Pierced

Arcturus opened his eyes wide. He dreamt of seeing Kori in a snowstorm reminiscent of the Eternal Blizzard–no, that was no dream. It felt as if Kori had called out to him, hence why he was inside his Realm of Desires. He wondered how it was possible when his earring was no longer in his possession.

He started thinking about everything Kori had said to him, about how they could meet again and that the person responsible for reversing his wish and causing great pain to Nova was a woman named Ri Kuma, a familiar name. He had remembered how Murphy and Sophia had struggled to describe what she looked like. Pink hair and cerulean eyes were words that kept ringing in his head. He needed to write it down. He scurried for his bag, got out his journal and a pen, and jotted everything he had remembered in his dream in a frenzy. He was writing like a madman.

"Are you okay?" Margaret asked worryingly.

Arcturus lifted his head up swiftly. He eyed Murphy, stood up and approached him."Ri Kuma has pink hair and cerulean eyes."

Murphy was troubled. "Why are you blurting this out to me?"

"Is this information correct?"

Murphy became perplexed. "I honestly don't remember what she looks like, so I can't answer that."

Bootes spoke up, "I don't know about the pink hair, but yes, she does have cerulean eyes. I remember those eyes clearly."

"You've seen her, then?" Arcturus asked.

"Plenty of times. Asteria and I are cousins, so whenever I came to visit the Leonis family manor, I'd see her with Bellatrix. I can never forget the way those cerulean blue eyes gaze upon me, as if she didn't want me to be near her."

"Uh, why are you blurting this stuff out?" Esta remarked.

"Because that is the person causing Nova great pain from earlier. She has strange power to reverse Nova and Souhait's wishes."

Marlo furrowed his brows. "Wishes can be reversed?"

"Yes, but it costs your life when doing so."

Uncertainty plagued the room. Arcturus quickly reassured everyone. "However, as long as you're satisfied with your wish, such a feat won't ever happen." He pointed to himself. "I certainly don't regret my wish."

Nova popped into his mind. He was off fighting Virgo and he needed to help out–he promised after all. As he walked towards the hole in the roof, he was stopped by Hilbert and Vanessa.

"What are you doing?" Vanessa questioned; she looked very confused on why he was trying to go there.

"Going to where Nova is."

"He's off fighting Virgo with Asteria and Constance helping out. There's no need to put yourself in danger!" Hilbert looked absolutely worried for him.

Esta started vouching for Asteria. "Yeah! Our leader may be weird, but she's a very good fighter! She'll defeat that Shiftie!"

"I don't care if she's a good fighter. I'm still going out there to help."

"Do you not trust in our leader's capabilities?" Marlo asked.

All members of DUO had their eyes on him, as if he had done something heinous. Only Sophia and Murphy looked away out of worry. However, Arcturus was not afraid of the amount of eyes drilled onto him.

"It's not that I don't trust her. Being by Nova's side all the time is a part of my wish. I have to be by his side no matter what. It matters little if someone else does it. I can only accept it if I do it."

He grabbed his bag and approached Murphy and Sophia to hand it over to them. "This bag contains everything important to me. Just in case something happens to me, I want you to take good care of it."

He marched upstairs, but stopped when Constance dropped down from above with a shivering Asteria in her arms. She jumped down again, so she was in the living room. The people gathered around them like moths to a flame.

"What's going on?" Hilbert asked; his face was plastered with worry.

"Virgo threw her into the ocean, but Nova scooped her out."

"The ocean is practically freezing since it's winter…" Bootes muttered.

"Quick, warm her up!" Margaret commanded as everyone started scurrying around to find ways for Asteria to stay warm. In the midst of the chaos, he took the opportunity to go to the loft room.

As he started stretching to prepare himself to take a huge jump, he overheard Nova talking to Virgo.

"Your weakness–or rather, the core's–is that it's weak to water, right? Shifties aren't waterproof."

"How do you know that?"

Nova started explaining by mentioning Arcturus's memories of Kori. He didn't expect Nova of all people to know a Shiftie's weakness–even he didn't know it himself. He then recalled Kori telling him that they'd meet again. He did not want to wallow too much on Kori as he held onto that hope. He squatted and took a huge leap up. His hands grabbed the ledges as he used his upper body strength to pull himself up torso first and then leaned forward and used a leg to help himself up.

Once he got up, he saw Virgo charging towards him with a bladed arm. That was when Arcturus felt a sharp pressure in his body. He looked down to see that he had been stabbed in a vital area. Margaret had been busy treating Asteria and he wasn't sure how long it would take for him to recover from this fatal wound.

He quickly glanced over at Nova who was on his knees. Seeing the shocked expression on him saddened him. He did not want him to have such a face. He then grabbed the blade with his hands and held onto it so she wouldn't pull it out of him.

Smirking, he whispered, "Never underestimate the strength of a Plasmian, whether they be pure or mixed."

He mustered up all of his strength to push the blade further into his body as he shoved both Virgo and himself into the emerald waters. When he pulled it out while submerged, both the freezing temperature and the salty water caused his wounds to sting. However, seeing the male Shiftie in front of him starting to malfunction made him satisfied with his action. It was a reckless one, but he had to do something. 541-STG quickly sank deeper into the depths of the ocean while he sank slowly.

He was glad that he defeated the controlled Shiftie, but he felt frustrated for being in a situation where he was about to die. He had escaped death's clutches once, but he knew he wouldn't be so lucky this time around. The cold and his wound were sapping life out of him. Every second he spent in the water was basically taking a step forward to death's realm. If he closed his eyes, would he be in the Spirit Realm?

He tried reaching for his bag, but remembered he had left it with Murphy and Sophia. With no journal to set him straight, he could only have negative thoughts like how Nova didn't need him and that he'd find someone else to take his place and how he'd believe Murphy and Sophia would publish his findings and not give credit to him.

He could only scoff at the pessimistic thoughts creeping up to him. How strange. It's as if these waters are making me feel despair.

His body started feeling heavy with water. He wasn't sure how long he'd last until he drowned. He decided to look up, hoping that Nova would come save him. To his surprise, he saw Souhait, the dragon, coming his way.

Recalling how the dragon form had exhausted Nova for days when they had escaped the exploding airship, he realized the risk Nova and Souhait were taking to save him. This caused him to regain hope as he started swimming towards them. They wanted him to live–he wanted to live.

He didn't want to die–not now, not ever.

He abruptly stopped swimming as he started choking. He was drowning and there was nothing he could do to stop it unless Souhait came and took him out of the water at an improbable speed.

As he was choking, he saw a glimpse of a bright green specter heading his way. It was the last thing he saw before closing his eyes as well as hearing his name being called out.