But, unless-
“Hmph. I’ve come to a new decision,” the Professor suddenly said, still looking a bit shaken. “I will, very reluctantly, allow you to clear the Dungeon. But, there will be some caveats to that. Namely with you two.”
The Wolf-kin gestured at Bennett and Yelena, who both looked at him with mild confusion.
“Let’s start with a very obvious thing; under no circumstances will you die. There is quite literally nobody who can stop your mother from flattening the entire Academy and half the Capital if you do.”
Realization seemed to click in Bennett’s skull, which, to be fair, probably did, as mild surprise pierced his mind through their bond.
“I keep forgetting that Mom’s oh-so-powerful,” he muttered glumly.
Yelena nodded. “Same. I just keep hearing her say-”
“‘I swear, you two, I can never stop you from doing something stupid and getting yourselves hurt’,” the twins said together, as if they’d rehearsed it, and judging from the lack of reaction, this had probably happened before.
Juli looked between the twins with concern, apparently forgetting about her arm. “Do… you two just share a brain or something?”
“Apparently,” Bennett said. “It’s faint, but there.”
“Mhm, Mom insists we have Twin Theory, which, as time goes on-” Yelena started.
“We think it is probably true,” they finished.
Juli gave the two of them a flat stare, which Luna mirrored, earning the shrug of the twins.
The Professor coughed. “Back to the topic at hand. Second thing you must heed, since it’s a Dungeon, Beasts can come from any direction, so you must stay diligent.”
Luna frowned. Has he rehearsed this before? I swear he has that tone of someone who’s bored of saying the same thing over and over.
(Of course,) Cthulhu mumbled.
“Scary,” Juli said in a flat tone. “I don’t need to be lectured about Dungeons for the tenth time. You have fun explaining it to them while I try to get the Level 50 Bear that just jumped out of the dungeon to stop terrorizing students. I swear they do it on purpose.”
The man huffed as he watched her leave before suddenly processing what she just said. “Level 50- whatever.” He looked back at Luna and the twins before letting out a huff. “That was all I had to say anyways. You should go and prepare to enter, since you’ll need plenty of materials. It can take days to clear a Dungeon, after all. We’ll give you a week to prepare. Use it wisely.”
~~~
A week seems a bit much, doesn't it? Luna thought, resisting the urge to shovel food down her throat. However, I just want to know why I am so damn hungry. I haven’t done anything today.
(Do you forget you run on Mana?) Cthulhu said. (You’re not constantly around a Water Mana source anymore like the ocean, so you have to eat more food to compensate.)
That’s kinda annoying, but whatever.
(If you ate food made of Water Mana based Beasts, you’ll probably be able to alleviate the hunger for much longer.)
Well it;s not like they’re in high supply now, are they? Plus-
Luna stopped mid-sentence to look at Bennett, who’d suddenly grown a bit more agitated as he took a bite of his food. She poked his side and he glanced down at her before letting out a small sigh and eating a bit more.
“I’m fine,” he muttered at her questioning gaze. “Definitely.”
As he continued, Luna was about to poke him again when another voice spoke. “Why are you so stressed? Did something happen?”
Bennett, completely taken by surprise by Ulayla’s sudden arrival, momentarily choked on his food until Luna smacked him on the back with a tentacle, nearly causing him to spit his food out. He then swallowed and turned to look at Ulayla.
“Maybe a warning next time before you speak in my ear,” Bennett stated before grabbing his extra spoon and throwing it directly at the smug face of Tyreese, hitting him in the forehead.
Tyreese grabbed his forehead in mock pain. “Ow! What was that for?! Why are you in on this now?!”
“You could’ve said she was breathing down my neck, y’know,” Bennett grumbled, uncharacteristic annoyance in his voice. “Even I have my limits,” he then muttered under his breath, where only Luna and maybe Ulayla heard.
So he’s in a much worse mood than he let on, Luna mused, trying to understand what was happening. Why, though? He seemed okay with jumping into the Dungeon earlier… why is he so out of it now?
(Well, he was clearly putting up a show so that his sister wasn’t worried as much about the Dungeon. Pretty simple. I’ve seen it many times before. He’s eating himself up from the inside since he doesn’t know how to go about this problem,) Cthulhu interjected.
Right. I can assume he never expected to be thrown into a Dungeon so early in the year. But now that he has to, he has no clue what he needs to do, how to prepare, and most importantly… keep his sister safe.
***
It was not an exaggeration to say that Yelena was bustling with excitement, completely unaware of her brother's predicament. There was a very many things that were needed to prepare for a Dungeon, such as…
She stared at the wall of her room, unsure of how to even start. “Huh… reading up on Adventuring Prep was more of Bennett’s thing. I mean, even if he doesn’t do it now he still had to learn basic preparations for things like secretly going out to kill things and gathering honey whenever we ran out… not that it went well most times…” Yelena mused to herself.
She then shrugged. “Eh. I’m sure he borrowed a few books from the library at this point. I’m sure he won’t mind if I go poke around for them in his room for a bit…”
A few minutes later, and a mutual agreement between her and Jennifer, she was in front of her brother’s door. She hesitated for a moment before letting out an annoyed huff at herself.
“And in we go…” she said, opening the door and slipping inside.
She looked around at the blank canvas of a room, which only held a wardrobe, desk, bookcase, and his bed. After another quick glance, she noticed a nightstand as well, though it seemed to have scratches, which she presumed was Bennett’s daggers cutting into them whenever he accidentally pulled them out of their sheathes instead of taking the entire sheathe. She then looked at the wall across the room, seeing what looked like a used target, with slits where Bennett had apparently thrown his daggers with a decent amount of force.
“Hm, hm.”
She then looked to the partially filled bookcase and grinned wildly. “Time to search through some books.”
~~~
Twenty minutes later, she found herself looking at her brother’s flat expression as he stared at her from the doorway with Luna looking at her strangely, a tart halfway down her gullet, another two held in a tentacle.
“You could’ve just asked to look through my books instead of sneaking in here; I knew that Jennifer looked a bit guilty.”
Yelena coughed, looking away. “Well, uh, I was a little impatient. I was looking for a book on Dungeons and the preparations needed to go into one…”
Bennett frowned at her. “Right… about that.”
Yelena nodded for him to continue, and even Luna looked at him curiously.
He coughed before continuing. “The Academy really, really seems to hate any mention of the Adventuring Guild, so they don’t have that specific book. They only have their own, hard to read ‘Capital Approved : An Academy of Magic’s Guide to Dungeons and Dungeon Pillaging’, which even Luna was getting frustrated reading.”
Luna nodded in agreement.
“And he’s the real kicker: she was eating.”
Luna then smacked him with a tentacle, but he had already got it out. Yelena let out a mock gasp.
“Luna? Frustrated while eating? This must mean it’s a very bad book.”
After letting out a laugh, Bennett shook his head. “It’s not bad, from what I’ve read from it, but… it’s really bloated with useless information. It’s like some outside force was interrupting the author’s writing so he couldn’t get a word in.”
He looked over to the bookshelf, took a step forward, but before he could even get another step in, Luna’s tentacle shot over, grabbed a book, and gave it to him, still eating. Bennett, without losing a beat, turned around and sat next to Yelena, who gave the two a confused look.
What in the world? It’s like Luna knew exactly what he wanted, and he adapted before she even finished doing what she was doing. They’ve only known each other for barely two and a half weeks. There’s something else going on here…
Before she could question it, Bennett opened the book he held to a marked page before squinting for a moment, struggling to read the words for a moment. She leaned over to look at the page and frowned.
“Oh. I see what you mean now. It’s very much exposition.” she mumbled before squinting at the book. “‘Naturally, as tested and proven by the Academy, different Dungeons require different equipment sets to survive and clear. For instance, after research done by the Academy’s Dungeon Diving team-’ I’m done reading,” Yelena huffed, glaring at the book.
Bennett rolled his eyes and closed the book before sighing. He then frowned into the air, apparently looking at a System prompt.
“How long has it been since we got our Classes again?” Bennett asked aloud, his frown deepening.
“Uh, a few hours, why?”
Bennett blinked. “Really? It felt like days… Apparently, it’s been around six hours. Dunno why that felt important.”
Both Luna and Yelena looked at him, confused. “Do you have some sort of stopwatch set up? Why though?”
Bennett shrugged. “Well, no. I have a timer though, which I’m definitely going to need someone to explain a bit further to me.” He gave a concerned look at his right arm, where Yelena knew his War Scythe, Maya, which she still wasn’t convinced was actually sentient-
“Wait, I have two questions. First of all, what exactly do you mean a timer? And you need who to explain it to you?” Yelena inquired, poking her brother’s cheek.
Luna seemed to have even more questions, but clearly was unable to convey them as she just waved her hands in annoyance.
Bennett frowned. “I’ll answer the second question first, since apparently it’s impossible to believe Maya is a sentient being,” he said in a flat tone.
Yelena shook her head. “I mean… I really can’t digest it myself. How is something like that supposed to be alive? I don’t think you understand how weird it is.”
Her brother gave a look of confusion. “Really? I literally have red iris, got a class that originated from Maya, and, even though it’s only happened a few times, starting today, if you can believe it or not, I’ve actually spoken to her a few times.”
For a moment, Yelena blanked out for seemingly no reason. After she came back, she frowned at her brother. “And you didn’t think to say anything the first time?”
Bennett looked mildly guilty. “To be fair, I did forget a few times… and was rudely reminded to not.”
Bennett had an expression of displeasure as he looked at his arm. After another moment, he shook his head and looked back at his sister. “Anyhow, more importantly, I don’t exactly think normal supplies are going to work in this Dung-”
Luna smacked Bennett with a tentacle, and he looked a bit guilty for a moment. Then he muttered something that only Luna could hear and she smacked him again.
“Fine, fine, maybe I intentionally didn't tell you because everyone seems to think I’m mad for thinking a weapon that killed however many students is a living being,” Bennett suddenly snapped, surprising Yelena, who’d never heard him snap at anyone before, especially not her.
She froze in place in sheer surprise, unsure of how to respond. A few moments later, Bennett seemed to compose himself and muttered, “Sorry. It’s just annoying though. There’s more evidence for than against, but I don’t understand why it’s so hard to believe.”
Yelena, unsure of how to react to Bennett’s sudden words, just slightly nodded.
Bennett’s never been frustrated with… well, much at all. Not even his old job, even though he complained about it. He even enjoyed it. We both hated his boss though. If there was anything close to frustration that I remember, it’d probably be back almost seven years ago, back when we were ten…
*10 Years Ago*
Yelena and Bennett ate dinner with their mother, both enjoying the food that Bennett had helped their mom make. This was probably the first time he’d successfully cooked something fully, though with help. Their mother watched them with something akin to content as they ate and, occasionally, bickered with one another.
“-no! That’s not how it works, Ben!” Yelena argued. “Bees don’t fly with magic! They’re just really strong!”
Bennett shook his head, a noodle hanging out of his mouth. “Yes they do! There’s no way something that big can fly without magic!”
Yelena pouted at her brother, who she thought was being very dumb. “I’m talking about normal bees. Not the Giant Bees you try to steal honey from-” She covered her mouth and looked at their mother, who gave Bennett and Yelena a flat expression.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“Really? I’ve already told you to stop doing that so many times it’s not even funny. You should be happy you’re not allergic to them,” their mother reprimanded. “It also explains why we suddenly aren’t out of the honey you two constantly eat raw for some reason I cannot hope to understand.” She shook her head. “Anyhow, anything you want to tell me you did, Yelena?”
Yelena shook her head rapidly, but Bennett, taking revenge on her snitching on him, said, “She went to the docks yesterday and almost fell into the water. There was even a shark-”
Yelena lunged at her brother to silence him, but it was too late as he laughed while they tumbled onto the floor. Their mother watched with a disappointed expression while still absentmindedly eating.
“You two… I swear, your father would be saying how you’re both just like me,” she grumbled.
The siblings stopped fighting one another momentarily and looked at her both with varying expressions.
“Really?” Yelena questioned curiously before looking back at her brother who seemed a bit confused at the sudden mention of their father. He didn’t say anything but sat up next to his sister, a bit curious as well.
Their mother suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable, looking between the twins who watched her with apt attention. “Come on, why are you two always like this when I mention your father? It’s not that important.”
Yelena shook her head, “Yes it is, Mommy! We think so, right Ben?”
Bennett, uncharacteristically, didn’t respond, instead just looking at their mom expectantly. He looked a little… annoyed, if one could say that. She wasn’t sure how to react to his sudden change and poked his cheek nervously.
“I think Ben’s possessed, Mommy…”
Bennett then looked at her and yelled, “Boo!”
She yelped, falling backward and laid there for a few moments before kicking herself up and tackling her brother as he tried to scramble away, laughing, both of them already forgetting about the mention of their father.
“Meanie! You can’t do that!”
“You’re the one acting like a kid!” he countered, trying to push her off.
They rolled around, fighting and chasing one another, for the next ten minutes as their mother tried to calm them down but failed horribly.
*Present*
Thinking back on it, Yelena was sure that Bennett hadn’t liked ever hearing about their father, which was something she could kind of understand, but it still made little sense to her. It was their father, and-
Wait, this is a completely different situation right now.
Bennett, while she had been thinking, had brought out the dark red blob that covered his arm, which he called Maya. She decided to take a closer look at it for once, something she was quite uneasy doing. It shifted slightly at her presence, clearly a bit… wary? Bennett shrugged and pulled out a vial, probably from something they had killed at the Dungeon. The blob suddenly grew in size and what seemed like a jaw snapped around his other hand and stayed there for a moment before shivering slightly and pulling away, the vial completely gone.
Bennett then blinked in surprise. “Oh wow, she’s almost Level 4, I didn’t know she was that close…”
Yelena blinked. “It… she has Levels?”
“Mhm. She gains Levels through blood. I’m not exactly sure of the specifics, but she apparently really needs it. She’s been passively feeding off my blood apparently, and is kinda… annoyed that I haven’t given her much else. But the problem is I doubt that I’ll get all that much, especially since we won’t be able to go anywhere for a while.”
Naturally, the two of them completely forgot about the fact that they were supposed to be studying to prepare for the Dungeon and ended up talking for nearly an hour about completely unrelated subjects.
***
After his sister left, Bennett watched Luna let out a yawn before she slumped down in exhaustion, which he couldn’t really understand, namely since she’d mostly been sitting around or eating… or both, more often than not. She seemed to be about to curl up in a ball in his lap until he patted her head, garnering her attention.
“You haven’t even changed or washed up yet Luna,” he said, stifling his own, earned, he might add, yawn.
She let out a noise of complaint and tried to curl up again, but Bennett lifted her off his lap and let her dangle as she gave him an annoyed look. He then walked out of his room, carrying her. He shrugged at Jennifer’s expression as she looked between them, obviously confused before dropping Luna off at her room door.
The small girl glared at him before huffing and walking into her room, sulking. After a moment, Bennett sighed before walking back to his room and, a few minutes later, walked out with nightclothes on before stepping into the kitchen, almost running straight into Mia, who was walking out with an large bowl of-
“Oh, you’ve been eating all the pasta salad?” Bennett stated, though it did sound more like a question. “I wondered where they were all going.”
Mia stared at him, uncharacteristically looking very much embarrassed. She then swallowed the food in her mouth and muttered something along the lines of “sorry”, before turning around. Bennett frowned at her before slipping into the kitchen, opening a cabinet and pulling out random ingredients, unsure of what to make.
“I’m honestly glad you’re willing to eat what I make,” Bennett suddenly blurted. “I mean, I never really got any other taste testers other than my sister, but she’s obviously a bit biased and will literally eat anything I make, even lasagna, which even I think tastes disgusting. I mean, there’s a limit to the amount of cheese one can take, but that’s not really the point.”
Bennett heard Mia stop moving around and was clearly looking at the back of his head.
“Point is, I’m happy there’s something I can do that others enjoy, like cooking. I mean, even if someone absolutely hates me, I’m sure they’d still appreciate some good food.”
Eventually, Mia finally spoke. “I don’t exactly get the point, but you’re saying you’re still going to make this, right?”
Bennett looked at her to find her shovelling the salad into her mouth, looking mildly pleased, which was an expression he wasn’t sure fit what he knew about her. She then glared at him, as he gave her a mildly confused look.
“What? I’m allowed to like food anymore? Stop looking at me like that and answer the question,” she snapped.
Bennett sighed. Guess she’s not gonna change anytime soon. “Yeah, I will. Just glad you like it-” Bennett then eyed something on the shelf and suddenly had a vivid memory of watching Luna gleefully eat-
***
Hmm… Isn’t this the first food that Bennett made me? The potato wrapped meat with gravy… Luna thought as Bennett handed her a plate, somehow knowing that, even though she was exhausted, she was still a bit hungry.
She looked up at him for a few seconds, trying to keep her mouth from watering before giving up on resisting and quickly eating the first potato in record time. After a moment of savoring the taste, she went to work on the second one. He seemed pleased as he watched her for a moment, then seemed to remember something.
“Oh, yeah, I was going to look for something in the library. What time…” Bennett then cursed under his breath. “I’ll be back in like twenty minutes.”
Before Luna could even complain, he disappeared in a flash of red lightning and she heard Jennifer yelp in surprise before the sound of her hitting the floor with a thump resounded through the entire dorm.
(I don’t even know what to think about him right now,) The mildly bored Cthulhu said, seemingly half awake.
That his food is good? Luna supplied, kicking her feet against the chair as she ate.
(... Sure.)
***
When Bennett came back, right before curfew, huffing as if he’d ran through the halls while being pursued by some sort of beast, he tossed a book onto the table in front of him before sitting down to catch his breath.
“I… never realized… how far… the library is,” he managed to get out in between huffs.
Tyreese looked at him in confusion. “I didn’t know your lightning dash thing was tiring,” he stated. “You always seem in perfect condition.”
Bennett shook his head. “Nope. I just didn’t realize I was hovering around 2% HP for the last ten minutes and nearly killed myself-”
Luna fell off her chair in a mild panic, banging her head on the floor as Mia poked her head out of her room to give him a flat expression.
“How do you not notice you’re nearly dead, man!?” Tyreese exclaimed. “You are more insane than I thought you were.”
Luna, resisting the urge to throw him across the room, pressed her hand against his arm, healing him while rubbing the still sore area on her head. He sighed and pulled at his hair nervously.
“I mean, I did kinda search a good chunk of the library for this thing. We just don’t ask how I got it from the Restricted Section,” Bennett muttered. “Worth it, though.”
Mia, who had heard this, walked out of her room with an empty bowl before bending down to look at the book.
“What do you mean by the Restricted Section? This is just a standard book for the Adventuring Guild on Dungeons,” she inquired, giving him a flat look.
Bennett frowned at her. “Do you not know how much the Academy hates the Adventuring Guild? This is the only mention of them in the entire place, and believe me, I’ve looked.”
Tyreese leaned over the book, frowning. “But, if that's the case, why is it still in the school?”
“Because the Adventuring Guild is better than the Academy at their job, obviously,” Mia said, lifting the book. “Most of the reason people choose the Academy over the Adventuring Guild is because of the resources they give us. Skill scrolls, Official Quests, more knowledge for free, ect. However, it’s only most useful for the first year, since that’s when they’re scouting out potential. That’s why I’m not attending next year.”
Bennett frowned at her. “I mean, I guess that makes sense. However- ow.”
Luna, who he’d obviously forgotten about, smacked his arm, looking very angry with him. She glared up at him as she rubbed her head a bit, still hurting a bit.
“Uh… I didn’t mean to?”
Luna, naturally, didn’t accept this and smacked him again, though she knew it didn’t hurt him in the slightest. However, he again said “ow” in the most monotone voice he could manage, apparently trying to make her feel better.
Why can’t he value his life just slightly more? I’m sure it couldn’t kill him to try, Luna thought, knowing she was being overly concerned, but couldn’t bring herself to care to remedy that.
(You need to stop worrying about him. You’ve barely known one another for three weeks and you-)
I don’t really care, Luna snapped before again smacking Bennett, who was clearly unsure of how to satiate her.
For a few moments, they stared at one another, ignoring the other two who were looking between them with confusion. Eventually, Bennett looked away-
IS HE IGNORING US?!
(Okay, now I feel slightly wronged here.)
“Like I was saying, I guess it’s an idea… but why would you even give up this experience?” he asked as Luna swiped at him and offhandedly blocked her hand, without even thinking about it, clearly.
Mia frowned at the two of them before letting out a sigh. “I don’t get you two…” she muttered. “But I don’t really care much for the Academy except for the resources they give like Dungeons… despite the fact they confiscate the things you get from them… though, in this case, I’m sure they can’t do that.”
Bennett frowned and it even caught Luna’s attention. “Why would they do that? They earned the things from the Dungeon, right?”
Mia shook her head as Luna smacked Bennett again, but he again blocked her swipe, slowly growing a bit more amused, which he didn’t even attempt to hide from her. She pushed annoyance into his head, but it did absolutely nothing as he listened to Mia.
“Well, profit, obviously. If some nobody student finds some ancient artifact or weapon, they’ll take it and probably either sell it, or give it to someone like Justyce. But, due to your lineage, I sincerely doubt they’ll do that, but, in this case, I can’t be sure because of the nature of this Dungeon. Speaking of, I’m assuming you’ve been having trouble with preparations.”
Bennett nodded, lifting the book he’d “borrowed”, at least according to him.
Luna finally got a good hit in and he sighed. “What do you want me to do Luna? Say that I’m sorry that I make mistakes?”
Luna froze in place as he immediately realized that he sounded… condescending. A hurricane of emotions that she didn’t even know he could feel began blowing around in his mind as his expression changed to something akin to confusion. He then sighed and looked at Luna.
“Sorry, Lu. I’m really tired, a lot happened today. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” He went silent for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m going to bed.”
A few moments later, he left to his room, leaving Luna there. She looked at the floor for a few moments before looking over at the other two, who seemed to be a bit concerned, even Mia.
Tyreese shook his head. “Never thought I’d see a Bennett who was even remotely rude towards Luna. Kinda crazy.”
“You act like he doesn’t feel horrible. Why would he purposely be rude to her?” Mia countered.
Tyreese gave her a frown. “Why are you trying to make this into an argument?”
Mia glared at him. “I’m not.”
“You literally are. Just admit it. I just don’t get why-”
“Would you stop saying that I’m doing something that I’m not?”
As the two began to argue, Luna decided to follow Bennett, who she could still feel was in turmoil.
(...)
Luna frowned. Is there something you need to say?
(Yes. He’s an idiot and so are you. Hurry up already.)
With what?
After getting no response and wondering if she had always been that cryptic (She was not), she went into Bennett room to see that he was already pouring through the book that he’d just gotten. She could tell he was frustrated with something, but he was trying to drown it out with his reading. He looked over at Luna as she walked in, exhaustion evident on his face. Immediately, his expression went back to it’s normal non-exhaustion state and he gave her a sigh.
“Hey, Luna. Uh…” he looked at the wall in front of him as if it held some sort of unspoken secret and, based on the dent in the wall in front of him, he understood that it wasn’t very good at that. “Well, ignoring the dent in the wall, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. That wasn’t exactly… respectful.”
I dunno if I like this. He doesn’t even know what to say at the moment.
He then shook his head rapidly, his hair quickly becoming a mess. “Anyhow, I’m quickly realizing how bad the school’s book was when it came to explaining things, which is multiplied by how actually informative- what?”
Luna had interrupted him by pushing questioning into his head before walking over to him and trying to poke his head.
“Are you trying to ask if I’m okay?” he inquired before standing up and stretching.
She nodded and he let out a sigh before sitting back down, this time on the bed that wasn’t too far away. She hopped up next to him and looked up at him as he seemed to think about something. After a moment, he looked down at her.
“I think I’m fine, I guess. Just tired and frustrated and annoyed-” he stopped himself, proving his own words right. “... I just don’t wan’t Yelena going in that Dungeon, but I can’t tell her not to.”
Oh. Of course he’s worried about his sister. Never about himself. Luna poked his chest, trying to convey-
“I’m not worried about myself, I’m honestly okay with it. But-”
Luna took a moment to think before looking at Bennett's desk, which had what looked like a photo of him, his sister, and their mom, apparently at some sort of dinner. She grabbed it with a tentacle gently and pointed at Yelena.
“How would she feel? Well…” Bennett seemed to think for a moment, clearly coming up with an answer and not liking it. “She’d… feel the same way I feel. She’s always been more upbeat than I have, but… she’s still capable of feeling all the same things I do, and…” Another moment. He shook his head. “Well, I think I do disregard that sometimes. She’s probably going to feel as bad as I do the longer I keep worrying about her and not about other things, like the literal hole to Hell.”
Well, it’s not a hole to Hell, but close enough. One more thing, though.
She then pointed at herself and he blinked at her, seemingly confused. “How do you feel? I mean, I don’t exactly know most of the time. I know that you can feel my emotions, but when it comes to me… you’re still like a brick wall. Sometimes I’ll feel emotions from you, then you suddenly slam a metaphorical door in my face. I don’t really understand you. But, if I had to make a guess… to you, I’m some sort of attachment. I see it as friendship, but… I’m still not entirely how you think of me.”
Luna blinked in confusion, not understanding that response.
(I mean, he’s not entirely wrong. You don’t even know how you feel about him.)
Wait… have you been blocking my emotions from him unless I actively want to share them?
(Obviously. You shouldn’t lower yourself to his position-)
First of all, Luna hissed, trying not to let her annoyance slip into Bennett’s mind. You don’t tell me how I should share my emotions. Second of all, we are in his position, so you can’t tell me that-
Luna’s entire body stiffened as she heard Cthulhu whisper, (I could just kill him, you know.)
A moment later, she could feel that the control of her body was ripped away from her and she could only feel the darkness around her. However, she could also feel something happening to her. There was a momentary spike of pain, then nothing for nearly a minute. She could feel herself constantly channelling Mana as if restraining something like…
Some memory tried to surface, but her subconscious smashed it right back down to the bottom, but Luna had already gotten a horrible feeling. A horrendous one.
No… Let me go! I-
Suddenly, color rushed back into the world and she could feel a tingling all over her body, as if she had just been shocked. For a few moments, she wasn’t sure what was going on until she saw the slightly shocked Bennett’s expression, caressing his neck as if he’d just been…
Luna was suddenly surrounded by a blood red fluid that seemed to be about to skewer her with dozens of spikes of blood. However, a moment later, the mound of blood bigger than her froze before rushing back quickly, condensing into Maya, Bennett’s weapon, before disappearing into him, though it seemed to try to come back out violently, obviously not happening.
“Luna… what in the hell was that?”
Luna, however, was frozen in place at what… it had just done to Bennett.
(I’m not an ‘it’, you annoying-) it started.
Shut. Up. I don’t want to hear from you. Leave me.
(I can’t just leave-)
It was a simple mental statement, but it was filled with more power than she could’ve expected, shaking the entire room, and possibly the entire dorm. Immediately, its presence disappeared from Luna’s mind, being pushed back into her mind, deeper than it had ever been. Luna then curled up in a ball on the ground, trying to not cry.
Why is this happening to me? I don’t want this. I never wanted to hurt him. Why-
“...Luna? Are you… okay?” Bennett’s voice gently asked, suddenly much closer to her.
She flinched, looking up at Bennett, who had scooted next to her, clearly trying to comfort her, though he was a bit wary, based on what she could feel from him. She wanted to move away, but she couldn’t force herself to. He was too close and she just wanted to rest… but maybe she had some semblance of explaining to do. But…
She looked at the floor, unsure of what to do. Bennett then sighed before picking her up and setting her back up on the bed. She gave him a confused look before he sighed.
“I… don’t really understand, but that wasn’t you. I know that, beyond a doubt. Whoever just took over your body and tried to kill me… they spoke to me. It hurt just to listen to them and I’d rather not relive that.” Bennett shook his head. “I just don’t get the choking part? What happened?”
Luna blinked. Spoke to him? Cthulhu did? But, why can’t I? Is there something different between the two of us… and if so, why?