Chapter Text
Azul wasn’t sure why he was up this late. Well, that wasn’t quite true. He knew why he was up, driven awake by visions of writhing tentacles, and the need to take and take, and a shooting pain in a limb he didn’t have in this form. What he didn’t get was why he was here in the Octavinelle student lounge, with Floyd and Jade on either side of him, Jade reading some mycology guide and Floyd playing a rather hazardous looking game with a dinner knife. It did help though, the phantom burning fading back into the usual sense of something missing, and details of the dream fading away. Idly, he wondered if the twins knew how much their easy presence helped him on these nights, if perhaps his presence might help them the same way.
No, they almost certainly didn’t. Both Leeches had made it abundantly clear that they would leave as soon as Azul ceased to be interesting (and quite possibly kill and eat him too, if Floyd’s comments about octopus balls were meant to be taken literally), and there was no way they’d find his regret anything but pitiful and boring. And the idea that they might simply want his company on a bad night the way he sought out theirs was ridiculous, even ignoring how if they had bad nights it was because he tried to kill them. So instead he came to the lounge every few nights, and the twins would already be there, and they would all do their own thing in silence, and Azul would not break it by asking why.
And then Yuu, Grim, and a Diasomnia student he recalled selling detergent to once came crashing in on an honest-to-Seven magic carpet, pursued by half a dozen angry Scarabia students.
“Henchhuman! Watch where you steer that thing!”
“Owwww…Sebek can you move?”
“Yes, I am mostly uninjured.”
“Great. Get offa me.”
Sebek got up sheepishly, and Yuu started stretching. “Geez, are you part statue or what? I swear I’m gonna have bruises shaped like your pecs!”
“There’s no escape for you now, surrender quickly!”
Well, that sounded like the best cue Azul was going to get. “What’s all the commotion at this hour?” As he stood up, so did Floyd and Jade, falling behind him in perfect lockstep. It had taken ages to learn how to match their paces just right when they first came on land, but damn if it didn’t pay off. The Scarabia students paled slightly, and Yuu started to reach for something behind their back before they caught themself and relaxed.
“Azul Ashengrotto!” The shout came from one of the Scarabia students, but he couldn’t be bothered to distinguish them.
“Hey Azul, sorry for crashing in on such short notice.”
“Would any of you care to explain what is going on?”
One of the pursuants, likely the leader of the group, spoke up first. “It’s none of Octavinelle’s business. Just hand them and the item they stole over quietly.”
“It’s a kinda long story, but pattern recognition tells me that Jamil’s probably gonna try to kill me, and then you won’t have anyone to play board games with until your club comes back from break.”
“Jamil is not going to kill you, not when you’re under my protection- Ow!”
Yuu elbowed Sebek in the ribs, hissing something like Not. Helping. under their breath.
Azul elected to ignore this, instead raising a wry eyebrow at them. “Well you’ve certainly gotten better at establishing a bargaining position since last time you burst into my lounge. Only slightly, but still.”
At this, the Scarabia students looked at each other uneasily, and their leader stepped forward. “I-if you refuse to hand them over, you’ll be party to their wrongdoing as well!”
At this, Floyd stepped out around Azul’s left shoulder, Jade following suit on his right. “Hey, are you yankin’ my tail? You barge in at 2 in the morning and start givin’ us orders? You’re practically begging for a good squeeze!”
“It’d be wise to leave now. Fights are not permitted in the Mostro Lounge, and Floyd is known to forget his strength when removing offenders.”
The intruders looked at Floyd’s murderous glare, then at Jade’s sharp smile, and, almost in unison, turn tail and run back out the mirror. Yuu and Grim immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and Sebek unstiffened incrementally.
With that out of the way, Azul stepped back as Yuu and Sebek briefly competed to help each other up, then spoke. “So, I’m sure there’s a fascinating story here, how about I put some tea on, and you pay me back for helping out by explaining it.”
It was, in fact, a fascinating story. He had always known there was more to his lab partner than meets the eye, and to hear Yuu plainly lay out so many of Jamil’s hidden facets was beyond invaluable. If only Azul could convince him to sign on with him and the twins, they could take Sage Island, no, Twisted Wonderland by storm. Alas, every advance so far had been met by deflection and suspicion. Eventually, Yuu got up to the escape, and gulped down the rest of their tea. “…And then we crashed in here, and saw you, and you know the rest.”
“I see. Well, Jade, Floyd, I’m sure you know what we must do.”
“Of course. When another dorm is experiencing such strife, it is our duty to lend a hand.”
“Can I bring my shovel? I didn’t get to use it at all last time!”
Yuu raised an eyebrow at this. “ Your shovel? Do you mean the one you ‘borrowed’ from the gardening supply shed on the day Hornton- Wait a minute,” they turned back to Azul, “Did you try to give Hornton a shovel talk!?”
Azul tried to follow that train of thought over the sound of Sebek squawking in indignation and Grim cackling, before giving up. “I did not, I don’t even know what that means!” Mercifully, Yuu decided to drop the issue in favor of more important matters.
“Whatever. Listen, I seriously doubt you’re doing this with altruism in mind-” Jade gasped in mock hurt. “-but I appreciate the help anyway. You got a whiteboard or something? Let’s get a plan together for tomorrow.”