The Mysterious M! 13 Days Left

"Yeah, let me text Wolf." Nel said then, her hands were free. "Of course, not until after this." She said, because lullaby needed to be spoiled.

"Well, I mean if you do just walk off without saying anything as to when you're going to be back, she's going to make other plans. Silly." wall said, stirring that pot again.

Wolf tried really hard to not bite. Because he knew what wall was doing. "Well she just text saying Lullaby has offered to help. So when they're done being made up all pretty I will borrow the doll for a few and take her to the school. See if she can find this mysterious M."

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"Of course not," Bryna said. "It's not like we're in any hurry, right?" Yes, M was killing people. But surely he wouldn't decorate another room when it was obvious that Nel wasn't in class today. There would be no point as she wasn't there to "appreciate" it.

"I don't mind," Lullaby said, relaxing in the chair while they massaged her feet and legs with something that smelled like strawberries. Each girl had gotten to pick a scented treatment.

"Uh..." Cullen wasn't sure what to do now. Wall and Wolf were both making things hard.

"I have things you can occupy yourself with here while you wait for the girls to finish their pampering," Braxton offered.

"That works..." Cullen said.

"Right." Nel said, but she was in a rush. Secretly. She needed to know m was gone, otherwise she would be scared of who M would hurt to get to her. "Let's finish this first, what are you going to have done to your hair, lullaby?"

"I was mostly asking you if you wanted to join us, Braxton." Wolf said, he hadn't meant to pressure Braxton.

"We can amuse ourselves and the ladies if you guys want to borrow Lyra." Wall said, happy to help.

"Does she have the same thing? As lullaby? Because if not then she's kind of useless, unless she feeds him to death..." Wolf said.

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"I don't know," Lullaby said. "Maybe some pretty curls and braids." She thought that would be soft and pretty. But she didn't want anything that would take too long since she had something to do now to assist them. And that was the most important thing.

"I just want something that'll look pretty with my horns," Bryna said. She loved her little deer horns but they didn't style well with every hairstyle.

"Oh no, I can't do that," Lyra said.

"Wall didn't ask for it so I didn't make it so," Braxton said.

"That sounds cute, I'm sure they will find something. I don't know what to do with my hair. It's always been long." Nel said thoughtfully, "maybe a side parting and a side fringe. A soft one."

"Then we have to wait for lullaby," Wolf said, he text Nel back and said they were good to go when the doll was.

"Her hair can be changed by the tablet. It would be faster for the girls to do that," wall said, but he understood the girls needs for grooming. "They've had a rough few days though, so I guess I understand."

"Month, or so. Actually, since the letters started making her act weird," Wolf shrugged.


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"That would be pretty," Bryna said. "It's not really a big change. But there's so much you can do with hair, you know, and it'll always grow back."

Lullaby was content to wait. Her hair was easily changed using the tablet so she was just having it put up quickly in a pretty way. It was night time anyway. The school wasn't even open so there was no reason for her to rush as M wouldn't be there. No one would.

"Well, you'd have to wait for the school to open wouldn't you?" Yuui said. "So even if the girls weren't occupied, you'd not be able to take Lullaby. Not until the morning when the sun rises and the kids are off to school."

Nel, having slept all day felt like the day was just beginning when in reality, it was already done. "Yeah, but I don't really want to cut it off..."

"Right, you guys slept through the day and now her time clock is off and it's throwing me off. However, I know where Nel hangs out often at these times, so we can still see if M is waiting for her to show." Wolf said, but of course M was already a step ahead of him again. Because he knew where Nel was. They didn't have to go far to find M at all.

"You don't have to cut it off," Bryna said. "But you can have them do a style, you know? Rather than just have it hanging there all long. Put it up or braids...something different you wouldn't do yourself."

"I don't think it's going to be that easy," Braxton said. "That's too predictable for someone as mad as the person you described."

"True, true," Yuui said. "I would never be that predictable."

"Maybe let them cut the bangs in and then have them do a Rapunzel braid, like in the movie." Nel said with a laugh, because why the fuck not? In reality, she had enough hair to do it. She didn't know how else to do up her hair.

"She isn't at school, the first place he is going to check is at home. When he doesn't see her there, he is going to look elsewhere. You call it predictable, I call it calculated and if you're not that predictable, you're also a very different kind of mad." Wolf chuckled, because killers had a pattern and a routine and they rarely stepped out of it. What he didn't realise was that of course M had done that, the second that Nel had skipped out of school.

"I mean, he could likely end up snapping and being the other kind of mad. But pity us all if it happens, like we could predict or even get two steps ahead of this one." Wall said, but he felt like Yuui would end up being the berserker type of murderer. It would just be so random.

"That would be pretty," Bryna said. "You should do that. Maybe without the flowers though..." That just wouldn't suit Nel. She wasn't the flower kind of girl, really. Not the kind that rapunzel had had in her hair.

Yuui said nothing to agree or disagree with that. He only smiled. "Do you think so?" he asked, looking quite innocent but mysterious as well. He'd never say. But if he ever did snap, which was always a possibility, it wouldn't be easy to stop him. Not for anyone but Wall, really.

"Maybe dark purple roses." Nel said then, she could rock those. But not the cute white and pink ones. Ha.

"Mmhm," wall said and kissed Yuui softly on the cheek. "not that we need to worry about any of that."

"Of course not." Wolf said then, but he was wondering a lot of things. "Braxton, can we discuss some stuff to do with M, I need help. He is not easy to find and we have until tomorrow for school, if they even show. I'm getting tired and that's never good, I've never had someone be so difficult to catch."

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"Those would be pretty," Bryna said. With their nails done, they moved to the style chairs to have their hair done. It was very relaxing to have someone play with your hair. And for Bryna, she felt loads better than she had when they'd arrived the morning before.

"We can retire to my study," Braxton said. There was no need for them to continue to be in the workshop.

"We'll leave you two be," Yuui said. He wasn't going to help with M. That just wasn't his thing, after all.

Cullen stayed in the workshop to busy himself on helping Braxton with projects that could use his skills.

Nel did too, she looked almost stoned. That was how relaxed she was. "I was not carrying a billion years of stress, I swear." she giggled happily.

Wolf didn't mind that no one else had joined them. "I'm at a loss," he admitted finally because he was. "no leads, no trail, nothing. And that is very uncommon."

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"Suuuure you weren't," Bryna said with a laugh of her own. She turned her head this way and that to look at her hair in the mirror. It was so pretty, the way it curled like that.

"It is unusual for someone to be this clean about it," Braxton agreed. "M might be insane but they are clearly intelligent..." He thought on it a bit. "If I modify Lullaby a bit, she might be able to find him, providing you know enough for her to focus on. Granted, if you even had a yearbook or list of students in Nel's classes, that might do as well."

"You look ridiculously too pretty." Nel said to both of the girls. "That was really fun, even if we were quiet."

"Maybe a yearbook," Wolf said, but not on him. "It would be helpful to know the guys face, you know?"

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"Well who needs to talk when you're relaxing so much?" Bryna asked. "Ah, do you think we should go check in with the boys now? Or should we find something new to do?"

"Let's do something fun!" Lullaby said with a giggle. She got up from her chair and played quietly with Nel's braid and flowers.

"I think that it would make things a lot easier," Braxton said. "You'd know which fiend you're after too. That with a face and name, history can be found. Motive. Reason. Patterns. He'll be much easier to predict and find then."

"Let's check in first make sure everything is okay." Nel said and smiled up at lullaby who was being adorable. But her brain was still paranoid.

"I'll fetch one as soon as I can," Wolf said, meaning he would go very soon.

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"Awww, okay," Bryna said unhappily. She just didn't want to deal with the reality of what was going on. She wanted to be distracted with girly fun.

"It won't take us long to check in," Lullaby said, smiling. She let go of Nel's hair and helped her to stand, walking with both girls take okay return to Wolf and Braxton.

"Or you could just ask me," Trent commented.

"You have a yearbook on you?" Braxton asked doubtfully as he looked down at the violet cat.

"No," Trent replied. "But I have records. All fiends wishing to attend UP must go through the FHCO to be vetted and approved, to make sure they're suitable for interacting with humans in such a setting."

"I'm sorry," Nel said, but she couldn't ignore the reality, not when reality meant death for someone.

"Well," Wolf said, not at all startled by Trent's reappearance. "Do you have them on you?" he asked with a laugh.

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"It's okay. Not your fault," Bryna said as they walked back. She felt more refreshed so she wasn't as bothered as she had been.

"No," Trent said and turned into a man. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text. "I'll have them shortly."

Nel smiled, "what else is there?" She asked, it wasn't like they couldn't make plans.

"All righty," Wolf said, he was feeling more hyped now. Because they had something and it would work. He believed in Braxton.

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"Well there's the grounds," Bryna said. "They're haunted, you know. That might be fun to go explore." She wasn't dissuaded by things like that. Nel wouldn't be either. And of course, neither was Lullaby even if she was brighter than both the girls.

The girls entered the study.

"You're just in time," Braxton said.

"You have news?" Bryna asked.

"No, but we have a plan," he replied. "Lullaby, if you'd take a look at the list that Trent is about to provide you with, you'll find a name of all the dark fiends that have classes with Nel. I'd like you to see if you can identify which one of them is M."

"Okay!" Lullaby said and took the phone from Trent when he offered it to her.

Nel was so in for haunted grounds and she'd told Bryna that before going in. She didn't know what to say though. She was finally going to see the face of M and that was no small thing. "Do I want to see? I don't know if I do."

"you do, for closure." Wolf said, but he looked at Trent for back up. He felt it was important, she couldn't be scared of a shadow, not if that shadow had a face. Right?

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"Wolf is right," Trent said. "You need to see M's true face. Right now, he is just a name to you. Words. Actions. An idea in your head. But that's not what M truly is. M is just a fiend, like the rest of us here. They have a name, a life, an identity. The idea of someone is far more frightening then the reality of who they are, most of the time."

Bryna felt nervous. But unlike Nel, she wanted to know who M really was. She wanted to be able to put it all together, for it to make sense, and not just be the boogeyman who haunted their steps lately. "We need to know, Nel. We can't catch them and put this behind us until we do."

Nel took a shaky breath, it was scary. But she nodded. "I just meant I didn't know if I wanted to see. Of course lullaby needs to identify them...but you guys are right."

" Good girl," Wolf said approvingly. He looked over at lullaby. "How's it going?"

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