Wintry Memories

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Latte stared at him with both surprise and confusion

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Latte stared at him with both surprise and confusion. The same could be said for Jamil who also looked a bit offended at the fact that Azul just barged into their conversation. Azul, though, looked incredibly stressed out and it worried him. Latte stood up from his seat and put his things back inside his bag.

"Sorry Jamil, this might be important." Latte said, giving him an apologetic look.

"Oh." Jamil pursed his lips. "Alright, well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yup! See you tomorrow!"

Latte followed Azul to somewhere he didn't really know. Maybe to his dorm or maybe just outside the school building but with how many twists and turns they were doing, he doubts that there's an actual destination.

In the end, they ended up at the courtyard and sat underneath the apple tree. Latte didn't say anything to Azul, scared that if he questioned him, the other would just get more stressed. So all he did was look around the area, it was oddly deserted with only a couple of students dotted around. There wasn't anyone Latte could recognise though.

After waiting a couple minutes, the twins appeared before them. Azul had a look of relief on his face and he clapped his hands to gain their attention.

"Alright, we're all here." He started.

"Azul, are you sure this is the best place to discuss this?" Jade interrupted, glancing around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

"Well, it's not like we have anywhere else to go to talk about this."

"Whaddya mean Azul? Can't we go to your office or something?"

"You have an office?? Since when?"

"Okay enough questions please!" He yelled. Azul massaged his temples and adjusted his glasses. "This place is fine, ok?"

The three nodded in silence awkwardly.

"Now then, I heard you had quite the chat with River, Latte?"

He squinted at him. "How do you know about that?"

"Latte."

"Yeah I did," Latte crossed his arms. "But he didn't say anything interesting though–wait a minute..."

Latte then removed his bag from him and started to move things around until he found it. His notebook. The other three stared at him and the notebook in curiosity. Floyd tried to snatch it but luckily, Latte was able to dodge him in time and handed it to Azul.

"This might be useful to you. Since you brought me and stuff."

The bespectacled teen flipped through the pages, skimming through what was written. At certain parts, he'd stop at certain pages and others he'd just skip. Sometimes, Azul would grimace too.

"Are you seeing anyone Latte? Like a doctor maybe?"

"Uh– no?"

"Then you really should because there's no 'mysterious door' at the library."

Latte opened his mouth to defend himself and tried to take back the notebook until Jade robbed it from him.

"A moving reflection? That seems a bit familiar..."

"Oh oh! It's like the mirror we gave him!" Floyd leaned against his brother's shoulder to peek at the notebook.

The four of them continued to talk about the contents of the notebook for what seemed like forever. There were a couple theories here and there, most of them were just deemed as side effects to the body switching spell. Others were a bit more specific but also very far-fetched. Floyd even suggested that the door was a portal to another world in which Jade and Azul disapproved of but  Latte fully supported him.

In the end, they couldn't figure out much and decided to just continue some other time. So as the sun started to set, the four turned to go to their dorm. The twins decided to race to their dorm, leaving Azul and Latte in the dust. Latte took a glimpse of Azul and saw how tired he looked now. Small bags have started to form and he seemed slower than usual.

"So about that office of yours..."

Azul looked at him. "Hm? Oh that...it's just a project."

"A project?" Latte tilted his head. "Does it have something to do with the mid-term exams?"

His eyes widened as Latte gave him an innocent smile. "Who told you that?!"

"Geez, calm down Azul~ Floyd told me."

Azul sighed in exasperation, slapping his forehead. "That idiot...Also when did you learn to act like that? Please don't tell me it's–"

"- It's Floyd."

Azul groaned at Latte's response which only made the pomefiore student laugh.

𖥸┈┈┈𖥸┈┈┈𖥸┈┈┈𖥸

The smell of campfire floated around the air, the sound of adults chatting and children laughing played like music in the large wooden mansion. Gold eyes scanned the air, an adult with a blurred face approached him and held his hand. They dragged him off to a small group of kids.

There were two boys and a girl who was relatively taller than them, their faces were also blurred out. The adult let go of his hand and said:

"Honey this is R–iv–er, /-\|_|}-|-/-\|/~ and |}/-\|oɛ|_|_ɛ."

He couldn't really make out who the other two were but one thing was as clear as day. River. They knew each other. The owner of the body was already friends with River. But if that were the case then why? Why did the pink haired teen act the way he did that night?

Snowflakes started to descend upon him and him only, as if a personal cloud was made for him.

The world fell around him until he started to suffocate in cold, dense snow. With small hands, he tried to dig himself out but the snow felt infinite and over time, he believed the best option was to just close his eyes and relax.

𖥸┈┈┈𖥸┈┈┈𖥸┈┈┈𖥸

Latte gasped for air, sweat dripping down his forehead and clutching his t-shirt. A swift breeze of wind tickled his neck, was the window open? He gulped. Getting off his bed, he turned to the window that was...closed. Maybe Azul was right, that he should go see a doctor or something.

In a way, he felt as if Azul's 'advice' was ironic in a way. Latte didn't know him for a long time, a maximum of a month but he had a feeling that Azul had a lot of problems, problems that he was covering with the facade of being confident.

But who knows? Maybe he was just overthinking everything again. Latte debated on whether he should go to sleep again. If he goes out, someone could frame him for something he didn't do but he didn't really want to experience that dream again.

So against his instincts, Latte grabbed his hoodie and shoes. He sneakily snuck out of his dorm once again and decided to walk around campus.

The night sky was glittered with shiny stars and the moon glowed down at him like an eye watching his every move. He shivered at the autumn mind. The moonlight guided his way to the front of a worn out dorm that stood tall above a small valley. It was surrounded by a dark colored fence and was watched over by a withering tree.

Latte stared at it, his eyes watering due to how tired they were but he couldn't stop looking at it. It was beautiful in a macabre way but only for tonight. He was sure that once he'd see it again, it'd be the most dreadful thing he'll see.

As he turned around to leave, Latte was face to face with a tall, horned stranger in a green uniform.









(A/N: two in a row! also this one is a bit short)

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