Spider Princess

Disclaimer: Though the locales used in this fic are true-to-life, the story, plot, and characters themselves are purely fictional. Any similarities to real life are purely coincidential.

Chapter 1: Destiny Bonded

"This is a holdup. Gimme all your money!"

Keira's blood turned to ice at the sound of the harsh voice. She knew it happened, but never dreamed that she'd be next, least of all here in Mendiola - things like these happened to other people. But then again, she also knew that this was one of the hazards associated with staying out late 'til 10 in the evening to use the library. The sharp tip on her throat and the rough hands restraining her from behind told her he meant business.

"Go on, before I lose it and slice you..." the man growled. Keira knew she had no choice; her numb hands found her handbag and began to dig for her wallet and phone.

After what seemed like an eternity, she found them. Hands shaking, she offered them to her assailant, but before she could even get both hands out of the handbag...

"Augh..."

Her captor cried out in pain as the suddenly limp arms that held her from behind let go; a clinking sound told her the knife fell to the concrete. Keira looked at the mugger, who now lay in a pool of blood on the ground. What she noticed next made her hair stand on end: a spider the size of a kitten began to cannibalize the man's corpse. And it was then she heard a soft, slightly cavernous feminine voice:

"Don't worry about my child, princess..."

At these words, a giant spider, the size of a car, melded into existence. Keira's intuition told her that it was what killed her would-be attacker - not the baby spider. It was screaming at her right now to run as fast as she could in the opposite direction, and yet she didn't pay attention to the voice in her head. Instead, in a shaky voice, she asked the spider: "Who are you?"

The thing approached the teenager; soon, it was close enough that Keira could reach out and pat it on the head. "Princess Keira... I am Black Arachnia, the Broodmother. My master sent me to protect you." She bowed as low as her arachnid legs would allow.

"Your... master?" Keira repeated. "Who...? And how do you know my name?" she asked, clearly struggling for words. She knew she ought to be thankful, but what she was seeing before her DID take time to sink in. If anyone were to come to her rescue, a giant spider wasn't who - or what - she had in mind.

"The first questions you ask me..." said Broodmother, in a mournful tone, "Unfortunately, I can't answer - not yet. Not until the time comes, anyway. But what I can tell you," she continued, "Is that my master is someone close to your heart..."

"Miss Anabieza!"

Keira snapped back to reality as her professor's voice broke her dream like a baseball through a window. Lifting her head from the table of her wooden desk, she saw her prof glaring sternly at her. "Can you summarize what I just said?"

Awkwardly Keira got to her feet. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. After about five seconds, he made her sit back down. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when you decide to nap in class." The class laughed; thankfully, just a few moments after this, the bell rang. "Class dismissed."

The minute he said this, Keira rushed out of the classroom door, her face red with embarrassment. She had that dream again; it happened almost a month ago, but the events of her near-death experience still stood fresh in her mind. Silently she cursed herself for dozing off in class yet again. She was running for honors, and if this went on, she'd be a long shot.

But then again, it's not everyday one gets saved from death by a giant spider, is it?

tbc

Chapter 2: Disaster Already

Her chestnut hair flying behind her, Keira rushed to the cafeteria as fast as she could; she had to take a sidetrip to the bathroom, no thanks to the baked beans she had for breakfast. Her friends had probably started eating lunch without her, and she didn't want to ditch them, right? Besides, they were counting on her to tutor them for Math class - she alone among her friends could grasp what her teacher was spouting off every period.

Finally, after nearly knocking over countless people in her mad dash, she got there. She was right; her friends already finished eating lunch, and were now about to review for today's quiz. They cheered upon seeing Keira, wasting no time in clearing the table for their study session. And as she sat down, she expected to be bombarded with consultation questions from all directions.

But to her surprise, it didn't happen. Instead, what one of her friends asked was: "What was with sleeping in English class, anyway?"

Keira couldn't bring herself to meet her friend's eyes. "...It's nothing Joy, I've just been sleeping late," she lied. "Me and my ****ing honor run..." she muttered. The rest of their group laughed.

"Take it easy Kei, you're working yourself too hard! The more you're not gonna hit honors if you get sick." This from Heather, her best friend. "If all else fails, we'll be around to share answers with you. That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

All of them laughed at this one. Keira suddenly frowned, not out of anger, but due to the fact that she was in thought. "Speaking of friends... is it just me, or is one of us missing today?"

She looked around: Joy, Heather, Mark, Ray, and... yep, that was it.

"...Oh, yeah," she finished, disappointed. She was thinking of one person in particular, and her friends knew who.

"It's him, isn't it? Isn't he in a coma at home?" asked Mark. "Forget him - " but then he faltered upon seeing her black eyes staring at him. "Sorry... I forgot, the two of you were close."

Keira was about to say that it was fine, when people started screaming. "What now?" asked Joy. "Another food fight?"

Taking her word for it, the entire gang exited the cafeteria, only to find people running in every direction. Seeing one of their classmates from English class, Keira pulled his sleeve to stop him running. "What the hell's going on? Everyone's running around like a madman."

He turned to face her, his face pale. "A monster... behind the College of Nursing." Then he fainted. Keira and friends decided to go there to see just what he was babbling about. They were in for a nasty sight...

Spikes protruded from the ground, impaling several bodies upon them. What looked like a hideous cross between a beetle and a cockroach was hacking everyone it could see apart. It fired beams of purple fire at random bystanders, knocking them unconscious upon contact. And to complete the frightening spectacle, it disappeared, then reappeared as it severed one of the teachers neatly at the waist. Their survival instincts taking over, Keira's friends ran as fast as they could to the gates.

Keira, meanwhile, was joined by an invisible presence beside her. "Your orders, mistress?" she said.

"Mother... please, stop that thing."

After a loud screech, the spider showed herself before taking on the... thing. She started by firing no less than three egg sacs from her spinneret at the beetle; all burrowed deep into its sides. It retaliated with its spike attack, but it failed to pierce the Broodmother's thick armor; it merely hurled her into the air and sent her crashing to the ground, winded by the attack. As soon as she pulled herself together, she then launched a thread of silk at her adversary's claws, hampering its ability to fight. A moment later, it turned invisible.

"****..." Keira muttered. "Mother, be careful!" she called.

Arachnia didn't need the warning, though; as her enemy reappeared and attempted to strike a lethal blow, the silk bound its claws shut, preventing the attack. But then, roaring, it managed to force its claws open, casting off the silk that had inhibited them just moments ago. Before she could react, the Broodmother was hit by no less than five quick jabs from the beetle's claws, and then sent flying by the spikes once again.

Far from growing frustrated, Arachnia was actually having fun. She seemed evenly matched with her opponent, by the looks of things. She turned invisible, snuck behind her opponent, and bit hard at its underbelly. But...

She screeched in pain; to her surprise, the enemy's spiked armor hurt her a bit. And, again, the spikes. As she crumpled to the ground for the third time, the Broodmother was starting to get a little irritated. It was probably for the best that she ended it now. Screeching once more, she gave herself completely to the bloodlust, desiring nothing more than a taste of her opponent's flesh.

Keira watched with bated breath as the giant spider literally tore away her enemy's carapace, slowly but surely exposing the tender meat underneath. The spikes could barely scratch her now; she was too drunk at the prospect of fresh meat to feel. And sure enough, once the armor had been stripped away, Arachnia turned her attention to the enemy's now-exposed flesh.

At that moment, though, it disappeared; the Broodmother was ready, and turned around as her opponent revealed itself once more, ready to land the killing blow. But...

For some reason, it was immobilized with pain. Only when Keira remembered the egg sacs the spider had fired earlier did she realize that the young were now tearing their way out. And of course, the Broodmother took this opportunity to tear away at the opponent, until nothing remained but the exoskeleton. By this time, she was back to normal.

"Well..." Keira said, after getting over her shock and awe, "I guess... we've won."

tbc

Chapter 3: Frozen

It's been one thing after another, since you went into a coma. Giant spiders, giant beetles... Everything's gone whacked. We all got an indefinite vacation; they've closed down the school thanks to the incident with Broodmother and that... monster. Sky, I wish you were here... I think I'm going nuts...

Unit 3A, Burgundy Plaza, Katipunan Avenue - such were Keira's thoughts as she sat facing the comatose form of her closest friend, Sky. Ever since his accident with the sleeping pills, she'd been visiting him everyday. She looked at his face, lit by the lamp on his bedside, but it only served to bring her to tears. Normally he was so animated and full of life, and to see him like this... it tore at her heart. It didn't help either that the light from the lamp made his face look paler than it already was - deathly pale, in fact.

She wiped her tears with the face towel she always carried in her handbag before getting up; the wall clock in front of her read 5:30 PM.

"Well... I'd better go, Sky..." Keira whispered. "Please wake up soon..."

She squeezed his hand as she said this, but she was unaware that somehow the supposedly-comatose Sky squeezed back...

Keira's next stop was McDonald's Katipunan - her older sister left a note saying she'd be home late, and some money for her to buy dinner with. At times like these, Sky would normally accompany her, but that of course was out of the question right now, thanks to his coma. So Keira sat at her table, silently eating her Big Mac and fries. No doubt Heather was waiting for her at Gateway right now...

But as she got off the LRT at Gateway, Heather still wasn't around. Keira decided to wait; after five minutes, she still was nowhere to be found. It wasn't until half an hour that she felt her phone vibrate. She took it out and read her received text message:

"Cancelled. Sorry for the trouble; I've got a family dinner and they won't let me absent myself."

Feeling a mingled sense of irritation and disappointment, Keira went down to the streets and took a jeepney going back to Katipunan. She crossed Aurora, and, arriving at the tricycle terminal, she asked to be taken to Blueskies. She was positive that Sky's friends were there right now. He'd introduced them to her, and it came as a pleasant surprise to Keira that they were just like him - good-hearted, nice, and generous, for a start.

Sure enough, as she got there, the first thing she saw was Sir Byron, Sky's former teacher and close friend, smoking outside. Upon seeing Keira, he waved to her and beckoned her closer. When she did so, the first thing he said was, "Isn't it a bit late to play games? You should go home, you've got class tomorrow..."

At these words, Keira looked at the digital clock on her 3310: it was now 21:07, 9 PM. But they didn't have any class tomorrow, nor would they for a while - what happened in school last Monday made sure of that. When she didn't answer for a while, Byron spoke again: "So, what brings you here? Is it Sky? Last time I checked you didn't play DotA..."

His name made Keira look up. "He still hasn't woke up, then?" asked the teacher again. Keira shook her head. "I knew he was depressed at that time, but I always told him that attempting suicide is a stupid thing to do..." he said, disappointment and sadness evident in his voice.

"It... was a shock. He never showed any signs he was depressed when he was with us..." she said. "He was always the one making us laugh, or trying to drag us all the way here to meet you." Keira couldn't help it; she smiled at the teacher upon saying this, which he returned.

"Well of course he wouldn't, he didn't want any of you to worry about him," replied Byron. "He was my student for two years, and one thing I've observed about Sky is that he doesn't want anyone to worry for his sake." He laughed a little. "He's even dismissed wounds on his wrist as 'itty bitty cuts'." Unfortunately, Byron said the wrong thing, as Keira's eyes widened in shock. She didn't answer this last one.

Perhaps Byron realized his mistake too, as he said, "Listen Keira, don't worry about him. Just keep visiting Sky, maybe he'll wake up for you..."

At this, Keira turned to leave. It wasn't getting any earlier, and she was already a bit tired. "Well... good night, sir. Thanks for the chat!" She looked back to smile at him before she left.

As she turned to enter Burgundy, though, Keira felt someone looking at her. She turned round; it was a long-haired woman in flowing purple robes.

Huh?

But when Keira blinked, the woman was nowhere to be found. She entered the building, perplexed at what she thought she saw.

tbc

Chapter 4: Dreams and Nightmares

June 25th, 2008 - Keira woke up at exactly 10 AM, on the mattress right beside Sky's bed - she took it upon herself to keep him company while he was out of it. A week had passed since their unexpected vacation began, and their circle of friends was to go out to Glorietta together. And the meeting place? ...Jollibee Mendiola, right in front of school. Thing was, some of their friends lived as far as Caloocan City, so it was important that they go as a group. People were less likely to get lost under that arrangement.

Half an hour later, she had already eaten, taken a bath, and brushed her teeth. All that was left was to put together a nice outfit, but what could Keira wear? She wasn't exactly the fashionista type; like Sky, she had a certain "uniform" of sorts that she always wore when she went out. She rummaged through her cabinet for it...

...After a few moments, Keira was all set. She was fully decked out: black shirt and stockings, a gray skirt, and the Nikes given to her by her older sister. To round off the package, she also passed up her usual handbag in favor of a shoulder bag like Sky normally carried around - which, not coincidentially, he gave her for her 16th birthday last December. Not only that, she also carried his black iPod Nano with his signature pink-and-blue earphones. Finally, Keira looked at herself in the mirror, and found what she saw to be very good.

She texted Byron before she left; he said he'd take over watching Sky while she was out. It really was heartwarming that he had lots of friends who cared; it wasn't every day that you saw a teacher as close to his student as Byron was. And as the doorbell rang, Keira knew it was him; she gave the teacher a quick hug before dashing out into the hallway. She could hear him call as she left:

"Take care of yourself, girl! Don't be out too late!"

Around an hour later, she got off at Legarda Station, to find... Heather waiting for her right outside. Keira waved upon seeing her best friend. "Is it just you here? I thought we were meeting at Jollibee...?"

As if to answer, Heather led her to their arranged meeting place, only to find... there was no traffic, presumably because a rally was currently taking place. The signs protested the high electricity rates; Keira wasn't surprised. That whole "system loss" deal was a load of male cow excrement to her. There was no other way to describe Meralco's passing off their losses to their customers - some of whom could barely afford three square meals a day. As she observed, though, one of the rallyists caught her attention...

It was the same purple-clad woman she saw a few days back. And unless it was just her, Keira seemed to be seeing double a second later; even worse, the other woman was floating half a foot off the ground. She, Keira, could notice it from where she stood. Something was about to go horribly wrong here.

"Keira, what's wrong? What's with the sudden interest in rallies...?" asked Heather, in a vain attempt to recall her friend to her surroundings.

A second later, her worst fear came true: the... banshee, or whatever she was, summoned pearly-white ghosts that tossed spectral knives at the crowd, killing all that they hit. Realizing what was going on, they began to disperse in panic, but many died by the ghosts' hands before they could get far.

Slowly but surely the bodies piled up; by the time the ghosts disappeared, only three of the protesters were left alive: the other woman in purple, a girl who Keira and Heather recognized as a classmate in Math class, and a male teenager in an Ateneo shirt. The woman appeared to be advancing on the girl, who backed away until she hit a wall. Finally, savoring her next kill, the woman held a palm in front of the girl, red light playing upon it. Her lips curled into a malicious grin.

"Goodbye..."

But before she could do the deed, shackles of blue light bound her at the waist and pulled her away from the girl. The former's - and her twin's - eyes widened in shock at what she saw next. Facing her was a dragon the size of a horse. But this dragon looked more like a pixie - a fairy - than the lizardlike beasts in children's stories. The young man stood directly behind him.

"Let's do this, Puck..."

As if in reply, the dragon called Puck crooned softly as it opened its mouth wide, energy forming in it. The dragon then released it in a large orb of light that drew closer and closer to what Keira saw as a banshee...

tbc

Chapter 5: Common Ground

The banshee stood stock-still despite the ball of light heading for her, destroying all it touched upon contact. Keira and Heather looked on, stunned at the battle; the former in particular was thunderstruck at the fact that there were others like her. Just then, the banshee opened her mouth and blasted the spheric blast with a wave of deathly purple light. After the two blasts cancelled each other out, she uttered one phrase:

"I am Krobelus, the Living Death..."

It was a sepulchral, demonic voice that chilled Keira to the bone. Never had she felt so much murderous intent emanating from any one person. She looked at the young man, who was now alone; the dragon called Puck was nowhere to be found. Maybe it got scared... she thought. It was then that Keira felt the Broodmother's invisible presence beside her, but chose to observe the scene a little longer.

Just then, there was a loud crack as the ground that Krobelus was hovering over shattered from an unknown attack; Puck had reappeared, and whatever he did sent a blast throughout the area that blew the ladies' hair behind them. The Atenean smiled at the fairy at his display of power and intelligence. It screamed as it blasted the airborne and helpless Krobelus with beams of light. Smoke covered her as the attacks hit, prompting Keira and Heather to breathe sighs of relief.

However, the assault only injured the monster slightly, rather than killed her. Krobelus retaliated, sending a swarm of bats at Puck, who tried in vain to fend off the bloodthirsty creatures now attacking him. "Puck!" shouted the young man who was his master, or perhaps companion. "Waning Rift!" But the dragon couldn't manage it, no thanks to his... situation.

The spider, invisible beside Keira, was twitching; her muscles were tensed for the battle that was to come. Knowing that Arachnia was set on intervening, Keira turned to her friend. "Go hide somewhere safe. This could get ugly..." After a split-second's hesitation, Heather obeyed, taking refuge in their school. Sorry, Heath, but I can't let my secret get out... not yet, anyway.

At the sight of the recent development, Arachnia advanced towards the dragon being attacked by the bats. Revealing herself, she launched countless webs that snared the attacking bats. The spider then launched countless egg sacs from her spinneret, all of which hatched no less than four spiderlings each. The newly-hatched offspring then proceeded to eat their mammalian counterparts alive.

Meanwhile, Krobelus had landed gently on the ground, resuming her place beside her mistress. "I think I'd better go now... I'll see both of you next time." And in a burst of smoke, the two disappeared.

Which left Keira, the youth, and their respective companions. With a wave of his hand, Puck disappeared; likewise, Arachnia turned invisible again and resumed her place beside Keira. The two teenagers stared for a few moments before the boy spoke first:

"Well now, I didn't know you'd been chosen too... Keira."

She was stunned. How can this goof know my name? Keira thought. But then... judging from that shirt -

"Sir Byron told us all about you, Keira," said the guy. "He says you've been keeping watch over Sky since his accident. Y'know, I'm sure he'd be touched as hell if he knew," he finished, smiling; Keira smiled back at this.

"What's your name, then...?" she asked. To which he replied, "It's... Paradigm, Dime for short."

Keira raised an eyebrow; surely no right-thinking parent would give his or her child such a name? The youth calling himself Paradigm must have noticed this too, since he continued, "It's my... codename, from when Sky and I were still in high school. Wait, don't you know that 'Sky' isn't his real name either?" he added. "Seriously, though, the name's Sirius, and it's nice to finally meet you."

They shook hands; Keira satisfied by Dime's explanation. "So then, what IS Sky's real name?" she asked him. Tell me," she added, a little too forcefully.

"Nuh-uh, you'll have to ask him when he wakes up - "

Just then, someone cleared her throat; upon looking round, Keira saw it was Heather, who had a look of disappointment on her face.

Disappointment at what, Keira didn't know.

tbc

Chapter 6: Secrets Out

"Well Keira, I didn't know you kept giant spiders for pets," Heather said, both awed and disappointed. "What's with keeping it from me, anyway?"

"You wouldn't have believed me if I told you, would you?" answered Keira. "It wasn't time for you to know this yet, but... never mind that now." She sighed. "Listen, Heath, the others can't know about this, alright?"

After a few moments of hesitation, Heather nodded. Dime looked from one girl to another; the two seemed to be best friends, judging from Heather's reaction to Keira's secret. However, he also observed that he would have done the same thing in Keira's position. His friends could be used against him if their enemies somehow found out. All was silent for about a minute before he broke it: "So... Keira, are you going back to Sky now? I was planning on paying him a visit after the rally."

She looked at Heather, who shrugged her shoulders at Dime's words. "I suppose it should be fine, I already called off our little outing anyway." She was the first at the corner, waving to them to follow. "Let's go, shall we?"

A few minutes and the trio was back in Sky's studio apartment at Burgundy. As Byron opened the door for them, he was surprised to see both Dime and Heather, who he hadn't met up to that point. "We'll explain when we get inside, sir," said Dime. "It's not safe out here." They entered, taking care to lock the door behind them.

A few minutes later, they related their tale over iced coffee as Byron listened. He appeared impassive at first, but his expression slowly turned into concern. Finally, when Keira finished, Byron nodded slowly. "So, none of you are hurt or anything?" They all shook their heads; he smiled. "Good. Now," he took a sip then turned to Keira, "Was this the first time it happened to you?"

It was Heather who, upon draining her drink, answered this. "No... a few weeks ago, some hideous beetle thing attacked our school. It managed to kill off so many people before Keira," she nodded to her friend, "Put it down. So now we're on vacation while they're investigating," she finished.

"Nerub..." muttered Byron. "There are a lot of other guys like us, Keira," he began to explain. "Certain high-level players, bonded to a particular hero - like you and Broodmother. Sirius - Dime - and Puck. Me and..."

"But sir, I don't play, do I?" Keira interrupted. "I can understand both of your cases, but why me?"

There was silence except for Keira slurping her coffee as she waited for an answer. And a moment later, it came.

"Well... in your case, Keira," Byron replied, "Someone was supposed to be bonded to Brood, but whoever it was sent her to protect you instead. And she'll stay with you until she's given new orders," he said. "Which most likely won't happen for a while..." he let slip.

"Why?"

"Just a feeling I have," Byron said quickly, realizing his slip-up. She can't learn the connection to Sky yet. He tapped Dime as the two of them stood up. "Please excuse us, ladies," said Dime, "We've gotta go, it's a student-teacher thing. Give our regards to Sky..."

With that, the two of them left the condo and headed for the elevator. Once inside, they began to discuss things.

"Now then... Sirius, everything's coming together. Next time you see Krobelus or her partner, put her down. Alright?"

"Yes, sir," replied his student. "She won't get away from me a second time. I promise she won't be able to murder anyone again."

"I'll watch over Keira for him," said Byron. "I know he's doing his part in keeping her safe, but it shouldn't hurt for me to help out..."

Sirius understood "him" to mean Sky. "Do you think they know what's going on, sir? Do they know about Sky's issue?"

Byron slowly shook his head at this. "No, thankfully. Keira doesn't play DotA, and neither does her friend, by the looks of it... she's one lucky girl, Sky must really love her..."

As he finished this sentence, the elevator doors opened; they exited, having arrived at the ground floor.

"Yeah..." Sirius agreed. "But she'll probably only realize it once this whole mess is done..."

tbc

Chapter 7: Deadly Silence

July 31st, 8:00 AM - Keira woke up to the deafening noise of her mobile's alarm clock. With difficulty, she pulled her body off the bed and began to pack her stuff - she was to be at school in 2 hours for their retreat. And afterwards, one more week before their classes resumed.

An hour later, she'd already finished eating breakfast and taking a bath. And after getting dressed, Keira stopped by Sky, whose bed was right beside the one she slept in. She caressed him for a moment before giving him a little peck on the forehead. Before leaving, she picked up her phone and texted Sir Byron; they'd meet downstairs, at 7-11, before she left for San Beda. Finally, when all had been taken care of, she went out the door and took the elevator going down.

Exiting Burgundy, Keira turned right to 7-11, where she could already spot Byron having iced coffee inside. "Take care of him for me, sir," she said. And when he pulled out a chair, she shook her head sadly. "I can't, I'm running late as it is." She rushed out the door, waved goodbye one last time, then hailed a taxi going to school.

At least things were getting a bit... calm lately. No monsters and other things going around wreaking havoc for a while. Keira and her friends were finally able to go out, and even caught The Dark Knight in its first week out. All that was left was for Sky to finally wake up, and her life would be sweet sunshine again. And as she was mulling these things over, she arrived at school, where Heather was waiting at the gates.

She paid the taxi fare before getting out and hugging her friend.

"Took you long enough!" said Heather, although she was smiling. "I suppose Byron's watching over him again?"

"Yeah," Keira replied. "For that matter, most of his friends will be. Ateneo's got no class today... And I left Broodmother to stand guard in case something happens, too," she added.

It was Keira's idea; she would leave Mother to guard Sky today. In her place, either Byron's or Dime's hero would escort her instead. They had agreed that should something happen at the retreat, it wouldn't help much if a giant spider popped up out of nowhere. In fact, far from helping, it would probably cause a bigger panic, though Arachnia meant no harm.

Puck was rather cute, and would be far less likely to cause a panic than Arachnia. But if it was Byron's hero who was with Keira at the moment... the retreat had the potential to be a complete nightmare.

It was these thoughts that she was lost in as they rode the bus going to the retreat place. By the time they got there, Keira was sleeping like a baby, her head resting on Heather's lap. Heather slapped her friend gently, waking her.

"Hey, we're here!"

Sacred Heart Novitiate, the venue for the retreat. According to what Byron and Sky told her, before he had his accident, this was where their class had their retreat in their senior year, last year. A priest came out and led them straight forward from the entrance, where they were made to sit down for their orientation.

Now, the good thing about the orientation was that it gave Keira another chance to sleep. She already knew what to expect - silence and all that other crap. And when the time came to deposit their gadgets... she handed in her 3310, knowing that a backup phone lay together with Sky's iPod at the bottom of her bag. After all, Byron needed to check on her from time to time.

After hanging out outside for some air, Keira and Heather went to their room on the second floor. After changing into an Ateneo sleeveless - a gift from Sky and friends - and shorts, she fell to the bed, asleep. It was to be expected; she'd gone out drinking all night the night before.

Keira woke up at midnight for reasons unknown. Strangely, she couldn't hear anyone's voices at all; for one thing, Heather's lips were flapping, but the words wouldn't come out. And... something was bidding her to come outside the building. Whatever it was, she set out to meet it.

All she saw was a tall man who had elven ears, for one thing. One hand held a tri-bladed glaive, the other a shield. And besides that, the man's outfit made him vaguely resemble one of the X-Men. "Who are you?" was the first question Keira asked.

As if in reply, though, the man threw his glaive at Keira; it would have sliced her neatly in two had it not been parried by... an armored man on a similarly decked out horse. He held a curved, medium-length blade in his right, which he parried the attack with, and the reins of his steed in the other. He turned to look at her through his helmet, then turned back to her assailant, who had recovered his weapon.

"Are you... Sir Byron's?" Keira asked.

The knight nodded. His horse rearing, he charged the elven attacker with a splitting battle cry.

tbc

Chapter 8: Retreat in Chaos

Byron's hero attempted to cut down the elf as he charged, but the man in red merely jumped high into the air and tossed his weapon at the knight. Charging, he was able to evade this attack; the glaive hit the ground instead. He decided to seize the opportunity to finish the fight now, while the elf was defenseless in the air.

The knight tossed his sword at his adversary's heart, but at that moment, the glaive flew back to its owner's hand, blocking the attack in the process; the sword too returned to the knight. A moment later, the elf landed. He raised his glaive and made a deafening silence fall on the immediate area.

The knight struggled just to stay on his horse; the silence was giving him a massive headache. But just a heartbeat later, he heard a whoosh through the air behind him; the knight swung his sword as he bade his steed to turn around, deflecting the glaive the elf attempted to throw at him. Angry at this perceived act of dishonor, the knight went back on the attack.

Unfortunately, the elf was nimble - very nimble. So much so that not one of the knight's charges came close to hitting him. But the latter had yet another trick up his sleeve; a spear of solid shadow materialized in his left hand which he threw at the elven warrior, stunning him. He then tossed the sword next, but the elf, having recovered from the daze caused by the previous attack, parried the blade and sent it back to its owner.

However, the thrown sword was just a feint, done to put him off guard; his horse rearing again, the knight charged, his sword held high and glowing faintly orange as he did.

"Zantetsuken!"

A second later, the elf was severed at the waist and the two halves of his body poofed. The knight returned to Keira's side, and as he did so, the elf rose from out of the ground in front of them. He looked at Keira for a moment and smiled.

"We'll see each other again soon, Keira..."

And disappeared in a flash of light. The knight, Sir Byron's hero, looked at him for a moment before sinking back into the ground. Keira turned back to enter the building and saw Heather, who looked somewhat worried. "What was that all about, Keira?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I'll ask sir about it."

Back in her room, Keira dug in her bag for her phone and dialled Sir Byron's number. A few moments later, he answered, "What is it, Keira? I'm assuming you have a good reason for waking me up at this time?" It was hard to tell whether Byron was upset or not; it was a phone conversation, and Keira had never seen him get upset before.

She didn't know whether Byron was berating her or just kidding; whichever it was, Keira replied, "Another hero showed up here, sir. Some elf guy with a glaive and shield. He attacked me..." her voice trailed away. "But a mounted knight popped out of nowhere and saved me."

"Oh, yeah," said Byron; he sounded a bit satisfied now. "Yeah, that was Nessaj, alright. I sent him to guard you." Knew it, Keira thought. "Dime said he and Puck had personal business to attend to, and I think I know what that is..." And so did Keira, come to think of it. Dime was telling them both that he wanted to get back at Krobelus and her partner for massacring his comrades at Mendiola. After a while, Byron spoke again: "Now, then... the hero that attacked you. What did you say he looked like?"

"He was an elven man in a red outfit, carried a shield and a - glaive, is that what you call it?" recounted Keira. "Oh, and, everything went unnaturally quiet before I encountered him."

Silence for a few seconds. Then Byron spoke, "That'd be Nortrom, the Silencer. Wait a moment, you're on your retreat, right? Is it a silent retreat?" Keira replied in the positive at this question. "...I think Nortrom may be connected to the retreat people somehow, so... just keep your head down and be on your guard, alright? Nessaj's tough, he'll take care of you, but all the same..." Byron seemed to have lost track of what he was saying. Then he continued: "Oh, and Brood - "

But what exactly he was going to say about Broodmother, Keira never found out. Because that that moment, the door opened. Next thing Keira and Heather knew, they were looking at the scowling face of their retreat mistress.

"Well, well, we're ****ed now, aren't we, ladies?"

tbc

Chapter 9: Sweet Silence, Sweeter Dreams

"Ma'am , my guardian specifically told me to bring my phone," said Keira, seemingly unaffected by their professor's sudden appearance. "Here's the note."

Keira gave the older woman what seemed to be a page from a filler notebook; the prof's eyes narrowed in suspicion and distaste. It was one of Sir Byron's quirks, that he usually used fillers instead of the lesson plan notebooks that most teachers had (but then again, Byron was only a class adviser and didn't handle academic subjects anyway). According to him, it helped him become one with his students, in a sense. Not that he needed it - Sky in particular was drawn to him because the two had more than a few similar experiences and likes.

The note read:

To whom it may concern,

I specifically asked my ward to bring her phone. Please do not confiscate it.

-Lawrence Byron R. Asero, guardian

Their teacher's expression softened a bit, then she smiled. "Sir Byron, from Ateneo High?" Keira nodded. "If I recall correctly he and his class are having their retreat here tomorrow as well." That's one hell of a coincidence, thought Keira upon hearing this. "I'll have a word with him on this, but anyway..." their teacher returned Keira's phone. "Just make sure you don't use it outside this room, or all three of us will be ****ed," she finished.

And left Keira and Heather to their own devices. "What was that about? It was all I could do not to scream at you over the phone," Byron asked, bewildered, when Keira called back.

"You didn't tell me you were coming here tomorrow... and what were you gonna say about Brood?" she said in a faintly accusatory tone of voice. Byron fell silent for a few moments before giggling slightly. "I wanted to see the look on your face when I turned up tomorrow, that's all. Brood's coming with me there tomorrow," he said in answer to her question. "Sirius is taking my place with Sky," he added, almost as if anticipating the next question.

Good, Keira thought. She didn't really think that Byron would abandon his comatose student just like that, but she needed to hear it from him. Besides, his presence would mean that their elven "friend" would be taken care of quick. When she didn't speak for more than a few seconds, Byron did: "Go to bed already, it's 1 in the morning. I'll see you both after lunch tomorrow, alright?"

Keira said goodbye before hanging up. She turned to see Heather looking at her, both amused and relieved. "Girl, you are one lucky *****, d'you know that? I thought we were gonna be screwed!" The two friends started laughing; it took them around half a minute to settle down. "Well, shall we call it a night, then?" suggested Keira as she lay down on her side of the bed. A second later, she turned off the light and dozed off soon after.

A scream from the next room woke them up at 5 in the morning. Getting up, Keira and Heather knocked on their neighbors' door, which opened almost immediately. It was Alyssa, one of their classmates, who screamed; she now sat sobbing on the bed with her face in her hands. All the while, Joy - their common friend - patted her back, attempting to comfort her.

Half of Keira felt concern towards her classmate. On the other hand, the other half thought, serves her right - Alyssa was rather rude to her yesterday, thanks in part to it being her "red flag" day. But even without the red flag, Alyssa already developed a somewhat negative reputation for her attitude; it strongly reminded Keira of Paris Hilton.

Nevertheless, Keira asked, "What happened to you?" Alyssa's only response was to sob harder. It was Joy who answered this question instead:

"Alice says she dreamt she got raped in her sleep."

That put Keira and Heather off for a moment; of all the disturbing dreams possible, that was the one neither of them wanted to have. When the initial shock wore off, Keira attempted to reassure her. "It was just a dream, that's all... Don't worry about it too much."

And as Alyssa looked at her, Keira thought this did the trick. But the former just shook her head and continued sobbing. With one last concerned look at their classmate, the best friends returned to their room. Keira tried to get back to sleep, but with difficulty.

She woke up at 1 PM to the beeping of her cell phone. Keira checked it; it was a text from Byron saying that he was downstairs at the dining area. She and Heather went down and sure enough, he was there, surrounded by his students, and waved at the two when he saw them.

And at the other end of the room, Keira noticed more than a few girls in her class eyeing Byron with interest - the same way, she remembered, that they regarded Sky during their first week. Joy, who suddenly popped up beside them, even whispered to Keira's ear: "He kinda reminds me of Sky for some reason." This wasn't coincidential; Sky had adopted some style and wardrobe influences from his former teacher.

Byron, upon seeing Keira, gestured her out the door: Let's talk in private. Keira and Heather obeyed and stepped outside the room, where he joined them a while later.

"First Nortrom, and now girls having dreams of getting raped?" asked Byron, clearly disturbed. "Last year, this place wasn't so haunted..." he muttered, sounding a bit worried.

"Is there any way to prevent it?" Heather asked, fear evident in her voice. "Sir?" she added.

Byron thought long and hard. If the girls really were getting raped, it was a problem - but there was also Nortrom to contend with. He could solve both problems by themselves, but at once... Besides, he couldn't stay in the same dormitory as the girls; he needed to stick with his class. Plus, he didn't want to be thought of as a pervert, or worse, the rapist himself.

"Girls," he said, finally, "You'll need to somehow catch whoever it is in the act and stop him from there."

It wasn't that much of a solution, but it was all he could come up with at the moment.

tbc

Chapter 10: Silence and Spiders

When the two girls left at 5:30, Byron turned to his student, a thin, Korean-looking young boy who had been listening behind the door; he put his hands on the latter's shoulders. "You heard everything, then, Neo?"

The teen called Neo nodded. "I didn't mean to, but... yeah." He looked down, expecting a reprimand from his teacher. But instead, Byron patted him, meaning that it was alright. "Sir, do you think those girls can really handle it?"

Byron laughed at this question. "Like hell they can," he said, "Give them some credit! Sky's girl's tougher than you think. But," he added, suddenly becoming serious, "I need you to help them out for me. If I'm right, your hero could be a great help..."

Neo was perplexed. "What do you mean, sir?" he asked.

"Well..." Byron began, "I highly doubt that someone could go around raping girls without being noticed by their roommates. If that's the case, then it's all taking place inside their heads."

"And...?" Neo asked, still not understanding how he would be able to help.

"Merc should be able to enter into the girls' dreams and catch whoever's at it, or she can at least let Keira enter and take care of things. Either way," Byron smiled at his student as he finished talking, "You'll be a very big help." And when he still wasn't convinced, Byron added, "Come on, Neo, I'm sure Sky and Sirius would tell you to do the same thing, right?"

That did it. Mentioning Sky and Sirius - Dime - was what made Neo look up and finally accede to his teacher's plan. Glad to see his student had agreed to help, Byron said, "I'll text Keira; you go meet them and take care of the sicko. I've," he continued, "Got someone else to take care of..."

And Byron left to go outside for a smoke break, leaving Neo to himself. Once outside, he took out a Marlboro Light from his pack of cigarettes, lighted it, and began to smoke. Keira was right; everything had gone nuts, but to him, it started shortly before Sky's supposed accident. He remembered that the first hero Sky defeated, Magnus, gave both of them one hell of a fight. Even with Nessaj's help, Sky couldn't seem to finish it - at least until he got over the initial shock of seeing his favorite game come to life.

And half an hour later, as he pondered these things, an unnatural silence, exactly as Keira had described to him, fell on Byron's ears. Knowing that his enemy was here, he said to his surroundings: "You can come out now!"

Sure enough, someone stepped out from one of the buildings adjacent to the retreat house itself: Nortrom, the Silencer. And at the same time, an invisible presence joined Byron; it revealed itself as the Broodmother.

"You ready for this one?" he turned to the spider, a confident smile on his lips. And as if in reply, the torso of a young man emerged partially from the spider's thorax, both hands resting on its head; he had brown eyes, a thin face, shoulder-length black hair, and was wearing his signature black shirt. His skin was pale from his comatose state, and his eyes were lifeless, but there was no doubt it was him. His appearance was otherwise as it was before he went to sleep.

Sky.

"Yeah," Sky replied. "This ****'s gonna pay for what he nearly did to her..."

Sky sank back into the spider, which screamed and launched her eggs at the elven warrior. He blocked some with his shield and sliced others in half with the glaive, but still enough eggs survived to hatch around a dozen spiderlings that joined their mother. Putting the large weapon on his back, the elf jumped and began to throw smaller glaives - the size of a record - at the spiderlings, those that couldn't get out of the way in time. As he reached the peak of his height, he threw the big one at Sky - Arachnia - whoever it was, but the spider countered with a volley of silk that entangled and neutralized the attack.

And at that moment, the silence came again. It was so sudden, and so powerful that the spiderlings imploded from the sudden loss of the power that gave them life. Arachnia herself clung to the ground, legs twitching and unable to move. The elf took the opportunity to launch a myriad of glaives at the giant spider, but she quickly countered with webs that stopped the attacks dead in their tracks.

Byron watched the battle, torn between confidence and concern for his dearest student. He knew that Arachnia was almost Sky's "heart and soul" - directing or outright controlling the spider was no big deal for him. But if he was right, Nortrom's tricks would prevent him from using Arachnia's abilities to full effect, the lack of her invisibility skill proved it. However, he hoped - no, believed - that Sky would prevail over the Blood elf.

And as a scream sounded from the second floor, breaking the silence, Byron knew that the girls' own battle was near.

Be careful, Keira...

tbc

Chapter 11: Twisted Eden

August 1st, 6:30 PM - Keira and Heather heard the scream and knew it could mean only one thing: someone else was being raped. They rushed out of their room, but Keira stopped dead when she noticed a young, Korean male outside their door. "Keira?" he asked; she nodded. "I'm Neo; Sir Byron asked me to help you guys out."

She had many questions for the youth, but none of them were important in light of the present situation. The trio didn't have to look far to see where the fire was; on the far left end of the hallway, Keira could see a crowd of their classmates gathered. She led the two there, where the others looked a little surprised to see them take an interest. "Excuse me - " Heather said as they squeezed their way through. "Coming through - "

When Keira entered, what she saw caused tears to well up in her eyes. The one thrashing around and screaming was Chie, who was close to both her and Sky; Tina, her best friend, was attempting to calm her down. "She's been thrashing around in her sleep for half an hour now," said Tina, "Isn't there anything we can do!?"

Keira didn't answer and merely wept as she saw Chie in her agony. Even if it was a hero that was ravaging her at the moment, how was she going to enter Chie's mind? Sir Byron, help me, dammit! she thought in her frustration. She looked at Neo, who had just locked the door. "Sir told me this might happen," he said. He clutched the dog tags he was wearing around his neck and bowed his head; Keira and Heather sensed something coming. "Stand back ladies, this may be a bit of a shock..."

And as the young man whispered, the room's lights flickered on and off as a strong purple glow emanated from right in front of Neo. Something was rising out of the floor: when enough of it had emerged, Keira saw that it was a young woman in a black cloak. She took off her hood, revealing long, dark blue hair that matched her glowing purple eyes. "Yes, Neo?" she asked his master in a stage whisper.

"Emma, can you open a way into her mind?" Neo asked, gesturing towards Chie, who still moaned and writhed in her bed.

The girl named Emma, in lieu of a reply, stretched out her palm in Chie's direction; a moment later, a portal opened up, big enough for an adult to enter. "Keira, I'm letting Emma go with you into her mind," said Neo. "She'll get you out when you've beaten whatever's tormenting Chie, or," he continued, "If it's too much for you to handle. Alright?"

Keira and Heather didn't think much of the latter part; they couldn't afford to wait for Sir Byron to clean up this mess. Nevertheless, the former nodded and stepped towards the rift beside Emma. Heather attempted to follow, but Keira looked back and shook her head. "I can handle this one," she said with a small smile. "Do what you can for Chie from here, ok?"

Heather hesitated, then nodded. Satisfied with Heather's acquiescence to her request, Keira and Emma stepped forward and entered together.

Keira's first impression of the place was that it would be beautiful were it not for Chie's screams and the blood-red sky. It was an ideal place to have a picnic, for one thing - green grass, a meadow broken only by the lone cherry tree in the middle. It seemed to be a twisted parody of paradise, or of Eden.

Then, remembering her purpose here, Keira ran with Emma towards the tree. And what the former saw could very well give her nightmares as well...

It was a man with demonic wings who was forcing himself upon a naked Chie, who struggled futilely against her assailant. Keira heard her companion growl in anger beside her.

"Get off her," Emma muttered in a sepulchral voice. "Your business is with us," she added.

The rapist got up with a start, and turned to face his opponents. "That's big talk coming from a cute little girl," he sneered. "My name's Balanar, the Night Stalker. No one can beat me in the night, but I welcome you to try!" He let loose an inhuman roar, and as he did so, monstrous claws appeared and surrounded his hands.

And at that moment, the sound of hooves told Keira that Nessaj, Byron's hero, joined them as well. He turned to Keira, then to Emma. "I'll take care of him, Miss Keira," he said. "Stay close to Emma, alright?"

His horse rearing, Nessaj charged straight at the Night Stalker, who laughed openly. He made no effort to evade the knight, yet he was nowhere to be found when Nessaj swung his blade. He turned, and saw his opponent there, laughing even harder. Nessaj charged once more, and this time, so did Balanar. He jumped and clotheslined the knight off his mount, who stopped three seconds later, having realized that his rider was no longer mounted.

The Chaos Knight's steel clashed against his adversary's unholy claws as they dueled. Nessaj was having a bit of a hard time against the demon; each time he swung his broadsword, Balanar was able to block or dodge with ease. After a brief fight in which neither managed to gain an advantage, the Night Stalker sent Nessaj and his sword sprawling a few feet away with an almighty punch to the stomach.

The knight painfully struggled to get to his feet, and barely managed to re-mount his steed. But just a heartbeat later, Nessaj shrugged off the pain and charged again...

tbc

Chapter 12: Blood-soaked Sky

While Nessaj was in combat against the Night Stalker, Byron and his student were fighting an uphill battle against Nortrom. Sky was unable to take full advantage of his favorite hero's abilities, and it wasn't just because of the silencing spells - which took out Arachnia's most important asset, her invisibility. His usual "Spider Swarm" strategy was ineffective; as was demonstrated earlier, the Silencer could slaughter the spiderlings with a single volley of glaives. And for some reason, with him in control, the Broodmother was unable to work herself into a hunger for flesh, as she usually did at times like these.

Byron was no better off; Sky learned to use and master Broodmother on his own. And if he was in a bind, what could Byron do? Besides, Nessaj was with Keira and Heather right now, up against whoever was behind the freaky **** that happened to the girls of 1-XPS - Keira, Sky, and Heather's class. It was all he could do to yell encouragement at his student, who struggled to put up a fight against the elven enemy.

Without warning, Nortrom threw no less than eight glaives at Byron; he had little time to react, and was sure that he would die there. As the enchanted blades hurtled at him like shooting stars, the teacher smiled an ironic smile to himself as he thought of his students. Sorry Sky, it looks like I won't be able to witness your moment with her.

But the pain and blackness Byron expected never came. When he opened his eyes, the spider was in front of him, its legs pinned down by the glaives that the Silencer had thrown. Sky had thrown himself in the way to shield his beloved teacher from certain death. "How touching..." said Nortrom softly. "But I've got one left with your name on it, Sky!"

He took the largest glaive on his back and threw it at the Broodmother, who thanks to the other, smaller ones was unable to move and evade this last, deadly assault. Blood spurted from the largest, now-ruined eye on the spider's head that sprayed Nortrom all over before he jumped a good distance away from his opponent. Arachnia, meanwhile, shrieked in agony. Byron's face was masklike with shock; it was as if his insides turned to ice.

And suddenly, the spider stopped writhing in agony, and was completely still. The glaive returned to its owner, who, even as his body was drenched in blood, smiled a sinister smile. "And this one..." Nortrom said, as he prepared to throw it again, "Is for you... sir."

The elf jumped once more, preparing to let loose the glaive as he reached the peak of his jump. Byron closed his eyes, resigned to his fate; Sky was gone, and there was nothing he could do at this point. He had failed his students - Sky, Sirius, Neo... and Keira. Well Sky, I'll be seeing you in a while, at least.

But instead of throwing it, Nortrom plummeted back to the ground in shock at what was happening to the spider he thought he had vanquished just a while ago...

The glaives that prevented its legs from moving were suddenly sent flying as the spider revived and started bulking up. Long, spiked tendrils protruded upwards from its leg joints as it swelled a bit larger than its normal (but already alarmingly large) size. The shriek of pain from earlier was now a scream of rage and fury that curdled even Nortrom's blood. All the while, blinding scarlet light surrounded the newly-reanimated spider; Byron squinted his eyes to better see what was happening.

But nothing could have been more disturbing that what was emerging from the Broodmother's thorax: just as it had earlier, Sky's entire upper body showed itself, still in his black shirt. His eyes, however, had lost their usual almond hue and now took on a glowing blood-red. He grabbed two of the spikes that had risen from his spider half's front legs, each about a meter long, and gripped them as he would have done a short spear. Sky looked back at his teacher with a slightly apologetic smile.

"Sorry to freak you out, sir," Sky said, laughing a little. "Even I didn't know this would happen." Then he turned back to face the Silencer. "You ready for round 2?"

Sky launched a web of silk from his spinneret that covered the entire clearing like a dome; this was in order to limit Nortrom from leaping into the air to throw his projectiles. "You jump, you'll be food," Sky taunted the elf who, in response, threw yet another volley of glaives his way.

He was able to evade this one with ease - the reanimation greatly increased Sky's reflexes and dexterity, not to mention his speed. To Byron's shock and revulsion, he sliced both his wrists with the makeshift javelins; Sky then covered the tips in his own fresh blood. "What the hell are you doing!?" Byron spat out in his shock. His student didn't answer, but merely looked at him with a determined expression on his face. Trust me sir, I know what I'm doing...

And as Sky tossed one of his javelins at Nortrom, the bloody tip burst into flames; it was just lucky that the Silencer carried a shield. Undeterred, the human-spider fusion threw his other one, which hit the center of the shield and in the process cracked it. Nortrom looked at it, and was starting to worry; if it broke, he would be left with no defense. With little choice left, the Silencer repeated his Global Silence spell.

Sky once again took the spikes, which had regrown, from his lower half's legs and coated them in blood as before. The silence wouldn't be as much of a hindrance as before; he already knew better than to spawn spiderlings by this point. Besides, he had quite a few tricks up his sleeve, too. Taking careful aim, Sky threw one of his javelins at the elf, who jumped to avoid it; Nortrom barely managed to avoid getting caught by the web-dome's ceiling.

However, this one attack allowed Sky to climb the web unnoticed; as Nortrom began to fall back down, he threw another spear which the Silencer was able to block after he turned around. In the process, his shield shattered, eliminating his one and only form of defense; the elf tossed the now-useless shield aside. Sky could feel the end nearing...

In one last, desperate move, Nortrom threw his glaive, but Sky launched a web that wrapped around the weapon, nullifying this last attack. He dropped down from the dome, landed on his arachnid feet, and ensnared the elf with one more web. Sky took one more spike from his left front leg, which had regenerated yet again. He advanced towards Nortrom, intending to finally finish the battle...

...But instead of stabbing the elven warrior, Sky turned the javelin in his left hand backwards and stabbed himself in the heart. Byron wondered what was going through his student's head until he heard the Silencer cry out in pain. When he looked, he saw that Nortrom, too, had been impaled by a javelin that seemingly materialized in the air. It didn't escape Byron's attention either that both Sky and Nortrom had been stabbed in the same place.

"What... did you do to me...?" Nortrom gasped. "It... no..."

"It's called, Life Break," said Sky as blood trickled from his chin. "Whatever damage I take, I can inflict on you since you're covered in my blood." He laughed a little, still bleeding from the mouth. "Pretty impressive, huh?"

Unfortunately, Nortrom never got a chance to reply; at that moment, Sky stabbed him in the throat with the javelin in his other hand. The Silencer dropped his glaive as he fell backwards, dead. And with his death, Sky pulled out the spear from his heart as the dome-web hardened and crumbled into dust.

"Now... what the **** was that about, Sky?" Byron asked, angry for some reason. "You nearly gave me a ****ing heart attack!"

Sky laughed. "Sorry sir," he said, "Don't worry about me, I'll heal up in no time." And sure enough, the stab wound in his chest, as well as the slashes on his wrists, were beginning to heal; the skin was almost closed again. Byron was amazed at what Sky had done, fusing the abilities of two heroes, and beautifully at that. Just then, someone behind him and his student screamed; both looked round.

It was Heather, a look of utmost shock on her marble-white face. And at the sight, both Sky and Byron were thinking the same thing:

Oh ****, we're screwed.

tbc

Chapter 13: Resolutions

"Is that..." Heather murmured, blankly, "Really you? ...Sky...?"

The sight would have made anyone scream. In fact, she was sure that if it was Keira, not only would she scream, she'd faint from her shock as well. And beat Sky up for making her worry. Heather couldn't help herself; the next words she spoke were ones of mingled rage and joy: "Do you know that she's been crying herself to sleep since your accident!!?" And after a moment, she was unable to restrain herself. "DAMN YOU!!!"

She ran towards the spider-human hybrid, beating his chest before collapsing into his arms, in tears. Byron approached them as Sky took her by the shoulders. "Heath, listen to me," Sky began, gazing into her eyes. "Keira can't be allowed to know about this - nor can anyone else. Do you understand?" he asked, desperately. "It's for your own safety... please, trust me on this one."

"What do you mean?" Heather asked again, hysterically. "She cries at night for you, Sky! She even sleeps in your room at night, to be close to you. Why can't you just return and make her happy again!?"

Sky opened and closed his mouth several times, but nothing came out. Finally, on the fifth attempt to speak, Byron shook his head at his student and answered for him instead.

"In his current state, Sky can always be around to protect Keira. But if he hadn't put himself into a coma, his enemies," he nodded at the body of what had been Nortrom, the Silencer, "Will go after the ones closest to him - Keira and you, for a start. That's why he had to do what he did," Byron finished.

Heather said nothing for a few moments, then raised her eyebrows. "Is that really the only reason?" This time, Sky answered this himself:

"Trust me... You know what she means to me," Sky spoke, almost pleadingly. "You know I'd throw it all away for her..."

Master and student breathed a sigh of relief as Heather nodded.

And while this was going on, Nessaj was getting beaten up by Balanar inside Chie's "garden". The night made the demon nigh-invincible; he couldn't be hit even by the Chaos Knight's high-speed charges. It came to a point that he was battered to the point of being unable to continue, at which point Emma - Mercurial - left Keira's side to take his place. She tossed away her black cloak, revealing a black-and purple skin-tight body suit. On each of her hands was a chakram, molded out of pure shadow.

"The little girl wants to play rough, then?" Balanar taunted, giggling like a small child. "You'll be bleeding by the time I'm finished with you..."

The Avatar of Vengeance charged at the demon with an inhuman speed, the wind screaming in her wake. Emma attempted to decapitate the Night Stalker from behind, but his night-enhanced reflexes allowed him to kick her away. She landed on her feet, tossing a myriad of daggers at the demon, but he was able to block this, too. The two warriors charged towards each other, ending up locked in a heated exchange of blows upon colliding. Shadowy blades clashed with unholy gauntlets as neither was able to gain the upper hand.

Spotting an opening, Emma plunged one of her daggers into Balanar's side, but with no apparent damage; she hit the tree where Chie and Keira lay, along with the resting Nessaj. Emma spat out some blood before going on the attack again, nothing more than a black blur as she darted and danced around the Night Stalker, tossing more knives as she did so. And sure enough, another one hit him in the thigh.

This was where the turning of the tide came; since being struck by the spectral daggers, Balanar's speed and reflexes dropped considerably, allowing Emma to meet him more evenly. She was able to land some serious hits this time around, but the demon's body was toughened to the extent that even full-force strikes from her deadly chakrams only managed to inflict moderately deep cuts. Struggling for dominance, the only weak point Emma could see was Balanar's neck, but how was she supposed to attack it?

Emma half-glanced at Nessaj, who was at the tree all the way to the west, for a heartbeat. However, this loss of attention caused her to be swatted away once more, like a mere fly. And Nessaj took this opportunity to charge back into the fray for one final attack.

"Zantetsuken!"

But though the Night Stalker could no longer evade, he was still able to block. With his forearm, he was able to stop Nessaj from executing the final blow. "Idiot... you can't kill me with something like that!" screamed the demon. "You'll have to come up with a more realistic way!" Nessaj grunted and roared as he tried to force the blade to slice his enemy.

This was exactly what Emma needed. Taking advantage of this, the Spectre wrapped her legs around the demon's waist from behind and decapitated him.

Blood spurted from the severed neck like a fountain as Balanar's head landed just a few feet away from the tree.

tbc

Chapter 14: Crisis

Finally, things are back to normal, thought Heather as she sat beside Keira in the conference-slash-prayer-slash-lecture room. No more dreams of rape, no more deathly silence in the night - both Balanar and Nortrom had been defeated, thanks to Keira. Not to mention with participation by Byron, Neo, herself, and... Sky.

Sky... At the thought of him, the two halves of Heather's conscience clashed within her heart: to tell or not to tell? Telling Keira about Sky would make her happy - extremely happy, Heather knew. She'd been a shadow of her old, jolly, chatty self since Sky and his sleeping pills. On the other hand, Heather promised both Sky and Byron that she wouldn't let Keira know - "for her safety," according to them. So, which was it now? Heather's best friend, or her closest confidant...?

Suddenly, the lightbulbs dimmed as the retreat mistress and Sir Byron (his class was sharing the room with Keira's for this particular session) gave out their letters; Keira and Heather each got quite a decent number. The former received notes not just from her own friends, but from Sky's as well: Byron, Dime, and Neo. All thanked her for being a great friend to Sky, and promised their friendship. Keira was in tears after reading her letters, but she wasn't the only one - hell, most if not all of their class were crying after the letters.

And at that moment, the lights went out. Byron walked to the center, where a small, scarlet lamp still shone, and sat down beside it. "Class XPS of San Beda, right?" he asked as the said class murmured their assent. "I'm sure you guys knew Sky, then?"

The answer was a collective yes. Byron nodded approvingly before speaking once more. "So... what have you got to say about my student? Don't be shy..." and smiled. "Yes?" he asked, calling one of the girls; her name was Julia, according to the nametag.

"Sir, he looks like you," she said, to laughter from her classmates. "No, really!"

Byron laughed at this too; he had heard rumors that his student hero-worshiped him to the point of emulating his hairstyle and wardrobe. In any case, he felt flattered that Sky admired him that way.

"What else?" he asked. He caught another one of the girls, who sat right next to Heather, looking directly at him. "...Everyone liked him," she said, to an approving smile from Byron. If everyone liked Sky, Byron had nothing to do with it - that was just how Sky was. And as his classmates spoke one by one, the teacher felt their great love for his student. He was a bit surprised at the same time - until 4th year, the only people who could say that Sky was close to them were himself, Neo, Sirius... the gang. The words continued until finally it was Keira's turn to speak.

"I miss him..."

That was all she could say; Keira was crying so hard on Heather's shoulders that there was no more getting a word from her. "It's alright, I know how close you two were," he said. "Guys," Byron addressed the whole class, "I'm sure he'd be touched if he were here. Just... include him in your prayers, alright?"

Fifteen minutes later, Keira and Heather made their way back to their room, the latter still crying her eyes out. It was all Heather could do to pat her on the back, and her promise to Sky and Byron didn't help either. Keira lost it once more as they arrived at their room and again sobbed uncontrollably on Heather's shoulder.

It was this, the sight of her best friend's tears, that did it. Sky, Byron... forgive me. Heather took Keira by the shoulders.

"I've got something you need to know... about him."

Meanwhile, Byron smoked his Lights behind the building, accompanied by Neo and Broodmother - Sky, who was able to listen in on his former teacher's session with his classmates. Blowing out a stream of smoke, Byron turned to Sky. "Don't you think you ought to show yourself to her soon? She misses you, you know." He did see the wisdom and love in Sky's decision to temporarily abandon his body in order to share Arachnia's, but Byron saw how much Keira's heart ached for his student.

In response, Sky emerged from Broodmother's thorax just as he did in the earlier battle, his eyes back to their normal almond hue. He smiled sadly at his teacher. "I don't want her to see me in this form. I don't want Keira to see I've become a monster..." he muttered.

"A monster that's protecting her," Byron corrected him. "I'm sure she'd be overjoyed to see you again, even if you ARE a freakish spider-human abomination." The three laughed together at this last one; when the laughter died, Sky was silent. After about a minute, he looked up.

"Maybe I'll tell her, but... not just yet."

tbc

Chapter 15: A Prelude

2:00 AM, August 3rd, 2008 - the rest of the retreat passed without any real incident. Thankfully, no more heroes wreaked havoc, as both of them had been defeated by Keira and friends. She was grateful for it, too; she didn't think she could handle it if another one came along. Right now, she was sitting on the bed right beside Sky's, reflecting on recent happenings while eating a cheeseburger and fries.

Sky... is it true?

It was what Heather said that Keira was mulling over. According to Heath, Sky was closer to Keira than Keira was aware of. There was some truth to it; after an arrangement between her, her sister, and Byron, she lived in his condo unit now, watching over him in his coma. But Sky still being around, somehow... how? He was stuck in a coma. Could it be... is it possible that Sky was able to make his presence felt despite his situation?

Give me a sign...

And for some reason, Keira was starting to suspect a connection between Sky and her eight-legged guardian. For a start, they had the same speech pattern. Plus, Arachnia said herself that her master was someone "close to Keira's heart". Sky had promised to always be around; Broodmother was always present whenever things happened to her. Besides... she often spent time with him and Byron at Blueskies, and Keira remembered that his favorite hero was none other than Broodmother. It couldn't all be merely coincidential...

Sky, wake up already! thought Keira bitterly, tears welling up once more.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the Bellarmine field inside Ateneo, Byron and his students - Neo, Sirius, and Sky - were hanging out, sitting or laying down on the grass while drinking Hennessey (Byron had ordered some from a fancy liquor store) and eating burgers from Wham!. It was a little party of sorts; Sirius had finally defeated Krobelus, all by himself no less. And so the four of them, Sky once again having emerged from Brood, devoured their midnight meal and chugged on their liquor.

Once that was out of the way, they formed a circle, Byron in the center. It was the second purpose of this meeting: they had a lot of things to discuss. And when the full moon came out from behind a cloud, Byron opened his mouth to speak.

"First order of business, guys..." Byron began, "Are any of you in contact with Grave?" Both Sirius and Neo nodded. "How come he hasn't shown himself lately?"

A word of explanation: Byron and Sky's little gang gave recruits codenames based on the shop they were first met in. For example, "Sky" was derived from Blueskies, the cafe right in front of KFC Katipunan. Paradigm, or Dime, was from the internet cafe of the same name near Yellow Cab. Neo, from the now-defunct NeoAtens at the ground floor of Burgundy Plaza - not coincidentially, Sky, Byron, and Keira's home. And Grave... was from Green Avenue, near the tricycle terminal at Ministop. Finally, Byron's own codename (though he and his students never used it or referred to him that way outside games) was Skyblue - Blue, for short - in reference to both Blueskies and his brotherly bond with Sky.

It was Sirius who volunteered to answer his teacher's inquiry. "They were going through hell week, sir," he explained, "It was their midterms last week. And he lives with a possessive girlfriend who won't let him go out often." All four laughed at this for a while, looking at Sky, who blushed; after a moment, Byron cleared his throat again.

"Second," Byron went on as if there'd been no interruption, "We need to recruit more 'bonded' members. Since two of us are concentrated in Katipunan," he nodded at Sky, "We need guys - or girls, for that matter - in other areas."

Most of them nodded, signifying that they were in agreement. "Just watch for anyone who you think may be bonded, alright? Well... next, one, then - "

Byron broke off after hearing the sound of a rumbling motorcycle engine. They looked round; it was a lean, long-haired young man in an Ateneo jacket and black shorts. His eyes were green (ironically, the color of his school's rival) and sported a vertical scar running down the right one. Byron smiled at the newcomer. "Well, Grave... glad you could make it."

The one called Grave got his liquor and a burger then took his place between Byron and Neo just as Sky took his turn to address his friends.

"I need you guys to act as 'security guards' for me," Sky opened. "It's a friend's birthday this Wednesday, and... y'know, just to make sure things go fine?" he explained. "It doesn't have to be all of you!" he added, as he saw his friends' smiles slowly fade. "Even just one of you would be fine."

He looked around at them. Grave probably wouldn't make it, no thanks to his girl and Neo had long tests to study for - not to mention the ACET. Byron, meanwhile, promised his girlfriend that they'd go out on a date on that night. Which left Sirius.

"...Alright, bro," Sirius said. "Just make sure I'm well-fed on that night, alright?"

They all laughed at this. Finally, getting to his feet, Byron said, "Alright, guys... adjourned. Just keep in touch, alright?" he looked around at them all. "My gut tells me that something big's coming up..."

Three hours later, Sirius, Sky and Byron were at Sirius's house in Xavierville. It was rather large, too - swimming pool, garden, basketball court... those things. Sky was talking with them while eating the extra burgers left over from the meeting; he had a favor for Sirius in particular.

Finally, when Sky had finished eating and the first rays of daylight were visible, Puck appeared at Sirius's side in a flash. "Alright... Puck," Sirius said to his partner, "Can you give Sky his old body back for a while?"

The dragon crooned; blue light surrounded Sky as Puck did his thing. And when it faded, he was standing in an imitation of his true form, right in front of where Broodmother slept - he had fallen asleep in his current body when Puck created the facsimile of his old one. "Listen, Sky, that dream'll only last for twelve hours, alright?" he warned his friend. "Use it wisely. And if you 'die' in that form," he added, "You'll wake up," he pointed to Broodmother's - Sky's - body.

"Thanks!" Sky exclaimed, hugging his friend who was now texting someone - Grave, Sky saw. "I really appreciate it, Sirius!"

An hour later, as Keira slept, her phone received a text message from Sirius:

To Keira and Heather, can we go out for a while later? I've got someone who wants to see you.

tbc

Chapter 16: Clickety-Clank, Clickety-Clank

Keira sensed something in Sirius's unusual silence as the three of them - Sirius, Keira, and Heather - took the LRT to Gateway, where 'an old friend' was said to be waiting. Keira didn't know what the hell Sirius meant; the only old friend who they both knew was Sky, but... it couldn't be, could it? Keira, you're in for the shock of your life, thought Heather with a slight smile as they took the escalator going down from the platform.

And as they entered Gateway, there were two guys waiting for them in front of Odyssey; one wore an Ateneo shirt and shorts, while the other was clad in a familiar black shirt as well as the khaki pants that were Ateneo High's uniform. Upon sighting the latter, Keira let out a scream and threw herself upon him... Sky. She let go of him for a moment to stare suspiciously at Sirius, who said: "Thank Puck for that, Keira. He's still knocked out from the spell he worked for you to be together."

Well... a day's better than nothing, isn't it? Such were Sirius and Heather's thoughts as they observed Keira still sobbing on Sky's shoulder. Of course, Keira didn't have to know that the Sky whose arms she was in was just a projection, an imitation of the real thing, right?

"Well..." Sky said to Sirius over Keira's shoulder, "Thanks, bro." And winked at him while projecting these thoughts: Take care of my body, alright? Give Puck a nice cheese pizza as my thanks. As this Sky was a dream fashioned by Puck, he was somehow able to communicate telepathically with the Faerie's master.

And as the three left, Sirius noted Keira and Sky holding hands. When they were out of earshot, he turned to Grave. "Watch Sky for me, man," said Sirius, his hand on his partner's shoulder. "He doesn't have the luxury of summoning Broodmother today."

"Don't worry... Rattle and I are competent."

Clickety-clank, clickety-clank...

As Grave spoke this, both he and Sirius could hear the faint noise of whirring gears and a small, running engine. The former turned around; the noise was coming from a figure who had just come from the pay toilets. He was clad in a black cloak that covered his body completely, and for some reason, the sound of machinery appeared to be coming from him.

Grave smiled as he saw his hero appear. "Speak of the devil..." he muttered. "Alright. Rattletrap," he continued, referring to his partner, "Put your stealth back on, we've got work to do."

The one called Rattletrap obeyed, and after a moment or two, faded completely from view.

Araneta Center - today was to be a great day for music lovers, OPM lovers in general. After several attempts at a reunion concert, finally... today (or tonight, rather) was the reunion concert of the Eraserheads, one of the biggest Pinoy bands of the 90s. No surprise, then, that people from all over the Philippines were going to watch.

As a matter of fact, there were so many tickets prepared that they still hadn't been sold out as of this moment - whoever was behind the reunion knew what he was doing, all right. About a hundred people were there, young and old, practically swarming the ticket booth. "Settle down, people!" The man behind the booth practically begged. "Please?" he added. He let out a sigh, resigned to his current predicament; it was of course to be expected, given the... circumstances.

And at that moment, a foul smell in the air made them all scream; "plague" best summed up what it was like. Unearthly moans and groans could be heard as a mob of scarred, grotesque-looking men shuffled alarmingly quickly towards the panicking crowd. Over the din of their screams, the booming voice of the biggest of the men - the apparent leader - could be heard:

"Feel... our... undying... pain..."

This scene could be observed by Sky and Heather, who both sat nearest to the windows, while eating with their friends in one of the fancy restaurants on Gateway's 3rd floor. They didn't know whether to be freaked shitless because of another hero attack, or thankful because another party was about to begin. Whatever it was, the close friends shared one thought:

This **** again?

Grave and Rattletrap, meanwhile, were already on scene and about to dish out some punishment of their own. This was exactly what Sirius was talking about.

tbc

Chapter 17: Clockwerk Carnage

"Alright, Rattle," Grave spoke to his partner, "Let 'em have it."

Rattletrap threw off his cloak, revealing the fairly huge, robotic, 100%-iron goblin that lay underneath it. His head and face was that of a robotic goblin, with glowing green eyes that were home to a sophisticated array of sensors. Two large cylinders (the left of which had the word "Clockwerk" painted on it in deep crimson lettering) - either exhaust pipes, or cannons - protruded upwards from his pauldron-sized, armor plated shoulders, each faintly letting off steam. Also easily noticeable were the skeletal-looking "wings" on his back.

As for the arms... the left arm was a normal humanoid one that ended in a hand (although the fingertips looked a lot like hooks) while the right was a cannon, a weapon of sorts. There were grooves all over the Clockwerk Goblin's body, suggesting that he had more to him than met the eye. The largest of the mob stared at the newcomer for several seconds; then, with a roar, directed his underlings to converge on Rattletrap.

"Well?" prompted Grave. "Don't be shy... We can't afford it now! Make that idiot pay for ruining Sky's date!"

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

With this scream, Rattletrap executed a high-powered, booster-assisted jump that brought him to the roof of Shopwise, the grocery store right across Araneta Center. The goblin folded his arms across his chest, revealing two large missiles stored in his upper arms. The compartment in his back also opened to reveal a rack holding two more missiles of similar size. Rattletrap emitted a loud bursting noise as he launched his four missiles, each of which split into a dozen smaller ones.

The baby missiles hurtled at high speed towards the mob, some blowing a head off or a chest wide open, scattering bits of brain and flesh on the ground. Those of the ticket buyers who hadn't yet succumbed to their attacked fled in their terror. Hell, even the sun itself seemed to be scared, as a total solar eclipse hid it from view, covering everything in darkness.

The mob fell to the ground, dead. But a moment later...

"I am Dirge... My wrath is undying...!"

To Grave's horror, the corpses - the relatively intact ones, anyway - got to their feet and began to chase the crowd as fast as they could. Again Rattletrap launched a (normally, anyway) deadly volley of missiles, but the mob's leader, himself a zombie, simply raised even more undead from the corpses of his recent victims. Finally, after the third attempt, Grave realized: the zombies couldn't be killed by standard artillery. The only way to effectively dispose of them was magic, or, barring that, killing the leader directly.

Grave relayed this to Rattletrap, who had resumed his place beside his master. The goblin extended and fired his left forearm at the one called Dirge; the hooked fingers gripping tightly, Rattletrap launched himself towards the enemy using the chain connecting his upper arm and forearm; the zombie was both surprised and stunned by this move. His chest and leg plates opened to reveal a multitude of firearms that varied in firepower; each simultaneously opened fire on Dirge.

And once the ammo was all expended, Dirge was near his limit - not only did he eat about a thousand bullets of all calibers, the Clockwerk Goblin also unloaded his right arm-mounted laser cannon on the zombie. Rattletrap approached the nearly-defeated foe, his left hand melding into a sword...

But then, zombies swarmed the goblin from all sides. So focused were Grave and Rattletrap on Dirge that they totally forgot about the other undead. The Clockwerk would have been ripped apart if he didn't jump again, tearing off the zombies' arms in the process - and thanks to the boosters and wings, Rattletrap stayed airborne as he once again prepared to bring his missile payload to bear. Again he launched, and again the large missiles split into a volley of smaller ones. But...

White beams of light suddenly rained down, seemingly from the moon, that pierced missile and zombie alike; the missiles exploded while the zombies were killed, never to rise again. Eyes widening in shock, Grave looked around for the interloper.

And just around the corner of Araneta, near the jeepney terminal, was a silhouette of a woman mounted on what seemed to be a large cat - tiger - whatever it was.

Who could it be?

tbc