Chapter Text
Azul didn't want to go to school that day. His mama spent all morning just trying to get him to leave his room. The only reason she was able to get him out the door, was the promise of his favorite meal when he got home. Even then, she really had to sweeten the deal. His poor mother didn't even know why each day was a struggle. At least, Azul had never told her directly. She might have an idea based on her son's ever worsening attitude.
But he couldn't tell her. She already worked so hard, Azul didn't want her to worry about her only son getting bullied at school everyday. It had only been getting worse too. The reason Azul didn't want to go to school today was because of the game his classmates were playing yesterday. Everyone took turns trying to get Azul to ink. If that wasn't bad enough, one of them grabbed his tentacle in the middle of class and Azul almost inked the teacher.
Obviously, it was Azul who got in trouble for disrupting class. It was his ink that was the problem, it was his tentacles flailing everywhere. Not the boy with black hair and a marlin tail fin who violently grabbed a tentacle to try and get a reaction out of the octomer. He didn't even notice the distress he caused the octopus after, he was too busy flirting with the girl sitting next to him.
Hiding was always pointless, his classmates knew his spots by now. All Azul could do was hope that today they would have something else to hold their interest.
When he arrives at school, he swims through the halls cautiously. He has to peak behind each corner to ensure his tormentors wouldn't be there.
Nothing happens, but that doesn't mean that he lets his guard down. Not in his first class, nor the next. His bullies seemed more occupied laughing amongst themselves. But that only puts Azul further on guard, what if they were planning new ways to make his life terrible? So like normal, he does his best to simply hide in his octopus pot.
When the bell rings, without incident, Azul finally lets out a sigh of relief. He watches his classmates swim out of the room quickly, eager to get home. He knows better than to leave at the same time as the rest of them, that's just asking for trouble.
Once the sea around him is quiet, he finally exits his octopus pot and goes into the hallway, only to be stopped by the sound of voices. He hides immediately behind some coral, he knows those voices all to well.
Why were his bullies staying late?
Taking a cautious peak, Azul sees the boy with black hair once more. He's talking to the girl from earlier while his friends cheer him on. His friends are mindlessly tossing a ball between them, they'll probably break something soon and Azul wants no part of that. The girl looks enthusiastic, but if Azul had to guess, he would assume it was because of extravagant gift the boy's offering her. It's some silver pendant.
"I found it while out exploring." The tentacle grabber says.
"Oh wow, Monroe, it must have been dangerous." The girl blushes.
"It was, but it was worth it for you." The boy, apparently named Monroe replies. Azul hates knowing his name, he preferred for his bullies to remain faceless.
Azul rolls his eyes, it looks like the kinda junk he would find in a common ship wreck. He's found things far more interesting when he wasn't even trying. Not that he was going to go over there and announce that.
The octomer decides he's not going to waste any more time waiting for them to finish, he would just leave out the back of the school. As he turns back around, he has to shut his eyes, as someone swims by him at a blinding speed. It's followed by the shouting of his homeroom teacher.
"Come here this instant!"
He should have never shut his eyes, because in the moment he hears his teacher, something impacts with him. At first he assumes it was a ball, however, he's proven wrong when it explodes. In a panic he opens his eyes, but finds the water in front of him murky and dark. Part of him assumes that he inked, but he would felt it if he had. He has no idea where this ink came from.
"Azul Ashengrotto!"
That's all the warning he gets before his teacher is pulling him by the arm out of the ink cloud. He comes face to face with his teacher, who's now covered in the same dark inky substance.
"I- I-" Azul stutters out, unsure what to even say. He never knew what to say.
"As if I didn't have enough to deal with…"
Then Azul hears laughter, he looks in the direction of his bullies. The commotion clearly had caught their attention and now they were enjoying the show. Well, almost all of them are.
Monroe looks furious. Azul doesn't have to guess why. That ink had sprayed everywhere. Hitting the marlin and the girl he was talking to. While the girl is swimming away, the boy with black hair glares at Azul like this is all his fault.
Azul is too distressed to even be upset that he didn't do anything. It was Monroe's friends fault, they were the ones who threw the exploding ink sac at Azul. But Azul is the one getting carried away to the principal's office. No matter how much he tries to say it wasn't him. It seems his teacher had just automatically assumed since there was ink, it came from Azul.
He hated this school.
His teacher brings him to the principal's to reprimand Azul of making a mess in the school halls. The octomer wants to scream, he didn't do anything this time. In fact, he never does anything but hide. Even if it was his ink, he would have never done that on purpose, but his teacher doesn't care about the octopus. If his teacher cared, he would have put a stop to the harassment Azul received from the other children long ago.
When the teacher finally finishes talking, Azul is in tears, but instead of even asking if his student is okay, he just sends the octomer on his way. The only benefit to that late hour is that no one else is here, so no one has to witness the awful face Azul is making.
It's darker than normal in their abysmal patch of the ocean when Azul arrives home. His mom still isn't home, she never is. She's a hard worker after all. Azul loves that about her, but also breaks his heart a bit each day when he arrives home and she's not there to greet him.
There is a shining light at this horribly dark tunnel, however. When he swims through the entrance, his grandma is there, looking worried sick. At first Azul is worried he'll be reprimanded again, but then his grandma takes one look at him and her face softens. Without hesitation, she wraps her grandson into a hug. That's all it takes to make Azul start sobbing again.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asks gently.
Azul furiously shakes his head, reliving it again would just make it worse. Luckily, she understands and just holds the tiny octopus closer. It was the kind of unconditional love Azul could only receive from someone in his family. No one in life besides them would even get this close to him unless they wanted something from him or they wanted to hurt him. None of that matters now thought, because in this moment, he feels safe in his grandma's arms.
Azul doesn't even know how long they stayed like that, he just knows that eventually his grandma had to let go of him so she could make them dinner. That doesn't mean Azul strayed too far. He merely swam right behind her while she quietly prepared dinner. Meekly gripping her tentacle so he could be close.
Azul isn't surprised when his school life becomes worse after that. Everyday, he wakes up early, but he can't fall back asleep and at the same time he can't get out of his sleeping shell. So he would simply lay there, unable to do anything but stare at the ceiling.
What had once been bullying for the fun of it seems to shift. At least with Monroe and his group of friends. While the rest of the school ostracizes him as normal, the black haired boy now has a vendetta against Azul.
Finding his octopus pots filled with random junk becomes a regular occurrence. Forcing Azul to linger out in the open, where everyone can see him and laugh at him. One day he thought it was empty, only to be proven wrong when he lands in some weird sticky pink gunk. He can hear the laughter of his bullies, they know they caught the octomer in their little trap, but Azul doesn't make a sound. Too afraid of getting in trouble with his teacher again. It's not just his octopus pots either.
When Azul passes his homework to the front of the class, it always mysteriously goes missing. His instruments never work in music class. His name is always randomly pulled to sing in front of the class. When he has to partner up for projects, everyone makes a show of not picking the octomer. He finds his shell bag full of that random pink gunk.
Karma certainly never comes for his bullies. If anything, it feels like they're rewarded. The teachers love them, since they're always sucking up to the older merfolk. The teacher probably assume they could do nothing wrong and that Azul is a little monster. Even worse, Azul is pretty sure Monroe was mad at him, because the boy with black hair lost his chance with that girl. But it doesn't even matter.
Each week, he seems to be buttering up a new girl, showering them with gifts, like he thinks he's some sort of Casanova. It's completely insufferable. The girls always eat it up too, Azul has too wonder if they're only receptive because he's incredibly persistent with his gifts. It's like he gets everything he wants, like he's never been told no. Maybe that's why he had been so crossed that day, it was the first time he got a no.
Each day is simply an endurance test.
He just has to make it to the final bell, then he can pretend none of this exists and he won't have to worry his mom.
He knows he's already worrying his grandma. At first, he had been coming home in tears, but slowly over time they had dried up and Azul had just felt numb. He's pretty sure that worried her more than the crying. His grandma had wanted to go to his mom at one point but Azul had begged her not to. His grandma was clearly against the idea, so Azul always found ways to avoid the topic. He was so proud of his mom, he didn't want her to waste her precious time trying to help Azul because he couldn't stand up for himself.
Maybe that's what he needed to do.
He starts telling his grandma he has plans after school, so she won't notice the change in his attitude. He won't burden his mom or grandma. He was going to stand up for himself, in a way he could manage. More importantly he was going to get even.
He begins devoting all his time after school to learning magic. His grandma had already helped him learn so much. All he needed to do was put in more effort and no one could ever hurt him again.
______________________________
People weren't kind. At least, not him. That was a lesson Azul learned long ago. If he ever wanted something he had to fight for it and the only reason people talk to him was to get something. That was fine. It gave him strength, it gave him drive. There was no one in the school who worked as hard as him.
The second Azul's alarm goes off, he's up and out of bed. He had an extremely tight schedule today afterall.
A select group of students had been selected to do some PR for Night Raven College in the form of community service. While Azul had his own thoughts about the lack of compensation over volunteer work, this time was different. The destination was Doppler Mountain, located in the far north of Twisted Wonderland. This snowy isolated land had been on Azul's radar for a long time.
He had wanted to visit it during a holiday if he got the chance, but this opportunity was even better. He could raise his approval with the teachers and visit the mountain.
These mountains were rumored to be the location of a legendary treasure, that had been long lost to time. The kind of treasure that would 'make some rich beyond their wildest dreams' and Azul had some pretty wild dreams.
There was a minor snag. He wouldn't be able to devote his full time a resources looking for this treasure. The community service they were participating in had to take a priority. It was a multi-college effort that was bringing schools together to help settlements in the region that had been effected by strange natural disasters. They would help deliver food and repair damaged structures for these people, in return the schools got to say they were helping suffering communities. Honestly Azul isn't even sure if they would be here if the Royal Sword Academy hadn't decided to participate. There was no way the headmage would let the RSA gain a free reputation boost unchecked.
At first, their school had requested volunteers, however, that proved to be a poor idea when only a small handful of students came forward. They were considering doing a lottery system after that, but luckily for them, one of the students that had come forward was Azul and he certainly wasn't going to let any rowdy students ruin his chances for finding this treasure. The octomer knew they needed people who could do the work, but wouldn't question anything Azul and the twins were up to.
While his reputation among the more diligent students may not be that of someone extremely trustworthy, Azul still knew how to get what he wanted. It was only a small number of students needed, which made the octomer's life a bit easier as well.
The plan was to leave today through the mirror, then get on a train with a small group of the school who were helping. That meant Azul had a very short amount of time before he left. This busy schedule meant that he had to squeeze in much work as possible before he left. Jade and Floyd should also be getting up now to ensure that the staff will be able to run the lounge in their short absence. Azul also plans on testing them once he's finished with his first appointment.
His top priority right now was meeting with a customer of the lounge, who had been desperately trying to squeeze in a consultation with the octomer. He has simply looked so pathetic as he begged, how could Azul every turn down someone so desperate.
Once he's dressed and has confirmed there's not a single hair out of place on his head, he strolls down to the lounge. The Heartslabyul student who requested to meet with Azul, is nervously twiddling his thumbs outside of the lounge. He lights up when he sees the octomer's finally arrived.
"Aren't we punctual?" Azul gives the student his best customer service smile, "I do appreciate it."
"Yeah?" The Heartslabyul student chuckles, "Guess that earns me some points right?"
"We'll see." Azul's smile turns tight lipped. It absolutely did not earn him any points. It was the bare minimum and he wanted a pat on the back for it.
The octomer leads the two of them through the lounge, committing the scene to memory as he walks. If anything was out of place when he returned there would be hell to pay. Azul can see the Heartslabyul student fidgeting nervously as they go to the VIP room. Hopefully that meant this would be worth the hassle of fitting this straggler into his schedule. If he could learn something valuable from this affair, that would make it worth his time.
Azul lets his guest in the VIP lounge after unlocking the door and invites him to get comfortable on the couch by indicating to it with his hand. While the student takes a moment to get comfortable, Azul sits opposite of him on the other couch. He crosses his legs, places his hands in his lap, and smiles at the boy struggling to look casual.
"Olly Stewart," Azul tilts his head, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Olly remains quiet, like he's thinking of turning tail and running. That would mean this would be one giant waste of Azul's time.
"I heard you've been learning how to bake from Trey," Azul smiles, trying to be comforting, "Has that been going well?"
"Oh!" Olly says in surprise, "Yeah, I mean, he's super nice."
Olly seems to relax for a moment, before looking in Azul's direction. Unable to make eye contact with the octomer.
"I need help…" Olly mumbles.
"Yes, I assumed so," Azul chuckles, "No need to be nervous, I'm more than happy to hear you vent your woes."
"Umm," Olly nods his head, looking away again, "I completely bombed my last alchemy test, I've been trying to stop the housewarden from learning, but it's only a matter of time…"
"Oh? Afraid of Riddle are we? So, did you want me to try and smooth things over with him on your behalf?"
"Err, not exactly… I don't think the housewarden would like someone else trying to get me out of trouble…"
"Then what? I'm not a mind reader you know. Go on, tell me what you want."
"Could you just make it disappear?"
"Are you asking me to violate school records on your behalf?" Azul puts a hand to his chest in faux shock. This was about what he expected.
"Well, I mean you can do anything though right? It would be easy for you right?"
"Capability and willingness are two separate factors I'm afraid. Honestly, my heart breaks that a student under Riddle's excellent care would stoop so low as to ask such a thing from me." Azul shakes his head.
"You're not gonna tell him are you?"
"Who's to say, academic integrity is so important after all." Azul looks into the distance, like these words mean something to him.
"Okay, okay, listen, I can give you whatever you, just please…" Olly says desperately.
"Whatever I want? If you were capable of producing something like that, you wouldn't have come to me for help in the first place would you?"
"I guess not…" Olly looks down.
"Oh, look at you, it makes my heart break a little. How could I turn down such a face." Azul smiles sweetly at him.
Olly perks up a bit, "Yeah?"
"I'll tell you what, I'm in a good mood today, so how about in exchange for my silence and cooperation, you do some work at the Mostro Lounge for the foreseeable future."
"Oh, yeah, should I can do that."
"Excellent, how about for the next three months?"
"Three months?! That's insane!" Olly shoots up from the couch.
"Is it? Because you're asking a lot from me, when you aren't offering much in exchange. Of course, if you're not interested, I could always have a chat with Riddle before I depart later today."
"Wait no!" Olly starts sweating, clearly realizing he's messed up by coming to Azul, but it's too late to back out now. They both know it.
"So," Azul grins, "Those recipes you've been learning from Trey, I would love for you to practice them while working in the lounge."
"Right…" Olly slumps in his chair, knowing he's lost.
After informing Olly of what his new schedule will look like, Azul quickly sends him on his way. He had too much to deal with, he wasn't going to spend anymore time with Olly and his pathetic attempts at negotiating his situation.
This outcome was better than Azul had been hoping for, he expected to just learn a secret he could use for blackmail later, but now he had a new employee for the lounge. Unfortunately, this employee wouldn't be able to start right away, as much as it vexes him. He, Jade, and Floyd would all be gone, meaning there was no one to handle his training. That was fine, the matter could wait until after Azul had his treasure. If they rushed his training, it would only lead to messy results. Azul would never let any of his employees show a poor performance.
When he exits the VIP office and enters the main hall, he's met with the sight of Floyd and Jade striking fear into the staff. Ensuring that they would be doing their jobs flawlessly in the trio absence. Their fear is only amplified when Azul joins the group.
"I trust everyone is on the same page." Azul gives them a smile that says he'll know if a single thaumark is missing.
He's met with his employees nodding frantically, in a manor that shows they would never even think about crossing the octopus. After all, if they crossed Azul they would have to deal with the twins, who have now naturally fallen in line behind their boss.
"So tell me," Azul addresses the group, "What will we do if a customer starts causing trouble in the lounge?"
It's silent for a moment before someone in the back speaks up, "Ask them to leave?"
"Try again." Azul says firmly.
"Ask them to leave." Comes a stronger answer.
"Very good," Azul smiles, "And if someone asks for a refund after they've already eaten?"
"…give it to them?"
"Oh, so sorry, wrong answer," Azul gives them a wicked grin, "Floyd, why don't you cover our refund policy with them one more time?"
"Oh, you got it~" Floyd hums as he approaches the group once more, hands behind his back walking with a sway in his step.
The group looks terrified. Good, they should be. If they think there will be consequences for any misstep, that means Azul will have nothing to worry about while he's gone. The students start to back away, not that it'll do them any good, Floyd could catch all of them in under a second.
"Jade, a word?" Azul starts to walk away from the group.
"Of course." His vice housewarden gives him a small bow before diligently following along.
"How would you evaluate them?" Azul asks while continuing to look forward.
"I believe we have nothing to worry about, although," Jade looks to his brother terrifying the group by circling them, "It never hurts to instill a bit of fear."
"I couldn't agree more." Azul smiles at him.
"I trust you're prepared to go?"
"Naturally. I just need to pay a visit to Idia."
"I've ensured Floyd and myself are ready as well, I'm quite looking forward to exploring an arctic mountain."
"Don't forget our main goal." Azul scoffs.
"Surely there'll be time to examine the local fauna?"
"My treasure comes first, after that, you can do whatever you want."
"Very well, at least this little treasure hunt should be good entertainment."
"I would would appreciate if you didn't diminish the task. We need everything to go flawlessly, therefore, I need you take this seriously."
"Me goofing off? I would never." Jade smiles at him.
Azul just rolls his eyes. He had known the twins for too long at this point. He was more than aware that Jade was trying to get a reaction out of him by now. He certainly knew better than to just give Jade the reaction he wanted, the twins considered that boring after all and he has no plans to end their partnership yet.
"Just make sure Floyd is in the Hall of Mirrors before our departure." Azul keeps his head held high.
"Certainly." Jade promises. Azul knows they'll be there, them following his orders has never been a worry.
"Then you're dismissed."
Azul parts ways with Jade and makes a quick stop to his room once more to grab his suitcase. On his way out, gives his room one last check. Everything was clean and immaculate, not a single speck of dirt. Once his door is locked, he leaves Octavinelle to visit Ignihyde.
It was Sunday, so in any other dorm, there probably would have been a lot of activity. Not in Ignihyde. The halls are all but empty when Azul enters and makes his way to Idia's room. He does encounter one student, but they quickly make themselves scarce at the sight of the Octavinelle housewarden. It's amusing that everyone in their dorm is afraid of their own shadow.
Azul should really make an effort to help them work on their self confidence, he is a kind soul after all.
Finding Idia's room is no challenge, the octomer has been there before. Typically when Idia needed help with something. For some reason, Azul was one of the only people Idia let into his cave. Azul couldn't say why, but he's more than happy to in good standing with a member of the Shroud family.
When he knocks on the door, he's greeted with a groan from the other side.
"Morning~" Azul hums.
"Shuddap." Idia's muffled voice comes through the door.
"Is that anyway to greet me, after I've gone out of my way to help you." Azul responds in a smug tone.
He gets the response he's hoping for when he starts hearing Idia drag himself out of bed and over to the door. When the door finally opens, Azul sees an exhausted looking Idia with messy hair. Most importantly, the shut in looks thoroughly unamused.
"You really think I'm gonna buy that." Idia slumps.
"I have no idea what you mean." Azul smiles.
"M' not stupid, I know you only wanted me to come cause I wouldn't care about whatever shady crap you're up to."
Idia was right, but Azul wasn't gonna let him know that. What if the other housewarden wanted to use that as leverage over the octomer's head later? Azul would never risk it.
Idia had been a calculated choice, the headmage had wanted at least two housewardens on this trip. Idia was the least likely to raise alarms if Azul and the twins were acting strange, he knew Azul well, but he just didn't care if the octomer was trying to pull a scam. Maybe Leona wouldn't have cared, but if Azul had to pick between the two the choice was easy, he already spent so much time with Idia anyways.
Sure Idia is mad now, but Azul is accustomed to it at this point, their fights never last long. There have been countless times where they swore to never speak to each other again after getting too competitive in club, but next week, they would casually approach each other to play a game as if nothing happened. Besides, Azul technically is getting Idia out of class, the shut in should be grateful.
"If you're so crossed with me, you could always ask someone else to room with you for the trip."
Idia's eyes go wide, "Don't even joke about that, like I would want to be stuck with some other rando you roped into mess."
It was the perfect set up for Azul too. The twins could room with each other and Azul could room with someone who wouldn't even raise an eyebrow if he was gone for long periods of time. In fact, his temporary roommate would probably love that.
"So we're in agreement, I am helping you." Azul lets himself into Idia's room like he owns the place.
Idia doesn't even protest, used to Azul antics at this point. Besides, they both know that Azul was aware of the mess that is Idia's room, he's long since gotten his snide remarks out. Azul sits down at Idia's desk and looks at the game on the monitor, currently stuck on the pause screen.
"It's a new JRPG I've been into lately, you power up attacks by playing a rhythm mini-game, you can block attacks with it too, it's sick, it reminds me a lot of Life in the Mana Pool. You know, similar low poly art style." Idia mumbles as he leans over Azul to shut down the game.
"You need to stop using those terms like they mean anything to me."
"If you would just try one, you could see what the hype is about." Idia stretches.
"Unfortunately, I don't have the time to add video games into my schedule."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, you need to keep working or you'll die or something," Idia grabs a duffle bag, "Gonna get changed, try not go crazy doing nothing for like five minutes."
"I'll try." Azul smiles.
Idia gives Azul one last look that says he knows the octomer is up to something, but he doesn't even bother asking.
Once he's alone, Azul turns to Idia's computer and pull up the schools network. Azul had learned long ago that Idia was the system admin and he didn't even do anything with all that all that power. Since there was no one was above Idia in the system, no one could track his actions, they weren't even logged.
Azul is more than happy to abuse this power in Idia's place. Nothing extreme obviously, that would raise too many flags, that would cause people to ask questions. Just small things. Like disabling the notification Riddle Rosehearts would receive regarding one Olly Stewart failing an exam. Azul isn't the most tech savvy student at Night Raven College, but Idia had used the back end with Azul in the room before, so the octomer had a decent idea of what to do.
By the time Idia gets back, Azul is innocently sitting in his chair, looking at the shut in's figurine collection.
"You mess with my games?"
"Of course not." Azul knows better than to touch Idia's games.
"Then I don't care what you did."
This is exactly why Idia would be the perfect roommate.
"Please tell me those are new clothes." Azul watches as Idia begins throwing random clothes from his bed into the duffle bag.
"Yeah, figured if I smelled when we were rooming together, I'd never hear the end of it."
"You have better social skills than you give yourself credit for."
"I know you, doesn't mean I know other people." Idia says sounding a bit stressed.
"I suppose so. Be sure to pack warm clothes as well, I'd hate for you to get sick."
"Yeah, but if I get sick, that means I still won't have to go to classes when I get back." Idia smiles at him.
"How foolish of me, of course."
Idia doesn't take long to finish after that, tossing some toiletries, a laptop, and some box full of games into his bag as well.
"KK, 'm good." Idia flings the bag over his shoulder.
"And not a moment too soon. I would hate to be late after all."
"What a stain upon your reputation that would be." Idia says in his best imitation of Azul's voice.
"I'm glad you understand!" Azul gets up and begins leading the way to the hall of mirrors.
Azul decides to give Idia some time to wake up while they walk, as the other housewarden was very clearly drowsy still. Regardless, the octomer found himself feeling a bit giddy. Everything was working out perfectly as he had planned. Not a single hair out of place.
Idia hides behind Azul a bit when they reach the hall of mirrors, but that was most likely due to the small number of students milling about, already in warm clothes. Most of them were from Savanaclaw, some were from Diasomnia. This was by design. All strong athletic types who would do the bulk of the work. Further more, they were less likely to notice if Azul was missing if they were too focused on trying to outclass each other. It couldn't be students from Octavinelle either, as Azul had all hands on deck running the lounge for the next few days.
"So many extroverts…" Idia mumbles.
"It's fine, just stand behind me." Azul responds confidently.
Azul admires the results of his work, as he makes his way to Professor Trein, who's currently doing a roll call. He even spies Jade and Floyd, who appear to be joking around with each other. That was fine, as long as they did what Azul asked, they could joke around as much as they wanted. Once the two of them see their housewarden though, they waste no time returning to his sides. At this point this formation was almost natural for the three of them.
Unfortunately for Idia it means he has to stand a bit further back than Azul imagines he would prefer. It was fine, as soon as they were on the train, Idia could set up in their room and he wouldn't have to worry about interacting with anyone.
"Happy?" Jade asks when he notices Azul looking around.
"Very." Azul doesn't hesitate in his response. Everything had fallen into place perfectly. All he had to worry about now was getting his hands on that treasure.
"Ahh, Mr.Ashengrotto," Professor Trein greet him with a nod, "I must thank you for all your assistance over the course of this project."
"Of course," Azul puts a hand on his chest, "I'm always happy to help not only Night Raven College, but also those in need."
Floyd lets out a laugh and Azul elbows him. If Trein noticed, he doesn't say anything, he just continues to look over his clipboard.
"Leaving kitty behind, Red Squid?" Floyd asks.
"Mr.Leech, for the last time, please address me as Professor Trein."
"Of course, Professor Trein." Jade replies.
Trein lets out a sigh, almost like he had been expecting that, yet he's still disappointed, "I'm leaving Lucius behind since it will be far too cold for him at Doppler Mountain. Regardless, we're just waiting on two more."
"Two more?" Azul asks, looking around the room. As far as he could could tell, this was everyone he had hand selected.
If they were waiting on two more, that meant that people Azul hadn't personally picked had signed up. Azul feels his eyebrow twitch. How dare these people try to ruin his carefully crafted plan. Azul doesn't have to wonder for long who these people are, as his teacher suddenly perks up.
"Ahh, there's our stragglers," Trein raises his voice, "Could everyone please follow me in an orderly fashion."
That's all the warning the professor gives them before he turns into the mirror, clearly expecting his students to follow. But Azul won't go anywhere until he knows who's responsible for his unneeded stress.
He internally groans when he sees their late arrivals. Why in Twisted Wonderland were Ruggie and Lilia here? Shouldn't they be doting on their housewardens? Azul huff and quickly turns to follow professor Trein as the twins laugh at the little wrench they just got thrown. They loved when Azul's plans went awry.
"Professor," Azul chases after Trein through the mirror, "It's quite strange that Lilia and Ruggie joined on such short notice, wouldn't you agree?"
It was true, Malleus and Leona hardly seemed like the kind of housewardens who would care if some of their students were gone on a community service trip.
"It was a last minute request by Mr.Draconia and Mr.Kingscholar," Trein hardly pays Azul any mind, too busy marking off the students that pass through the mirror, "It seemed both of them had some reservation after learning you were responsible for organizing most of the trip."
"What could I have possible done to warrant that reaction." Azul pretends to be offended, but it has little effect on Trein who's more focused on his job in this moment.
Azul doesn't pout, that would be unbecoming. He does look away from the twins, who are clearly amused but Azul's annoyance. This is how Azul sees Idia heading to the train as quickly as possible. Probably trying to get to their assigned room before the small hallways fill up with students from other schools. It seems most of these other schools were arriving at the same time as their school.
Azul decides to take this moment to take stock of his surroundings instead. The landscape is completely coated in snow, leaving many students shivering and trying to bundle for warmth in their jackets. There are a small number of buildings aside from the train station. They're a variety of quiet rustic houses. Old but not in the need for repair. They would need to ride the train for a day to reach the areas effected by the natural disasters.
It's not bright out either, large gloomy clouds block the sun, meaning most of the light in the area comes from streetlamps. Azul tries to find a road, but it seems the train might be the best way out of this small settlement. Honestly, if most of the towns here are like this, it's no wonder they easily fell victim to natural disasters. Especially with how deep in the mountains they were. If Azul was going to hide a grand treasure, he would have picked this place too. The mountains seem to stretch on forever, to Jade's clear delight.
Then Azul looks to all the students milling about and socializing now. It's probably easier to talk to these other schools since the Royal Sword Academy isn't in their group. His eyes quickly move over the students he selected, before landing on Lilia and Ruggie who appear to be laughing with each other about something. Azul had never seen them get along in the past, he can only assume their laughter is at his expense.
Azul looks away in irritation. There was probably nothing that could tick him off more in this moment than that. At least that's what Azul thought until his attention shifts to some other random school.
They're one of the non-magic schools, Azul only recognizes them because he had looked into the other schools that would be in their group. This school specialized in potions and alchemy. In fact, they were incredibly famous for it.
But none of that matters.
Suddenly, not even Lilia and Ruggie being here matters.
Maybe the treasure doesn't even matter.
Azul still has time before the gate way closes, he could run back to his room and panic there.
But he won't.
He needs to be strong, perfect, and most importantly, not some pathetic crybaby octopus.
Especially because in the crowd, he spots a familiar head of black hair. Azul would never forget his face. The face of a kid who would pull on his tentacles for fun, who filled his octopus pots with junk, who sent him home everyday in tears.
"Is something amusing?" Jade asks.
Azul hadn't even realized he had started laughing, "Maybe there is something out there more valuable than treasure."
"Sure?" Floyd says after sharing a confused look with his brother.
The treasure would have to wait, Azul needed to ruin Monroe's life first, something tells him that nothing would be sweeter than that revenge. Then he could celebrate in a sea of gold.