It's time for another extraction of eel mucus for Vil's facial cream... Yuu wishes she could unlearn that so she can no longer be cursed with that knowledge. She heads up the Lounge to get Floyd, but is instead greeted by Jade, who appears to have been waiting for her arrival.
"Good evening, Miss Yuu."
"Hey, Jade. Where's Floyd?"
"I'm afraid he had some prior arrangements today, so sadly, I'll be the one sacrificed on his behalf."
"You're volunteering as tribute?"
"Indeed."
Yuu sees the smile he tries to hide, but she doesn't have time to unwrap everything. So, her and Jade leave with the buckets in hand. She drops them off along with a very relaxed looking Jade to Azul. She bids them farewell and leaves.
"You should be happy that I don't tell her what you did, Jade."
Floyd comes kicking in the door a few minutes later.
"You asshole! You used your weird mushroom to paralyzed me just so I could miss Shrimpy!"
Jade, now becoming one with the couch, just grunts in response. The only thing Yuu learned from this was how many knots were in Jade's back.
Hey folks! Recently I've been working on a long story about mages, dragons and magic talking lights! Like Heartflame, it was inspired by the Nightcaster game I played as a kid. Unlike Heartflame, it uses characters and scenarios from the game itself.
I would be so happy if you'd give it a read! I put a lot into this one, and have almost a complete draft written! However, I'll be posting a chapter each week to give myself time to edit and finish off that draft.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Hey hey finally got off my lazy butt and finished up the latest chapter of DotS (lol dots) anyway really excited about this chapter so y’all come check it out
Dreaming of the Stars Chapter 3: Looking Towards the Sky, a steven universe fanfic | FanFiction
For: @pointy-spiral for that amazing artwork of their Subnautica AU
“The ocean is but a cruel mistress. For you cannot tame something that is meant to be free.”
You remember those words from your captain as you and them talked about the salt waters back home a few days before the untimely deaths of the crew and the ship. You were the lone survivor, managing to escape to a pod and eject yourself towards that watery planet below. The only hope for you to survive this new environment was to scavenge for anything that could take you back home. That was truly the only thing driving you to plunge into the watery depths. As you explored one of the wrecks from the safety of the sea moth, you saw something out of the corner of your eye.
You ignore it, thinking it's one of the wild life following you around again, until you hear a low cry that echoes in the water and brings a shiver down your spine. Jerking the submersible around, you try to make sense of what you heard as you pinpoint what it was. Your body tenses up as you faintly spot it, not one but two large bodies swimming towards you from out of the muted colors in the distance. You instantly hit flight mode and spur the sea moth to head towards your base.
You don't dare look back, fearing you would meet your death if you do. You yelp and jerk the machine upwards as suddenly one of the monsters appears in front of you. You don't make it far as the sea moth gets grabbed and you hear a voice laughing, before the submersible explodes, leaving you out in the open. You brace for the worse, expecting to be immediately eaten, only to pause and something pokes you. Timidly, you open an eye and swallow down a scream as you're met face to face with a Reaper Leviathan.
A glowing golden eye and dull olive stare at you, the hooked appendices twitching as it regards you almost curiously. Its body was very large and long, its colors white and teal to blend in with the water surrounding it. Its hair was also teal with a dark forelock on its left side.
While you're focused on the one in front of you, you yelp as you're suddenly pulled backwards into the other Leviathans grip. You turn to see the other creature, its body a twin of the one you were looking at a few seconds earlier, except the forelock was on the right. It manhandles you, turning you this way and that as it presses its claw deep into the stomach of your suit, before the left one lets out a deep sound. The right one rolls its eyes and lets out the same deep sound.
It tosses you away, causing you to spin around in the water, as it crosses its arms. The left one grabs you before you could hit one of the wreckages nearby and sounds to be repremending the right one. It pushes you towards the surface before swimming away with its twin. You watch them both depart, their bodies disappearing into the muted sea from whence they came.
You dub the left one “Jade” and the right one “Floyd”, you also pray you don't run into either of them again. Oh, how wrong you'd be in your upcoming days of being on this dreadful planet.
To say that the first day of this hellish camp ended with Ace absolutely drained was an understatement. With a groan, he nearly face planted into his sleeping bag. The Heartslabyul student relaxed into the bedding as he heard the zipper of the tent slide close. He looked up as Jamil settled into the bag next to him while Floyd pulled off his jacket and flung it off into the corner of the tent. The vice leader untied his hair and pulled out his braids, Floyd wormed his way under his own bag after taking off his shirt.
"Night!" He chirped out.
Jamil grunted out a "good night" and laid down in his bag, Ace managed to wiggle into his before promptly passing out.
A low clicking noise brought Ace back into the realm of consciousness, he opened one of his eyes to peer around the darkened tent as to what made the noise. Besides him, he could hear Jamil moving around in his sleeping bag as he woke up.
"Ace?"
"m up and it ain't me."
"Then who-" Jamil cut himself off as he seemed to have spotted the location of the sound.
Ace pried himself from the bedding and looked in the direction. The only person over there, still asleep, was...Floyd.
"Don't tell me it's coming from him..."
From what Ace could see in the faded moonlight and the limited glow of the fire, Jamil had bent down and hovered above Floyd, only to rear back.
"It's him."
"Then what the hell is clicking? He ain't snoring."
"I think it's his teeth..."
"His mouth is closed, right?"
"Yeah-"
"So-"
"It's his second set of jaws."
"His fucking what?"
"The sound is coming from his neck." Jamil groaned and flopped backwards onto his bedding. "I didn't know he did that..."
Ace sighed and stared at Floyd, who was sound asleep on his stomach with his arms folded under the pillow. At least he was getting a restful sleep, unlike Ace and Jamil, who would no doubt be awake for the foreseeable night.
The morning came with a tired Ace and Jamil climbing their way out of the tent. Ace let loose a large yawn as Jamil rubbed his eyes with a grumble. Most of the camp had woken up and were starting to gather around their respective fires.
"Yuu." Ace complained and made his way over to the magicless girl.
Yuu turned her body towards them, one fine black eyebrow raised as a cup was resting in her light brown hand. "You guys look like hell. What happened?"
"Floyd happened." Jamil covered his mouth as he yawned.
She handed her mug to the vice leader, who took a sip of it without much thought. "Moved too much in his sleep?"
"Nah, bro. He has a second set of teeth that click when he sleeps." Ace leaned on her. "Kept us up."
Jamil nodded in agreement and took another sip as Yuu reached over to start braiding his hair.
"Oh yeah, he does that, so does Jade."
"You knew?" They both looked at her.
She pointed at Jamil. "Had to share a room with them because of him and found out that way."
"A warning would've been nice."
"Nah, suffer." Yuu glanced behind Jamil. "Speak of the eel."
Ace and Jamil looked over to see Floyd emerging from the tent with his shirt on and his jacket in his hand. He yawned and Ace could catch a glimpse of those fabled second jaws peeking out before sliding back down into his mouth. Floyd scratched at his head, looked around before spotting them, and made his way over to them.
"Crabby, you're hogging Shrimpy, move."
"I didn't know I was a commodity to be hogged." Yuu chuckled.
Ace moved over to stand next to Jamil as Floyd wrapped his arms around the magicless girl. Yuu patted his head and went into braiding another part of Jamil's hair.
"Did you sleep well, Floyd?"
"Yeah~" Click
"Didn't think you'd sleep so well in a tent?"
"Yep, I might do this again with Jade~" Click
Ace and Jamil frowned as they both heard the same sound that had been haunting them all last night.
"Oh, hell."
"Floyd, don't talk unless you're fully awake."
He tilted his head and looked at them. "Eh?" Click
Ace was never going to know peace again as Yuu started laughing.
"Oh come on, you heard me. Be my girlfriend or else these pictures get sent to the entire student body."
Yuu started hard at the octavinelle 2nd year as he held up pictures he had taken on his phone next to his face in case the girl made a quick grab for them. They were pictures of her back towards the camera with a towel wrapped around her body. The next few pictures showed the towel dropping to the floor before she disappeared from the camera's point of view. The second year wasn't ugly, short and curly autumn hair with a mass of freckles on his face. Taller than Azul but shorter than the twins. His uniform was nearly pressed and he had a golden necklace on. He would've been attractive if not for the smug look on his face. They were currently in an abandoned part of the school, classes had long since ended and everyone was either at club activities or just chilling in their dorm rooms.
Yuu pressed her lips together and uttered one word. "No."
A look of confusion washed over his face. "What?"
"You heard me, Tony."
"It's Maverick."
Yuu tilted her head and smiled. "Tony. Anyway, yeah the answer is no."
"Are you that uncaring that everyone will see you in a towel and nude?"
"Go ahead and spread the pictures, I don't care. I ain't gonna date your ass just cause you're blackmailing me." She crossed her arms. "You could get a date cause you ain't bad looking but the moment you show your true nature, you're gonna scare people off."
"Not good enough for you to say yes to, apparently." He glared at her and put the phone away.
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock. You came up to me and immediately began our conversation with a threat." She narrowed her eyes. "But I will give you one of my own. Don't kick over the beehive."
With that she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Maverick standing there in the empty hallway. He watched her leave before gritting his teeth and beginning to walk the other way, he pulled out his phone and sent a multitude of texts to the student body.
The next day, Yuu sat between Ace and Deuce as she slowly ate her lunch with Grim stealing some of hers in the process, tuning out whatever argument the pair had gotten into. She could feel a multitude of lecherous eyes on her, she could hear whispers from behind her and she sighed.
"Something wrong, Yuu?" Jack asked, his sharp hearing having caught her sigh over the yelling.
"I'm good." She muttered and waved off the concern.
"You didn't look okay coming back to the dorm last night." Grim spoke over his mouthful of food before swallowing. "You nearly broke the punching bag."
"So something did happen." Jack's voice was now filled with concern.
"What was it?" Epel asked, having put down his apple carving to focus on the conversation.
"It mustn't be that important if she doesn't want to speak on the matter." Sebek commented.
"Oh no, it's important. Her mood has changed." Ortho added in with a concerned look of his own. "Yuu Homura-san, are you really okay?"
Ace and Deuce managed to calm down and listen in on the conversation. Yuu looked around at her friends before sighing.
"Some guy tried to blackmail me into becoming his girlfriend, I said no, so he sent the pictures around judging by the looks I'm getting."
Deuce frowned. "What pictures?"
Yuu blinked. "Did you not get sent any?"
The boys shook their heads.
"Oh shit, he didn't give it to you because he knew y'all were my friends. So to make a TLDR-"
"Hey Homura!"
The group turned to see a Heartslabyul 3rd year and his friends walk up to the table.
"What?"
"Those pictures of you are really good but ain't nothing compared to the real deal." He looked her up and down and Yuu had to grab Deuce and Ace's arms to prevent them from getting up. "Although they were a nice little preview, now how about you show us the main attraction?"
Wordlessly, she loosened her grip on Ace and Deuce as they stood up between Yuu and the 3rd year. Jack, Epel, Sebek, and Ortho had stood up too, gaining the attention of the cafeteria. Even Grim stood up on the table, embers starting to show in his mouth as he reared up for a fight.
"You don't get to say that to her." Deuce growled.
"Oh ho." The 3rd year smiled. "And what are you two? Her knights in shining armor? I thought you could handle yourself, Homura."
"Oh, I can, but you pissed off everyone at this table so... I'll let them handle it."
"You seem pretty calm about this, got a couple of guys to protect you so you don't have to do it yourself. What did you do? Give them a little taste of you and suddenly they'll follow your every word? Ha, what a slut."
Ace pushed him. "Don't call her that."
"Watch yourself, freshmen." the 3rd year growled.
"Like hell I'm going to allow you to call her that and not stand up for her."
"She's just sitting there and letting you handle it. What kinda strong woman is she when she'd rather let you stand up for her?"
Yuu stood up abruptly and placed herself infront of the 3rd year. "If you got something to say, say it to my fucking face."
"Is there a problem here?"
All heads turned to see Riddle and Trey standing nearby. Riddle's arms were crossed as he stared hard at his dormmates while Trey fixed Yuu with a concerned look. The Heartslabyul members backed away from one another as Yuu crossed her own arms and looked away.
"Don't worry about it, Riddle." Yuu bluntly said. "I was just about to leave anyway. Lost my appetite."
She left the cafeteria, ignoring the stares and whispers, and walked into the courtyard. She sat down beneath a tree and pulled her legs up to her chest, placed her head on her knees and stared off into the distance.
"Shrimpy?"
She looked up, spotting Floyd standing nearby, clearly having followed her out there.
"Hey, Floyd."
He sat down next to her. "What did that small fry say to you?"
"Don't worry about it."
He frowned and picked her up, settling her in his lap as he wrapped his arms around her. Floyd pressed his cheek against the top of her head.
"Tell me or I'll squeeze you."
"You probably already know."
"Know what?"
She fixed him with a confused stare. "The pictures?"
"What pictures?
"Did you not get sent any?"
Floyd hummed in thought. "Nah, my phone's been messing up lately."
"It is cracked beyond repair."
"What pictures were they?"
"Uh-
"Herbivore!"
Both of them turned their heads to see Leona leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed. His tail lashed to and fro as he stared at them. Floyd frowned and pulled Yuu closer to him. Leona growled and moved away from the pillar, marched his way over and snatched Yuu out of Floyd's hands.
"So Sea Lion wants to get squeezed, huh?"
"Mind your business, Leech."
"Boys please." She pressed against both of their chests as they unknowingly boxed her in between them. "I'm dying down here."
Both of them continued staring at one another until Yuu reached up and knocked their foreheads together.
"Ow!"
They both rubbed their foreheads and stared down at her.
"Now that I have your attention. Did you need something, Leona?"
"Tch. Dorm leader and vice leader meeting."
"When?"
"Now." He grabbed her hand and started walking in the direction of the mirror chamber.
"Leona! Ugh." Yuu turned back to see a pouting Floyd. "I'll talk to you later, Floyd!"
Leona let her go once they were close to the chamber. He entered wordlessly and slumped in his chair.
"What's this meeting about?" Yuu spoke as she sat in the chair next to Lilia.
"It's about the pictures being sent around the school." Riddle spoke as he stood up. "I'm sorry, Yuu, Cater came to me about the pictures he had received."
"What pictures?" Kalim questioned with a confused look on his face.
"Before this goes any further. How many of you got the pictures?"
None of the dorm leaders or vice dorm leaders spoke up, each of them sporting different levels of confusion apart from Leona, who was glaring down at the table, and Lilia, who looked at Yuu with sadness in his gaze.
"Silver told me." Lilia said. "It would seem that whoever did this avoided the dorm leaders and their vices."
"Trey and I know from Cater." Riddle added.
"Ruggie." Leona bluntly said.
"Great." She leaned back against her chair. "Wonderful."
"These pictures seem to spark anger in you, Miss Yuu." Jade spoke. "What ever could they be about?"
She glanced around the room, taking in the various faces of the people she has helped out. Yuu took a deep breath and let it out.
"They're pictures of me in a towel and in the nude when I dropped it. My back is turned towards the camera so you don't see everything but the damage is already done. The guy posted them because I wouldn't go out with him. He's an octavinelle 2nd year."
Silence greeted her before various flashes of anger and disbelief showed on their faces. Thunder boomed in the distance as a frown appeared on Malleus' face. Kalim was in disbelief while Jamil was trying to mask his anger, but parts of it were showing through. Azul and Jade's eyes were wide with surprise on their faces. Idia was silent, tablet floating there in silence. Vil had a look of disgust on his face while Rook looked taken aback with his hand over his chest. Even Crowley, who wasn't fully paying attention to the conversation, had a look of surprise on his face behind his mask.
"Yuu." Azul cleared his throat. "I can assure you that-"
She put up her hand, cutting off the octomer. "I know Azul, this isn't like you. You make deals, not this level of blackmail."
"Did you happen to catch his name?"
"Maverick."
Jade and Azul looked at each other just as Yuu's phone went off. She answered it without checking the ID.
"Hello?"
"Shrimpy, I got the pictures." Floyd's voice was serious and deep, there was no chirp of how he usually sounded. "I'm gonna squeeze the small fry who took the pictures. Now who was it?"
"... Maverick, octavinelle, 2nd year."
The phone call ended after that and Yuu pulled the phone away from her ear.
"Jade, Azul, you both need to go get Floyd before he kills Maverick."
Azul and Jade excuse themselves and all but rush out the door. Leona stands up and walks over to Yuu, he gives her a long look and pats her shoulder before leaving the room.
"You and Leona are close?" Vil asked.
Yuu shrugged. "Don't worry about it." She stood up.
"Wait." Crowley grabbed her attention. "Why couldn't you come to me with this information?"
She let out a humorless laugh. "Are you kidding me? Have you not seen your, and excuse the language, fucking track record of helping me?"
"Now, prefect-"
"Don't prefect me! You haven't done shit! The phone was probably the most useful thing you've given me. But outside of that? Nothing. You'd probably tell me this is somehow my fault!" Yuu glared at Crowley. "Hell, I don't even trust you to make the right decision about this whole thing." With that, she angrily left the room.
"Headmaster, you will fix this." Malleus said, practically demanding it, as he and Lilia stood up and exited the room.
"Come on, Kalim, it's time for us to leave." Jamil got up and left with Kalim tagging along.
"What a heinous act to befall our beloved Trickster." Rook sadly said.
"Come Rook, we're returning to the dorm and doing a sweep of everyone's phones." Vil stood gracefully and walked out of the room.
"We must bid you all adieu." Rook bowed and followed after Vil.
Idia chimed in. "I have to go too, I have work to do." The tablet began it's journey out of the room.
"Trey, we must return as well. Anyone caught with Yuu's pictures saved on their phone faces punishment and a beheading." Riddle left, leaving Trey in the room.
"Yuu is right, headmaster, you haven't done much for her. But it's never too late to change that." Trey gave a small farewell and followed after Riddle.
Yuu was beyond pissed as she angrily stormed through NRC, some students stepped back as to not get caught in her wrath. Others stopped and stared, making vague comments about her body. She paused and shot the boys the dirtiest look she could muster, sending them scrambling away. She was on her way back to Ramshackle when a shadow appeared in front of her. It danced around merrily before pointing its way towards Sam's shop. With a faint smile, she made her way over to the store and opened the door.
"Sam?"
"Little Imp!" Sam greeted her warmly. "I haven't seen you all day!"
"Yeah it's been hectic..." She sat on the counter. "So why call me over?"
"A pair of little birdies told me about your problems today." Sam leaned against the counter.
"Ace and Deuce?"
"The very duo."
"What did you hear?"
"The pictures."
"Ah."
"Little imp." Sam's tone switched to a serious one. "You could've told me or Crewel."
"I know, I thought I had it handled..."
"You're not alone anymore."
"I know it's just so hard for me to let others handle it." She looked at her hands. "I moved to Japan and all I felt was alone, like I wasn't accepted, even by my own family. But I'm here and that feeling hasn't changed."
"Except it has." Sam moved out from behind the counter. "You have friends willing to do anything for you, Little Imp. You found your family."
Yuu felt her eyes tear up and she reached over to hug Sam, who returned the hug just as the door opened and Crewel walked in.
"Pup."
"Hey, Pops." She greeted him, with tears in her eyes.
"Oh darling." He rushed over to wrap her in a hug. "He shall be dealt with."
"If not by us, then by your family." Sam added with a sinister smile.
Maverick made his way down the hallway, each student he passed talked about Yuu in some way and it brought a smirk to his face. It's what she deserves after rejecting him, so she got everything that was coming to her.
"Oi, little minnow."
He paused and turned around, seeing the deranged face of one Floyd Leech.
"What?"
"You're the one who spread those pictures of Shrimpy."
"So? Oh I get it. You don't like pictures of your plaything being shown, you want her all to yourself."
Floyd's fist connected to Maverick's face, sending him to the floor as he held his nose. Floyd stood above him and pressed the heel of his foot into his stomach.
"You don't get to say that shit about her when you don't even know her." Floyd's voice grew dark and deep. "She's her own person and you tried owning her like she was an object. So you got pissed when she rejected you cause you couldn't have her and you decided to ruin her reputation instead." He pressed his heel down harder. "But you forget, little minnow, Shrimpy's made friends with a lotta fishes and they won't take kindly to your actions."
"You ain't that different from me, Leech, you got rejected by her too."
"Nah, I know shrimpy loves me and I love shrimpy." A smile stretches across his face. "She gave me your name cause she knew I could kick your ass." He raised his fist and slammed it across Maverick's face. "She knows I can handle you cause if she fights back, she'll get in trouble. But me? I won't." Another fist slam. "And like hell I'm gonna let you run free unscathed from this."
"Fuck you, Leech!" Maverick spat out blood and snarled.
Floyd kicked him in the stomach and sent him rolling across the ground. He approached him only to have his arm grabbed.
"Let go." He already knew who it was, but still tried to pull his arm free.
"I'm afraid we need him alive, Floyd." Jade said. "He can't be punished if he's dead."
"He hurt Shrimpy."
"And he'll be dealt with. There's still several others who want their turn at him." Jade smiled, showing off his serrated teeth. "And as tempted as I am to join you, I'm afraid we must refrain from further damage."
Floyd growled but backed down, glaring hard at Maverick as he lay there returning the glare. Azul stepped out from behind Jade and walked over to him.
"I'm disappointed that someone from my dorm would stoop so low as to blackmail a good friend of mine."
"You ain't a saint, Ashengrotto. I've seen the shit you pull on others, so this was no different."
"You see, that's where you're wrong. Yuu is smarter than you take her credit for. Smart enough to reject you but still walk around the campus after that. She didn't run into anyone's arms and she certainly didn't come running back to you to proclaim that she was wrong." Azul adjusted his glasses. "Even I know when a deal isn't worth pursuing."
Maverick rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh, like you're one to talk, you got a hissy fit when she outsmarted you. And you even tried kicking her out of her home. You ain't any better than me, dorm leader."
Azul simply smiled. "Well, I was going to save you from your own fate but it would appear that you still need to have your lesson learned. Jade, Floyd, we're done here."
"Yes, sir."
"Whatever."
"Enjoy what remaining few days you have left at this school, Maverick-san."
Yuu lay in her bed in Ramshackle as she absentmindedly ran her fingers through a sleeping Grim's fur. Her phone vibrated on the table and she reached over to grab it.
"Hello."
"Herbivore."
"Leona, what a surprise."
"Come over."
"Are you sure that's wise?"
"If you're worried about them, they ain't going to say shit. They know better."
"Leona, sweetie, I really ain't in the mood to come over-"
"Yuu."
She paused as she heard the lion beastman say her name.
"I don't want you staying there, especially since someone already invaded your privacy. Who knows who else is going to pull the same thing, but this time when you're asleep or something? I want you to feel safe. Come stay with me and that includes your little furball too."
"Leona..."
"Don't make me ask again."
"Alright, I'm on my way." She ended the call and picked up Grim.
Yuu made her way out of Ramshackle, bid a good night to the ghosts, and departed for Savanaclaw. She entered the dorm to see some members chilling in the pool area. A few looked over at her but soon returned to their conversations. Sensing Leona was right, she walked up the stairs and navigated the dorm. Yuu spotted Ruggie on the stairway almost as if he was waiting for her.
"Yuu."
"Ruggie." She continued up the stairs with the hyena beastman tagging along. "You look like you want to say something."
"Leona-san already talked to everyone in the dorm, well more like threatened them if they said anything about you. Shishishi." Ruggie laughed before becoming serious. "Once I showed the pictures to Leona-san, I deleted them. I'm not going to keep something like that on my phone."
"Thanks, Ruggie, you're sweet."
"Uh-huh. I think I deserve something for telling Leona-san."
"I'll make you some donuts later."
"You're the best, Yuu!"
She shook her head as Ruggie departed to his own room once she stood in front of Leona's room. Yuu opened it with no hesitation, Leona was lounging on his bed, shirtless as his tail thumped against the bed. Yuu set Grim on the couch, placed a pillow under him, and made her way over to the dorm leader. His green eyes followed her the whole time.
She sat on the bed and Leona wordlessly patted the spot in front of him. Yuu moved over and was pulled into Leona's arms. He kissed the top of her forehead and rubbed her arm.
"I'll kill him."
"Don't, he needs to be left alive."
"Not after what he did to you."
"Don't kill him, I couldn't stand to see you jailed for murder."
"Mmh." He pressed his face into her hair. "I'll think about it, but for now, go to sleep herbivore."
She closed her eyes as she fell asleep in the warm and protective embrace of the lion. The next day saw Yuu walking down the hall, she was by herself, having been excused from classes given the incident. She paused as Ortho floated over to her.
"Yuu Homura-san, my brother would like to talk to you."
She looked around for the tablet as Ortho shook his head.
"In person."
"Wow, really?"
"Yes, follow me please."
Yuu followed him as they rounded a corner and spotted Idia with his hood up and wringing his hands as he looked around nervously.
"Idia?"
"D-Dont say I didn't do anything for you, Yuu-shi." He spoke and tightened the drawstrings on his hoodie. "Anyone who had the pictures left on their phone after the others did a sweep of them, I sent a nasty virus that deleted the pictures for good on their phones. I also scrubbed the Internet to see if any of them were posted online, they weren't, so there you go."
"Oh Idia." She paused. "Can I hug you or no?"
"Eep! N-no hugs are necessary! Just..." He pressed his fingers together. "Let's have a gaming session or something sometime."
"Alright, consider it a date. Thank you, Idia."
"You're welcome, Yuu-shi." He smiled. "Now go beat him."
"I'll wait until everyone has had their chance with him." She returned the smile.
Maverick was now understanding what Yuu meant by don't kick the beehive. First Leech beats him up, and now the pictures were gone from his phone. He rubbed his bruised cheek as he continued walking only to have the back of his shirt grabbed as he was slammed against the wall. He glared up at Leona Kingscholar, who glared down at him with hate in his green eyes.
"The hell do you want?"
"Keep talking and I'll turn you into nothing but a pile of sand." He snarled. "Herbivore isn't someone you can mess with and think you can get away with it."
"What, are you and Leech gunning for her? She'll reject you like she rejected me."
Leona smirked. "Is that what you think?"
Maverick looked at him and squinted his eyes. "You're lying."
"Am I? Oh before you go spreading that rumor..." Leona grabbed Maverick's phone and turned it into sand.
"You-!"
"Stay away from her and watch your back from now on." Leona left with a flick of his tail.
Maverick got off the wall and looked down at the sand that used to be his phone before snarling and stomping away. He made his way down the hallway just as an arrow went whizzing next to his head and embedded itself in the wall. Maverick jumps back as another on strikes where his head used to be, he backs up as another arrow embeds in the wall. He keeps backing up as arrow after arrow is fired at him until suddenly they stop. Maverick pauses and looks around, fully expecting another arrow to come at him. Another flies at him only to embed in the floor, this one had a note attached to it.
The door to Crewel's class slammed open, startling everyone apart from Yuu and Crewel, who stared at the intruder. Floyd walked into the classroom, heterochromic eyes scanning the room before falling onto Yuu's face. With a smile on his face, he casually walked over and picked her up, causing Grim to scramble out of her lap and onto the desk. Floyd turned on his heel and left the classroom with the prefect in his arms.
"Leech!"
Floyd turned his head to look at Crewel, who stood with his hand on his hip, as he semi-glared at the tall boy.
"Return her before it gets dark."
"Eh, no promises." With that, he happily disappeared with her.
Yuu allowed herself to be manhandled as she was wordlessly dragged along. Floyd made tracks towards the school pool and kicked the door open. He placed Yuu down and jumped in the pool. Yuu backed up so the water wouldn't splash her and waited for the eel to resurface. She watched as his clothes floated to the surface before his head popped out of the water. He smiled and held out his clawed hand to her. Yuu pulled off her jacket, set her shoes to the side and placed her phone on top of them. She approached the water, bare feet making a soft padding noise before she stopped at the edge. They stared at each other before she set her hand in his.
He pulled her into the water and kept her close to his body as he dove under the water. Floyd spun her around, giggling all the whole whole before he began to ascend back to the surface. Floyd smiled gleefully as Yuu moved her dark hair out of her face.
"Shrimpy."
"Mmh?"
He placed his forehead to hers. "I hate it when you get all mopey, you ain't fun or interesting like that. And my Shrimpy's gotta be happy. Since swimming makes me happy, it'll make you happy. And you're happy, right?"
She smiled. "I'm happy, Floyd. Well not fully, but I'm getting there." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "And who wouldn't be happy swimming with their favorite eel?" Floyd smiled and she chuckled. "And I heard how you beat up Maverick."
"Asshole had it coming."
"I also heard that Jade wanted to join too."
"Well yeah." He adjusted his hold on Yuu. "It pissed Jade off too. You should've seen how he was that night. He talked about what mushrooms he should slip into the bastard's food." Floyd stuck out his tongue. "Mushrooms are nasty but it's fine when I'm not the one eating the weird ones."
"Jade plotting revenge, huh? Would've loved to have seen that."
Floyd picked Yuu up as he started to float on his back, placing her against his chest. "I don't wanna see anyone hurt you like that. I also squeezed someone in basketball because they were talking about your body. Crabby almost joined in too, but Sea Snake held him back." He placed his hands on her back. "Although, it looked like he was getting ready to squeeze them too."
"Really? Jamil did?"
"Uh-huh."
"Hmm, interesting." She sat up. "Honestly, I can't say that I'm surprised. It's a mutual respect."
"You and Sea Snake still ain't good?"
"Kidnapped. In scarabia. For like five days. I'm still a little miffed at that."
Floyd laughed. "It was funny to see you and Earless Seal come crashing in."
"Yeah, to you maybe." She poked his nose. "You thought it would be fun."
"Yeah, cause I got to spend more time with you."
"Wow." Yuu placed a hand over her heart. "That was so sappy."
"Eh?"
"Who are you and what have you done with my tall bastard eel?"
"Shrimpy's so mean." Floyd placed his hand over his eyes. "I'm sad, you're making me cry."
"Please. Wipe your crocodile tears."
He grinned mischievously and before Yuu could do anything, he quickly flipped himself around and sent her into the water. He started laughing as she surfaced with a scowl on her face. Yuu splashed him, causing him to stop laughing and stare at her.
"Oh, Shrimpy, bad move."
Yuu started to laugh as he sent a wave of water with his tail at her. He tackled her, sending them tumbling around in circles under the water. Floyd wrapped his tail around her, keeping her close to his body as they rolled around. They both stopped upside down and stared at each other before bursting out into laughter, or in Yuu's case, bubbles.
Yuu paused and turned, watching as an angry Maverick walked up to her. She glared at him and crossed her arms.
"What?"
"Call off your lovers."
"They ain't my lovers."
"How else do you explain why all of them came after me?"
"Newsflash, asshole, you took and posted photos of me to just about everyone. So yeah, of course you're getting the ass kicking you so promptly deserved."
"No guy would be that dedicated to some bitch unless she playing them."
"Is that what you think? That I just happen to be playing them like a fiddle against you? That I would just go up to the dorm leaders and vices and just twist my hair and act all innocent to get them to kick your ass? Nah, it ain't work like that. See, they're my friends, genuine friendships and relationships I have made with them by being myself and allowing them to also be themselves. And you know what happens when you fuck with the beehive like that?" She leaned in. "The hive comes out and decides to protect the one who needs it." She moved back. "I'm not someone to fuck with."
Maverick grabbed her arm and snarled. "Listen here-"
"Let go of her now, young man."
Both of their heads jerked back to see Crowley standing there with a stern look on his face. He walked up and pulled Maverick's hand off of Yuu. He threw Maverick's hand away and pulled her to his side.
"You've done enough damage to my daughter and your crimes against her are horrendous and numerous. To think that one of you would stoop so low as to blackmail her is unheard of."
"Ashen-"
"I am not talking about what Mr. Ashengrotto has done." Crowley interrupted him with a slam of his cane on the ground, startling both students. "We are talking about your actions specifically."
"Headmaster-"
"No excuse you try to come up with will subtract from the severity of what you caused. You sent out pictures of my daughter to the entire school, bearing the dorm and vice leaders and a select group of first years. Come to my office so I can have you expelled properly."
"Expelled!?"
"Now. Before I lose my temper." Crowley turned towards Yuu. "Get home safely, I'll come to check on you later." He hesitated for a few moments before pulling her into a hug. "I'm sorry and I'll try to do better." He let her go and began to walk away with Maverick reluctantly following him.
Yuu watched as they left, blinking owlishly at Crowley's back before slowly turning around and beginning to walk back to Ramshackle. Yuu paused on the walkway as she spotted the lights in Ramshackle turn on. She slowly walked up to the door and pushed it open. She was greeted by the scent of something baking and the sound of sizzling meat.
Yuu looked around, trying to grasp what was going on, until she reached the large lounge space. Ace and Deuce were playing cards with Cater, Epel, Jack, and Grim. Leona was lounging on the couch, tail flicking as Ruggie sat on top of it. Idia was sitting in front of the TV, him and Ortho were playing something as Floyd and Kalim watched. Vil sat in one of the nicer chairs, legs crossed as he and Rook talked.
Riddle and Azul sat at one of the tables, papers scattered between the two of them as they seemed to be in deep conversation. Silver was asleep, head on very unpleased Sebek's shoulder. Lilia smiled before continuing his talk with Malleus. She blinked, eyes flicking between the boys as she tried to piece what was going on.
"Welcome back, Miss Yuu." A voice sounded in her ear.
"Holy-!" Yuu jumped and turned around to see a smiling Jade as he held up a platter of various teas. "Jade, you almost got punched in the face."
"Oya, that would be interesting to see." He lowered the platter. "Orange hibiscus tea?"
"Thanks." She took the cup and watched as he walked into the room and set down the tea the others had ordered. "Huh..."
"Oh, Yuu, welcome back."
Yuu took a sip of her tea and turned to see Trey holding some tarts and cookies. He was smiling warmly and there was some flour on his glasses.
"Hey." The prefect reached up to wipe the flour off. "So who do I talk to about the home invasion?"
"Grim let us in." Trey lowered the platter and Yuu pulled a cookie free. "We told him what we had planned and he let us in with no problems."
"What plan?"
Trey only chuckled and walked into the room, leaving a confused Yuu in his wake. Predicting another person soon to be behind her, she pivoted on her heel to see Jamil. They stared at each other, she bit into her cookie while Jamil just blinked and cleared his throat.
"Yuu."
"Jamil."
"How are you doing?"
"Better. It's hectic but it's better."
"That's good." He went to walk past her, but she reached out to grab his sleeve.
"I heard from Floyd that you almost got into a fight on my behalf." Yuu drank some of her tea and let go of his jacket. "I know you don't join fights, but I appreciate it."
Jamil looked at her. "They were disrespecting you, I couldn't stand by and not do anything."
"You actually got into a fight for me?"
"It's not a fight if you're smart about your approach."
"Clever snake."
Jamil gave her a small smile before it disappeared. "I have a little sister, do you remember Najma?" Yuu nodded. "I just thought of what if this was her in your situation and I got angry." He looked away before his charcoal gray eyes shifted back to look at Yuu. "Mutual respect?"
"Jamil, you fought for me, I think we're friends at this point." She held out her hand. "That is if you want to be."
He looked at her hand before reaching out to grab and shake it.
"Yuu Homura, how are you?"
"Jamil Viper, I'm doing fine."
"Alright." She smiled and fully entered the room. "S'up boys?"
There were various styles of greetings as she sat next to Ace and Deuce. Both of them wrapped one arm around her, she wrapped both of her arms around them.
"My boys."
"Gross." Ace stuck out his tongue and smiled.
Deuce leaned into her embrace. "Our Yuu."
Food was eaten and drinks were consumed as Yuu went around to various groups in the room and talked with them a bit. She approached Riddle and Azul and stared down at the papers.
"Legal docs?"
"Yes." Azul adjusted his glasses. "Against Maverick-san, that is if you do take legal action."
"Maverick broke a number of rules." Riddle added as he took a sip of his tea. "Of course, as Azul stated, it is up to you if you take legal action."
"Ruin his life the way he tried to ruin mine?" Yuu took a bite out of the meat on her plate. "Get it all in a simple, cohesive, stack and I'll look at it later."
"Of course."
"We shall."
"Thank you, boys." She smiled and departed from the table.
Yuu walked over to the large amount of food on the long and large table and plucked Grim from shoving his face further into an apple pie Trey had made.
"Hench human!"
"Spill Grim, why are they here?"
"They wanted to spend the night here after what that guy Maverick did." He wiggled in her grip. "Vil even brought you curtains for the bathroom. They're thick so you can't see anything through them. Leona bought us new locks for the front door and rooms and Idia even gave us a security system. Kalim even fixed up all the rooms." Grim huffed and crossed his little arms. "I wish you pointed out that guy earlier, I owe him a few burn marks for making my hench human sad."
Yuu looked around at the named boys and smiled sweetly. She gently placed Grim back down only to pause as his tiny paws grabbed her hand. Yuu turned to look at him.
"I don't want this to happen again."
"I can't promise that it won't."
"Then you'll tell us next time if it does, right?"
"Alright, Grim." She ruffles his fur before returning to her original seat between Ace and Deuce.
The night continued and just as everyone was getting ready to retire to their rooms for the night, Yuu grabbed their attention.
"Thanks for all of this, guys, I really appreciate it." She smiled. "And this is probably the safest I've ever felt since being here. So thank you for that."
She gave each boy a hug and watched as they thanked her on return and left the main room. Soon Yuu was left in the room, she turned towards the large windows and stared off into the void of darkness, before smiling and turning off the light to retire to her own room.
A loud cry shouts out from the empty darkness of the hall, catching the group of spying first years off guard. The cry is not full of triumph as they would expect, instead it's full of sorrow. A weep sounds afterwards and sticks the first years deep to their core. Ace peeks his head into the room, followed by Deuce and Ortho. Behind them, Jack supports an injured Epel and Sebek against his shoulder. Part of the school's ceiling falls to the ground from the echoing cry.
"You used me!" That was Yuu's voice.
"Far from it, my dear. I just simply guided you along."
"Guided? What in the world were you guiding me towards!?"
"Your destiny."
"The destruction of NRC was my destiny?" Yuu side stepped a pillar as it fell down. "They don't deserve this."
"This is a school for villains, is it not? In the stories, the villains always lose."
"This world has already decided that they destined to lose, that they themselves are not allowed to change their own path. But, I've seen first hand that they can be more than what they're based on."
"They've brainwashed you."
"No, they didn't, I was just able to think for myself. I'm happy with them and they're happy with me."
"Happiness is reserved for heroes."
"Are they not allowed to be happy?"
The voice addressing Yuu got frightfully cold and hostile. "No, a villain should never be happy."
