Bundi made their way back to their living quarters after bidding Craig goodnight. They made a few last rounds, checking on some kids, then retired for the night. That at least, was the original plan. Bundi was notorious for being generally chaotic and surprising. They would smile and wink, saying it was all part of the Bundi Agenda.

     "Hey, you're back late." Nole yawned as Bundi sat down on the edge of their bed.

     "Craig had a shot at the cave." They explained, rolling out the maps from their pocket and made a few edits to their giant map.

     "Oh?" Nole pushed himself up on his elbows. "Did you figure out a way to get it open?"

     Bundi shook their head. "Nah he wasn't feeling up to it, I'm going to ask him again once he's gotten some proper sleep."

     "Mm." Nole nodded, already falling back asleep.

     Bundi glanced up at him, then brushed aside the strands of orange hair that fell in front of his face. Nole's pale green eyes blinked open, and he smiled sheepishly. Bundi leaned forward and kissed his forehead. It was a silent but tender exchange, and one of the many reasons Bundi loved him.

     "You don't have to stay up waiting for me." Bundi sighed.

     Nole shrugged. "It's fine."

     Bundi smiled at him, and went back to their map, they still had this uneasy feeling inside them, like there was still stuff to do. The Bundi Agenda was not yet fulfilled. They were overcame with the sudden urge to check the cave once more. Moriah, Bundi's familiar, lifted up his head and stared at them with black inquisitive eyes. Bundi's would have normally been more concerned about this but their mind was strange... fuzzy tonight.

     "I think I'm going dip out real quick." Bundi said, ruffling Nole's hair and slinging on their satchel once more. "Just to check on things."

     Nole looked up and frowned. "Is everything alright?"

     "I have a feeling, go ahead and get some sleep honey I'll be right back." They assured, and slipped out once more, with only the sound of Moriah's soft paw steps following them.

     The later the night was the darker and quieter the air grew. The moon stretched in the sky like a cat's claw and snagged on the edges of Bundi's clothes as the human and mammal made their way through the thick of the forest in the dead of the night. The only light or warmth was the low level of flame coming from Bundi's palms as it tickled their skin.

     "Are you sure you're alright?" Moriah asked.

     "Yeah, why do you ask?" Bundi blinked at him.

     "You're sending out particularly concerning magical signals." Moriah said flatly.

     Bundi waved him off. "I'm fine, you say that at least once a week."

     Moriah let out a flabbergasted sigh but quickened his pace to keep closer to Bundi. It wasn't long before Bundi was sliding down the raving to stand in front of the massive wall of rock built into one of the sloping sides of the island. It was farther then Bundi and Nole allowed the children to wander, as they were still coming across skeletons and half decomposed bodies from the previous ruler's victims. Every few months a new section would open up after Bundi explored the area and assured its safety. The cave was something they had discovered recently.

     When Bundi approached the large, stone, slab sitting in front of the cave they were let down once more. It was a bare, cold, and unrevealing mystery that continued to plague them. They were just about to turn back when a twig snapped behind them. Bundi whipped around and standing just feet away from them was a dark-haired boy with his head turned down, staring at Bundi with two dark eyes. Instead being scared Bundi was relieved. 

     "Hey Eds, what are you doing back so soon?" They asked, leaning down to look into his eyes. "You alright?"

     Eddie shivered, then relaxed and he blinked his eyes rapidly, almost immediately starting to cry. Bundi's eyes widened but they caught the boy when he started to sway over. Eddie's legs shook as Bundi held him up and he was furiously wiping away salty tears.

     "You can't call me that." He whispered under his breath so gently Bundi barely heard it. "The people I'm here with—you just can't, please."

     Bundi blinked, then placed and arm on him protectively and glanced around. "What's going on?"

     Eddie was shivering. "I'm sorry."

     "Ed- I mean, what's going on? Do you need help?" Bundi asked then, growing more and more concerned by the minute.

     He shook his head, and his shoulders squished uncomfortably before he completely relaxed. Bundi's heart was beating a mile a minute as Eddie squirmed like he was under some sort of influence. They made eye contact with Moriah for one second before Bundi put his arms up in surrender.

     "It's going to be okay, come back to camp with me and we'll get this out of you-"

     Eddie didn't say anything. His eyes had gone dark again and with one fluid motion he raised a small dagger. Moriah let out a lout screech and flew at him but not before Eddie cracked the hilt of the weapon over Bundi's head. Their eyes rolled back into their head, and they collapsed to the ground unconscious. Moriah was still struggling and kicking, biting Eddie's legs and feet with all his might.

     A hand shot out of the nearby darkness, with a bright green glowing palm, just like Craig's. Apophis held her hand just above Moriah and the familiar stared at her, completely taken by the sheer will of the woman, and fell over next to his human. Apophis was breathing heavily but looked down at the two unconscious bodies at her feet and smirked.

     She snapped her glowing fingers in front of Eddie's face and he snapped out of his trance, and immediately started to cry and shake again. He wiped away the tears silently and looked up at her, waiting for his next order. Behind Apophis, the last figure slunk out of the shadows. Felix had his hands tied behind his back (his corrupted arm dripping black goo all over the bonds) and the dull glaze in his eyes was back, with the same green sheen Eddie had.

     "Grab them." She gestured to the unconscious pair. "We're going inside."

     Eddie sniffed and nodded, clumsily lifting Bundi over his shoulders and scooping up Moriah with his free hand. Apophis lifted up her hands and pressed her palm against the carving on the wall of the cave. There was a faint glow from underneath her finger tips, then it slowly sunk into the cracks of the stone. The wall creaked, and then a loud grating noise filled the midnight air as it slid open, slowly and painfully.

     The inside of the cave as dark and Eddie noticed it gave off a rather rank scent. Apophis clicked her fingers again as she walked down into the chocking blackness, Eddie winced and held out his hand, letting the fear seep out of his skin into the flickering flames on his fingertips. The room was bathed in a soft orange glow, revealing a number of stone tables and several dusty shelves of decaying plants. It looked like an apothecary except... the very under Eddie fingers buzzed with a crackling energy. This was a place of ancient magic.

     "Table." Apophis gestured to the stone slab.

     Eddie laid Bundi down gently, cringing when he saw the large purple bruise forming on their forehead, then placed Moriah down next to them. He hoped they were okay, he was shaking with horror about what he had done. He had officially contributed to whatever terrifying thing Apophis was about to do to the person that saved his life.

     Eddie had betrayed people before, but never anyone he cared about.

     "Lay down." Apophis used a much gentler tone when she was talking to Felix and cut his hands free.

     The pale-haired boy blinked at her, completely emotionless, then pulled down the dark hood covering his face. Eddie stared at his horrible scarred face, one of his eyes was slightly paler then the other now that the black illness had spread up to his chin once more. Felix climbed onto the slab to the right of Bundi and leaned back, folding his hand over his chest and staring up at the ceiling.

     Apophis grabbed a bigger knife from her belt and snapped her fingers at Eddie once more. "There are torches on the wall, light them."

     Eddie nodded, barely feeling the movement from his own body, and walked around the room touching each ancient lump of charcoal to his finger tips as lighting up the massive cavern. The new light revealed a bookshelf in the corner and something that might have once been writing on the wall.

     Felix started muttering things under his breath, they were frantic, always somewhat unintelligible words, Eddie had tried listening to them before, he had tried calming the other boy down when he got into these fits. Apophis held out her eerie virescently glowing palm above his forehead and shushed him in a calm, quiet, motherly tone. She brushed the messy strands of white hair away from his blank eyes and stroked the side of his face with the scars gently. The muttering stopped and Apophis took his sickly, blackened, dripping hand in her own and held it, the goo sticking to her fingers.

       The Apophis took Bundi's hand as well and held the two of them closer together until Felix's was lying directly above Bundi's. She too the knife in her hand and held Bundi's palm, then gently sunk in her knife and sliced it across their palm. Bundi's limbs jumped and they cried out, starting to wake up from the pain. Apophis snapped her fingers and gestured to them, Eddie ran forward with his tail between his legs and pressed down on Bundi's chest to stop them from resisting. Felix's hand continued to drip and the drop landed on Bundi's open palm, mixing with the blood. As soon as the black mixed with the red Bundi cried out, Eddie winced their eyes opened and they glanced about wildly, crying out in confusion and struggling against the two people holding them down.

     Apophis's hand shot forward, glowing powerfully, and with awkward, outstretched fingers and sweat pouring down her forehead, she pressed them against Bundi's forehead and their arms went slack, the cries stopped and were reduced to a faint whimpering. Eddie could do nothing but stand there and stare at Bundi's almost lifeless eyes as they stared up at the woman with the green hands.

     Apophis had a palm above both Felix and Bundi's forehead, something seemed to be moving between the two of them, some sort of dark energy. Eddie could taste it, like blood in his mouth and metal between his teeth. Apophis let out a groan of fatigue herself, whatever ungodly act she was performing, it was causing power to radiate off of her in waves. Eddie had to step back slightly, his heart still positively hammering. Even his magic drunken state he dimly worried how Craig would react if either of these two people died and what he would do when he learned it was partially Eddie's fault.

      The glow faded, Bundi and Felix's eyes rolled back into their heads. The cut on Bundi's palm stopped bleeding and instead the darkness seemed to suck the blood back into their body. They lie there, absolutely still. Apophis leaned against one of the slabs, her hair covering her face. Her shoulders were shaking and she was breathing in rapid, hoarse breaths. Eddie had never been so scared for his own life like that before.

     "Ellie?" Apophis croaked.

     "Yes, mistress?"

     "Get Felix, we're going back now."

     Eddie bit his lip, then with shaking hand pulled Felix over his shoulder and followed the stumbling Apophis back through the mouth of the cave. He glanced back at the two other living things left, Bundi and their familiar, and was filled with overwhelming regret, the tears started to return. Then the door to the cave slowly started to grind and creak closed, and besides a few misshapen bloodstain and pools of black goo, it was like they have never been there in the first place.