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Waking alone was not an odd thing, as it had been the start to the day for the past seventeen years. Waking alone after a week and a half of waking with someone, on the other hand, was a little strange. And waking in a room that was not one's own was the oddest of all.
Normally an early riser on her own, this morning the witch was awoken by a noise from her phone, which on any other day might have been ignored for the better part of another hour or so of sleep. Especially considering the fact that sometime during the night she had partially woken to watch Mort slide from bed, but quickly been claimed by unconsciousness once more and had slept fitfully for the remainder of the night. But as Belladonna rose a little out of sleep and then realized she occupied the bed solo, the half asleep hunt for the bed's owner brought her into nearly fully awareness. A thick note that formed 'Mort' echoed around the room as the witch sat up, rubbed her fingers against her eyes and tried to refocus. All alone, little witchling.
A momentary slice of panic ripped through her, even as logic told her he had just stepped out for a shower, or for breakfast. Or x, y or z, take her pick there were a multitude of reasons why the witch would be alone after nearly two weeks of company.
Still, it wasn't a wonderfully fun first thought and Belladonna felt it totally within her rights as vaguely disgruntled ghoulfriend to pout as she reached for her skellyphone. With her brain still a little sleep addled she ended up dropping it on the floor and had to lean over to snatch it up once again. Then there was that yawn to stifle, as well as the few stray hairs that needed to be brushed from her face. Finally, after she'd decided to settle back against the pillows and sleep some more after this text, the witch read the message.

Oh. Oh well then.
With a clatter of her fingertips against the screen, Belladonna quickly tapped out a message of acceptance and notice of her getting dressed in reply. It wasn't very coherent and there were surely a few spelling errors of her own. It was just a little bit earlier than she really wanted to be awake, but the call of her zombie was just a bit too hard to deny. With slow, fumbling movements the witch slid from bed and shambled over to the closet where she rummaged through the little drawer she'd assigned to herself for clothing. An odd assortment of her own clothing had been piled into the drawer, pieces filched from her own room but not whole outfits like she preferred.
A snap of fingers did not bring any other light as it would have in her own room, so that the witch had to pick herself back up off the floor and blunder on over to the light switch to fully see. Mort's room was nice, she rather like the foreignness and mingled charm of it being his. But, if she were going to wake alone she'd rather do it in the comfort of her own room. That way she at least had the option of a full closet.
As it stood, the witch finally opted for her hooded corset, a simple skirt, striped stockings and a pair of flat boots that edged closer toward combat boots than the dainty things she'd previously taken to wearing. A quick brush of her hair rendered it unmanageable and thus earned its place as a braid over one shoulder where the end curled off at her waist. Hecate, its gotten long. Belladonna thought as she quickly washed her face and brushed her bangs in the mirror.
With all that done she heaved a sigh and grabbed her phone back up. At least they were going to a fun place! Maybe she'd see Amphi there, or ooh~ Get a few new books to read. So though she was still a little groggy, there was still some fun to be had!

To Alex's credit, Mort jumped at his sudden and loud greeting with a small yelp, far too concerned with both the book arranging and the text reading to notice him coming up. How had they missed each other? It is a mystery.

...Well okay maybe not so much. Alex had been secluded against a wall while Mort had dove into the heart of the shelves, and the latter was far more irregular in his visits on the whole. Still once Mort had recovered, he whipped his head up to give Alex a toothy grin and a wry look. "Jack damn b*****d! D-Didn't know stayed here," he greeted him with a small shove. "Well, fine! Good. Means will make this easier."

He gestured for him to take a seat and continued flipping through pages to find his spot from earlier. "Found something interesting th-thought would be ideal to share. Actually've got somethin' else t'tell you too." The mirth slowly seeped out of him as he looked up. "But first, ah, doing okay? Found Yin n' all? I, er, m-meant to ask in class but..." Mort had been busy being sour faced. And also firelands. Eech.

His phone went off with Belladonna's response, and he quickly typed out a text because coffee, for once, sounded amazing.

Scaring the unliving snot out of Mort?: Success!

There was a certain type of sick satisfaction to be had just by freaking out a friend, and Alex was rewarded for his efforts when Mort jumped in his chair and let out a yelp that the zomboil responded to with a bark of laughter. He only laughed more when the other zombie turned around in his chair and shoved at him, bringing his arms up somewhat defensively as he stumbled back towards the bookshelf. He wiped away mock tears from under his eye and straightened up with a grin, shuffling closer to Mort once more.

"Ya I spend a lot of nights here lately. Gotta be pretty careful though, since we're not actually meant to be in here when they're closed, so I found myself a nice little hiding spot." Though he often wondered if the librarian actually was more then aware of what Alex had been doing and just chose to ignore it.

The zomboil made his way towards the seat indicated and sat down with a heavy thud, resting an elbow on the table and his head in his hand. "Oh?" He asked, straightening up a little bit and frowning as he leaned forward towards the book, curious about whatever it was that Mort had found. He had barely begun reading words on the page before the other zomboil was interrupting his thoughts, however.

He glanced back up, and smiled, a much softer look then his usual face splitting grins. "Actually, surprisingly...I've been good! Doing a lot better since when we uh, first got back and...ya, I found Yin, we talked, and I think we were able to work things out between us." He nodded, happily, pretty certain that his cheerfulness said more then he really needed to say. Still, in case it wasn't completely obvious.

"We got back together." There, now it wouldn't even be a question.

He had barely finished that sentence when a certain incredibly cheerful and bubbly personality with red hair swept into the library, carrying with her a certain sense of optimism and joy that was hard to ignore. Ever the gentlemen (really, he was only rarely this thoughtful, but still) he got up out of his chair, moving to pull out the one on the other side of Mort for her to sit in. He was not really expecting the hug, or the pat on his shoulder, but it was not unwelcome either.

"Feeling great!" Was his response to her question, and he eyed the cups of coffee in the tray. He wasn't actually a big consumer of beverages, but when offered a drink, it was difficult to turn it down. especially considering they were blood and brain flavored.

He didn't even know they made coffee like that. He was amazed, and he eagerly reached out to snag one, the first one she mentioned because both sounded equally delicious.

"Thanks!" He grinned happily before making his way back to his original seat, lifting off the lid to the coffee and peering down at the bits of floating brain.

Oh ya, this was gonna be amazing.

Belladonna then asked the question that Alexander also had on his mind, so he patiently waited for Mort's answer.

Glad for such chivalry extended toward her, Belladonna did her best to dip in her head in a thankful, yet refined and ladylike manner. Due to the coffee, she ended up repeating the action at least three times before she stuffed a chunk of muffin into her mouth and nearly giggled with how good it tasted. The little use of a pet name from Mort won him a most glittery and adoring of looks that hopefully persuaded him, in however small a manner, to keep up such antics. Yet it was the news of the couple's reunion that made Belladonna actually say something.
"Oh Alexander, that's fantastic! I am so glad to hear that. Yes, cheers indeed!" The witch cooed in her brightest voice made soft so she wasn't shouting in the library. Quickly she grabbed up her own cup and tapped it lightly against Mort's raised one before she crinkled her eyes in a smile at Alexander and then took a mighty swig. Mmmmyes, caffine good.
Since drinks were all handed out, it was time for snacks. In a nearly doting fashion the witch handed out muffins as well as napkins to the two boils before she finished what little was left of her own.

With the mention as well as presentation of the large book, Belladonna set aside her drink to lean forward and peer at the cluttered words on the page. Pink eyes wandered around the text, caught phrases and snatches of sentences without any real comprehension, remained content to be curious. Instead the witch's senses were more focused on listening. Momentarily she looked up at Mort to give him a look of mingled acceptance and worry, for it hadn't really bothered her when he left as he usually came back. But it was unfortunate that her presence was not enough to fix things, however magical and miraculous it would have been.
Still, a tale woven through various scarytales? How odd yet vastly exciting. When the book was propped up, the witch leaned forward even further and trained her gaze on the paragraph.
"Old Gods? Parthenon? Oh, you mean the ones Humans built all those temples for? How interesting... I think most of those temples have been destroyed now, but you're right... Humans used to worship anything with a bit of power." While Belladonna did not have a vast knowledge of the Old Gods, she knew a few here and there. The idea of camping was not a pleasant one and she almost opened her mouth to balk at the idea, to suggest some other way to find these portals when the topic of Insanity was so easily and carelessly tossed in. The witch snapped her mouth closed quickly after that, eyes slightly wide as she peered up at Mort. How could he so nonchalantly talk about it when it had been, and still very much was, a point of contention?
Still... The idea of finding something to diminish it... If such an object existed, Belladonna wanted it. She wanted it right now.
"Once we find the portals, what happens next?" She asked, one slightly jittery hand finding the boil's knee under the table. Belladonna would not be able to keep it there for long, not when she was so hyped up on caffeine and sugar and needed to keep her hands constantly moving, but even a small touch of help was all she needed to convey she would help on this endeavor.

...Jack damn it. It was stupid of him to think Alex would take the news well under any light, but even so when Mort saw how tensed his bro became he became both sympathetic and patiently resigned to the inevitable reaction his answer would cause. It was only through the combination of caffeine loosening his tongue and Belladonna's touch supporting him that he powered through it so calmly. "S'long s'we've been back," he answered truthfully as he squared his shoulders, though he continued regardless of Alex's actions. "I-Isn't from anything you've done, alright? Was pretty much signed up for it after second bout of transformation from Insanity. I mean, I died, Alex," Mort stated, looking him in the eye even as the other zomboil's were both closed.

It was weird, saying that out loud and for once not feeling twinges of old pain. Just a simple fact, like the pumpkin sun rising and falling. But his hand still gripped the coffee cup a little tightly in instinctual reaction to the news; sometimes his body didn't believe his brain. So his other hand found the witch's and held it to keep him grounded.

"Died three times, actually, j-just not all the way for first two. N' you were there, Alex, you saw all that Insanity in Haunted House n' when we, ah . . . became weapons. N' all that other stuff." He paused to take another swig of his drink and set it down. "But did what we had to do to get them out, n' m'not regretting that one bit since it worked. So m'telling you not your fault. Got it? M'not gonna let this be death sentence, promise. " But words alone didn't do it, Mort knew this from experience: sometimes it took action to get the point across. So he closed his hand, concentrated his Fear, and slid something small across the table.

"D-Doesn't matter what happens here on out," he said, his expression softening enough to allow for a little smile. "Meant to give it earlier but, er . . . Yeah." Hopefully that drove his meaning home.

There was another pause in which he took another few gulps of his drink, now one-third through the stuff already. Laying the book back down before it tipped over, Mort explained to them, ["A-After portal, book says are couple've trials n' tribulations designed to keep 'unworthy' out. It, er, sounds dangerous but . . . M'hoping y-you two would come along, make sure don't do s-something stupid or dissipate or somethin'." The zomboil wriggled in place and wrung his hands atop the table, half from the coffee but also half because Bells and Alex were his closest friends, because if either of them rejected the proposal he wasn't sure what he was going to do.

. . . Actually he probably would still go even if they both said no, if only because there was a driving need within him now to say "screw it" to the risks. After all, when one has died enough times, pain doesn't seem all that bad anymore. He tennis-balled his gaze between them, pleading silently that they give it a chance.

Mort confirmed what Alexander had feared. and it just drove the sharpened edges of his guilt home, deep into his chest. He was practically drowning in it, and he was sure that if he tried to breathe at that moment, he wouldn't have found that he could do so. It might not have been anything that Alexander had personally done, as Mort had said, but Alex had left them early on to go and take his exam. By the time he had gotten back it was to find out from Aymet that Mort had been taken by the fog, turned. If he'd stayed maybe they could have stayed together and fought it off.

He finally opened his one pale eye at the end of Mort's first sentence. "I know you did, but you didn't have to. And I died too, and I turned into a weapon too, and I dissipated more then once as well." Hell, Mort of all people should have known that, considering he'd been the one to tear Alexander in half. He felt like he could have said more, but what he left unspoken was clear. Why Mort, and not himself? Was it really just that Mort had spent more time insane then Alex had? Was that the only difference? He would always question whether it would have helped if he had been there, if the three of them hadnd't gotten separated.

He just nodded through the rest of Mort's words, his face set in a blank mask before he was reaching up to rub at his face. "I'm sorry man, I'm sorry if I seem like I'm taking this a bit hard but..you're my bro, and I can't help but feel at least partially responsible...." His shoulders slumped forward, his face still in his hands as he fought to regain composure. First Yin with the tagging, and now Mort with insanity. Were all the people closest to him destined to some terrible fate? But there had to be a cure, right? There had been other students who had been inflicted, and they had somehow made it through. He'd seen at least one. That tentacled ghoul.

There had to be a way. Just like there had to be a way to save those tagged students.

He raised his head from his hands, mind more focused now with a sort of grim determination. It was just another thing they were going to have to deal with, just another cherished individual that he would not let be taken by other forces.

He raised his head only to have a pin slid in front of him. His chest clenched up tight at the sight of it, his gaze quickly flickering over towards Mort. "I...." He didn't even know what to say. The only other student to have ever given him their pin had been Yin, and that had come tied with a commitment. This was...different, in a way, but no less important to the zomboil, and to be taken just as seriously. But he had to wonder if accepting it was the right thing to do, if offering his own back was within the realm of possibility for Alexander to do. He was trying very hard to honor Yin's customs, and had never actually asked him if this was okay....

But it had to be, because Alex couldn't say no. Not to Mort, and certainly not when he felt so touched by the action, and wanted nothing more then to accept it. It was not the same, it would not somehow diminish his commitment towards his bonded. This was okay. The zomboil concentrated his own Fear to his hand and brought it to the table to set something down as well, something that he slid back towards Mort.



"Only if you take mine, too." Was his gruff voiced reply, his emotions thick in this throat, making it difficult to speak.

Bro feels were happening.

And then to Belladonna, as he reached out to pluck up Mort's pin between thumb and index finger, studying it intently before answering. "Yes. We will." They would fix it. They would.

Alexander did the best that he could, to simply file away his guilt and anguish towards this horrible news, so that they could move on. It was back to business as usual, back to focusing on these artifacts that Mort was speaking of.

"I don't think it could possibly be worse then anything we've already faced." He said, before giving Belladonna chance to complain about camping of all things. Once she was finished, he just simply shrugged.

"I'm in."

Of course he was. Was there ever any doubt that he would do it?

Certainly it was a bit odd to watch a moment and not participate in it, but Belladonna kept quiet, a silent witness to the testament of Zombrohood. For a moment she almost jumped up, almost conjured her own pin up to slap down on the table, but it would have felt contrived, too planned and inorganic. Soon enough the moment had passed and the flurry of questions the witch had posed were answered.
"So, the usual, you mean." She asked with a grin, a small excitement blooming in her stomach. It had been a good long while since she'd gone on an adventure, let alone a somewhat innocent one. Sure, the threat of dissipation was there as well as rabid minipets, but besides that it couldn't be that bad. At least there wouldn't be any angry Hunters breathing down their necks and at least if they dissipated they'd just come back to Halloween. (Hopefully.) All in all, it actually sounded a little bit fun.
So with a wide smile the witch nodded both Mort and Alexander. There wasn't any real reason for Mort to thank them, for he honestly should have known that of all the people he could count most heavily on the two with him, but it was still a nice gesture. With a kiss to his temple Belladonna was up, gathered her trash and shoved the last remaining breakfast pastries into the zombies' arms before she darted out of the library to go get ready. Bandages certainly didn't pack themselves!

~*~*~*~*~*

At least this time she wasn't running late, but the witch did hustle across campus toward the designated meeting spot. Even if would arrive perfectly on time, it was better to do that than risk being late with a leisurely stroll. Having absolutely refused to change her outfit, Belladonna had instead pulled her hair into a high ponytail and merely added a black messenger bag with bat wings to her current ensemble.
With far more noise, the witch happily crunched through the fallen leaves of the forest toward Mort and even more happily received his kiss. Chaste as it was, it was vastly better than no attention at all.
"That's kind of you, but let's get started! I do not want to be out here all night... Day... Forever." It was a statement that Belladonna backed up with a small pout and a hip pop of agitation, but quickly dropped the stance to watch Mort step into a portal. Patiently she waited, but only for a moment or two, before the zombie hopped back out. Confusion colored her face momentarily before she turned to a portal near her. With a shrug, for they couldn't be all that bad, the witch stepped through.

It only took her about two steps and a fall into the portal before she turned tail and clamored back out. A shriek exited the portal before Belladonna did, wherein she actually fell back through the portal and crashed onto the ground before she scrambled up and away from it. Terror colored her face as she attempted to catch her breath before she looked at the two.
"That one... Don't go.... Christmas Town. Unfriendly natives. Snow."
How unfortunate...