Chapter Text
Matt sat in the darkened living room, the tv in front of him flickering with action. He leaned in closer, reaching over and grabbing a handful of popcorn from a large red bowl to his right and shoving it into his mouth. Edd sat next to him, sort of bored. The tv didn’t interest him much, he was only here because Matt had insisted on watching a movie tonight. He wasn’t too sure why, but not wanting to upset the other, he had agreed. Though, Tom being Tom, he basically told Matt to piss off and went to go pass out in bed.
Yawning, Edd leaned back into the couch and tried to get comfy, but of course it could not be that easy. He sighed, but heard the creak of a door and shuffling down the hallway. Turning, he saw Tom walking into the kitchen and grabbing a glass of water.
“Hey, Tom!”
Tom hums out a reply, and Edds smile falls as he turns back to the tv. There's a knock at the door, though, and he stand up with an “I’ll get it.”. When he opens the door, there's a tall and slim figure. He can’t see completely, but they don’t look dangerous or anything.
“..Uh, can I help you?”
The lady looks up and her eyes are a stunning lavender, and Edd almost loses his breath when they make eye contact. She smiles. Her hair is as dark as a raven's feathers, but she has loose curls that fall on her shoulders and pale skin. Edd’s eyes travel down, and she's wearing a dark purple and black ensemble with a fitted, long-sleeve dress that reaches down to her ankles and has patterns woven into the fabric. Over the dress, she has a long flowing cape draped over her shoulders that looks torn at the edges. She wears platform heels that go all the way up to her thighs, and golden embroidery runs along the edges of her shoes.
Though, despite her outfit, Edd can’t help but think Who gets this dressed up at night? He looks back up and meets her eyes again.
“Sorry to be a bother, but you have something that I want.” She explains. Edd tilts his head a bit, confused. What could they possibly have that she wants? They don’t own a lot, and he’s pretty sure what they do have they own.
“Sorry, I think you might have the wrong house.. I’m sure we don’t have anything of yours.”
“Oh, you do, and I’d love to have it back.”
Edd makes a confused face.
“..Er, what’re you looking for specifically?”
Her smile falls, and she doesn't seem too pleased. Her eyes scan the house behind him, taking in the red couches and yellow walls, and she only becomes more displeased as she doesn't find what she’s looking for. She looks back at Edd.
“You know what I’m talking about, give it back!” She takes a step forward, and Edd takes a step back. And by now, both of his flatmates are staring nervously at the encounter.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re looking for!” The Brit holds his hands up in surrender, he really isn’t sure what the lady was going on about. “The crystal!” She shouts, and the other flinches.
“That crystal harnesses such power that without it, Hexheim is falling apart!”
Hexheim? Edd has never heard of that before. Is it a place? Does she live there? No, now isn’t the time to start asking questions He thinks. A few seconds pass and Edd still hasn’t replied, and the lady cries out. Edd flinches, again, and the woman brings her hands up to her chest, clasping them together as she mutters something.
“Enth yb hte owper fo aiHicel, hte nomo, adn hte rtass, I llwi evha oryu esey intlu you netrur wath asw ocen iemn!” She chanted. Edd didn't understand a word, but he didn't think about it too hard before light crackled from between her palms. She pulled her hands apart to reveal a small purple orb that popped and fizzed, it kind of reminded him of trying to get a small fire going. She blew on the orb and it suddenly grew larger within her hands, and she raised her arms and shouted a word that sounded like gibberish.
“Amazatebu!”
Before Edd could even react, a huge flash of light along with a loud cracking sound, almost like thunder filled the room. He shouted and ducked, covering the back of his neck like those tornado drills they make you do in school. The only thing he could hear was the crackling of magic, Matts shouting, and picture frames falling onto the floor with the shattering of glass. It only lasted for a few moments before the light and sound fizzled away, and Edd could only hear Matts shouting. He peeked his eyes open and looked at the open door, but the only thing that was there was the dark night sky and the houses in their neighborhood. The woman had disappeared.
He turned to Matt next, and he was still screaming and covering his ears with his palms. Edd slowly stood up as he surveyed his surroundings, the picture frames on the wall were no longer hanging up, and a potted plant that usually sat on the small table in the corner was now on the ground with the dirt scattered across the floor and the pot was shattered into multiple sharp pieces. Other than that, everything seemed fine, they just had a mess to clean up.
(By they, he means him. Matt and Tom would come up with some bullshit excuse to get out of cleaning this.)
He looked back into the kitchen where Tom had stood before, but he was now on the floor slowly standing up. Edd looked back at Matt, who was still screaming.
“Matt-”
He was interrupted by more screaming.
“Matt, Matt!”
The screaming stopped and Matt looked up, looking around for a few moments before setting his eyes on Edd.
“It’s over, you can stop screaming.”
Matt blinked. “Oh.” Was all that he said. Looking away from Matt, he turned back to the kitchen where Tom was using the counter to pull himself up with a painful groan. He slowly walked toward the kitchen, dragging his hand along the couch as he passed it. “Tom?” He spoke. “Are you alright?”
“Ugh, no.. My head is pounding… This feels like every hangover I’ve had combined!” He rubs his face and turns around, still leaning against the counter for support. Edd drew closer until he was right behind the blue hooded man, and he placed a hand on his shoulder. Tom turned and met eyes with Edd, but Edd gasped and staggered backwards.Tom looked over at Matt in the living room, and Matt’s mouth fell agape and his eyes widened as he stared. Tom's eyebrows furrowed suspiciously, and his eyes flickered between Edd and Matt.
“..What?” He asked. He saw Edd’s mouth move to speak, but nothing but air came out. He turned to Matt and repeated himself.
“What? Is something.. On my face?” He brought his hands up to drag them down his face, hoping that would get rid of anything that was on there, but his friends merely continued to stare. He sighed and made a confused gesture, and Matt started walking forward until he had also entered the kitchen, where he stopped and patted himself down for a moment. Not finding what he was looking for, he thought for a moment before snapping and making an ‘ah’ sound. He reached into his green overcoat and pulled out a small purple mirror, turning it around and showing Tom his own reflection. Soon, just like the others, his mouth fell open in shock as he stared at his reflection.
He was mostly normal, his skin was the same, his hair hadn’t changed, and he still had dark sunken in circles underneath his eyes, but his eyes. Instead of the dark voids he was used to, they were replaced with actual eyeballs. With a white sclera, dark blue irises, and black pupils. He could actually see where he was looking. He reached forward and took the mirror from Matt (Who hesitantly let go), bringing it closer to his face, more specifically his newfound eyes. He blinked, then again, then three times.
“...What the hell?!”