Late at night, surrounded by her guildmates, a young girl was attending an emergency meeting. Being the topmost floor of the tallest skyscraper in the city, the silence in the boardroom made the sounds of the downpour on the roof all the more intrusive.
"There's not a bit of her left," a man spoke through the microphone embedded into his puppet.
At the center of the boardroom was a long table, capable of seating far more than ever attended. At one end stood the puppet, and at the other sat the guild master. An old man with a well-kempt beard and elegant clothing.
"Are you absolutely certain?"
In response, the puppet simply turned its head until it looked straight at the old man, but the person who controlled it stayed silent.
Lock. One of the girl's least favorite colleagues. A cold, cruel man with no noble motives to speak of. A trait he shared with almost everybody in this room.
"Bullshit," a male voice came from a conference speaker at the center of the table. "She'll be back. Always does."
The guild master glanced at his laptop screen by his side, then peered over it at the puppet.
"How long ago?" he asked calmly.
"Twenty-two hours," the puppet's distorted voice responded.
The guild master put his hand around his chin and scanned the attendees at the long table, pausing momentarily on the girl, then moved on.
"That's too long," he lamented.
The only person the girl could look up to, and the only person who treated her well. Auntie Satch. Dragged on another misadventure with this loathsome man who couldn't even bother showing up in person.
"Why?" the girl asked, aiming her question at both the guild master and the puppet. "Why are you talking like she's gone?"
For a moment, the guild master gave the girl a stern look, then a calm nod.
"Sit."
The girl looked down at her lap to find that she'd stood up out of her seat in the heat of the moment, beckoning all eyes in the room on her.
"S-Sorry…" she gasped and sat back down obediently.
It was then that she noticed a tear running down her cheek. The girl wiped it with her finger and looked at the substance. Moisture, leaking from her eyelids for the very first time. Joining this sensation was a strange and awful pressure in her chest, telling her something was terribly wrong.
Then, as if on her behalf, a woman wearing an armband with the number five on it slammed her fist on the table.
"Why would we believe anything he says?"
The puppet turned to her and spoke up.
"Are you accusing—"
"Yeah, I am!" the woman interrupted him. "You're a liar! A-And a cheat!"
Following in her example, a child with the number three on his armband slammed his fist on the table as well.
"Liar!" he shouted and pointed his finger at the puppet.
"Cheat!" the little girl seated next to him, carrying the same number, shouted in support.
The guild master turned in the direction of the two children.
"Calm yourselves. I shall hear no baseless accusations at this table."
Then, he turned to the woman.
"Especially from you."
The old man spoke with a stone-cold gaze and a constant, audible sass in his voice, befitting of someone tasked with commanding the special kinds of people found at this table.
"What're you… just taking his word for it!?" the woman responded.
The guild master gave her a difficult look, then broke eye contact.
On every single occasion the girl had heard her speak, this woman sounded drunk. Her words were rash and immature and not at all befitting of the respect the old man showed towards her.
"Feel free to investigate, detective," the puppet addressed her with a hint of cockiness in its distorted voice. "I'm just the messenger."
The woman pulled her fist back and relaxed in her seat, crossing her arms like an upset teenager.
"I will," she said, glaring at the puppet like she wanted to kill it.
Everyone else in the room was silent.
The absence of the witch had become painfully obvious from the lack of joy and sunshine they were all so used to, leaving only a cold and dreary gang of criminals clawing each other's eyes out.
"And the black cape?" the guild master asked the puppet, moving on to the next topic.
"Made it out alive."
The guild master turned to a young man sitting by his side.
"Then we issue a kill order. Tonight."
"No!" the woman from before objected.
"No?" he asked her with an indignant tone.
"Not until we have hard evidence it was her," she explained, keeping her eyes on the puppet.
This time, the guild master turned his body fully towards the woman, looking like he struggled due to old age.
"And you will provide such evidence?"
The woman glanced at him from the corners of her eyes, then closed them. She looked frustrated, like she was regretting the accusation now that it gave her work to do.
"O-Of course…" she said, halfheartedly.
The old man maintained eye contact for a couple of seconds before coming to some sort of conclusion in his head.
"Three days," he said with authority.
The woman glared at her notebook on the table before her like she was cursing herself under her breath.
Then, the guild master turned to the other person he was addressing before.
"Prepare the kill order anyway."
In the meantime, the woman slid her notebook across the table to her right, placing it in front of her assistant, then whispering into his ear.
"Cancel everything."
A skinny, timid-looking guy grabbed the notebook off the table and opened it at the bookmark. He gave off the impression of an intern yet seemed far too old to be one.
"B-But you don't—"
"Everything!" the woman repeated impatiently, taking her murderous gaze back to the puppet.
The guild master, who'd been spectating the exchange with a judgmental yet amused look in his eyes, turned back to the puppet.
"Tell us about the black cape. How do her powers work?"
"They are… quite something," Lock spoke.
And that was all he said.
"Try again," the guild master said impatiently.
Lock obediently elaborated.
"If you want my analysis… I think her powers dissolve matter on contact. Without limits."
There was some whispering in the room, and everyone looked surprised at the revelation.
"Is that it?" the guild master asked.
"It's… plenty," the puppet replied. "In her trained hands, nobody in this room can match it."
Then, the puppet raised its arm, pointing its finger straight at the girl who'd been struggling to believe what she'd been hearing.
"Not even her."
When all eyes went to her, the girl realized her face was now completely covered in tears. Hesitantly, she scanned the eyes in the room, all giving her a judgmental look. It was humiliating.
Frustrated, the girl stood up out of her chair and glared at the puppet, who looked back at her with its hollow visors. For a second, she felt an urge to use her power to crush the thing into a ball of scrap, but unfortunately, she knew better than to cause a scene.
"You…"
Her throat felt strangely constructed, which slurred her speech and revealed to everyone in the room what was going on inside of her.
"I-I…"
Then, in a shameful escape, the girl traded the scene of the boardroom for the rainy rooftop above it. Turquoise sparkles illuminated the darkness of the night for a second until they were gone, and the girl was finally alone again, getting soaked in the rain.
By now, the tears were coming out in abundance. The girl clutched at her chest as those strange, unpleasant feelings continued to wreak havoc inside.
"What's happening to me?" she expressed with a sobbing voice. "Auntie…"
She took out her phone and realized her hands were shaking. Slowly but surely, the truth of that meeting dawned on her. Her fingers hovered above the dial button on the only contact in her phone, but she hesitated to press it. Because deep inside, she knew that it would go to voicemail.
Still, she pressed the button. She had to be sure.
Thirty seconds passed as the phone dialed, but like she feared, it did go to voicemail.
"Gosh, you missed me! Can you believe it? I must be up to something! What could it be?!"
The girl listened with shaking hands.
"Anyway… If you can't help yourself, leave a message! But make it good!"
Followed by the sound of a goodbye kiss.
"Auntie, please…"
One more try.
But another thirty seconds passed, followed by the same recording. The girl was clutching her phone with both of her hands now, listening to the recording of auntie's voicemail for the second time, sobbing in the rain.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head upwards, letting the raindrops hit her face, hoping they could wake her up from this bad dream.
After what felt like ten minutes standing in the rain like this, the girl made her hair glow turquoise and floated up into the air.
If she flew away now, anyone looking at the sky would surely spot her. What would happen then?
Without auntie, she was all alone in the world, surrounded by the monsters she called colleagues. But the city below her was lively. On a Friday night, people were out socializing. Normal people, perhaps good people. What if she went out on the streets and allowed them to see her? If they saw tears on her face, would they comfort her?
Unable to bring herself to break the rules, she used her power to bend the light around her, making her appear invisible as she rose into the sky. With her eyes closed, she rose higher and waited.
After a moment, when she stopped feeling the raindrops, she opened her eyes and found herself floating above the clouds, where she could see the stars again.
Soaked and no doubt looking like a trainwreck, the girl stared at the twin moons with an exhausted gaze. Ever since she left that room, those awful feelings in her chest had somewhat lessened, replaced instead by a rational understanding of what had been reported there.
Whatever feelings remained, transformed into something else: a deep hatred for the person responsible for killing her beloved auntie.
And so, she dashed away, above the clouds and under the night sky. With incredible speed, she cruised like an airplane for about a minute before slowing down and diving back under the clouds to approach her destination.
A small island, surrounded by ocean as far as the eye could see. The girl dropped her altitude even further until she flew directly above the water, then undid her invisibility and slowed down as she approached the beach.
At perhaps a single kilometer in diameter, the island had very little on it besides a small beach around the perimeter and a pond and waterfall at the center. The girl erected a turquoise shield around herself and flew straight through the waterfall, landing and splattering water all over the floor on the other side.
Then, the girl closed her eyes and stood still, listening to the noise of the waterfall outside and feeling what remained of the stirring in her chest. The girl wiped her cheeks to get rid of the remaining tears, which had stopped coming out, then walked over to her living space.
A large cavern, tastefully lit up with light fixtures on the ceiling. In one corner was a bed, which was lined with plush animals. By its side, a TV, video games, and a computer. Everything one would expect to find in a normal home, just no kitchen.
The girl took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack. Like all the other members of the guild, it had an armband on the upper right arm, underneath the shoulder. Hers had the number one on it.
Then, her phone rang.
The girl panicked with ecstasy and felt around her clothes for her phone. When she couldn't feel it, she found it in the pocket of her coat and hurried to view the caller ID.
"Auntie—"
But to her dismay, it was an unknown number.
The girl froze, feeling like her heart had just broken a second time. Part of her wondered what would happen if she picked up, and if perhaps auntie was calling her from another number after all.
The girl swallowed and accepted the call, then held the phone to her ear.
"Chat-Perdu," a familiar voice sounded.
The guild master.
"Where are you?" he asked.
Perdu frowned and looked around.
"At my hideout," she answered obediently.
On the other side, the guild master remained silent for a couple of seconds.
"Good girl. We shall wait until Bell finishes her investigation. Until then, stay put until I say otherwise."
Perdu curled her lips in frustration but did not complain.
"From now on, you'll report to me," he added.
Some more silence.
"Understood?" he asked in an oddly kind manner, like he was speaking to a child.
Perdu clenched her teeth and resisted the temptation of giving the old man a piece of her mind.
"Un… der… stood," she stuttered in anger.
"Hmph," he grunted in agreement, then hung up.
For a moment, Perdu froze with her phone still against her ear, then raised her arm as if to throw it against the wall.
"Hngh!"
But she couldn't bring herself to do it, instead bringing her arm back down and obediently stowing the device through which the old man could order her around from now on.
With her chest back to buzzing in frustration, she walked over to her sleeping corner and dropped herself face-down on her bed. As she lay there, another tear came out, for the second time in her life. Perdu spent a couple of minutes like this, calming down until she flipped herself around and saw her rocky ceiling.
Her orders were to stand by for further instructions.
Perdu looked at her nightstand and grabbed her charging cable, plugged it into the port above her ear and slowly drifted off into hibernation.
♦
When she next opened her eyes, the hair-antenna on her head was glowing red and beeping. Immediately, she unplugged herself, floated out of bed and stood upright on the stone floor, then looked up to see her hair-antenna spinning wildly in circles.
In a hurry, she flew through the waterfall to see what was going on outside. And the moment she reached the other side, her ears were assaulted with the sounds of millions of individual screams coming from all around her, as if everybody in the world was screaming at the exact same time.
She couldn't believe what she was experiencing. The nearest human being was hundreds of kilometers away, yet the sound was massive. It was as if the planet's atmosphere acted as an acoustic chamber, compressing the sound of worldwide screaming and spreading it equally across the world in a strange, distorted way.
Then, she noticed something else. The island that housed her hideout was blanketed by an enormous shadow.
When she looked up, she saw a massive floating island the size of a small country right above her. Except, when she stared at it for long enough, she realized it wasn't really floating in the air at all. It was falling.
Immediately, Perdu squealed in fear and blasted off, hurrying to get out of the way. Out of all the things that could theoretically kill her, an object that massive falling on her head would probably make the list.
In no time at all, she left the island behind and flew across the ocean, low enough to be able to touch the water with her hand. Her destination was the guild's headquarters, back to the skyscraper in the city at the coast.
But she'd hardly covered any distance at all before smacking her face into a flock of strange, green, translucent creatures that floated above the water, causing her to roll across the surface of the ocean until she slowed down enough to sink.
Once underwater, she opened her eyes to see one of the translucent creatures submerging itself and coming down towards her. Reflexively, Perdu screamed in fear and turned her hair turquoise to distance herself from the thing.
Its green glow blended in with the water, and it had a terrifying gaping mouth. Instead of legs, its torso was stretched and gradually tapered off like a decorative piece of lint.
A freaked-out Chat-Perdu turned around to swim away but saw more of them coming up from the depths. She tried to scream a second time but had no air left inside her chambers. And so, she dashed away in the next best direction, slipping through the scary creatures that were trying to get her.
For a while, Perdu continued her journey underwater. Every now and then, she'd encounter more of the translucent creatures, scream internally and course correct to the other side, until she remembered she could fly above water, and so she did.
But when she emerged, she took a deep breath only to immediately scream again. The falling island from before was now completely blocking the night sky and about to hit the ocean. One more time, Perdu dove underwater and swam straight down as fast as she could, until the massive object made contact with the water and violently compressed the contents of the ocean, including her.