Wake Again in Paradise, or Purgatory

By the time the sun's rays filled almost every corner of Hunachai and all the hunters awoke, Ender was the only one in his dorm as his body sluggishly changed his clothes into a new uniform. His fingers seemed to grasp the buttons, but could never stick them in the holes as they slipped from his hold.

He sighed shakily and shut his eyes tightly, blocking out any remaining light. What happened last night, should have stayed at that. And yet, he couldn't stop but feel he was walking through that dark and humid street, the intense scent of iron filling his nostrils as ragged breathing filled his ears.

". . . damn it all." He took off the uniform and threw it across the room, hitting the window and letting the clothing drop onto the table before sliding down to the ground. He could have cared less about what happened to it really, as he grabbed a collared shirt and training tights. He wouldn't do anything today; no missions, no tasks, no assistance, nothing. He decided to spend his morning training, and then the rest of the day in the city with the Kairo's - save for Feris- outside and away from the sectors.

Yeah, today he wasn't going to work. He was going to have a day off to clear his mind, maybe find something to distract his mind from that nightmare. He glanced at himself in the mirror as he finished changing and sighed. "Let's get this day over with, as Terrence says . . ."

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The plan was to train yes, and when the lieutenant decided on something, he would never back down on it.

It was just this time, Shozu was already there, training with their pistol.

At a fallen straw body.

Over and over again.

In that small moment, the redhead wasn't quite sure how to feel about seeing his superior act like this, shooting an inanimate object continuously. When he heard clicking noises from the white-haired soldier's gun, his eyes remained glued to the other's actions as they threw the weapon at the body in frustration.

Ender didn't think twice and decided to make a run for it. He could beat him in speed if not in combat, right? "Don't tell me you came here all the way just to run off after seeing me, did you Ender?" The lieutenant-general glanced at him, a menacing aura freezing him as he chuckled quietly. Oh, today was already starting to not be his day.

"You weren't with the rest of the sector this morning," He didn't bother listening to the sound of their footsteps as he turned around slowly. "General Oriko filled me in on what happened, so you don't need to go patrolling the rest of week. Terrence will do it." They hesitated for a moment to pat him on the back and just placed their hand on his shoulder.

"Don't you think that's a little too unfair to him?" The ginger mumbled, his nerves relaxing under the touch. Shozu snorted and let go and smirked smugly at him. "I'm the lieutenant-general of this sector. I can do whatever I want to you guys. Besides, I think the sweltering heat of the night already gave you enough punishment."

The redhead's jaw stiffened at the mention of the night. His superior noticed his uneasiness and sighed, rummaging their hands through their hair. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that . . ."

Ender tried to smile in hopes of erasing the awkward and depressing silence between them. "It's alright. That's something that always happens to us hunters one day. It was just my first time seeing one of us die, that's-"

The boy didn't finish speaking when he felt them hug him. Not in an overbearing , "I can't breath" bear hug way, but it felt . . . nostalgic in a way to him. He felt his hands shake as he felt their hands slowly but gently pet his head. "I know what happened," The lieutenant-general mumbled. "And I know why you're not moving on easily."

They pulled back and looked at him with a dead look. "Until you manage to move on, you are forbidden from doing any hunter work. Understood?" He nodded slowly while they walked away and grabbed a simple polearm from the weapons rack.

"Good, then in that case-" They threw the spear up in the air before jumping and kicking the hilt towards the other end of the training grounds, barely missing a hunter he didn't notice was standing there.

"Feris you lazy ass, where have you been?!" They yelled. The major-general raised his hands in defense and chuckled nervously, a dark look hidden behind his eyes when he glanced at the ginger. "I was just checking in with Terrence, y'know since you put him on rookie duty?"

Feris kept glancing at him with malice, and it scared Ender. He never saw the older hunter angry, and he thanked his stars he never did. Shozu kept his voice low and the two of them mumbled to each other. Feeling uncomfortable, Ender walked away quickly and decided to roam around for a bit until he could properly train.

It wasn't long before he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned to see Aito walking beside him, smiling softly at the boy. He couldn't help but smile back, she reminded him so much of his sister. "So they let you out today?"

"Uh-huh! I didn't bother asking why, working there is just painful! And tiring too, you know." She stretched her arms before looking as giddy as before. "So! What are you doing right now?"

"Just- walking around. Why?" He perked an eyebrow at her, curious as to what she had planned.

The nurse smiled evilly and stood in front of the ginger. "We-" She pointed at the two of them as if it wasn't obvious already, but made the older of the two chuckle. "-are going to prank Terrence!"

"Ah," He crossed his arms and tilted his head, intrigued. "And how do you suppose we do that? He's surrounded by rookies, not to mention Shozu and Feris constantly check up on him."

"Who said those two don't know about this plan?" Aito laughed.

Ender uncrossed his arms and gawked at her in astonishment. Aito, a nurse who is constantly busy at the infirmary, managed to convince both of his superiors to allow her on such a ridiculous plan? The ginger couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles with her. Man, was Terrence disliked by a lot of people?

"A-alright then, what do we need?" The redhead smiled as he controlled himself once more.

The girl smiled and pointed to the shops in the city. "It's a simple prank. We just need to go to the bakery."

"No need," A voice piped up from a few feet behind her. A brunette stood there holding five cream pies in her hand. "A little birdie told me you guys were going to prank a hunter, and I don't see why I shouldn't join in." Kiranti stated proudly.

The younger girl beamed and hugged Kiranti before grabbing a pie. "Thank you so much! I'll return the favor back I promise!"

"No need, this is enough," The ginger grabbed a pie as well and shook his head while smiling. "Now then, Ender, was it? Lead us to the unfortunate hunter."

He nodded and led them the way as they quickly headed to the staff sergeant as he taught the rookie hunters how to hold a gun properly. Shozu and Feris stood far from there, smiling as they too grabbed a pie. "Now, remember," The lieutenant-general spoke up, a goofy grin stuck on his face. "If we do this, we do this in order. Otherwise it'll fall apart instantly. Ok?" They all nodded as everyone ran off to their places with their "weapons."

"-And so you need to be able to- oh hey guys!" The brunet smiled at the sight of Aito and Ender making their way to either side of him. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh, well Shozu said we should try to help, you know, to show you should be respected by these future hunters." The ginger lied right through his teeth as he smiled innocently.

"Really? He said that?"

"Yep! So we had to come here since he asked us for the job!" The nurse giggled and looked at the small crowd happily. "Now listen here everyone, this man, Terrence should be treated with utmost respect and seriousness, okay?" Ender couldn't help but snicker when she smacked her cream pie right on Terrence's face, wiping that smug look off of his face. All the rookies laughed at him.

"N-now Aito, that's not how it's supposed to be!" He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You do it like this!" He splattered more cream onto the brunet before he could get a chance to speak up. More laughter erupted before them.

"Hey!" Kiranti stood a few feet away from them, a stern look on her face. "What are you doing?" She walked to them as the sergeant wiped the sweet cream off his face as he looked at her in both confusion and awe. "Quit fooling around! You were supposed to make Terrence feel better, not look like a clown!" Both of them erupted into laughter as she too, smacked a cream pie onto his face.

"Man, that doesn't look too good," Feris said as dropped the pie onto his head, ruining Terrence's hair along with his face. "Yeah, now it looks better."

The brunet looked like he was going to burst. But before he could, Shozu stepped in, a dark look casted on all of them but Terrence. "What is going on here?" For a moment, Ender forgot the lieutenant-general was in on their scheme.

"They're dumping cream pies on me! Right when I was told they were here to help my training!" The sergeant pointed at all of us angrily.

"That was the plan, yes, so what's wrong?" They raised their pie smugly, and before they could be stopped, they dumped their pie onto him as well, causing all of them to laugh.

The ginger couldn't stop laughing, he thought he would die if he didn't control himself then and there. If only he could stay in this moment longer.