Chapter Text
Damon Maitsu had seen it clear as day; Wolfgang Akire had drugged Grace Madison.
Correction: Had drugged Grace Madison’s drink. Not her—not yet, anyway.
The flashing lights and blaring music messed with his multiple senses, but he swore he saw it happen from the corner. With a smile, Wolfgang offered to hold his ‘beloved’ Madison’s beverage, and then he placed something unidentifiable in her drink.
At first, Damon blinked a few times, thinking he was seeing things. Even though this was a party, he didn’t have more than a single, bitter-tasting cup.
To say he was pissed was an understatement.
Wolfgang stood in the same position, staring at the poisoned drink for longer than he should have. Damon quickly nudged to Eva, who was standing in the corner next to him, holding her own drink.
“You saw that, didn’t you?” He asked, pointing to Wolfgang with his free hand.
Eva Tsunaka pushed up her glasses with a finger, “Saw what?”
“I thought you were supposed to be attentive.”
“Damon, of course I saw it,” she responded, her face completely deadpan.
The duo remained silent in their little corner for a few beats. Other party-goers bunched into loud groups, screaming and laughing as if they never had a care in the world. Kai Monteago abandoned his black sweater on the floor, leaving him with an open button-up and a white tank top. He jumped onto the table, adding to the noise with his erratic dancing. Damon sighed, giving Eva the time to move to the nearest trash can and throw her plastic cup away.
“I didn’t know if I should’ve pointed it out,” Eva said, taking off her leather jacket. She fanned herself with both hands, immediately regretting it when she brought the suffocating scent of sweat and smoke right to her.
She groaned, “it smells like cherries and cigarettes in here.”
Wolfgang continued to stand there, stoic. A wax figure in the middle of those made of flesh and blood; he appeared human, yet there was something alien about him. Maybe it was the fact he even attempted this stunt in the first place. Wolfgang, the most martyr-like lawyer-track guy Damon ever met, drugging someone’s drink for presumably malicious intent sounded like a fever dream.
The pink-haired reason why Damon was here in the first place took a tumble off his table perch. He shrieked and landed in the arms of another guy, who spilled a bit of his drink on Kai’s white outfit. Damon cursed under his breath, watching his roommate rub his face into the chest of a guy they both barely knew.
“That’s it—I’m out of here. Kai’s coming with me,” Damon said, marching forward with a new confidence.
Eva nodded, “I’ll grab Diana. Wanna walk back with us?”
Damon set his drink down on the dirty floor, turning his head to Eva’s (still) deadpan face. In all truthfulness, he simply wanted to grab Kai and book it back to the dorms. Having another person—not to mention, two of them—with him would distract his train of thought and leave him even more flustered than before.
“..Fine. Be quick, either you're outside or you’re leaving alone.”
Eva hummed in response. She traveled up the stairs of the house, most likely to the upstairs bathroom. If Damon was correct, Diana would probably be redoing her melted makeup somewhere in private. Somewhere quiet, unlike the main room.
Like a serpent, Damon slipped through the partying crowd to the previous scene. His footsteps were rhythmic, following to the beat of the song blasting through the nearby speakers. His vision lingered on Wolfgang, but like a magnet, Kai’s body lured him further and further away from his original thoughts.
“Oh, Damon..is..is that you?” Kai said, his voice slurring words together.
Damon had never seen Kai this messed up. His body refracted the house’s colorful lights, giving him a strange glow that made him almost alike to a disco ball. His eyelids were at a constant squint, and his jaw was hanging open. Tripping over his own feet, Kai wobbled to Damon, letting go of the random guy he latched onto.
“Kai, we’re leaving.”
Kai pouted, “What…? Wh-Why.. Damey, we just got ‘ere!”
“God, I didn’t take you for such a party animal.”
“Nah, nah…I’m as sober as a stone! Like a…stone—r!”
Damon scoffed and gripped his hand tightly around Kai’s wrist. The environment was making Damon’s skin crawl and his insides twist in all different ways. Everything—no, maybe only Wolfgang with Grace’s cup—felt horribly wrong.
Why was Wolfgang at a party? A frat one, for that matter. Damon had his reasons, but he didn’t think Wolfgang did. Damon always assumed he was backed up on his law studies, too busy to enjoy any leisure or get a job that paid enough to afford this; plus, he was always an advocate for anything safe and studious.
Roofies are, in fact, not safe nor studious.
“Damey–doo, I wanna..stay!”
“You’re drunk, Kai, we’re leaving,” Damon responded.
Kai’s heart-shaped sunglasses fell off his head, “Nooo…”
Pushing through the people, Damon brought his roommate out to the front. Eva was waiting with Diana in tow.
“Hi, Damon!—oh…oh my.” Diana Venicia waved, stopping when she saw Kai.
Diana looked like the star of an anti-underage-drinking PSA while Kai looked like one of the examples the PSA would use to prove a sad point. Her eyes were wide open, accentuated by her perfectly crafted eyeliner while Kai was fighting back sleep by the second. Her clothes were perfectly pressed and matched while the entire party would be lucky if Kai made it out with any clothes on.
Damon took off his green jacket and placed it on Kai’s shoulders. Sweat dripped down his flushed face, earning a smug look from Kai.
“Am I just too hot to handle, Damon?” Kai said, marking his first complete sentence throughout the night. Eva stifled a laugh, and Diana resumed her staring contest with Kai’s disgruntled appearance.
“Th-The hell? Stop that!” Damon said, rubbing his forehead.
Another whine left Kai, and his less-than sane rambling seemed to quiet down for a second.
Diana opened the door, allowing a frigid breeze and the soft light from the street to enter. “California Gurls” resounded through the building, and the open door removed the ear-splitting effect the closed inside had on it; however, before Damon could step out the door, his gaze went back to Wolfgang.
Grace strutted in from a different hallway, making her less-than temperate travel to Wolfgang. Her red, ruffle top fluttered about with every step she took. She lifted her bunny visor over her face and locked gazes with Wolfgang.
“Miss. Madison, I have your drink,” he said politely, a smile across his face.
“‘Bout damn time. The less sober I am, the less these bitches piss me off.”
Grace snatched her cup away from Wolfgang’s delicate grasp. Despite her first comment, she paused before taking a sip. Damon couldn’t exactly make out what they were saying, but based on their physical attitudes, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Wolfgang appeared minimally strange, no longer the life-sized shell of himself from earlier.
Eva was already halfway out the door, “Damon?”
“Hold. Make sure Kai doesn’t collapse,” Damon spoke, shoving Kai’s body onto poor Diana, who was still holding the door.
“I gotcha’, Kai!” Diana said, letting Kai’s body flop onto her frame.
Kai smiled, “Di..ana…I missed you!”
Diana giggled, but with a hint of nervousness.
As Damon walked to Wolfgang and Grace, the volume of the music increased rapidly. Grace scanned him up and down, her free hand on her hip. Wolfgang advanced closer to her, as if he was shielding her from the encounter.
“What are you doing, Wolfgang?” Damon asked, partially rhetorical.
Wolfgang awkwardly laughed, “Funny, I could say the same thing to you, Damon. What brings you over here?”
“I’m simply checking what you put in Grace’s drink,” narrowing his eyes at Wolfgang, he reached for the drink.
Before he could steal the glass, she tore it away from him, “Oi! The fuck do you think you’re doin coming over here and accusing Wolfie of tryna drug me?! Huh, soybean?”
“For the record, I saw it too,” a feminine voice interjected.
Eva appeared behind Damon like a cheap horror game jumpscare. She had a bad habit of doing that.
Grace restrained a cackle from Damon’s initial reaction, “Whaddya expect me to do? Believe the mathlete?”
Eva didn’t say anything, but a blush spread up her neck. Crossing her arms, she kept her gaze on a group of kids staring at Kai’s fallen sunglasses.
Damon reached for the cup again, “Grace, this is getting hard to watch. Can you please—”
“What exactly are you accusing me of, Damon?”
An icy stare from Wolfgang pierced through Damon’s fragile ego. This was one of the few times he had ever used Damon’s given name rather than a formality; the tone was cold, very cold.
Damon knew full well this was a serious accusation, but Wolfgang always handled everything in an amicable manner. He’d settle arguments with a warm smile and syrupy-sweet words that pissed Damon off to no end. Whatever the circumstance, everyone knew Wolfgang could solve absolutely anything with his poise and determination.
This was different. His normal grin morphed into a scowl, and his tone carried the weight of sharp, silver knives, piercing Damon’s chest without mercy. The heat from the house accentuated Damon’s increasing heart rate.
“I’m not accusing you of jackshit. I watched you spike the drink, Wolfgang.” Damon could feel himself losing his composure.
“Wolfie, look at him! Lil’ guy’s gettin’ worked up,” Grace exclaimed, her face leaning in. Her peppermint perfume invaded Damon’s personal space, bringing images of pine trees into his mind—although, it did smell better than the house.
A small snicker left Wolfgang’s mouth—that did it.
“What the hell is your damage?!” Damon yelled to Wolfgang, his anger muted by the background noise.
Some people near the front looked over but quickly resumed their partying. Damon knew he was making a fool of himself, yet he clenched his fists tighter.
“Boy’s gonna burst a blood vessel!” Grace said, practically mocking him.
He ignored Grace completely, erasing her from his mind. Wolfgang’s stare was resilient and full of sobriety, so nobody could blame his attitude on alcohol. How or why Wolfgang would do this was beyond Damon, but he couldn’t help but pry. It gave him a sick feeling in his stomach.
“I don’t know what you're talking about,” Wolfgang stated.
Eva pinched Damon’s shoulder, bringing his attention back. “It’s not worth it. Just let her get drugged if she’s going to be so defensive.”
Damon turned to Eva, “That’s not the point here—!”
Diana approached the group, Kai’s limp hand intertwined with hers, “I heard screaming, is everyone okay?”
“Everything’s fine, Diana,” Wolfgang said, liquid dripping down his brow.
She looked from Eva and Damon to Wolfgang and Grace. Her lips curled into a frown. “I thought we were leaving, what’s going on?” She said to her companions, keeping her attention on specifically Eva.
“Soybean over here’s sayin’ Wolfgang drugged my drink!”
Diana gasped and turned to Wolfgang, who avoided eye contact. “Wolfgang wouldn’t! He’d never do such a thing!”
Damon exhaled, ignoring Diana, “Both Eva and I saw it, Grace.”
“What, you and the mathlete?”
Diana placed herself between the groups, “Guys, we don’t have to get so heated about this—”
Wolfgang sucked in a breath of air, “I-I didn’t put anything in Gr–..Miss. Madison’s drink.”
“There’s no point in doing this! Let’s go,” Eva interrupted.
Damon had to find out why, “Wolfgang, give it up—”
“All of you, shut your traps!”
Wolfgang caught his breath, latching onto his right hand, which was twitching. He used both his hands to push his hair back and seemingly calm himself. The sudden outburst caused Diana to jump away in fear. His voice wasn’t louder than the music, but it still caught the attention of those near him. Even Grace took a confused step back.
He took another breath and adjusted his top, “I’m…I’m so, so sorry–I don’t know what came over me.”
Grace turned her attention away from Damon, studying Wolfgang’s expression. “Wolfgang–?”
Suddenly, a splash of red liquid flooded Grace’s face. Her face scrunched on impact, and burst immediately after. Eyes widened, she shrieked and looked for the cause of the attack. The party goers paying attention gasped or laughed quietly, avoiding Grace’s line of vision. Grace locked eyes with the source, and Damon’s mouth dropped open.
Kai Monteago had taken the drink Wolfgang gave Grace and thrown it right in her face while she wasn’t paying attention. In a daze, Kai fixed his posture and exchanged glances with the group.
“I thought Grace wanted a sip..” He said, feigning ignorance.
She screeched again, this time lower in pitch, “Why you lil’––I’ll kill you!”
Not everyone quieted down or paid any mind to the scene, but those who did turned to Wolfgang for guidance or a blatant reaction. In response, Wolfgang pulled out his phone and dialed a three-digit number.
Grace approached Kai, causing him to start screaming. He dropped the empty cup and Damon’s jacket, and then booked it to the exit. Attempting to push it instead of pulling it, Kai opened the door and started running, arms flailing in the air. Grace dashed after him.
Eva’s breathing intensified. She grabbed Diana’s shoulder and started leading her out the door.
“Damon, he’s calling the police, we need to leave,” She said, halfway out the door with a petrified Diana. She wrestled free from Eva’s grasp.
“We have to go get Kai! Who knows what Grace will do to him otherwise?!” Diana yelled. She sprinted outside, ignoring the crisp breeze’s effects on her uncovered skin.
“Yes, excessive noise…I think they have drugs…underage kids..” Wolfgang murmured, lowering his vocal tone.
Both of them were torn between catching their roommates or dealing with Wolfgang. Words begged to come out of Damon's throat, leaving him sputtering out incomplete curses directed to ‘Wolfie.’ Curses that questioned Wolfgang’s hypocrisy that angered Damon to no end, curses that questioned his motives, and curses that questioned nothing but the void.
“Damon. We’ll deal with Wolfgang in the future,” she stated, a certain tenacity brewing within her, “I promise.”
He knew better than to fully trust Eva, but he wasn’t given much of a choice. Either he’d stay and possibly get arrested for underage drinking, or he could leave, catch Kai, and go to bed before 1 A.M.
Damon chose to put on his jacket and save his dignity; to abide by the law that Wolfgang always swore he’d follow up until a few moments ago.
***
Damon and Eva left the large frat house that was about an eight minute walk from Eden’s Garden Academy. Since the walking distance was so short, many kids opted to walk instead of drive. There were very few cars parked nearby.
“If he did call the police, we only have, like,” Eva said, pausing to calculate the area from the police station to their current position, “five minutes.”
Damon groaned and swiftly looked around for any sight of his panicked roommate. Eva did the same, but with less haste than Damon. Diana could handle herself fine, but Kai was at the mercy of Grace and oncoming traffic.
Passing the white pillars, the duo walked quickly through the concrete path outlined by fancy bushes. A few other kids ambled out along with Eva and Damon, expressing either contentedness with the party or just pure tiredness. Eva pulled her leather jacket in closer as a gust of wind pushed her bangs out of her face. A few red and orange leaves fell to the ground near them. Damon crushed one with his shoe.
Leading physically with his head, Damon moved faster on the hard sidewalk than Eva did. Her high-heeled boots limited her running ability.
“They couldn’t have gone far, Kai’s too wasted to run normally,” Damon commented, rubbing his eyes.
“How do drunk people run?” Eva asked, grasping at any form of a conversation.
“Erratically. I don’t even think Kai knows where he is right now. He’d just be running in zig-zags like there’s a huge, screaming crocodile behind him.”
Eva picked up the pace, her boots tapping hard on the ground. She seemed to understand what he meant, “I’m pretty sure that’s a myth. You’re supposed to run fast in a straight line if a crocodile is chasing you.”
“I wouldn’t expect Kai to know that either.”
They speed-walked a little further until they made it far enough to an area illuminated by streetlights: an abandoned construction site, originally planned to be another dorm location for incoming students. The project was cancelled because of the decrease in student population over the years. Damon and Kai had passed by it on their way over, but neither of them had thought much of it at the time. It was the prelude to a large forest, which separated civilization from the Academy. The site was blocked off by a chain link fence, but the gate was wide open, fully exposing a large dirt area with a few miniscule block placements and a giant, rusty crane.
Inside, three adults played a game of tag like they were little kids.
“Oi! Get yur ass back here—!”
Kai screamed as a default reply to Grace’s incessant yelling.
Diana chimed in, clearly out of breath, “Kai, stop running…please!”
Damon rushed to the main scene. Eva trailed behind, taking caution with her shoes. Grace spotted the two of them and stopped running. Her breathing was heavy, but a cocky grin still resided. Kai, on the other hand, stopped dead in his tracks and tripped over a rock. He fell face-first into the grime. Diana dashed to him, firing questions like ‘are-you-okay’ and ‘are-you-bleeding.’
“You goddamn idiot..” Damon muttered, his sound getting louder as he approached the pathetic sight, “you could’ve gotten yourself killed!”
Kai rolled over and rubbed his pre-bruised nose, taking in the multiple faces surrounding him. “I’m sorry, I don’t even know what happened,” he clearly tried to say, but it came out a garbled mess of sad cries.
Damon was going to scold Kai more for his immense beer intake, but a sour look from Diana cut him off.
“Don’t be rude, Damon! He’s had it the worst today.”
“Really? Getting completely wasted and throwing yourself onto a different guy every minute sounds like a horrible time,” Damon said, unable to hold back his grating sarcasm.
“Well, he’s just..not in his right mind. Give it a day before you lecture him.”
Eva couldn’t get a word in before Grace pushed her out of the way; she stumbled, regaining her balance with less elegance than she would’ve wanted.
“Oh, yeah? Ya’ like that?! Suck it, Pinkie!” Grace taunted, crouching down and giving him the finger. She relished in his drunken cries, unaware of her own laughable antics. Damon grabbed her shoulder, attempting to shove her away, but she quickly launched up to her original position and shook his hand off.
“Step off, Grace. Whatever your goal was, you’ve already completed it,” Damon said. She looked daggers into him, but it wasn’t anything Damon didn’t predict she’d do.
“Nobody, and I mean nobody, splashes a drink in my face and gets away with it. Wasted or not, it doesn’t matter,” she said through bared teeth, “and you aren’t gettin’ off scot-free either.”
Damon tried to appeal to her nature, but couldn’t hold back his usual sarcastic tone, “Why smack him around? You already got the job done.”
“..What?”
“You just chased Kai, who is probably on the verge of blacking out, out the door of a party for what? Throwing a drink in your face for being an oblivious moron? Are you aware of how pathetic that makes you—”
Grace grabbed Damon by the shirt, ready to strike.
But she stopped.
The air felt heavy, but a different kind of heavy from the humid party. A tension seeped into the five of them, weighing down their shoulders like a bunch of bricks. Nearby street lights flickered on and off, darkening the atmosphere occasionally. The stars seemed more visible.
Grace’s grip on Damon lessened. He took the opportunity to push her away from him. She didn’t retaliate.
“Did you feel that?” Eva asked, taking baby steps to Diana.
Kai hobbled up, smacking the dirt off his face. “Feel wha’? I feel nothin’.”
“That pressure?” She continued, watching Kai sway back and forth.
The ground started to rumble, knocking Kai down again.
“Is it an earthquake?!” Diana shrieked.
Grace uttered a few choice words as she steadied her balance. Diana bent over and pulled Kai up, so he could at least lean on her shoulder. The girl pulled Kai and Eva closer, holding hands with both of them. She squeezed tighter the harder the ground shook. Pebbles and bits of debris bounced up and down.
Damon stretched his arms out, maintaining a rough stability on the floor. He tilted his head up, and he was met with a glowing red light. It was too fast to be a drone and too slow to be an airplane. Damon’s racing heart was cut off by another shockwave piercing through the terrain. He smelt iron pouring from multiple holes on his body.
Red liquid poured out of Eva’s eyes like two tiny waterfalls, Diana bled from her swollen ears, and Grace spat out some crimson from her mouth. Kai acquired all symptoms, and his body sank further onto Diana’s.
Damon touched his dripping nose, staining his pale skin with his flowing blood.
The closer the light came, the more pressure Damon felt on his chest. As silent as it was, nobody could deny the increasing noise coming from the sky—like an annoying electrical fan. The wind picked up, brushing everyone’s hair back.
“What…is that thing?” Eva questioned the silence around her.
With a thud, the new entity landed in the construction site. The ‘earthquake’ finished, dropping any remaining scrap to the ground. Damon’s heart stopped, and his dried lips were sealed. It would’ve been laughable, except it wasn’t.
Grace wailed a few times before spitting out the answer and another round of blood. “It’s a fuckin’ spaceship!”