Ep1: The Imp appeared in my closet!

Did you know that coming back from the dead came with a lot of paperwork? Mostly because a lot of entities and people split your assets. Thanks to Virto's accidental stunt, he had to reclaim a lot of connections and things he owned. Namely his house, who Lao's brother still had the right's to luckily. Next was his bank account, which had been split according to his will. Some tears were shed, some hugs were given, some slaps of frustration were swung. Think about it; it is hard to prove you did go through a portal after all, without providing proof that you needed to keep a secret to not only others but the government.

As for Lao, he now lived a double life. During the week, he was just another guy who repaired cars and did IT part-time, but on his off days, he was a sword-swinging, gun-slinging, bunyip-cuddling, coffee-drinking orderite. Eventually, the people from the other side got to visit Virto's home, but that faltered a bit when Melisa destroyed the television, Di forgot she didn't have her powers and created mustard gas without a way to keep it from getting into the vents, and the local children saw a large Snek-girl in the backyard. Nosy kids…..

As for Leana….

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"Uuuuuuhhhh," she rolled around in her bed, holding an ice pack to her head. She wondered for the fifth if it was heat or cold that was supposed to be used for headaches. She wanted to be sure since she wanted to take as little painkillers as she could for the rest of the weekend. After fainting, Lao offered to drive the unconscious woman to the hospital. She was taken into a room and hooked up to a monitor, her heart rate measured until she woke up on her own later that night. After a few more checkups, she was given a clean bill of health and left to leave the next morning. She took a ride back to Virto's house, where she came just in time to see the TV get thrown out of the window, with a rapier buried in it to the hilt.

Yep, it was time to go back to her college dorm. It was an hour's drive from his house, but she always preferred to sleep anywhere else. Her dorm was a one-person bedroom and nothing else. She had natural lighting, but there wasn't much space to add anything other than a minifridge and a dedicated corner to throw clothing in when she was lazy. For now, though, it will do for merely laying in bed until class on Monday. She always wondered why she chose an 8 am class; all that does is just make her sleep early.

Her phone rang while she was groaning and staring at the wall. She rolled over to it and picked it up, seeing that it was her class friend, Becky. Leana and Becky both agreed that she was the more stupid one, but she was doing fine enough to get by with low Bs and still have a life. She always envied how she spent her day, going shopping and talking to way too many boys before somehow escaping failing a test the next day. Neither of them knew how she did it, but Becky said her mom always thought she could do so much more if "she just stopped doing frivolous things."

Leana picked up the phone. "Oh my gosh! Leana I thought you were still in the hospital!" Becky yelled in Leana's ear. "I heard everything! Are you alright?"

"You're too loud," Leana whined. "Also I'm fine, just a headache, that's all…"

"Just a headache? After being knocked out for hours? Wow, that's amazing. I thought you would have broken your temper bone after hitting the floor or something."

"Temporal," Leana corrected. "Look, I'm not going to go out with you today, I'm not in the mood."

".....what?" Becky said. "I was uhhh, never gonna force you to go outside where it's sunny and happy and wonderful, and can be better if you were here…"

"Nope, not happening." Leana crawled over to the window behind her bed, pushing apart two blinds to peek outside. "And you liar, it's cloudy out."

"Oh come on, clouds and sun is close enough. It's the weekend, and you don't even have any work to do. I know because you helped me with mine!" She looked around the restaurant she was in. "There is no one else here with me Leana, all the tables except mine have couples or friends at them!" She whispered. "Pleeeeeease!"

"Well, I'll think about it."

"Really?"

"Nope." Leana hung up and rolled on her back, staring at the high ceiling of her dorm. She absolutely just wanted to stay in this small room, where it was safe and no vampires were assassinating electronic appliances, or no clones being game-ended with Megaman's mega buster. All she wanted right now, is to rest in the safety of her surroundings, with her purple bunny pajama pants and shirt, her brown, unbrushed frizzy hair, and tired blue eyes that looked at nothing but darkness. She just laid there, staring emptily while thoughts ran through her head. Eventually, she started second-guessing her answer as she got bored out of her mind. She checked her phone again; Only a few minutes had passed…

She got out her phone and started texting.

Leana: Hey, I changed my mind lol.

Becky: (...) (....) Great! I'll text you the place ;o)

"At least she's not mad," she said, getting out of bed. She tossed the ice pack into the fridge and went to her closet, opening the door to find something to wear. The closet took up a good chunk of the space in her room, making it ideal for her to put almost everything in there, including stuff like food and her textbooks. She walked into space and started looking around, taking clothes off the rack and inspecting them before putting them back. She stumbled across a weird looking kimono, bedazzled in green with red jewels. "Ugh, Becky's gift," she said, taking it out and looking at it. "2 years later and it still hasn't grown on me. I can't believe she thought red on green would be fashionable on silk. And the stupid tail gimmick," she said, looking further down to see two tails seemingly attached to the thing. A shorter thin red one that came out the dress, and a purple one that was just as thin but longer that came outward from inside the dress. It had a spade at the end of it, that seemed to pulse very slowly. She could have sworn it was just one tail….

"Whatever. one or two tails, these things are still ugly…." She said, putting the dress back and moving on. She got two paces away from it before she felt her arm get caught on something. Confused, she turned her head to see the longer purple tail from earlier, wrapped once around her elbow. "Weird," she said, grabbing the tail to unwrap it off her arm. Instead, the spade wiggled around before the tail suddenly wrapped itself further onto her arm. She got more forceful with her pulls and tugs to get it off, but the thin appendage squirmed too much for her to catch and take off. "Fuck, off!" She yelled, jumping back and yanking her arm towards her to pull whatever was on that tail out. It went taut, but nothing caved after the tail. "For the first human women I've seen, you are making quite the rude impression," said her clothes.

"What?" Leana gave another yank, but still, nothing came falling out from between the clothes. Instead, a pale head with lavender-purple, short hair, and eyes poked out from between the two clothing. He had small earrings in his ears, and two purple-red horns protruded from his head, curling up outward and back in. "I said, you are not like most females that come across a mamono. I'm glad I landed here instead of another place," he repeated. "What's your name, if you aren't going to hit me?"

Leana just stared at him, getting flashbacks of all the other strange things she had witnessed over the last few days. She started laughing nervously, causing the strange person she was talking to to make a funny face. "I asked a question…."

"Aha, I get it now! I'm in a lucid dreeam!" She said. "It's the coma obviously. You, are just a figment of my imagination," she said assertively, poking his nose. "You, are not real."

"I am pretty sure that I very much exist," he said back. "I have all the things you have, just a bit extra."

"Uhuh, that's what my lucid dream person would say." She started walking back out of the closet, the tail on her arm keeping him connected as he also got out of the clothes to follow. "Where are we going?"

"We are going to wake up, duh." She stopped at the door, turning back around at him. "Oh yeah, you don't have a name, do you?"

"Of course I do-"

"I'll call you Jeff, great!" She stepped outside the door, holding a hand out to stop him from coming out. "Oh, I cannot stay in here. We are connected, don't you notice?"

"Oh I notice. I also notice which part of this connection I will feel Jeff," she said smugly, before slamming the door in his face. His tail rapidly started retreating off her arm, but the door was faster to close. It slammed right into the part of his tail before the spade, slipping in so that the door could be fully shut and locked. She pressed her weight against the door, listening to him scream and shuffle around inside. "That should keep em busy…" she said to herself as she raced towards her phone. She took it off the charger and came back to block the door, scrolling through her contacts for….

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"Come on, just three more pitches!" One guy said to another. They were on a baseball field, practicing with each other. Both were wearing shorts and short-sleeve tees; perfect for the cloudy day they were in. "We have been out here for hours dude, why don't we just go to gym like everyone else did?"

"I have a game tomorrow, and you're the only one who was free to help me." He said, picking another baseball from his bag. "Please dude, come on."

"But I'm not even good at it!" the batter retorted back.

"You played last year, and that's good enough for me. Now come on, we're doing my grounder next…." The batter shrugged and stepped up to the plate before his phone rang in his pocket. "Hold up Kaiden!" he said, taking the phone out and answering. "Hello? Leana?"

"Brad, come here. Dorm, now," she said, still leaning against the door. "Bring your bat too."

"Oh, finally getting into the game?" He asked, idly swinging his bat while talking. "I can bring the plastic one. I have it right now."

"No! Go home and get the aluminum one!" She said, feeling polite knocking on her closet door now.

"Wow, jumping right to the big leagues already?" Brad asked.

"Sure, whatever gets you here faster." She hung up and wait, sliding down to sit in front of the door. "Who is Brad?" lavender-haired boy asked from inside the closet.

"None of your business!" She yelled back, tapping her fingers anxiously. Thankfully, Brad was only a short drive and a few flights of stairs away from her dorm. "Yo, Leana!" he said at her front door. "I brought the bat!"

"Perfect." She let him inside and pulled him towards the closest door, putting a finger over her mouth. "When I opened it," she started while whispering, "swing as hard as you can."

"Why can't you swing?" he whispered back.

"You played D1, you swing," she said, pushing the bat into his chest and motioning him over to the non-hinge side of the door. "Why must everyone always use that against me….what if I kill him?"

"I'll owe you one if it really bugs you, but this needs to end." She put her hand on the door, then put her other on the lock to be ready to turn. "On three….you can come out now! I'm opening the door!" The knocking stopped, but the mysterious newcomer didn't seem to move from in front of the door. "Alright, I'm opening the door on 1, 2, 3!" At the same time she unlocked and yanked the door open, Brad swung will all the fibers in his triceps. His home-run worthy drive connected with only air, whiffing hard as the end of the bat clattered away into the closet. "What?"

"Impossible! I heard no footsteps!" Leana panicked as she ran into the room, looking behind clothes and draws to check where he was hiding. "But how!"

"Maybe he was just a figment of your imagination..." Brad started. As he explained his guess on what happened, Leana kept looking around, eventually looking up to see a red glimmer in the darkness of the tall ceiling. "Are you kidding me...."

"And when you hit your head, you got one of those woozy lucid dreams. I've had my own a few times. They are wild, am I right Leana?" He saw her staring at the ceiling. "Earth to Leana?"

"Come look at this crap," she said. Brad shrugged and walked in, also looking up towards the sky. "Wow, you're right! This dorm has ventilation?"

"I just noticed too. The height of these dorms are so pointless right? But no, over in that corner, he's right there get him!" Brad quickly turned to the left ceiling corner she was talking about, but he didn't see anything. "There is nothing there Leana…"

"He's i-in-invisible! Poke it!" Brad picked up the bat and stretched the tip of the bat towards the ceiling, tapping it as high as he could go. "It's not much, but I'm pretty sure he can't go higher than that." Unbeknownst to him, he was tucked further into the corner, staring down while one of his feet hovered over the trim of the door. He silently chuckled watching her get frustrated as Brad blindly assumed she was hallucinating. "But, But…he's there!"

"Leana," he said, putting his hands on his shoulders. "I know why you called me here. It is because you have feelings for me, right?" The smile from the boy's face faded a bit as he listened.

"What?" Leana said confused.

"I...I have feelings for you too! This is a weird time to say this, but every day, seeing you study with your glasses on, you just looked so adorable and….I wanna be there for you always."

"Oh, wow I….I don't know what to say…but I'm not into you the way you're, into me."

"Oh, oh! I, uhh…."

"Not really looking for anyone right now, and I thought you were into Becky so…."

"Becky? Whaaat, I thought she was into Kaiden!"

"Huh, weird."

"Yeah…." he rubbed the back of his neck, sort of blushing at this point. "Well…this is fucking awkward."

"Yeah…."

"Good luck with the...hallucination…" he nodded and took him and his bat to the door. "We're still friends right?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't we be?"

"Great!" At that moment, Brad's phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and checked to see who was texting him. "Huh. Leana, Becky asked if you were coming."

"Oh, for god's sake. Fine, I'll go to the, ugh, restaurant." Brad nodded and closed the door behind him. Leana groaned and went back into the closet, pulling a random dress out of her closet. "Alright, come out you stupid thing. I know you're behind me."

"Actually, I'm outside the closest on your bed." Leana froze up, looking up at the ceiling. His body was still clearly there, smiling down on him now that he had removed his invisibility. She took the hanger the dress was on and carried it outside her room, where he saw the same person sitting cross-legged on the bed. In natural sunlight, she could make more details on his body, such as how shorter he really was. She had around half a foot on him easily. His torso and jawline shouted boy, but his attire screamed even louder.

Besides his skin, everything on him was some form of purple, from the dark purple of his upper thigh-high boots and elbow-length sleeves to the more saturated fuchsia on the inside of his hooded cape. His skirt and breast shirt were a more normal purple, outlined with sparse yellow lines. However, the most noticeable part of him was the small wings on his back, and the tail from earlier that slid around the fabric of her bedsheets. At the center of his chest was that red glow from earlier, most likely a jewel. Even more important though…

"Hold up, are you wearing mascara?" she asked, pointing out the red lines under his eyes. He arched an eyebrow at the trivial question. "I don't believe so, but why is that the most outlandish thing to you?" He says, flapping his wings for emphasis. "The markings under my eyes can't be that significant, can it?"

"You're right, you do have wings and a tail I guess," she says.

"Will you ask a more obvious question now?"

"Yeah, get out of my room Jeff!" His eye made a subtle twitch when she called him Jeff again. "My name is not Jeff, although I haven't formally introduced myself have I?" He hops off the bed and gives Leana a bow, pulling his cape with his hand for show. "My name is Mortoii, and I am a monster boy. What you saw in the closet was nothing but an illusion." Leana heard a poof sound from the closet, seeing smoke simmer down onto the ground. "Impressed?"

"Not at all," She denied quickly. "Why are you in my room?"

"That is a funny tale actually. I saw something amazing a few months ago. An explosion of purple, as if a shooting star had disintegrated violently. It was beautiful, but it was also really unnatural for a meteorite. I spent the last week or so finding the source of its cause, and managed to create a crude teleport." He explained, looking around Leana's small dorm room. "I should have prepared for any possible location in hindsight…"

"Well, then go back!"

"It isn't that simple. Your closet is simply too risky to attempt to return right now. In time, I will. But for now, I get to enjoy time with you!" the Imp said with a smile on his face. "You know what, I think I might just go out after all," Leana said, taking the dress she was clowning on earlier. She still hated it, but it was the first thing her hands landed on. "By the way, that red jewel on your chest reminds me of this dress, so I hate it," she told him as she head to the bathroom. He instinctively clutched the red gem embedded within his top as she closed the door behind him.

"I would say my gem works well," he said defensively, deciding to poke around her bed while she changed. No secrets came from unmaking and remaking her bed. Her minifridge was pretty stunning, being able to cool down food with a plug of a cord. His exploration led him to her phone, still connected to a charger as it laid on the floor of her bed. In a so-far magicless word, he had seen nothing like the small flat prism in front of him. Picking it up in his hand automatically turned on an array of colors. Over the backdrop was a small analog clock for him to read, followed by the date under. It's only buttons, he discovered, was one circle at the bottom, one long and a thin one on the side, and a less lengthy but also thin one at it's top. With as much time as it took Leana to make herself look nice, he had learned more about the capabilities of the phone. The code that appeared when pressing the round button made it tricky to learn, but he was at least able to find the camera. He had just learned how to snap a photo when she came out, the red on her dressmaking her look glow. "Leana was it?" He said, pressing the screen to snap a photo. "You minifridge is pretty nice, but this changing screen is magnificent!"

"That's my phone. Wait, you didn't use your magic on it, didn't you? I don't want it to become sentient or something."

"I had a feeling that wouldn't work on your 'phone' lock," He responded, showing Leana his photo. "Oh god, I look terrible with flash on…" she said, staying quiet about how it was slightly out of focus. She took the phone out of his hands and scrolled through the other pictures he had taken. "I think you looked beautiful in the photo. There were so many options of cinematography available at my fingertips, how did you humans make it?" He said, getting starry-eyed about what else was hiding behind her password.

"I don't know myself, look it up online or something," she said nonchalantly. It was cute in a weird way how he took so many photos and videos, scrolling through all the time-lapses and shots of her bed. "I don't know what online is…"

"Oh, right. Say, why did you take a picture of your eye?" She asked.

"It was like using a microscope. How could one not try it?"

"Right…" she dug her purse out from under the bed and slipped her phone in, then put the strap around her shoulder. The pictures she saw were kind of cute, in the way she would watch her grandma learn how to send photos, but he was still an alien to her. "Where are you leaving to?" Mortoii asked as she opened the door.

"Somewhere where you aren't. Just stay here until I get back. Or leave, either way I don't care."

"Can I come with?" He asked. "By the looks of your dress, it is obviously somewhere nice~"

"No." She closed the door before he could ask another question. Mortoii waited a moment then went to the door, unlocking it and opening it the same way she did. He poked his head into the hallway, looking in time to see Leana open the door to the stairwell. A small smirk formed on his face as he covered himself with his cloak and followed after her.

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After getting out of the building he kept to the rooftops, following Leana as she got on a bus. It stopped and started back up again several times until she finally came out, heading into a nice looking shop. He made himself invisible once more, flying down to walk right behind her as she pushed open the door. She stopped in front of the store, scanning the space for where Becky was sitting. She found her, holding a hand up to block her face while zeroed in on her phone. Leana slid herself into the seat across from her, sending a quick message for her to look up.

"Huh, oh, you're here!" Becky said. "Did you know how embarrassing I looked alone?"

"Yeah, I'm sure that you were striking up a real storm being by yourself," Leana said sarcastically.

"Laugh all you want, but this is a couple's table. I should have sat somewhere against the wall, but they were all taken! I look like my date stood me up!"

"Why should you care? You look beautiful."

"That makes it worse! The only one who would stand up a pretty girl would be someone more handsome!" She placed her hand into the table groaning. The waiter came by as she moped, turning to Leana after seeing her. "Is the party ready to order?"

"Yes, um…" Leana picked up her menu, opening it to see a tiny version of Mortoii sitting on top of the list of the drinks. "Imp-roooovissation." Leana shut her menu, looking back up at the waiter. "Rrright...do you want me to list the specials?"

"Yes." The waiter nodded, Leana pretending to open the menu again to follow along. She opened her purse in her lap and pointed down into it, the imp giving her a satisfied smile before letting himself fall into the contents of her purse. She resumed reading the menu, catching the last two items the waiter said. "I'll take the uhh, lobster cake with garlic bread," she said, the waiter nodding before turning to Becky. "And I'm assuming another small steak with potato slices?" Becky sat up and nodded, taking a pocket mirror out to check if her makeup was messed up.

"Another?" Leana asked after the waiter left. "I panic ordered," Becky admitted while taking out lipstick from her own purse. "I didn't know what to do...at least you wore my gift, it looks so good on you…"

"I still don't see the appeal of red on green," Leana said. "I feel like a Christmas ornament."

"It just needs to grow on you, I swear. One day, you are gonna look at this dress and think, 'Man, Becky was so ahead of the fashion curve.'"

"The day that happens is the day I finally have sex," Leana said as their food arrived.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, I'm sure someone sees the beauty in you," Becky said, immediately starting to cut her stake. "Please, all people see when we are together is you and some friend."

"Brad doesn't see that."

"Brad knows me already," she said, reminded of their conversation from earlier. "He doesn't count."

"Hey, he hangs out with you a lot more than me, doesn't he?" She says with her mouth full. "You're nice and honest, you're pretty, you're way smarter than me...you're the whole package! Well, except being able to cook." Leana shrugged and also divvied up her lobster. "You're way more of a package though, with all your makeup and all…"

"Yeah, I know I'm beautiful. But who's the person that got me through bio?"

"I am…."

"Yep. Now hurry up so we can go shopping," she said, wiping her mouth while getting up from her chairs. "I'm such a glutton, eating two steaks at the same time…" Leana watched her walk outside, hurrying up to finish her own food. Her purse ruffled as Mortoii peered out, pushing the zipper aside so he could get out easier. "She was right you know~"

"Why are you outside my dorm?" Leana whispered, trying not to attract attention. "Isn't it obvious? Why wait in a small room when I have my escort right here?" He started hopping towards the table but she grabbed him and stuffed him back into the bag. "Are you nuts!? You could get seen!" An unintelligible answer came from the purse. Mortoii came back up, sitting on top of the purse zipper once she lessened her grip. "Oh right. Then, can you swipe the potato slices for me?"

"Anything to shut you up…" A pocketbook was set in front of her before she could take the slices. "That would be $47.56," said the waiter. Leana, realizing that her friend had left, looked towards the outside window. Sure enough, Becky was there, giving two thumbs up with a bright smile. "Oh you bitch…"

"Excuse me?" The waiter asked, offended.

"Oh not you, can you make change with a fifty? Also can I get the rest of this food put in a container?"

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After getting her food, Leana convinces Becky to take a side trip back to Brad's townhouse before she is dragged to another store. She hurried up to the front door and felt around one of the columns, pulling a cracked piece out to reveal the house key. Once she got inside she ran up to where she slept, tossing her purse onto the bed she slept on. "Agh!" the imp went, pulling himself out of the bag as he grew back to normal size in a puff of smoke. "I get the feeling you're upset…"

"Oh really?" Leana said, shoving a bowl of food into his arms. "Now, can you just stay here this time?"

"First you ask me to go back home, and now you ask of me to keep myself inside?" He goads on. "What am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Leana points to the television. "Figure it out yourself!" She demanded, leaving him to go on and continue her day.