“I was wrong, and yet I was right. Raftilia was lying, but it wasn’t what I thought. I understand what she was trying to do. What they all were trying to do. We have to stop her, at all costs, if we don’t… everything and everyone is lost…”
It’d been a day since Cherry Sparkles was taken away by Lucid Allbright into the mysterious gold portal. A day since Raftilia had imprisoned Gray Bubbles for her transgressions. A day since Acorn Flower’s miraculous return. A day that sted ten thousand years to Bunberry. And it wasn’t going to get better anytime soon as she went to the meeting room.Yellow Bubbles' old room, the first Umbra to ever explode from using too much Night Energy, served as the meeting room for the VIPs of the Umbras. Bunberry, Dragon, Gray Bubbles, and formerly Lightning Dust served as those chosen. They were given the most information, such as what powers, abilities and peculiarities the Royals had. They were the ones privy to Raftilia’s private pns. They were the ones allowed to walk in and out of the portals as they pleased.
The room was pretty nondescript; whatever decorations Yellow Bubbles had were long gone. There was a table, with several chairs, and one big office chair in the back. That big comfy chair was Raftilia’s personal seat.
Raftilia lead them all into the room. It would have been amusing watching Raftilia’s 2 foot tall self cw and scratch her way up onto the chair, had it not been for the seriousness of the situation. They all walked in, with Gray Bubbles carefully bound, but not letting her hands touch each other. They had to be careful, as her Trait: Runemaster allowed her to draw runes with her fingers, and they could do various things from giving people boosts to their attributes, to stunning them, poisoning them, to even creating small explosions. Worse still, she could use it outside of her Umbra Form.“Gray, I’m only going to say this once. Why the fuck did you contact the Royals? How the hell did you even do so?” Bunberry asked.“Unfortunately, Bunberry, that would be my fault. She stole Goddess technology from me, and used it to contact them.” Raftilia expined.“Goddess technology.” Gray ughed out loud. “Only an imbecile thinks you are a Goddess.”
“Be quiet, Gray Bubbles. You are in incredibly hot water right now. I cannot believe you have lost us the only hope we have. Cherry Sparkles was the key to everything, now the Royals have her, do you not understand how detrimental this is?” Raftilia excimed, pacing back and forth, her paws behind her.
“Why don’t you tell us how he’s the key to everything, then, boss. Tell us the truth for once in your fucking life! Tell us what you really are!” Gray spat out.
“ENOUGH! Gray Bubbles, I will hear your prattling no longer. Clearly, you and Lightning Dust continue to be a thorn in my side. Perhaps I should do the same to you, that I did to her? No, freezing would probably be more appropriate,” she ruminated.
“Threaten me all you like, your lies end here. You’re not a goddess, and anyone who thinks you are is just pin braindead.”Raftilia grew angry, dark electricity radiated around her paws. “Close your mouth of what you don’t understand, Gray Bubbles.”“Why should I? You’ve threatened my livelihood, you wouldn’t even understand why I did what I did. Why we did what we did. You all never understood the truth of the Anti Adaption Council. We wanted to keep men and boys out of our corps. You kept bringing them in, only to be sacrificed by your selfish pns. Pns that mean absolutely nothing as there is no way for us to win, it’s simply a war of attrition that the Luminescent are going to win.”
“And so you thought getting them purified or killed was ideal instead?!” Raftilia shouted across the table.“Of course, no man would enjoy being a woman. He might think he would, but once the novelty of it wore off, once the truth of being a woman set in? The actual burdens and responsibilities of being a woman? No man could handle that, their brains aren’t built for it because they weren’t raised to understand it. It’s just a biological fact. Don’t get pissed at me because it’s true.” She smugly looked back at her captors. Bunberry didn’t like that no matter the fact she was disarmed and in their mercy, she still acted more like the predator than the prey. It makes sense, her Umbra Form was spider-like after all. Which fit her twisted personality.
“How can you still believe that, after all this time? There are plenty of trans people who were harassed and suffered the same misogyny as you, Gray.” Dragon said. “Just because we’re born one sex or another doesn’t mean that’s who we’ll always be. You really think you read me as anything but a man?”Her face twisted into a sick grin. “Of course. You’re just putting on an act, I’ve seen the way you sometimes look at the other girls. Sometimes I suppose you could seem more masculine than others, but there are times that your true womanhood shines through.”Dragon grew angry, and held up his fist, but Bunberry stopped him. “She’s just trying to get under your skin, Dragon.”“She’s upset because I’m right. Princess Dragonberry is who you were born, and Princess Dragonberry is who you will always be. Princess Dragonberry is who you will die. No matter what you wear, no matter how much you bind your chest or give yourself surgery or poison your body with hormones. You are a girl, a woman, a female.” She spat out with the venom of a brown recluse. “You delude yourself into thinking otherwise. The same way my twin brother used to think he was female. I stopped that delusion immediately, because men cannot become women. He was gay, and feminine, and that’s valid. You’re bisexual and masculine, that’s also valid. You all need to accept yourselves instead of believing the nonsense that was fed to you!”
“Shut the fuck up you dumb bitch! You don’t know anything about me! Fuck!” He angrily stood up and stomped out, smming the door open. If it wasn’t invincible, it might have ripped off its hinges. “I’ll wait outside till this bitch is dealt with.”
“Dragon, wait!” Bunberry called out but he was gone. She turned her attention to Gray Bubbles with a gre. “One of these days, you will get your just desserts, you will get what’s coming to you. The pain you put others through will be given to you threefold.”
“Cool. So are you doing this or not? Kill me, freeze me, whatever.” She looked to the floor without life or light in her eyes, a contrast to how she was acting earlier.
Raftilia sighed. “I could remove your crystal, but you already seem defeated to me. I’ll freeze it, I don’t want another one to die. If there is any more life left inside of yours, that is.”
“I maintain a pretty strong retionship with mine, actually. Lightning Dust killed hers on accident; I didn’t suffer the same stupidity. I know how it works, what you can and can’t do. I’ve never directly killed or purified an Umbra because I know that would hurt her. Speaking of, do you think it’s a coincidence Princess Dragonberry’s crystal is also female? As is yours, Princess Bunberry? I bet even your brain-dead ex boyfriend Diamond Sparkles had a male crys—”Bunberry activated her Trait’s second ability, being able to move as if she has no purifications even in her non-Umbra Form. She quickly and deftly grabbed her neck. “Don’t you dare talk about Diam that way! He died fighting for us, to that bastard Lucid. Just like my entire squad. They’re all gone, and you could never understand what I did about him. He wasn’t a monster, he just wanted to be loved, you bitch!”
“Princess Bunberry, or Bunberry as you prefer to be called. Let her go! Killing her would only kill your Night Crystal, do you want that?” Raftilia warned.
Bunberry looked over to Raftilia, then let go. “Fine, she isn’t worth it.”Gray coughed, and held her throat. “I could care less. It’s all over anyway. My organization, my members, all gone. My family and twin brother were purified long ago. My love of my life just broke up with me, so there’s nothing left for me.” Her voice was scratchy and breathy because she’d just been choked. “So do your worst, nothing you do could possibly be worse than what has already been done to me.”
Despite her earlier choking and her threat of punishment, even Bunberry couldn’t stop herself from giving a look of pity and contempt.“Don’t you dare pity me, Princess Bunberry. I have done more for this organization than you ever had, and that was before you were ever even enlisted!” she screamed out.
“Raftilia, do what you got to do. I’m done with her.” Bunberry waved her hand dismissively.Raftilia’s paw started glowing with dark electricity but then stopped as a massive glob of blood flew from her mouth. She coughed, and fell off the chair to the floor, her mouth bleeding as blood spurted from her nose next.
“Raftilia?!” Bunberry called out. The Goddess didn’t respond. Something was wrong. Very wrong.“Sure is strange to watch a Goddess bleed, isn’t it Princess Bunberry? Have you ever wondered why she does so?” She looked Bunberry in the eye with a twisted smile. And it was quickly met with a haymaker from Bunberry, knocking her out cold.“Shut up, bitch.” She grabbed onto her cane, then stood up, opened the door and screamed at a nearby Umbra girl. “Raftilia has fallen, get me Lamp Flower now!”
The confused and stunned Umbra girl nodded, and ran down the hall as Dragon returned. “Raftilia is what?” “She’s dying or something, I don’t know! Either way we need to get her to Lamp Flower!” Without responding he went back inside and picked her up, making sure to support her head, doing his best to help her. Then he ran to get Lamp Flower as Bunberry shut Yellow Bubbles’ door, then carefully walked close behind, her cane slowing her movement. The door being shut meant Gray Bubbles was trapped in there for the moment. It would serve as her prison until Raftilia let her out. You couldn’t leave a room which Raftilia didn’t give you clearance for, and right now Gray Bubbles absolutely didn’t have clearance. That didn’t matter right now, though. Right now she turned her thoughts to be fully focused on Raftilia.
Lamp Flower met them halfway through the hallway as they ran towards her. She brought a stretcher and had them pce Raftilia on it, then immediately rolled her into her infirmary. Lamp Flower shut them all out while she went to work on Raftilia, leaving Bunberry and Dragon to wait outside. She told them to find somewhere else to be, as she wasn’t sure how long this was going to take.
Dragon retreated to his room and Bunberry followed on her crutches. She could see her friend was deeply upset, and needed someone there even if he wouldn’t admit it. Once inside his room, he began taking off his top and removing his binder. You can’t wear them forever, unfortunately, they have to be removed from time to time or you could cause serious damage to yourself. Bunberry waited outside his door out of respect for him. Once he was decent, she was allowed in. He leaned against the headboard of his bed, a look of despair on his face.
“Dragon, I know when something’s wrong with you, what’s eating you?” Bunberry asked, concern in her voice as she sat on his bed.
“Nothing… maybe something but I don’t know. Gray always gets under my skin, that whole damn organization does. Only Gray is left and they still don’t get it. I can’t stand them, and their bullshit. I just want to bash their little skulls in but… that’s not healthy behavior.” A deep sigh left his mouth. “At least what Dagger Flower says. He’s always been supportive of me and helps me a lot with my issues but the truth is… sometimes I wonder if they might be right. Of course that’s just my dysphoria talking, seriously I wish I could punch dysphoria in the dick, but still, it always bothers me.”“Well, that’s a lot, Dragon. I will be honest, as a cis girl I really don’t understand your plight, I don’t understand how transgender works or any of it, even though I have… had a trans little sister. I just don’t feel the same way about myself so it’s hard to really get it.” She looks him in the eyes. “However, what I do get is that it doesn’t matter if I can understand it or not, what matters is supporting my friends and anyone else that needs it or wants it. I’m the Umbra Knight after all, and a Knight protects those that need or want her help.”
“Eh, you’re fine Bunberry, and maybe that’s my issue. I’m so physically strong as both an Umbra and as a human… errr, not human? I’m not even sure what we are anymore, but whatever the hell we are when we’re not in our Umbra Forms.” He waved his hands around. “That strength makes me feel invincible, as if I can just brute force through anything. Punch anything that I don’t want to deal with… including my own feelings.”
“Well, you know I’m not a therapist, or a psychiatrist, but I’m here for you.” She scooted up to him and pced a hand on his. “So, do you want to talk about it?”
He paused for a second, then said. “Does your weapon piss you off as much as mine does?”“Depends, she does sometimes, but a lot of the time she says what I need to hear rather than what I want to hear.” Bunberry knew that all too well. “They’re part of us after all, something like our true essence or spirit.”
“Yeah well mine is a fucking idiot. It keeps telling me I’m not letting myself accept all of myself, and I don’t know what the fuck that means. I’ve tried making it happy over and over again, pushing my limits, fighting, trying masculine shit I never got to do. Just being one of the guys but it’s never enough.” He balls his hands into fists. “I don’t know what to do.”“Well… I’m not sure, Dragon. I can’t say what your weapon wants from you. Why don’t we change subject. Is anything else bothering you?”“... You’ll think it’s stupid.”“Dragon, I have literally never thought you were stupid or things you were going through were stupid.”“I remembered something about being a kid, something that really made me think.”
“Okay, go on.”
“When I was a kid, I had 3 brothers, I told you about that. I was the youngest, and I had two brothers who were twins who were absolutely assholes to me, but my oldest brother, Damien. He was incredibly kind. No matter what I wanted or wanted to do he supported me. If I wanted to be a pirate for Halloween, he helped get me the right costume. If I wanted to py with toys that weren’t dolls and shit, he’d help me out.” He looked at his hand in thought. “Truthfully, despite that story I tell people when I meet them, there’s something I hid from even myself till recently. Sometimes I did want to py with my toys, and he’d help that out too. I guess that’s what bothers me sometimes. Sometimes I enjoyed the girly shit, clothes and all, and it weighs me down like an anchor. Dragging me down into an unknown hell of confusion. I guess… I don’t know. I wanted to make my parents happy? But what if that’s not it and I’m just deluding myself into thinking I’m a man? What if I’m just a pretender, not a real guy? Am I just a fucking tomboy or something?” There were tears in his eyes. Dragon rarely if ever cried, Bunberry was worried.
Bunberry thought for a moment, then offered: “Well, peer pressure can make us do a lot of things. Though, even If you liked dolls and things of a feminine nature as a kid, it doesn’t make you less of a man. Hell, Dag has worn girlier shit than even I do.” She waves herself up and down showing off her pink top and white 3-tiered skirt with ce at the hem. “Doesn’t make him less genderfaun. Just like hell if you wore dresses and shit as a kid and enjoyed it sometimes, doesn’t mean you aren’t a guy.” Bunberry expined.“Okay Dag has said as much too, but…” He seemed unable to voice his thoughts.“Dragon. I know you hated it when your family forced you into that fucked up school and forced you to dress that way for them. Maybe that was the issue because it was for them and not your choice. Even then maybe that wasn’t it at all and it was just you liked the soft fabrics and bright colors. Kids of any gender can like soft fabrics, shiny things, and sparkly things. I bet plenty of boys would gravitate towards dolls and things like that if they weren’t told it was wrong. Honestly though, you should talk with Fluffy Ruby, she knows what she’s doing better than me.”
“Thanks Bunberry, Goddess, all this touchy feely shit makes me uncomfortable. We’re gonna have to go smash some Luminescent heads in sometime soon, and this time I’ll get the higher score.”Bunberry’s face twisted into a sly grin. “Oh you wish, I’ll easily kill more than you, dragon boy.”“Just try it, bunny girl.” He grins himself.“Don’t worry, I will, even with this handicap.” Then she broke into giggles. “This is more like it, more like I like to see you. If you want to train in the training room sometime, let me know. I got some new tech I’ve been wanting to try. Purifications be damned.”“Oh you bet your ass you can count on it.”
She ughed once more then turned serious. “I mean it though, you need to see Fluffy Ruby, you don’t want to get lost in your head in the middle of a battle and have something horrible happen to you. You’re my best friend, I’d be devastated to lose you.”“Fine fine… I’ll talk to her, but if she says something stupid I reserve the right to leave.” He offered his hand.“Deal.” She shook his hand.“Thanks, though, Bunberry. That Cherry kid, she’s good for you. I haven’t seen you smile or ugh that much in a long time. So don’t worry, we’re gonna get her back.”“Huh? A-Am I smiling?”After that, Bunberry was buried in deep thought. She started to think on what just happened. Before she could wrap her head around what Dragon said, her thoughts were interrupted by Lamp Flower yanking her and Dragon into an Umbra group call. ‘Raftilia is stable, you both can return. She is calling for you and said that she wants to talk, and to tell the truth. I don’t know what she means but if either of you stress her out, I’ll put both of you in the infirmary.’Bunberry stretched her arms upward. “Looks like we’re being called back.”“Alright, let’s go find out what the hell happened to our favorite chihuahua Goddess.”Bunberry snorted. “Oh don’t ever say that in front of her, she’d be pissed.”“You know we’re all thinking it.” He gave one st ugh and then left with Bunberry to the infirmary.
Little did they know just how important the information that Raftilia was about to reveal to them was. Something that would shatter their entire world. Something that would change … everything.
