They'd been in the dark city for some weeks now. Drawings of Sunny and Cassie littered the outskirts of this shadowed place. They drew Cassie as threatening, like she was the big bad… and they drew Sunny as her henchman.
"Damnation… I really can never catch a break, can I?"
Nephis turned her head away, her muffled laughter reaching his ears. Now that they knew how to escape this place, all they had to do was gather the keys. Another problem, however, was the Purge. They needed to find a way to stop it, and to do that, they had to kill Gunlaug.
That in itself made another problem—how do they kill him? With that memory, he was an immovable object after all.
To escape this place, they actually had a lot of things to do. First, kill Gunlaug. Second, take over. Third, get the keys. Fourth, unite everyone. And finally… escape. As all things are, it was easier said than done.
In all honesty, though, he had no clue how to start this plan. They couldn't complete the rest without killing Gunlaug, and there was no way to kill him. Well, that was a lie—there's always a way to kill someone. It was more that they didn't have a way at the moment.
By the time they arrived at their destination, Effie was waiting for them, meat already roasting over the fire for the four of them. Usually, Effie wouldn't share with them, but since she couldn't go into the city and survived outside of it, they brought her things she couldn't get her hands on.
"Ooo! Is that what I think it is?"
Nephis threw her a bottle before shaking her head.
"Just so you know, it was made using yeast from the human body."
Throwing Effie a bottle of dream-realm mead that was quite popular outside the castle, she looked at it in disgust.
"You really are a pampered princess! Live a little! You'll eat nightmare creatures but gods forbid a little human be in your drink? BAHAH! Pick a side!"
Sunny rushed over, eager to try it. Surprisingly, despite drugs being prevalent in the outskirts, liquor was not—simply because of how much it cost and how hard it was to make, even bootlegged.
"Let me try! I have no qualms with eating human!"
Effie laughed, pouring him some into what seemed to be a hollowed-out log cut to the size of a cup. Cassie, surprisingly, also went to get some, leaving Nephis as the odd one out. Swallowing her pride and gritting her teeth, she walked over and plopped down, taking a cup.
"It seems—"
"Not a word."
Despite the bleak future and uncertainty, happiness couldn't stop. If happiness stopped, then it would all be for nothing. In order to keep going, in order not to give up, in order to stay together—happiness had to exist in those moments. That's why that night, happiness once again bloomed.
---
"Are you three always like this…?"
Huddled up together, Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie leaned on each other, eating and drinking. It was an extremely weird sight. One of them grabbed food and put it into another's mouth, while another did the same with the drinks, and the third made sure no hands clashed in the process.
It was like looking at one singular being—or more so a nightmare creature with one brain and multiple arms. But that wasn't even the part she was talking about. It was the fact that, despite this being their first time drinking, they weren't drunk. Of course, Sleepers had higher resistance, but there was still a limit.
"What do you mean?" Cassie spoke before changing the direction Sunny's hand went.
"Ah, before we came here, we were stuck together for a while without any light. That's why we developed working in unison—it eliminated the chance of us being picked off."
She rambled on, only stopping when food or drink was shoved into her mouth.
"This is starting to get creepy, even for me…"
Effie turned to look at Nephis; out of the three of them, she'd understand best. Sadly, the only thing she was met with was confirmation that her earlier worries were indeed unfounded—they were drunk, just too preoccupied to show it.
How did she know Nephis was drunk? Because she was smiling. That was more than enough proof, was it not?
Maybe, despite everything, Sunny could be a beacon of hope—and indeed, he was. He was the only one who didn't seem drunk… though, judging by his flushed face, never mind—he was drunk too.
Wait… could it be she was the only one who wasn't? Was she letting these three rookies outdrink her? Slamming her cup down, she poured more.
The night was long. They enjoyed what they didn't know would be the limited time they'd have together in this dark city.