Twisted Wonderland | Mickey's Print

48. Azul Ashengrotto

Trigger Warning: This chapter contains depictions of bullying that might upset some audiences.

The last thing Yukiko remembered before feeling dizzy and the light going out was seeing Azul return to normal. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in an infinite gray space very similar to the dreams with her brother; the only difference was that she wasn't wearing any special, different clothes, but her usual Savanaclaw dorm uniform, like before.

"Yukiko!"

Yukiko turned around after hearing her brother's voice calling her name; there was nothing different about him, either.

Yuu jumped when he noticed her. "You're still wearing the white choker! Are you okay!?" He asked with concern.

She brought her hand to her neck, and her fingers immediately brushed against the oval crystal that adorned and calibrated the excess magic that Crewel had discovered was a rare gem and in which Sam had noticed traces of ancient magic that aided the process; whoever had given it to her must have been a sorcerer with very advanced knowledge, but there was no way to locate him, not even from the letters that had accompanied it.

"I feel a bit tired, but other than that, nothing else," she said, not feeling anything out of the ordinary.

They lifted their heads upon sensing someone else's presence.

"Azul!" they exclaimed at the same time.

Now they understood: it wasn't a dream after fainting or anything; it was the same strange situation that had occurred after Leona's Overblot, and the person who had fallen this time, Azul, now appeared before them with his entire body and dorm leader uniform in black and white colors and with a melancholic expression that didn't seem to notice the presence of the twins.

Like on both previous occasions, Azul did not speak directly; his voice sounded distant, like a far-off echo, without the need to move her lips, as if they were hearing her thoughts.

"The only place I truly belonged was inside my octopus pot," he said.

"Again with that octopus thing," Yukiko commented loudly.

"Why would he say that? We know he's an octopus merman, but..."

Even if Yuu had had any idea about it, the change in the environment had stopped him immediately. The gray space had been replaced by a beautiful underwater environment: it resembled a kind of amphitheater formed by marine rocks that reminded them a lot of the school's audience chamber; it was evident that they were not too far from the surface due to the bright sunlight, and green kelps swayed with the gentle currents, beautiful corals growing without fear of being destroyed, and fish of various colors and sizes swam among them.

Since they were not actually under the sea, they kept their feet on the ground and could breathe air.

"Wow!" Yukiko exclaimed, marveling at that place impossible to visit under normal conditions. "Was this what you saw when you went to the museum? It's so beautiful!"

"We've never seen this place—but yeah, it was very similar. Look, this must be a school or something like that!"

He deduced that correctly from the merfolk kids that appeared swimming around or above them: all around seven or eight years old with colorful fish fins of shimmering scales, carrying their books and materials in bags and wallets made of fabric or knotted rope in the shape of a net.

"Mermaids!!" Yukiko exclaimed, amazed. "And they're children. So cute!"

Of course, it was the first time she saw merfolk in person, and that's why he reacted that way, thought Yuu. Although he hadn't seen that many either—just Jade and Floyd and the ones he had seen in the museum like the guards—it was the first time he had seen such young ones.