Ho...

..Ho..

...Ho

"Live a little.
You'll be surprised."

febuary, 11:13 am

specifically, 'A' lunch

"Isabella, er..." She looked up from her meal at hearing her name.

"Yeah?"

The girl across from her tensed. "Um... well..." Isabella looked around the table, only to see that her other friends all appeared uncomfortable as well. "We kind of all talked about this... and we, ah... we decided that..."

The ginger next to her interrupted. "-We don't want you sitting at our table anymore. You're weird, and we don't like that."

"Sorry? What?"

The girl continued. "You're probably like... a Satanist, you know? I mean, you don't go to church. And you read things like... well, like that!" The redhead motioned to the book Isabella was reading.

"Paradise Lost? Our English assignment?! She sat bewildered. "And CHURCH? Jesus, ya'll, this isn't the 1700's!"

Isabella sighed as she thought back to the cause of her current dilemma. This was normal, actually. She never had much luck with people. Well... at least not the people in this town. Something must have been in the water.

Stretching, she rose from her chair in the back of the room. Her art teacher had been kind enough to allow her to spend lunch in her fourth period class for the past couple of years, though eating wasn't what she had time for, recently. She looked down at the paper on her desk. The page depicted only a few various sketches, but all led back to the issues still on her mind.

Who, What, and Why.

She had no time for any of this. She had fallen behind on her work in the last week, more distracted than ever, with even less motivation to work than this year's senior class.

"Those are really good."

Isabella jumped, startled, before turning around to face the speaker.

"Oh, those? Um, thanks." She struggled to respond decently. "Um, I'm just going to throw them away now, I have to go. Ah, sorry, then."

"Oh hey, wait!" The student, a girl about Isabella's height, with short, dark red-dyed hair and dark grey eyes. She wore a crystal around her neck and rings on both hands and spoke with a low voice. "You're just going to throw it away, so would you mind if I just like, kept it?"

Isabella blinked, taken aback by the girl's request. "Sure, feel free. All yours."

"Cool." The girl picked up the page and folded it into sixths. "You can call me Mitra, then." She looked to Isabella expectantly.

"Oh, right. My name-"

"You have to go now, don't you, Isabella? Can't be late for class now."

And with that, Mitra turned and left the room through the shop door briskly, without a single student or teacher so much as glancing up at her departure. Isabella followed moments later, but saw not a soul when she looked around. She had other things to dwell on, already. She headed to her next class.

TCTC

"Cohen!" She resisted the urge to flinch at the shrill voice of what was supposed to be the Pre-Cal substitute.

"Here, sir!"

"Say 'present!' AND RAISE YOUR HAND WHEN YOU DO SO!"

"Yes, sir!"

"DID I ASK YOU?"

No response.

"WELL?"

"No, sir!"

"THAT'S IT! HOUR DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL!"

"...fuck you, sir." She whispered, before continuing her worksheet.

And that is how Isabella ended up staying two (2) hours, after school, in the office, when she should have been home. Oh, the storm she'd be facing when she got home.

She didn't look up as another person took the seat across from her, nor when they leaned forward and studied her, squinting as if in deep thought, before clearing their throat.

She glanced back and started when she recognized the girl. "Mitra?"

Mitra nodded curtly, before allowing the slightest of smirks and sliding a folded notebook paper across the table. Isabella picked it up and unfolded. She gasped; but when she made to question the girl, she had disappeared yet again.

The paper was the same one that she had given to Mitra. Except, this time, there were notes in the margins. She refolded it and stuffed it into her hoodie, before glancing around the room. The one hour mark was coming up and there was only one teacher present, who looked in desperate need of caffeine. She wouldn't notice if Isabella walked out with the rest of the group, would she? She could sign out and put her full time and sink into the crowd, simple enough. She just needed to get home, no matter what.

And she did so. Not like she had no experience in bluffing and casually strolling, of course. The minute she had stepped out of the doors, she broke into a hasty trot. She crossed the street nearly running (without any run-ins, this time), and made it home before 5:30. Isabella tip-toed upstairs and slipped into her room to read the note.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Next to the sketches of the lighter's insignia and her sketch of the mysterious woman who had given it to her at the house concert was a name and a paragraph.

Leviathan "Levi"

Admiral and head of the Sheol-Hadisima Navy
Commander of the Hades Fleet

Sister to Behomoth
Keeper of the Hounds

Council of BlackBurn
Council of the Fallen
Council of Elders
High Council
Judical Council

Gaian-Parasean

Seraphim

And in a more scribbled font, across the bottom,

AMBADASSADORIAL COUNCIL

...Ok then.

Ok! So I'm super sorry if the flashback at the beginning is shit! Please correct me! Also, sorry about the short update after like... 5 non update weeks or so! Thanks! Please review!