Chapter Text
The sky was gray, clouds showering the below with rain. The soft patter of rain sounded through the streets, puddles appearing and starting thin streams to sewer drains. A bus shot up water as it came to a stop, brakes screeching. The doors opened as two tall figures stood on the bus, looking out at the pouring rain.
“Just pull your damn hood over and lets run for it,” One hissed, grabbing the taller one’s hood and forcing it over their head before putting theirs on. The other just nodded and huffed, both of them grabbing their backpacks and suitcases, slowly stepping down from the bus.
After they stepped off, the two immediately started sprinting, cursing and mumbling under their breath. A few passersby who had umbrellas stared at the six-four and six-two tall people sprinting down the sidewalk. Both of them had gray jackets with hoods, purple t-shirts, and black pants with varying textures.
By the time they made it to their destination, they were soaked head to toe despite the rather light rain for what it could be here. “Fuckin’ hell,” the shorter one of the two hissed, pulling the hood off their head. Hand going and pulling the other’s hood off for them as they grabbed both suitcases and pushed them to the front desk.
Their companion followed up behind them, “Hello, sir, how can I help you today?” the employee asked. “They don’t talk, I can sign us in,” the shorter one explained, the woman’s head snapping to attention away from the unresponsive one. Jeez, they both towered over her.
“We have a reserved room for one night. It should be under Mr. Witch?” The woman at the desk studied the two. Tall, both of them, one female, one seemingly male, though their companion doesn’t seem to be referring to them as male. The taller one was wearing a mask and had a mohawk of sorts, black and purple coloring. Pointed ears that seemed to droop down, they held both suitcases as they each held their own backpacks.
The other one was slightly shorter than their counterpart but still freakishly tall. Long light-pinkish hair to bright pink, she wore arm warmers and seemed tired, eyes drooping. She, too, had pointed ears, but they lacked the droop the other had; she had a demonic-like tail and fluffy pinkish-white wings.
Mr. Witch, that sounded somewhat familiar, and the two people in front of her even more so, but she found three Mr. Witches in the system, so extra information was going to be needed. “Sorry, what were your names?” the employee asked, the pink-haired one sighing, clearly too tired to properly manage emotions currently.
“Etalpalli and Sal. Full names are Etalpalli Eternal Sugar and Sal Silent Salt,” ‘Etalpalli’, presumably said, both her and her friend tensing at the use of their actual names, both feeling as if it was just straight wrong to say out of their own mouths.
“Oh! Mr. Witch’s players?” The woman seemingly had it click to her, and Etalpalli nodded happily. “Yeah, I know you both. Here’s your keys, have a nice stay, Etalpalli and Sal!” The employee waved them off after giving them their keys and updating the system, horribly butchering Etalpalli.
When they both got into their room, they forcibly gagged, giggling at each other as they took off their soaked jackets. “If someone EVER calls you Etalpalli again here, I think I might kill myself,” Silent Salt said, gaining a giggle from Eternal. Silent Salt preferred their first name, wasn’t hard to say Sal.
Eternal, on the other hand, preferred being called Eternal; no one but her family and Sal, of course, knew how to properly pronounce Etalpalli, and at some point, she started having a preference for her middle name.
“I’m showering first,” Sal called out, Eternal’s head whipping to look at them. “What the hell!? I called dibs on the bus!” she called out, Sal flipping her off and slipping off their shirt, hopping into the bathroom. “Fuckin’ delinquent,” Eternal cursed, giggling when she heard Salt yell from the bathroom, they heard that.
It was about five PM, Eternal was tired, but she always was, so maybe she could get Sal to pull her along to go somewhere. After all, this was both of their first times in America. They both took English classes and had multicultural parents to be fluent in English.
Eternal’s parents were American and Indian-Latino, that’s how she knew English so well, Sal’s parents were Russian-American and Russian, so they learnt from both their mom and Eternal for the most part. Regardless, they were both Russian by culture and were stunned by American behavior so far.
Before she knew it, Sal was back and dressed, letting her grab some clothes from her suitcase, then hop in next. Eternal felt dirt wash off of her, hair sticking to her face and shoulders. She cursed and brushed her hair out of her face, putting shampoo in it to keep it maintained.
Hot water beat against her skin, huffing. She was Etalpalli Eternal Sugar, Eternal preferred. She was a renowned volleyball player, fresh out of middle school and right into high school. Currently, Eternal was away from home with her best friend, Sal, to meet with her new team.
She was pretty sure the only reason she was allowed to go was because of Sal. Eternal was extremely intimidating already with her height but Sal was just something else, they were taller, always wore a black mask, and glares like a mother fucker.
Anyway, there were better opportunities here in America; she heard that one of the other players was pulled from Egypt. They didn’t even have a third year on the team, from what her coach has been telling her and Sal, there were five first years and several other second years. It was disappointing, really. Eternal was hoping for a setter that could actually set aside from herself.
Eternal sighed and turned off the water, drying off and getting dressed before heading out, grabbing one of Sal’s leftover ties and tying her hair up. “It’s only five thirty two and I’m exhausted…” Eternal yawned, her arms shooting up to stretch.
Sal looked over at the other volleyball player and sighed, “It’d be about eight thirty two in the morning back at home, knowing your ass waking up at eleven when school is out, that’s a bit early,” they mumbled, yelping when a shoe hit them in the back of the head.
“Jack ass…” Eternal mumbled, Sal muffling a giggle as they rolled onto their back, “Despite that, you’ll have to fight the jet lag. It’s that Alaskan time here, but where coach said training and sleeping would be, it’d be PST; that’s still a fourteen-hour difference,” Sal continued, hearing an audible groan from Eternal.
Sal hummed before sitting up, “Let’s just look around. That’ll keep you up until at least eight, and then you can work on your specialty of sleeping at any time.” Eternal whined as she face planted into the pillow below, “That’s too much work…” Sal looked at her with a glare, but the unfortunate part of being close friends with someone is that they notice your bluff…
Sal laced their shoes and dragged Eternal out of bed, forcing hers on and tying them before yanking her to her feet by the collar. The volleyball player grumbled, walking behind Sal as they exited the room and checked their cards worked a second time.
Eternal looked over at Sal, they too seemed sluggish, the jetlag was fucking with them both, Sal was just the more willing of the two. They interlocked arms and ran through the streets till they found an ATM, Sal quickly drawing out dollars so they had actual money they could use.
Once they finished drawing money from reserved accounts, they rushed to get their own umbrellas. Partially soaked again, they finally had umbrellas and could walk around freely. Once or twice, Eternal has gotten a look from someone, and suddenly, Sal looks like her partner.
That, was also a system they developed within their friendship. Sal was gay and Eternal was lesbian, so it was never something that would freak either of them out, it just kept others they didn’t want near the hell away from them.
First, food. They both agreed on a basic fast-food restaurant before heading off to a mall for better jackets, their current ones not fitted for rain. Eternal kept picking at her wings, ranting on about the water messing with young feathers as if Sal understood anything she was saying.
“I’m going to have to preen when we get to the place in California,” Eternal muttered, whacking Sal when they giggled, “You have such an aggressive accent when it comes to names,” they snickered, watching as Eternal’s face turned bright red from embarrassment, gears working in her head as she realized how Russian she sounded when saying California.
“Shut up, you have a general Russian accent,” she huffed, Sal continuing to silently giggle under their mask. They did have a Russian accent underlying everything they said, it just sounded good on them compared to Eternal, who only had it when saying names.
Eternal shoved Sal angrily, yelping when the other retaliated, they kept shoving each other whilst walking through the mall before the shorter one practically screeched and jumped into Sal, spooking the other. There, right beside them, like a horror movie killer, stood a five-eleven-tall man with black hair and gray highlights that made it look like he was aging twice as fast.
Both Eternal and Sal paused, freezing completely. “Oh you’ve got to be shitting me,” Sal mumbled under their breath, they both could recognize that stupid Outside Hitter. “Sal. Eternal,” Dark Cacao’s eyes bounced between them as Sal visibly restrained Eternal, the pink-haired player foaming at the mouth, trying to whack the man.
“It’s… quite unfortunate to have found you both here after our rivalry,” the opposing player started, “Yeah,” Eternal hissed with clear venom in her voice. Dark Cacao was in another Russian opposing volleyball team, played against Eternal and Sal. Bad memories, to put it lightly.
“Why’d you even fucking grab my attention,” Eternal spat, the tallest of the three avoiding eye contact. Dark Cacao coughed into his arm before pointing to Eternal’s dripping wings, “Your—,” he started before pausing when Eternal cackled, “No shit, I can see and feel my wings, thanks.”
Sal had had enough of the conversation and forcibly pulled Eternal away, leaving Cacao without any more conversation or resolution. Now, Eternal had a new thing to complain about for the rest of the mall trip, whilst Sal was questioning if their food was cold now.
Eternal grumbled and muttered about Cacao till they got back home at about seven fifty. Two quick calls from them both to their families about their day before finally getting to eat. Eternal pushed her food around a bit, barely touching it when Sal was done. They looked over at her, concerned, and put a hand on her shoulder.
Eternal’s head snapped up to attention, apologizing and putting her food up, not Sal’s intention, but it confirmed their worries of her not eating. “Eternal… why aren’t you eating?” Sal questioned, the other tensing, “Dunno, just, lost my appetite.”
Sal sighed and accepted that Eternal just wasn’t going to eat; maybe the flight was messing with her, she never liked flying where her wings weren’t the thing keeping her up. It really didn’t help that they had another flight from Alaska to California tomorrow morning.
Sal hopped in bed and pulled the covers over, not bothering with the light, Eternal would get that when she heads to sleep. Said humanoid huffed as she headed to bed, wing lightly tapping the light switch to turn off the overhead lights before jumping into the second bed.
The volleyball player let out a dramatic yawn before finally lying down completely and heading to sleep, Sal following suit soon after.
The morning afterwards, early, both of them pissed off and tired due to jet lag requiring major adjustments to their schedule. Regardless, at about seven am, they made it onto their second flight to California. Coach was nice to specifically get Sal a window seat for their overall anxiety and get Eternal a seat next to them to just sleep on their shoulder, or maybe that was a bonus she saw.
Five hours later, they arrived in Los Angeles, California. Eternal slept through the entire flight, something Sal would be concerned about disrupting anyone else’s sleeping schedule, but it was Eternal, the person who could sleep anywhere, any time.
Sal, on the other hand, was gripping Eternal’s hand like they’d die if they let go for most of the flight. When they finally got off, backpacks and suitcases intact and with them. A buzz came from Sugar’s pocket when her phone connected to the towers in California.
Both Eternal and Sal paused, the latter looking over her shoulder as she pulled out her phone to a text message. Her tired expression seemed to manage a spark of excitement, “Coach said he’ll meet us outside, drive us to the place, and help us set up the online school site,” Eternal read out, Sal’s eyes crinkling in a concealed smile.
“Welp, better get moving then, huh?” Eternal smiled, grabbing Sal’s hand and pulling them through the crowds, speeding through every necessary motion, before finally making it outside, quickly spotting Coach Witch and waving their arms upwards.
The coach’s head snapped towards the two, a bright smile plastering across his face, “Eternal, Sal!” he called as they both approached and gave him an awkward hug due to their height difference. Mr. Witch was five feet tall, small compared to his players. “Nice to see you both made it through the flights. How's sleep been treating you?” he started, both of the Russians immediately deflating.
“Sal kept waking up in the middle of the night, and I surprisingly woke up once or twice,” Eternal muttered, arms swaying by her sides as Sal tried to find anything else to stare at. “Expected. Well, let's chat more in the car where you two can perhaps catch a nap or I can explain the motions that’ll be happening now that you’re here,” Mr. Witch waved them both over to a dark blue SUV, opening the back door for them both.
Sal put both their backpacks and suitcases into the trunk before hopping in with Eternal, a hand resting on her head when she decided to lay her head on their shoulder. Coach Witch hopped into the driver’s seat, watching as the two players in the back angled themselves diagonally for more leg room and a better resting position as they found a pillow set for them.
For the next hour, Eternal napped as Sal and Coach chatted about the school program, though it was greatly one-sided, nothing Coach didn’t expect, though. The two had him as their coach for a single year before his transfer was up and he returned to America, but three years later, he contacted them again with a huge offer for their volleyball experiences and careers if they really wanted to.
It was off-putting to see Eternal so energy-less, it was like they both got taller, but Sal didn’t change, whilst Eternal did. “Sal, don’t mind me asking, but is Eternal alright? Jet lag harsh for her?” Mr. Witch asked, Sal snapping to attention, their hand paused on Eternal’s head.
“She’s… Been experiencing a lack of energy for quite some time now,” Sal muttered, twirling a strand of the other player’s hair around their finger. The coach’s face fell. That’s not right for a fifteen-year-old, especially not an athlete.
But he kept quiet; it wasn’t his place to say much without a better grip on the situation or if it was affecting her during athletics. Mr. Witch sighed and parked the car at a house. The house was reviewed by the parents prior, a two-story house with a kitchen, dining room, living room, and a huge renovated basement. Two bathrooms and three bedrooms.
The sleeping arrangement left the boys, and Sal, in one room, the girls in the second room, and coach his own room. A lovely conversation where he had to explain to their outside hitter that it wasn’t due to comfort or bias, but because being in the same room with minors is not safe for Mr. Witch legally… But he couldn’t be in a separate location because they’re also still minors with destructive tendencies and a lack of self-preservation.
“We’re here, all of the others are here right now as well, but they’re probably outside messing around, they’re quite the bunch,” Mr. Witch said, twisting in his seat to look back at the two, hand reaching and softly shaking Eternal by the shoulder.
“We’re here, kiddo,” He hummed, patting her head before sitting normally and turning the car off, unbuckling and stepping out. Yeah, he can see what his wife meant by he had a dad’s instinct now. Eternal groaned and sluggishly sat up straight, allowing Sal to step out of the car and help Mr. Witch with their luggage, the man patting their back and complimenting their strength.
Eternal stepped out and grabbed a backpack, despite her coach’s repeated words of discouragement, saying he could get it, and Sal getting the same response when they tried to reach for a suitcase. Eventually, Mr. Witch accepted that both of them are at least taking a backpack and picked up both of the suitcases by the handle, walking up to the door.
He placed one suitcase down and pulled out the house keys, the two volleyball players trailing behind him, the taller one already fidgeting anxiously, and the shorter one trying to snag their wrist to keep them from breaking skin.
The moment the door unlocked and the door opened, you could hear a yell from downstairs, something about someone hitting like a bitch and then an audible whack with something. “Oh, well, they sound like bitches,” Eternal mutter with the most Russian bluntness she could muster, watching Sal’s face visibly start planning the fastest route to an acceptable breakdown room.
“Good lord…” Mr. Witch pinched the bridge of his nose, placing both suitcases down to sprint down into the basement and make sure no one was dying. Not even five minutes later, he reemerged looking like he was a dad to seven kids, and all of them were actively dying.
“They’re fine, just— relatively insane,” the coach muttered, picking a suitcase back up and starting up the stairs. Both Salt and Sugar shrugged, walking up the stairs after him. There was a living room, and across it was a hallway with a bathroom at the end and two bedrooms off to the sides, the coach’s and the girl’s, according to Mr. Witch.
“The boy’s room is downstairs. Sal, do you need a different arrangement or will you be okay with the others?” the man asked, turning to the taller player, who simply raised a thumbs up, not completely sure of themselves.
“Alright, then, Sal, you can go sit down on the couch and take this all in whilst I go show Eternal her room and set her stuff in there,” Coach offered, Sal nodding enthusiastically and sitting back down, Eternal shrugging at them before continuing with Mr. Witch.
They turned to the right room, Mr. Witch set the suitcase down in the room, and let Eternal put her bag down before starting to speak, “This is your room, that bed is already claimed, so that one is your’s. Down the hall is the bathroom, and my room is across from yours if you two ever need something.”
“Cool, who am I rooming with?” Eternal turned to the coach, his face morphing into something of concern, “She wanted to introduce herself directly, that’ll probably happen either later today or tomorrow, though, depending on how you feel.” Eternal shrugged, fine by her, “Alright, thanks, can I take a shower?” she asked, the coach smiling nicely, “Of course, shampoo and conditioner are supplied, so you can just grab some clothes and go ahead. Lock the door, please.”
Eternal nodded and started unzipping her suitcase for clothes, whilst Mr. Witches turned and went to go show Sal their room and help them get their suitcase there, maybe block a too-curious player or two from overstimulating them.
When Eternal was done with her shower, it was around three pm, but she was ready to lie down and sleep forever, probably because it was six am back at home. Just as she was about to walk back into her room to unpack and figure out where the hamper was, Sal flung towards her and latched on like a koala.
“Jesus—, what fucks wrong with you? Flying around the room like fuckin’ Rasputin, Sal,” the shorter one muttered before a flash of blue crossed her vision, a big bang hitting the wall afterwards. “... What the fuck.”
“Aw scheiße, that hurt…” Someone muttered behind Eternal, both the Russians turning to face whoever ran that fast just to slam into a wall. “Hey, it’s the other one!!” A blue-haired boy said, presumably the same age but height-wise younger, about five feet six inches, a full half-foot shorter than Eternal.
He had a blue spade-like mark on his cheek, a marking similar to how Eternal had saturated magenta markings under her eyes, and Sal had a white wing on their right eye, as if it were makeup. Worse, others also had markings like it, the only one the Russians knew of though was Dark Cacao with a blood-colored tear-shaped marking going from his right eye to his jaw.
Anyway, the psycho on the floor hopped up on his feet and sped over to Salt, despite Eternal’s efforts to block him; he was an uncanny kind of fast. He grabbed Sal’s eye rather softly and pointed out their marking, “You got a marking like mine!”
“They don’t like being in close proximity to people they don’t know, by the way,” Eternal pointed out. The blue psycho paused, cringing at his own actions, and backed off, “Sorry!” Sugar could feel the relief spill into Sal’s body when distance was put between them, “Is he like- mute?” the shortest one asked, Salt immediately freezing again.
“They, non-binary, and no, technically. They’ve got selective mutism,” Eternal shrugged, hearing another quiet apology from the stranger before his face morphed into awe, “Cool! Never met someone like that,” he called out.
“Speaking of meeting, who are you?” Eternal asked, wheezing when Silent Salt’s death hug became tighter and practically deflated her. “I’m Shadow Milk! I get called Shads though,” Shads smiled, Eternal pausing to process that information before smiling softly, “Guess we all have some weird names, I’m Etalpalli Eternal Sugar, just call me Eternal though.” Shads nodded then turned to Sal, “and them?”
“Sal Silent Salt, they go by their first name,” Eternal answered for them as per usual, finally catching a deep breath when Sal loosened their grip. “Nice to meet you, Shads, I assume you play on the team,” Eternal said, getting a proud nod from Shads, “I’m your libero! Best of the country.”
Little full of ourselves here, hm? Eternal chuckled, “Cool, that explains your lack of height and speed,” she said, suppressing a giggle as she saw Shads deflate, “The fuck, man,” he sighed, face the embodiment of :(.
Eternal panicked mentally, hands raised slightly, “Hey, I didn’t mean to upset ya, I was just teasing,” she started before Shads started giggling maniacally, “Gotcha!” he laughed out, Eternal pausing before giggling as well, so he was a trickster, noted.
“Wanna go practice with me and the others down in the basement?” Shads asked, the taller one pausing before smiling, “Was practicing what caused that big whack?” she asked, Shads pausing before hissing something under his breath, “I told Burning Spice he hit the ball like a bitch while we were doing saving and spiking drills. He then decided the best way to handle that was to toss the ball to Flowy, have her set it, and then whack me full force with the ball in the face.”
Eternal couldn’t suppress the maniacal laugh that came out of her once she heard the context to it, wiping away tears as she finally came to an end with her laughter. “Oh, that’s gold… I’d love to watch you all, but I gotta unpack and Sal needs to shower,” Eternal said, waving Shads off as he sighed dramatically and ran downstairs again, Sal hesitantly following him.
The pink-haired girl sighed and turned, heading back to her room officially, and started unpacking. Over the course of forty-five minutes, she unpacked her backpack and suitcase, trying to keep awake the entirety of that.
Once she was done it was about four PM and she was done, she was not-not sleeping anymore. She stood up from the floor and dropped into bed, the mattress dipping from her weight as she shifted onto her side and started slowly preening her feathers whilst falling asleep.