Chapter Seven

                                    

                                          
Selene hummed. Her long, purple tentacles floated up like a small gust of low gravity hit her.
                          
Large stars were flying overhead.
                          
She sensed they were coming.
                          
"Come in." Selene replied.
                          
Milky's group waddled in. Ibuki ran over to Selene and gave her a hug.
                          
"...Please release your affectionate warm way to communicate your long arrival." Selene advised.
                          
Ibuki looked back at every puzzled member of the group. "She does this. A lot. Since she became a fortune teller she always speaks like the dictionary."

                          
"Quiet your overflowing mouth, it disrupts my brain from processing the future." Selene hissed. "I barely see how you're contributing to this."
                          
"We need to know where Leo is." Soleil explained. "Pico and Ibuki seem to think you know his location."
                          
Selene put her elbows on the table and rest her head on her interlocked hands. "I know no whereabouts of this acquaintance." she sighed. "Allow me to help you, though. Let me tell you his fate."

"Fate? What happened to him?" Asami asked.

Selene sighed and set her arms on the counter. "He has been in contact with water." she explained. "Octavia has found out about his betrayal."

                          
Asami's voice trembled. "D-do you mean he's been... splatted?" she gasped, ready to succumb to the floor.
                          
"Wait," said Pico. "Can't we respawn?"
                          
"No." Selene sighed. "Ever since Octavia's conquered the Zapfish we've all plunged into small chaos. If only..."
                          
"You're saying... that the Great Zapfish has been destroyed?" asked Milky.

Selene sighed and nodded her head. "We can't do anything," she explained. "We are tasked with hiding in a particular spot and hoping the chaos will recede."
                          
But Soleil was furious. "This is the worst advice you've given anyone!" she screamed. "I don't want to sit here, patiently waiting to be corrupted. I want to fight them."
                          
"Soleil, please," Selene argued. "It's the only option Earth has provided. We must hide." She reached out for Soleil's hand.

Soleil tugged away from Selene. "No. I refuse to accept this." She stormed away from Selene's dim palace.
                          
"Soleil!" Asami called, running behind her.
                          
"She's upset..." Selene stood up and walked upstairs towards a dark door and slammed it shut, locking it after.
                          
Ibuki crouched and locked her legs with her arms. "It's all Izuki's fault," she whined. "If she had spared Pico and joined us!"

                          
Pico knelt down to rub her tentacles. "No. It's all Octavia." he responded. "Izuki could've led the group, of course, but Octavia is the real mastermind."
                          
Ibuki dug her head in her lap and began to sob.
                          
 
                          
Soleil sat on the staircase of Selene's mansion. Asami followed and sat beside her.
                          
"I don't want to hide while everyone suffers," Soleil sighed, her voice crackling. She was almost in tears. "I don't want to run away from them. I want to take revenge on Etoile."
                          
"'Etoile'?" Asami repeated. "Is she your friend?"
                          
"What else would we be?" Soleil sighed again. "Octavia took her and corrupted her at first sight, when she sacrificed for me."
                          
Asami looked down at her feet. She seemed to understand. "When I lost Etoile, I was... heartbroken." Soleil continued. "I didn't think I'd recover. I did, but I never knew I'd remember this..." 
                          
Soleil began to sob and Asami also sighed. "I'm sorry that happened. Selene may or may not be de-railing us." she said thoughtfully. "She could be giving us this advice so she and Octavia can betray us."
                          
Soleil wiped her tears. "You think so?" she asked.
                          
Asami nodded. "It may or may not be true, but let's just think about that."
                          
Meanwhile, Selene watched suspiciously from outside the window.