"Bored. Bored. Bored." Jake grumbled, swinging his legs back and forth as they all sat inside the cell, staring blankly into space.

"Surely you must be used to it by now..." Lydia smirked at her fellow Underground King. She knew him far too well, just like he knew her well enough to know another jibe was coming his way. "I mean, you must've spend over half of your school life in one of these by now."

"Oh har har. Very funny, Lyd." He rolled his eyes. The excitement of finding himself locked up in one of the four-walled containment rooms having died away after the first few times... not that there had really been much in the first place.

"Oh, don't be such a spoilsport, Jakey-boi." She said, pouting at the exasperated blonde, secretly admiring the way his golden locks had decided to fall messily in front of his glinting green eyes. She blinked. "What am I thinking?!"

"Yeah." Jake stared sceptically at her. "What are you thinking in that undersized brain of yours?"

Lydia grinned. "Having a smaller brain actually means I've evolved more than you."

"Bird-brain."

"Worm-brain!"

He paused. "Don't birds eat worms...?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Are you saying you want to eat me...?"

"How the hell did you get to that?!"

"Surprised I figured that out, are we?" Jake folded his arms, glancing down at her smugly as he puffed out his chest, and Lydia found herself comparing him to a cat puffing out its fur to make itself look bigger. The thought brought a fleeting smile to her lips, moments before she remembered she was still annoyed at him. "I've figured out your plan." He said, pulling her errant attention back onto him.

"I will hit you in a minute." Lydia hissed.

Somehow, he always knew how to get on her nerves and make her laugh at the same time, unlike a certain blonde Commander who only knew how to irk her. It was both an endearing quality and a very annoying one.

"You started it!" He grumbled back.

"Did not!

"Did too!"

Velvet shook her head in disbelief. "What the hell...?"

Arya glanced over at the two fourth years. "Children."

"I know."

"So, Velvet..." Arya turned to the second year, completely ignoring the two bickering fourth years. "What was even in that file that the Commanders were so desperate to get back...?"

"It was about the incident that happened three years ago..."

Silence descended on the cell, two sets of horrified eyes fixed on her brown ones, the other staring at her in confusion.

Arya was the first to speak. "What's the big deal about it?"

"Have you heard about the curse on the girls who join the Disciplinary Committee...?" Lydia spoke softly, crossing her arms as she sunk back into the wall. She didn't like talking about it. If she didn't have to, then she didn't want to.

But Arya needed to know.

She seemed to be getting close to Flynn. Getting closer to the Disciplinary Committee... and that wasn't a good place to be in.

Not for a girl.

The curse only affected girls for some reason, and Lydia was in no hurry to find out why. Nobody was.

"Flynn mentioned it briefly, but he didn't go into much detail..."

"Three years ago... that's the last time a girl has ever joined the Disciplinary Committee." Velvet sighed, her shoulders sinking as she gave the blonde girl a temporary reprieve. "I wasn't at the school yet, but everyone in the whole of our community heard about it..."

Jake stared vacantly into the distance. He could remember everything too, despite not having been anywhere near the actual incident. Everyone could remember the girl being led down the hallways in chains. They'd all seen her, dressed in red. That was how the incident had gotten its name. "The Red Mourning..."

"Everyone says that the curse drove the girl mad..." Lydia said, her expression unusually grim. She could feel herself growing paler by the second, blood draining from her face as she continued talking. To her, it was as though the incident had happened yesterday. A curse of having a good memory. That was her thought on the matter. "Though she was one of the luckier ones – most girls end up dead."

Her voice cracked, horror written across her face. "Dead?!"

"Yeah." Lydia stood. "That's why only the brave, and incredibly stupid, girls ever joined... but even they stopped signing up after three years ago."

Her voice was small. "Why?"

"Because of how many students and professors ended up dead..." She said, shuddering as she remembered that day.

The red, dripping walls.

The screams.

"I can still remember her face..." Lydia whispered, her hands shaking. "It's burned into my memory."

"Sit down, Lyd." Jake said, yanking her back onto the hard bench they were sitting on. "Don't push yourself."

"What exactly happened?" Arya asked, curiosity written across her face, but rather than directing her question at the horrified forth year, she inflicted it upon the other blonde in the tiny room.

"She just... snapped... at least that's what everyone says..." He said. "I wasn't in the vicinity when it happened, thankfully, but I heard the tales..." His eyes shot over to his pale-faced companion, concern marring his normally bright, cheerful expression. "They say she even attacked her friends... and only two of them made it out alive..."

"How did one girl manage to kill so many people...?"

"I keep forgetting you don't know..." Jake sighed, his shoulders sinking. "Might as well see how clueless you are, I suppose..."

"Hey!"

Jake merely rolled his eyes at her response. "What do you know about Vasilith?"

"The God?"

"How many other Vasiliths do you know?!"

"Just checking!"

"Well, not many people are that fond of him here..." Jake spoke, his face incredibly serious. "Which is why nobody really likes that necklace of yours." The ornate silver cross hanging around her neck gleamed under the harsh cell lighting, an odd yellowish tinge appearing the longer they all stared at it.

Her fingers played with the necklace – a parting token from the Monk, a small wistful smile creeping onto her face as she remembered her days with him before...

"So this is a school full of atheists...?"

Jake burst out laughing, slapping his hand on his knee. "You crack me up-"

"I'll be cracking your skull unless you tell me what the hell is going on here!" Arya growled, flicking him on the nose.

"Oww!"

"Stop being a pansy and tell me."

"Alright, alright!" The blonde grumbled. "What do you know about the Curse of Vasilith?"

"You mean the one which resulted in 'monsters' being created?" She stared sceptically at him. "That one?"

"Yes."

"That's just a story made up to scare little children." Arya said, folding her arms. "Brother Jeremiah always enjoyed telling me that one."

"Well, the thing is-"

The door to their cell slammed open, a familiar brunette with a blue lock of hair appearing. "What the hell do you think you're doing Jake?!" Blu scowled, grabbing Arya by the elbow, hauling her out of the cell. "Do you have any idea what you were about to tell her?!"

"The truth."

"Shut it." Blu scowled. "You know what I mean." And with that said, he slammed the door shut, pulling Arya down the corridor with him.

"What's going on?"

"Hush." He sighed, pushing open the door to a room she'd never been in before... and she soon discovered that she wished it'd stayed that way. It was, after all, the main office of the Black Division. Hands pushed her forwards toward the chairs situated opposite the desk. "Take a seat. Ryker and the others will have to decide what to do with you."

"Just send her back to her room." Flynn said, barely sparing her a glance as he sat on the desk. "Without the others around, she shouldn't be able to get into too much trouble... Wait. I take that back."

"Huh?"

"Just let her go back to her room." Blaine interjected. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Flynn blanched.

Arya seemed to be a magnet for trouble.

Especially when left unattended.

"We need to give her a warning, though." Blu said, riffling through the office drawers.

"Why is she even being released early?" Ryker glanced up from the desk. "She's supposed to be in that cell for another few hours."

"Those idiots nearly told her the secret."

Grey eyes narrowed. "I see."

"Way to be subtle about it..." Arya grumbled, her shoulders sinking as she flopped into the seat, knowing she wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. She sat back, slowly taking in the rather large room while she waited for Blu to do whatever he was doing. An odd grating sound made her shudder as she sat in the cold room, her eyes darting over to the black lacquered door that had a few chains across it.

Movement flashed in the corner of her eye, her head tilting up and then she was blinking rapidly in confusion.

Blue reptilian eyes stared back at her from the ceiling, the scaled, humanoid creature glaring intently down at her. Forked tongues flickered out between three sets of sharp concentric teeth, a thick black tail whipping out behind it.

Arya rubbed her eyes, yawning ever so slightly. "What's that thing on the ceiling?" She asked, turning her gaze on the blonde.

"What are you on about?" Flynn turned his gaze on the ceiling, staring above the low-hanging light, his brows knotted in confusion.

There was nothing there.

"Are you OK?" Earnest brown eyes peered at her intently. "Did you get enough sleep last night...?"

"I'm fine, mother." She scowled, staring back up at the white ceiling, shrugging when she realised the creature was gone. Vanished. Just like a puff of smoke. "Must've been seeing things..." She muttered. The beginning of Jake's story came back to her, shivers racking up her spine. Monsters didn't exist. Her mind was just being ridiculous. It was playing tricks on her. It had to be. That was why she sat there in her chair, trying to wipe the incident from her memory.

Only to have one scaled hand close around her throat from behind.

Warm breath brushed against her hair, her finger clawing at the scaled arm until another set of claws had them pinned to the chair. Her voice came out a broken whisper, tears pooling in her eyes as she panicked, soon realising she couldn't even move to get the attention of everyone else in the room. Whatever had her by the throat was inhumanly strong, not to mention the numerous fangs that were now embedded in her shoulder as she sat there, practically fastened to the chair.

Monsters, or whatever that thing was behind her, were real.

Arya decided on that fact in an instant.

She also decided on the fact that the four Commanders of the Disciplinary Committee were incredibly, ridiculously, unobservant. Wondering how four people could be incredibly stupid was a task for later, though.

The world was starting to spin, after all.

"Arya..." Flynn shook his head, not noticing how she was straining against the claws holding her arms down nor how her eyes were bulging as she struggled to breathe. "It's one thing after another with you..."

She couldn't use her Bonebreaker strength unless she wanted to lose her arms. The sharp inky black claws were already drawing blood and she wasn't even trying to wrench her arms loose... because that'd most likely result in her arms actually coming loose – and not in a good way. Losing her arms wasn't exactly at the top of her to do list. Arya highly doubted it was at the top of anyone's list of things to do. The claws were sharp little buggers, strong too – just like the scaled hands wrapped around her throat, which was proving impossible for her to dislodge.

"Just send her back to her room." Blu grumbled, also seemingly oblivious to Arya's struggles.

"Are you going to carry her, Flynn, or do you want me to take her back to her room?" Blaine smirked at his partner.

"Shut up."

"Just take her back, Blaine. I need to discuss some things with Flynnie over here." Ryker said, earning himself a glare from the blonde.

"Arya." Blaine turned his attention on her for the first time, walking towards her slowly, and then the hand was gone from her throat. All she could do was stare through watery eyes in shock, watching as the ground came up to greet her, the resistance against her throat suddenly gone, her body crumpling to the floor, four sets of eyes watched in mild curiosity and confusion as she gasped for breath. They even ignored the odd rustling and grinding sound above them.

A mistake.

A very big mistake.

She met his brown-eyed stare which soon narrowed at the sound of the single strangled word escaping her lips as she struggled to get enough air into her lungs. "Help..."

All her efforts were in vain, though, seeing as how the light hanging from the ceiling crashed down on her, metal grating colliding heavily with her head, and then Arya's world turned dark, her consciousness fading before she even had a chance to see the pretty sparks flying.