The day had finally come.
Sunday.
It had started fairly normally. Juniper told Juno to go hang out with Kalani that morning, since Juniper had some “errands” to do. Kalani & Juno had spent the first part of the morning playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
As the clock struck 10:08 AM, Kalani turned toward Juno, & asked “So, you ready to get back to the Castle?”
Juno’s face lit up. “Boy, am I!”
“Then let’s hit the road!”
-
“Why do we have to do this so early??”
“Better early than late!”
Cherry pulled her car up into the Auction House parking lot. As part of the plan, Cherry was to be the one who slammed the freezer door shut on Juno, whilst the others were there for backup.
The doors to the Auction House were supposed to be boarded up, but thanks to Kalani & Leslie stopping by a couple days before, they had been blasted down. All the gang had to do was just walk inside, get to the freezer, & prepare.
“This place is so much scarier when it’s dark.”
“I think all places are scary when they’re dark.”
“Not to mention, abandoned.”
“Speaking of abandoned..” Leslie mumbled. “Did Kalani ever mention we found The Auctioneer’s diary here?”
“Wh- no??? How did you find their diary??”
“Well... we were here a few days before to make sure the freezer still worked, but we ended up going the wrong way & found this room with a bunch of The Auctioneer’s stuff in it.”
“Huh. Wonder why he didn’t take it with him.”
“Kalani & I wondered the same thing. He does has the diary with him, so..”
“It’s probably morally incorrect to steal someone’s diary.”
“What do you mean probably??”
-
Earth wasn’t typically made for creatures as tall as Time. Xe were made aware of this quite quickly, noticing how everything seemed so miniscule compared to xym. Nevertheless, it had a mission to do. They had little faith in the heroes, despite Fate saying that they would succeed. Time had to make sure the job actually got done.
They landed near an old, abandoned building, taking a moment to rest & think about what to do from here. Xyr first priority was to find the heroes. It had to watch them from afar, though, partly because it didn’t want to intimidate the heroes. They had never seen a Celestial as tall as Time before, after all.
A sudden sound alerted them. Xe peeked around to see what it was.
A small, metal device with wheels approached the building, turning around & stopping near the pavement. Time watched this with much intensity, never having seen something quite like this before.
Two figures exited the device. Time recognized one of them instantly.
It was Juno.
It took xym a moment to figure out who the other figure was, but quickly clocked them as one of the heroes. It was Patience, as evidenced by the blue tie necklace.
What was Patience doing here with Juno? What was their plan?
“Sooo.. why are we here?” Time heard Juno ask, swinging her arms about.
“Well.. ah..” Patience hummed. “Going to the castle is, uh.. kind of a big process. We all thought it would be easier for everyone involved if we, uh.. did it outside of public view.”
“Ah, I see! I see!” Juno nodded his head. “Makes perfect sense to me!”
Time watched as the two of them entered the abandoned building. If the heroes were planning on freezing Juno in the building, Time had to get in there to watch it happen.
As the wind grew a tad bit stronger, Time stretched, becoming one with the shadows around it. “This should suffice for now,” they thought to themself, making their way into the abandoned building.
-
Everything seemed to be going all according to plan. Kalani & Juno had just gone down the stairs, making their way to the freezer. As expected, the door into the freezer room was wide open, & Kalani knew Cherry was waiting behind to slam it when Juno entered.
“Here we are!” Kalani grinned. “The others should show up aaany moment now.”
“I truly cannot thank you heroes enough, truly!” Juno looked up at Kalani & smiled.
“Of course! It’s our job to help, after all. Now, if you don’t mind waiting in the room next to us..”
Kalani gestured toward the freezer room.
“Oh, of course! I’d be delighted!” Juno said, not moving an inch. “As long as you go in first!”
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly go in first.” Kalani held his hand up close to his necklace, just in case. “Go ahead!”
“Oh, that wasn’t a request!” Juno smirked, pulling out a gun. “You go in first!”
Kalani took a step back, tugging on the necklace & entering Hero Mode. Juno held her gun up, the barrel facing Kalani.
“Ok, ok..” Kalani summoned her wand & held her hands up. “There’s no need to get violent here!”
“Well, why shouldn’t I?” Juno’s finger made its way toward the trigger. “I saw the letter Fate sent! I know what you’re planning! If you think I’m gonna just let you freeze me, then you’re dead wrong!!”
Kalani was at a standstill here. If he did or said anything wrong, Juno was going to shoot that gun right at him.
“W-W-Wait! Wait!” Kalani stammered. “If you know about our plan... you would have known about the.. back-up, right?” “Huh? Back-up?!”
Leslie, Nora, & Juniper emerged from around the corner, in Hero Mode & with their weapons out.
“I knew it was a good idea to not get smoothies before coming here!”
Now Juno was the nervous one, the gun trembling in his hands. “You think that’s gonna do anything?! You really think you can lay a finger on me?! Those weapons will do NOTHING! I’ll shoot! I’LL DO IT!”
“We don’t want any conflict here, Juno..” Leslie tried to de-escalate the situation. “We’re just doing what we were told to do-”
“OHH, it’s always ‘Fate told me to do this!’ & ‘Fate told me to do that!’ You so-called heroes are COWARDS, doing a higher being’s bidding just because she TOLD YOU TO! YOU’RE ALL BEING PLAYED A FOOL! I WON’T STAND FOR THIS!”
“Juno, all we’re asking you to do is-”
BANG!
Juno shot her gun.
It happened so suddenly, nobody in the group could do anything to stop it.
Kalani clutched her right shoulder, which is where Juno’s bullet went through.
“Kalani!!” Leslie rushed to Kalani’s aid.
“I’ve killed the SUN before, you know!” Juno yelled. “A CELESTIAL! I’VE KILLED A CELESTIAL! I COULD KILL YOU TOO! YOU’RE NO DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF THEM!”
Nora & Juniper held their weapons up, preparing for a fight. “You’re outnumbered, Juno!”
“That hasn’t stopped me BEFORE!!” Juno lifted his gun, aiming at Juniper. “YOU CAN’T STOP ME!! I’ll get back to the Castle on my OWN, without the help of Fate’s little pawns, & WHEN I GET THERE..”
Juno fired her gun again... but nothing came out.
“I- I... uh..”
“Did you run out of bullets?”
“I.. WHO NEEDS BULLETS?!” Juno shrieked, throwing his gun at the heroes. Nora reached over & caught the gun before it could hit anyone. Juno was growing more & more nervous by the second.
“I- I- I’M A CHAOS BEING!! YOU CAN’T DO THIS! STOP! STOP!!”
Nora & Juniper stepped closer toward Juno, pointing their weapons at her. Juno trembled, stepping back a couple steps.
“GET AWAY! YOU’LL REGRET THIS! YOU’LL ALL REGRET THIS!!!!”
Juno stepped back, & back, until the ground beneath him felt cold to the touch.
“FATE WON’T GET AWAY WITH THIS!! & NEITHER WILL YOU! MARK MY WORDS-”
Before Juno could utter another sound, the door slammed shut. Cherry leaned against the door & locked it as the banging on the door began.
“HEY! HEY!!! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT OF HERE!! I’LL KILL YOU!!”
The banging died down after a couple seconds. Whether Juno was frozen already or she had just given up, the group would never know. Not like that was their most current concern, anyway.
“Kalani!”
The rest of the group rushed over to where Leslie & Kalani were. In the midst of all the chaos, Leslie had brought Kalani away from the scene & had him sit up against the wall. Kalani’s hand was still gripped tight over the bullet wound, attempting to keep any blood from spilling out.
“Are you ok?!”
“I.. I’ll be fine..” Kalani mumbled, sounding a bit dazed.
“YOU JUST GOT SHOT IN THE SHOULDER! You need immediate medical attention!”
“I believe that can wait for just a few moments,” an unknown voice echoed throughout the near-empty halls of the Auction House.
The group looked around. The clock on the wall had stopped moving, almost as if time had paused completely.
A familiar shadow emerges from the wall.
“Greetings, heroes.” the shadow hummed. “This is not the form I usually take on, but it’s the one most convenient for all of us currently.”
“You’re.. you’re that shadow creature we’ve seen in our dreams!”
“Precisely. Outside of that, though, I am known as Time. As you may have guessed, I am indeed a Celestial. I came down to Earth today to ensure that Juno has been properly defeated. It seems you five have done a fine job at that.”
“Well.. Kalani did get shot, so-”
“Patience’s wounds will be dealt with. Fate says he will end up ok.”
The group nodded.
“So..” Cherry looked at Time. “Are we gonna get paid for any of the hero stuff we’ve done? We’ve got rent to pay.”
Time fell silent for a moment.
“I’m.. sure Fate can arrange a payment. Now, before I depart... There is one last thing I must tell you. Listen close, heroes.”
The room seemed to grow darker & darker. The only noise the group could make out was Time’s voice.
“Whatever you do.. be wary of Fate. She has something planned, & none of us at the Castle know what it is. We can only assume it has to do with you. Stay safe, heroes.”
The darkness faded away, & with that, so did Time. The clock hanging upon the wall started moving along once more. The group’s nerves had risen, thanks to Time’s cryptic warning.
They had to stay safe. That’s all they knew. & so, that’s what they would do.