A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 10

Some Galahs Do An Inky Mission: Prologue

Kaiso’s POV

Where…Am I?

What happened? What’s wrong with my hands?

No… Not again.

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 12

The Ini Pyramid crumbled.

Sonic had cut off a large piece of Zielo's quills.

Scylla woke up to see Adam, Sophia, and Diana worriedly staring at her. Scylla touched a feather on her face; which was located near her eyes.

Scylla panicked, asking urgently, "Where's Aite and Ajal? Are they here?"

Adam shook his head. Diana answered timidly, "Aite and Ajal went to the Ini Pyramid. When the pyramid collapsed, they didn't come back."

Scylla's eyes widened, and she sat up quickly, only to feel the blood rushing to her head. Scylla turned towards the destroyed Ini Pyramid and growled, "Then we need to get over there quickly. Aite and Ajal may be in trouble."

Sophia asked, "But how are we going to get there without the Soulless spotting us?"

Scylla thought about it, sparking a tongue of fire in her hand. Looking into it, Scylla smirked.

Extinguishing the flame, Scylla said, "I think I have an idea."

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Scylla made another illusion, but this time, it was of a couple of demigods engaging in battle with the Soulless. Before the Soulless could come to the scene, Scylla, Adam, Diana, and Sophia ran toward the ruins quickly.

As they reached the wreckage, Scylla saw a mix of violet cinders and blood on the ground. Signaling to the others to stop, Scylla knelt down, trying to drown out the doubts, fear, anger, and despair that welled up, pricking her tears with a dangerous guilt as Scylla tried to blink the tears back. Her eyes were blurry, and she felt like she was going to burst into flames.

Please be okay, Ajal and Aite. Scylla transmitted, not expecting anything to happen.

"Scylla, we should be helping with exterminating the Soulless." Adam gently whispered, helping Scylla up.

Scylla nods. "Their deaths won't be – ACK!!!!"

Scylla held her head, feeling dizzy, but she felt something coming from the north. It felt familiar, but she was in too much pain to walk towards it.

"Scylla, are you hurt?" Adam asked.

"Are you okay?" Sophia asked urgently.

Diana started, "Maybe we should take her to the -"

ENOUGH!! Scylla transmitted.

The Blizzard: Chapter 8

(Author's Note: A mention of a near-death experience and an endangering experiment. Also, this chapter happens almost a year after the Incident.)

"MANGO DRAGONFRUIT MOCHISOLAR OF THE MERCATS, COME HERE, YOUNG LADY!" Hikari shouted, causing Demetria to flinch. The one day Demetria was supposed to be visiting the nightmare-ridden Mercat (that was Kiui) was interrupted by the yells and hisses of the cat side of the Mochisolar family.

Mango came into the living room and stopped when she saw Demetria. Mango waved nervously. "...Hi?"

"Alright, what did you do to get called out like that?" Demetria asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Mango hesitated, a look of trauma crossing her face, before she raised her hands to sign, 'No need to worry, it was just a small donation.'

"Mangoo, you can't lie to me. I saw the look on your face, and you only use sign language if you did something really bad or if something traumatizing is happening." Demetria grabbed a cup of hot chocolate and sipped on it, watching her cousin closely.

Mango looked nervous, steeling herself before signing, 'I got strapped into an experiment and nearly died twice because it drained my life force and I forced myself unconscious!'

"MANGO!" Demetria gasped. Yeah, she's joining in on the punishment party on that one, because what Mango did was dangerous and incredibly reckless.

'I was TIRED!'

"Just go to Aunt Hikari - NOW." Demetria pointed to the security office, where her aunt was. She didn't want to deal with this.

'Fine, fine.' Mango grumped over to the security room.

Demetria sighed, sipping her hot chocolate and headed to the kitchen. "One of these days, the girls are gonna give me a headache." A yellow-and-grey dart flew past Demetria, almost making her trip. "Kiui!"

"Sorry not sorry!" Kiui meowed back.

"Hey, Kiui? Can you call Ashley?" Hikari called. Demetria's eyes widened as she realized this is becoming a family issue. She's gotta go before Demetria gets wrapped up in it.

"OkayIgottagobye!" Demetria rushed, heading back to her residence.

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 16

Scylla couldn't remember the last time she was a mermaid. Probably at least four years ago, when she was still practicing her underwater spells. No matter, because she saw the broken shards of the Chaos Emeralds.

Scylla almost choked from swallowing the oxygen-lacking water too quickly. "God..." She managed to whisper, grabbing the colorful shards. "How am I going to fix this?" Her vision swirled as her tears began to rim her eyes. Scylla wiped away the tears and began to sort the shards into seven black bags.

She took a deep breath in after she was done, mentally preparing herself for the rest of the destroyed island.

Swimming around the island, Scylla noted the main drowning sites for the plants and animals, picking up some of the wet Soulless ashes carefully. She took note of the destroyed temple that had once served to protect both the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald.

Now, it was time to take a look at the Master Emerald.

Scylla cautiously entered the temple, bracing herself for the worst.

What she saw was not what she had in mind.

The Master Emerald was practically nonexistent, as if it had disappeared into thin air. All that was left of it was the powdery dust that was suspended in the water.

Scylla stood there, staring at the scene in shock and disbelief. There's no way Zielo would do this...right?

From the looks of it, he would.

Scylla growled, twitching before swimming off. THIS is the reason why the apocalypse needed to stop, effective immediately. Being a vessel for Chaos energy – as in all of it - won't be good. It's already shown its effects. It'll only be a matter of time before Scylla dies of this and the energy finds another, more potentially dangerous place to inhabit. SHE CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN.

If it did, not only would she fail as a leader, but she'd also fail at her mission at keeping that dangerous family heirloom safe. She looked at the ring in her hand. Such a simple object, capable of causing destruction by creating a hive mind with the people affected by the assimilation...

Wait, wasn't that what Zielo was already doing? Creating his own hive mind to attack innocent people and cause destruction?

What if Scylla used his strategy against him? Destroying his hideouts would be simple, and there would be more recruits – if not members – of the Dark Gaia pack.

Scylla looked at the ring and stopped swimming. There was an answer – it was on her finger the entire time.

And she was ready to use it.

Some Galahs Go On an Inky Mission: Chapter 6

Kaiso's POV

As I reached the city, I kept a close eye on the child. As Bendy walked beside me, I couldn't help but feel the need to get rid of him. I wonder how Alinta and Audra are doing?

Snugglebunny's (Author) POV

Kaiso... There was a lot of screaming. In general. Panicking is more of the emotion they felt. Don't ask.

"AAAAAA-"

"AAAA-"

Kaiso's POV

Maybe it's just the curse talking, but I think I need to return to...Abbadon. Ugh.

Buuuut, if I DO leave, Alinta and Audra will come after me and interrogate me. They may know about my cursed form by now.

It seems like I don't have a choice. I'll stay.

Some Galahs Go On an Inky Mission: Chapter 2

Third Person POV

Audra skipped happily. After a bit, a large explosion shook the ceiling, and a spider jumped down to the floor. It looked cute in Audra's eyes. She crouched down and reached out her hand, cooing:

"Oh, it's a little man! Oh, who's a little man?"

CHOMP!

The spider tried to eat Audra's hand. Her mouth went open in shock. It didn't just...bite her, did it?

Meanwhile, Alinta had found a Gent Pipe - on the other side of a fence. "Goddamnit, what do I -"

"IT'S AN ANGRY SPIDER!!! IT ATTACKED ME!!!" Audra yelped. Alinta inhaled, dragging a hand down her face.

"I'm going to demand a raise and some tolerance for this." Alinta muttered, storming off to go help Audra with the spider. As soon as she stepped into the wide hall, Alinta found a pure-black ink spider - which was clearly part of the Butcher Gang - and Audra using her control over air to keep herself as high as possible away from the spider. Alinta looked between the angry spider (who was trying to attack Alinta) and the scared Audra. Alinta sighed. "You didn't just kill the thing?" Alinta inquired.

"It was cute!" Audra insisted. Alinta growled silently, snapping her fingers and setting the ink spider to flames. Audra shouts, "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

"Deal with it." Alinta deadpanned. She walked off as Audra called her childish names.

But 16-24 minutes later...

"Who's There? Open up!"

CRASH! BANG!

"If I find you, I'm going to rip your face off!" A male voice shouted.

"I'd like to see you try." Alinta thought, growling at the far away threat. She had just grabbed the Gent Pipe, not even bothering to clear the ink in hopes of inkfecting her enemies. She gripped it tightly, almost making the Gent Pipe get crushed.

Meanwhile, Audra's arms were full of food, and she was approaching the Lost One. "Hello! Would you like a cracker? I kind of beat one of those ink things with the door and a few other inky things with a cougar to get the food." Audra said, holding out a cracker to the Lost One.

Her hopes were then blotted away.

The Lost One let out a primal shriek of rage and flew itself at Audra, raising its hands to swipe at the cracker-filled hand she held out. Quickly, Audra pulled her arm away and dropped her food, doing a triple backflip before landing on her feet. She turned her head and shouted, "THIS MAN ISN'T VERY NICE!"

When Alinta heard the shout, she ran to the kitchens and the other rooms with a fear and panic. When she finally found Audra, she was already fighting the Lost One. Alinta growled, her lemon-green eyes flashing a dark crimson red as she unconsciously lashed out at the Lost One and kicked him to the ground. Holding her foot above his head, Alinta hissed, "If I let you go, you will listen to me and Audra, otherwise I'll kill you. Do. You. Understand. Me?" The Lost One tried to attack again, but he ended up getting crushed by the tremendous strength of the angry, seething werewolf. A squishy, breaking sound could be heard from its skull.

Audra looks from the ink puddle to Alinta, then back again. "What? H-how? Wh-wh-why?" The young cougar stuttered.

Alinta rolled her eyes. "You'll understand when the time comes." She turned and walked to the kitchen. Audra followed timidly, watching as Alinta's eyes returned to their normally bright green color. Audra didn't even try to talk; it'll just make things worse when Alinta's in that state.

The ink puddles were ignored, since they weren't made of ink. They walked through the ink puddles just fine without any consequences. A Searcher punched the door, then turned into a puddle. When they opened the door, they found another Searcher punching the wall that said, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO KILL ME."

"Yes, we do." Audra said. Alinta turned into a wolf and ate the Searcher from behind. "That's gross." Audra whined.

"Shut up and let's go." Alinta barked, returning back to her humanoid form and walking off. Audra followed after her.

Alinta fainted as soon as she opened a metal door, revealing a few Lost Ones that already spotted the two teens. Alinta's eyes were glowing underneath.

Audra's POV

Nope. Not again. I'll take these down and send them back to where they came from. Uh...Where were they from, anyway? No matter, this'll be quick.

Kaiso's POV

I hope Alinta and Audra are doing well, but knowing them, they'll probably have already ignored both Alison and my warnings and gotten into trouble. They better not have done anything stupid.

"My ink swells and boils -" The Ink Demon started.

"Oh, shut up!" I hissed.

Alinta's POV

I'm in that dark place again. I can't see anything past the six feet in front of me. The only source of light is from me. Did I get a magic overdose? My body feels like it got stabbed by an arrow.

There's a girl who looks like me. She has a violet light emitting from her. Violet hair, nuclear eyes. I already hate her. She's got a corrupted aura that I don't like. She walks up to me, smirking like any typical, manipulative person would. She whispers, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the failed reincarnation of the famous Agent Phoenix. What brings you here?"

"Who are you? Why are you in my head?" I demand. My voice echoed through the headspace.

The girl chuckled. "Oh, I'm you, created by the hatred and negativity that you possess and feel. Why else would I be in your head?" She said darkly, her smile growing more wicked. She leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Yet I hear you have feelings for a certain someone~"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I snapped.

"It's Audra, isn't it?"

Huh? "What?"

"Don't play dumb with me. I can hear - no, FEEL - how much you love her. You look at her as though she's a puppy in your eyes. You love her, don't you?"

"Y-You don't know anything!" I stuttered.

The dark version of me huffs. "Keep telling yourself that."

"...Why are you here?" I ask.

"Oh, I think we both know the answer to that." The girl sparked a spark of moonlight. "I'm the dark version of your moonlit powers, after all. As long as you live, I keep haunting both you and your little crush."

"Stay away from Audra!" I growl.

"Oh, I will, but the Lost Ones won't stay away from the two of you until you leave the universe." She whispered. She snapped her fingers, creating a vision of Audra fighting off the Lost Ones fiercely. Dark Alinta hissed, "If you want your precious little girlfriend to not get hurt, I can help you - at a price."

I look at the current situation that was out of my hands. I need to make a decision, and it's gotta be now. "Tell me what I need to do."

A Dangerous Encounter: Chapter 17

A couple of hours later, Scylla found herself on land again, in the form of a human. Her raven-blue eyes reflected the crazed glee she felt as she stood at the edge of the abandoned island, waiting for the eventual arrival of the Soulless. A part of her wondered if her family were safe, but she knew nowhere was truly safe during an apocalyptic event. How many Soulless have they had to destroy since the beginning of this blasted zombie timeline?

Too many to count, that's for sure.

And that's only within a few weeks, if not months. Who knows how many more will be forced to die for their cursed master? What's it going to take for them to stop?

Nothing, because the god who orchestrated the entirety of the apocalypse was selfish and greedy for power.

Scylla finally spotted something. It was small, yes, but it was nothing compared to the violet lights in the distance that signified the presence of the Soulless. They were coming.

Scylla retreated to the gray ashes of what had once been the grass, trees, and bushes that outlined the island. From there, Scylla opened her mouth and let out a blood-curling shriek that echoed for miles on end.

The water was splashing from several miles away, allowing Scylla to run towards the trees in the middle of the island and hide in the branches. She started to have doubts about her plan.

What if the Assimilation ring doesn't work?

What if they won't listen?

What would the pack say about this?

This was a bad plan.

Why did I make this plan? To cope with having to fight Zielo someday?

What kind of strategy is this? A dumb one?

How are we going to restore the world when this apocalypse ends?

Scylla's thoughts was interrupted when the Soulless were fumbling on the island's shores, muttering something along the lines of, "Master's gonna enjoy his new slave."

Scylla shuddered, reluctantly sliding down the tree she was hiding in and tapping the ring five times.

A large number of pained screams filled the air, making Scylla smirk and enjoy the sounds of agony. She let her EXE form take over, walking over to the large group of Soulless. Her grace was unnerving and terrifying to those who saw it. It was like she was going to kill the Soulless right then and there. But Scylla only whispered, "All of you are mine now."

Some of the Soulless looked at Scylla, terrified of what she might do to them. Scylla smirks and said in a lighthearted tone, "Don't worry, I'm not going to make you do anything stupid, like a suicide mission or something like that."

"But what about -" One of the Soulless started.

Scylla clicked her tongue, holding up a hand and interrupting the question. "I don't want to hear you say, think, or wish for your god to save you. He's the one who corrupted you, and I am here to fix that. If you rebel against me or even run away, I will not hesitate to track you down and turn you into ashes. Do I make myself clear?"

Most of the Soulless gulped, afraid of what would happen to them if Scylla made good on her threat. They nodded, offering fearful smiles at the terrifying woman. One Soulless nervously replied, "O-of course, we won't let you down, Your Terrifying Lady."

Scylla smirked, snapping her fingers and letting the Soulless be slightly free. What the Soulless didn't know was that they were standing still long enough to allow Scylla to get a firm hold on their souls, so if they actually escaped, she'd destroy the souls almost instantly.

Talk about making good on the threat, am I right?

Mango's Adventures in Angst-Land: Chapter 9

(Author's Note: Can I ground my own characters for what they did?)

Mango slammed onto the floor with a huge "OOF!" The cellar had closed right above her. As Mango got up, Kiui said, "Alright, now you have...A few min - I-I mean, hours! HOURS! - before they figure out you're missing."

Mango grunted as she hoisted herself up, her body sore from the jump. "Okay, now I gotta find -" Mango paused, staring down a familiar woman on a throne in front of her...In her EXE form. Mango gasped in shock.

"Mango? Mango, talk to me, what do you see?" Kiui said worriedly.

Mango pulled up enough strength to ask, "Sc...Scylla?"

"WHAT?!!" Kiui shouted.

Scylla only glared at Mango, her neutral expression hardening as she hissed, "You were NEVER supposed to be here."

Some Galahs Go On an Inky Mission

Third Person POV

In the middle of Audra's battle, Alinta woke up. Audra looked over, launching herself into the ceiling to avoid getting any more injuries. Audra was cut and scratched at badly, bleeding a lot of blood. Panting heavily, she pulled herself together and created a tornado. Alinta raised an eyebrow, creating a huge net of red moonlight that crushed the Lost Ones in the tornado. Jumping down from her perch, Audra landed on her feet with a wince of pain. Alinta starts, "Look, Audra. I know that I -"

Audra cuts her off with a paw on the head. "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!!! It's too risky. Who's gonna help me with Kaiso gone and you fainting? I could have died without your support!" Audra scolded.

Alinta laughed. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" She walked through the Animation Alley entrance and beckoned Audra to follow. Soon they reached an animation room for tourism.

As Alinta looked for a way to escape, Audra listened to the recordings and peeked into the rooms. Just as Alinta found a vent, Audra shrieked in horror as she saw what was inside of the fourth room. "THERE'S A HANGED MAN!" Audra shouted, covering her mouth as the tears started forming. Alinta ran over and saw a mannequin hanging from the ceiling.

Thinking quickly, Alinta turned Audra so she wouldn't see the mannequin. Wiping the tears from Audra's eyes, Alinta knelt in front of her and whispered, "Listen to me. You're okay. That's not going to happen to you." When Audra started to hyperventilate, Alinta shook her shoulders, hissing, "Princess Audra Hurricane of the Air Kingdom, LISTEN TO ME. It's just a mannequin."

Audra shook her head, barely pulling herself back together. "You know how many hangings I've seen, Alinta. What if it happens again?"

"IT WON'T. Do you trust me?" Alinta asked. Audra nodded shakily. "Good. We're going to go through a vent and leave this damned place behind. Can you at least try to stay calm and forget about this?"

"I don't know!" Audra pulled herself away from Alinta. "Do you see that?" Audra pointed to the hung mannequin. "That's just the start! Later on, there's going to be more people just hanging from the god damn ropes, and there's NOTHING I can do about it!"

"Audra, keep a cool head -"

"No! Don't you care, Alinta? The more people who do suicide, the less likely we'll be able to help!"

Alinta's POV

Dark Alinta asked, "Do you need any -"

"NO."

"Okay!"

Third Person POV

Alinta shook Audra's shoulders. Alinta's eyes glowed an icy-blue color. "Listen to me, Audra. You're hurt. Badly. You need food. I'll find you some to start healing, but this breakdown needs to start evaporating to a much happier state. But for now, we need to keep moving."

Audra's ears perked up a bit at the thought of finding food, but it wasn't enough to make her raise her spirits. Her head was held low. "What if we can't?"

"We. Will. Now come on, let's keep moving." Alinta dragged Audra to the vent and pushed her in, following behind. Crawling through the vents, they reached another hallway. Alinta picked up a note and read it aloud. "'We're in the final days here. I can tell. People are packing things into boxes. Tools are are going missing. You can smell the panic in the air around the studio. But us Gent boys, we're just watching from the shadows. We lock the doors, and keep our research going. Mister Gray already gave us a little wink. All is well. When one ship sinks, another one leaves the dock. I need to keep my Ink Machine safe in the chaos. It's the key to so many discoveries.' Oh, cool, it even has a signature!" Alinta squinted. "I forgot who Thomas Conner even is." Audra flipped a switch, and the two headed out. Out of the tour room through the newly opened door, they ran out and through the rooms. Through one barred door was a small, cartoon version of Bendy.

"It's real?" Audra whispered, admiring it through the door. Alinta looks fondly at Audra, but catching herself and mentally berating herself for it. Alinta could already hear the chaos Audra could bring if they didn't approach Bendy correctly.

Alinta's POV

Dark Alinta ordered, "Open the door and secure the small Devil, and then let your crush near it."

I look at Audra. "That's probably a good idea. But she's not my crush!"

"Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that."

Third Person POV

"Audra, stay here. I'm going to keep the tiny thing there. I'll signal you over when we're ready." Audra whispers. Audra gave a nod, and Alinta inhaled. "Oookaaay, let's do this."

Alinta's POV

I opened the door. Bendy quickly noticed and stood up, like a child waiting for praise. I need to be gentle with him. I walk over. "Hi, sweetie." I said. Bendy picked up his train, putting on a neutral face. As I crouched, he stepped back. "No, no, I'm friendly, and I have a friend who might want to be friends with you. Can you stay?" I beckon him over. Reluctantly, Bendy walked forward. I then turned and signaled to Audra to come here.

"Alinta, that's not just a small Devil." Dark Alinta warned.

"What do you mean?" I ask as I watched Audra approach us to a certain point.

"Bendy's the Ink Demon."

"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. I'll deal with it eventually." I cursed.

Audra's POV

I approached carefully, only stopping at the midway point. Alinta sighs and gets up, walking up until she's right next to me. She whispered, "You're free to become friends with the kid."

My mouth opened. Really? Is this just that easy to become friends with the smallest, cutest devil I've seen??? I looked at Bendy. I say fondly, "Oh my god!! It's so tinyy!" I approached him quickly, patting his head. He smiled!!! He's so cute!!!! "Oh, it's a tiny boy! How are you? You're so cute!"

Alinta starts to say, "Audra, be careful with him. We don't -"

And then I felt my claw extend.

STAB!

There was a pause in the air. Bendy's face was in shock. I was in shock. I carefully removed my ink-covered claw and looked at it. I then looked at Bendy. He's crying!! I tried to say, "Bendy, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to -" He ran away. "No, wait! Please! I'm sorry! Wait, tiny boy, please! Come back! I'm sorry!" I pleaded. Alinta wheezed in laughter, leaning against the wall. I looked at her and fumed as I saw her laughing face. "THIS IS NOT FUNNY, ALINTA!!!" I growled.

Third Person POV

"I tried to tell you." Alinta wheezed in between her laughter. Audra pouted.

"I didn't mean to stab him!" Audra whined. Alinta pulled herself back together, stifling her giggles as she saw Audra's fuming, pouting expression.

Alinta grabbed Audra's arm and walked out of the room. "Alright, let's go." Alinta said.

They walked until they found a sign. Audra read it. "'Don't...Knock'?"

"Well, fuck it. I'm knocking anyway." Alinta says as she rolls up her airtight sleeves. She approached the door and knocked on it - gently.

"Who's out there?" A male voice asked. A Lost One opened the "window" and looked around. "Is it you, Phil?" It looked at Audra and Alinta. "I said I'm not opening the door until you bring my pictures! I drew 'em, I want 'em back." It slammed the cardboard on the two girls.

Now it was Alinta's turn to get angry - again. She warmed up her arm to get ready to do something stupid. "That's it. I'm breaking down the door, whether you -"

"Alinta, no!" Audra grabs Alinta's shoulder and continues, "Think about it. If you break down the door, it'll be loud and will attract other monsters over here."

Alinta rolls down her sleeves and sighs. "Fine. We'll grab the damn pictures."

"Thank you!!"

Alinta sighs and walks with Audra out of the area. Alinta opens a metal door and crawls through a vent with Audra, reaching a room. Audra cuts the chains of a locked door with a claw.

Alinta's POV

A deep voice said, "The Dark Puddles awaits."

"The Ink Demon." Dark Alinta hissed.

"Oh, hooray. Now he's angry." I sarcastically replied.

"Now who's angry?" Audra asked. I jumped. Whoops, I must've said that out loud.

"Oh, you'll know later on." I quickly said, returning my attention back to the navigation process.

"Okay..." Audra said suspiciously.

An Apocalyptic Christmas

(Author's Note: I'm sorry to anyone that don't celebrate Christmas, I don't know very much about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and other holidays that many cultures enjoy during December. I promise to make a holiday-related story every December. Happy Holidays!)

"Hey, Scylla?" Sophia asked, startling Scylla out of her thoughtful gaze at the falling snow.

"What's up, Sophia?" Scylla asked. Sophia seemed both nervous and excited, as she showed Scylla an old poster, filled with scribbled-out words and pictures. All but one word: Christmas.

"What's Christmas?" Sophia wondered.

Scylla took the poster and chuckled. "Oh, it's my favorite holiday. Usually there's decorations, presents, caroling -" Scylla paused, sighing as she looked at Sophia. "But obviously, not in this universe. Here, there's nothing but a wasteland." Scylla looks at the snow. "I used to enjoy celebrating it, but once my adoptive mother died, I had no longer the privileges of honoring the holiday, besides opening gifts." Sophia had tuned out Scylla's words at this point, making a snowball. Once Sophia was done, she threw the snowball at Scylla, who dodged and laughed. "You'd have to do better than that." she said.

Sophia growled in fake frustration. "Oh, you're so ON!" she laughed, rolling up multiple snowballs and throwing them at her opponent.

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"Hey Scylls?" Adam asked, peeking through the watch post's door.

"Come in." Scylla answered, not turning around as she mapped out some areas of Mobius.

Adam creeped in, being sure to shut the door so the cold wouldn't sneak inside. "So, uh, while you were working, Sophia told us about the whole... Chrysler holiday -"

"It's called Christmas, but go on with what you were saying." Scylla clarified.

"Oh, so, as what I was saying, Sophia was telling us about Christmas, and then Aite got this brilliant idea to make some snow angels and stuff -" Scylla turned around, a puzzled look on her face. She gestured to Adam to keep going. He continued, "And now we have a surprise for you." Scylla shrugs.

"Alright, show me. I've done enough work for the day." Scylla replied. Adam led the alpha outside, twisting through many piles of snow and trudging through more than ten miles of snow, and after about....six hours of walking through the snowy parts of the desert, Adam and Scylla reached a tree sparkling with twinkling light spells, colored royal violet and cobalt blue. Underneath the tree was Sophia, Aite, Ajal, and Diana with faded choir lyrics. Scylla stared in wonder, her eyes sparkling with childish delight as memories of past years of Christmases flashed through her mind. Adam eventually had to ask Scylla if she was okay, to which she looked at him and replied, "Did...Did you guys do all of this? For me?"

Adam smiled, saying, "Of course! We wanted to celebrate Christmas with you. Why would we do this otherwise?"

Scylla brightened, instantly exclaiming, "OH, THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANK -" She took in a deep breath, steeling her emotions as she cleared her throat. She said formally, "I mean, thank you for making this extraordinary surprise for me, I appreciate it." Diana burst out laughing, while the others hid their chuckles. Scylla tilted her head slightly, confused when she asked, "What?"

"I-It's nothing, I promise." Aite stuttered as Diana died on the snow, laughing herself to the point of wheezing. Scylla shrugged, thinking about how the gesture of kindness was extremely sweet, but unnecessary, due to the fact that there was a current apocalypse going on! 

"Let's get straight to the caroling!" Sophia cheered.

"Caroling? But there's going to be Soulless around anytime soon, so we need to -" Scylla protested.

"It's fine, Scylla. We've got this, really!" Ajal deflected, waving the worried EXE to a seat.

"Okay..." Scylla said nervously.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"I TOLD YOU!!!" Scylla shouted as she burned down the area with violet flames. They had gotten into a fight with a group of Soulless a few hours into the caroling.

"I know, I know, but it was worth it!" Aite rolled her eyes. "At least you enjoyed it!"

"Zielo's got a crisis going on." Sophia muttered, causing Ajal to chuckle.

"What's so wrong with this dimension that he has to create semi-sentient zombies?" Diana asked.

Scylla mumbled, "That bastard's got so much wrong in his head, I'm surprised that he can even think through his master plan." The flames extinguished as soon as they reached the snow. Adam rolled his eyes, murmuring something like:

"Where's our heroes when you need them?"

Scylla froze, rushing through the memory of the last time she..."observed" the Sons of Heephis, as to say.  Scylla whipped around, her eyes blazing with a surge of sorrow and a hint of anger as she said, "We don't talk about them. When they come back, THEN we can talk about the Sons of Heephis." Adam gulped, fearful of Scylla. When she gets like this, they don't argue with her, otherwise she'll somehow put the fear of God (pun intended) into the Gaia pack. Adam eventually nodded his agreement.

"Adam, you knew better than to mention them in front of the Gaia leader." Ajal hissed.

"It was a slip up! I promise!" Adam protested.

Scylla starts to walk away, Diana and Aite following as Sophia called out, "OI! YA BETTER GET A MOVE ON, OR YUR GONNA BE LEFT ALONE TOGETHER!!!" She turned and ran to catch up with the others, Adam and Ajal following behind soon afterwards.

__________________________~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------------------------------------

A flurry of gifts were given in a matter of minutes.

It's Christmas, so there was a lot of drama. No peace was found as Scylla broke up what she had felt was a hundred fights within the past few hours. It was that exhausting.

Eventually, it was time for opening presents. What Aite, Ajal, Adam, Diana, and Sophia had gotten made them ecstatic for Scylla opening her present, for some reason. It all made sense when she opened it.

In the gift, Scylla had been given a pair of locket earrings, both bearing engraved images of the Gaia pack. Tearing up, Scylla whispered, "Oh...You didn't have to do this for me."

"We know, but we wanted to." Diana replied.

Scylla wrapped her family in a hug, telepathically hissing gratefully, Thank you so much, but the best gift right now...Is with you.

-------------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'''''''''''''-------------------------------------------

"Scyllie?" Young Ashley asked.

Scylla smiled gently, wiping away stray tears from her face. "Yes, Small One?" she wondered.

"Why are you crying?" Ashley said curiously, tilting her head. The kind of tilt that made Scylla laugh even if she was crying.

"I...I just miss your parents, aunts, and uncle, th-that's all." Scylla replied, looking at the Christmas tree in the room, instantly thinking back to the sparkling tree Aite, Adam, Diana, Sophia, and Ajal had created years beforehand.

"Can you tell me what they did during the apocalypse, Alpha?" Ashley pressed, using her bright, pleading, puppy-dog eyes that Scylla rarely ever refused against her.

Scylla chuckled. "Alright, alright, but you need to sit down to hear the story. Can you call in the others?"

"OKAY!" Ashley shouted, speeding through the house to summon the rest of the children.

Once the six children arrived (including Ashley), Scylla sat them all down and began, "Once, during the apocalypse...." She told the Christmas story to the younglings, who, one by one, fell asleep.

It was a peaceful Christmas that year.