Mother of Pearl: A Floyd Leech x OC Fanfiction [ON HIATUS]

Chapter 81

"I guess we're left to clean this up," I sighed as I looked at the abandoned games.

"Guess so," Yuu got up. "Let's be quick about it."

They started cleaning up Grim's game while I cleaned up ours. I carefully put the colorful marbles in their place. I cradled each one and stared into them a bit longer than I should.

"Viv!" my brother's voice echoed. "Come on out!"

I was hunched up in the hollow roots of a large tree. I hugged myself as I had leaves and mismatched forest debris stuck to my hair. "I don't wanna!" I whined with a childish voice.

A shadow blocked the sun from coming into my nook. I pouted as I looked to see my older brother's kind face looking at me. His short locs bounced as he smiled and tilted his head. "And why don't you want to come out and play with your friends?"

"They aren't my friends! They're mean to me!" I screamed. Tears started to roll down my face. "They put trash in my hair, push me in the creek, spray me with a hose; I don't want to play with them!"

"They did all that?" I nodded as I started to cry harder. "Oh no. Vivienne, come here."

My brother pulled me out of my hiding spot and held me tight. I cried for what felt like forever. When I slowed down, my brother started to pluck the items out of my hair.

"Viv, if they start picking on you again just holler for me. Your big bro will come lay the smack down on some grubby half-pints," he told me, half joking.

I weakly chuckled, "Yes Jerome."

"Now, I brought some goodies for a certain forest gremlin, but~ if she's too sad~," Jerome drawled out.

"I'm not sad anymore!" I yelled into his ear. "Whatcha bring me?"

He stood up, still holding me on one hip. Jerome reached into one of his pockets and brought out a handful of semiprecious gemstones, loose beads, and various marbles.

"Wow~!"

I laughed to myself.

"Leafy Sea Dragon~, why are you laughing?" Floyd hovered around me.

"I remembered something, that's all," I sighed with a relaxed smile.

Floyd did not like that answer, apparently. He clutched my shoulders and shook me back and forth, "Tell me what's so funny Leafy~! I want to laugh with you too!"

"Okay! Okay! Stop shaking me like a maraca!"

"Hehehe~" Floyd shook me a few times extra before he stopped.

Floyd still had a hold of me as we walked with everyone back to the room. I shared, "The Mancala marbles reminded me of my big brother, Jerome."

"Big brother?" Floyd swayed back and forth as he stayed behind me. I could tell that everyone was listening now.

"Yeah, I have a big brother," I hung my head so that I could feel my braids fall in my face. "Whenever I was sad, he would give me shiny things like marbles, semi-precious stones, beads, anything shiny that you could find at a thrift store really. I would look at the colors, focus on the texture, and imagine all the bad things getting sucked in and – POOF! All gone!"

"So Leafy likes shiny things. Ehehe~" Floyd smirked as we entered the dorm room.

"Thank you for all your hard work, Jade," Azul thanked the put together eel. "Did you 'talk' to Kalim?"

"Yes. It is just as Abiba thought," Jade answered as we gathered around. "Kalim is most likely being brainwashed and manipulated by someone's magic."

"Brainwashed?!" Grim yelped.

"Being manipulated?" Yuu rubbed their forehead while processing the info.

"I knew it! I knew it!" I clapped my hands together once at the revelation. I pointed to Yuu, "That explains all the decisions you made out of character!"

"But is that even possible?" Grim questioned.

"Apart from Ruggie's magic that manipulates the body, this magic seems to e more hypnotism and takin over the mind," Jade rattled off to Grim. "However, this kind of magic requires highly advanced magic abilities..."

"We're at a magical school that has a high enough caliber to send royalty to. How high of an ability are we talking?" Yuu questioned.

"There are very few magicians that are capable of such..." Jade looked calm as he pressed his thumb to his chin.

Floyd slowly called out from where he sat on the ground, "You'd have to be on Azul's level to be able to do that kind of magic."

"I would even find it difficult to manipulate and control creatures, let alone humans," Azul admitted.

"But I don't think there's anyone as good at magic as Azul in Scarabia," Grim pointed out. "Kalim's unique magic just summons a bunch of water, and Jamil says he gets pretty average grades."

"That's what he says, but grades don't always determine skill," I muttered to myself.

"How about that? A hawk hiding their claws," Azul mused as he took his fedora off.

Floyd kicked his leg out to tap his brother's foot. "So, who do you think is brainwashing little Sea Otter and for what?"

"Unfortunately," Jade looked down at his twin, "I couldn't find that out."

"You couldn't find that out even with your unique magic?" Floyd looked surprised. Or pissed off. Probably both.

"Jade's unique magic?" Grim padded up closer to Jade. "Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Jade's unique magic. What does yours do?"

"I'm actually curious now too," Yuu joined with mischievous smile.

Jade had a tired gleam in his eyes as he gave a small noogie to his brother, "...Floyd. Aren't I always telling you not to go around revealing other people's unique magic?"

Floyd squirmed under his brother's action as he tried to get back at him.

Azul sighed, "Well, revealing it to the Ramshackle prefect won't do any harm. Humans with no magic abilities won't be able to defend themselves just because they know the truth."

"I feel like you're making fun of them..." Grim crossed his arms.

Yuu sighed as they rolled their eyes, "I'm used to it at this point."

Jade sighed, "It can't be helped. The more people know my unique magic the more wary my opponents will be. I don't really like revealing it too often..." Jade resolved himself and began to explain his magic. "My unique magic is 'Shock the Heart'. It allows me to make a person tell me the complete truth only one time."

"Kya!? Does that mean they can't lie to you at all?!" Grim freaked out.

"Wait a sec," I pointed my finger at him, "Did you use that thing on me on the sparring grounds?!" The events became clear from earlier that day, "What in the zippidy-doo did you ask me?"

"Just some clarification on MARVIN," Jade waved off. "With that being said, I can only use it once per person. Once I use it, I can never use it on that same person again. Moreover, it's ineffective on those with strong magical resistance like Azul. It's very effective on someone when their guard is down or if they are a bit of an airhead."

"That doesn't make me feel better..." I groaned.

"It's a unique magic with many limitations," Jade summarized.

Floyd had a wide creepy smile, "It works the best on scaredy cats and crybabies!"

"Fufu, that's right," Jade got the same smile.

"That smile is scarring me..." Grim cowered.

"Me too," Yuu agreed.

Jade regained his composure. "Anyway, Kalim is a very open and friendly person. It was easy to use my magic on him. However..."