Maze Aurora’s Sunset Group 4 Closed

They succeeded, although they needed to try it again. At least her skill wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

"Yeah, we did it..." Luna mumbled, stepping out of the pumpkin. Finally! She believed that she would pass out if she needed to breathe under that.. filthy smell again.

She started looking around. As Nico had just said, this place seemed like it was going to rain. She didn't dislike rain, to be fair, she liked hearing the sound of rains. However, she didn't want to be soaking wet. That sounded just as horrible as breathing under the smell of pumpkin.

That was why her choice would be the Mental Door. Not that she was scared anyway. "Let's go through the Metal Door..."

Action: A.) Through Metal Door (North)

The gate creaks as it swings open. You and you partner proceed north down this path. Instead of the cool weather, cold chilly wind blows and the sudden clear skies loom with dark clouds as if it was going to start pouring thunderous rains any second. Tall trees loom over, shading the path, somehow, making it slightly eerie. The path is littered with leaves as if it was Autumn rather than spring. On the trees are about a dozen crows staring at you with uncanny eyes as you walk as if you were trespassing their territory. Twigs and leaves crunch below your feet. At last, straight ahead you see the summer’s light and green grass. Behind the exit, another gate, similar to the one you entered from. At both sides of the gate, were two apple trees, on each of the trees hung a single eye catching red apple from one of the many branches.

Luna
The Apple, it was the apple of Luna’s eye. The fruit was so perfect, so round and glossy as if begging for her to take a bite. The way the light reflected off its skin was so tempting. At that instant, Luna would find her stomach grumbling, and that she was suddenly famished and that apple, it looked delicious. What if she were simply to pluck it and take a juicy bite? It couldn’t hurt stay a little longer. SHe was just that hungry after all. It was almost impossible to peel her eyes away from the fruit and there was the feeling that if she looked away for just one second, the beautiful Apple would disappear. Just one bite.

Nico
Nico would feel the place making her skin crawl. She wanted nothing than to get out as soon as possible. The crows were creepy and she was sure that the twigs weren’t twigs but actual bones. The light in front and the green grass was a relief, just a few seconds more and they’d be out of here. However, as she reached the gate, she’d find that Luna abruptly stopped in his tracks and was staring so longingly at the single apple on the Apple tree. Why? It was just an ordinary apple.

'Luna... What are you doing? We're practically out the Maze. You can get some apples later. I don't like this place...' Nico peeked over her shoulder at one of the large crows that cawed at them. It barely sounded like a regular crow. It sounded deep and almost demonic. 'L-Luna! Can we please go! Come on!' Nico approached her colleague and waited for her response.

The Redheads eyes glanced at the floor and noticed something horrifying. Bones. It weren't twigs that carried their weight...but actual bones. 'Luna... I have a bad feeling about this... Let's go..'

"But..." Luna mumbled, couldn't stop looking at the apple. How could anyone wait until later just to taste some other boring apples? Look at this one, so tasty and beautiful... "It's not like the apple can hurt us or anything. Also, I doubt that I can take it from the tree myself, so, I need you to go with me."

She wasn't sure what she was saying anymore. The only thing she could hear was a voice in her head, kept telling her to eat that apple up there. Maybe deep down inside, she knew that she was falling from something, but she couldn't control her thought anymore...

Luna approached the tree. Her stomach rumbled louder. The apple was closer. So much closer. In fact, if she stretched her arm, she was sure she could reach it. That plump, round, juicy, delicious looking apple was just within her arm's reach. All she had to do was pick it and take a bite. 

Nico saw a crow watching her. They were all watching her and her partner. Their beady eyes followed every step, they almost looked... hungry. She wanted to get out of there. Quickly. Her partner would walk towards the tree and with every single step, all she could hear was the crunching sound of those 'twigs'. She was sure they weren't twigs at this point...

'Luna be reasonable. There's no need to go through all this for a simple looking apple.'

Nico grabbed Luna's arm gently and pulled her with her. 'Come on. Stop being stubborn. I'll buy you the best apple out there but not this one. Also...' Nico peered over her shoulder once more, only to notice that more big crows joined with the one she met eyes with earlier. 'Let's...go... now.'

The apple was right in front of her. It was absolutely not hard, to eat it. Then why did she even have to hesitate? It was not like this Apple would attack her if she took a bite.

She was not sure what was happening around her. The lavender hair girl just didn't hesitate and picked the apple as fast as she could, and taste a small bite.

"...Does not taste too bad. Do you want to try? Also, apologize but were you saying something to me?" She put the apple on Nico's hand, looking at her normally as if nothing had happened.

Nico her eyes widened in shock and anger. What.. in the actual world...?! In absolute fear and disgust she threw the apple at the ground and aimed her wand at Luna. 'FLIPENDO!'

The Slytherin redhead had enough and hoped this would knock out her colleague. 'WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN?! THERE ARE FLESHEATING CROWS HERE! THOSE TWIGS AREN'T TWIGS! THEY'RE BONES! YOU...YOU MIGHT'VE BEEN POISONED! YOU IDIOT!'

Nico took a deep breath and rubbed her forhead.

In the maze, you enter together, you walk together or you die together. They broke that sacred bond the moment they turned against each other and failed to listen. More than that, they turned on each other. Luna disobeyed her friend and went straight for the apple. She ate it, carelessly. Nico got outraged and screamed a spell at her.

Luna took a bite of the apple after not heeding her friend's warnings. She blinked as her friend screamed something about twigs being bones and crows watching them. Then she witnessed her friend being flung back. But before she could take a step or do anything, Luna found herself shrinking. Within moments, she grew shorter and smaller. Was the ground swallowing her whole? Rooted to the spot, the first year found herself no longer able to walk. She had become a baby. If she opened her mouth to talk, Nico would only hear 'ga ga gooo guu' and other babbling sounds of a baby. Luna struggled to even crawl. Yet her mind worked. She knew what was going on, she was just stuck in the body of baby Luna that struggled to talk or walk.

Nico's scream caused the crows to caw madly. They started to flap their wings, taking flight and hovering in the sky above the students. They circled the students like vultures. Nico attempted to cast the flipendo curse but the panic had already set in. In her fear, her arm shook as she cast. It failed. The thing about flipendo was... if it failed, it did not just go away. The spell still succeeded but the target changed. Nico's flipendo turned against her. It knocked her back, throwing her into the air and flying back to hit a tree. Oof. The girl found herself taking the full brunt of her own spell. She lay on the floor, aching but still conscious. She had been rather winded though and was likely hurting.

Before she couldn't realize what was happening, Nico suddenly screamed at her and cast Flippendo. Sadly, her colleague failed. She decided to look away to make Nico felt less embarrassed.

Suddenly, she felt strange. This feeling was weird and uncomfortable. The lavendered hair girl closed her eyes and tried to figure out why she felt like that. When she opened her eyes again... "Wa, weha gaga wi gaga." Wait, what did she say again? Luna blinked. Maybe she was actually an idiot, everything around her was so big right now. Taking a look at her hands, she mumbled, "ga... wasa gega guga" She was basically a child now, she couldn't even stand up by her own feet...

This was so horrible, however, if she turned into a child... did this mean she could say everything she wanted and no one would understand? That sounded like the best thing she had ever heard. "Wa su memaaaaaaaa, eo don me meiiiiiiiii, du du neeeeeeeee..." Nevermind, this was so tiresome and wasting energy. She couldn't walk but... she could roll right?

And so, the lavendered hair baby started rolling to Nico, and looked at her with the big eyes, "U gigi. Wa sjd ti."