Enough is enough – with the burn festival on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to finally get some answers.
Characters: Arael, Diana, Beck, Isa, Marilynn (Implied)
Warnings: N/A
Wordcount: 2,025
Vibe: WE ARE GOING TO BEAT ID’S ASS
YARRR i had this one of my mind for a WHILE but have been so blocked creatively it took me forever to actually. write it out. but!! this is meant to sort of ‘tie together’ some previous oneshots in a climax – don’t hold me to doing it soon but i did want to write out what happens to isa & diana’s group (side a) and beck & arael’s group (side b) : 3
i feel SUPER rusty but ill just take the win that i finished smthng
One thing after another…
It was too busy.
There was too much.
Beck… just needed a break, above all else.
Beck’s moping was briefly interrupted by a soft knock upon her bedroom door.
“‘Scuse me… I just wanted to let you know that your grandma and I were going to head out to the festival about now. You down for the count this evening?” Beck’s grandfather spoke gently, as to not disturb her.
“Yeah.” Beck said with a huff.
“Alright. Call if you need anything.”
And just as soon as he had came, Beck’s grandfather was gone.
The festival…
Beck had initially wanted to go to the annual burn festival with Isa, as a means of showing her the culture of the Craterlands, and all.
But it was… one thing after another.
The farmhouse.
Isa’s aunt.
It was more than enough commotion for a lifetime, and it’d all gone down in the span of a few weeks.
It could have been anyone else that got roped into all this bullshit. Why did it have to be her?
Buzz, buzz.
It was Beck’s phone, which was laying on her mattress beside her head.
Quite frankly, Beck didn’t feel like picking up.
Buzz, buzz.
Again.
Beck wasn’t super big on texting frequently, at least up until she met Isa. So, the natural assumption was that Isa must be texting her – and Beck wasn’t really feeling it.
Buzz, buzz.
And then, her phone started ringing.
A quick glance at the caller ID confirmed Beck’s suspicions – and she promptly threw her phone into her laundry bin with a frustrated groan.
Beck slumped back into bed and covered her ears with her pillow, hoping that it’d just make all the excess noise go away.
At least for a bit.
Beck wasn’t sure how long she’d fallen asleep for, but it was twilight by the time she was abruptly awoken by a loud thud against her window.
The noise made her jump, but after she stared out and nothing else happened, she just buried her face into her pillow again… only for another thud to hit the window.
With a loud groan, Beck pulled herself out of bed to investigate.
…It was Isa. Of course.
Thankfully, the thud wasn’t from a rock or something that could damage the window – rather, it appeared she’d been throwing Tonantzintla in their catlike form.
Aside from Tonan though, Isa wasn’t alone. She had two other girls who looked to be around her and Beck’s age standing behind her.
Beck was frustrated… but she’d also be lying to herself if she thought she wasn’t intrigued as well.
With a sigh, she opened the window.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?! Who’re these two?!” Beck yelled out.
“Come down!! We gotta move, it’s important!” Isa yelled back.
“I ain’t coming down if it’s not the end of the world!”
“It kind of is!!”
Beck paused.
From anyone else, Beck would see it as whiny exaggeration. But knowing how straightforwards and blunt Isa was…
Beck didn’t like the sounds of it.
“Alright, gimme a sec, damn!”
Beck hopped out her window, and scaled down the awnings and drainpipes nearby to make it to the ground safely.
“You better have a good fucking explanation for this.” Beck mumbled, wiping the sweat from her brow.
“Damn, she’s cheery, huh?”
It was the girl with the sandy-blonde hair, the shorter of the two strangers. After her remark, the other stranger standing next to her shook her by the arm a little.
“…I’m sorry, Beck.” Isa sighed.
“I know you’re in a bad mood. But I think it’s important we act as soon as we can.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. It’s kind of scary to see you this serious.” Beck nodded along.
“Seriously though, who are these two?”
“This is Diana, she’s uh… a friend of mine from high school.” Isa explained.
“She’s… sort of into occult stuff too? She’s a pretty close family friend of Tonan’s, if that… explains anything. But I think she figured out what we’re dealing with here.”
“Dang, Tonan knows everyone, huh?” Beck replied.
“…Weren’t they just here? Where did they go?”
“Even Tonan is sort of skittish about the… er, ‘mastermind’, as Arael and I have been calling them.” Diana said, finally speaking.
“Can only imagine they’re hovering around out of sight when they’re not directly needed.”
“Alright, makes sense for some kind of… extra-dimensional weirdo, or whatever they are.” Beck shrugged, before turning to the other girl.
“That’d make you Arael, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Arael sighed.
“Man, what even is my role here, Diana? Emotional support?!”
“I dunno, I was more thinking… bodyguard?” Diana said sheepishly.
“Whaaaaaatever!” Arael said in response, waving her hand around before pointing to Beck.
“Who’re you?!”
“I’m just an ordinary farm gal who got pulled into this clusterfuck.” Beck said with a sigh.
Isa looked like she wanted to protest, but didn’t say anything – leaving a bit of a pause until Arael spoke up again.
“Alright, cool, chill. Here’s the down low, since I’m the only person who seems to like talking around here…” Arael started.
“The captain of the cosmonaut program here is my aunt. She’s been acting weird and it’s making my mom worried, which is making ME worried because my mom is like, an absent collected type, yeah?”
Beck nodded along.
“Then, Isa calls Diana like, ‘hey my aunt got totally maimed and is apparently bound by occult contract to not reveal the perp’ – which I guess combined with all the other creepy stuff happening is kiiiiiind of a red flag!” Arael continued.
“So, we go on a wild goose chase for a bit but like, maybe we have a lead, yeah?”
“And the lead is…?” Beck said with anticipation.
“…An ancient mural from prehistory depicting Skymother and a shadowy individual with foxlike features being cast into the inverted sea.”
“I KNEW IT!!”
The new voice was sudden and unexpected – as Beck turned towards the voice with a jump, she could see Tonantzintla had re-materialized after eavesdropping from the shadows.
“I knew Id was bad news just from the energy they gave off when I first saw them… but to think they’re some kind of ancient being that’s been sealed since prehistory… I’d just accept that we’re doomed.”
Arael stomped at Tonan, causing them to jump back like the scared cat they were.
“God, can you shut up?! I’m sure if Skymom was sealing that jackass in the mural, I can do the same!! Family ties, and all.”
“…Family… ties…?” Beck said, staring blankly.
Was Arael insinuating that she was… related to the goddess that created the world itself?
“Ugh, long story!” Arael groaned.
“Cool, whatever, I’m gonna beat Id’s ass, aunt Daichi will be ok, and this whole thing will be history!”
“Don’t think of it naively… you’re don’t know what kind of tricks someone like this has hidden!” Tonan hissed in attempt to argue back, but it seemed to fall flat – as Arael summoned up a wormhole anyways.
Beck was in awe at such a grand gesture being preformed so nonchalantly, and Isa had to grab her shoulder to snap her out of her trance.
“…We were going to the burn festival. To try and get some answers.” Isa said softly.
Beck simply nodded – and though her steps were hesitant, she hopped through the wormhole.
It was a bit disorienting, but Beck found the air and lighting on the other side to be warm… but not quite of the kind that the brushfires at the festival would be.
Rather, it would appear she was inside someone’s living room.
Beck took a moment to gather her senses, though the randomness of the arrival location still had her out of it.
“We’re back, grandma!” Arael said, waving towards an open doorway connecting the living room the group was in to a kitchen.
Beck leaned over a bit, and could see her – an older woman baking, pausing for a moment to wave back… she must’ve been Arael’s grandmother.
Isa motioned for everyone to take a seat, and stood in the center of the living room as though she was about to give a presentation.
“Right. So…” Isa started, after everyone had gotten adjusted and the wormhole had closed.
“Here’s the game plan.”
Confronting Id directly is probably a bad idea, regardless of how much firepower we have on our side. We don’t know what to expect yet, and potentially sparking a conflict at a crowded festival could be dangerous.
But, such a crowded festival means Id is going to be distracted – as they’re conducting ceremonies by Daichi’s side.
The idea is that Arael, being Daichi’s niece, can distract both of them and allow Isa to steal an all-access keycard to the space center, and…
“You really think you can pull that off?” Beck interrupted, scoffing.
“I would run mob errands for my aunt in the Underdeck, I think I got it handled.”
“Well, my grandpa is literally the janitor at the space center and founded the place. I can just go back home and steal his!”
“He’s… what.” Isa replied, her expression baffled.
“Geez, that’s gotta explain why you live in a goddamn mansion.” Arael said, rolling her eyes.
“Why’d he choose to be a janitor if he founded the joint?!”
Beck shrugged.
“He’s old and wanted to stick around instead of retiring properly, I guess.”
“But if he, er… demoted himself, would his keycard still have the level of access we’d need?” Diana asked.
“Hmm…” Beck mumbled.
“Good question…”
“Excuse me…”
It was a quiet, sweet voice from the kitchen. After some footsteps, Arael’s grandmother could be seen in the doorway, holding her purse and looking through it.
“I… didn’t mean to eavesdrop… nor do I exactly want to… encourage illegal activities, at all…” she started.
“But if you think Daichi is is danger… you should be able to use this to get in. It’s… old, but should have the highest security access level.”
Arael’s grandmother fished a slightly stained and faded card out of a protective fabric sleeve that had been in her bag, and placed it on the coffee table that the group was meeting around.
ATTICUS VOSTOK
COSMONAUT PROGRAM CAPTAIN & DIRECTOR
There was a pause as the group examined the card – with Beck being the first to break the silence.
“Dang, we learned about this guy in school… he co-founded the program with grandpa, I think?” she said with a nod.
“Was pretty brutal how he died… where did you even get this?!”
“Oh, I figured it’d have its use one day… it seems I was right!” Arael’s grandmother chuckled.
“I’ll be back in the kitchen if you kids need anything. If you’ll be here in 15 minutes, there’ll be some fresh brownies too!”
While most of the group’s expressions displayed a sense of shock as Arael’s grandmother left the room, the conflicted look on Arael’s face told a different story.
“Damn.” was all she could muster to start.
“That… changes plans, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah…” Diana sighed.
“Man, I got questions for that old man now.” Beck said with a huff.
“He’s at the burn festival though, I wasn’t sure if we wanted to still stop by there now that we have… this.”
“Hm, maybe we could split up to cover more ground?” Diana responded.
“Or, at least to have eyes on Id while some of us check out the space center after hours.”
“That sounds fair, yeah.” Isa nodded.
“Well, it’s settled then, huh?” Arael said, standing back up with a stretch.
“I’ll go with Beck, then. ‘Cuz I got more than a few questions now, too.”
“It’s a plan.” Isa replied as she got up as well.
“I’ve got Tonan and a stack of various binding charms my aunt made with me. I think we’ll be fine, Diana.”
“…Alright. I trust you.” Diana nodded.
While there was still an air of unease around the whole situation, the determination of her friends had revitalized Beck.
Because now, it felt less like something random she’d been roped in to… and more like she’d been a piece of this intertwined puzzle the whole time.
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