Revelations

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"Come on bro, call me back. No one's heard from you in days, I'm worried."

Valarie sighed, then she put down the phone. Ever since her big brother moved out to attend university, their communication had grown less frequent. In the past few days however, he had stopped responding to her entirely.

She was worried, but her parents assured her that he was fine. Boys will be boys and all. Her brother's sudden silence was just him adjusting to university life, or so they said.

Valarie didn't believe it, but she wanted to. She wanted to think everything was okay. And so she distracted herself. She went up to her room and launched her favorite game 'Midnight Lily's Bloom', a simple otome game that was easy to lose herself in. The main character, Lily, had a bright and cheerful personality, which made Valarie feel better too.

Recently, she received exclusive access to a new DLC that added a new 'love interest' to the game. She had worked hard to get the access; she had to prove she knew everything there is about the base game's story just to get into a raffle. But that was nothing compared to the actual route itself.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get Lucien to warm up to her. It was infuriating how difficult he was to romance. But she didn't give up. And eventually she managed to get him to agree to go to the ball with her. She celebrated her success, until she got to the scene where Lucien was supposed to confess his love in the academy's garden under shimmering moonlight.

She read the words on the screen.

'I miss you, Val.'

"...huh?"

Lily was frozen in place. I waited for her to react, but she was still as a statue.

"Are you okay, Lily?" She didn't react.

I walked up and down the garden. Nervously waiting for her to do something, anything!

So I mentioned someone else's name! Big deal!

With each passing minute, I grew more anxious. I was about to check on Lily again when a figure suddenly rushed at me. It was Alaric. His usual smile hid a hint of anger.

"Draivelle, is it true? Did you really take Lily to the ball?" he demanded with the attitude of a scorned lover, not bothering to greet me first.

"That is correct," I said. "She is right here."

Alaric turned to face Lily, and his anger quickly turned to confusion.

"Lily? Is that you? Are you alright?" he said. He looked at me again. "What happened?"

"I have no idea!" I admitted. I genuinely didn't. I could care less for Lily, but this is beyond bizarre.

"What's going on out here?" asked Kaelan as he approached, he too saw Lily and stopped. "What happened to Miss Everlight?"

It wasn't long before Axel also showed up. "Hey guys, what are we looking at here? Huh, Sunshine's frozen up?"

Of course, suspicion fell on me. The three of them were clearly waiting for an explanation, but I had none to give. Axel grabbed me by the collar of my coat. "What did you do to her, Draivelle!?" he yelled.

I couldn't even lie my way out of this. I had no idea what would cause this.

Axel shook me again. "Answer me! What did you do!? What did you say to her!?" he said.

"Please let Lucien go!" Lily's voice suddenly rang through the night. Axel dropped me, and all four of us looked towards Lily, who was now standing in front of me, shielding me from Axel's aggression.

"L-Lily?" Alaric stuttered, "You're alright!"

"Lucien, did they hurt you?" she asked. She glared at the other three. They backed away, not sure what to do.

"Please leave." She said, "I want to talk to Lucien alone." Her voice was calm but left no room for argument.

The others exchanged a look, then Axel spoke up: "We'll be watching. Make one wrong move and we'll come out there to help Sunshine!"

Lily just waved them off, then turned to face me.

"I have a gift for you." she said.

A... gift?

Lily reached to the side of her dress and pulled out a violet. Confused by this sudden gesture, I accepted it.

"I have a gift for you." she said again. She once again reached for her dress and pulled out another small item. This time it was an amethyst.

"Wait, hold on. What is this?" I asked.

Lily didn't answer. She simply smiled and said: "I have a gift for you." This time she gave me a lily.

She proceeded to follow up with another amethyst, then a ruby, then an iris and finally an emerald.

I tried to make sense of her weird gesture. A violet, an amethyst, a lily, another amethyst, a ruby, an iris and am emerald. Is she trying to spell out a message?

If I go by the first letter that would be...V a l a r i e...It can't be, can it?

"Valarie?"