Taking deep breaths as he zipped up the leather jacket, Seven ghosted a smile, impressed at what he saw in the mirror.
Solomon was right, the black leather suit fit him like a glove. The few red patterns on it matched with the red patches in his hair.
He brushed his hands on them and posed, a pained smile playing on his lips as he noted the dark circles under his eyes.
It's been a stressful term.
In the beginning, God knew how much he wanted to fit in and act normal.
The initial plan was to live an average student life, but here he was in a cool black suit, preparing to battle a vengeful ghost in the wraith rank, all while pondering if this mission was going to be a failure just like every other tragedy taught in history class.
'That reminds me, I'm way behind on class assessments...' his smile widened, amused at his silliness.
All things being equal, all his schoolwork is as good as passed. Being spiritually aided came with its own benefits, though it looked otherwise most of the time.
Pulling his hood over his head, he stared at the mirror once, finding it hard to believe that the mission that night might as well cost him his life.
Pulling the face mask over his face, as sweat wetted his forehead, he turned and moved towards the door.
Clearly, trying to calm himself by focusing on other things wasn't working. Panic was slowly creeping in, so it was time to move.
'Now or never!' he breathed.
Creak!
He heard the window snap open behind him. Already jumpy, he took a stance, swiftly scanning the room for improvised weapons.
Recognizing a black leather suit just like the one he had on, he let out a breath of relief and simply watched as he struggled to get into his room.
'How can I thank you enough? You were very helpful.' Ama said, his voice laced with sarcasm, as soon as he stabilized his posture in Seven's room.
He sized Seven up, a sly smirk playing on his lips.
"Dang!" He praised, unaware of Seven's questioning stare.
As Ama's breath normalized, he caught Seven's blank stare and exchanged glances between the window and Seven, he deduced that Seven must want an explanation.
"What? You weren't planning on going outside with that, were you?" He asked, and Seven almost face-palmed himself.
"Even if it was a Halloween party, what are you coming as? John Wick?"
An awkward silence settled between them as Seven looked away, embarrassed.
"Well, let's get going, the others are waiting. The prom night started about five minutes ago, and we don't have enough time."
Walking towards the window, he opened it and stepped aside. With a mischievous smile, he tilted his head playfully and asked with a thick accent...
"Please, my good sir..."
Still finding the whole nice act very unsettling, Seven ignored him and walked towards the window. He swung down carefully without a thought.
Minutes later, after he landed, he heard Ama's footsteps behind him.
Knowing the destination, he fiddled with his bracelet and snuck through bushes, careful not to be seen.
"You're a lot more capable than you look," Ama boomed, reminding Seven how loud of a voice he had, especially now that they were at the part of the school with fewer people.
'Thanks?' he thought, sparing him a glance over his shoulder.
"You know you can ask me anything, right?" Ana inputted as they walked through the dark, lonely pathway.
Seven stared at him, squinting his eyes a bit.
'I might be the only one who thinks talking is such a chore...'
He continued on, and recalling something that had been bothering him lately, he decided to give this communication thing a shot.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked, pulling down his mask but not turning.
He could tell Ama was taken aback by the question by noting the split second of pause in the sound of his steps.
Ana chuckled, " You decide to talk, and that's the first real thing you say to me?".
Meeting up with Seven, he walked beside him, the height difference meant that Seven had to subconsciously move a little away.
"You're asking because you're wondering why you are too right?"
"..." Seven's lashes fluttered in the wind.
'Back to the silent treatment, I guess...' Ama thought.
Shrugging it off, he continued, "The real question here should be why not? Does righteous mean and upright standards sound so cringeworthy to you that you fail to understand why you've been given a gift?"
'I never asked for it though...' Seven thought, not saying a word.
"You never asked for it, but it's yours to keep, and you can choose whatever you wish to do with it, no? Is protecting yourself not a good enough reason?"
"All I want is to take my own pound of fresh..." Seven said as he slowly kicked away a rock.
"Well, who can blame ya? That ghost has been a real pain in the arse. But left to me, having found myself in this suit, I don't think I need a reason to be who I'm called to be. For what it's worth, it feels right—not easy—just right."
Taking a detour without anything more said from either end, they arrived at a small shelter. Gesturing for Seven to wait outside, Ama went inside a grabbed shovels for them.
Coming out and handing him his, Seven balanced it in his hands as he turned to look towards the tree. Standing as imposing as ever.
The prom was far half the way, as distant music and happy noises could be heard from afar.
"Normalcy sounds like a far-fetched dream to us. But we hope every day that with every successful mission, it draws closer within our grasp. Is this real?" Seven muttered to himself.
"I'll tell you what...Normal is as real as a dream."
---
In the hall, students in elegant dresses and suits filled to the brim, some dancing to the slow music while the rest helped themselves with the snacks provided.
"I have eyes on Marcus, nothing strange so far. Over!"
"We are yet to find the body. It's weird, but the EMF device won't help out much here. There are way too many energy remnants, it's messing with it and giving us wrong readings. Over!"
"Cordis is right, we are running out of dirt to dig. Over!"
"Gotten closer to the tree yet? Over!"
"A few minutes in, five max! There are no changes; I think the coast is clear. Over!"
"Keep digging then, we can explain later. Just like we expected, the bus must be closer to the tree than we thought...Over!"
"Sure! Stay alert, he's coming to you...w-we, we'll go ahead...d-d."
Static
"Hello? Are you still there?"
Flicker
The group members scattered around the hall looked up and swallowed hard.
It was time.
They took a stance, watching as the lights continued to shake. The rest of the students stopped what they were doing and murmured beneath their breath, fear slowly creeping into their faces.
Blare!
All of a sudden, all hell broke loose. The lights in the bulbs intensified. It was slow at first, but after a few seconds, it became unbearable.
Everyone raised their hands instinctively to shield their eyes. Panicking, everyone started running in different directions.
It was chaos as shouts and screams resounded through the hall, bouncing off the walls and creating a cacophony of irritable noise and disorderliness.
The groups in position forged forward, their eyes glowing as they posed a relative immunity to the blazing light.
One would wonder why the bulb is still intact, disregarding the light intensity.
This was not among the plans. Lack of information would be the death of them and the rest of the students here if nothing is done.
'Who could have ever thought?' Zed scoffed in regret as her glowing green eyes singled out a bright human-like figure heading for Marcus.
Her eyes never left him, even for a second.
It was no use...she was too far to get to him.
Watching regrettably with clenched teeth, she saw as the figure lunched.
Clash!
Just then, like a lightning bolt, something like she's never seen before dashed from the sidelines right into The Dancing Phantom. Flinging him aside as his near corporeal body clashed violently with the chairs and tables, breaking each one.
Shriek!
A deafening scream reverberated through the hall, causing the roof to tremble and everyone to lose their footing. Everyone, including the six from the group, crumpled to the ground.
The next minute, everywhere was deadly quiet. Recovering faster than the rest, the five group members stood swiftly, scanning the hall with their eyes...
Except for the broken chairs and tables that were a testament to the jaw-breaking, even though that just happened, everything was back to normal.
The different music played struck more fear than calmness. The lights were back to normal, but the dancing phantom was nowhere to be found.
Their eyes met the next target, Marcus, as he lay still on the floor. They all rushed towards him and tried to help him up...
"He's alive..." Priscilla said, her voice shaky. It wasn't exactly the type of good news they'd hoped for. Because, judging from what they could see, things were about to turn very ugly for their friends back in the tree.
"Who did—"
They all started simultaneously and stopped abruptly at the same time, disbelief evident on their faces at the very shocking realization. None of them had delivered that blow from before.
Notwithstanding, every second was precious. They all sprang up and rushed out of the hall towards the garden to stop The Dancing Phantom.
"Do you copy? Hey, is anyone there?! Do you copy?! He's unto you know, I repeat! He's unto you now!"