Chapter Text
Rian sat in the meeting area. Just some folding tables and chairs put together for everyone to sit at. Lorenzo and Trace were on time for a meeting finally, and Relic was holding something in his hands, wrapped in paper towel. Mystica was fiddling with a small gadget they had brought.
Slone was the one who was late.
"So... Anything interesting happen to anyone while we were waiting for the data to be analyzed?" Lorenzo asks.
"Nothing here." Rian says flatly. "Wedding is next week though."
"That should be fun! Who're you bringing?" Trace asks.
"Since apparently Holly's girlfriend got an invitation nearly last-minute, I'm thinking of just bringing the last person of that friend group." They lean back in their chair.
"Who is in this group?" Mystica asks.
"Eh, just some old friends. Holly of course. Dahlia is her girlfriend. Stan, Dahlias brother. Wren. Siso. I'll be saying Siso is my plus one, cause Holly and Dahlia have deeper connections to the others."
"I feel like I've heard of this 'Siso' before." Relic grumbles.
"No idea, he's the most secretive of our group. I'd say quietest, but nah that's definitely Wren."
"I'm a little surprised I haven't heard of this friend group. Not much, anyway." Lorenzo adds with a smirk. That stupid smirk that never comes off his face.
"Because I can have different friend groups." She shrugs. Talking about it, she realizes that they didn't go to the meeting Renzo had told her about on that night with Hana. Shit, she could probably get it a got of trouble for that.
"That is true." Mystica adds. "They can have a many friend groups."
"Okay well- Oh shit, sup Slone." Lorenzo starts, stopping when Slone sits in her chair.
"Greetings everyone. I have bad news and I have some good news. Which would you like to hear first?" She starts.
"I also have good news." Relic states, taking the paper towel off of the artifact in front of him. "I have assembled the telescope."
"Perfect, that goes with my bad news." Slone says flatly.
"Let us hear that first." Mystica says. "I'd like to know."
"So. I have figured out what exactly the relief sculpture is about. Or more who." She sighs. "It's about an elder vampire, a collector. He uses a time machine to get authentic versions of his collection, dating centuries back. He had apparently visited the ancient peoples of these ruins, and is now on his way here. The telescope is supposed to tell us when he's supposed to be arriving next. Or when he will strike next. Relic, have you tested it on the apparatus yet?"
"Yes." He wipes off a speck of dirt from the glass. "He should be active in four weeks."
"The next eclipse."
"Precisely." Mystica states.
"What's the good news, though?" Trace asks, fixing his hair and getting it out of his eyes.
"We have someone to help us." Slone says cheerfully. She turns to the corner she came from. "C'mon out, Jones."
Out from behind her steps out Jones Jonesy, the most iconic man on the Island. He was thought to have been lost for decades now.
"Hey, guys. I was told I'm going to be here to help a bit." He says shyly.
"You're going to be helping more with the heist for the time machine, though." Slone says with a shrug.
"Heist?" Rian asks.
"Yes. I'll be calling up some old friends for this. Should be interesting."
"Is there really anything else for us now?" Lorenzo questions.
"Not that I know of. Go and do whatever you guys want now."
So now Rian had to report to Dahlia and tell her it was over. She has the information they need.
Rian stood on the west side of the Neon Bridge, except it wasn't raining today. She was meeting with Dahlia, knowing she'll probably be ridiculed for not showing up to the meeting.
"Yo, Rian, you okay?" Dahlia asks, leaning on the railing beside Rian.
"Yeah. Just... Feel like there isn't anything for me anymore." They admit. "There's this collector vampire that's going to strike on the next eclipse. That's all we know."
"Really? Is he supposed to be detrimental?"
"Yeah. The ancient peoples made a whole ass wall dedicated to one image of him."
"Interesting. Oh, have you happened to see Nox anywhere?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"Because Aurora lost him. He could be anywhere."
"Didn't he kill the Martyr?"
"Yeah. I still remember the day they came to the HQ. I suggested them, because they seemed witty. Without them, Nox would've never been caught. Without them, we would've been defenseless."
"They were useful, huh?"
"Yeah. And honestly pretty sweet. Only person I've seen manage to get Renzo to soften up except for Fusion and sometimes Holly."
"Holly can soften him up? Really?"
"She lived with him for three years. When she was kicked out of her parents apartment, and was dumped by her ex. He was the only one with a stable income." She chuckles a little to herself. "Still is, really."
"You know how he earns money?"
"Probably bounty work, honestly. He'd be good at it."
"... I don't think that we'll all be alive by the end of this year."
"Woah, that's some deep thought. Why is that?"
"I don't know. Just... I feel like neither of us will live to see the new year."
"Humans have this ability to sense the future. Lots call it anxiety. But I've learned to trust what a human says. So spend your time with those who are closest to you. You never know when you'll see them for the last time."
"I'm guessing you'll do the same thing with Holly?"
"Of course. Her and Styx are all I have. Might as well make the most of it."
"... You're right."
"So. I've been told that you're no longer on duty." Renzo says, sitting across from Rian in the Unseens headquarters. "Care to let more than Dahlia and Holly know?"
"I don't have any more work with the Luminaries or Explorers." She explains. "I've been told that there is nothing left."
"And why?"
"There's a vampire showing up soon, and going to strike the Island on the next eclipse."
"... Interesting."
"I agree."