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“That one, with the brown hair and the moustache.”
“Mon Dieu, you are correct. He does look like a frog.”
“That’s exactly what I said to Annabel and then she told me to be respectful. She was laughing, though, so I didn’t take her too seriously.”
Duke scoffed. “Good Lord, she dodged a bullet-” He slapped his hands over his mouth. “Ah, I mean- She- ehm… She-”
Lenore smirked at her best friend’s awkward attempt to correct himself and patted him on the back. “It’s alright, my friend.”
She glared once again at Wesley from across the room before turning back to Duke. “I agree, by the way.”
“How could you not when he looks like- Ah, merde, he saw us!” Duke grabbed Lenore’s wrist and pulled her away to hide behind one of the banisters in the ballroom, the two peeking out every once in a while as they tried to muffle their cackling laughter.
Everyone at Nevermore academy had been murdered- this was a well-known fact throughout the school. This had come to be of importance recently when the Deans had announced a ballroom dance featuring one special guest for every person- a special guest who had murdered them.
Lenore had awkwardly told her friends that she had known and was dating Annabel to explain why they’d be sharing a guest in case Wesley said anything, and Annabel had done the same with her acolytes, to which they both received some mixed reviews. But their friends had forgiven Lenore and Annabel surprisingly fast, seeing as they were promised a chance to help with their escape and leave as well, and seemingly taking the fact they knew something vulnerable about them as a chance to grow closer as friends and allies. And you always needed allies in Nevermore.
Duke had been the one who’d taken the longest to warm up to the fact Lenore had been lying to them since she arrived, but after some pestering from Pluto and a few games of chess that Annabel had secretly let him win, the two seemed to be getting along just fine.
“Which one’s yours?” Lenore asked when it seemed like the coast was clear, to which Duke jerked his thumb at a red-haired man wearing a green suit and wrinkled his nose up.
“Luca Faunterloy. Sabotaged my performance. Connard.”
Lenore gasped dramatically. “How dare he?”
Duke shivered in disgust. “I would love to go punch him in the face, really, but I’d prefer to keep my hands clean.”
“I could say the same about Wesley.” Lenore paused, seemingly in thought. “I mean, these aren’t really them, anyhow, right?”
“Non, je ne pense pas. Replicated by the Deans- their exact personalities and features, but no… well, you know.”
“Questioning why they’ve suddenly appeared in an old gothic academy full of sad, dead, queer people?”
“Exactement.”
Duke snickered along with his friend before perking up when something caught his eye, poking his head out once again from behind the banister to see Pluto walking around aimlessly, somehow weaving through the crowd even though his head was down.
He’d ditched Lenore and Duke at the start of the night for the "bathroom", looking around anxiously for something or someone, and they hadn’t seen him since, although he’d been dreading this ball ever since it was announced.
Duke and Lenore figured his murderer did something truly horrendous and decided not to ask about it, although they had been keeping a slight eye on him all evening to make sure nobody tried anything.
Berenice and Eulalie were sticking together for the same reason, although they were nowhere to be found, and Morella and Prospero were chewing out an angry-looking man while Ada stood behind them, dumbfounded.
Monty was fistfighting some guy while Will and Annabel talked by the snack table, decidedly not mingling with the crowd- although Annabel did occasionally shoot glares in Wesley’s direction and had sent little waves to Lenore and Duke here and then as they meddled with the signs on the walls.
“Pluto!” Duke called, making his roommate jump and look around for the voice before catching his friends’ eyes and rushing over to them.
“How’s your night been, Pluto? We’ve hardly seen you!” Lenore said when he got to them, elbowing him gently.
“Have you met your…” Duke lowered his voice to get it as dramatic as possible. “Muderer, yet?”
“Mhm.”
Pluto looked down awkwardly, and Lenore and Duke shot worried Looks to each other, Lenore turning back to meet her shorter friend's eyes.
“Hey, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” she said softly, to which Pluto forced a smile and leaned back against the banister.
“Yeh, I dunno. This is a weird night.”
“It certainly is,” Duke said in agreement. “Quite eventful, though, non?”
Lenore grabbed Duke’s shoulder tightly out of nowhere and shook him. “Duke,” she hissed, pointing through the crowd at two figures talking to each- one with red hair and one brown. “They’re talking.”
“Oh, Mon Dieu, of course they would get along. Pfft.”
“Hm?” Pluto followed his friends' gazes towards where Wesley and Luca were conversing, his eyes narrowing and the previous air of sadness he’d had to him before dissipating.
“That’s the one who killed me,” Duke stated, pointing at Luca with a grin on his face- he was only going to get through this if he joked the whole time. “-And that’s Lenore’s killer.”
“I prefer the term ‘murderer,’” Lenore replied, grinning as well. “Sounds more romantic, more… dramatic.”
“Didn’t realize you liked drama, mon amie.”
“Only when I start it.”
“Why aren’t you two-” Pluto gestured vaguely at his friends’ unbothered reactions. “-I dunno, going to talk to them or something? Punch ‘em in the face?”
Duke gasped dramatically. “Pluto! So violent! I like it.”
Pluto flushed red. “I- I mean, I know that if I had- I mean, if I saw-”
Lenore jumped in to save him. “Me and Duke have decided we’re too good for confrontation.”
Duke nodded. “Neither of those two are worth my time. My afterlife will be oh-so-much greater if I don’t ever have to talk to Luca again- or even meet Wesley!”
Pluto looked at his friends sadly before he glared again at their murderers engaging in small talk as if nothing was wrong.
“Eh. Not too good for me,” he muttered, to which Duke and Lenore both raised an eyebrow at.
“What do you-”
“I’m gonna take a breather outside,” Pluto declared, shoving his hands back in his pockets and grinning shyly at his friends. “Have fun watching people creepily, I s’pose.”
“Comment ose-tu?! This is not creepy!”
“I feel as though we should be allowed to, seeing as they killed us!”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Pluto teased, shrugging and walking off again, a strange look in his eye that Duke and Lenore had never seen before.
Lenore frowned. “He looks so…”
“Cross,” Duke finished, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head as he and Lenore watched Pluto walk away and push open the doors to the outside.
Lenore shot Duke another worried glance. “I hope he’s alright. He’s been a bit off all night, but it seemed so much like sadness before. Not anger.”
“Emotions can change quickly when you meet your killer, I suppose,” Duke said. “I mean, I started the night off quite angry, myself, but I feel a lot more calm about everything now.”
Lenore nodded in agreement. “I can relate. I wanted to show up to this dance and go to blows with Wesley right away, but I really don’t care too much anymore.”
“I mean, at least at Nevermore you don’t have to pretend to be a man all the time,” Duke reminded her.
Lenore laughed. “True. And I can court Annabel in peace.”
“Really, dying isn’t all that bad,” Duke decided. “I mean, I got to meet you, and Pluto-”
Lenore smirked and laughed. “Meeting Pluto was the best part, I’m sure.”
Duke’s cheeks turned two shades darker. “Bah, alors, tais-toi, mon amie.”
Lenore laughed again before her eyes seemed to focus on something behind Duke and she poked her head around him so she could look back at the crowd.
“Speaking of Pluto…” she muttered as Duke went to join her.
She gestured to the Frenchman’s roommate, who, to both of their surprise, was once again walking through the crowd.
This time was different, though- his walk felt more purposeful, and his eyebrows were furrowed angrily at Luca and Wesley, who were still chatting in a corner of the room. Not to mention, he was holding a-
“Is that a crowbar?" Duke hissed, Lenore whispering, ”What the hell is he doing…?” beside him.
“You don’t think-”
“He won’t-”
Pluto reached Wesley and Luca, glaring up at them as menacingly as he could until they finally noticed him and turned to raise an eyebrow at the shorter boy.
“Merde, Pluto,” Duke muttered, him and Lenore immediately shoving their way through the crowd until they got close enough to hear what Pluto was saying.
Will and Annabel had also hovered over to stand nearby, Will looking anxious and slightly excited while Annabel watched Pluto with a pleased expression on her face as she sipped her tea.
She caught Lenore’s eye and gestured for her and Duke to wait before they intervened.
“-fecking killed my best friends,” Pluto snarled, not noticing the crowd of his friends and allies slowly forming.
“Who are you again?” Wesley asked rudely, earning an honest-to-goodness hiss from Pluto.
“Of course Duke would go and make friends with someone like you,” Luca sneered with a heavy French accent, eyening Pluto up and down (and not in the way Duke liked to do). “Is this whole …thing not a contest? The fact that he would pick you as an ally only shows his flaws. Still not sure why my father picked him.”
“From what you’ve told me of him, I can’t either,” Wesley agreed.
Pluto glared at them harder.
“I’d watch your fecking mouthes,” he bit out.
“Look, you cad, I’m not sure what you want from us, but I’d prefer if we were left alone.”
“I’ll leave you alone once you apologize for murdering Duke and Lenore.”
Duke and Lenore turned to each other at Pluto’s words, smiling softly and mentally cheering him on.
They might not exactly want to interact with their killers, but they’d certainly love an apology, if only to be a dick about it and not accept it.
Instead, Luca and Wesley started chuckling to themselves and each other as Pluto grew more and more visibly irritated.
“Now why would we do that?” Luca snarked, curling up his lip at Pluto. “Duke deserved that death. The world is better off without him.”
Duke flinched, ignoring Lenore’s worried look.
“And Lenore?” Wesley laughed even harder and Lenore stiffened from her spot in the crowd, glaring daggers at him. “Why, that queer should be happy she’s stuck with other freaks like her. It is a shame she and that Annabel Lee are such madwomen, they had such wonderful boso- OW!”
Wesley yelped in pain as Pluto brought down his crowbar onto his foot with all the strength he had, attracting over Eulalie and Berenice, both of whom looked very excited to see such violence, especially emitted towards Wesley- they’d heard the tale of Lenore’s death many a time.
Speaking of Lenore, she and Duke stood in the crowd, in various states of shock- Lenore had seen Pluto get violent over those he cared about before, like when Duke was trapped in the wall, but the Frenchman had never seen Pluto get this angry.
It certainly made him feel better about how often Pluto got annoyed with him- it was never close to this level.
As Wesley fell, Luca cried out in shock and jumped back, but not fast enough to dodge Pluto’s second attack towards his kneecaps, making him fall to the floor in agony.
Duke was definitely not turned on. Lenore snickered at her blushing best friend and whooped again for Pluto.
“What in the blazes are you doing?!” Wesley shouted at the shorter boy, pushing himself up and balancing on one foot while ignoring Luca groaning on the floor.
“You fecking sorry now?” Pluto growled, slapping his palm menacingly with the crowbar, making Wesley flinch.
“I- You have no right to be- Bollocks!” Wesley heaved as he tried to recover from the crowbar Pluto had just sent to his stomach, winding him. “You- phew- Quit that this instant, you chowderhead!”
“I’m sorry,” Luca whined from the floor. “J’suis désolé. Just make it stop…”
Pluto frowned at the redhead and kicked him once for good measure. “You’re not forgiven. Piss off.”
He turned back to Wesley. “Can I hear it from you, now?”
Wesley glared at him, looking only slightly panicked as he looked around the ballroom for anything that could help him, getting met with glares from the Misfits and the Acolytes that had come over to watch.
Finally, he spotted Lenore in the crowd and scoffed. “Reall, Leo? Getting this-” he gestured to Pluto- “little runt to do all your work?”
Lenore tried not to laugh as Pluto muttered. “Don’t fecking test me.”
Wesley ignored him and continued. “Can’t even fight your own battles, how typical. No wonder your father-”
The ballroom went quiet as the unmistakable sound of a bone snapping in half echoed throughout it.
Wesley’s bone was slightly sticking out of his leg.
Annabel’s ex-fiancee looked as though there was smoke coming out of his ears.
“You- When I-” He seemed to muster up whatever strength he had left to jump on Pluto, grasping the crowbar and struggling to grab it out of the smaller boy’s hands. “Give that to me!” Wesley demanded, finally yanking it out of Pluto’s grasp. Pluto shut his eyes tight as the brunette held it up high to bring it down onto the black-haired boy’s head.
“This was fun to watch while it lasted,” Lenore said to Duke as the two rushed forward to grab the crowbar, Berenice, Eulalie, and Morella close behind them. (Luca got slightly trampled on and nobody cared because he sucks.)
“Excusez-moi,” Duke growled, grabbing the crowbar from Wesley’s grip and yanking it from his hands before he could bring it down on poor Pluto, who scrambled up from the ground as soon as Lenore came to help. “You will not be doing that today, monsieur.”
“Maybe this is worth my time,” Lenore decided, right before punching Wesley in the face as hard as she could, knocking him out almost instantaneously. Lenore could certainly throw a punch.
Berenice cackled and cheered as Morella went to hug Pluto tightly, letting him know how dangerous and dumb that had been while Eulalie nodded in agreement beside her.
“I expect better from you, ya know! You're supposed to be one of the level-headed ones!”
Pluto shrank under her gaze and started to apologize when Miss Poppet’s voice cut him off from across the ballroom.
“Pluto! Lenore! Duke!”
The Nevermore teacher stomped over to where Wesley and Luca lay on the floor.
“I believe I told you all many times that it was not permitted to get violent with the clones of your killers!” she scolded, grabbing Pluto’s arm and beckoning Lenore and Duke to follow her as she dragged him away, to which they did, laughing to themselves at Pluto’s slightly terrified expression.
This would be worth all the demerits they would inevitably get.
“So,” Lenore said to Duke and Pluto as they pushed open the doors to enter back into the ballroom after Ms. Poppet had chewed them out in the hall. “Not too bad overall, hm?”
“Sure,” Pluto sighed. “Only two thousand demerits.”
“Think we deserved more, really,” Duke said, snickering when Pluto looked up to glare at him. “Attend, let me reiterate,” Duke continued. “I think Pluto deserved more demerits."
“Wha- Hey!”
“He’s got a point,” Lenore teased. “You did attack two men with a crowbar. The Deans can’t be very big fans of that.”
“Well, I think I had a pretty good reason to,” Pluto argued.
Duke and Lenore made eye contact over the top of his head and then both put an arm around his shoulder to bring him into a side-hug.
“aCk- what the-” Pluto stammered, trying not to smile at his friends.
“Thank you for beating up my murderer with a crowbar,” Lenore said.
Duke nodded. “Ouais, merci, minou. I love a good cat fight.”
Pluto glared at him. “Does everything I do have to do with cats to you?!”
“It’s only fitting. Cats are adorable, and so are you!”
“O-oh- I- that’s-”
Lenore screeched to a stop, causing Pluto and Duke to halt behind her.
“Ca va, mon amie?” Duke asked, raising an eyebrow and following Lenore’s eyes to see something that made him freeze up.
“What are you…” Pluto went to look at what had his friends so surprised and inhaled sharply. “I- “I- wha… no. No, no-”
“Pluto…” Duke started, his roommate’s breath speeding up significantly from beside him.
Lenore furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and shock at the clone of Pluto standing before them.
“Pluto, is that you?”