Chapter Text
Chilchuck took a big gulp from the bottled water offered to him, the dryness in his throat disappearing but not his headache.
“And he just DIDN'T. STOP. TO LISTEN! It was like talking to a brick wall! He kept talking and talking about how we were such irresponsible kids — We don't even look like kids!! — and how we just couldn't destroy property, and I kept repeating and repeating we knew that was wrong, that we would pay for the damages, but that we need a way home right now. And then he says we can talk about our problems after the ceremony.
HE DIDN'T HEAR A SINGLE WORD I TOLD HIM”
Marcille was sitting alongside him against the wall, her left hand patting his back and her right hand holding the bucket she positioned in front of him.
“‘Can you not understand we are NOT students?’ I said ‘Then why are you here?’” Marcille mocked the man she previously talked with using a dumb sounding voice. “He says, and I say ‘That’s what I would like to know too!’”
Aside from how helpful for him she's been, she's been ranting for ten minutes about a fight she had with some weirdo with a crow mask. The sad part being that it was something he specifically asked for and will have to keep his groanings of pain to himself to listen.
“Then it was back and forth, back and forth, tell him this was kidnapping, tell me I had teleportation sickness, tell him that, even if it was accidental, he's literally participating in the abduction of a king, then he goes ‘What king?’ and when I go to tell Laios to please say something,” Marcille gasps for air, her story finally reaching its climax, and then sighs soundly. “The second wave of nausea hits.”
There was a momentary pause.
“Did you vomit in front of him?” Chilchuck couldn't help but ask.
“What? No! No.” She looks around. “Not me.”
He did the same as Marcille and looked around them. They were surrounded by three other people in the same state of mana sickness as him. Buckets were next to them just in case, a longing dizziness seemingly being the only symptom they were experiencing right now unlike him who just woke up and used his first chance he got.
This pitiful show was the second thing he noticed when he regained consciousness. The first thing was the long corridor all five of them were sitting in, waiting for the man Marcille previously argued with. He expected (demanded) an hour-long explanation on how they ended up in an unrecognizable place wearing cult robes and feeling like he was dropped inside a barrel full of beer that fell rolling down from the top of a hill. He didn't account for not a single one of them having the smallest idea if this was a prank that went too far, an hallucination or an actual kidnapping. But, whatever the case and from what Marcille said to that Crowley guy before that shameful stop, it seemed matters were resolved before he could even do anything.
“We then went to the infirmary and the Headmage told us that when we were finished there, to go back and wait outside the chamber.” She ended her story, still mad but calmer than when she started.
Silence surrounded the place. The Half-foot felt numb; a hundred things went wrong, some of them solving themselves and some other having no explanation as to why. He wasn't sure what to say or what to take from the narration and having nothing to do about it made him feel more ill than the teleportation sickness.
“So this is a school.” He started with.
“That's what it looks like.” Said the elf.
“And not some… cult reunion site.”
“Crowley promised it wasn't.”
Chilchuck didn't know whether to laugh or cry at her uncertainty. He took another sip from his water, looking for another theme of conversation since he didn't want to stay there in silence and sit around losing his mind about the whole ordeal. One look at his left and he finds one.
“I thought you wouldn't get mana sickness.” He pointed at Laios. He was hugging his knees and there was a darkened aura that seemed to envelope him.
“Well, we haven't practiced magic in months. Lessons in diplomacy are giving more priority and self-defense classes are learned by hand to hand combat.” Marcille was the one to answer. “And I suspect his sourness is actually coming from another thing.” She explained with a hint of annoyance.
Chilchuck raises an eyebrow.
“In our walk back from the infirmary he remembered he lost track of the cat-kobold-thing after talking with that guy.”
And now he misses it. Of course.
“How I'm I not surprised?” The Half-foot looked frustratingly at the seemingly hopeless blonde man. “But then again, only you could be distressed by something like that while being kidnapped.”
“He had a trident tail… and fire ears…” The Tall-Man whined.
“Please be serious at times like this.” Chilchuck begged, rubbing his forehead. He could understand it, it was astonishing to encounter that thing considering Laios’s “situation” and why he would be ecstatic for it (pretending that creature is an actual monster). But considering their situation now Chilchuck will beat him up if he doesn't get his priorities straight.
He sighed. But, even so, his heart has become softer since last year's events. He will deny it on the outside but deep down he knows that, one way or another, that last adventure in the dungeon has brought him closer to these four idiots. So blame him if he couldn't help feeling pity for the guy.
Chichuck puts a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, you guys said we weren't gone for that long. Maybe you'll see it around - .”
All of a sudden, a big commotion was heard from inside the double doors in the middle of the hall. Panicked screams from several people could be heard inside the chamber, jumping muffled against the walls. Blue lights replaced the green ones under the door's crack. A cackle followed by shouts ran around from one corner of the room to another.
Then a sudden stop.
The doors barely opened to let a crow man's head appear with a call of “Guards!!”.
Two spirits (which, for some reason, you could find everywhere in the school, but unlike Merini there wasn't a single fair explanation as to why) dressed in white uniforms floated swiftly from one of the ends of the corridor to the doors which were shut at their arrival.
A moment of silence.
Then the doors open again.
“Get off me!!” A black cat with a trident tail, fire ears and the hood of a robe so big on him it looked like a cape (so there is where Laios's was) is being held by both guards, one in each arm.
Five pairs of eyes follow the struggling monster in his journey from the chamber to the stairs.
“You're making a bad decision, this won't be the last you'll hear from me! You will be sorry for this! SORRY!” Is the last thing that can be heard from the creature, his voice echoing in the long corridor until all is left is silence again.
The shortest man in the group was indecisive in either saying ‘I told you.’ to the tallest man in the group or keep the awkward silence and not make it worse.
A smack of lips is heard before the words of: “Well, he did tell you.”
Thank you, Izutsumi. He no longer needs to look like a prick.
“Izutsumi! Don't make those kinds of comments!/Can't you see how Laios is right now?!” Senshi reprimanded her, Marcille following him on it. Laios looked absolutely heartbroken, extending his arm in Grim's last seen direction with a sad expression, like he was a poor soul who watched their lover's boat sail the seas after a last goodbye.
“What?! He said it first!” She complained.
Chilchuck takes another sip from his bottled water, like he wasn't thinking the same. Or about ghosts. Or monsters.
Unbeknownst to the disappointed adults, the poor man, a lectured cat girl and a “unpreoccupied” Half-foot, a cloaked figure wearing the same uniform they were using comes out of nowhere like a flash, rushing for the chamber.
In his hurry to the ceremony a single quick glance is thrown at them, a dash of ruby red eyes that wrinkle in amusement at the scene to leave as quickly as they arrived and into the room. The doors closing again.
Because a shivering cold breeze followed by a quiet laugh was the next thing Chilchuck needed.
It was not only but a minute later — after ten problems walking in and leaving the place in shambles — that whatever event they were hosting inside finally came to an end, the double doors opening wildly.
The five adventurers stood up wobbly, waiting impatiently for the said Headmaster's arrival.
Different groups of people, led by one person each, started dessocupating the chamber. All dressed in the same shade of purple. The people that came out were nothing but young boys, all notably Tall-men — students, assuming what they told him was correct. The leading person varied from group to group: One was a small for his race, red haired boy, who's face stayed in an eternal scowl. His students followed him wary.
Another was a young man with glasses, which had something about him that made Chilchuck feel aversion towards him. A feeling he remembers coming from the merchants on the deepest parts of the no longer existing dungeon.
There was a tall boy with beautifully groomed hair, lustrous skin and almost androgynous looks he would have confused for an elf if it weren't for his round ears halfway covered by his hood. His party of people reeking the same elegance as him.
One of the groups was seen not following a person but what it looked like floating, maybe mystical tablet. They were quick to walk away.
Unlike them, another group was lively being led by a tan skinned boy, his terrifying red eyes contrasting his personality. A jingle of jewelry followed him to the stairs.
One of the last ones to come out was, surprisingly, an elf boy who shared the same eyes of the last guy (if they meant some kind of twisted magic, Chilchuck didn't want to know). He seemed to have the only group of students who had elf traits, the only ones of a different race.
They went their way, paying them no mind or just a few glances and side-eyes, and that should've been the end of it.
If it weren't for a young man with dark skin, lion ears features and piercing green eyes to make a presence. He was guiding a row of boys with tails and ears just like him but from diverse species, there being wolves, leopards, monkeys, normal humans and more. They were noted to be one of the most physically inclined groups, animal traits being a help for that. They passed from them as nonchalantly as all the young boys before them, only difference being the scrunch of their noses after smelling the particularly bad odor of Chilchuck's lunch only they seemed to notice.
They were Beastkin.
As the group comes and goes as swiftly as the other ones, four minds were trying hard not to doubt that they did end up in a normal school and that the usage of dark and ancient magic is not actually present in this castle-like place.
(A pair of yellow eyes follow the green ones that looked on her direction. Even when they were no longer looking back and there was nothing left to see.)
A man huffed, cleaning invisible sweat drops with a cloth napkin as he once more called from the door. “Alright everyone, you may come inside to resolve your, ah, little problem.” The man — Crowley — appeared at last. He was tall, wore a top hat, a bird mask and was covered in dazzling little trinkets. His pointy ears were short but they were clear enough to notice he was an elf. His eyes skimmed through the five of them.
“Now, are you sure you're not part of the school's body - ?”
Marcille grabs Chilchuck’s bucket from the sides, pointing it at Crowley.
“ALRIGHT, GOT IT!” He pulls up his cape in front of him and moves to the side. “Your transport is inside! Just get in!”
There wasn't a single argument as they entered.
~~~
Three steps in and Chilchuck wanted to bail. He looked at his friends to confirm this was a ceremonial chamber and not a resurrection center, suffering at Marcille's painful confirmation look.
The so-called “Mirror Chamber" of the school was a dimly lit and spooky room where the students came out from flying coffins. The single most suspicious and terrifying thing anyone can tell him.
“ - All you have to do is step into the gate, and visualize the place whence you came.” The Elf man signals to an open one. All previous talking made before was muted by the Half-foot the moment they step inside, justifiably so in his opinion.
And now he says they will have to get in one of those things? “Oh, Hell no -”
“There is NO WAY we're doing that!” The blonde girl beats him to it. “That is what took us here “accidentally”, it can very easily send us somewhere far away again.”
“I can ASSURE you, Miss, the Dark Mirror is one of the most powerful magical artifacts in the entirety of Twisted Wonderland.” ‘Twisted What?’ “Students have come and go for centuries with no claims whatsoever. Its resume is flawless.”
‘For a job application in the human trafficking industry.’ Chilchuck thought.
“We are living proof it can malfunction.” Marcille rebutted.
“Now that said you only need to try it for yourselves.” He ignored the elf girl, pissing her off. Now the Half-foot understood her anger, this guy was annoying to not also say incredibly suspicious; every word he spoke was filled with an arrogance you just couldn't trust.
“Give us a minute.” He grabbed the others to form a circle far away from Crowley.
“Let's get out of here. We're jumping in the first ship home we find.” Chilchuck whispers to them.
“We don't have money.” Laios noticed him.
“All we have are these clothes…” Follows Marcille, pointing to their uniforms. “And they're not even ours.”
“Wh - We're just out here in the middle of nowhere with empty pockets?!” For his dismay everyone nods.
“We can try going on foot.” Commented the Dwarf.
“With Laios alongside us? We're just asking to get kidnapped now.” The Tall-Man mumbled a small apology to the group.
“We can call for someone to pick us up. We send a letter to the castle and wait for them.” He later shared his idea.
“Wait here? The very same place we're trying to escape and not even know where it is?” Chilchuck remarked on the faults in his plan. “And who says anything we send off can't be tampered with?” He sighed. “Is there anything we can do without it going back to asking for help from the same people that took us hostage?!”
The adults scratched their heads figuring out a plan to escape.
Their youngest member, bored, tired, with a pumping headache and wishing nothing more than to steal someone's bed and fall asleep to the sounds of a freshly burning fireplace, went directly to the Headmaster.
“Just think of the place and you'll pop up there?”
“As simple as that.” He reassured her.
‘Simple enough’ she thought, “Alright.” she suits herself by opening and stepping in one of the gates on her own.
Without the older ones' knowledge, she starts her trip visualizing Merini’s castle, or to be more specific, the last place they were in.
She remembers now! They were having a get-together in the palace's dining room. After the ordeals of the Dungeon and the kingdom's resurface, things went… sidetracked. For the adults, at least. Laios and Marcille were caught up in kingdom stuff, Chilchuck started helping the other Half-foots while trying to start a business, Senshi helped the Orcs to settle in some place… boring stuff Izutsumi hardly remembers about that took ages to fix and sometimes left her walking alone in Merini's streets to find some kind of entertainment. That is if she wasn't somewhere overseas just for the hell of it. It wasn't until Laios's Chimera sister decided to start doing mini reunions to just eat, talk and relax that Izutsumi got to have another dinner (without monsters) with the crew.
She couldn't help but compare the time she had with the Touden party to the one she had with Shuro’s retainers. With the last group everything was very constricted, she had a strict schedule that said when to eat, train, sleep, etc. Maizuru always gave her more work than she asked for and made her learn to read and write. Failure in any task meant punishment for her. The only salvageable thing was maybe, probably Tade’s company (not like that said anything).
But with these guys she could go wherever she wanted, sleep wherever she wanted, she did have to choose her meals carefully… but, even with that, they let her go free. Meet places she never thought existed, try things just because, accompany her in some of those experiences…
And for some reason she always came back to Merini.
That familiar feeling is also what makes her want to go home right now.
“I’ll start the chant when you're ready.” Said the elf guy.
Izutsumi closes her eyes “Ready.”
“I would rather NOT break the law and create a bigger mess.” “Are you really drawing the line at escaping from something even more illegal than aboarding a ship without paying?”
“O Dark Mirror! Return this soul to where it belongs!” Crowley's voice resounded against the walls reciting a spell that got their hairs standing on end. As soon as they looked back the ritual had already started. The mirror that’d been painted black since the moment they got there now showed a mirage of green flames who worked as the perfect curtains to present the being that lived inside it, the mask of a scowling man who directed his gaze towards one of the open coffins. One where a young catgirl lied upon.
“IZUTSUMI!” They called for her. After all, that was the only thing they could do, right? The chant was said and the spell was now in progress. There was no way of knowing what it would do or what was going to happen to Izutsumi…
…
Or maybe not.
“Hm?” Crowley scratched his chin, confused after nothing happened.
“And?” Izutsumi didn't pay attention to the running footsteps behind her until she was grabbed by the front of her robes and dragged down.
“WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING?!” A small man screamed his feelings out right into her sensitive ears. “CAN'T YOU SEE HOW DANGEROUS THAT COULD'VE BEEN?! WE COULD HAVE LOST YOU!” She reflexively hissed, fangs and claws bare.
“ARE YOU OKAY?! ARE YOU FEELING ANY BURNS?! LET ME CHECK YOUR ARMS.” Chimed in Marcille, searching for scarring or magical ingrained sigils under her fur.
“Do ye’ need to sit down?! You shouldn't sneak away from us! We can go to the infirmary if yer feeling bad.” Senshi put his hands on her shoulders pulling her down.
“Animals are proven to be sensitive when using portals. Check her ears and eyes for bleeding, vital cognitive organs are the most affected.” Laios grabs the point of one of her ears pulling it up to check inside. Marcille immediately grabs her face to get a good look of her eyes.
Izutsumi was inside a tornado of reproaches, touchy hands and all kinds of words directed towards her.
And that's how she remembers why she doesn't think about them in a bright light most of the time.
*SCRATCH*
*SCRATCH*
*SCRATCH*
*SCRATCH* *SCRATCH*
“GET OFF ME, I'M FINE!” That managed to make them back up and occupied themselves with the pain on their faces, the Tall-Man asking why he received two.
“This is… odd.” Crowley, blissfully ignoring the scene on his back, was troubling himself trying to guess what happened. “Let's try again!” He decided.
Two heads furiously turned at him, “LIKE HELL YOU WILL!” The pain was already forgotten when in the next moment Marcille and Chilchuck were right on his throat.
“WHAT MAKES YOU THINK WE WILL TRY AGAIN AFTER THAT PIECE OF SHIT SHOW?!” “KNOWINGLY USING MALFUNCTIONING MAGICAL ARTIFACTS FOR PUBLIC USE, BE IT PROFITABLE OR NON-PROFITABLE, IS PUNISHABLE BY LAW. THIS IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE AND WILL BE NOTIFIED TO THE AUTORITHIES ACCORDINGLY!” “IS THIS THEY WAY THIS SCHOOL WORKS?? HARMING ITS STUDENTS BEFORE AND AFTER THEY GO HOME BY PUTTING THEM IN DANGEROUS CONTRAPTIONS?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE??!!”
The noise kept coming left and right for the scared crow. Demands, swears, coming right above him like a storm by two people way shorter than him and still striking with an upcoming damage to his reputation. He liked to tell himself he was good at appeasing the masses and sweettalk people to get out of sticky situations, but even he understands there is no way of calming this much murderous thirst, and that it was time to use his last resort.
He summoned his adored black and golden cane and then hit its end against the floor with full force. “LET ME TALK!”
It felt like being knocked by a soundless explosion, leaving them breathless. A chill went through their spines, hair standing on end, and any trace of an argument disappeared on the snap of a finger.
“As I tried to say,” Crowley continued, “maybe we should try the ritual again. This was, in fact, an odd occurrence, but I can assure it was simply a miscommunication problem that can be fixed via repeating the enchantment so if I may-”
“There is no such place.”
A deep voice echoed through the chamber, late but imposing. As if its mere presence pardoned for the lost time its answer didn't appear. The mask in the mirror finally spoke up as if it was waiting for the right moment to do so.
“There's - no - what?!” The Headmaster was at a loss of words, his only ally contradicting all the statements he used.
“There is no place in this world where this soul belongs.” It explained.
“None.”
Everyone simply stared at the mirror.
“ ... What does that mean?” Laios was the first to find his voice and ask the great awaited question.
“This - ,” in contrast, the Headmage seemed to have lost his. “This has never happened throughout my long tenure. I must confess that I am at something of a loss.”
“So it is broken.” Chilchuck had strangely a newfound calm that gave a whiplash from his latest mood.
“It is ABSOLUTELY not broken!! The Dark Mirror has been the symbol and pride of this school for years if not saying centuries! No malfunctions have occurred in the past nor the present and definitely wont happen in any near future!” The crow said greatly offended.
“Sounds like an excuse to keep us here.” The shorter man still held a bite to his words.
“But if we could have an alternative option to go home, that would really be appreciated.” Marcille sighed, there was a hint of tiredness in her eyes looking exhausted.
“That can be arranged just fine. So tell me: From what land do you hail?”
“We came from the Kingdom of Merini. In the Eastern continent” Laios said.
“Merini in the Eastern continent…? Are you referring to the Queendom of Roses or Sunset Savannah?” He asks.
“I…” Laios scratched his head in confusion. “Don't think it is anywhere near those places?” He answered, doubtfully.
“Then I'll be honest with you, I am not familiar with such a place. I am intimately acquainted with the origins of every student and staff who has ever come here, and yet... This mysterious homeland of yours eludes me.”
They couldn't say that was a new one. Having worked with the help of the Elf queen herself didn't mean all elves were aware of the drowned kingdom resurface. It has been merely a year after all and knowing how they usually manage their time they were sure they will have to wait years, maybe a decade or so, to see Merini in all the world maps once more.
“Let us go to the library and look it up, shall we?”
They simply followed.
(Senshi rubbed his eyes, feeling himself grow tired, and he found himself surprised when the sting of Izutsumi’s cuts couldn't be felt anywhere. He took a look at his friends to find all of their faces were properly healed.)