◇ Discord X Despair ◇

Unlikely Bonds

August 29th.

A day much like any other. Ashe yet again woke up with a nightmare, another one that involved another innocent person being involved and getting very badly maimed or inconvenienced all because they tried to help Ashe. Ashe needed a quick break to clear their mind, so they took a bathroom break from Mrs.Takahashi's class and walked to the outdoor classroom. It was in the forest near the school and was just as pristine as the rest of the school. The seats were cleanly chopped tree stumps, nearly like they were sliced with a laser.

Ashe sat down on one of the stumps near a fully grown tree and sat their bag down besides them. They honestly needed it. Their legs were still very much aching and they didn't want to walk or stand for any longer than they had to. Ashe reached into their bag, pulled down their mask and swallowed a couple pills from it and then pulled out a pack of cigarettes from their backpack as well. They lit one and put it in their mouth.

If it were a weekend, Ashe would be smoking marijuana, but they didn't wanna go back into class being absolutely high out of their mind.

Ashe deeply inhaled a gust of smoke from the cigarette and exhaled most of it through their nose.

Ashe quickly felt themself getting lightly buzzed, in an oddly sleepy way and honestly thought a quick 3-5 minute nap wouldn't hurt anything. Nothing made Ashe calmer or more zen than a little bit of drugs, but they weren't dependent on them, not anymore. Ashe took off their usual mask and replaced it with a mask which had a silver zipper across the mouth. Ashe unzipped it and set a cigarette in their mouth while sliding down the tree-stump and resting their back against it and their bottom on the dirt soil. It only took about thirty seconds before Ashe dozed off into their dreams.

This dream felt like a whole different dimension.

Ashe was in a pool, It's a bright blue and clear like the purple crystal flowers that decorated it. It was mostly dioxamine purple crystal lily pads and other plants in the pool, but as Ashe looked up they saw turquoise transparent vines hanging around this dark cave they were in. Ashe felt in a state of pure bliss, there was nothing that could bother them right now. Ashe let out a soft chuckle as they picked up one of the crystal lily pads in their hands and rubbed their fingers on the petals of it. "Shit!" They hissed in pain as one of the sharp edges of the crystal petals made a small slit in one of their fingers. The blood began to slowly began to seep through the small wound and drip into the body of water. Ashe sighed as they were about to put their hand into the water, under the belief that the water would probably heal it faster, but only then they noticed the odd patterns their blood made while falling and evaporating into the water. "The...fuck?" Ashe softly whispered to themself under their breath. It took a little cognitive thinking and a bit of squinting for them to finally realize that these weren't just patterns, They were letters!

I...m...p...h...

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."

Ashe opened their eyes, immediately getting out of their dream like a person removing their virtual reality headset, letting out a long tired sigh as they accepted they were caught skipping class by the one and only...Juno Archery.

"Bold." Juno spoke in a condescending and arrogant tone, Ashe didn't even turn to face him yet but they could just feel the 'shit-eating', 'know-it-all', 'I'm-better-than-you-peon' gaze upon them from behind. "What the fuck are you on about, now?" Ashe sighed with a tired and airy tone, though their voice was already a airy and raspy even without the cigarette. As Ashe spoke, a small gust of smoke flowed through their slightly opened mouth zipper slit. They fully expected to hear an earful from Juno about how bad cigarettes are. "You really fell asleep with a lit cigarette? You could start a fire." Juno crossed their arms, speaking with a cold told, as usual. "...What?" Ashe slightly turned back, nearly like they were suprised at Juno's words. "You...got a spare?" Juno reluctantly asked with a sigh, still somewhat sounding a little arrogant, though he was clearly embarrassed. "...What?" Ashe repeated, just as confused as before.