Starlight: Epilogue

by ABagelLeftOnTheRoadside

Summary:

Laurance and Dante have been left in the dark for months about what exactly is going on with their friends. And then, they start randomly showing up, returned home by mystery cars with tinted windows. They return, but carrying terrible, insurmountable baggage. Now they are left to pick up the pieces of whatever the hell happened at Starlight. And just maybe, they can all start healing.

 

AKA That cliffhanger left me frothing at the mouth like I never had a rabies shot and before season 7 comes out I want to make up my own lil version of events

Notes:

This tagging system is killing me. Just a heads up, this is NOT a Minecraft Diaries fic. They are listed as their diaries counterparts only because that is the only character tag Ao3 gave me. Also I'm adding tags and characters as they appear since this is not a one-shot.

Chapter 1: The Return of the Dying Sun

All summer, stretching into fall, it happened. Some went on a camping trip, others went on a vacation. Laurance stayed home to focus on work, and to take care of his brother, due to his family having behind the scenes drama. Dante had work too, and spent the summer trying to get closer to Gene. And then… there's it . The hush hush incident in Starlight and the simultaneous silence from their friends. All Aphmau's mom had done was leave a message that they're safe, which certainly did not ease the tension.

 

August 30th, something big happens at Starlight.

 

September 8th, the first person arrives.

 

Dante huffs out a breath as he rounds the corner, entering his block, as he takes his morning jog. He ignores the itch in his head, that itch mourning the old liveliness of the neighborhood. Sounds of shouting, laughter, glass breaking. All he hears now is some orchestral piece ending and Metallica giving him tonal whiplash, the best kind of whiplash. A black van rolls on by, confidently pulling up to the curb right smack dab in front of Katelyn and Kawaii-chan’s house. He frowns as squints at the vehicle. The windows are tinted.

 

“What in the world?” he mutters under his breath, pulling an ear bud out.

 

A door is pulled open in the back, from the inside. Vivid, familiar pink hair is the first thing he sees, then drooping fluffy ears. Out steps Kawaii-Chan. She looks not only unreal because she’s been gone for freaking months, but also strange in a grey shirt and plain sweats. She sets a singular suitcase onto the sidewalk. She doesn’t peer around, just drags her suitcase up her driveway.

 

He stares, wide eyed, as the door slides shut and the van takes off, leaving her alone, like a ghost. Blinking twice, to make sure she's real, he also chooses to pinch himself, “Youch.”

 

She reaches the entryway and stares at the house, as if it is an ancient relic of a forgotten city. Taking a visible breath, she digs into her pocket and pulls out her keys. He can spot the copious amount of charms from across the way.

 

Just approach her, stupid.

 

Dante shakes his head, breaking into a jog, “H–hey!” he cringes at the shake in his voice, “Kawaii-Chan!”

 

With a visible jolt, her head spins towards him, long hair swishing. Her wide amber eyes have a startling amount of sadness in them that he can somehow see from a distance, it washes this cold feeling over him. He runs across the street and up her and Katelyn’s driveway. Their cars are still there. Frown quickly deepening, he stops before her.

 

Those sundrops of sadness staring widely at him look even worse all up close. Her hair, it’s so long. Longer than he’s ever seen. She likes keeping it long, but always trims it— The ends are splitting—

 

“Dante…” she says quietly as if he's the odd one here. Suddenly, arms are thrown around him, squeezing his bones tight.

 

“Ough!”

 

Well this somehow got more perplexing.

 

He can't remember the last time he's been so close to her. No, right, he does, back in high school. When they dated, when he cheated . As adults when everyone reunited, they never really were friends, just hung out through association, sometimes. Honestly, he's surprised she allowed that after what he did to her back then. And now… there's this .

 

His arms wrap around her, pulling her close.

 

What the hell happened at Starlight?

 

Her shoulders are horribly stiff, almost painful to look at, the tension wound tightly within her. Her breath goes shaky for a short moment, but is swiftly reeled in.

 

Hiding emotions. That’s a familiar move. It’s vaguely reminiscent of when the others returned from that vacation spot they were fixing up. Something was off, but they never talked, and refused to show how it effected them. But that is an entirely separate can of worms.

 

She nervously jingles the keychain, “I um…” her voice itself even sounds different, much lighter, less squeaky, and far more relaxed, though not in this context of course, no currently she sounds crushed, “I missed you guys,” she says in a small voice, “I missed home.”

 

The sincerity makes his heart wilt. This was bad. Something big is up. Oh Irene this is bad. And even worse, he has no idea how to handle people's emotions, much less his own. So all he does, is nod and awkwardly reply, “Yeah, we missed you too.”

 

That’s what you reply with!? he hears his voice shriek across his mind and batter into his skull.

 

She pulls away, smiling sadly, but terribly earnest.

 

His eyes dart to the suitcase and keys. Right. She's back— hopefully. “Hey, why don't I help you with that?” he offers.

 

“Oh,” she blinks, “Yeah, okay,” she smiles, it’s a small, weak thing. He is handed a terribly light suitcase.

 

They walk up to the front door together. Kawaii-Chan fumbles for a moment with the keys before gaining entry. Quickly stepping inside, she nearly trips over her own two feet. Nonetheless, the exhale of relief she releases at the sight of her home is damn near guttural.

 

“I… uh…” Dante fumbles, feeling like an intruder in the moment, “Where do you want this?”

 

Her response takes a moment, as she is taken with the sight, “By the door is fine.”

 

He does as told, and opts to additionally close the front door, not wanting to let any early fall wind in. As amazing as autumn breeze smells, it is very cold.

 

She walks over to the couch, and proceeds to just drop down, practically sinking into it. He'd chuckle at the adorable sight if he weren't so freaked out.

 

Dante approaches, standing off to the side, “I… Kawaii-Chan.”

 

Her head turns up, tired eyes beholding him, “Yes, Dante?”

 

Just Dante?

 

“You could probably understand how really freaking confused I am right now.”

 

“I know,” she mumbles, eyes darting away wearily.

 

No, don't make her sad!

 

Sighing, she continues, “You deserve an explanation. I guess you and Laurance have been in the dark for like… everything … huh?” she asks slowly, as if the concept has just dawned on her.

 

“Yeah,” he retorts, a little more passive aggressive than meaning to.

 

First the mysterious camping trip and vacations, both of which had everyone leaving around the same time! Then a month of not knowing where the hell everyone is. Then Starlight , then… now. Oh yeah and then there was that entire fucking year where something had happened at the old lodge place they were all dealing with and refused to elaborate on.

 

Seeing his poorly hidden frustration, she pats the spot next to her. He contemplates running for the door, before reluctantly joining her. Her and her sad droopy fluffy ears that make his chest ache.

 

“I should probably start from the beginning,” she says quietly, looking him in the eye, “I wasn't supposed to be there, I snuck onto the trip,” noticing his mounting confusion, she explains, “It was a celebration, and reunion. That whole year, he was gone, Aaron wasn't busy with his parents, or the business,” she picks at one of the charms on her keychain, a cat, “he got hurt,” she admits with a nervous, cautious air to her, “I–i can't tell you how, I'm sorry,” she adds quickly, as if laying down a sacred rule.

 

He pulls a face. Aaron, hurt? “Well why not?”

 

“Please Dante I shouldn't have even said that.”

 

Right… that’s normal.

 

“He got hurt and needed time to get better. The trip was after all of that,” she clarifies, “Aphmau finally got to see him again. So did the rest of us there—”

 

“Who was there?”

 

“I will get to that, I promise,” tense, she continues, “Then… something bad happened on the island,” something dark and poignant grabs and twists at her face, “I'm sure you saw the news?”

 

He shakes his head, “The public’s barely been told anything,” he doesn’t mean to, but a harsh scoff escapes him after the last word.

 

“Dante, you don't understand—”

 

“What don't I understand!?” he exclaims, feeling like he’s going crazy.

 

Her ears press back, “It's like… secret,” her hesitant words come out a worrisome mumble, “government stuff.”

 

What.

 

He blanks. Out of all the possible explanations he has been cooking up for months, not once, had he ever seriously thought up secret government stuff as applicable.

 

“You… they… h–huh?” he has to do a double take, “Wh–what the hell happened at Starlight?”

 

“It's a secret,” she shrugs stiffly, “But um… lots of people got hurt there, including our friends,” his heart sinks in the quickly expanding bruise of his chest. “I got cleared first to go home, by the— uh,” she stutters, “th–the government people. The others are still being um,” she pauses, stepping between words, “Yeah,” is what she decides to go with.

 

They are… huh?

 

He feels dazed, trying to keep up with the onslaught of dire information. His head can barely wrap around it.

 

He takes a short breath, “Who is there?” he repeats.

 

“Yeah,” she sighs, “Um, Garroth and Zane, were invited.”

 

“They said they were on a camping trip!” Dante argues. Now he feels half super crazy and half validated. Neither feel good.

 

“Secret,” she reminds, nervously darting her eyes about the silent home, “So were Lucinda and Kim.”

 

The name doesn't ring a bell, “Who?”

 

“Kim,” she repeats as if that answers the question. But when it obviously doesn’t, she supplies, “She went with them to the Lodge.”

 

“Ohh, right. The girl Laurance used to crush on.”

 

She seemed sweet. Super shy and nerdy but still cute. Not really his type— Seriously that’s what you’re thinking of in a time like this Dante!?

 

Something about his reply makes Kawaii-Chan's face scrunch up, but she doesn't comment on it. “Aphmau was there, of course,” well it is Aaron so at least a small piece of this mindfuck is reasonable. “Katelyn and Travis were also there, by coincidence, though.”

 

Wait so when Travis said he was having a family trip with his father he meant Starlight of all places!? For over a month!? His dad must be loaded.

 

“‘Cause Travis’ dad is…” she trails off, somehow derailed from her train of thought. He follows her gaze, ending up on the floor, but he gets the sense that she is actually staring off into the air,

 

Oh man, she looks…

 

“Travis’ dad is what?” he prompts gently.

 

“Dead,” is the horrid word that falls from her lips.

 

The cold chill returns tenfold. He recoils, “Huh!?”

 

He’s been reeling this entire conversation but this is a step too far. It sends a jolt of terror up his spine and into his skull.

 

Her brain seems to catch up with her mouth, “I–i um,” she stammers, eyes refocusing with rapid blinks, “Oh Irene,” she jangles her keychain, “I'm sorry Dante, so much is on my mind.”

 

Yeah that’s completely reasonable but geez man! He momentarily grits his teeth. Oh poor Travis. He must be…

 

“It's okay,” he forces a sigh from his tight throat, “I don't blame you.”

 

“So uhh,” she gets back on track, as if she just hadn’t done that , “Aphmau's mom was there. Aaron's–” something else seems to set her off and her face twists into something just awful.

 

How can it get worse!?

 

“They um…” she can't seem to get the words out.

 

“Hey, it's okay,” poor words, terrible words, even, but Irene, he is trying, “You don't have to tell me everything.”

 

She nods, gulping down a breath of air after a moment, “That's basically who went. I um, I'm sorry, Dante, for everything.”

 

The words, the awful look in her eyes, the suddenness, it whacks him painfully over the head, leaving him stunned and perplexed. He never once imagined that she could look at him in such a way. And he never expected to see such anguish in her expression. You hear about terrible things happening in the world, but never expect to know someone so…

 

He tries to muster up the kindest, most earnest look he can manage. He’s never been good with emotions, ironic, considering how sugary sweet his mom can be. Though, maybe it’s because she has two modes: happy and pissed.

 

“Don’t be,” he means it, “I’m the one who should be sorry, a–and I am! Truly, I am so, sorry, Nana,” he wants to reach out and clasp her hand in his, but he doesn't want to push a boundary when he’s already on thin ice in his mind.

 

She doesn’t look as startled as he imagined she would at him using that name, though she definitely was not expecting it, he can tell. She smiles sadly, “Thank you, Dante.”

 

He chuckles breathlessly, a terrible, invisible weight he hadn’t been aware of, lifting from his shoulders. It’s so sudden and startling, but he tries to welcome it, “Don’t mention it.”

 

She leans back, further melting into the couch with a long sigh.

 

He smiles fondly, but the lighter moment passes in a flash. He frowns, a new question popping into his frazzled mind, “Wait, where the heck is everyone else?”

 

She pouts, brows furrowing, “I told you, I was cleared first to go home, since I was um,” she awkwardly siphons through her words, as if censoring herself— no that is definitely what she is doing, “I was less… affected, or of importance— um, concern.”

 

Concern? “Did something happen to you, KC?”

 

Irene he hopes not. People don’t deserve to be hurt in general but if anyone super doesn’t deserve it, it’s Nana.

 

She pulls a twisted face that tells him 100% yes but keeps quiet. He knows in that moment that he is not getting any more from her. It is horribly frustrating but he he decides not to push. Even someone as dense as he knows his place in a situation like this.

 

He pushes himself up onto his feet and declares, “I’ll go to the store and get you some groceries to last you a bit,” he doubts she wants to go shopping after everything.

 

“Really?” she peers up at him, hesitant.

 

“Of course!” he waves her off, “No trouble on my part, honestly.”

 

In return she gifts him a smile and a nod. It soothes some of his aching chest. Not overstaying his welcome, he takes his leave to head to the supermarket down the road.

Lonely, a simple word, but the perfect one to describe the house over the summer, over these last three months. Spending time with his family helped, immensely, but coming back home to an empty house or seeing them go each time filled him with that horrible loneliness. Dante comes around, that has definitely helped. He never expected to become close with that guy but prolonged proximity just does that.

 

But the worst part is how much he misses Garroth, and how terribly angry he is at him. Garroth just goes on a camping trip without him and sure he invited Laurance but they both knew that Laurance couldn't make it, not by a longshot! So not only does he last minute ditch him for the entire summer, he then ghosts him for five weeks! Laurance every day when he enters his home, is furiously compelled to hit things, or punch the shit out of his unaassuming pillow, imagining it's that blonde bastard. But deep in his core, the things he yearns for the most, is his best friend.

 

Of course he misses their other friends too. Misses Aph's laugh, Travis’ attempts at charisma, Katelyn's abrasiveness, his banter with Lucinda, by Irene he misses Lucinda. And Aaron's been gone so long he's started to worry.

 

Why is everyone leaving me? … and Dante. The small, young voice in the back of his voice mumbles.

 

Work and babysitting has ran him to the ground. Sure he has Dante but it's difficult to make time when he's always with Gene. Laurance prefers to avoid that guy. Cadenza is constantly busy, running her small business. He's so proud of her, honestly he is, with how hard she has worked despite everything they've been through. But sometimes he can't help but be bitter, especially now.

 

Laurance wakes on his couch to his phone, the sweetly agitating voice of Britney ringing loudly from the coffee table. He groans and grabs half hazardly for his phone, spamming his finger until it shuts up.

 

It's not his alarm so he is not getting up.

 

Not even a minute later: My loneliness, is killing me! And I—

 

“Urgghhh,” he groans, reaching for it.

 

I must confess, I still believe—!

 

He slams his thumb into the answer button and presses it up against his ear without looking at the caller ID, “Huh what?”

 

“Laurance you will not believe the morning I'm having,” Dante's voice rushes out. He sounds as if he's holding his voice back from raising in volume from what seems like panic, or excitement, perhaps both.

 

It's not entirely unusual for Dante to randomly call him. Though he usually just busts into the house to assert himself. On top of that, he knows that Dante likes to wake at ungodly hours to exercise.

 

What kind of maniac first eats after exercising?

 

“Yeah, what's up man?” he rubs his face.

 

“Okay so I was taking a jog and I was finishing up when I saw this weird black van in front of Katelyn and KC's house.”

 

Laurance is suddenly more awake, “Uh, huh?”

 

“Then I saw— Wait maybe I shouldn't have said that part.”

 

He rubs his eyes, his voice coming out gravely and dry, “Dante, context?”

 

“Yes. Right. Sorry man, I'm frazzled.”

 

“Frazzled huh?” Laurance mumbles with groggy amusement, “Yeah you sound it. Where even are you? Why don't you just come over and explain? I know your work doesn't allow phones, so, yer not there, right?”

 

“Grocery store,” he supplies.

 

“Oh. Yeah okay, continue.”

 

“So out of the van steps Kawaii-Chan and then it—”

 

Laurance blinks blankly at the armrest before him. Did I hear that right? Then a moment passes.

 

“Excuse me what !?” he exclaims, pushing himself up by the elbow. Sitting back into the couch he stares at the ceiling, practically feeling his frown lines forming.

 

“I'm not lying I swear,” Dante defends.

 

“Hey I never said you were.”

 

“Right, sorry,” he sighs.

 

“It's alright man, just keep going.”

 

KC… back?

 

“Right, yes. So she stepped out and I went over. She only had one bag, and she seemed so out of it,” Dante sounds terribly worried, “I'm out getting her groceries. Laurance something happened in Starlight—”

 

“She was in Starlight!?”

 

Everyone with a TV or phone knows that something really fucking bad happened in Starlight. Of course the government's been keeping it all hush hush but anyone with a brain knows that a ‘minor crisis’ is absolute bullshit. And their friend was there—? Well, he hopes Kawaii-Chan counts him as a friend. They aren't close in the slightest to be honest, but she's a sweet girl. And Aphmau has a good judgement in character, for the most part.

 

“Laurance I want to say so much but this seems serious,” Dante pleads, “Like government intervention stuff. Laurance I am being so serious you have to promise to keep everything I tell you to yourself, okay?”

 

As if being slapped awake, he has been jolted to full awareness. Oh my Irene . He sighs hurried, “Yeah okay, I promise. Now tell me what’s happened!” Laurance has decided that he has been out of the loop for too long ! And he is not passing up this chance up to finally know something, hell anything!

I love you honey!!! -johan

“Okay so what I got from her explanation, is,” Dante begins in a hushed, rapid fire manner, “Back when they all went to that Lodge place, something super bad happened and Aaron got really seriously hurt.”

 

Aaron, their Aaron, hurt ? That doesn’t sound real.

 

“So I guess turns out, he wasn’t on vacation, or doing businessy things with his parents, he was in the hospital— I think? Or physical therapy, maybe. I–I don’t know. Anyways, that’s why he was gone for that entire freaking year. And why everyone was pretending to not be depressed— And why Aphmau was so weird!”

 

Laurance shudders as the memory forcefully reenters his mind. Everyone had returned from that place, different, very different. They looked older, tired, burned . But after the first week, which most of them had spent locked away in their homes — or in Zane and Garroth’s cases, locked away in their rooms while Zane occasionally ventured out to scavenge for food — they all had started acting “normal”. Yeah, “normal”! As if nothing had even happened. But it doesn’t take a genius to see that your best friend is really fucking hurting. Though maybe it takes a genius to figure out how exactly to help them.

 

“So all this time he’s been away, and then this summer, everyone starts making excuses to leave. Something something camping trip, something something family business. Turns out, they all went to Starlight.”

 

So everyone gets the okay, except them?

 

Garroth and Zane make sense, he supposes. Garroth and Aaron weren’t super close but no one really is except Aphmau. But over time they have seemed to start getting along a lot better. Oh and don’t forget the obvious point: their families' businesses work closely together. And with Zane, he’s Aph’s best friend, unfortunately. So they check out. And Katelyn kind of makes sense, she’s Aphmau’s other best friend, her best friend girl-friend, as Zane would put it. But why Travis? Why Travis over him? And a big why — why Kawaii-chan of all people? She’s a sweet girl but she and Aaron don’t have any sort of relationship beyond association through Aphmau. And lastly Lucinda. He knows that Aaron and Lucinda had some sort of friendly dynamic, perhaps Laurance underestimated that. So maybe that part doesn’t bother him.

 

Despite all of the road bumps and screw ups in Laurance and Aph’s relationship, he thought they were really close. If this were just about Aaron he could get that. But she chose Travis over him? Really ? What kind of fuckery is that!?

 

Dante huffs out, “They were vacationing this entire ti— most of this entire time. Well I guess we knew that but I certainly didn’t think it was to this extent.”

 

“Did Kawaii-chan tell you what even happened at Starlight?”

 

“Nope. Just said it was something really really bad,” his pensive tone becomes saddened as he sheds his annoyance, “Laurance she looked pretty bad.”

 

“Hey that’s not—”

 

“No not like that!” he exclaims, then forcefully quiets his voice, “I mean that she looks like. wrecked. I’ve never seen her look anything like this, ever.”

 

Laurance cannot even picture it in his head. Has he seen Kawaii-chan sad, or upset? Definitely. But desolate, wounded — like those who returned from the Lodge — that is a whole other realm that feels impossible for her. Kawaii-chan just isn’t… like that.

 

Dante speaks with a level of stress he hasn’t heard since everything with Nicole, “Laurance, she said she was the first to be cleared, cleared . And from what she was putting down, it sounded like they were being held by some special forces whoever-the-fucks. Our friends are who knows where,” panic rises in his barely restrained tone, “I’m trying to not make it about me but I’m kinda freaking out.”

 

Laurance should be freaking out too. He would be, yes, but he has learned over the years that he is— or perhaps it was learned from experience, that in moments of crisis, he is filled with a controlled calm responsibility. Laurance knows that he will definitely lose his shit later, definitely wheeze and maybe cry as his heart tries to mirror a hummingbird. But that is not now. So he listens, nods despite being on the phone, and says, “Hey, it’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with being worried. Honestly it’d be weird if you weren’t losing your cool. But you’re doing all you can and that is ample.”

 

A long, strained sigh carries through his phone, “Yeah, alright,” Dante slows his breathing and clears his throat, “Okay,” a moment, “Thank you, man.”

 

“It’s no problem. This is… a lot,” that’s putting it lightly.

 

“Yeah,” he chuckles, “Ample, huh?”

 

“Yes you’re very ample, now hurry up with the groceries,” he chides lightly, “I have an inkling that you’ve been pushing the cart around in circles this entire call.”

 

He waits for Dante to retort or snicker but—

 

Laurance blinks, “He just hung up on me.”

 

He turns to the void of his house to see what they think of his commentary. Silence, like usual.

Chapter 2: It's Still Dark, But at Least I Can See

Summary:

Laurance's day

The chime of a bell rings softly through the cafe as Laurance enters for work. The place is decently filled, most of the patrons entering are on their lunch breaks from their jobs, or college students coming in to study. Gene and Damian had covered the opening shift to Laurance’s knowledge. He can’t really remember which one he is going to switch with. That morning call has scrambled his entire already stressed out brain. He slips past a customer and heads to the back to get changed. He spots one of the new hires doing the same. Due to being understaffed after everyone up and left, Gene, being left in charge, had decided to bring on part time employees for the summer, which mostly ended up either being high school or college students. Honestly Laurance is relieved he did so.

 

He steps into a changing room. Back when he first started working here, it was strictly meant to be part time. After all, he literally has another job. But he really wanted to help out his friends. Mostly his contributions were baking the fresh goods in the morning and occasionally filling in shifts. But when summer came, he was needed here. Up side: Laurance has a lot more income now. Down side: He’s been stretched thin and barely sleeps. And when he does have free time, it’s usually spent babysitting Caleb.

 

I need to stop dwelling on this. It’s only making me feel worse. And that doesn’t do any good. So there’s no point.

 

He steps out and gets to work.

 

As Laurance approaches the counter with orders, Gene greets him with a friendly, casual look, “Hey Laurance.”

 

Right, he’s filling in for Damian.

 

Smiling faintly, he says back, “Hey Gene, how’s it going?”

 

“It’s been a pretty good morning,” he’s filling a to-go bag with a pastry, “Lunch rush looks like it won’t be too bad, but y’know, you never know. How’s Caleb?”

 

Working with Gene at the cafe has never been an issue. Laurance doesn’t mind him as a coworker and even if he did, he knows how to be professional. And even Laurance will admit that Gene has been a great boss in Aphmau’s absence, just good for the cafe in general. It’s nice seeing that Gene has actually matured over all these years.

 

“He’s fine.”

 

No, his problem with Gene is mostly when he has to hang out with him on a personal level. After everything, he’s never really felt the urge to re-friend him, if that’s a thing . He was perfectly fine with forgiving and forgetting. And when he moved in nearby he wasn’t very happy, but he got past it. It’s just kind of annoying having Gene with them when he’s trying to hang out with Dante. And it was extremely irritating those few times Dante was over and Gene just entered, yes entered into Laurance’s freaking space!

 

“That’s good to hear,” Gene reaches over to receive Laurance’s slips, “Were you able to sleep in today?”

 

The concern, although mild, makes Laurance internally bristle. “Nah,” he gives a casual shrug, “Dante woke me up.”

 

Gene chuckles, “Oh whatever will we do with him?”

 

More like whatever will we do with our friends.

 

As he walks away to continue waiting tables, he wonders if he should say anything to Gene. Maybe Dante’s told him? He faintly shakes his head, stepping over to a booth. No, Gene’s not freaking out, or trying badly to act normal. Beyond the secret government stuff reasons, Dante might have not told him because despite how much they’ve worked to better their relationship, from what Laurance has seen, it’s still not perfect. Dante doesn’t talk about it as often as he used to, but every now and again, he’ll rant about his brother to him, who Laurance has to then see at work. People are really complicated.

 

He brings a table food. After work later tonight I should really visit Kawaii-chan. He tries to envision it. Knocking on her door. Seeing her sad. Being let in. Then… Geez, he really can’t imagine her like that. Is that bad? He doesn’t mean to put her in a box, but genuinely the image of her being how Dante described feels impossible. She’s loud, and cheery, and overly enthusiastic. Even when she’s upset, there’s always a layer of drama to it. That’s just how she is. And we all adore her for it. Honestly he’d always felt that she was one of the easiest people to understand, that he’d gotten her all figured out. Not that she isn’t a layered and complex person, just… Huh wait a second. He writes down an order. Maybe that is the case. Does that make me shallow?

 

Does that make me a bad friend?

 

It’s not even the fact that they’re not close, and he just doesn’t know her better. As he imagines being close to her, sure, he’d know more about her, and would learn all of her tells and habits. But he still believes that she’d still be the same KC that is locked into his mind. And he’s starting to worry if that’s a problem. He carries a plate. He doesn’t see it as he sets it down at the side. He remembers a time where she’d been upset that no one took her seriously. Honestly he thought that it was pretty ridiculous. How could she expect to be taken seriously when looking like that? Maybe that’s kind of harsh… She had just not been self aware, in the slightest. But she’s never been self aware. That’s what is so humorous and endearing about her. Of course he’d never say that to her face but… Oh Irene. That’s not…

 

Am I a—?

 

“Laurance, you should take your break.”

 

A familiar voice reaches deep into his floaty, constricting thoughts, and pulls Laurance out. Wow he hadn’t realized how extreme his tunnel vision had become… or that he was having it in the first place. Laurance glances at the clock, it’s a cat and the hands are whiskers. Cute gimmick but it only looks normal at certain specific times.

 

It takes a hot second to read. A couple hours had passed.

 

He turns back to Gene, sighing, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

So a big whoops, Laurance turns out, had forgotten his lunch, or to even pack one. It’s not a huge loss though, eating junk food for one day won’t kill him. He sits in the back, relaxing on the pink couch as he eats. Growing up, he’d always thought that pink was a really dumb color, a girl's color. Cadenza used to beat him up whenever he voiced as such. The dramatic irony, all these years later, working in a freaking maid cafe. He snorts. Where’d he even get that from? Pink is just lighter red and he loves red.

 

The smell of smoke swirls around in his mind. He grimaces. Yeah, right.

 

He shakes away the memory. Lingering on negativity won’t do him any good. Instead, he thinks about when everyone’s going to return.

 

Game nights again. Travis absolutely decimating us in Uno. Cards Against Humanity with Garroth, he always had the best answers. Katelyn in recent times joining them and having the worst competitive rage I’ve seen, since, well uh, myself.

 

Having Garroth and Zane as housemates again. Having Garroth back… Cooking breakfast in the morning and Garroth either joining or coming downstairs solely from the smell of fresh food. Zane coming down in the middle of the night and freezing like a demon, or a child getting caught in the middle of a crime. He frowns. He didn’t start doing that until after they went to the Lodge. If Laurance’s memory serves him correctly, Zane actually had a surprisingly well maintained sleep schedule before. Yeah he’d brag about getting eight and a half hours each night. That dick.

 

He sighs. No. No thinking about that stupid lodge place. You’ll just drive yourself crazy with conspiracies. Laurance takes a good bite out of his bagel and returns to his prior train of thought.

 

Lucinda hosting murder mystery parties again. She’ll call me at ungodly hours like she did before and ask me to carry out her manual labor as if she isn’t literally magic. Her teleporting into my hou—

 

He feels his face turn beet red and his mind shove a repressed memory straight into his eye sockets.

 

THINK ABOUT LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE! UH UH— ZANE BEING A HUGE PRICK! AND STUCK UP! ALL EMO AND MISERABLE BACK IN SCHOOL DESPITE BEING LOADED—

 

Garroth sitting on the couch with me again. The couch we bought together.

 

His mind stills. Yeah, I can’t wait to do that again.

On his way home from his actual job, Laurance grabs a coffee. Will this help the imaginary band kids that are using his head as a base drum stop ? Not in the slightest. Will it maybe bring his mind back to reality and make his eyelids stop drooping? Irene I hope so. And do not even bother asking him if drinking coffee at seven o’clock at night is healthy.

 

Sipping on his cup, he makes his way up Katelyn and Kawaii-chan’s driveway. The sight of the light on inside feels uncanny, but relieving. He strides on up to the door and doesn’t waste a moment before knocking. He waits a long minute, and forces his mind not to drift off. Patience is a virtue. So is being spatially aware. He hears very faint footsteps and assumes she’s far from the door but not a second later it opens.

 

Any words, or smile, or greeting he had been preparing, or just about to conjure, immediately die. Like a stone blocking his words and sinking down into his throat to choke him.

 

It’s like looking at a stranger. Kawaii-chan’s face has a heaviness to it that doesn’t really make sense. It looks aged, like when your hair greys early from stress. Her eyes look exhausted, and under them are deep set bags. But she doesn’t look sleepy in the slightest, rather the opposite, really. There’s a hyper vigilance to her gaze, as if she’s aware of everything at once but too tired to do much of anything about it.

 

A horrible weight settles down at the bottom of his stomach.

 

“Laurance?” she questions, like he’s some sort of ghost. She’s the one who looks sickly pale like one! Even her voice has changed. It is far less shrill and energetic. But it feels beyond just being low energy. And she’s dropped the whole honorific thingy. Her head tilts to one side, amber mirrors giving him the once over. “Laurance I—” she pauses, then decides to abort any greeting as she urgently steps into his space.

 

He blinks, realizing what she’s offering. Laurance wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her into a hug.

 

In his head, he feels himself reeling, mulling over questions, theories, even more damn questions, paranoid fears, nightmares— Yet simultaneously, his mind has come to a complete halt.

 

She hums weakly and secures her arms around him in return. She doesn’t really hug tight, aside from one small squeeze. But he can feel the vulnerability. And it pains him.

 

What the hell is wrong with me?

She welcomes him inside and offers him tea. He receives a small, amused smile when he asks if it is caffeinated. So he ends up on her couch, holding a pink mug of green tea. On the other side of the couch is Kawaii-chan. Aside from the… obvious, she looks different. Her hair’s way longer. And she’s not dressed up. Not that he expects her to, it’s just that he’s never seen her casual. She’s got a pair of sweats on, along with a cozy looking cardigan thrown over a grey shirt. He also realizes that there’s no bow on her tail. How had he never really noticed the bow on her tail?

 

“So…” she starts awkwardly.

 

“So,” he echoes, sounding dumb.

 

“Dante said he told you.”

 

Like being dunked with a bucket of ice, he’s back.

 

“Right, yeah,” he nods, “He did, when he was at the store.”

 

“I know,” she looks nervous, “But I’m guessing you have questions? Like a lot of them?”

 

“I do, obviously. How can I not? Like— You all disappear, then ghost us, and suddenly you’re tangled up in some crazy stuff and you're—” hurt . He feels the word clog his throat, another stone.

 

He sees her fidget with the sleeve of her cardigan, “That’s fair. It’s just um, I want to answer everything. But there are certain things that I can’t, Laurance. I’m sorry,” she apologies, and he believes her.

 

He feels the whirlwind of negativity from all of today, tuck itself back and away, all on its own. He feels calm, far from relaxed, but more in control. A small, patient smile forms, “There is no need to apologize, okay? It sounds like whatever,” whoever, “is keeping you quiet is out of your hands. I’d seriously appreciate it if you answered some of my questions, but you don’t have to answer all of them. Okay?”

 

That seems to help some of her nervousness, “Okay. Thank you. Um, ask away?”

 

“So what I got is that a year ago, Aaron got hurt?”

 

Her droopy ears somehow droop more, “Yeah…”

 

“Was that at the Lodge that he and the others went to?”

 

“Yes. But I can’t tell you how,” she denies almost instantly.

 

“Okay, right. But can you tell me how bad it was?” he’s not sure if he even wants to know. But he needs answers. It’s been too long in the dark.

 

She pouts, though not playful, or even a cute sad, it just looks like someone kicked her, repeatedly, “It was really bad. I wasn’t there but I know it took a whole year to get better. And even at Starlight, he was still doing some physical therapy stuff.”

 

So what Dante said checks out.

 

He doesn’t try purposefully to put the pieces together and dig to find out what exactly hurt Aaron, not yet. But a couple stray ideas pop into his head. Maybe an accident? Or maybe he was attacked? Though that doesn’t explain the secrecy.

 

“I know you can’t talk about Starlight because of the whole government thing, or at least that’s the understanding I have?” when she nods, he continues, “But what about the Lodge? Why did they not tell any of us what happened?”

 

That makes Kawaii-chan’s ears pin back. He feels guilty for causing it. She answers, “That’s um, more secret stuff, but uh, an entirely different thing,” she goes quiet for a long while. He assumes that she isn’t going to say anymore on the matter, till she says in a tone so serious it startles him, coming from her, “Laurance, all I can tell you about the Lodge, is that our friends got really hurt. N–not physically, except for Aaron. But they haven’t been okay since it happened.”

 

“I know,” he murmurs gravely.

 

“They were hoping that the trip would make it all— would start to make things better.”

 

He goes still, as a freezing realization washed over him, “Everyone who went… they all had been at the Lodge,” Katelyn and Travis were only there too by coincidence. They hadn’t left him out because they hated him, or felt indifference towards him, he was left behind because he wasn’t involved. He wasn’t abandoned.

 

That doesn’t make him feel any better.

 

Garroth doesn’t trust me…?

 

“Yeah,” she nods, “That’s why they were invited.”

 

Garroth doesn’t trust me.

 

She watches him, amber gaze burning with sincerity. When minutes drag on by, and he doesn’t say anything, she says softly, “I missed you guys.”

 

His stomach feels sick.

 

Laurance sips his tea, then feels himself sigh calmly, “I missed you all too. So did Dante. Gene complained about you guys but I know he missed everyone,” Gene had just gotten used to being around everyone, and working there, then leadership was thrust into his arms and everyone ditched. His missing them was half yearning, half being pissed off. He hid it well, but he’s caught Gene smoking out back behind the cafe, cussing out his missing coworkers under his breath.

 

He asks, “When will everyone be back, KC?”

 

“I don’t know,” she shrugs, concern making her frown, “I was—” cleared first “—cleared first. I don’t know when everyone else will be.”

 

“But they’ll be coming back?”

 

She looks almost offended by the question, “Of course they will!”

 

“Okay,” he nods, murmuring the word softly.

 

He doesn’t stay long after that. She asks how things have been, he tells her works been fine and that he’s spending more time with Caleb. He leaves and returns home. He doesn’t sleep.

Notes:

This chapter was getting long so I split it into two. Also I need more time with next chapter so that shit fits my standards, so yall got this :3
Also I fixed the formatting on chapter 1, so the italics are now there!