REGULAR BOLD - OWL ITALICS AND BOLD - STARLING

Alright, so I know what your instant thought is: oh, just another note , I'll just skip this and get on to THIS AMAZING STORY, but I'm hoping you guys can do me a favor (Starling: This is why I avoid author's notes and chat in the comments). Yes, this might be long and boring, and YES, I might be rambling on for too long, but I'd really appreciate it if you could just hold tight and sit still.

Now, I'm going to try to make this as short as possible, while still explaining to you the details, but it might end up more complicated, since I often get off topic. So introductions: I'm @Owlfeather45, though I'm more often referred to as just Owl. If you haven't seen the millions of signs everywhere, I'm Starling's co-author. Which, I know. I'm ABSOLUTELY LUCKY to work with the goddess of satan (I think that's DemonKit (or The_Hanji_Zoe or something now idk anymore)). I've been "working" with her since chapter fourteen, also labeled as "Home". Yeah, I'm sure at least SOME of you noticed how detailed it became.

But anyway, let's cut to the chase before I ramble on for too long. (Too late for that!) Honestly, I don't think any of these things will be an actual problem, seeing as this is based off of a story where an alien-octopus thingy destroys a large percentage of the moon and starts to teach the worst class of a prestigious school. Plus, it's a fan fiction for crying out loud, so I mean... yeah.

I don't think it's gonna be a problem.

But I still want to address these three things, which mostly relate to one big picture, just in case there's that one reader who doesn't comprehend the sudden changes or for any future readers who are late to the updates. This "big picture" is mostly related to the quality of the content Starling and I am giving you. Because of our huge differences in writing, if something is awkward or seems out of place, that's probably the reason why (The differences are a lot smaller than they could be honestly, you should see my friends's writing styles).

Starling's writing style is more popular among readers: the chapters are smaller, shorter (Totally because the readers like that yep that totally not because I used to force myself to write 3000 words per chapter and then I physically was forcing myself to write and it was actually the worst and I almost stopped writing all together so I let myself do 2000 but that was still bad but I finally got enough self respect to just write until I was done yeah no it's reader style uh-huh). It consists of one big event and any smaller details to keep the chapter rolling, finishing with more questions than answers, leaving a huge hype for the next chapter. My writing style is much less enjoyable, giving you several huge events along with an extremely long chapter, with an ending that can either a) leave you craving for more, or b), allow you to step back for a minute and simply enjoy it, leaving a reader's focus on other fan fictions or things instead of what I'm writing.

Not only that, but I usually write in the first person, so when I'm writing, I've caught myself several times writing the wrong thing. Starling writes in the third person omniscient, so trying to adapt became kinda difficult. (Starling: I used to write in 1st POV all the time. Originally this book was going to be in Nagi's POV and sometimes Karma's, but I ended up finding that I just wrote in 3rd Person so I kept it the whole book. I write alot of personal fanfic that I don't publish in many POVs so I'm good at switching around.)

The next topic I wanted to address was the length of the chapters. No worries, this will be much easier to explain. Here's a pro-tip for you: there's a point in which chapters get too long. Starling's chapters, from what I've been able to tell, range anywhere from 450 on her bad days and 700 on her longest chapters. Starling actually had to scold me (jokingly, of course), because I kept on writing the chapters way too long. In fact, the latest chapter I had written had to be kept at its length, simply because of the way I had written it. (Also people would like a long chapter and the events deserved it)

It's around 2,800 words.

Has it registered yet?

No?

...

Okay, I've given you plenty time to get it burned into your brain.

But yes, I am now done droning on and on and on.

And hey, you get a high five from me for all the people that read through this. Have fun suffering, and remember, tell me if you need anything!~

- Owl (^-^)/\(^-^) (Hive five!)

Now it's my turn. This'll be much quicker. I'm Starling, if you all don't know (How would you not know you're reading my book....). My "name," however, is Kiya Aiko, with Aiko being the first name and Kiya the surname. I'm American though, so if you'd like to call me Aiko please do! (My parent's call me Aiko sometimes and it makes me really happy) but yeah, Owl has been writing with me alot, and we've been using the duel-author feature on Quotev (where I began reading fanfic) to do this.

So here's the big thing, I was wondering if anyone would want me to post a one-shot on a new book about the history of "The Serpent Inside" and how I made the book/got the ideas and whatever. Alright well I'll let you go read now~.

Until Next Time,

Kiya Aiko (--Starling--)

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Nagisa's hands trembled as his body rocked in a painful shiver, his eyes dilating and quivering violently as his bow-shaped lips twitched. Small strands of his hair fell along his jaw, sticking uncomfortably as his teeth chattered.

He suddenly felt cold, as if a dark substance crawled from from the inside of his heart and spread through his veins, releasing itself into his body. Like hands, it felt as if something was gripping onto him, his blood cells seemingly, and suddenly, gaining an immense amount of weight, pulling Nagisa further into the metal table as his body convulsed in tiny movements.

He wasn't numb, but he wasn't in pain either. Simply feeling everything and nothing and the darkness of death, Nagisa was wondering, through muddled thoughts, why people thought death was so bad.

His skin was lit with immense heat, his insides still cold, like somebody pressed hot iron coals into his skin. But no pain. It just kept on getting hotter and hotter, his insides and outsides clashing in a battle of heat, the differences making him nauseous as his thick eyelashes fluttered. His throat ached, pulling taut-like for the arrival of his dinner. His tongue was swelling up, feeling dry and useless as it sat in his mouth, making it harder to breathe.

His eyes remained bright, the overhead lights leaving them glittering like waves the color of the sky, the huge bulbs alight like they would belong on a chandelier, just another pair of bright eyes to show off. But it was different, his eyes the same but entirely different. His pupils were placed wrong, the sheen was too sloppily shown, the colors of his eyes all mixed and muddled into wrong shades of the same color, the whites of his eyes a dismaying background of nothingness.

Even when moving his eyes, they remained the same disconcerting difference. Recentering his vision, his body quaked when looking at the white cloaked man that just had to ruin everything. It was then that Nagisa became aware of something he didn't put much thought into.

Humans. They lived together, trying to make their lives as happy as possible so that when they died, they were so called "prepared" from simply living. And when humans don't like something or someone, they use their stupid emotions to get rid of it, so their lives can continue as "perfect" as they want it to be. When something they don't like gets in their way, they tear it down. For what? And why is it, that when they've learned to walk and talk they're given responsibilities, when nobody truly knows what the point is, what responsibilities really mean? Over and over and over again the cycle continues, in which they never learn, and things go around and around and around, each life dying as a new one is given life. And every emotion, every action, every thought is to make their lives happier. Happy, just one emotion, and yet humans are ruled by those thoughts like a drug addict to cocaine. What's the point? To be happy? What is happy?

Dying is just another cycle.

Death is just another thing to emotionally over exaggerate about.

Shiro is carved by human's label of insanity, when all he's looking for is that one thing that gets him off.

Emotion.

Labels.

Rules.

People.

Life.

Death.

.

.

.

Karma.

Is he just another thing too?

Nagisa's hands stopped shaking as he breathed out a small breath, releasing all his regrets and the emotions people direly needed to function as his mouth was left slightly open, his eyes fading as he closed his eyes, not wanting to see more of the world than he already had.

Shiro watched happily as Nagisa's body stilled completely. He took a moment to enjoy the sadistic sensation of murdering one of the hardest people to kill before he called Misui into the room.

"Misui-san, you should be capable of disposing the body. Go put him somewhere his little boyfriend will see him."

Misui bowed respectively before walking over to the body.

She never got to meet him, at least, as a normal person could. Her eyes watered as she stared at the small boy, his pale skin almost chalky as it was swathed around his petite frame like a blanket, his cheekbones wrapped tightly into a present as it protruded from his cheeks. His soft blue hair surrounded him, his bangs and locks of hair acting as a halo as it encircled his face in gentle strokes. He was beautiful, objectively of course. Misui already found the love of her life, though she was waiting for the right time to propose.

Placing her hands under Nagisa, she gently picked him up as his hair cascaded down in waves. Tears gathered in her eyes as she held him, his skin still warm despite recently passing. Holding him to her chest as one would a child, she placed his head along her collarbone, his breath tickling her neck as she wallowed silently how the poor boy would never open his eyes ever aga-

Wait. A vial was dropped by Shiro, his action resulting in him cursing vehementally, though Misui couldn't hear it. Her eyes widened considerably as she gaped at the wall, staring at it with surprised gaze.

Nagisa inhaled softly, releasing another puff of air on her bare neck.

He was still breathing.

Flippin' jester christmas and-

Oh shiiiiit.

Misui's eyes widened and she quietly gasped as she took in the fact that the boy in her arms was still alive.

"What's the hold-up Misui-san?" Shiro growled and stomped over to the 25-year-old brunette, still angry about the shattered vial. Or maybe he's just always angry.

"O-Oh! Sir! I'm taking him ou-"

"Shut up and do your job! I don't care about a corpse!" Shiro grabbed her by the head and threw her roughly down, dropping Nagisa while falling painfully on her hip. The bluenette coughed as he landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him.

Shiro's eyes widened this time as he stalked towards the boy and placed his fingers on his neck, feeling a light pulse.

Oh-.

Rage bubbled up inside of Shiro. The poison didn't work!

Shiro instantly threw Nagisa right back onto the table and locked everything except his hands.

-Lord.

"If you won't get killed by me, you'll just have to kill yourself then!" Shiro roared as he went into the other room, coming back with a familiar liquid. The needle was plunged into both of Nagisa's wrists before he and Misui were grabbed by the collar of their shirts, thrown into a small testing room.

"Wait! Sir!" Misui banged on the door as Shiro locked it and walked out of the connecting room to another part of the lab. Her fists hit the door repetitively, her voice choking up as her voice grew hoarse from yelling.

Sniffling, Misui gave up on her banging and turned around, sliding down the door to sit on the floor, her head limp. Small tears fell down her face, and she was quick to wipe them away.

"Sorry Yumi. Looks like I won't be able to propose after all." Misui muttered to herself, tears glossing over her eyes as they threatened to fall again. She knew what poor Nagisa had in his system now, and she knew that since he was a great assassin, he was even more susceptible to the symptoms that came along with the physical effects.

A small groan came from the other side of the small room.

"Shiota-kun? Are you alright?" Misui pushed herself over to help Nagisa sit up.

Nagisa nodded, his eyes glassy from the drugs injected in him. He was somewhat out of it, his words slurring slightly. "Call me Nagisa, please. I don't like to be called the same as my mother or father."

"Alright Nagisa-kun. My name is Hanasaki Misui, but you can just call me Misui. Do you know what happened?" She tried to be as clear as possible to the boy in his fuddled state.

"All I know is that I was kidnapped and Shiro injected something into me that was supposed to kill me." He said after a moment, slowly comprehending the older woman's words.

"Yes. But it didn't kill you, so Shiro-sama put a new serum into your wrists. I don't know how long we have until it initiates. Maybe 5 minutes, max." Misui's eyes hardened.

"Alright...what was the serum supposed to do?"

"I believe you are familiar with an older version of it."

"I am?" He said, his voice confused as he tried to piece together the puzzle put in front of him, with the pieces all coming from different scenes.

"Yes." She sighed as her voice nearly broke, forcing to say the dreaded words that she had hoped would never come out of her mouth. "Tentacles. But these ones are more extreme."

"Ex... treme?" He bounced along the word, befuddlement truly casting into him.

She nodded.

"These ones are lethal. It's dangerous, easily controlling you from the inside out. No objections. But if you use them right..." She couldn't finish her sentence.

"What? What is it?" He said worridly.

Misui took in a deep breath before continuing. "You can get control of them...and nothing can possibly stand in your way."

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Starling: *looks at angry readers with flaming pitchforks* "She did it!" *points to Owl*

Owlfeather: *shakes with the sudden attention* "H-hey! What's that supposed to mean!? You were the one who had Nagisa 'die'!"

Starling: "Yeah, but I didn't make it nearly as over-dramatic as you did! And I didn't even think about all that depressing crap with Nagisa and his thoughts on humans!" *suddenly gains a depressed look* "He's my precious cinnamon roll, I could never do that to him.... but I did do it to Karma that one time back at Chapter 19 of arc one...I don't think you were there to see me be a total ass and make a fake chapter with Karma dying... I deleted it a long time ago...long...long ago."

Owl: *looks at Starling with a 'wtf' face* "And yet you are the one who forced Nagi to kill his father and his mother after he gained abilities, and made Nagisa wipe Karma's memories of Nagisa and the Karmagisa ship. Hypocrite much?"

Starling: "Pfffttt... They deserved to die. I don't see the problem with my adorable blueberry killing them off. As for the whole 'wiping memories' ordeal, I take full responsibility. But it wasn't as if Karma ACTUALLY forgot those memories, remember?"

Readers: *heads turn back and forth as the friendly debate continues, confused as to who they should murder*

Karma Army: *watches readers wearily, ready to attack*

Starling: "Yes, but it wasn't like I constantly tortured them. I gave them happy memories too! And yet, for how short of a time you've been my co-author, you've somehow managed to write all the recent angsty chapters~."

Readers: *comment breaking them past their limit, staring at Owl with bloodlust eyes*

Owl: *notices the change of mood* "U-umm... I guess I'll be leaving nowwww... see you sometime Starling!"

Starling: *grin widens* "Get her." *motions back to Karma army not to help*

Owl: "NO! PLZ SPARE ME THE PAIN AND TORTURE!"

Starling: *smirks*