Twisted Wonderland | Mickey's Print

47. The Usurper From The Dephts

Meanwhile under the sea, Grim and the other first-years swam as fast as they could to escape from the Leech twins in their merman forms. Or at least they did until a blinding light appeared on Ace, Deuce, and Grim's heads, urging everyone to shield their eyes.

"What was that light!?"Jack asked once it disappeared.

Ace looked around and noticed something different: "Ah! Deuce, your anemone is gone!" He pointed at it.

Deuce put his hands on his head and felt great joy at not noticing anything there. "You're right!"

Grim imitated him and also noted that discomfort between his ears wasn't there anymore."Mine and Ace's are gone too!" He shrieked.

Ace instinctively brought a hand to his head, not realizing that he was also free of the plants growing on his head until he was told.

Jade and Floyd's eyes widened and they gasped in confusion. How could Azul's powerful spell have disappeared out of nowhere like that?

In contrast, Yuu smiled from ear to ear: the fact that his friends had finally been freed meant that everything had gone well. "We did it!" He exclaimed victoriously.

Grim began to celebrate with him. "Hooray! Yuki, Leona, and Ruggie have done it!"

Everyone looked at him confused, especially the twins. If they were so happy, it indicated that they had something to do with the missing spell.

"...What did you say?" Jade asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Floyd frowned.

"Yuki, Yuu, and I made a deal with Leona to help us!" Grim began to explain.

The brothers had a hard time believing that - they agreed with Azul that Leona could hardly be considered an inconvenience.

"Huh? That lazy guy that spends his time takin' naps like a sea lion? There's no way he'd help you," Floyd replied.

"I was sure he wouldn't want to get involved with a fellow dorm leader like Azul. Was Miss Yuki able to convince him?" Jade asked.

That was the moment Grim had been waiting for: "We told him we'd leave Savanaclaw quietly if he helped us get Ramshackle back," he explained proudly, "but if he didn't, we'd start making a ruckus in his room every night until dawn." He smiled evilly. "And to make it clear we were serious, we gave him a preview of how loud we could be last night."

He thought about the crazy karaoke night he'd set up with Yukiko - even though the music on the MP3 consisting of catchy children's songs would leave her with serious after-effects - and gave Yuu a dirty look.

"Well, it was more like Yuki and I who did everything, yanno? Yuu just clapped along and joined in whenever he felt like it..."

Yuu shrugged: "Yukiko insisted, and you were already doing a good job without me. And you did very well, you were able to scream almost all night away until Leona gave up."

"Oh..." The twins commented at the same time, not knowing whether to be impressed or shocked. It really took guts to challenge someone as fierce as Leona like that.

"So that's why your throat was so sore this morning..." Deuce understood. They had only been told that they had earned Leona's help, but not how.

"But isn't that more of a threat than a deal?" Floyd questioned, perplexed. Even he could distinguish one thing from another.

"As they say: a cheater for a cheater, villain for villain," Jack replied.

Remembering that removing the anemones meant getting the stolen abilities back, Ace didn't delay and successfully verified that he could use his valuable wind magic again. He created a small whirlpool underwater and smiled in satisfaction. "Now that I've got it back, I can get my revenge."