Rude Awakening

Annie woke up to a sudden noise. She bolted up, preparing to tell Lilin everything... Only to realize that the sound wasn't a knock at her door. It was coming from outside. And it was still dark out. She looked out her window and saw a bird with a note attached to it. She slowly opened her window and reached her hand out, giving the bird a place to perch. She brought it in and closed the window, untying the letter from its foot. She set it aside and appreciated the bird for a moment. It was just the cutest thing, and was very polite! He didn't start pecking at her or squawking for food. She wasn't sure if it was a boy or girl, so she settled on thinking of it as a boy. Did she have anything for this little guy to eat? She looked around, then spotted the remains of the seeds she had swept up so long ago, collected into a basket and probably mixed with some dust... She wished she had something better, but when she lowered the little guy towards the basket, he eagerly hopped off and started pecking at it. She hoped he knew what he was doing and didn't eat the icky dust.

Annie turned away and sighed as she opened up the note. On the back, it clearly read "SHOW TO DEMONESS AFTER READING." She made note of that, then turned it over to read the message.

"This message should precede things by about a day if things are moving as expected. If you are reading it, we hope you're well on your way to being ready to do your part. Once the dust settles, we've elected Grandma to be our leader for as long as she is with us, and Silver Hair will be her advisor. Be prepared for our arrival."

Annie nodded, taking a few moments to figure out what everything meant. This was intentionally very vague, likely in case it was intercepted, but it was definitely about the siege. Demoness was probably Lilin, so this was clearly intended for Annie to read first. Was she grandma? The code name certainly applied well to her. She didn't know who Silver Hair was, but Euwelyn certainly had silver-ish hair. Perhaps Lilin would know more. Annie went to step out of the room, but the bird chirped to get her attention. She looked at it, and the bird flapped its way over to the loose string Annie had untied from its leg. It picked it up, then placed it closer to Annie.

She was confused, but moved closer. She went to the window and opened it, but the bird stayed firmly in place. Maybe she was supposed to write a return note? But nothing indicated she was supposed to write back. Then, the bird picked up the string and flew over to her hand. Maybe it just wanted the string tied to its leg again? She tied the string back to its leg, and the bird suddenly took off once more. It flew out the window, gracefully flapping its wings as it rapidly disappeared into the night. Annie smiled, glad she could give the little guy a bit of a rest. It did strike her as odd, though, that it didn't need more of a rest. She hadn't used messenger pigeons at any point, so she wouldn't know anything about this sort of thing. She could, however, appreciate a good bird when she saw one.

Lilin awoke with a start to a sound at her door. It was knocking.

"What the hell do you want?" she croaked as she stood up. She started walking to the door, groaning to herself. "Just come in, damn it...."

She opened the door and saw Annie there, holding a message. She saw the message "SHOW TO DEMONESS AFTER READING" written on it, and immediately knew not to talk about it. She took the note from Annie and quickly set it inside her room.

"What the hell are you bugging me about so late, Annie?" she said in her best irritated tone.

"S-Sorry, just... It's..."
Annie patted her pockets, realizing she should have brought the other note she wrote with her. It would be a perfect time to give it to her- well, aside from the obvious indications in the writing that it was meant for the following morning.

"What?" Lilin said. "Spit it out, or get out of my face."

"I... Nevermind, Lilin. We should talk tomorrow. This is too much to talk about tired, I realize that now."

Annie couldn't believe herself. She was putting this off yet again, like a nervous schoolgirl doing everything except telling her parents about her grades. But it was going to be alright, the following morning, she'd either gather the courage to tell her or hand her the note. It had to end at that point. She couldn't let it go on any longer.

Lilin read the note, nodded, then used her lamp to burn the note. It made sense that they had chosen Annie to be the leader. She honestly wouldn't trust anybody else to do it. Annie really was the only person who didn't ever act selfishly and had the confidence to stand by her decisions and tell other people off when they were wrong. Euwelyn would also be there to advise her on the world, so that lack of knowledge about stupid things wouldn't be much of an issue, either. She smiled to herself. Maybe the world wouldn't be so bad after everything changed, if they all lived. After all, a world run by Annie couldn't be bad. She'd miss the killing, but who knows? Maybe there'd be a place for that. Feeling her thoughts more resolved than before, Lilin had no troubles falling right back to sleep.

Annie struggled to fall asleep. She told herself again and again that it would be fine, that tomorrow would bring the time for her to resolve the situation, but she still couldn't rest easy. She slowly managed to ward off the thoughts, long enough to get some restless sleep for the night. She slept until just before dawn, when another abrupt noise woke her. She bolted up, feeling as if time hadn't even passed, and looked at her doorway. Once again, though, the noise wasn't a knock at her door. It was coming from outside, but there was no bird this time. She got up and looked out the window. There was a massive commotion outside, but her eyes weren't quite able to make out much of it. Her ears, however, heard what was said next. An ear-splitting roar of a voice shook the castle.

"Clear yourselves from the entrance, lest you be in my way."

The siege had begun.