The thought that I was going to get any sleep that night was just me lying to myself. I stared at the speckled ceiling, attempting to relax myself by counting the ticks of the analog clock positioned above my bed as the second hand made its rounds around it. I constantly lost count and had to start over, so I had no idea how much time had past.

My muscles were tense, my skin was tingling, and my heartbeat was still going off the charts despite my only activity, or lack thereof, was laying in this bed, which would actually be quite comfortable if not for my currently horrible state.

The ticking of the clock became less of a distraction and more of white noise merely filling the space. Soon enough another sound joined it, the sound of crying.

Naturally I was confused about this development, so I sat up, only to see a silhouette of Kinoko shaking in her bed, and sure enough she was crying.

"Are...you awake?" I found myself saying a little to loud, and in return, Kinoko flinched.

"Y-yeah...I didn't know you were...." she muttered between sniffles before I heard the rustling of sheets and soon the silhouette was sitting upright.

I walked over and sat beside Kinoko, now seeing her face in more detail, her cheeks flushed red and her eyes still watery.

"Why are you crying?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Is there something I can do to help?"

Fresh tears welled up in her eyes again. "I don't know...I've screwed up so bad I don't know where to begin, " she said, and i could see that she was using every inch of her willpower to not break down in front of me. "It was my fault that Grace left...I promised that I'd help her train for her A Rank exam, that I would make sure she wouldn't get expulsed..Now look at her! Look what I've done! This entire situation...it's all my fault..... I could've stopped this entire thing! No one would be dead, you wouldn't have to worry about this.."

"This isn't your fault!" I said as Kinoko cupped her face in her hands , as I heard her sob again.

"No you don't understand!" Kinoko snapped her head up to say it right into my face. "It was my fault Meichi rebelled! I worked with her every day! I saw the signs! I could have stopped her!"

I was taken aback by her response, unable to say anything.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, I didn't have too. Both Kinoko and I's head spun to the door as we heard it creek open, only to see Maggie and Sasha looking at us confused as we returned the gaze like a deer caught in headlights.

"What the hell is going on...?" Maggie asked, yawning. I bit my tongue. Shit, we woke them up, didn't we?

I begun to stutter, not knowing how exactly to answer that. "Um, er, we were just-"

"I'm sorry for waking you up. " Kinoko sighed. "I just-"

Maggie placed her hands firmly on Kinoko's shoulders. "Is this about... the thing?" She asked, staring her down.

The other summoner spoke no words, only nodded with a sniffle. Maggie bit her lip and sighed. "Kinoko....."

"I-I'm sorry...." Tears welled up in Kinoko's eyes again and Maggie squeezed her shoulders. The former flinched while the latter narrowed their eyes.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. You're working yourself up for no good reason. " Maggie's voice was now carrying a more harsh tone, as if she was holding back from raising her voice.

Sasha interrupted the little conversation, if it could be called that. " I'll take Kinoko, she needs to calm down. Scarlet, try and go back to sleep, it's awful late and we need to try and figure something out tomorrow.

Tomorrow seemed forever away. Sasha helped Kinoko to stand before leading her out of the room, I could still hear her weeping as she left.

"She's never going to let it go, is she..." Maggie muttered so quietly I was surprised that I could hear it.

"Was she really Meichi's mentor?" I asked, but a gut feeling made me regret it the moment I spoke the words.

"You bet." Maggie said, before starting a little story of sorts. "The evil summoner you know as the War Angel used to be a cute little squirt. So full of life and excitement, on our team's first trip to Richmond she was fascinated by Kinoko's bracelet and wanted to know all the things she did. So Kinoko trained her, and we stuck around for a while. None of us knew what was going to happen, who did? She just started rambling off about corruption one day and then killed somebody the next before getting the hell out of dodge. We were ushered back to a new mission before Kinoko could find and talk to her. Except for Grace, who she was also training at the time, she swore to never take on another student."

It took me a few minutes to let the information sink in. After losing both of her students, of course Kinoko would be shaken. Maybe she thought that she was making them this way?

Maggie stood up and begun to walk off. "That's all I should really say though, goodnight. Got an early morning tomorrow."

I laid my head onto the pillow and oddly enough I was knocked out in an instant.

Every time I fell asleep I seemed to have an unspeakable nightmare, and this night was no different.

My vision, or lack thereof, was bordered with a blood red tint, until I could make out the vision of a man a few years my junior, the only qualities I could define were ice blue eyes and a crooked smile.

"Well, aren't you a doll?" He said, his voice all to calm. 'Doll' I hated that world now. Every time I heard it, Mino flashed through my mind. Her face still screamed for help , her lifeless body hanging from strings.

"Who are you and what do you want..." I said between clenched teeth. Now the boy stared into my face , now I could see every detail in his face, every scar, hair and pore.

"How adorable. I saw you the other day, with your friends. Why didn't you do anything ? The boy did more than you... you think your going to survive like this?" He said with a chuckle. A brick formed in my gut, he was right. I felt so useless and weak...

"They're all going to die."

"What?" I asked, eyes dilating.

"Everyone you know in this society? I'm going to kill them all, just as a show for you, doll. You will watch their necks get slit and let the image of every drop of blood burn into your mind. You'll smile, I see it. You are the Devil, after all."309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7aGtAQBBR