Chapter Text
Well, looks like the day's finally come for summer to end... But that's what the Pines twins have to accept.
Sure, a lot of stuff happened that was, admittedly, incredibly terrifying, but there was also a lot more fun.
Everybody they've met, every adventure, and every victory. The Twins were sure they'd never forget any of them.
As they boarded the bus and looked back one more time, Mabel and Dipper could only wish that summer would come back way sooner.
...
As they fell asleep and were promptly woken up once they reached their destination, the two siblings noticed something in each of their hands.
An invite to the Library?
What's that about?
"Oi, you kids, get off already! Your stop's... Kids?"
What the— Did they get off already?
They're gone.
━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━
Having said their goodbyes, Anne took a look at Sprig, Polly, Hop Pop, and everyone else from Amphibia one last time.
Sure, it was more than a rough place to stay most of the time, but gosh dang-it was she gonna miss this world and these lovable frogs. Still, she knew she had to go back to her home on Earth, and so she made her way over to the portal.
As everyone looked on with teary eyes, a light flashed brightly above the crowd, and a black and gold paper slip came floating down toward them.
While Hop Pop read its contents out loud, he and a select group of the present Amphibians slowly glowed bright yellow as they disappeared in a burst of light. And just right before Anne stepped into the portal, she lit up and disappeared as well.
Yep, the remaining folks totally didn't freak out or anything.
━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━
It's been a good few hours since Belos was defeated and Luz was exhausted. It was a sentiment shared by the rest of the Boiling Isles. They were incredibly relieved, sure, but they shelved any kind of celebration for later once they were all recovered from the experience. Luz was grouped up with the rest of her friends for a little bit before they agreed to meet up a bit later in the day once they got their bearings and split off. Well, with the exception of Amity, who went with Luz to the Owl House to help her rest up. Safe to say, they spent a lit of that time cuddling.
Yep, despite everything, this was a pretty great day.
So while they were all huddled up in the wrecked living room of the Owl House and prepared themselves for the party, King bursted into the room with Raine following close behind him, saying some weird invitation slip popped out from nowhere in a burst of light and into his hands. They all huddled up to read it when light surrounded them as soon as they finished.
More magic trouble so soon? Come on!
━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━
Madoka's mind was racing as she laid in her bed. There was so much that happened today! A new transfer student (who she swears she saw in her dream, and was so weird to her earlier...), protecting a cute little animal(cat? rabbit???) from said transfer student, Akemi Homura.
Then they had an encounter with a witch(?, she'll have to ask Mami more about that tomorrow) and then Mami, a MAGICAL GIRL!
Magical Girls are real and they protected me and Sayaka! Even Homura was a magical girl! Although, she seemed so distant towards us, but I just wish we could all get along...
And, could I become a Magical Girl? Madoka Kaname, a normal girl without any special traits... really has the potential to be one? The potential to help and protect people? It... all sounds like a dream come true.
And if it was true that Sayaka could be one too, then maybe we could work together! The two of us and Mami-san as a Magical Girl team!
( Maybe we could even convince Homura-chan to join us too... I want to know why she's was acting like that earlier. She might just have issues— she did just transfer— and has the secret of being a magical girl weighing on her. And I still feel like I've seen her before. Maybe being Magical Girls together could help me talk to her more, help her get used to life here and not make her feel all alone. Honestly, why am I thinking like this...(>///<;) )
Hmm, but I don't really know what to wish for... And I think Sayaka also said she also doesn't know earlier. ( Maybe we could think about it tomorrow, since today was a lot after all, haha... )
...Huh? There's something under my pillow.
An invitation?
━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━
Subaru Natsuki, after yet another extended period of suffering, was granted a long moment of peace. The Sanctuary took a lot out of him— same with everything else around that time— but he really, really didn't want to think about any of that right now.
He was on a carriage with Beako, Emilia and the rest of his friends heading to Priestella. Life was pretty sweet this time.
There was no way he wanted to interrupt his peace, remembering what he had to go through to even get here.
All the pain, the deaths, the Witches, the Great Rabb—
Nope, nuh uh, he'll work through it once they get to Priestella. Right now, he was going to relax and enjoy—
"Subaru, what's that light above us?"
Huh, what is Emilia-tan—?
Oh wait, something's floating down towards me. The carriage also stopped, seems like Otto heard all the commotion. Well, if this kills me...
I read it quietly, in case it was a voice-activated trap like RBD. It's a library invitation? And all of the camps names and signatures have been written down in the blank.
Even Rem's.
And not just that, this message, these listed books—
Oh God, why?
Why can't I ever get a brea—?!
━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━
Dante did nothing but lean back on a wall for an hour, letting everything catch up to them.
From the raid, to getting back the Boughs, to everything with Ryoshu, Araya and the House of Spiders... All in all, another grueling adventure.
Scratch that, this might the most exhausting one yet, considering that it wasn't solely the bus team being decimated this time.
Almost all of Limbus' departments were hit hard by the recent events. From the state of the LCA Team 3, to Saude's condition...
Marton, along with the entirety of the LCE...
Even the LCB, usually able to rewind back to good shape easily, was dealt a heavy blow with Gregor's 'unwrapping'. It was to the point that even Vergilius, despite being fine now, took an extensively long rest after getting back to base.
Needless to say, Dante was spread a bit too thin at present. Helping the LCE rebuild was a much needed break, but they really hoped to be given a more extended leave from the company. A month, a year, maybe even longer couldn't hurt. But of course, the 'Flow' moves on, and soon enough comes someone else's turn once more. Maybe Meursault's? Dante always relied on their gut feelings on whoever is next, and they were usually right, so that's probab—
"M-manager Esquire! Come hither! The company has given us all a notice of import! March along with me posthaste!!!"
What? What could the higher-ups want now? Dante really hoped those guys weren't sending everyone out on a job so soon, but you never know with this company...
Regardless, they followed Don Quixote's lead and met up with the gathered Sinners(excluding Gregor...). It looks like the notice's for all the departments too, with Vergilius, the LCD team, Saude and Hohenheim being present as well.
"It seems Dante has arrived, so I will now begin the reading." Faust started.
"To all departments of Limbus Company, we would like to inform you all that you have earned an extended break—" A loud, collected sigh of relief came out of the gathering, with Dante doing a soft click. "... however, this time will also be used for preparation against a bigger conflict, so it's advised to all departments to not let the comfort dull your capabilities. With this in mind, the Directors and the entirety of the LCA Department will not join you."
Of course there's a catch, which gets followed by a loud groan from Heathcliff and Rodya.
"Any moment now, an invitation will arrive at the time of this notice's reading, which will send all other departments of Limbus Company to the Library in the Outskirts. Do not panic, and be sure to carefully read all that is written on the invitation slip. Ensure that you are all safe and capable of continuing work on the reparation of the LCE Headquarters at the time of return. That is all.
Signed, Limbus Company Executive Director."
Just then, a burst of golden light sparked above the group. The invitation slip that manifested from the light landed onto Faust's hands. They all stood in dumbfounded silence after that, everyone still processing everything. And then...
"... What in the bloody hell was any of that shite?"
"Team Leader, did they really just say—?!"
"The Library? *sigh* After two years, huh...?"
"Hmph~ got my hope's up on that break for nothing. ...Wait a minute, The Library—?"
A loud cacophony of voices erupted from almost everyone in regards to the contents of the notice. Dante couldn't really get much of what it meant, but they had a bad and tired feeling despite it.
A little while after, Faust got everyone to quiet down and turn their attention to the letter to the Library, reading from it after everyone collected themselves.
["Dear Guests: I formally invite you to the library.
A situation has occurred that requires groups from many worlds to gather together in the hopes of overcoming the ordeal that awaits them.
Preparations shall be held in The Library to ensure the best possible outcome, for all parties involved, will be achieved.
As compensations, The Library will provide some groups will be provided comfort in their past experiences by those similar to them.
Others, will be given glimpses of the future that awaits them at the end of this great tribulation.
Brace yourselves, and find the peace and books that you seek.
- Angela, Director of The Library"]
...Nobody knew what to say. How could they, really? Not when the message given by the invite had left such ominous implications. Dante couldn't help but feel a growing terror emerging from their core.
Some big, terrible event is said to happen at some point. Terrible enough to require gathering groups from different worlds to have a shot at beating it. Dante couldn't even believe that different worlds outside the Mirror existed (though they did feel some strange familiarity with the concept in their subconscious...), and the same could be said for everyone else.
"In addition to this," Faust continues despite the silence that overtook the group. "The names and signatures of all notable figures outside the contracted personnel of Limbus Company— both the official external allies and the briefly-established affiliates— have been written in the blank here that confirms the acceptance for the invitation. The books listed to us specifically are—"
.
.
*
━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━
<...Faust?>
No reply. Dante has no idea what just happened. One moment they were listening intently to Faust's words, and then...
Wait—!
<WHERE AM I?!!>
Dante begins to look around the area. Shelves are lined up between the sides of the large space they stand in. Glowing orbs of light flutter around the air they see. Below they see a wooden floor and lookind behind them they see—
<AAAAAAA!!!>
"AAAHHH!!"
"HOT BELGIAN WAFFLES!"
"HOLY FROG!"
"DEAR TITAN!"
A LIVING FIRE CLOCK/FROG PEOPLE/SOME DOG THING—!
"Ahem."
!!!
Quickly, everyone turned to look at the figures standing in front of them. There was a guy who looked like a standard office worker with pale skin, short black hair, wearing a simple black suit with a white shirt, black tie, and black shoes.
And the one beside him was a woman with short light-blue hair, yellow eyes, and pale skin. As she was scanning around the summoned group, they took further note of her attire; consisting of a dark outfit with a long coat, a white and black cravat, and heels. Her pendant attached to her cravat is an amber color with the orbs on her heels sharing the same highlight color. Lifting the book she was carrying, she read through it before closing it back shut and turning her attention back onto her guests.
"Greetings, dear guests, and welcome to The Library." She began with a cold and calm tone. "I am Angela, Head Librarian and Director of my namesake. You have all been gathered to kill a living book and prevent the destruction of reality as you all know it."
...
"WHAT?!!"