Tea Time

After Avis finished up another song of the eternal night, everyone applauded her as she took a bow. "Thank you, thank you, I am pretty great." She said with a playful chirp, tossing her guitar to the side as she sat back down. 

"My friend... Where are your wings? Do you need a replacement?" Nvr asked with a curious glance over the harpy's figure. She gave a dramatic motion to her guitar. "I made em in a guitar after I accidentally broke them, like the first day I got here." 

"Splice would be rolling in their grave... Thank you." She grinned, letting out a creepy laugh. "So, what's the deal with Lucy's new situation? She's got horses or something?" Avis questioned, trying to look at Nvr, though instead facing Vinea. 

Arlo quickly chimed in excitedly, explaining Lucy's situation as he poked at the unconscious former demon, making her roll off the couch she had been resting on. 

"Huh, what yeah! I'm awake?" She grumbled, clutching her head in slight pain. Though her demonic regeneration had started to manifest once again, speeding her healing somewhat. "Oh, hey sleepy." Min said while Arlo helped her off the floor. 

"Mollia, how far you've fallen." Avis said with a laugh, frustrating Lucy as she felt the condescension in her tone. "You cannot even fathom what I will do once I get my heart back... I'll rip out your eyes, rip off your other arm and serve you up as a roast chicken!"

"Big talk for someone I threw through a wall." She said with a playful chirp. Lucy's anger began to flare up once more, and despite everyone telling her to calm down, she leapt for Avis like a feral dog. "I'LL MAKE YOU REMEMBER WHY PEOPLE FEAR ME!"

The harpy pulled out some dust from her pocket and blew it in Lucy's face, watching as the demon recoiled back with her hands over her eyes. "Is that..?" 

"Yeah. Have a nice trip, Warden." Avis laughed, watching as Lucy fell backwards. The demon suddenly let out a yell as she fell down a hole that had opened up beneath her.

As she fell, Lucy heard hundreds of voices screaming at her while she fell deeper and deeper into the dark abyssal pit before landing with a hard thud to the ground. She looked around in confusion to see her old city, The Underbelly in all its glory. 

"Masterz... Youz lookz worze for warez." A familiar robotic voice said as he put a metallic hand out to help her up. "No... You're meant to be... What the hell did that chicken shit for brains do!?" Lucy yelled as she saw the familiar robotic frame of her favourite underling, Cheshire, standing before her.

He quickly helped her up, dusting her off with a smile. "Comez on, iz everything alright? Comez, itz time for tea." He smiled. Before Lucy could even think, her surroundings quickly changed into a fancy yet completely empty restaurant with seven seats set out around a circular table.

"Oh, Panila. You made it. Come, come sit. It is almost Tea time." A sing songy voice called out. Lucy looked over to see Eido, in her monstrous form from back when she lost her mind at Diminutive domain. "Oh, yeah... That's right." The demon nodded, failing to notice how she looked exactly the same as back when she ruled.

Lucy took a seat at the head of the table, looking over to see Tophina stuffing their face with both sweets and meat. "Stop eating, Dear. Not all of our guests have arrived." She said, making the Wendigo stop their feast.

"S-Sorry I'm late!" Ami said as she burst through the doors, quickly sitting down next to Eido and Cheshire. "No needs to be sorry... Their are still others yet to show." Tophina said with a grin, making Ami sigh. "Peni w-was making m-me learn to b-be an oracle f-f-for some reason. Perhaps s-she wants to find someone..." 

"Calm yourself, girl. Tonight is a night of celebration." Lucy smiled, raising a wine glass. Suddenly, three distinct hound heads poked their heads inside. "I told you this was the right place./Well sorry, the map was hard to read./ You two need to calm down." 

"Cerbi. How are you three doing?" Lucy asked as the three hounds, attached to one distinct body, sat themselves down with a cheery look. "Fine./Mom just wanted us to help with the biz./ Nothing new, Warden."

Lucy couldn't help but sigh with content, seeing her Leaders together in such a pleasant reunion, it moved her heart slightly. But that's when she noticed something off, the seat empty in front of her. "Who's seat is that? I do not recall their ever being six of us?"

Before anyone could answer, a portal opened up above them and a familiar undead purple haired rabbit fell out. He landed on the seat with a light laugh, nudging Eido playfully. "Sorry I'm late, Vex and Tika missed me, so I quickly stopped by."

"Rabbit... No. Artemis. Why are you here?"

"For tea obviously. What else would I be here for?" He laughed, taking a bite out of the steak on his platter. 

Lucy failed to question the situation, instead choosing to just eat along with her leaders. A rather pleasant feeling began to swell up in her chest. It had been so long since she had ever shared a meal with anyone like this, and yet, as much as she loved her meal, she could sense this wasn't real.

Once she finished her meal, she stood up holding her wine, raising a toast. "To my Leaders.

Eido, your music touching the hearts of many.

Tophina, your food as excellent as ever.

Ami... Your existence having even some worth is enough.

Cheshire, may you continue making dreams reality.

Cerbi, you three will always be my most loyal guards.

And to Ven... Though you ruined my city and life, I owe my gratitude for giving me closure.

Thank you all."

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" A familiar feminine British voice called out. Lucy was surprised, before being deafened by the sound of a ticking clock running in her ears. "Come on, did you really not expect me to show up?" The woman laughed, walking through the doors with a wide grin on her face. 

"Rat... Of course. Even here, you still bother me." Lucy grumbled, quickly summoning her chains to deal with the white rat. Cheshire stopped her from attacking, now sporting a more mad attire with a fancy top hat. "Don't be rudez to our ezteemed guest." 

"But she was not invited." Lucy grumbled and watched as Rat calmly summoned a sword of light, slicing Eido in half, seeing the spider idol fade away in an instant. 

"You know what she is capable of." Lucy said flatly as Rat cut Tophina into pieces, the candified Wendigo quickly fading as well. 

"She is nothing but a parasite." Lucy began getting more frustrated, watching as Rat pierced Ami's chest, making her fade away like the others. 

"She took everything from me!" She yelled before Rat diced Cerbi up, leaving them split up before they faded.

"She took you from me..." She sighed and watched with silence as Rat cut off Cheshire's head once again. 

"Eh, what can I say? I just kinda do what I do best... I do what I want." Rat began snickering before a loud gunshot was heard. "Yeah... Doing what ya want gets boring after awhile." Ven said with a smirk, and the two watched as Rat faded away with a laugh. 

Lucy let out a sigh, sipping her wine as she stood alone with Ven. "Well, I suppose I should thank you. But this is all in my head, isn't it?"

"Yeah. You reckon you learned something?"

"That I'll kill that bird for this."

Ven let out a sigh and flicked Lucy's hair, revealing she now had four eyes. "Panila... You always say this and that about killing, but we both know you haven't actually taken a life yourself. You've punished people, but never pulled the trigger."

"I... Shut up, rabbit."

"You know I'm right." Ven said with a smirk before sighing, sitting down and putting his feet up on the table. "So what's the plan once you actually get your power back? You just gonna remain Warden and continue like nothing happened?"

Lucy didn't really know what she was actually going to do once she was back in power, she didn't even know if Pandora's Tears was still contained in her realm, but all she knew was this: 

"I have no clue. But... I know my demons still haunt me, so I think instead of trying to go back to ruling... I'll find and kill the rodent."

"How... Wrathful, My Warden." 

"Oh shit, I don't sense her breathing." Avis yelled, as everyone looked at Lucy, who was catatonic on the floor with drool dripping from her mouth. "What was that dust?" Arlo asked as he poked her. "It was a blend of Light Mushrooms, Screaming Mandrake and Drowsy Dreams?"

Mix looked stunned, shaking Avis in panic. "YOU USED LSD ON HER? WHY!?"

"I thought she'd just trip out, not OD..." Avis awkwardly laughed while Nvr was checking if Lucy even had a pulse. The bioweapon shook her head as everyone froze up. "Oh god... She's dead. Lamb is going to kill us." Min said with a panicked look.

"Shit, d-do we hide the body and say she got eaten by something?" Arlo asked. Everyone was in a frenzy over what to do as they stared at Lucy's seemingly lifeless body. 

"I know what to do. Vinea, can you rip her arms and legs off?" Avis asked seriously. He nodded, and Avis began explaining her plan to dump her body despite the fact that they were on a mountain and could dump her off the side and no one would know.

"What in mother's name are you talking about?" 

"Discussing how to dump your body." Arlo answered with a smile before realising Lucy was wide awake. "Zombie!" He screamed, punching her in the throat. "Idiot... You're meant to hit her brain." Min said with a light smirk as Lucy gasped for air. 

"I'm not dead! I don't have a pulse!" She weakly yelled, making the others sigh in relief. Avis gave Lucy a playful pat on the face, trying to pat her back. "Well, all's well that ends well, right?" She laughed.

"Oh you fuckin-" Before Lucy could leap for her again, Nvr grabbed her arms and pinned her in place. "Let me go, you little-" She yelled, before her bangs lifted up to reveal her now four eyes for everyone to see. 

"Why did everyone gasp?" Avis asked, turning around confused. "Lucy has four eyes." Mix whispered. "Four? I thought she had seven?" 

"I told you this, Chicken strip." Vinea groaned. 

After some time regaining their bearings and triple checking Lucy wasn't a zombie, everyone stepped outside to begin their descent down the mountain to finally take care of Titania, the Queen of the Fey.

"Hey, Avis. How are you gonna get down without wings?" Vinea asked. Mix took her boss's hand and motioned for everyone to follow. Just around the corner of the cabin, their was a long staircase that lead down the mountain.

Lucy stared at the stairs with a blank stare before screaming her frustrations for the world to hear upon realising she could have saved all that time.

"Ha, did you guys actually climb? Losers." Avis chirped playfully and was escorted down the stairs by the changing. Everyone followed behind, forced to listen to Lucy as she continued complaining about the entire trip.