Chapter Text
The small spiral shell gave off a faint golden glow, ready for its final destination. All he had to do was add this to the mix and then he wouldn’t have to listen to that pompous peacock anymore. No one would be forced to listen to him ever again. This had to be his test. The test that would show the Great Seven he was worthy of their attention.
He didn’t understand what had gone wrong before. His plan last time had been perfect! Well…almost perfect. And yet, he still hadn’t secured his proper place on the throne. Somehow there was always something that got in his way. Last time it had been that Magicam influencer. A pity they had found him so quickly. No one would stop him this time though. This time, he would succeed.
✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦
It was a pretty quiet day in Octavinelle. There were no looming academic deadlines or large school events going on. A couple of classes had tests coming up, but nothing too demanding. The Lounge was open with a steady stream of customers flowing in and out, but the overall atmosphere was very relaxed. No one was rushing around. It was just another ordinary day, just like the one before had been and the one after it was likely to be as well.
Despite this calm that permeated the dorm, Azul himself was not feeling it. Oh, no. He was a man on a mission. Vil had informed him the day before that he was almost out of the toner they’d made him at the beginning of the school year. He’d asked to have more made as soon as possible. Apparently, he had an important event coming up that weekend and was determined to look his absolute best. Azul had found out through his sources that this would be the first event that Cater would be attending with him and Vil wanted everything to be perfect.
Thankfully, foreseeing the possible and very likely need to make another batch of the toner in the future, Azul had been slowly gathering the ‘secret ingredient’ to be able to streamline the process. He’d rather not have either of them be completely rung out like last time. It had been made easier by the fact that he now had an excellent way to bribe his boyfriends for this ingredient. Kisses were worth more to them than gold and Azul had an endless supply. It was a win-win situation, and those didn’t come around very often. Also, now that they had a recipe to follow, making the toner should go much quicker than before. Azul had already gotten the twins started on a new batch while he finished up some other work that needed his attention. Now he was on his way to them, partly to see if they needed his assistance and partly just to see them.
“There you are, love. I was wondering when you’d get here.” Jade greeted the octomer with a quick peck on the lips when he arrived, an action that always gave Azul a thrill. Jade absolutely loved kissing. Not to say that Floyd didn’t, but the more excitable twin tended to greet Azul with a crushing hug first. Jade normally opted for quick kisses that could be stolen as they passed each other. Since the action technically fell under Azul’s ‘acceptable in public’ displays of affection, Jade did it as much as he could.
“I believe we have an even better mixture than last time. Vil should be pleased. However, we did have a slight setback. Floyd had to run to the school store to get another bottle. The one we had prepared was somehow knocked off the counter and broken. We didn’t have a spare on hand.” Azul nodded absently as he listened, looking at the slimy blue-green mix in the small cauldron. It did have a brighter sheen to it than last time. Excellent.
“It looks perfect, Jade.” Azul said. “I assume you’ve done all the quality checks already then?” Jade meanwhile had circled around behind Azul and wrapped his arms around him in a loose hug. Azul readily leaned into it. He was growing more accustomed to how physically affectionate the twins were. At first when they would kiss him or hug him close, he had to fight the immediate reaction to pull away in embarrassment, even in private. Now however, he found himself initiating it almost as often as they did. They still managed to fluster him from time to time and Azul was pretty sure they were doing it intentionally. But it was nice to know how much they wanted him.
“Of course. I’m quite the expert at meeting your exacting standards.” The eel replied. He reached up with a gloved hand and turned Azul’s face towards him for a deeper kiss. He knew once Floyd got back he’d have to share again, but for right now, Azul was all his. He’d make the most of the time he had alone with him. Azul eagerly returned the kiss, sighing contentedly as his eyes slid closed.
There were several different reactions that Jade thought were possible. He expected for Azul to perhaps be flustered by the display of affection. Maybe he would indulge until they were interrupted. He might point out that this was technically work so they should focus on the task at hand. Or perhaps he would try to escape the eel’s grasp while blushing furiously. The last one being Jade’s personal favorite. What he did not expect was for his Housewarden to suddenly go limp in his arms when he pulled away.
“Azul?” There was no response. If he didn’t know any better, Jade would think Azul was just asleep. But he did know better. After carefully lowering Azul to lay on the floor, Jade started to examine him carefully. Nothing seemed out of order, but… There was a smear of the toner on his cheek from Jade’s glove and it had a golden glimmer in it. As the eel leaned closer to get a better look, Azul’s eyes fluttered open.
“Are you alright?” Jade asked. He didn’t see anything that would cause immediate alarm. Azul carefully sat up and looked around. Mere seconds had passed, but to Jade, it was an eternity. For a moment, the eel wondered if he had been transported back to Idia’s game world. An unpleasant thought, to be sure.
“I think so… Since I don't feel sore anywhere, I assume you caught me. Thank you.” Azul answered, getting back to his feet. He looked around at the room, but everything was as it should be. “What happened?”
“I’m not certain, but I believe it was the toner. I got some on your cheek when I kissed you. There must have been some on my glove. We will need to do some more testing before we can present this to Vil.” Jade said. “I had noticed that the mixture looked different, but I assumed it was due to a more refined process.” While he spoke, Jade wiped the toner from Azul’s cheek with a handkerchief and examined it. The golden shimmer he’d noticed earlier in the mix was now gone. Looking back at his Housewarden, Jade noticed that same golden shimmer was now under the skin of Azul’s throat. It was faint, likely unnoticeable to most. But Jade had an intimate knowledge of Azul and that had definitely not been there before.
“What are you looking at?” Azul asked. Without answering, Jade removed his gloves and tilted Azul’s head back for a better look. The Housewarden didn’t protest, seeing the concern on Jade’s face.
“Someone has tampered with this.” Jade said eventually. He went back to the small cauldron and peered in. That golden shimmer was missing, but he could now see something glimmering at the bottom. Grabbing a pair of tongs, Jade retrieved the offending item and pulled it out. It was a small spiral seashell.
“What is that?” Azul asked. He stepped closer to get a better look and immediately regretted it. It felt like something was being pulled from his throat. The pair watched in stunned silence as a small glowing golden orb left Azul’s mouth and made its way into the seashell. The small shell pulsed with magical energy and the glow settled around it.
“That was quite unexpected.” Jade commented. He looked towards Azul and found him nearly in a panic. The octomer was clutching at his throat and his eyes were filling with tears. “Azul?! What’s wrong?!” Azul shook his head. It looked like he was trying to say something, but not a single sound came out. That was when Jade realized what that glowing orb had been. It was Azul’s voice. Someone had sabotaged their potion to steal someone’s voice. How had that happened?
“Why’s my octopus crying?” A disgruntled voice came from the doorway. Both Azul and Jade jumped and turned to find Floyd standing there with a sour look on his face. “Did that Pomefiore fishie do something?”
“Who?” Jade asked. Azul was unable to verbally respond, so he had to settle for just looking confused.
“There was one of Lil’ Betta’s pretty boys leaving when I got back from Seahorse’s.” Floyd stalked across the room, setting the bottle he’d been carrying down rather roughly, and carefully cupped Azul’s face in his hands. Normally that gave Azul a sense of security. He felt safe with the twins. Now, not even that couldn’t completely override the anxiety of losing his voice. His voice was nearly his greatest weapon. He felt so vulnerable without it.
While Floyd looked Azul over, Jade headed to the door and locked it. He didn’t want any more surprises. He’d heard of a spell like this before, but had never seen it in action. Now they’d have to figure out how to reverse the effects, preferably without anyone else finding out what happened. The eel grabbed the book he believed held the answer he was looking for. After some searching, Jade called Azul over.
“I believe this is the cause of your predicament, Azul.” The octomer, who had calmed a little in Floyd’s arms, went over and looked to where Jade was pointing. After reading over the words printed there, he had to conclude that Jade was likely correct. Luckily, the reversal would be easy to brew and they had the talisman that held Azul’s voice.
“A voice stealing spell?” Floyd had followed behind Azul. His eyes flared with reignited fury. “Do I need to go catch that fishie?” Azul shook his head and grabbed Floyd’s sleeve. While he still couldn’t talk, he mouthed ‘stay’ to Floyd. The anger drained from the eel and he pulled Azul back into another crushing hug. As much as he wanted to hunt down the one that had made Azul cry, Floyd wouldn’t if his boyfriend asked him to stay. He wasn’t able to resist Azul’s pouty face.
It took the trio no time at all to gather the ingredients and brew the reversal potion. While the twins worked on it, Azul messaged Vil to let him know what had happened and to keep it quiet for now. The fewer people that knew, the better. Vil replied quickly and they agreed to pretend nothing had happened in an attempt to lure out their culprit. And less than ten minutes after his voice had been stolen, Azul was able to speak again. He was happy that the potion was one that had a very short brewing time.
“That’s much better. Thank you.” He smiled at his boyfriends. “Surely you’ve both guessed it as well, but I believe this was the work of our mysterious kidnapper and poisoner. Floyd, if you saw him again, would you recognize him?” The eel shrugged.
“I dunno, maybe. Probably.” He replied. Well, at least he was honest. Azul reasoned to himself that their culprit had come and gone just before he had arrived. Since Floyd had run into him on the way back from the store, Azul knew he hadn’t missed him by much. But Jade had received the protection from Rena at one of their last meetings and had been here the whole time. So how had the shell gotten into the mix? Unless…the culprit didn’t do it himself?
“Was anyone else in here besides myself and Floyd?” The octomer asked. Jade nodded, eyes widening in realization.
“Yes, one of our students came to deliver some paperwork for the Lounge. I only had my back to him for a moment, but I didn’t think I needed to be on guard against someone from our own house.” Jade said. Azul sighed in annoyance. He wasn’t mad at Jade. The eel was right. He shouldn’t have had to be on guard against his own housemates.
“I would theorize then that our culprit gave that student the shell with instructions on what to do with it. But he’s likely not aware of what he did, the memories are probably completely gone. Questioning him would be of little value.” Azul said. He sighed in annoyance. “This is getting out of hand. For every precaution we take, this villain has a counteraction. We’re going to have to think at least five steps ahead to have any hope of catching him.”
“You want me to go get him and drag him back here?” Floyd asked, eyes lighting up with fel glee. Like a shark smelling blood in the water. Azul thought for a moment.
“No.” He said, a cunning smile appearing on his face. “Instead, I would like for you to find him and just keep an eye on him. Don’t worry about being inconspicuous either. I want him to know that you are aware of who he is and that we are coming after him soon. With any luck, he’ll slip up and give us the opportunity we have been needing.” Jade hummed thoughtfully at that.
“I see. In the meantime, shall we properly brew the toner for Vil? For the trap to be the most effective, nothing should look out of place.” The eel added. “If he believes that his plan has failed completely, he is more likely to show his hand.”
“Good idea.” Azul agreed. “Floyd, I would appreciate it if you would go and find our culprit right away. Watch him, please. Make him uncomfortable.”
“You got it, babe!” Floyd leaned down and snatched a kiss before heading out the door, leaving a slightly flustered Azul in his wake. Jade chuckled quietly as he prepared a new cauldron for the toner. His twin certainly was motivated today.
✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦
“He’s after me.” At those nearly whispered words, Cater looked up from the homework spread on the floor around him. He and Vil had been studying together when the actor received a text from Azul. Whatever the text said apparently wasn’t good news. Vil was staring at his phone screen, expression unreadable.
“What?” The ginger asked when Vil didn’t say anything else right away. Vil took a deep breath and turned to face his boyfriend.
“Azul just informed me that your kidnapper had attempted to sabotage the toner I had him making for me. Instead, Azul fell victim to it. Thankfully, they were able to reverse the damage right away. He is planning to use this to set a trap. Floyd saw the student as he was leaving and now he is out looking for him. I guess they were correct that his signature spell could counteract the memory erasing.” Vil explained. “Our culprit is apparently a Pomefiore student… First Rook with the apple, then the drink I brought for you, and now the toner Azul makes for me? I’m the one he’s after.”
“I wondered…” Cater muttered. He vaguely recalled hearing his kidnapper say “You weren’t the one I was after.”, but he’d been a little distracted at the time and didn’t process it until later. Like Rook and the fox spirit siblings, Cater had noticed that all of the victims had been related to Vil in some way. But he hadn’t wanted to say it out loud. As if vocalizing it would make it more real somehow. For a moment or two, neither said anything. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m still considering possibilities. It sounded like Floyd was rather eager to hunt down the one who made his Housewarden upset.” Vil replied. Cater chuckled at that. More like the one who made his boyfriend cry, he figured. “Azul wants us to act as if nothing happened. To make our culprit believe he has failed completely. He is hoping that will make him mess up.” Vil didn’t look too convinced though. Cater gave a thoughtful hum. It sounded like a good plan, but what if it just made him more desperate? Even a cornered mouse might attack a cat.
“Are you at least going to tell Rook? So he can keep an eye out, too?” Cater asked. When he thought about Vil potentially coming into contact with this mystery student, anxiety spiked through him. Not that he thought Vil was incapable of taking care of himself, but their opponent was tricky and clearly not afraid to play dirty.
Rook might have never awakened from the Sleeping Death, so it had been essentially a death sentence until the antidote was found. And if he hadn’t been found so quickly, Cater knew that his own life could have been in danger. He could have fallen and been seriously hurt or killed, or if no one found him before the food ran out, he would have starved to death. This attempt seemed rather weak in comparison. Only stealing someone’s voice? But if Vil had been affected, and they weren’t able to recover the talisman, his acting career would be over. And they already knew that he had no problems kidnapping someone. Who was to say that he wouldn’t try it again. Vil wouldn’t have been able to call for help…
“I had planned to, yes.” Vil replied. “But I wonder if we shouldn’t let our culprit think that he has succeeded instead. If he finds out he failed, it may send him into a dangerous spiral. But if he thinks his plan worked, he may relax more and give us a safer opportunity to catch him.” Cater was all for safer. This had gone on long enough in his opinion.
“How?”
“Suppose I stay in my room and only communicate with others via text, do you think he would risk going back to Octavinelle to get the talisman? It’s a piece of evidence he’d need to have accounted for. Then we can catch him in the act.” The actor answered. “And then you don’t have to worry about me running into him.” Cater laughed. He must have been more transparent than he’d thought. Vil saw right away how worried he was.
“I definitely like that plan better. But I’m biased and I know it. You should see what Azul thinks. He’s a pretty good strategist.” Vil nodded and pulled his phone back out. First he told Rook to come to his room as soon as he was able, then he messaged Azul back. It took the other Housewarden a few minutes to respond after he had read the text.
“Azul has agreed to play along. He is still going to have Floyd watching out for this mystery student, but he’ll deliver the toner later. Then, I’ll go into hiding. All my communications will go through text or you and Rook for a few days. If he doesn’t make a move in a day or so, we’ll try something else.” Vil said. He gave Cater a stern look. “I want you to be careful, too. I’m hoping since you have already interacted with him, he’ll avoid you. But I can’t fathom how he thinks.”
“I’ll be careful.” The ginger promised with a grin. He looked down at the homework still demanding his attention. There was no way he was going to be able to focus on it now, so he started packing his books away. “I’m not going to get any more studying done tonight.” Vil nodded in understanding.
“Well then, I guess I’ll have to find some other way to entertain you.” The blonde said with a sly smirk. Cater gave him a look.
“Whatever you come up with will have to be PG until after Rook has come and gone. And Azul said he was going to bring the toner by. Don’t forget that.” He commented. Drat, he was right. As if on cue, someone knocked on Vil’s door. After calling out to see who it was, Rook’s voice came from the other side.
“Bonsoir, mes amis.” The hunter said, closing the door behind him. “You said there has been a development?” Vil explained what Azul had told them and their plan to try and catch the culprit. Rook listened intently and nodded once they had finished. He, like Cater, wanted to keep Vil out of danger as much as possible. He was not at all surprised to learn that there had been yet another attempt involving the actor in some way. He had suspected for a while that Vil was the true target.
“Azul is getting a trap set for if he comes to get the talisman back. But we’ll need a backup plan as well.” Vil said. “If he isn’t caught, Floyd knows who he is. Or at least we hope he does. One of my own housemates is behind this…” That fact bothered Vil more than he wanted to admit. Had he done something to upset someone? If so, why had they not come to him about their issue? He also wondered how he hadn’t noticed. Had this student been making him forget? He shook his head to clear the thoughts. There was no use worrying about the past. It couldn’t be changed. But he could work to make sure the same mistakes weren’t repeated.
“I have a suggestion if this trap fails.” Rook said. “As dangerous as it could be, we should give him an opportunity that is too good to ignore. I’m afraid that means, Vil, that you would have to be bait.” Judging by his expression, Cater didn’t like that idea at all. Vil could see what Rook meant. He didn’t like the idea either, but it made sense. Then he recalled something. Something that should have been obvious.
“Now that’s a thought.”