Chapter Text
"WHAT THE FUCK!?-" Azul shouts, dropping his cane as he is standing in the Octavinelle lounge with such a fearful and stunned expression upon his face that it almost looks like he will pass out any moment.
"Azul, what happe-...oh..." Jade walks in too and when he saw what Azul saw, he looked as if he were frozen within a block of ice, with fear glistening in his heterochromic eyes.
There in the aquarium the dead body of an Octavinelle student was floating. However, he was not floating at the top like dead bodies normally would. In the centre.
***
"So you're telling me that the student's abdomen was cut open and his organs were wrapped around the corals and rocks to keep him the centre of the aquarium?" Crowley asks with a stern look, a sense of dread and disbelief circulating within those dark eyes of his.
"Y-yes, Headmage. And his scarf was also tightly tied around his neck. I believe that he has also been suffocated." Azul is trying to keep his composure but after witnessing that sight, he's not sure if he will ever be able to forget it. "It's as if whoever murdered him wanted us to see it."
"Well you could be right about it being a murder, Ashengrotto, however it's best to not make assumptions. Now we need to get the body out and cover it up as quickly as possi-"
"HEADMAGE!! EMERGENCY!!" Kalim, as well as the other Housewardens burst into Crowley's office with terrified looks on their faces.
"Can't all of you respect our privacy and wait outside? Why do you all look so panicked?" Crowley stands up from his desk and he spoke in an annoyed tone of voice.
"Headmage, we have discovered murdered students in each of the dorms. That's why we have come to inform you."
"Thank you for informing me, Rosehearts."
Crowley seems to calm down a bit and sits back down into his seat. The whole room falls silent as he gives all seven of the Housewardens a hard and rather cold stare.
"...I can't leave my office at the moment so if you expect me to get up then I can't."
All the Housewardens sigh, Leona facepalming in annoyance at Crowley's laziness.
"Headmage, seven students are dead so you need to see what has happened before we need to get everything cleaned up!" Vil places his hands on his hips, leaning forward a bit to scold Crowley.
"Fine! Fine! Go back to your dorms and make sure that all your students are safe and far away from the crime scenes. Take pictures of it before cleaning it up. I'll look at them later. Oh, what a clever and kind man I am!" And with that, all the Housewardens leave Crowley's office.
"This is the first time I've seen the lizard and Idia out of their rooms..." Leona remarks as they are all walking back to the Hall of Mirrors at a fast pace. Then, Vil speaks up.
"Can you shut up, Leona? This is a serious situation and you're pretending like it's nothing."
"Can you stop being so pissy? I was just surprised that they finally showed up for something."
"You better shut your mouth!"
"Hmph, make me."
As Vil and Leona keep bickering, Azul slightly leans towards Riddle and speaks in a low whisper as to not bring any attention to their current conversation.
"There's quite the sexual tension building up between them..."
"Agreed."
***
Meanwhile in Octavinelle, a huge crowd of students have filled the lounge and they are all talking about what they have witnessed. The dead body of the student was still floating in the aquarium. Jade and Floyd had to keep everyone back and away from the area. Many students did not wish to comply, however.
"For your own safety, please stay back. The Housewarden should be back soon." Jade shouted so that students at the far back would be able to hear him too.
"STAY BACK OR I'LL SQUEEZE YA'LL TO BITS..." Floyd growled, the fact that there is this much ruckus so early in the morning immediately putting him in a bad mood.
"Floyd, we need to keep our students safe, not harm them. Just how disappointed Azul would be if he saw you like this..."
"At least I'm doin' the job and keeping 'em back." He muttered under his breath, turning his gaze back towards the crowd.
They are trying their hardest to barricade the students, trying to use some of the furniture in the lounge to keep them all back. On Jade's side of the crowd, a student immediately shoved his way through the crowd and tried to get towards the crime scene.
"PLEASE!! LET ME THROUGH, THAT'S MY BROTHER!!! PLEASE!!" He cried, tears streaming down his face as he tried to reach out and get past.
This caused Jade's expression to soften as his eyes widened slightly. He briefly looked at Floyd who was still cursing and shouting and making threats at the crowd on his side. Suddenly he was thinking about how his world would go crumbling down if in the dead student's place were Floyd. What if Floyd were the one who was dead?
Jade's train of thought was interrupted as Azul walked back into the Octavinelle lounge. "Everyone, calm down!" He yells, making the whole lounge fall silent.
He walks over to Jade and whispers in his ear. "Make sure to take a picture of that before you get it cleaned up,"
Azul's voice had some sort of impact on Jade. All of a sudden, a small blush appeared on his cheeks before he quickly regained his composure and headed to another part of Octavinelle to get a camera. Something about Azul's hushed tone made Jade's heart flutter. Such peculiar feelings...
***
"I DEMAND SILENCE IMMEDIATELY!!" Riddle's voice booms as he walks into Heartslabyul.
"Housewarden, what are we going to do about the dead body?" One startled student asked as he kept glancing back at the dead body of the Heartslabyul student.
He was impaled onto one of the rose trees, all his limbs hung up onto the thorns and the white roses having splotches of a deep red on them due to the dried blood that dripped upon them for who knows how long. The body was quite intact apart from one. The head was separated from the neck and it was pinned at the very top of the rose tree as if it was wearing his head as a crown of victory. Or perhaps a crown of evil?
"Riddle! What should we do about this?" Trey rushed up to Riddle, sweat dripping down his forehead while Cater was following close behind, his phone in his hand.
"The Headmage asked us to take a picture of the scene before cleaning it up. It seems that this isn't the only dorm such thing has happened to..." He almost looks frightened, trying to feign his calmness. Needless to say, he is failing miserably
"Yeahhh, so I already took some pics bc I wanted to upload it to Magicam but the post would probs get taken down and I would get an account warning so uhhh hehe..." Cater chuckles nervously as he starts to play with a strand of his ginger hair, some small beads of sweat also running down his forehead.
Riddle, Trey and Cater all rush back to the scene of the crime. Many of the Heartslabyul students were still murmuring amongst themselves while others were paying their respects to their newly lost dorm member.
Deuce still looked rather shocked as he watches the graphic display while Ace had a more grave look on his face. It reminded him of when Riddle overblotted and almost murdered him in the same way. "Mighty roses, tear this brute to pieces!" Those words still echo in his mind. He feared that those words would be the last thing he would hear.
***
"Aye, Ruggie, take a picture before we start cleanin' it up," Leona didn't exactly seem phased by what happened. However, he did stay silent for quite a while.
The Savanaclaw student's limbs looked to be chewed apart and some of them, like the torso, were impaled and placed onto the elephant bones. The smell was absolutely awful and the sight was disgusting. A few of the students had to rush to the bathroom because of the brutal sight and the horrible smell. That's what you get when there's a corpse nearby.
Jack couldn't help but feel concerned about the safety of the people around him, especially his friends. Word has soon got around the whole school that something similar to these murders have happened in the other dorms too.
"Leona, I've got the pictures," Ruggie walked into Leona's room a little while later, holding his phone tightly in his hand. His voice is quiet, indicating that the murder that has happened impacted him also.
"Great, send them to me," Leona is looking out from his balcony at the scene before him, having a clear view of the crime scene from above as well as the crowd surrounding it. His back is facing Ruggie but he briefly turns his head to look at him. "Make sure to stay safe, 'kay?"
Ruggie looks a bit shocked but he just nods and then turns back around to leave Leona's room.
***
In Scarabia, the murdered student was hanging upside down from the ceiling of the lounge. All of his bones were broken which made him look limp and almost snake-like. There was some sort of hook going right through his ankle which allowed whoever or whatever murdered him to hang him up like the laterns that are used to illuminate the lounge.
All of the Scarabia students huddled together in a small crowd, cowering in fear at the sight of their murdered dorm member. Anxiety fills the majority of them, wondering if they will be next if and when another murder like this happens.
"Headmage said that we need to take pictures before cleaning it up. Can you do that, pretty please, Jamil?" Kalim asks, his voice slightly weaker and more sad instead of being cheerful like it usually is. Even if Kalim had been kidnapped multiple times or was about to be poisoned, seeing someone else's brutally damaged body just made him feel scared and hopeless. Such an awful sight to behold...
"Yes, of course Kalim." Jamil was already getting multiple and detailed pictures of the dead body. Meanwhile, Kalim tried to help the Scarabia students back to their rooms.
***
In Pomefiore, the dead student was placed on the throne in the lounge, sitting like a regal royal with his chest busted open and foam dripping down his chin from his mouth. It seems like the student's heart was ripped out shortly after he has been poisoned. All the students in Pomefiore are keeping a safe distance away from the dead body while Rook is keeping a close eye on everyone, watching and listening to what they are all murmuring about while also focusing on the crime scene.
Vil walks in, a grim yet nauseous look on his face as he sees the crime scene. His heels click against the ground and the crowd immediately gives way to him.
"Rook, make sure to take pictures of the scene before cleaning it up. The Headmage instructed as so."
"Of course, Roi du Poison,"
Vil glances at the dead student a few times before he speaks up again. "Everyone, go back to your rooms. And remember, single file lines."
Vil starts making his way back to his room along with the other students while Rook was left behind to take pictures and clean everything up. He seemed rather calm. What else can you expect from a hunter, right?
***
In Ignihyde, the dead student's body was mangled with all kinds of wires and metal elements sticking out of the skin. His head was also partially exploded, it seems, as most of his brains were leaking out. Truly a gruesome sight to behold, just like the other deaths that have occurred.
As Idia comes walking back into the dorm, Ortho is already analysing the crime scene from a safe distance. He probably already knows what he has to do...
There isn't exactly much to say about Ignihyde. The death of the student did indeed have an impact on the other students. Their thoughts have all been riddled with anxiety and paranoia. Who wouldn't feel like that if a murderer were on the loose?
***
Malleus' boots click against the cold, hard ground as he walks back into Diasomnia. There are crowds of students surrounding the crime scene, just like all the other incidents that have happened. Everyone falls silent as soon as they see Malleus and step aside. Sebek and Silver are on high alert...
The student who died in Diasomnia has been impaled, along with numerous thorns penetrating his skin and a single rose sticking out from the middle of his stomach which is exactly where he had been brutally impaled by some blunt but strong object. The poor student's guts were practically spilling out as a pool of blood was laying still underneath him.
"The Headmage said that we need to take pictures before cleaning up whatever happened," Malleus says in that cold yet calm tone that he usually has, his orders directed towards Lilia, Sebek and Silver.
***
Yuuna and Grim have heard of everything that has happened. She's laying on her bed in Ramshackle, looking out of the window and at the school. She then gets a phone call.
"Hello?" Yuuna answers.
"Prefect! So I'm guessing that you have already heard about what happened..." It's Crowley speaking. "I need you to help investigate what happened. My reputa- *AHEM*, I mean-" Crowley fumbles over his words. Wow. "The school's safety is important. We can't have a murderer running loose. Being the kind and generous man that I am, I will give you this opportunity to solve this case for extra credit! Oh, what a benevolent man I am..." He goes on to ramble about himself, like always, before finally hanging up the phone.
This sure will be one hell of a ride...