Epigraph:
Inciting Supernatural Incident: An incident that combines various storylines to form one chaotic line, which was never meant to happen.
Time: a concept brought into existence by mortals to determine an object's state and position on the visible spectrum of energy; for an immortal, however, it had never meant anything, ever, until they got involved in mortal matters and bound their sanity to their existence.
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Date: 10-04-2009.
Time: 19:07 Mortal hour.
Location: Terror Mansion.
Incident: Accident—purposefully!?
Junior was the first to stumble on the newly haunted stairwell. His foot caught on the grand staircase, which had mysteriously grown half an inch in the five minutes since they last crossed it, and Junior had made the strategic decision to grab onto flimsy old Dad rather than the sturdy railing.
Caught off guard, Mr. Terror let out a sharp gasp before instinctively clutching Klaire for balance. She, in turn, had no choice but to grab at the nearest anchor: Lilly, who had ample time to assess the situation and hold onto the grand staircase's railing that was within reach. She had the necessary reflexes, the presence of mind, and the physical capability to save herself and the others, yet her fingers wrapped around Tsuna's walking stick instead.
The entire family came tumbling down the staircase, but by some miracle, they landed near the fireplace in a heap of grumbling, groaning, and undignified sprawls.
"Well," Mr. Terror said, smoothing down his disheveled suit with as much dignity as he could muster, "that was graceful... compared to the last one."
"I blame the stairs," Junior cursed, rubbing his bruised elbow. "They're sentient. Probably out to get us," he looked up to a room full of frowns. "ME!" He corrected himself. "They are out to get me!"
"Of course, they are out to get you," Tsuna pointed out. "You insulted them last week, remember?"
"That was a joke!"
"The mansion doesn't joke, dear," Tsuna smiled deviously, adjusting her dentures.
Klaire huffed a breathless laugh, still sprawled on the floor. "At least we're all stuck together in our near-death experience. That's something, right?" She turned to Mr Terror, her smile growing wider into a tooty grin. "Since the last one!"
Tsuna tapped her cane against the stone floor, nodding sagely. "A moment worth preserving. We should take a family portrait while we're all still in one piece. Call upon Metelda, post haste." She chuckled, poking at Mr. Terror's stomach.
The suggestion should have been harmless, another joke in the string of absurdities they constantly endured. Yet, the words hit Klaire differently.
She had always known. Of course, she had. But sitting there, in the pile of this absurdly close-knit limbs, something inside her sank.
A family portrait?
She couldn't be part of the picture.
She can never be a part of the Terrors, for she was, and shall ever be, a Sowle.
With a too-quick smile, she pushed herself up, brushing off her clothes. "Actually, I just remembered something important—I forgot something. Need to go -- grab it. Won't take long." She kept rambling, backpeddling her way to the main door, and before anyone could question her absurdity, she had vanished into the misty night.
She would never return the next day...
Or the days that followed.
The ghosts behind the staircase watched in silent horror. They had plotted mischief, intending to start with a simple trip and gradually build to a real haunting. Instead, they had accidentally triggered a full-blown familial disaster.
These people were a danger to themselves; There was no need for supernatural intervention. If anything, the ghosts found themselves oddly sympathetic toward them and even softened the fall, ensuring minimal injuries. And now? The mental attack, the emotional sabotage, and the mental psyche screw-up had happened without their interference.
It may be time to turn over a new leaf. Maybe even be… helpful. After all, the ghosts didn't want these people joining their ranks anytime soon.
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Date: 10-05-2009.
Time: 19:06 MH.
Location: Somewhere in the energy realm.
Incident: Torture—Purposefully?!
Solgrave caught and tortured Zack for what felt like eons, but as soon as his concentration was required elsewhere, Zack would slip out using the key. After multiple attempts, Solgrave considered the ramifications and paused to plan an alternative. By now, Zack had already slipped away twice, or thrice, and the model prisoners were beginning to understand the prison's loopholes.
"She's alive!?" Zack blurted out, half in shock and half in irritation.
"Do you know what's more irritating than breaking one of Yash's simple suggestions?" Pinky asked, giggling.
"Wrong emotion!" Bazuka reminded her.
"Oh!" Pinky shifted between several emotions within a second as Bazuka stopped her near a frown.
"That's the one."
"Do you know what's more irritating than breaking one of Yash's simple suggestions?" Pinky asked, frowning, her emotional state forcing Zack into confessing.
"Yeah!" Zack's frustration broke the thermostat, raising the temperature to the point of melting their hideout. "Pissing off Soul King for a stupid, mortal, stranger. Who didn't need my help to begin with, nor who's gonna remember me."
Zack took a deep breath, dismissing Pinky's hold. "We're connected. I can read your thoughts as if they were my own."
"Told you you shouldn't have celebrated during his breakdown!" Lux snickers at Pinky.
"But I got it right! When else am I to celebrate? After the moment has passed?"
"Still connected!" Zack frowned. "Shouldn't you guys take this seriously before telling me!?"
Bazuka had many retorts loaded and ready to fire—both literally and figuratively—but she instead made snow angels on the melting concrete floor. "Never thought of this. It is better."
"Is there any future where Solgrave lets him live?" Lux asked DJ indirectly, checking whether the time stream had been restored.
"We screwed big-time, like a rhyme we can't slam."
"Next time stick to saying a simple 'no,' or better—shake your head sideways," Psycho said with a frown.
Psycho bantered with everyone in separate telepathic links, while relentlessly pestering Zack through a link none were aware of, "Give me the key one more time."
"No type of 'Slot' can copy or scan this key! It's more of a 'Commandment,' rather than a hack." Zack kept repeating himself to Psycho before he decided to waste precious Sub-Space to create an automated reply.
"Maybe catching that little girl will solve all our problems?" Bazuka finally decided to be helpful.
"Yes!" Zack cheered, instantly freezing the room in a thick layer of ice as his anger gave way to joy. "Finally! Someone is helpful."
DJ felt a song bubbling to the surface and took the stage center, pulling on everyone's concentration as if it were a physical string. "Play sane, swap keys—and wee... we escape the insane asylum kept for keeps. Maybe now you have to steal back the extended generosity, how broken of you — to claim back your insanity!"
"I didn't understand any of that!" Pinky said alongside her slipping memories.
Zack caught the film reel as it rolled out of Pinky's head and tried to shove the discarded memories back in. "Goddamnit! Stop deleting stuff if you want to stay in the loop."
Pinky analyzed Zack with a restrained look—because from her perspective, Zack was shoveling in a yucky green slime while spouting utter rubbish.
"He's imagining it differently." Lux reminded Pinky, switching off his gag reflex.
"He's definitely something else." Pinky smiled. "I'm in," she declared, yet kept spilling out memories through several new outlets.
"So we catch her and hope Solgrave forgives me," Zack said, receiving nods. "Great! Who caught her the first time around?"
"Solgrave." They answered as one.
"We only know he is a perv and way beyond our Soul grade," Pinky said, giggling at her own humor.
"So beyond that, maybe you did deserve those eons of torture." DJ started taking notes on the lyrics, beaming with joy. "Man, I haven't felt this rush in eons."
"Glad to be of entertainment." Zack rolled his eyes and looked at Psycho for his input.
"I'm on Solgrave's side. Go get yourself tortured for a few more eons, or at least until the timeline can be manipulated to fix your tantrums."
Zack ignored Psycho's usual problems and focused on thecrucialt information. "What's with the timeline?" He asks, gaping at Lux.
"You did hear me begin with a 'maybe,' right?" Bazuka asks, frowning at Zack.
"Torture might not be good—"
"—for you!" Pinky intercepted Lux's thought. "But it's best for the greater good. Wait, what is?"
The group gaped at Pinky until Zack scanned through the ejected film roll and revealed what she meant. "No undo option means, no insane moves... like breathing or thinking."
"Huh, makes sense." The others agreed.
"Like hell it does!"
"See, you are the problem," Psycho said, all the while trying to persuade Zack by tugging on his emotions. "Get back to getting tortured and I'm sure Yash will fix this timeline thingy within an eon or two."
Zack scoffed at Psycjo's feeble attempts, having already placed his emotional keyboard inside the shield. "Won't work. And no torture, thank you very much. Don't you people have any better plans? Stop siphoning more stupidity from the "imbecile stream" and look for the bright wisdom one."
"There's an energy stream for stupidity." Pinky deflected the topic, and, as usual, they never returned to the problem at hand while mortal hours slipped by like seconds.
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Date: 10-06-2009.
Time: 19:05 MH.
Location: Somewhere in Yor'new.
Incident: Accident‽
Eshelon knew he was more of the group's brawn than their brains, a fact only made possible by the miracle of being a Gifted. But he didn't have to be a genius, or even smart, to figure out that any single one of these so-called 'Division X' could wipe out their entire organisation.
"Call us the upper echelon of the gifted." Pinky grinned, reading Eshelon's mind.
"Hey, that's my name!" Eshelon roared in fury one second, and laughed full-heartedly the next, as if the joke finally made sense.
"Are we seriously going to be working with these nitwits?" Barbie telepathically spoke to her team as she aimed her weapon at them.
"Says the one giving herself away by her actions." Zack's comment made Barbie reevaluate her stance, causing her to lower her weapon into a different layer of reality.
Innocent though she thought her actions to be, for a mortal, it appeared nothing short of magical.
"No—NO! Don't make your weapon vanish in front of them! The Gifted are stuck to a single function, remember? They aren't masters of all trades like us." He added a head-smashing emoji into his telepathic message, making the group feel the pain despite their reluctance.
"Okay—okay, we got it!" Psycho said, massaging his head.
———<>||<>——— End of Chapter Forty-Nine. ———<>||<>———