CHAPTER XXXVIII

Sunset Bridge

After determining that the manor was no longer safe to stay at, the Jupiter Family took up temporary residence at the dorms of Shade Academy. Orion, Neptune, Dr. Cherenkov, and the involved authorities cordoned off the entire estate to prevent any other incidents. Unfortunately, none of the staff were ever recovered. Perseus's parents were the only ones who made it out of the Labyrinth, all thanks to Lilly's intervention.

Before long, the end of summer vacation came and Perseus prepared to fly back to Vale to continue his training with his team. Lilly, however, decided to stay in Vacuo.

"But, I don't understand," Perseus said. "Your team needs you."

"I know," Lilly said. "But there are things that need to be done here. There's a Nexus in the middle of your living room and there are so many people that need to be saved from the Labyrinth."

"I can't go back without you."

"Sure you can. Your team's there."

"But you won't be."

"Well, it's a good thing we didn't tell them I was coming out here with you, huh?"

He scoffed. "You think I'll be able to hide it from them?"

"I'm counting on you to do exactly that."

"You know this isn't cool, right? You need to let them know where you are."

"Not just yet. Not until I'm ready. Please, Perseus, keep it a secret?"

He sighed. "You know Leon is gonna flip, right?"

Her heart skipped a beat.

"If you think it was bad for me and the others while you were in a coma, just imagine how it will be for people who don't even know where you are."

"It'll only be for a while. I'll come back when I'm done with things here."

He looked at the Rune of Atonement on the back of his left hand.

"Oh, right, we should do something about that," Lilly said before placing her hand on the image. "Was gesehen wird, Werden Sie unsichtbar."

Perseus looked as she removed her hand. He could still see the rune.

"I made it invisible to everyone else, but you'll always be able to see it. The rune is a part of you and nothing can ever hide it from your sight."

"What is it, anyway?"

She turned to the side. That Primal Rune that etched itself into her friend's flesh was her greatest sin. "It's the Rune of Atonement," she answered. "I'm trusting you with its safekeeping, okay?"

He was going to mention that fateful day that she had unleashed this rune into the world, but he kept his mouth shut. From the look on her face, she was wracked with guilt over the incident. He figured that might have had something to do with why she opted to stay in Vacuo.

"Don't worry," Demetri said, stepping beside her. "I'm staying behind as well. I have no team left and she needs someone to look after her. Besides that, I swore an oath. It would be remiss of me to leave her behind after that."

"What the hell does that make me, then?" Perseus said. "I made the same oath."

"You're needed back home," Lilly said.

Perseus looked Lilly in the eye. He knew there was no changing her mind. "Don't be too long, okay?" he said to her.

She smiled. "I forgot to tell you," she said. "I saw you in the Labyrinth yesterday."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Time is all screwy in the deepest parts, remember?"

"Wait, you mean that, in the future, I'm gonna see the you of today?"

"Yesterday."

"...What the hell."

"Yeah, what the heck."

"Oh, thank goodness."

"Huh?"

"You said 'heck'."

"What exactly happened while I was unconscious?"

"I'll fill you in," Demetri said. "Also, be gentle with Ariadne. I believe she's still terrified of you."

Lilly's was incredulous. "Yeah, I definitely need to stay."

"Take care of her, Demetri," Perseus said, shaking hands with him.

"Count on it," he said.

"You better say 'hi' to that ice queen of yours every now and then, too, man."

Demetri's otherwise steely composure was shaken for that instant and he felt his face flush.

"Yeah, bro, she's gonna be pissed if she finds out you're hanging out with her cousin instead of her."

"Perseus!" Lilly chuckled. "Look at him! You made him the color of Leon's hood!"

Perseus chuckled as he headed up the ramp to the shuttle. He turned to give his mother and father one last wave before disappearing into the cabin. He took a seat at the very front, where a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man shared the row with him.

"Hey, you're Athena's teammate, aren't you?" the man said.

Perseus turned to his neighbor. "Wait a minute," he said. "You're Athena's grandpa, right?"

Tai held out a hand and they shook. "Small world, heh. Summer break's over, huh?"

"Yeah," Perseus sighed. "Back to school."

"How was everything?"

"Good. Eventful. What were you doing out here?"

"I heard the lake resort was where it's at, so here I am. I didn't get sunburned, did I?"

"It's not showing if you did."

"Good. Can't have the kids make fun of me when I get back to school, too."

"Oh, right, you're Signal Academy's headmaster, aren't you?"

"Mm-hmm. Part of me thinks I shoulda stayed retired, though."

"And deprive the next generation of Huntsmen? No way."

Tai laughed. "My granddaughter says the same thing."

—

Lilly shielded her eyes from the sun as she watched the shuttle depart. She continued to watch until it was a mere dot in the sky.

"Are you ready to head back?" Demetri asked her.

"Yeah," she said, taking a deep breath and letting it all out slowly. "Let's go join the others."

She and Demetri regrouped with the Jupiter Family. Juno gave her another hug, probably the third one of the hour.

"I can't thank you enough for what you've done for our family," Juno said to her.

"It was muffin, Mrs. J," Lilly said as the two walked to the family car side by side. "It kinda sucks that you can't stay in your own house anymore, though."

"Don't you apologize for that," Kronos said. "After all, you saved us from the Labyrinth. Staying at the dorms at Shade Academy is a small price to pay for us still being alive. Besides, Perseus told you of our humble beginnings, did he not?"

"He said you guys used to live with everyone else," Lilly said.

"Yup," Dionysus said, displacing Demetri and walking alongside her. "We used to be just ordinary Vacuo citizens until dad scored big with those new Dust veins that the big war twenty years ago opened up."

"Lilly," Orion said, "are you sure you want to continue with your work?"

"Yes," she said. "I stayed behind exactly for that."

"Dr. Cherenkov is ready for you if you really don't want to rest," Ariadne said. She pushed up her glasses before turning to Lilly. "Are you sure you don't want to take a day off?"

"The Corrupted don't take days off."

"You truly are an icon to be followed," Orion said. "I will go on ahead of all of you to get things started at the Rift Complex. Father, mother, please, stay in the city a while and enjoy yourselves with Lilly. You've been through quite the ordeal in the Labyrinth."

"Let's go get some ice cream, then!" Lilly said.

—

Lilly watched as her companions mingled with one another, reminiscing on the past month. When she first arrived, the welcome was incredibly warm, much like the weather today. It wasn't as hot as it normally was, likely a consequence of the events that unfolded recently. Demetri had filled her in on some of the details, that some of her activities had caused bizarre weather patterns, including three whole days of nonstop rain while she was unconscious following the disaster she had caused with the Rune of Atonement.

That day was still a blur for her. All she could remember was an intense feeling of hatred unlike anything she had ever felt. The only reason she had an idea of what happened was because of the fact that several of the students were suffering from blindness, deafness, and depression, and one went missing altogether. She figured she had something to do with it, but neither Demetri nor Perseus would share anything about it.

"Is there something that happened that I should know about?" Lilly asked Demetri.

His hand flinched. "Lilly—"

"Don't sugarcoat anything anymore. Tell me what happened. Tell me what I did after I failed that Labyrinth and that girl committed suicide."

He looked at her. "You remember that?"

"It came back to me last night just before I went to bed. Obviously I couldn't sleep after that."

He hesitated for a while. "You went to the high school that they attended. Apparently, you managed to research each of the people who were bullying that girl. I suppose it wasn't difficult since it was their faces on each of the monsters that guarded her Labyrinth. When you found out that they attended the same school, you went there. But, I don't know, it wasn't entirely you. I don't think so, anyway. There was something different about you. Also, the area surrounding the high school dropped in temperature, ten degrees cooler than the rest of the city."

"I did that?"

"No one knows, but if I were to guess, I'd say it's likely. Anyway, Perseus and I chased after you. He kept saying something about stopping you from doing the unthinkable. The whole time, he kept phasing back and forth between this world and the Labyrinth. When we got to the classroom, you had already cursed most of the students, the ones primarily responsible for the girl's suicide. But the last one, the ringleader, was defiant until the very end. You summoned that rune, the one that now rests on Perseus's left hand. It was floating in the air above you when you activated it."

When Demetri went quiet, Lilly became restless. "What happened next?"

"The rune itself pulled him in."

"Into where?"

"I doubt any of us can know the answer to that."

Although Lilly had requested this story from her companion, part of her already knew what had happened. Demetri was wrong about it not being her. That day, she was perfectly sane. It was her desire to bring justice to those bullies, but once all of the dust settled, it was clear to her that she had committed a grievous error, one greater than her failure to save that girl from her Labyrinth.

"The next three days after that, you spent in a coma," Demetri continued. "The rain didn't stop the entire time."

"Rain?" Lilly said.

"Yes. Perseus's parents say they haven't had rain like that in the middle of summer in forever. Ariadne hypothesizes that you had something to do with it. It didn't help that it stopped as soon as..."

"As soon as?"

"You don't remember waking up, do you?"

"I remember waking up in the middle of the manor courtyard, just before we went into Perseus's parents' Labyrinth to break them out."

"That whole day, we spent with you. Or, I suppose a different version of you. You weren't exactly yourself."

"Tell me everything."

"Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"I told you already, Demetri. Don't sugarcoat anything."

"In a sense, it was you, but not completely. She still had your personality for the most part, but it was as though...the reason we thought it was still you was because she was mostly you, just without any inhibitions. Like your id gone wild. But it wasn't until last night that we realized it couldn't have been you."

"What did I—I mean, what did she do?"

"When Perseus begged her for help getting his parents out of the Labyrinth, she refused, saying it had nothing to do with her."

Lilly looked at the table. She had a feeling that some dark, hidden part of her had begun to fight its way to the surface. That whole time she spent unconscious, she was in her own Labyrinth, one that kept her prisoner by granting her the idyllic life, a life with her mother and father in total peace. It took her far too long to stop running away from the real world and return to her body. Perseus's parents almost paid for her mistake with their lives.

"Was I really that hateful?" she mumbled.

Demetri shifted in his seat. "I don't know if I would choose the word 'hateful'. Maybe resentful, but part of me thinks that you can't exactly be blamed for it. After all, you've taken on so much for this world. If you were to ask me, I would say that you deserve some rest."

"Maybe. But you know I can't."

"I know. I've come to understand that after all this time. And what I told you before hasn't changed. I intend on following you through everything. I know I don't have the powers that you do, but if you're willing to extend your magic to me the way you did yesterday when we were in Juno and Kronos's Labyrinth, I will go into that world with you."

She sighed.

"Haven't you denied help for long enough?"

She didn't answer.

"Forgive me if I am out of line for speaking this way, but even Ivory knows when to call on help. I'm not sure where you've inherited this stubbornness of yours."

"Yeah, she's better than me at everything—"

"That's enough of that, Lilly. Everyone's better than everyone else at some things. You're much more compassionate than Ivory, for starters. She might have a more refined tactical and strategic sense, but that's something you can work on. If you really wish to develop that, bring me with you into your incursions. You know I can help. Have I not proven that yesterday?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry, Demetri. I didn't mean to blow up at you like that."

"No need to apologize. If you need a punching bag to relieve some of your pressure, that is what I am here for."

She smiled. "You're not trying to replace my knight, are you?"

"Of course not. I saw how he reacted to Perseus trying to see underneath his helmet. I sincerely doubt he would be more receptive of me trying to oust him."

She chuckled. "Okay, then, let's head to Shade Academy."

—

The repairs to the Rift Complex were swift, but evidence of the destruction caused by the sudden appearance of Grimm could not be so quickly erased. Fortunately, though, damage was minimal. After all, security personnel and Huntsmen, even students, knew how to deal with the Grimm. Had the rifts allowed Corrupted or those other alien creatures into this world, things might have been much different.

"Preparations are set," Orion said, walking to the duo. "Are you certain of this, Demetri?"

"I am," he said. "Also, worry not. I do not believe my father would blame you if anything happened to me in there. Not that he knows where I am to begin with."

"That wasn't my concern. You've proven yourself to be nothing like the hegemonic aristocracy of Atlas. As far as I am concerned, you're a friend to Vacuo."

"I thank you, Orion."

"'Kay, get your ruck, Demetri!" Lilly said, hooking the last of her backpack's straps. "And remember not to stray too far from me. My magic only works within a certain range and I don't want you getting lost in the Labyrinth."

"I won't," Demetri said, throwing his rucksack on and readying his gauntlets for combat.

Lilly led the way through the inner partition.

"Can you both hear me?" Ariadne's voice sounded in their headsets.

"Loud and clear," Demetri said.

"Hey," Lilly said into her lapel mic.

"What is it, Lilly?" Ariadne said.

"I'm...sorry for anything my other me did to you."

"There's no need to apologize. As you said, that wasn't you."

"Let's go get some dinner after this, yeah?"

"Very well. I would suggest a kebab place that I have yet to try out."

"Sounds like a plan!"

Lilly and Demetri stood in front of the innermost circle of the Rift Chamber. She glanced at her companion, who nodded at her. She turned to the station behind her. Dr. Cherenkov and Ariadne were holding their thumbs up.

"Okay," she sighed. "Let's go, Demetri. We have work to do."