…
Everybody had an off day, hadn’t they? When series of unfortunate events decided to stack on top of one another, then all simultaneously decided to jump on top of you? Everyone felt like that, not to worry, things like that can happen.
This includes one rather…unique individual in particular to this story. His name is EDDI. EDDI happened to be a demon, or close approximation of one, using the dark forces of the abyss itself. He was created at the same time as BUBON and MAL, to who he not related, but they are all acquaintances. Lord Vacuo was an unusual man. He would spontaneously decide to create personalities to his creatures, giving life to his servants, despite leaving them off to die anyways. Occasionally, he would use small remnants of Torque energy to create small pets, or servant-like creatures if he wanted something more concrete. 
When those three were created, they were given purpose of messengers into the outside world. Nothing more and nothing less. EDDI, compared to his two other brethren, did not mind that at all. His personality was, let’s just say, far more carefree than those of others. He was a bit of a fun guy, enjoyed spending his time making goofy smiles, and barely putting effort into saying anything. He liked things slow, and he took things slow.  
MAL tended to look down on him and yell at him all the time. He was the anger incarnate and a dominance maniac. He enjoyed putting himself on the top and kept order as per his own terms. BUBON followed orders as told, although he would mess up frequently. He was far friendlier and more helpful than EDDI was, but both of them ended up on MAL’s nerves regardless. EDDI liked getting on his nerves, actually, sometimes doing dumb things such as taking the bags of garbage and leaving them on top of some wardrobes that was too high for the red demon to reach. When he was asked how it happened, he would say nothing, and then MAL gets dirt all over him because he angrily tried to take the trash down from there.
As far as servants went, Lord Vacuo didn’t pay them much attention. There was nothing to do in the above world, so EDDI didn’t mind. He found comfort in this unusual freedom that he was given, from running insignificant errands, and then just ditching them so that MAL could get angry. Occasionally they were tasked to send some message in the above world, but his next two-hundred years of existing have been uneventful and tranquil. That is until Lord Vacuo asked to retrieve a certain object. A very certain group of objects, all in a bag, ready for them to take. It was, unfortunately, not just an important job, but an easy job, too. 
There was some trouble, of course, such as protective wards that were apparently made on the daggers. They had to grab it from some source, but they apparently activated the ancient magic and the three of them had to fight it off. Thankfully, they managed to destroy it, though not without EDDI, once again, messing with MAL in that one point. Just as the demon was about to finish the job and blast that magic away, EDDI tripped him causing them to loose the bag in a nearby bush. The protection was destroyed thanks to MAL explosive attack, but it also left him in the sourest of moods, taking the nearby bag from the kid they found and leave.  
That stupid, little brat.
MAL thought that EDDI should get punished, and sent him to bring that bag to Lord Vacuo. EDDI didn’t care, for all he had to do was come to their master, leave the bag and get praise for good job he himself, all alone, had done. And it would have worked, if it not for one mistake. 
One, single, simple, honest mistake. 
And it all happened because that boy was in the wrong place, in the wrong time. He had to have come to here, of all places, of ALL the bushes, carrying ANOTHER bag with him. And when he learned that both of his friends died failing to retrieve it, and that the warriors managed to survived, Lord Vacuo became unhappy. And he became unhappy with EDDI, because he said he did it all himself. That it was him who did it. And for that, he got punished. Punished severely too.
Because it was his fault.
Because HE was the one at fault.
NO ONE BUT HIM.
And it was an agonizing punishment. It was “death,” in the worst way that could have been given to him. The other two, they were the lucky ones. The magic of those warriors “saved” them. It “purified” them. He had to endure pain. HE had to endure the worst fate of all, even though all he wanted was an easy, problem-free life.
Then he was given a chance. That beautiful second chance, which gave him his body back, and made his stronger than ever. And with it, a new task. A simple task. And easy task, which he did not need to do more than that. 
“Keep those children busy.”
And he did it. He played the game. He ran circles around those kids. He showed off his powers, in a way never seen before. He made them rue the day they ever decided to cross him, that they ever thought they could go against him. And he was going to destroy them, one by one. This was not a simple task for him, not anymore. Until he gets them down to the last one. And then, he was going to finally get that praise that he missed for his failure. And he was finally going to get his revenge.
Against “him.”
Unfortunately, sometimes, a bad day can repeat itself.
And once again, his bad day came. With his face broken, his mind splitting apart, and his patience leaving him like it would usually leave MAL. But now, he was growing weaker too.
What an awful day.
…
Varvara ran at high speed, already having crossed the last place she saw Fotia. She kept on moving the same path, as per Flora’s suggestion, making sure to keep her eye out for anything she could find. Her speed was about around forty kilometers per hour, same legal standard as was for a car in these streets, which she followed out of appropriateness. Thus, she managed to cover rather large distance already, making her wonder where did he exactly went. At some point, she had gone beyond the town’s centre, and now ran in the open fielded area. The place also began to look a bit more familiar for her.
She did not pass many people on her way. This made her notice someone on her way, then, much faster, that being an old lady cat. She then notice Fotia, standing on top of the bush beside. She then also found the clown.
“Oh no!!!”
<FORTH, VARVARA!> exclaimed Zamarad.
Varvara’s feet became supercharged in an instant. Her body quite literally became lightning itself, a technique she did not use often because of how long she would need to run to get that to work, nor it would do much in an actual fight as an attack. It did get her on a scene in a flash, however.
“Stop right there, MONSTER!” proclaimed Varvara, skidding a bit from the sudden stop. She summoned her spear, and once finally halting, pointed at the clown from behind him. “Is everything okay?” she quickly asked. She scanned the place to make sure everyone’s okay.
But no one was there.
“Huh?”
Varvara checked the place again. No one was there. Fotia, the clown, and even that old lady just disappeared. She looked for them a third time, but no one was appearing in front of her again. She did not suddenly move. 
“Where is everyone?” she asked out loud, hoping to hear something from Zamarad.
She walked on forward, but the place had not changed. This was exactly where she saw them, or she thought she saw them. She was moving fast, but could she had missed them? She stopped abruptly, but she saw enough to know she got in the right place.
She thought.
“Zamarad, do you know what’s goin on?” She looked to the side, above her head, and then down. She noticed how dirty her shoe still was. “Zamarad?”
No answer.
She looked over again, but no one was there. No one except for her, in her normal looking dress, and her normal looking form. The young lizard girl suddenly felt a lot colder than usual.
“Poor…helpless…little…girl…” 
A laughter emanated throughout the sky, as if she were in a room.
…
“OKAY! Is everyone ready?” Lily asked from the living room. She was carrying with her the last picture with Mimmy. The little hamster was very proud of it, as it displayed the biggest letters and the best looking flowers out of all the kids’ pictures.
They both entered the kitchen, where everyone were finishing up. It was in this weird combination of extreme neatness, but also, extreme messiness. There were spots of dough and flour and dirt, but also of extremely clean countertop away from where they worked, as well as the floor. You could actually slide on it with how well it was scrubbed, with both Bryan and Yuri were doing, and so did Gavin and Gawain. Right in the middle of the countertop was their apple cake, a layered, misshapen, overly frosted piece of dessert with too many apple slices stuck at its crown. One could tell that by slicing it, the whole thing will fall apart, and the taste will give a diabetic shock. However, as seen by the faces of the four “chefs”, their flour layered smiles showed nothing but confidence.
“We are ready!” said Tam. Charlotte gave a thumbs up in support, only to like the frosting from it immediately.
“Good!” Lily said cheerily. She led Mimmy to go and hang her picture along with the others. Tiana was sticking the paper against the wall, with Thaddeus helping by sticking scotch-tape to their backs.
Lily went back to the living room to check up on Matthew. He had barely moved from his spot, still busy with drawing. She checked on the window, only to then immediately run back to the kitchen.
“She’s coming!” she shouted. There was a shuffling noise, as the kids were prepping the kitchen one last time. She went to grab the goose’s arm, who swiftly wriggled her off of him. “Into the kitchen, mister! Miss Cheshire coming!”
“One…moment,” Matthew whispered, carrying an air of importance. He pushed the brush onto the paper, and carefully slid it down for one last, long line. He kept pushing downwards, barely moving an inch, until finally, he led it into a small circle, before flicking his wrist off with elegance. “There! My masterpiece has been completed! You are welcome,” he said, and handed her his work.
The young goose then brought up his beautiful poster. In it, it said, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, MISS CHESHIRE!” with an extremely beautiful font. Lily was extremely impressed by it, this being the first time she saw anyone able to draw letters so beautifully. The goose stood up with his beak pointing to the air.
“Now, where would you like for this to be attached to?” 
And then a sound of lock being opened was heard from the main entrance.
“Oh no, let’s go hide!” Lily pulled in Matthew before he could say anything back.
Both of them ran full speed, as already every one but them had hidden themselves. Lily quickly threw his message on a nearby counter, right on top of some wet stains and flour, much to the goose’s chagrin.
He was forced to sit right next to eight other kids under the prep table, on which their cake sat. They sadly did not have time light up the candles, mainly because it took too long to figure out where to stick them between the apple slices. As such, the cake just laid bare for the moment, with only one message being placed next to it, which kids decided to be Mimmy’s. Lily took her place behind the corner which was hidden by the dishwasher. She shushed everyone when few started to giggle in excitement, as the steps began to move in their direction.
Slowly, entered first was a young boy, a white crow to be exact. His hands were at the, while his eyes were narrow. Soon after, came in Miss Cheshire, hear head darting from one upper corner to the other.
All of the kids jumped at the same time,
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS CHESHIRE!!!”
“Settle down you rascals!!!” shouted the young crow boy.
The kids were surprised. Apparently so was Miss Cheshire too, her eyes wide, staring at the young boy. He then began moving, checking the area with a disappointed look on his face. All of the kids exchanged glances. Lily, without understanding much herself, decided to approach Miss Cheshire first. 
“Um, hi Miss Cheshire,” she said. The old lady had a gaze that said wonderment and curiosity, two things that these kids could never imagine her having. This was probably why they were so confused. She wasn’t yelling at them, or saying anything for that matter, but just…looking around. “We have a cake! For you.”
“…For me?” asked Miss Cheshire. Finally her eyes were set on the apple cake. Immediately her eyes became transfixed, as audibly awed. “What a scrumptious treat! I do say, I’d never thought to lay mine eyes on this…apple in my eye!” She gave a small chortle, and then moved closer to look at the message. “My, I do wonder, whose drawing is this! Anyone?”
She looked around, though the kids were too busy having their jaws hanging open. It was almost hard to believe what she was saying to be coming from her.
“STOP STANDING AND HELP THE OLD LADY!” yelled the white crow. They all shook off from their stupor, and immediately began running around to set up the table. “Bunch of good-for-nothing rascals…” the boy complained something under his breath as he left. 
Lily watched the boy pass by. She felt her arm getting pulled by Mimmy.
“Lily, what just happened?” she asked, very confused.
“I dunno.” She turned to Matthew. “Mister, do you have any idea?”
The goose was peeking over the young crow’s shoulder. The boy was in the middle of checking something in the cupboards, grumbling something all the while. He grabbed a small bottle from one, then took a cup, filled it with tap water, pulled a pair of tablets from the bottle, and drank it in one go. He turned around, eyes meeting with the goose.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. Matthew looked both sides and then pointed to himself, just to be sure. “Yes you, young man! Where are your parents?”
“My…” Matthew shook his head and made a honking noise. “My parents? What are YOU doing here, Pierre?”
The crow pursed his brows, only to let go, as suddenly it dawned on him.
“Oh yes, Pierre, that’s his name is, correct?” he put the cup away, much to the very confused Matthew. “He’s busy at the moment. Go and help him- I mean her, would you, while you are here? Otherwise I’ll tell it one your parents.”
Matthew shook his beak, before slowly moving away. 
Something just flipped over here.
…