[center][h3][u]Episode 4: A Deal With the Devil[/u][/h3][/center]

As he arrived at the base of the volcano at night, he gently put down the sack he was carrying. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't this.

Miles knocked on the side of the suspicious windowless cargo van the man had self-evidently, by some miracle, driven through the forest. He would assume he had just levitated the thing over the treetops somehow if it weren't for the tire tracks. They were faded and hard to notice by now, especially in the dark, but the ones sheltered beneath the van were more apparent. He walked over and knocked on the side of the van loudly. There was some loud shuffling, followed by a bang, before finally, the driver's door opened on the opposite side. He walked around and, just like the van's exterior, the man was a bit of a disappointment. He made the decision to come here after guilt ate away at him from multiple angles, after days of sleepless nights and his duel spirit getting so much more annoying than usual, only to see that the mysterious cloaked figure with a millennium eye was... just some bum. The man winced at Miles' flashlight, yawning tiredly, a dark circle under his... eye. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an eyepatch, putting it over the millennium eye. "I've been practicing. I can't explain why, since I can see right through it, but the eyepatch helps remind me not to pry."

God, he was making a mistake.

"So why'd you come knocking at the break of midnight? I can barely get enough sleep with all the duel spirits harassing me as it is."

"I held up my end of the deal. You need to hold up yours."

"Your end of the...?" He noticed Miles gesturing to the sack he had left on the ground and watched as the man looked back at him, confusion on his face at first, followed by full-blown panic. "Jesus Christ, kid, this isn't what I fucking meant!" The man ran over to the sack.

Miles knit his brows. The man had definitely used his eye again, and he seemed like he was worming his way out of their deal. He had brought his backpack loaded up with stuff. His actual luggage would attract too much suspicion, but he was ready to never return. He [i]needed[/i] this to work.

The man peaked into the sack. Sure enough, some red head girl was passed out inside it and despite seeing it in Miles' memories he grimaced. He was hoping beyond hope that that idiot didn't just kidnap some random girl because- because of him, but he was lying to himself by not looking into the bag with his eye to begin with. He stood back up, turning to stare at the boy. "What in the fuck!?"

"What do you mean, what in the fuck!? You're the one who asked me to do it! That was the deal!”

“No, no, no. That wasn’t the damn deal.”

Miles took a steadying breath before he lost his shit completely. “I bring you a girl, you let me use the eye to make a wish! That was what you said!"

"No, you fucking idiot! I said that I needed your help to find one of the girls on this island, not just any girl! What the fuck did you think was going to happen to her!?"

"I don’t know!" Pinpricks of moisture were assaulting his eyes already, because yeah, he was a fucking idiot. "I didn’t think about it, okay!? A human sacrifice! Some demon summoning ritual! Outright cannibalism! Maybe something worse! Is that what you want me to say!? I didn't want to bring her! I didn’t want to bring anyone, but you’re the fucking mind reader! You knew I’d give myself up, but that wasn’t good enough! So yeah, I didn’t think about it! I couldn't or else I knew I wouldn't go through with it! How was I supposed to know you were after someone specific!?"

"You were supposed to come talk to me first, like I told you to!"

"You didn’t tell me to do that!" He really didn't. "What was I supposed to think when some creep in a cloak who wouldn’t even show me his face offered me demon magic!”

"It’s a Millennium Eye! You’re in a duel academy for fuck’s sake! You should recognize it!”

"Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize the pharaoh’s brand of fucking [i]shadow magic[/i] was supposed to make me trust someone I took for a fucking cultist as they hung around a literal pillar of tortured souls!”

"God, this is so fucked. What did you even do to her!?"

"Can’t you read my mind?”

“I’m asking [i]you[/i].”

He couldn't keep the moisture in his eyes from spilling over. He hated it, because he was still willing to go through with it. He was feeling guilty because he messed up, not because he felt bad about his actions. It was disgusting. "She's fine.” He said it a second time, “she’s fine. I stole sedatives from the school nurse. I gave her more than recommended, but I made sure it wasn't a dangerous amount."

The man pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting off an oncoming headache. "Ugh…"

"Why are you even looking for a teenage girl!?"

"BECAUSE! Because. I came to this island to [i]talk[/i] to her. I messed up something of hers, and I wanted to make sure I didn't make things worse for her... [i]and I need my van to do this[/i], but as you might have noticed, I'm not supposed to be here. I had to bribe someone to get the van on the island to begin with, and I was only supposed to be here to tour the place for one day. I'm already a breach of security, and I've been flying under the radar, but people will probably begin to take notice after a [i]fucking child abduction![/i]” His words were laced with venom, and they stung just as much. It was deserved, honestly.

"..." He fell to his knees as if stabbed, the weight of his choices gradually settling onto his shoulders like a pile of bricks. The weight he had decided to willingly ignore. His duel spirit loomed over him, staring down at him with neither a smile nor frown. "FUCK YOU!" He stood back up to disperse the mirage, swiping through it as if to kill it. It was partially her fault for guilt-tripping him like this. Well, no. He hated the thing, but he was just looking for something to blame. He really fucked up this time. "What… what do I do?"

"What the fuck do you think? Take her back before anybody notices, and if you succeed, come back, because we're having a [i]long[/i] conversation about this."

He took a deep breath, wiping his face clear. He picked up the sack, hoisting the drawstring over his shoulder carefully. Maybe he could take her back and pretend this never happened. Maybe no one, not even Roché, would notice.

[u][b]Chris[/b][/u]
"Roché and Miles are missing!"

Prof. Sartyr and damn near every student in Ra Yellow was woken up by Chris' yelling. It wasn't his fault, strictly speaking, but Professor Sartyr could sleep through a hurricane, and he needed to wake the man up. He was the only Ra Yellow student up and lounging in the Ra Yellow lobby at such a late hour, and while he didn't think much of his two friends...

...and while he didn't think much of his friend Roché and that Miles guy not showing up by the curfew - few students actually abided by it - he decided to call it in once it hit midnight. They've been gone all day, the school was warning them about mysterious figures spotted in the forest on the daily, and it did not take that long to find a good place to conduct a quality shag. He didn't want to narc on them, but he was getting tired and figured it was his moral obligation to say something before he went to sleep.

Professor Sartyr tiredly nodded as Chris repeated himself, called campus security to inform them of the situation, then went back to bed, simply thinking the students were up to adolescent mischief outside of his control.

The white hair brothers were still up. Although it was typical for Jon to be up this late, Kaison even stayed up to pay attention to his riveting tale of the star crossed Ra Yellow lovers who proceeded to stumble on a tree branch and land face-first in a cultist's demon summoning ritual. Chris sent them one last update before heading to bed.

[u][b]Kaison[/b][/u]
"We should go looking for them."

[@Crimson Flame]

[u][b]All other Slifer Reds[/b][/u]
The walls of the Slifer Red dorm are too damn thin.

[u][b]Caleb[/b][/u]
Damn. Jon's story was wild. He had to send it to Alexis.

Hmm. For some reason she wants to go looking for them. He texted her back, reminding her that that wasn't a very smart thing to do in this instance. They had campus security for exactly these situations, and arguing 'we should go looking for them' was pretty dumb, and could easily make a bad situation worse.

...

That girl and her hunches.

Caleb and Lexa discreetly left their respective dorms. That being said, they didn't necessarily go unnoticed.

[@Darkmoon Angel][@Eviledd1984][@Goose][@King Cosmos][@Psyker Landshark][@Scarifar]