Chapter Text
Deuce passed them the photo and they kicked off, trying to get as far as they could. Jack was just ahead, ready for his turn at playing keep-away, but the eels had outpaced them in seconds. Floyd’s tail wrapped around them and squoze. It was so tight, they could barely breathe, barely keep ahold of the picture. Distantly, they heard a snap, and felt something in their chest give. It was ok. It was going to be ok. Leona would pull through any minute now, they just needed to hold on a little longer…
They were surrounded by something dry and warm, and moving with a jostling, swaying rhythm. Around them, they thought maybe they could hear sharp, overlapping voices, but they were so, so tired. Unconsciousness pulled them back under before they could even open their eyes.
They darted around, trying to keep their attention on eight places at once. Everyone was too focused on defending themselves to take down Azul, they needed to watch it all, to bridge that gap in their individual abilities before it was too late. “Deuce! Watch your six!” A cauldron slammed into the ground, pinning a tentacle before it could reach him. “Floyd! Can your shield move with the people you’re protecting? Jade, how long do you think he can keep this up?” There was one tentacle still pinned, two, three, four, five, six, seven…where was the eighth? “Jack, he’s dominant in every other tentacle and his right hand, look for one that he’s actually trying to grab people with to figure out where to focus your magic!” They needed to find tentacle number eight, it was definitely one of the grabby ones, but there was too much else competing for their attention. “Ruggie, do you see when he tries to grab someone-? Yeah, his left side, start preparing Forest Blade. Leona, you’re bait. Floyd, shield Ruggie while he casts.” Ignoring Leona’s growl of protest, they counted off again. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven–“AAGH!”
There was a mouse in the mirror. It was really important that everyone know about the mouse in the mirror. No, it wasn’t the pain meds, the Corporate Mouse that owned all their souls is trying to talk to them through the mirror, someone needs to see what it wants!
The unaccounted-for tentacle wrapped around their arm. It burned and they screamed, reaching for the knife they were sure they brought with them. There! Azul slammed them into the ground, and their head bounced off the marble floor, but the knife plunged into him with as much force as they could muster. With their free hand, they gripped the small blade, twisting and wrenching it through the rubbery flesh. They ignored the pain lancing up the other arm, ignored the caustic ink that bubbled up instead of blood, ignored the screams of pain and rage, both their’s and Azul’s, as they tried anything they could to make him let go.
Consciousness returned to Yuu slowly, like the tide pushing them to shore. Everything was sore, all the way up to their scalp and there was something warm and heavy vibrating on their chest. Cracking one eye open, they saw Grim curled up on top of them and purring up a storm. Yuu tried to shift a little, and he immediately looked up in surprise. “Yuu! Finally! You’ve been out for days! The doc made everyone who wasn’t actively helping leave and I am so! bored! Hurry up and get better so I can leave!” Grim stood up on all fours to glare at Yuu better, which was only slightly undercut by how close to tears he looked.
”…You don’t have to stick around if you don’t want.” Yuu rasped. Wow, actual days and it still hurt to talk. They were never gonna sing for that long again.
”Yes, well– You see– That is– Shut up!” Grim kneaded a little harder than strictly necessary before settling back down, purring harder than ever, still glaring.
Yuu took a moment to look around the room. On their nightstand was a vase full of roses that at some point had dripped white paint into large puddles beneath it. There was a card too, but the text was covered up by more stray paint. There was a table in the far corner with more flowers and cards, a solitary cactus, and a bowl of sea anemones. They chose to blame Floyd for the last one. On one wall hung a large mirror that someone had draped a green and black coat over. Yuu almost asked Grim what that was about, but decided they didn’t actually care. Instead they asked how Azul was.
”Him? Yeah, you and Ruggie really did a number on him, but he’s been taking to the healing magic way faster. Apparently though his tentacle won’t grow back while he’s in his human form, and the doc had to lock him in an aquarium to stop him from just leaving. Jade said he’ll probably get his land privileges back tomorrow morning.” Yuu winced. They felt maybe they should apologize, but they weren’t exactly sorry. It was him or them, and Yuu wasn’t gonna feel bad for picking themself.
Word that Yuu was conscious spread quickly, and almost as soon as they were cleared to go back to Ramshackle House their friends descended upon it. The Leeches had already cleaned up everything from their brief stint as Ramshackle housewardens, which was a relief. Trey and Riddle came bearing a tupperware bin of fresh chocolate chip cookies. Yuu liked to think they loved all their friends equally, but those cookies were clearly a gift from God, and Trey was His messenger. Jack was a close second right now, since he seemed to be the only one to understand “lots of rest and no excitement,” and was helping keep visits to two people at once and no shouting. He also let them stroke his tail, which was just as soft and fluffy as it looked.
Malleus was one of the last to arrive, even after Leona’s brief stop to tell Yuu that if they tried to deprive him of sleep again they were sand, and Azul’s awkward ”sorry for trying to kill you and steal your dorm” visit. He hovered outside the dorm uncertainly after Jack left, until Grim noticed the ominous shadow by the gate and told Yuu to either invite him in or make him leave. They waved him over from the window, and he teleported straight into their room in a cloud of sparkles. “You know you could just walk up the hill, right?”
”Teleporting is more convenient. How are you doing?”
”Oh you know, sore. Thanks for the hint with the gargoyles by way. I’m assuming that was intended to be a hint?” Malleus nodded. He looked about ready to teleport away now that he had checked on Yuu, but they weren’t quite ready to be alone except for Grim, and cast about for something to make him stay. “Do you like gargoyles a lot?” He nodded again. “…Do you want to talk about gargoyles?”
Malleus did want to talk about gargoyles. Over the course of the next several hours, Yuu learned everything they could possibly want to know about the gargoyles perched all over Ramshackle House, including the years they were carved, the material they were carved from, and the artistic influences on their designs. Unfortunately, he was interrupted in the middle of a fascinating story involving the southeast gargoyle, a drunk vampire, and several feral chickens by a green-haired Diasomnia student that Yuu vaguely recognized from alchemy class.
”Lord Malleus! There you are! We have been looking all over for you!” It was only then that Yuu noticed another student behind him, snoring softly. They also noticed that Malleus had stiffened at the sound of their classmate’s (was it Sybil? Sibuk? Something with an S) voice, and was looking almost as miserable as he had at that housewarden meeting two weeks ago. Yuu scrambled to think of something that would make the intruder (Sebek! That was it!) leave.
”Oh no, this isn’t Malleus, it’s his identical twin brother, isn’t that right, Hornton?”
Malleus barely blinked. “Yes. I am Hornton. I think my brother told me he was in the potion lab?”
“Oh yeah, he totally did! I think he needed to get something from Professor Crewell’s ingredient stores?”
”Indeed. He should still be in there. If you don’t see him at first, just go farther in.”
”Yeah, don’t worry about Crewell’s alarms or anything, I’m sure he’ll understand it’s for Lord Malleus!” Yuu was struggling to hold their face still, but Sebek didn’t seem to notice.
”I see! Silver! Wake up! We need to go to the potions lab to find Lord Malleus!”
Silver startled awake, took a minute to process what Sebek had just said, and looked incredulously at Malleus. “But he’s right there?”
”Don’t be ridiculous! Can’t you recognize his brother!? Thank you for the tip Lord Hornton, we must get moving!”
Silver looked at Sebek’s retreating form, and then back at Malleus. “Whatever. I’m going back to Diasomnia House. Father said to tell you dinner’s gonna be in an hour.”