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It was hard to keep track of time when you were having so much fun. You started contemplating one thing, and then you were theorizing, and before either of you knew it hours had passed. Lysithea didn’t regret an instant of it. They were both better for this, even if they were going to be tired tomorrow morning because of it.
Unfortunately before they could go back to their rooms and sleep, there was a huge obstacle in their way. It wasn’t the longest trip from the library to their rooms, but it certainly wasn’t a short one. And of course on the night they stay up late it’s a dark, moonless night.
But staying in the library wasn’t an option. They were going to have to venture out into the dark. The monastery was perfectly safe, and there wasn’t anything to fear. They were both talented mages, and together they could face any trouble if it arose.
“It’s kinda creepy out now, huh.” Annette pointed out. Even if they could handle whatever was lurking in the night, it didn’t mean that they weren’t going to hold onto each other for support. Having someone with you made it better. There really was strength in numbers after all.
“Well, what about if I do this?” She’d reluctantly let go with one hand, and hold it out and cast fire. She wouldn’t throw it, so it would float in her hand. She would have to be mindful, as it could still light anything that got too close to it, but it still gave off a considerable amount of light. It didn’t completely remedy their situation, but it certainly helped a lot.
“Yeah! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Now we can see where we’re going so we don’t trip.”
“Good, because that’s why I did it. So we don’t have to worry about the stairs.” And Lysithea didn’t only just now think of the stairs. Because they were the whole reason she cast fire like this. And not because it was spooky out tonight.
She almost lost her grip on the fire and sent it off in a random direction when a distant yell sent a shiver down her spine. She wasn’t the only one that heard it, because she could feel Annette clutching the fabric of her sleeve tighter.
“What was that? You heard that too, right?” They both stood perfectly still as they frantically looked around the dimly lit area. Something had to have made that sound. And dread filled her heart as she couldn’t find a source for the sound.
“You don’t think it was a ghost, do you?” It was a childish thing for her to ask. She knew there was no such thing as ghosts. But the feeling was unshakable, and she couldn’t stop herself from asking the question out loud. There wasn’t anything that she could see that would make that sound, and there wasn’t a reason for anyone to be out this late at night.
“No way! Y-you don’t really think it’s a ghost, D-do you?” The downside of having a partner in these types of situations, was that it could also backfire and increase your anxiety. She didn’t want to admit it, but now they were both shaking there in the dimly lit courtyard over the growing possibility that there was a ghost.
“W-well what other option is there? It’s the middle of the night, and there’s no one around that I can see. It has to be a g-ghost. Right?” But they had to proceed. Everyone knew that once you were in your room and under the covers, nothing could harm you. Any sort of evil spirit knew this. They just had to get to their rooms, and then they couldn’t be touched.
Though as they went to step forward, Lysithea could feel something bump her toes enough for her to notice. That was odd, the light should’ve made anything this close to them visible. She should’ve seen it before she kicked it. What even was it that she kicked.
“L-L-Lysithea.” Annette stopped, frozen in fear. She looked over, and saw Annette pointing forward.
She completely understood the fear. As standing right in front of them and creeping into view from the darkness was what looked like a former house leader, perfectly white, and missing a head. There was no mistaking what this was. It was a ghost plain and simple. And it was slowly lumbering towards them.
“Have you seen my head?” The spirit slowly growled in a low voice. The thing that she had kicked had to have been his head. Rolling around loose because he was beheaded and now was going to do the same to them because she kicked it.
In a panic, she threw the fire at the ghost as they screamed. It was already mad at them, and she knew there was no saving this. If they were going to deal with an angry ghost, they might as well do it on their own terms and save themselves. She’d use her arm that wasn’t tightly hugging Annette to keep firing. Annette soon joined in. Maybe with the combined efforts of two people they could stop it.
“H-hey! It’s Claude, stop firing!” The faint silhouette of the ghost raised its hands as it danced to avoid the fire being thrown at it.
Claude? They stopped, the combined fire now making the area even brighter. With the attack stopped, a head popped out of the neck hole. There was still a lot of white, but now there were patches where it looked like it was rubbed off. And just as he said, it was Claude.
“What’s wrong with you?! We’re just trying to get back to our rooms!!” Annetter yelled at him.
“Were you waiting out here the entire time we were studying so you could scare us?! On top of wasting supplies from the dining hall? How incredibly childish!” She joined in the scolding.
“Hey, it’s not like that at all. I was just heading to the dining hall for a midnight snack and a bag of flour wasn’t put away correctly and it fell on my head. Then I heard you two and figured I’d play a little joke.” Claude held his hands up defensively.
“Well it wasn’t funny!”
“Yeah!” It felt so validating having someone on her side for this. She could have easily done this on her own, but it was so nice to have a partner in all this.
“Yeah, I’ll admit it wasn’t my brightest move. Or my nicest. How about I walk you back to your rooms. No more funny business, I promise.” Claude traced an x over his heart, leaving a visible mark in the flour.
“Fine, but if you try something like that again I’m gonna hit you with fire for sure.” Annette huffed.
“And you had better clear up the mess you no doubt left in the dining hall when you’re done.” That felt fair. There was no way that she could let him get away with scaring them and leave a huge mess while doing so. Even if it would be nice to have something else to call Claude a kid over, she still couldn’t allow her house leader to make the rest of their house look like slobs who couldn’t clean up after themselves.
“That’s fair.” He’d go over to one of the walls and take one of the torches. He’d light it on her fire so he could lead the way. “There, now neither of you have to worry about using anymore magic.”
She was still suspicious, and she could feel that Annette was too, but she’d extinguish her fire. It wasn’t as if fire was a difficult spell to learn, but using it in a way that it wasn’t intended was a little taxing.
Even now that they were in the light, and the only threat around was Claude and his dumb and unfunny jokes, Annette kept a grip on her. Lysithea couldn’t pretend like she herself wasn’t still shaken by it. She was going to have to get Claude back for all this later. Hopefully when she could get her hands to stop shaking.
With Claude leading the way, it fortunately didn’t take much time for them to get to Annette’s room. Or maybe they were a lot closer than they realized. She didn’t know or care about any of this anymore.
“Hey Lysithea? This is a little embarrassing, but you wouldn’t mind sleeping over tonight, would you? I don’t think I want to be alone right now.” Lysithea fully understood where she was coming from. If it weren’t for the fact that Claude was here and that she didn’t want to look like a kid in front of either, she would’ve asked first.
“I don’t mind. I think it’d be easier if we stuck together right now anyways.” She shot Claude a look, who rubbed the back of his head nervously.
“Again, I’m sorry about all that. I didn’t think I’d scare either of you so badly.”
“Well you did.” She’d huff. Annette opened the door so that they could go in.
“Hope your night goes better.” Claude called, before disappearing into the night.
But now that he was gone, the weight of being in Annette’s room was starting to weigh on her. There wasn’t anything special about it. It was just like her room, but blue instead of yellow. They had the same desk, the same shelves, and the same bed. All student’s rooms were the same, and on top of all that, it was too dark to really tell the difference either way. So why did this room make her heart flutter like this?
“It’s pretty late, if you want, I can take the floor and you can sleep in the bed.” Anntte offered.
“No way, this is your room. You should get the bed. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor.” She did a little, but it’d be rude to Annette if she did. She’d much rather her be comfortable than anything.
“Well, I guess there’s one other option. These beds are the same size for all students. So if big guys like Dedue and Raphael can sleep in them no problem, then both of us should be able to fit.” She sounded nervous, and Lysithea couldn’t tell if this was leftover nerves, or if this was something else entirely. Either way, her heart was pounding.
“Are you sure it’ll be okay? I wouldn’t want to impose.” It seemed so forward, she didn’t want to do it unless it was absolutely okay with her.
“I wouldn’t suggest it unless I was okay with it. Besides, I think the other alternative is that we argue over it until morning and neither of us sleeps.” She did have a point. Though it wouldn’t make her heart stop pounding over this. Or maybe she also was still being effected by that dumb not joke.
“I suppose that’s a good point.”
Neither of them really wanted to venture out again, so it’d have to be one night without teeth brushing. And they’d unfortunately have to sleep in the clothes that they wore that day. Luckily, it wasn’t as if these clothes were too uncomfortable.
Lysithea would put herself in the spot closest to the wall, and Annette took the spot next to her. She had been closer to her on the walk back, but now it felt different somehow. As if they were even closer somehow. Though at the same time it was hard to focus on those feelings. Between the hour and the events after, she was exhausted. Laying down seemed to only make the adrenaline wear off faster.
“Good night, Lysithea.”
“Good night, Annette.”