*New chapter woohooo*

---

Star stares at the glass with interest as her "reflection" glares at her.

"Don't you have something better to do, Star Light?" The reflection spat as she crossed her arms, continuing to glare at Star.

"If you were a physical manifestation, I'd punch you," Star says lowly, never breaking eye contact as she gestures, "You could have gotten us both killed, Moonshine"

"Oh isn't that unfortunate," Moonshine hisses, "Isn't that what I was trying to do?"

"Whatever," Star mutters darkly, "You're never getting out of there, you'll always just be a reflection since you lost your physical from with your stupid tactics"

"Doesn't matter," Moonshine replies casually as she closes her eyes briefly, "I have friends in the right places, they'll do the work"

"Talking about Venus?" Star asks, barely paying attention at this point, "She's the only friend you have"

"No, Night and Sith," Moonshine smiles, although the smile didn't quite reach her eyes, "A fallen angel and a shadow"

"Huh," Star scoffs, "Sounds useless"

"Don't you talk shit about them-" Moonshine snarls before disappearing.

"Hey, Star!" 

Jessica smiles as she ran up to Star who turns around at the sound of her name, "Star, I got an A+ today, what did you get?"

Star turns away from the now-normal reflection as she replied, "Oh that, I got an A"

"See," Jessica points behind her, "Amy it's not that hard!"

A brown haired girl ran up to them, "Well I spend more time socializing and running than you losers!"

"Hey!" Star exclaims as she whacked Amy over the head, "You're the loser! You literally don't even know how to count to 1000!"

"Touche," Amy hums slowly, "You guys up for going out for some cake?"

Jessica grinns, "You're paying, right?"

"Hmm," Amy mimics rubbing her neck, "I don't know, I can't count remember?"

"What kind of cake is going to cost 1000?" Star leans in, laughing, "I'm pretty sure even wedding cakes don't cost that much!"

"Ah," Amy drops her act, "I guess you're right... Cake's on me then!"

"Cheers!" Jessica beams as she danced around the hallway, "I want a bubble tea cake!"

"Great!" Amy smiles as Jessica leaped into the air, doing a spin before striking the landing

"Should have put water on the ground," Star joked as she nudged Amy.

"That's so mean!" Amy complained loudly before lowering her voice, "Do it next time, it'll be newsworthy at this school"

Star does a double take as Amy remained neutral as they watched Jessica dance across the halls, "What?"

"Imagine the headline," Amy hums, "What would it be? "Popular girl Jessica loses her footing as the top girl from a little slip-up in front of the student body", what do you think?"

"Okay," Star puts her hand together as she stared into Amy, "Number 1, that's too long of a title. Number 2, I was joking. Number 3, Jessica and I are actual friends, I'm not going to do that"

Amy waves her off, "Don't bother lying, no one actually wants to be friends with that girl, the only thing they care about if their social status and how high up they can get it"

"Listen here you little-"

Jessica does a little twirl before jumping back, "What is it? Why are you guys looking so upset?"

"Whatever," Star says slowly, glaring at Amy, "Jessica, let's go get cake, I'll pay for it. Amy isn't coming"

"Oh... Why thought?" Jessica asked, almost like a wounded puppy, sickeningly clueless, "I mean it's okay if you don't wanna come..."

"She needs to go back to her house didn't she?" Star tried, ignoring Amy's protests, "Jessica, let's go"

"Okay, Star," Jessica resumes her happy-go-lucky walk as they walked out of the school.

"Wait, wait who's that?" Star asks as two boys sat outside, underneath a large tree.

"That's Issac isn't it?" Jessica peers from behind Star, "Issac and Finn?"

"The Finn?" Star asks, "The one who's parents are on the second highest on the Watcher's ranks?"

"Yep, that one," Jessica says nodding, "I barely even see him around, wonder what this is for..."

"-Have a beautiful day, Finn," Issac says, averting his gaze as he hands him a flower crown of cornflowers and other blue flowers.

"Thank you," Finn smiled as he dipped his head, "Thank you, Issac"

Star hurried Jessica along, just in case they were going to do something, although chances are, they won't.

Finn never does.

He's turned down almost everyone in the entire school.

The moment they got away, Jessica immediately pulled a face, "Anyways, about that fucking idiot, Amy, she really thought I was deaf or something?"

"Well, most people think you're just one-sided if I was being honest," Star stated as they walked towards the nearest bakery, "She was probably looking from some way to get herself higher on the social ladder"

"I won't blame her," Jessica says, a bit more relaxed now, "Happens all the time, people would love to see the top person fall, but doesn't want to do the dirty work"

"I have a question," Star starts quietly, "Why did you even choose me to be your friend?"

"..." Jessica looks up at the sky as the gears in her head turned, "Well, when you first came to the school, I thought you would be just like the others, sucking up other people for popularity until you got to me, but that's not the case, was it?"

Jessica smiles, her eyes twinkling as she walked, "No, that wasn't the case, you couldn't care less about the social hierarchy, and I liked that, you weren't like the rest of them, you weren't like Amy"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Star grinned as she opened the door to the bakery, "Ladies first"

"You realize you are one too, right?" Jessica joked as she walked in.

"Of course, but popular ladies before average ladies," Star jokes, "No, that one was a lie, everyone is equal"

"I'm holding the door next time" Jessica laughed, "Okay, who's paying?"

They were silent as they shared a look with each other.

"Last one to the counter is gonna pay!"

---

Aubree repeatedly slams her head on the desk as she does a verbal keyboard spam.

"C'mon, Aubree," Jake groans, "Get yourself together, we can't finish the project without your part"

Gibby sits on the windowsill, "Well maybe we could help you, Aubree?"

Aubree ignores them as she suddenly stops, and then begins to scroll past search results for "Forest climate and adaptations"

"You can do it!" Gibby cheers as he hopps down and pulls up a chair to sit next to her, "Tell me if you need any help"

"M'kay, Gibby," Aubree mumbles as she copy and pastes some things on the slide, "Don't expect me to manage to edit the audio though"

"I can do that," Jakes replies, pushing up his glasses as he opens up his phone, "We still have a day don't we?"

"Sure," Aubree nods as she taps her pen, "Gibby, you done your slides yet?"

"... Working on it," Gibby says quietly as he flipped open a book, it had a pure black cover with ripped leather, "Wait, Aubree, how did you get this book?"

"My parents?"

Gibby stared at the title, "The Crimson King? Wasn't that a huge deal a few years back?"

"Crimson King?" Jake shrugged, "I dunno about you, but that sounds like an edgy wannabe or something"

"Besides," Jake turned back to his phone, "It's probably fake"

"... I'm just going to read it," Gibby said slowly as everyone resumed their tasks, "I'll let you guys know if anything worth mentioning is in here"

"You do you," Aubree pauses, "... Wasn't the Crimson King associated with like a few other gods?"

"It was," Gibby flips past the introduction, "They don't have names though, I remember the higher-beings were mostly in pairs"

"Whatever," Jake shrugs as he played the audio recordings, "It's not like they affect us"

"I suppose you're right," Gibby scans a few pages before flipping to the end, "It's talking about a cult of some kind, about how to summon their gods and stuff... Wait..."

Gibby clears his throat as he reads out the ending sentences.

"...However there are things that you should note:
1. If The Procedure has been already done, three times for the god, then until the next decade, you will be unable to summon them.
2. If the god has already been reincarnated, and is in the mortal realm, you will also be unable to summon them.
3. Every time you attempt the Procedure, it will cause a 001K-leveled scenario (Go to page 53 for other levels, and their effects), it will keep going up until 999K-Scenario (Ex. End of World scenario).
4. All the time, there is at least one god roaming the earth, in the mortal flesh being, they will not have any memories or recollection of who they are.
5. Adding onto number 4, it is almost impossible to identify the gods, unless their counterpart's physical manifestation has yet to be terminated via the means necessary.
6. Their counterparts will attempt a 100F-Scenario (Ex. "The Dominance Shift", reincarnating the demons and devils, and attempting to rule over humanity)
7. Should number 6 accur the gods are to be summoned immediately, using a Procedure that will never be published"

"... That's awfully specific for a fake cult," Aubree murmurs, still trying to process how long it was, as Jake stares off into space, "Whatever, it doesn't concern us"

"But you know what does concern us?" Jake asked, reaching over and closing the book with a thud, "Our project"

"... Also," Gibby ignores Jake as he gently slips the book into his bag, "I'm just going to keep this, if that's alright with you, Aubree. I'm rather interested with their Procedures and recreation of the Cores for their gods"

"Yeah, sure," Aubree waves him off, "Just do your part of the project, alright?"

"I suppose I should get it started..."

---

A black haired boy wandered the streets, the unpaved roads and old lights that might not even work.

His name is Varian.

He is from the outside, and his friend is sick.

Varian desperately hoped it wasn't the parasite that everyone was talking about.

Everyone that met them told Varian that he was "Too good for the world".

It was a compliment, but it hurts to think about this in the other way.

Varian stepped into the local pharmacy, the bell ringing as he walked in.

"Hello, customer-" The shopkeeper's face fell as he stared at Varian, peering at his slightly tattered clothing, "Oh, another one of you, what did I tell you before? Get lost!"

"Sir, please," Varian stepped forwards, "I just need something for a fever, I'll do anything"

"What did I say before?" The shopkeeper hissed, "I don't have enough medicine for all the people in the outside, and you expect me to give you one just because you need it? You don't even have money!"

"I-"

"Get. Lost."

Varian sighed as he reluctantly stepped back out, sitting down on the ground as he stared at the sky. He was going to get the medicine, for Alexander. He simply had to.

Because Alex had given up so many things to keep both of them alive, often looking for daytime jobs that paid.

But with the parasite going around, no one wanted to hire some measly children that they didn't know.

He hugged his knees closer to him as he stayed there.

He didn't know what he was expecting, surely not for the shopkeeper to change his mind. No, people here are practically heartless.

"Loyalty is everything," Varian muttered to himself as the sun switched off, "Alex looked out for you. You have to look out for him"

Loyalty is nothing. Nothing, you hear me? Being a good person doesn't guarantee that they will, it's safer to go alone, leave Alex, Varian.

"I will not listen to you, Xel," Alex clenched his head, "You know nothing about Alex"

Oh I do, V. I know everything. Alex is only out to save himself, that's why he befriended you in the first place.

"No..."

You can't deal with the truth can you? You were always a weakling.

Varian could see Xel forming, the shadows turning into a figure. A physical figure.

Xel smiled down at him, admiring his physical form, before crouching down to come to look at Varian in the eyes.

Varian looked away.

"But you can stop being such a burden," Xel tilted his head, "You could just join me, I have many friends that would accept you with open arms..."

Xel forcibly pushed Varian back, practically throwing him against the ground, "... I could just kill you right here, no one would even know..."

 "But I choose not to, you know why?" He grabbed Varian, meeting his eyes with a smile, "Because you are worthy of power, because you survived fine without any help for years, you would have been a great addition to my friends..."

Three girls turned around the corner, stopping as they stared at the scene in front of them.

One of the girls immediately picked up a rock and threw it towards Xel, "Hey! What are you doing?"

The dark-skinned girl picked up a piece of sharp metal before walking towards them, "My name is Beatrice, who are you and what are you doing?"

Xel covered Varian's mouth, "Oh I'm Xel. Just talking to my brother, V"

"Doesn't look like it," Beatrice said slowly as she looked at Xel, unblinkingly, "Now, I would really appreciate if you left right now"

Varian felt a warm tingling feeling as he looked up, maybe some people really did care for him, even if they were strangers. It felt like his heart was melting from this tiny exchange.

Xel shot Varian a glare before suddenly disappearing into thin air.

"... Did he just-" 

"Yeah, uh," Varian mumbled, taking Beatrice's outstretched hand, "Thanks, I guess"

"No problem," The other two girl ran up to them, nodding to Beatrice, "We met Alex, he's out looking for you"

"He shouldn't be!" Varian rubbed his face, "He's sick, he should be sleeping!"

"Well," Beatrice leans back, drawing out the L, "He was worried about you, so he came out onto the streets in the middle of the night to look for you. You were like missing for hours"

"Dammit," Varian muttered as he prepared to head the direction he came from, "I'll get going now-"

"Wait hold on," Beatrice grabbed his wrist, "Would you like us to help your guys?"

"I mean, sure," Varian shrugs, "It's good to have backup, we should get going though, Alex probably is still wandering around"

"We should," The other girl takes the piece of metal from Beatrice, "I'm Samantha by the way"

The girl that stayed silent and uptight the throughout the entire exchange nods slowly, "Carla"

"Varian," He dips his head towards her, "Now, can we please get going?"

Maybe the outside wasn't as bad as he thought.

---

End of Chapter 1.

Akgasjkawegfyj, I'm terrible at writing, I literally can't-

Well here is your friendly reminder for things that you should note: 
The Monsters in the institute by the Watchers
The Towers that hold the sun and moon of the world
The Parasite
The Outside/In the walls
"What's up with Oliver's goddamn camera, who the fuck are those people, and why are they even important-"
The Reflections, so far you can be sure that Star and Varian has those- Apparently if the original dies, the copy dies along with them. The physical manifestation appears when the original is experiencing strong emotions. There are quite a few of them, I gotta say-
Watchers/Abyssals/Neutrals
"Are you sure that there aren't any other people out there? Other groups? Did the population really decline this much?"

Okay, I'm going to write Chapter 2 now.

I hoped you liked it :)