Dagger and Nutty followed Lucy and Zoey to their house. It was pretty small compared to Aurara’s and Grace’s, but it had enough room for the four of them. Zoey and Lucy were on either side of Dagger, giving both him and each other a side eye. Nutty glanced over and noticed. He put a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud. “Well, I’m gonna go to sleep,” Nutty called as we walked down the hall to what looked to be a guest room. “Is that the guest room?” “Yep,” Lucy and Zoey said in unison. Then both walked over and urged him forwards. They tucked him in quickly and waved as they walked through the doorway. Dagger felt a shiver go down his spine. He had a stange feeling that tonight would be a bit different than the night at Aurara’s and the weekend with the Lagopus’. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but he knew he’d probably be up pretty late tonight. Zoey and Lucy walked up to Dagger. “Nutty’s asleep now,” Zoey said. “Now we can have some fun!” She grabbed Dagger by the arm, glared at her twin, and took off to another room. Lucy stared at Zoey through half closed eyes. Dagger glanced back for a minute and could feel the tension in that glare. The shiver came back as he was tugged into a room full of paintings of scenery from all sorts of tropical places. There were bookshelves lined with books on animals, and a bed against the wall. “I take it that this is your room?” Dagger asked. “Yep,” Zoey said. “We’re gonna have a great time.” She reached behind her and pulled out a phone. “Wanna take some selfies?” “A—” Before Dagger could finish his sentence, Zoey came up beside him. “Smile!” she said as she snapped a few pictures of them. Dagger stumbled hackwards a few steps from the sudden flash of light. He blinked a couple of times, and when his vision returned, Zoey was right in front of him. “Oh, um—” “Are you okay?” Zoey asked worriedly. “Yeah, I’m fine.” “Great!” Zoey said as she turned around. “Now, let's do something else!” While her back was turned, Dagger felt a hand grip his arm. He was pulled back through the doorway in an instant. Zoey turned around and saw her guest was missing. “Hey, where’d you go?” Dagger glanced and saw that Lucy was taking him away from Zoey’s room. They darted past the guest room and to the other side of the house. There, they entered Lucy’s room, plastered with peices of writngs all over the floor. There was a desk covered with even more paper, and a laptop. On the wall opposite the desk, Lucy’s bed was sitting. “You don’t want to hang out with Zoey,” Lucy told Dagger as she sat down on her bed. “She’s a good person, but she doens’t know how to party like yours truly.” “Who’s mine, now?” Lucy pulled Dagger onto the bed, making him land on his back and stare up at the ceiling. Ithad a window just above the bed, allowing them to see the stars. “Isn’t it amazing? It makes you wonder if there are other realities out there somewhere.” “Um… Sure. Do you use this for inspiration or something?” “Yep,” Lucy said, jumping to her feet. “It’s fun to picture how people would act in situations that could never happen in our world, or how different people would effect things that have happened here.” “Sounds pretty cool,” Dagger said, sitting up. Lucy produced a plate of cookies. “You want one?” “Uh, thanks.” Dagger said as he grabbed the top one. Lucy pulled out her own phone and took a picture as Dagger bit into the cookie. Dagger began to choke. Lucy put her hands on his throught and pushed out the piece of the cookie that ended up in there. Dagger spat it out, coughing and gasping for breath. “Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Lucy gasped. “Yeah, fine.” “Ok, we’ve got to get to the fun stuff,” Lucy said, walking over to her desk. As she ruffled through the papers, Dagger was grabbed by the ankles and pulled out the door. Dagger lifted his head off the ground to see Zoey dragging him across the house. He sighed as he glanced up at the ceiling. They quickly went back to Zoey’s room, where Zoey set Dagger down on her bed. (Continue to N&C)
“You know, it’s not nice to leave unnanounced.” Zoey said in a hurt tone. “But—” “And to see Lucy! You don’t need her! You have me! We can have lots of fun without her!” Dagger looked at Zoey with guilt. “Uh, sorry. What did you have in mind?” Zoey quickly opened a foldable chair and sat down facing Dagger, all the sadness completely gone from her face. She pulled Dagger’s headband over his eyes and put something in his hands. “Try to guess what this is.” Dagger rotated the object in his hands. It felt like something natural, and had a very free-form shape to it. “Um… Is it… A seashell?” “Yep!” Zoey said. She lifted his headband and put a blindfold on herself. “Now, you give me something, and I’ll guess what it is.” Just as she had finished talking, Dagger was grabbed and pulled off the bed. Dagger glanced over and saw Lucy with a finger over her mouth pulling Dagger along. Dagger looked back and saw Zoey lifting the blindfold. Just as she had taken it off, they arrived in Lucy’s room and the door was shut behind them. “Why did you leave?” Lucy asked, just as hurt as Zoey before her. “I—” “You can’t just bail on someone! Especially your hostess!” Dagger felt Zoey grab him and begin to pull him back. Dagger collapsed and began to slide down the hallway. Lucy’s face turned bright red as she saw her sister taking him away. She dashed over and stopped her in the living room that stood between their bedrooms. “So you’ve been taking him away from me!” They both yelled. “You did it first!” Zoey insisted. “No, you took him to your room right after we put Nutty down!” “You were going to do the same thing!” They both grabbed Dagger and began a tug of war. Dagger glanced back and forth at the two of them, his expression a mix of distress and grief. He had a feeling the night was going to end like this. “Let go!” Both girls cried as they began to pull harder. They started kicking at each other and leaning backwards to strengthen their pull. Dagger felt his arms being pulled out of their sockets. “Stop!” he pleaded. “Please, stop!” Zoey and Lucy looked at him, then were struck with guilt. They let go of his hands and started begging for forgiveness at the same time. Dagger sighed and walked off to get an air mattress. He couldn’t take this craze anymore. He had to find a way to get these girls off his back. Just as he came back with the mattress, Nutty walked out of the guest room. “Be quiet!” he said. “I’m trying to sleep!” To Be Continued... Song: Counterattack from Xenoblade Chronicles 2
