Chapter Text
Azul was ashamed to admit that he hadn’t noticed his classmates dropping like flies until it was too late. By the time he had noticed what was going on, having been previously distracted by the blue flames and bright light filling the room, there were already two housewardens and a random amount of other students that were unconscious.
Riddle, Leona, Ruggie, Trey, a couple of Heartslabyul freshmen…there was no pattern to the people who were falling unconscious other than–
Jade had to hold Azul steady as the shorter boy swayed on his feet. He hadn’t had trouble standing since he first came on land, why had he suddenly lost his ability to hold himself upright? His vision blurred despite wearing his glasses, and Jade’s face became a mere blur. “Azul?”
Huh, in the now foggy world, Azul could almost imagine a concerned expression on Jade and Floyd’s faces. His legs gave out, causing him to collapse fully in Jade’s hold. His weight was nothing the eel couldn’t handle so Azul didn’t feel bad, just embarrassed to be showing such weakness.
“Azul, are you feeling alright?” Jade’s blurry face drew closer and his grip grew tight, nearly painful.
Azul tried to push himself out of Jade’s grip but only served to make himself fall. Once he was on the ground, there was no more fighting the sudden tiredness he felt. His muscles wetn weak and his eyelids fluttered closed.
As he slipped into unconsciousness, he could hear the thud of two more bodies landing next to him.
Incessant poking wasn’t exactly Azul’s preferred method of waking but he would take any method so long as he awoke from his forced slumber. As his eyes opened, he was greeted by the smiling face of Floyd, though much blurrier than he was used to. Was his head still fuzzy?
A chuckle sounded from his left as he tried to locate his glasses. “Your glasses fell off during our transportation,” Transportation? His glasses were placed in his hand, which he immediately put on his face to restore his vision.
With now clear sight, Azul was finally able to take in his surroundings. From the looks of it, they were stuck in some sort of movie theater. “Where is this?” To his knowledge, there were no movie theaters on Sage’s Island.
Floyd chuckled. “No idea!” Leave it to the more impulsive twin to be taking their kidnapping as some sort of joke. He had thought the mass sleep had been some sort of effect of the light that had come from the Dark Mirror but what if there was something more nefarious afoot? If so, would Floyd really be reacting with such joviality?
“There must be some sort of clue as to our whereabouts.” Azul observed the room, taking note of everyone else present. He recognized everyone present, though he was displeased to see the fire spewing creature from the orientation had joined them.
Many were awake, making the majority. The people still asleep were the ones that had fallen unconscious before Azul himself had. “Does anyone have a pen and paper?” He figured they’d need a list of everyone present, to make sure they could keep track of everyone.
Jade hummed, pulling a small notepad and pen from his sleeves. They all seemed to still be wearing their ceremonial robes, so whoever took them hadn’t changed their clothing. Small mercies, he supposed. “Thank you, Jade. Can you tell me what you know of our circumstances?”
“Of course.” Jade smiled, unbothered. He told Azul all that he knew, from the time Azul fell asleep to the time in which he woke up. Apparently the strange light had taken Idia and Malleus as well despite them not having been present at orientation. According to them, the light had appeared where they were at the same time it had appeared in the Mirror Chamber.
The bad news came later, when Jade had explained that nobody was able to use their magic. Azul immediately tested his own magic and found that it was true, he couldn’t access it. “How odd.” What object or person was powerful enough to cut off Malleus Draconia and many others from their magic all at once? Was it the combined efforts of more than one person? The possibilities were endless and each one was worse than the next.
His list complete, Jade providing the names of the late student and the strange creature who was very firm in his existence as a non-weasel, Azul mulled over the information he had been provided. He registered Floyd’s complaints about boredom but ignored them in favor of his own thoughts. “What could this person or persons want with us?”
The group was a mix between big names and unknowns that it was difficult to find a common reason they’d all be kidnapped. The theater itself made the situation more puzzling, as it wasn’t usually the type of place kidnapping victims were held. The room was clean and appeared to be up to code, which meant it wasn’t abandoned. If it saw use, it was an odd choice to hold one's targets.
“Well–” Jade was cut off by a growl as Ruggie bolted up from the seat he was sleeping in. How kind of their kidnappers to provide the hyena with comfortable accommodations while Azul was left to wake up on the uncomfortable floor.
“Where am I?!” Ruggie glared around the room as he took in his surroundings. His posture was tense as he examined everyone around him. After a minute, he seemed to realize nobody present was a threat. “What’s goin’ on?”
Lilia chuckled from right behind Azul, startling him. He definitely didn’t shout in fright, and Jade would be a dirty liar if he told anyone otherwise. “Well, we have no clue!”
Kalim happily approached Ruggie with his never ending smile. “It’s a theater, for sure, but nobody recognizes it so we have no idea where it is.” How he could say such words with so much positivity simply baffled the mind. Just when Azul finally thought Kalim’s limitless cheer would finally wane.
It was easy to allow the others to explain the situation to Ruggie, for Azul had other matters to attend to. Such as the now awake Jack Howl. The wolf beastman had a similar reaction to Ruggie, waking up and immediately going on the defense as he demanded to know what was going on.
Since Ruggie was still getting his own explanation, Azul took the liberty of explaining things to Jack. The conversation revealed much about Jack’s general character. While he could seem naive, his specific morals left him a poor choice of target for his contracts. Still, though, the wolf beastman had taken the news surprisingly well and looked through the list Azul gave him in contemplative silence.
After hearing out everything Azul and the twins had to say, Jack joined Ruggie who was sitting next to Leona’s sleeping form. The two made small talk, one sitting and the other standing, while waiting for their housewarden to wake up. It only took a few minutes before there was a groan. “Be quiet, I’m tryin’ to sleep…” Azul could hear Ruggie’s distinct sigh when he took in the words.
“Leona, wake up! This isn’t the time to be taking a nap!” Ruggie’s tone held fear, though he couldn’t tell whether it was out of concern for his housewarden or himself. Jack hovered near the pair as Ruggie attempted to wake his housewarden.
With a yawn that was clearly meant to annoy Ruggie, Leona finally opened his eyes. “You’re awake! Great!” Ruggie grinned down at the man, likely relieved.
Azul decided to take pity on the poor soul so he approached the trio from Savanaclaw with a smile on his face. “Wonderful. That just leaves those from Heartslabyul. If my calculations are correct, they should begin to wake within the next few minutes.” He had kept track of time it took between each person’s waking, though it likely wasn’t too accurate considering he nor Jade were able to time the difference between the ones who woke before them.
Oh well, his calculations couldn’t be too off the mark. Riddle and the others would wake shortly and then they’d finally be able to discuss what to do about their situation.