"Astonishin, absolutely beautiful," Isabel praised me as I twirled around in my elegant black dress for her, "babygirl you look so pretty!"

I had to stop and hide my glowing crimson face on hearing her call me that, "tha…thank you!" What a powerful drug, my blood was pumping so much, I never thought a simple little pet name could make me feel that euphoric.

"Oh, is it okay if I call you that?" 

"Of course!" I blurted out, "I… I really like it, it makes me happy."

She smiled at me and stroked my hair, looking deep into my eyes, her own mismatched eyes glowing with a fiery passion, "alright, then what else would make you happy right now babygirl?" She asked lifting my chin with the tip of her forefinger.

"A.. a… I would like…"

"Yes?"

I continued to stutter, my face so bright it put the sun to shame, "kiss," I just barely requested through my nervous fluster.

Her lips curled in a delighted little grin, "okay, I can do that," she whispered as she leaned in.

We were girlfriends, but we had not exactly kissed a whole lot. Yes, we were a new couple, but still I had expected a whole lot more kisses from her than I had been receiving. Not that I actually would have been able to handle it had she kissed me as often as I would have liked. In fact, the closer her lips got to mine as she slowly brought our faces near, the more my heart pounded against my chest, shaking my entire body.

The warm soft sensation of her wet lips pressed against mine filled me with an overdose of joy. Too bad for us, our moment was interrupted as an intruder came knocking on our door.

"Who? What? Why?" I fumbled around all the one word questions my brain could think of in its barely operable state, I was simply too high off love to think, which perhaps only worsened my panic as I realized I was still in a dress while some stranger was expecting me to open the door to my dorm in our all boys school. 

"Yeah, yeah, what do ya want?" Isabel barked, waving to me to hide inside our closet.

My brain lagging behind I looked at the closet then back to Isabel, who made a concerted effort to urge me into hiding while answering the door. "Oh, right," my mind caught up and I practically dived into my hiding place, stripping my beautiful dress off with a combined amount of caution and speed. 

From outside my closet I could hear the knob of our door turn, as Isabel opened up to answer our unwanted guest. 

"You must be the Snowdrops boy, I presume?" A deep gravelly voice spoke. 

"I'm Isaiah Snowdrop, yes, what's it to ya?"

"Not very much, frankly my business is with the young prince with whom you share a living space." I trembled in the closet, his voice tickling my spine in an unpleasant sort of way.

"She…" she slipped with my pronouns for a moment then corrected herself, "he's not here, wanna leave a message?"

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, so either tell me whatcha want or take a hike," she could not be more clear she wanted him to leave, but, for whatever reason the man lingered.

"Would you allow me in, what I have to say is not something I'd like to be heard out in the open like this."

"Let you in? Why, you here to inspect my room or somethin?"

"Not at all, it is as I said, I do not feel comfortable just leaving a message with you for any prying ears to hear."

"Then write it down," I could hear her tear a piece of paper from a notebook, hopefully not her sketchbook, "just jot whatever you gotta say down and I'll make sure sh…he gets the message."

"Very well, I suppose that shall suffice," even from the closet I could hear the scribbling sound of the pen etching across the paper as he presumably pressed it to the wall, "there, please deliver this message to Prince Aiden."

"Fine, will do, now we done here?"

"That is all I need from you, impudent young man."

"Good, then good bye," not allowing him to respond, she slammed the door shut and a moment later breathed a deep heavy sigh of relief.

I too took a big long breath as I emerged from the closet, sans one dress. 

"Who was it?"

"Beats me, just some Shepherd in some fancy lookin duds," she wiped her forehead, "I really don't like dealing with those turds."

I giggled and patted her on the head, "you have come to the wrong school if your goal is to avoid Shepherds."

Her eye got small and began to dart around the room as she nervously stammered, "Bonbon, you're… you're…"

I tilted my head, like a confused puppy dog, then realized what had gotten her so flustered. One ear shattering squeal later I dressed myself in my pajamas. Three times now this girl has seen me in nothing but my panties, I felt like some kind of flasher or something, devious and shameful. 

"So, then, the shepherd left a note for me?" I played it off as nothing had happened, though my cheeks most certainly did not hide my shame.

She nodded and handed it over, the paper slightly crinkled, something she most likely did subconsciously after seeing me na… well nevermind, let us just pretend that part did not happen. I took the note, unfolded it, and attempted to understand the terrible chicken scratch written on it. It honestly felt like trying to decipher an ancient language, worse than even Isabel's handwriting, but eventually I was able to understand its meaning.

"So, what does it say?"

"Prince Aiden, please meet me in the chapel three days from now, before first mass, come to the second confessional towards the back on the eastern side."

"Confessional? This guy wants you to tell him your sins?"

I shook my head and crumpled up the paper, "how peculiar, I wonder what business that man could possibly have with me."

"Do you know him?"

"Sweetie, I was in the closet, I did not see him," she was cute, but admittedly that was a rather silly question, though perhaps that just played to her cuteness.

She blushed and rubbed the back of her head bashfully, "yeah… right, my bad.".

"What did he look like?"

"He had super long blond hair pulled back into a pony tail, and he hid his upper face behind a really odd lookin hat thing," she tried to recall more details, "ummm, also he was tall, and like I said he was wearin some super fancy robes… but like, can't really think of much else to describe him. Arguably pretty."

No such person came to mind as I tried to imagine her description of him, whoever he was, I had no recollection of ever meeting him. 

Though, when I was in the closet, and I could hear his voice, there was something about it that felt familiar, but not in the traditional sense. I, honestly I just have no way to explain it beyond, while I had never heard his voice before, my soul recognized it, and it filled me with dread. I know, that does not make a lick of sense, and yet, that is exactly how it felt.

"Isabel, is there anything else you can recall about him?"

She shook her head, then wrapped her arms around her body and shuddered, "actually, yes…" she looked pale, her face haunted, "his voice, it, it made my heart break out into a panic… like, not in a good way, I was… I was actually terrified, but… I don't think I showed it, or at least I tried not too."

I wrapped my arms around her trembling body, comforting her by stroking her hair as I pressed my head against hers. A small part of me was almost relieved, it was not just me who felt strangely about that man, but then again, another part of me felt all the more terrified. 

"Are you, are you goin to meet him?"

"I do not know…"

"What if he's a spy, or maybe even an assassin!"she pulled her head away and grabbed my shoulders, "there's no way we can trust this guy, he's just way too suspicious!"

I nodded and pulled her back into a hug, "I know sweetie… though, I also wonder if I were to ignore his summons if he would simply turn up here again." 

As suspicious as a secret meeting in the church was, I found that preferable to his presence invading the sanctity of our private space.

"If you do, I'll come with you," she hugged me tight, "I'm not gonna risk it, if he tries somethin then I wanna be right there with you to keep you safe!"

I kissed her forehead, "thank you Isabel, having you beside me brings me a lot of comfort," though my wording may have felt a bit awkward, it was true.

Putting the encounter and future meeting out of our minds, we prepared ourselves for bed, and our return to classes in the morning. Though my dreams felt invaded by a dark cloud that night, as the stranger's voice continued to grip at my heart with an ice cold embrace.

From one unexpected encounter to the next, our return to school seemed full of surprises. Two classes into the new day Isabel and I both stared, dumbfounded, while a familiar short blonde girl walked over to the podium and climbed up onto a little stepping stool. She placed a stack of papers down, trying to straighten out the messy bundle, and cleared her throat.

"Hello students, welcome to my class on 'ancient history and interdimensional beings' or something like that, I'll be your professor." Our unprofessional little professor said, "you can call me Miss Wanderer, or Sir Prophet, and if I really like ya, just plain ol' Voxie would be fine too."

I had never expected this would be that job of which she spoke. What were the odds that my new professor would be the strange girl who supposedly travels between worlds? Who am I kidding? My life has been nothing but unusual thus far, why would that be of shock to me?

“You?” Isabel vocalized my own shock.

“Me?” Voxie answered back, covering her mouth with her hands, “are you addressing little old me?”

“Yes, of course you,” Isabel pointed, “who else would I be talkin to?”

“Well, Miss…ter Snowdrop,” Voxie caught herself, “I don’t think that is a very polite way to be addressing your teacher, now is it?”

“Why are you my teacher though?”

“I was hired to teach this class, isn’t that obvious?” She tilted her head and pursed her lips, “do you not want me to be your teacher?”

“No, I don’t mean that, it’s just.. what?”

“Please, young la….lad, save these kinds of outburst for after class,” she once again found herself almost slipping, “I will be more than happy to answer any and all questions you may have later,” she punctuated her sentence with a slight giggle, “so then, are we good here?”

“Yea, I guess,” Isabel settled down, and Voxie resumed her introduction.

"Actually I have a question," one of the other students raised their hand.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Umm, are you a boy or a girl?"

"I'm cute," she chirped as she tilted her head and placed her finger on her chin while flashing an endearing smile.

"Yeah but what's in your pants?" Another student mustered the gall to ask.

"This~" in the blink of an eye Voxie was beside the student, holding a massive sword mere inches from his chest, "any more questions?"

"I… uh… I…" he was as speechless as the rest of us. Not only had I not seen where she had drawn the sword from, I could not even figure where such a massive weapon could be stored. Then, as though nothing happened she was once more at the front of the class, minus one ginormous sword.

“So anyways, the school wants me to use their textbooks for the lesson plan, but like, I know more than them,” so blunt, so curt, but also so very likely to be true, “instead of that nonsense, I’m gonna show you these videos I made with one of my wives~” Voxie was married?

She took out a tablet, and tapped on the screen a few times, looking back at the large monitor behind her, muttering as she attempted to project the contents of her device for the class to see. After a few minutes of fiddling, a little video began to play and she stepped aside. 

“Hiya v-space viewers, and welcome to the Anarchist Bakery~” Voxies cutesy high pitched voice chirped from the speakers, “I am your host, Cutiepie Wanderer Voxie, and today is a special stream.” 

While I was of course surprised to see Voxie was a v-streamer, I was even more surprised to see the little cafe in which she was filming her stream from. Just like the Communist Cafe, it filled me with the same sense of familiarity and warmth. In fact, it had looked nearly identical to the cafe we had met her in, with some slight differences in the layout.

"As you probably know already the v-space is a virtual network that connects worlds to a central hub that allows communication and the exchange of information between tons of worlds. That's really handy and has helped lead to advancements in technology and culture across many worlds, buuut it does come with a strict set of limits too. You can call 'em lil safety nets put in place by the Goddess who oversees the v-space, Electrael, also known as Electravirus Ella." 

I wanted to focus on Voxie's lesson, though most of it was already things I knew. Yeah I always thought it was basically roleplay, but I was still aware of it. It was not that her lesson was boring, it was just that I could not stop focusing on the scenery around her. She paced about the bakery as a camera followed her while she continued to expose information about v-space, and I was hooked on every little detail of the setting. The singular coffee maker that sat on a back counter behind a display case filled with macarons, cupcakes and other baked goods. The portraits on the wall of employees, each one's face feeling like they belonged to a close loved one I knew. The pink and blue strobing lights that set a cozy little atmosphere, accompanied by a soundtrack of lofi. And even the gigantic television that sat in front of a long blue sofa set beside what looked like dj equipment. It all looked like I had seen it before… of course I have, the Communist Cafe was nearly an identical match, as I said before, but no… that cafe, that Anarchist Bakery as she called it… I knew it… it was… it was as if it were my home. 

"Hey lil cutie, whatcha doin?" A voice reminiscent of Isabel's spoke from off camera.

"I'm teaching people about V-space and interdimensional theory," Voxie answered and the camera panned to a tall woman in a cropped black hoodie. 

"Oh, heya, been a long time since I've streamed, I doubt anyone watchin even remembers me," her resemblance to my girlfriend was uncanny, though a bit older and with pink and blue highlights in her silver hair; but still all so very much the same in many ways.

"Nya, how about you re-introduce yourself then sweetie!" Another familiar voice spoke from behind the camera this time.

"Alright, alright, let's see if I remember how to do this…" the girl who looked like Isabel struck a cocky pose then waved, while flashing an inviting smile, "hello my lil rebels, I am Cupcake Rebel, founder of the Anarchist Bakery, and Goddess of Anarchy," that name, that voice, that introduction. Everything about it made my heart leap into my throat. 

"Nya, wait, should you be saying that?" The girl behind the camera voiced her concerns, "what if they find you?"

"What? My enemies are gone now, no harm in tellin the good people who I am," she shrugged then looked back to the camera, "and besides, if she's watchin, then I want her to know who I am."

Voxie stepped between Cupcake and the camera, "hey, hey, this is supposed to be my stream, ya know? Thanks for stopping by Cupcake, but we really ought to get back on topic." Voxie directed the camera away from her.

No!, I thought, let me see her again. Who was she talking about? Who was the girl she hoped was watching? And why did she look so much like Isabel? I wanted to know more, needed to know more, but she did not show up for the rest of the video, that is until the very end.

"Okie, well that's all we can talk about for now, but we'll be back to discuss more next time!" The Voxie on the video said while hopping in place.

"And hey," Cupcake snuck into view again in front of Voxie, "until next time remember, don't eat Cupcake… eat the rich! Buhbye~"

And with that the video ended.

Immediately I wished to ask Voxie questions, but before I can say anything, Isabel beat me to it, "Vox, was that the Goddess Isarael?"

"Don't be stupid," a student two rows behind us snorted, "Isarael isn't real."

"Shut up, she is real!" Isabel spun around, "what would you know?"

"I know you're delusional and you like to play pretend, like you're some kind of apostle of the Demon God." It was at that point I recognized the voice behind us. It was none other than the boy I had challenged to a duel the week prior.

"She's a goddess, and I'm not delusional!"

"He's a man, and you're absolutely nuts," he laughed.

"Hey, hey, settle down!" Voxie's voice got surprisingly deep and commanding, "there will be no fighting in my classroom, nor will I allow for any slandering of my friends." 

The sudden shift in her demeanor, as wells as the unexpected masculine voice had brought the whole room to silence. "If you have questions, we can talk after class, okie Izzy?" Her voice slipt back to its normal cute tone like nothing happened, and Isabel nodded as she stared dumbfounded at the tiny professor. 

"So yeah, that was the basics on v-space," Voxie resumed her lesson, "though of course v-space access is apparently not so great here," she sighed, "I had to go through so many proxies and back doors just to get to my videos working." She fell silent for a moment then shook her head and perked up, recapping everything she said in the video, just in less words. My mind however, never left that bakery, and the girl named Cupcake Rebel.

"Hey, you okay Bonbon?" Before I had noticed it class had ended and Isabel stood beside me, pulling gently on my sleeve. 

"Oh, I am sorry, I suppose my mind was just… occupied."

She smiled and tousled my hair, "you're cute when you get all spacey," even her compliment, while certainly sweet, could not break my focus from the questions I had bubbling in my mind. No doubt, they mirrored questions she too had wished to ask our new teacher. 

We waited until all the other students had left the room before we approached Voxie, the little professor anticipating our every question, "so, you wanna know more about Cupcake, right?"

Isabel bounced her head up and down, nodding fervently, "is she really the goddess Isarael? Or is it like, a coincidence?"

"She is a goddess," our short statured teacher confirmed, "though I'm curious how you know the name Isarael?"

"Isarael is the goddess who created the demons," I provided her with the proper context, "so that is to say, it appears as though you are friends with our creator." It seemed nigh impossible, honestly just preposterous, in fact. The girl in that video, that Cupcake Rebel, seemed like an ordinary girl. So then how could she be a goddess?

"She created the demons?" Voxie pursed her lips and tapped her finger to her chin as she thought, "hmm I see, so that would mean there is a connection there, just like Lilith's world…" she mumbled.

"Connection? Is something the matter?"

She nodded, "I have some research I need to do… though perhaps I am meddling in things I am not meant to know… but I've been a good boy so maybe I can afford to be a bad girl just this once," she had completely lost the both of us, and though I wanted to know more, I was also afraid to pry into things that just simply were not my business. 

Before we could inquire any further the warning bell for fourth period rang, "shiiit…" Isabel cursed, snapping her fingers, "hey, you teachin another class?"

Voxie shook her head, "nope, but I am going to have to ask for some privacy," she waved her hands directing us towards the door, "I really hate to kick ya out, but there's something I desperately need to do," she ushered us towards the door with a light shove, "but hey, if you got more questions just ask me tomorrow, okie?"

"Tch, fine…"

Though we both were disappointed, we did as Voxie asked and left her classroom, splitting up for the first time that day as our schedules diverged for the rest of our classes.

I should have paid more attention to my lessons, but all my mental energy was fixated on Cupcake Isarael Rebel, supposed Goddess of Anarchy.

As classes ended I returned to our room, my mental energy completely spent. It felt as though I was being pulled in so many different directions all at once. Classes, my duel, the meeting with a stranger, the mystery of Cupcake Rebel and Isarael, it was all so much; school had only just resumed and I already felt overwhelmed.

Isabel was absent when I entered the room, much to my dismay, so I simply sat on her bed, holding her pillow tightly against my chest, burying my face in it as I breathed in her aroma. Then I had a strange, perhaps silly thought.

"What if I grew a garden?"

I do not know where that thought had come from. While I had always enjoyed tending to the flowers in the castle courtyard, it had not really been something I thought of too much up until that point.

"Yes, yes I think that would be good," I agreed with myself, "all of us have had gardens, it would not be right if I did not." All of us? Now I knew I was going mad, why would I say something so strange like that? Putting that aside, it would be a cozy little distraction from my worries, and my mental health would greatly benefit from taking up such a relaxing hobby.

Tomorrow we will go and see about a horticulture club, or something or the sort.