Chapter Text
Snapdragon jumped across rooftops in the city of Lyngarth.
"You're probably wondering how I got from point A to point B. Well, it all started two years ago." Snapdragon jumped to the next rooftop. "Wait... why am I talking to myself?"
"Well, anyway, my name is Nightshade, at least when I'm in this outfit. It's kind of one of those secret identities. Ooh, and as I said, it all started two years ago." The scene faded.
Snapdragon sat in class as Caraway pointed at the board and spoke about magic runes.
"Yep, I'm still talking to myself, and I was transferred here after the whole school set on fire... thing. I don't know why I'm not on the magic path." Snapdragon rested her chin on her hand. "Weirder, it was actually at his suggestion."
"And this symbol will help you if you need to create an illusion. It's technically an old magic technique, but can be integrated with new magic using your terraspheres, also a sparks spell. I know, I'm not rich enough to buy those." Caraway laughed a little.
Snapdragon folded a piece of paper into an airplane. "I'd prefer to be in ethics class. Well, I like the guy and all, but man, he's boring. At least she had shapeshifting lizards, like puke."
Amaryllis giggled and whispered to Snapdragon. "Broke loser."
Snapdragon smiled, holding back a laugh. "Should I throw this at him?" she whispered.
"Depends, what's that paper say?" Amaryllis whispered back.
"Nothing yet, but I think I should write, 'hey, what's up?' I don't want to insult him. I kind of respect him because of what he revealed to me, and no, I will not tell you, it's private." Snapdragon whispered as she unfolded the paper airplane and picked up her pencil.
"I told you, I wasn't gonna press about it. It clearly made you find yourself." Amaryllis whispered.
"I know, I'm just making sure." Snapdragon wrote the message on the paper and folded the paper airplane back up.
Amaryllis smiled in anticipation.
Sage looked over at them. She mouthed to Snapdragon, "What are you up to?"
Snapdragon smiled and threw the paper airplane at the back of Caraway's head.
Caraway turned around and looked around at the students.
Snapdragon picked up her pencil and quickly pretended she was taking notes.
Caraway picked up the paper airplane and looked at the note, then back at the students, his eyes landing on Snapdragon. "Well, if no one else throws paper at me, I can continue with the lesson."
"Yes, that would be lovely. We're learning so much!" Snapdragon nervously laughed, noticing him glancing at her.
Caraway turned back to the board and started writing again.
After about a half hour, the bell rang.
Snapdragon grabbed her stuff off her desk and put them in her cross body bag. As she was about to walk out, Caraway stopped her.
"Can I speak to you?" Caraway held up the note.
Snapdragon grumbled. "Sure." She turned around and looked at him.
"I'm happy that it's not a rude message or crude drawing, but you still can't throw notes at me in class, even if it is just saying hello."
"I can do a drawing next time, if you want. You do have a big forehead, in fact you should call it a five-head." Snapdragon nervously laughed.
"Wow, I'm insecure about a lot of things, but now I'm insecure about my forehead." Caraway covered his forehead with his hair.
Snapdragon nervously laughed again. "Well, if that's over and we're done with this talk, I'm gonna leave, goodbye." She turned around and ran out of the classroom.
"Wait, meet me in my office!" Caraway called after her.
Snapdragon stopped and remembered what day it was. "Ohh yeah, that. I guess I can make time for that."
"You better have time for that. You know what happens if you don't." Caraway warned.
"Well, I guess we could just walk back to your office then." Snapdragon looked at him.
Caraway walked out of the classroom.
They walked together down the hall until they reached his office.
Caraway unlocked the door and opened it.
Snapdragon walked in and looked around. "Whoa, you have a lot of junk. I'm always amazed by the quantity of garbage in your office."
"It's not garbage, they're magic scrolls and other stuff, and it's well organized, thank you very much." Caraway crossed his arms before closing the door behind them.
"Okay, okay, now give me that potion before I turn back. I really don't want to turn back into a masculine-looking gross boy, ew." Snapdragon gagged at the thought.
"Here's the transformation potion." Caraway took a potion off his desk and handed it to her.
Snapdragon opened the bottle and gagged before chugging it. She gagged again.
"It gets better, trust me." Caraway took the bottle out of her hand and handed her a cup of water.
"You keep saying that." Snapdragon took a drink of the water. "What's even in that potion anyway?"
"You don't want to know, and I don't like thinking about it when I drink it." Caraway shivered. "It's worth it, though, to be yourself, you know."
"Yeah. Anyway, what's that thing I'm hearing about the mermaids at our sister academy being in trouble again?" Snapdragon looked at him hopefully.
"Yes, they are in trouble again, another one. Luckily they don't have an emotional attachment to this one, so if something goes wrong again and it ends up dead, they won't be so sad about it." Caraway frowned at the memory.
"But does that mean I get to be a mermaid?" Snapdragon looked at him, waiting for an answer.
"Yes, actually, and it's only gonna be two of you this time, with me, so you can suggest who you think should join you." Caraway smiled.
"Amaryllis should come with me... with us." Snapdragon started to bounce slightly.
"Okay, then we'll be leaving soon." Caraway walked over and sat down in his chair.
Snapdragon ran out of his office. "I'll go tell her!"
Cal turned the corner in the hallway as Snapdragon ran down the hall.
They crashed into each other and Snapdragon fell onto the floor.
Cal fell onto the floor and quickly stood up, glaring at her.
"Well, aren't you gonna help me up, or are you not a gentleman?" Snapdragon stood up and dusted off her skirt.
"You're not a real lady, so no. And if you're going to the women's bathroom, don't. Even though you pretend to be a woman, we all know you're not." Cal crossed his arms.
"Yes, I am, and by the way, you're not gonna make me punch you again, because I am gonna join this mission that you can't. And maybe I'll become a guardian and you won't, fading away into a useless nobody." Snapdragon snapped back before walking away.
"You're not man enough to do that again!" Cal shouted at her as she continued to walk away.
Snapdragon wiped a tear from her eye as she frowned. She walked to the potions class.
Redbud sat at her desk. "You're late!"
"Sorry, Professor Redbud, I was busy with Professor Caraway." Snapdragon walked up the stairs and sat next to Amaryllis.
"What's wrong, you look a little sad." Amaryllis looked at her.
"We're gonna be leaving very soon because there's another scypith, and it's once again trying to make mermaids their snack. Let's hope we don't have to put this one down." Snapdragon frowned.
Amaryllis let out a small laugh. "Girl."
Snapdragon started laughing. "It wasn't meant to be funny."
Redbud crossed her arms. "Would you like to tell the rest of the class what's so funny? I was in the middle of explaining a potion that might actually save your life one day, assuming you were taking off the warrior track for a good reason."
"We actually have to leave soon anyway, so it's not like we're gonna need whatever potion you're actually cooking up." Amaryllis kicked her feet up.
Redbud looked over at them, her arms still crossed. "So you're the students he picked. The one who failed last time, and the one who got benched. Next time you punch someone, try not to break your arm."
"Yeah, we are." Amaryllis stood up. "Now we're gonna get ready to go, and you can stay here. Well, if you're coming, read your terrible trash while we do all the work."
"I'm not coming. It's just a group of three after what Sage did last time." Redbud frowned at the memory.
Sage looked down and frowned.
"Let's not bring that up in front of her." Snapdragon pointed over at her.
"She knows what Rosemary had to do was terrible, and she knows that it was her fault." Redbud looked over at her.
Sage didn't look up.
"Try not to repeat that mistake." Redbud looked away from Sage.
"Uh... actually this may sound really gross, but did anyone actually dissect the original first one?"
"Yes, we did. We sent it off to the labs in Witch Country and it came back perfectly fine." Redbud walked over to her desk and grabbed out a big packet of paper. "Here's even a copy of it."
"Well, we all saw that gross looking plant that it was clearly consuming." Snapdragon looked at the large stack of paper.
"Yeah, you might want to bring some of that back so I can examine it myself. The Triad has already accepted the lab results as final. So hush." Redbud whispered.
Snapdragon nodded.
Amaryllis nodded as well.
"Go get right and keep what you find between us and each other." Redbud whispered.
"Of course." Snapdragon turned around and started to walk out of the classroom.
Amaryllis followed her. "What do you think we're gonna find?"
"Nothing good." Snapdragon walked out of the room.
Amaryllis nodded.
They walked through the hallway and to the dorm.
Snapdragon opened the door and they walked in.
They walked to their respective closets and grabbed out their outfits.
Snapdragon put on her chest plate and realized it made her chest flat. She glared at the armor. "I need... like... fantasy boob armor."
Amaryllis knocked on the door. "Hey, are you almost done?"
"No, we need to make a pit stop before we leave, so I can get fantasy boob armour. I think we need to go to the metal... working class... thingy." Snapdragon made a face. "You know, when you forget a word."
"Let's go. Clearly that armor is cutting off the oxygen to your brain." Amaryllis giggled.
Snapdragon took off the chess plate of the armor. "Do you think it should be cropped too?"
"You might get dress coded by Professor Caraway." Amaryllis warned.
"Like he'll dress code me." Snapdragon walked over to her nightstand and grabbed out a pair of scissors from the drawer.
"Okay, I'm gonna leave you so you can cut your shirt into a crop top." Amaryllis walked out, closing the door behind her.
Snapdragon started taking off the rest of her metal armor and cut the shirt into a crop top. She looked down at her pants. "Too ugly colored."
Snapdragon walked over to her closet and grabbed out a pair of pink tracksuit pants. "I can just wear my Juice High Fashion tracksuit. Like I actually need armor to investigate a bunch of weird stuff on underwater plants."
Snapdragon looked into the mirror at her outfit. "Fem and kind of functional... perfect." She grabbed her chest plate and she picked up other pieces of her armor. "The shoulder armor will make my shoulders too bulky. It has to go." She threw the pieces of armor behind her. "It looks like my chest plate is the only salvageable thing from this awful armor."
"Girl, why are you talking to yourself?" Amaryllis stood outside the door.
"How do you think my dad would feel about me destroying his old armor to make fantasy boob armor?" Snapdragon turned to look at the door.
"You didn't answer my question, so I'm not answering yours." Amaryllis stuck out her tongue.
"Okay, answer this one. Should I bring my terrasphere, or should I just leave that? Since I'm not really skilled with it yet, and you know I just got it." Snapdragon walked over to the door and opened it.
"Finally, you take forever to get dressed." Amaryllis laughed, fully dressed.
"I don't take that long. To the metal working place thingy!" Snapdragon pointed up at the ceiling.
"Blacksmithing class." Amaryllis corrected.
"Just make a portal or something. I want an entrance." Snapdragon looked down at her shoes. "Should I get high heels and call them battle heels?"
"Professor Caraway would let you get away with a lot of stuff, but I don't think he'll let you get away with wearing high heels." Amaryllis activated her terrasphere and it formed into a wand.
"Say a magic word, like bibdty magically zoinks." Snapdragon did jazz hands.
"That was like actual gibberish." Amaryllis blinked as she stared at her.
"Portal, portal, portal." Snapdragon chanted.
"Fine, fine, here's your portal." Amaryllis waved her wand. "You're lucky. I learned how to make a portal in class."
"Oh, I must have missed that one." Snapdragon watched it as a portal appeared.
"Just walk through the portal, I'll teach you later." Amaryllis walked through the portal.
Snapdragon walked through the portal. "Hey Parsley." She waved at her.
Parsley nearly dropped the sword she was forging. "Where'd you come from?"
"A portal!" Snapdragon did jazz hands.
"It's hard getting used to that you're happy and not all gloomy. You have a little more...you than you used to." Parsley made a face. "Yeah, that was not the right word."
Professor Phlox looked over at them. "Oh, do you need something?"
"Yes, I need you to turn this boring chest plate into fantasy boob armor." Snapdragon holds up the chest plate and gestures at it.
Professor Phlox let out a small laugh. "You should probably first talk to Professor Hakone."
"I don't care if it's functional, it just needs to feel like me... you know, and right now it's not really giving me." Snapdragon gestured at her outfit.
"I can see it's not exactly school appropriate or battle ready." Professor Phlox looked her up and down.
"Well, you're not gonna dress code me, right?" Snapdragon smiled.
"I'm a blacksmith, not the fashion police, but this armor will not protect you during a fight. So I would recommend asking Professor Caraway to teach you a spell that will."
"Okay. Okay, just make this chest plate cool." Snapdragon held up the chest plate.
"Take it over there to my best student, Parsley." Professor Phlox pointed at Parsley.
Snapdragon ran over to Parsley and handed her the chest plate. "Can you crop it too, so I could have awesome fantasy cropped boob armor."
"No running in this class, it's for safety." Professor Phlox warned.
"Yeah, you can't run in this class or you'll die." Parsley laughed.
Snapdragon blanked. "Yeah, I don't wanna die. At least not all the time."
"What?...You wanna die sometimes... you should probably talk to someone about that." Parsley took the chest plate out of her hands.
"Yeah, maybe. But that's boring." Snapdragon watched Parsley use a mallet to reshape the chest plate.
"Here you go." Parsley handed the chest plate back to her.
"Snapdragon put it on and looked at it. My outfit is complete!" She pointed at the ceiling.
Everyone in the room looked.
"What, did I suddenly spawn multiple heads or something?" Snapdragon put her hands on her hips as she tried to hold the piece of armor in one hand.
"You're weird." A girl with black hair and amber eyes working on a dagger commented.
"Well, you look stupid and financially disadvantaged!" Snapdragon pointed at her.
"You could have just called her poor or a whore, both are probably true." Amaryllis smirked.
"Well... well... you're just bullies, and everyone knows that." The girl sputtered out.
"Ooh, big insult, we might cry." Snapdragon laughed.
Professor Caraway walked into the room. "There you two are. I've been looking all over for you. It's time to leave."
"We're not done roasting the peasant girl." Amaryllis turned to look at Caraway before looking back at the girl.
"You two do know that bullying is against school policy, right?" Professor Caraway looked at them with a disappointed look on his face.
"What she meant to say was this girl is being very mean to us. She called me weird. I'm not weird." Snapdragon frowned dramatically.
"Let's just get going, and I'll talk to both of you later about the importance of not making fun of others for their financial situations." Professor Caraway started to walk back toward the door.
"Leaving so soon? Is the forge too hot for you?" Professor Phlox laughed.
"Yes, I don't know how you can be in here all day." Professor Caraway turned back around.
"Well, your office is always freezing, and so is your classroom. I'm surprised the students don't catch a cold." Professor Phlox laughed slightly.
"Hey, my office is not that cold." Professor Caraway thought to himself for a moment. "I'm surprised your students don't have a heat stroke."
Professor Phlox laughed nervously. "Actually, that has happened, and we have instant ice packs on hand just in case."
"Oh... now I feel like..." Professor Caraway was interrupted by Snapdragon.
"An ass, ooh, maybe shit, or maybe..." Snapdragon was interrupted by Professor Caraway.
"That's enough, please don't summon a thesaurus. Let's just get going already before any more mermaid, they're dead."
"Jeepers, you don't have to be so blunt." Snapdragon crossed her arms. "And the correct term is merpeople. You should know that."
Professor Caraway sputtered. "You made me mess up."
"Sure, now portal us there!" Snapdragon began the chant loudly.
Amaryllis smirked. "Just tell her, yeah, I'll give you a portal. I'll shove it right up your..."
"Not appropriate for school, or appropriate to say to a student." Professor Caraway made a face.
"At least portal us to the shoreline." Snapdragon tapped her foot impatiently.
"That reminds me of the annoying song." Amaryllis started humming under her breath.
"Anything called the annoying song, I don't want either of you singing." Professor Caraway pinched the bridge of his nose.
"The shoreline, where the weed grows on the horizon!" Snapdragon started to sing.
"Above the sea, it grows a plentiful of growth. This song, it's annoying, and we know." Amaryllis started to sing along.
Professor Caraway opened a portal. "Here's your portal!"
Snapdragon laughed as she skipped through the portal.
"You shouldn't shout at students." Amaryllis walked through the portal.
Professor Caraway used his terrasphere again to summon a pillow and scream into it before he walked through the portal.
Professor Phlox stared at the portal after it closed for a moment before bursting out laughing.
They step onto the shore and grab one of the boats that were still there from last time.
Snapdragon hopped into the boat dramatically. "I'm on a boat, bitch!... Well, bitches!"
Amaryllis laughed. "Have you heard their other songs? They're really funny."
"Did you just call me a bitch?" Professor Caraway tilted his head and looked at Snapdragon.
"Relax, it's just a song by The Forlorn Island." Snapdragon smiled.
"Still don't call me that." Professor Caraway raised his voice slightly.
"Did a lot of people call you that? Because if so, they might have been right." Amaryllis laughed. "Just kidding."
"Amaryllis, that might have been too far." Snapdragon scolded.
"Sit on the shore." Professor Caraway's voice was cold.
"What?" Amaryllis looked at him and got out of the boat.
"Just do what he says." Snapdragon gave her a look.
"At least give me something, so in case one of you is hurt or something, I can help." Amaryllis sat down on the shore.
"Here, just take one and only use it if you need to." Professor Caraway pulled a shell shaped box out of the pocket of his jacket and threw it at her.
Amaryllis quickly used her terrasphere to block the box from hitting her in the face.
"You didn't have to throw it at her face." Snapdragon tried to push the boat into the water.
"You want to be on the shore too?" Professor Caraway crossed his arms.
"Okay, I'm sorry for calling you... what I called you." Snapdragon stopped pushing the boat and held up her hands.
Professor Caraway used his terrasphere and pushed the boat into the water with energy.
They both got into the boat and Snapdragon picked up one of the oars and tried to use it.
Professor Caraway used his terrasphere to levitate the paddles and paddle the boat.
They sat in silence as the boat slowly moved forward.
Snapdragon finally spoke. "So, you want to fill the awkward silence? Have you seen that picture of what Chickie Chicks chicken nuggets are actually made of?"
"I don't use the internet." Professor Caraway stared at the water.
"Well then, what do you call a drug addict that's also a plumber?" Snapdragon smiled.
"Don't even." Professor Caraway didn't look at her.
"Aw, but I didn't even get to the punchline. A cracked-out plumber." Snapdragon awkwardly laughed.
"Making jokes about drug addicts is not okay. They are people who are just suffering from a sickness." Professor Caraway didn't turn around to look at her.
"Finger guns..." Snapdragon did finger guns. "Pew, pew... pew."
Professor Caraway squeezed the wood of his staff tighter until it felt like it was gonna break in two. "Ohh, look, we're here!"
Snapdragon held out her hand. "Give me that ring so I can become an elegant creature of the sea."
Professor Caraway quickly opened the box and put his ring on before opening a second one and putting it on her finger. He jumped into the water.
"Hey, only one person is supposed to do that, either my future husband or wife, I haven't decided yet! I know I like a girl!" Snapdragon shouted after him, waving her arms.
"Well, when I think about a guy, it actually seems perfectly fine too!" Snapdragon jumped into the water after him.
Professor Caraway started to cry underwater silently.
Snapdragon swam over to him, admiring her green fish-like tail. "Look, my tail matches my eyes."
"Just swim forward." Professor Caraway tried to speak through his tears.
"Are you crying because of what I said?" Snapdragon swam closer to him.
Professor Caraway nodded.
"Well, I'm sorry, genuinely." Snapdragon reached out and touched his shoulder.
Professor Caraway looked at her. "I can see you're actually sorry."
They swam toward the school.
"Whoa, the sister academy is really pretty." Snapdragon stared at the building.
"I bet you wish you weren't here." Professor Caraway looked at the building as well.
"Yeah, I would love to go here." Snapdragon watched the building grow closer.
"Think about what would happen if that ring got knocked off." Professor Caraway glanced at her hand.
"I don't want to think about that, maybe I can't go here." Snapdragon frowned.
"Yeah, it wouldn't work out..." Professor Caraway was interrupted when he saw the scypith.
Snapdragon frowned and started to shake, hiding a little behind him.
"Relax, it won't go after us. It can tell we're not real merpeople..." Professor Caraway's eyes went wide as the giant serpent-like creature lunged at them.
Professor Caraway blasted the creature with magic from his terrasphere, the burst of light cutting through the water.
The scypith reeled back, but its teeth caught Snapdragon's side as it thrashed away.
Red blood filled the sea as the wound on her side got larger. Snapdragon's grip on him went slack.
"Snapdragon!" Professor Caraway grabbed her before she could sink and swam fast toward the surface.
She lost consciousness somewhere along the way, her head lolling against his arm.
Professor Caraway broke the surface and quickly opened a portal to a cave, pulling her through it with him.
Their tails both shifted back into legs. Professor Caraway quickly ran through the cave, looking through every place where the healing water was supposed to be.
Professor Caraway's eyes widened; he quickly ran throughout the cave, eventually stumbling across giant mutated trabers that ran toward them.
Professor Caraway blasted them with energy from his hands. Using old magic instead of his terrasphere, he drew symbols as quickly as he could, blasting all of the creatures until they were dead. He tried to catch his breath before running again, this time finding the path created by the dragon.
Professor Caraway ran as fast as he could, her blood continuing to ooze out of her and onto him. He finds the last small drop of healing water left and stares at it.
Professor Caraway quickly got as much as he could of the little that was there and put it onto her wound.
The wound began to close shortly after. She awoke, noticeably pale. "What happened?" Snapdragon felt pain in her head.
"We need to do something about this, and you need training. Lots of it." Professor Caraway looked at her.
"You can even get the other teachers to train me. They're also suspicious, at least I know one who is. The rest must be too, or maybe not." Snapdragon slowly tried to stand up.
"Oh, they're all suspicious. We can't go against a triad, but maybe you can. If we train you and disguise you." Professor Caraway thought to himself for a moment before he was pulled out of his thoughts by Snapdragon
"If I'm gonna be a vigilante, I need a name. Call me Nightshade from here on out. I am no longer Snapdragon." She stumbled a bit.
"No one else can know, not even Amaryllis. You must keep this a secret." Professor Caraway grabbed her and made sure she could stand before letting go.
"A secret, it's a deal." Snapdragon held out her hand.
Professor Caraway shook her hand. "Deal."