ELI!! AESOP!!” Joseph and I yelled, terrified and unsure of what happened to them. I waved my fan in my face, attempting to clear the sand in the air. My heart dropped when I smelled the faint scent of blood. I could tell the others had caught a whiff as well. Once the sand cleared, I rushed to their spot to see over the pile of rock to see what happened.

Not even a thousand words could describe what I felt in that moment. The sound of Joseph yelling, The King laughing, everything felt distant. My vision was blurred by tears, and my mind went numb. Lying on the ground before me, Eli Clark was barely conscious, bleeding out. Joseph grabbed my shoulders and shook me, saying something. But I could not hear a word he spoke. I tried my best to clear my vision, but the tears wouldn’t stop. I barely made out the faint shape of Joseph turning into his wolf form called Moonlight Gentleman, running forward to attack.

-Aesop’s POV-

I was filled with shock and fear, not even processing that I could move again. I recovered from the shock and turned, seeing that Michiko had not recovered yet herself. Joseph shook her shoulders, yelling at her, attempting to get her to snap out of it. I watched as Joseph became Moonlight Gentleman and ran after The King to fight him. I knew very well that he couldn’t defeat him all on his own, but when I tried to stand to go help him, I couldn’t. Apparently I wasn’t fully recovered, because my voice and legs seemed to be numb. Instead, I turned to take a look at my best friend, still unable to get over how much blood there was.

I moved forward slowly, gently touching his face. I pulled my mask off, setting it to the side, not wanting to get tear stains on it. I noticed Eli move slightly, and I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘He’s still alive,’ I thought. “Ae...sop…” Eli groaned, trying to move his hand towards me. ‘Oh no,’ I knew that if Eli tried to say goodbye it would make things even more painful than it already was. I took a deep breath, then said, “Hey Eli, it’s alright, you saved me, see?” My voice was shaky, my walls threatening to break down. “You don't have to worry, I’m here for you, like I always w-was,” my voice cracked mid-sentence, causing me to finally let the situation sink in.

I couldn’t stop my sobs, the tears streaming down my face, I bowed my head down and hugged myself, unable to stop the uncontrollable shaking. I finally stopped trembling when I felt Eli weakly grasp my wrist, gently pulling my hand away from my arm. “I-It’s alright, Ace. Y-you said it yourself, d-didn’t you?” Eli smiled weakly. What he did next was what I least expected. Slowly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, leaned forward, and pressed his lips to mine. My eyes widened in shock, the tears continuing to fall again. Eli pulled down the cloth around his eyes, revealing those beautiful blue orbs to me. He closed his eyes, leaning against my shoulder, his long lashes grazing the tip of my skin.

We sat like that for a while, before, shakily, I whispered, “...I love you.”

-Michiko’s POV-

Once I calmed down, my vision cleared, and the numbness went away. I turned and saw Eli resting his head on Aesop’s shoulder, and I pushed away my negative thoughts. I turned towards The King, who was busy fighting off Emily, Helena, Murro, “Moonlight”, and a very VERY (VERY) angry Brooke Rose. I could tell that The King was starting to struggle a bit, so I ran over to help. And that’s when all Hastur broke loose.