The morning came fast; Stu wasn’t ready for it. It wasn’t like normal days when he didn’t want to wake up, this morning it was because he spent the night holding Chaos. There wasn’t a window, but he had been counting the seconds, knowing at some point the night had to end. He hadn’t moved an inch all night long and neither had she, and his shoulder desperately hurt. That was the price though, to give her the upmost comfort.

  He knew when she was awake even if he couldn’t see her eyes. the shift in her posture coupled with the change in the pattern of her breathing. Stu said, “Good morning, sleep well?”

  Chaos didn’t move, softly she said, “I thought it was a dream. Am I going to turn around and wake up, like normal?”

  Stu ughed saying, “I don’t think so, but that’s what I suppose a dream version of me would say. Although, I suppose you could look at the clock and see if you can read he time.”

  She asked, “What does that have to do with this?”

  He said, “If you can’t read the time, you are asleep. If you can read the time, you are awake. It’s simple psychology.”

  He watched as she grabbed his phone on the side table and said, “It’s after eight in the morning.” Putting the phone back on the table she slowly turned to face him. Chaos smiled at him saying, “I guess I’m awake after all.” Stu looked at her ying there and couldn’t help but grin uncontrolbly. There weren’t words for how he felt. Still smiling herself she asked, “What?”

  Stu said, “I’m sorry, I can’t help it. This is just really nice. I don’t suppose you’d want to do this again?”

  She touched his face before saying, “Absolutely, as long as you promise to sleep next time.” She smiled then kissed him before getting out of bed. Stu y there enjoying waking up for once in his life.

  Chaos opened the door to leave and as she did, prosperity tumbled into the room. She opened her eyes and jumped to her feet saying, “Hi guys, we were just uh..” It was at this point that Stu looked past her and saw Miracle sleeping in the hallway next to open snacks and empty drinks.

  Stu sighed asking, “Were you both camped out in the hallway for the entire night?”

  Shyly avoiding eye contact, Prosperity said, “Not the whole night..”

  Rolling his eyes he asked, “Chaos would you mind waking the other one up? I think she cims to be a God or something.”

  Chaos poked Miracle and she jolted awake asking, “What? Did I miss something? Are they going to…” looking around realizing everyone was watching her and Miracle blushed. She said, “Good morning everyone! I must have been sleepwalking or something..” She forced a smile.

  Shaking his head Stu began ughing. Everyone stared at him shocked as he got up and got dressed, he didn’t lose his good mood at any of their shenanigans this morning, which made everyone instantly question why. Miracle and Prosperity didn’t believe either of them that nothing had happened, but they didn’t seem to believe them.

  After breakfast they reconvened in the living room. Stu stood in front of the girls saying, “Alright, as of today we are getting our shit together!” A pillow hit him in the face, he looked over at the girls.

  Chaos frowned saying, “Language..”

  Stu growled, “Alright, as of today we are getting our crap together!” He gnced at Chaos and she gave an approving nod. He sighed before continuing, “From this point on, depending on how our next meeting goes I’m considering changing Evil Chaos’s status from Evil to something less evil, maybe forsaken..” A pillow hit him in the face again, he looked over and Chaos was red with envy.

  Prosperity asked, “Is it because you want to sleep with her, but you don’t want to do an evil version of Chaos?”

  Stu face-palmed himself, in a muffled tone he said, “No, that has literally nothing to do with anything I’m talking about. This has nothing to do with sex.” Looking up he sternly spoke, “This has everything to do with using everything at our advantage to win the tournament. Forsaken Chaos has informed me that Marrow is holding out on telling me something, and she says it’s important. We need to figure out how to get that information.”

  Chaos asked, “How do we know that Evil Chaos is even telling you the truth?”

  Stu bluntly said, “Good point, that’s why if she’s telling the truth about this then we should be able to trust her. She’s provided us with an eye for Prosperity, coming soon, and now information the judges are hiding something. If she’s telling the truth that is. That’s why this is important.”

  Crossing her arms and clearly unhappily relenting, Chaos said, “Fine.. That’s reasonable..”

  Surprised, Stu said, “Alright then, that was easier than I thought.. Anyways on to point number two, we have to start keeping our heads on a swivel..” The girls stared at him bnkly, he readjusted saying, “Right.. Okay, Red and Jasmin are out there probably hunting us, with who knows how many people that also have the same idea. So, we need to keep a close watch on each other and pay attention to our surroundings. Keep as low of a profile, as much as possible, all the time.” They nodded as he said this. Stu was still surprised, “You Gods are extremely agreeable today. It’s weirding me out..” He pulled his phone out checking the time, it was already after 11Am.

  Chaos asked, “Really? It’s so hard to believe that we are listening to you that you have to see if you are dreaming? Stu, I’m frankly disappointed..”

  Prosperity looked depressed as she said, “I always agree with you..”

  Miracle looked like she was about to cry saying, “I’m too scared to not agree with you..”

  Stu hung his head in shame saying, “I’m sorry, you’re all too pretty for a miserable guy like me.” They all looked instantly like they felt better. Stu sighed once more, “We need a designated chain of command. Without it, in the worst-case scenario it could get us all killed. We should vote on who we want to be our leader. This time you all need to actually take position designations seriously.. No fking..”

  Prosperity yelled, “I vote Stu!”

  Stu replied, “I vote Miracle.”

  Miracle looking scared yelled, “What! That can’t be right! I can’t fight anymore!” She was terrified.

  Stu said, “Right, that’s why you’d stay behind and give us support, direct us, whatever a battle calls for. It’s perfect for you, plus it will help you with your problem.”

  Miracle asked, “I can detect any gods within a slightly rger perimeter than the other gods. It might be a good way for me to help.. If everyone is alright with it, that is.” The other two nodded in agreement to this arrangement.

  Stu was genuinely feeling really good about how things were going today. The girls were incredibly agreeable, and he couldn’t help but be in a good mood after his morning he’d had. Looking at the girls he said, “Alright, this is excellent. We are already at point five....” The girls grumbled at him still going on, he grinned at them. “Come on girls, st one I swear. Look, the tournament is the one thing we can’t hide from, and there is every possibility that one of you or myself won’t make it. We have to stick together, no matter what, this means we have to get stronger. I know it’s been difficult sticking with the current training programs due to the unexpected nature of the tournament. So, I’ve come up with an incentive system.” Reaching in his pocket he produced a couple of sheets of stickers.

  Prosperity looked confused as she asked, “What are we children? You’re going to motivate us with little unicorn stickers?” The other two looked just as lost.

  Stu grinned saying, “If you do your training for the day, make sure you let me know. I’ll set a calendar up in my room, and when you complete training I’ll put a sticker on that day. If one of you manages five days straight of training, I’ll let you sleep in my bed…” He looked back at the girls still grinning, but his grin faded at what he saw. The room was empty; the girls were all gone. Throwing his hands up in the air he yelled to the emptiness, “I wasn’t finished expining the idea yet! I mean you could have made sure you understood the premises of the pn first!” There was nothing but silence. There was none though, only he himself remained in the bunker. Stu sighed, “At some point I’m going to be found dead and the coroner will say; he died of severe testicur rupture and his lungs colpsed from sighing far too much…” He looked around one st time before going outside to get some fresh air.

  Once outside he found a seat as his phone began exploding with missed calls and text messages. They were all from Broth, Stu called him back. Broth picked up on the second ring yelling, “It’s about mother-fucking time! You know how worried I was when I couldn’t get ahold of you?”

  Rolling his eyes Stu said, “Were you really worried about me or were you worried about your paycheck if something happens to me?”

  Broth was silent for a second before he said, “That’s cold man, I’m as invested in your outcome as you are. Well, almost as much as you I suppose..”

  Now Stu was finally annoyed today, it took this long for him to get this way. He felt proud, this was a personal best. He asked, “What’s with the urgency today Broth?”

  Broth said, “I finished my analysis of the blood. Are you interested in seeing what I’ve got?”

  Stu’s heart skipped a beat at this news. He said, “I’ll be there in five, you know what? Make it three, I’m going to drive fast today..”

  Broth ughed saying, “Fuck yeah, I’ll be waiting dog!”