"Yuu, I have prepared a couple of questions for you. My first one is, does your hair take two days dry? What is the corn of rows you speak of? What is that hairstyle you are doing?" Malleus asks, watching Yuu do Bantu knots in her hair.
"My hair takes two days to dry because it's thick and long. Cornrows are a type of hairstyle my people do, and right now, I'm putting Bantu knots into my hair so I can wear them for a day, then take them out. Anything else?" Yuu asks, beginning the last section of her hair.
"What's it going to look like when you take the knots out?" Malleus asks, observing Yuu do her hair.
"If I did it right, then I should have big s-shaped curls or waves in my hair," Yuu responds, setting to comb and cream down. "That's it! I can't do this anymore! I'm taking an hour-long break!"
"Are you alright, Child of Man?" Malleus asks, getting closer to Yuu.
Poor Yuu had been doing her hair for the past three hours since Malleus finished drying her hair. Her arms burned from the pain of being up for too long, and her stomach begged for food.
"I'm fine. My arm hurts from doing my hair for so long. I can finish this last section quickly. Then, we can get food."
"Yuu, are you sure about this?"
"Yep! I'm sure about this! My hair may be long, but I can do it! Beauty doesn't come without pain, you know!"
Malleus looks at Yuu worriedly as she finishes the last section of hair, wincing through the pain. Yuu shakily puts her arm down as it twitches and shakes from the pain.
"Ah, shit. It burns," Yuu groans, holding her right arm in pain.
"Child of Man, let me take care of you," Malleus says, grabbing Yuu's arm and holding it down. "I'll take you to the nurse's office so that she can help you."
"I'm fine, Malleus. I can do it myself."
"Yuu, please, don't. You're not on-"
Yuu tries to stand up on her legs that fell asleep but fall to the floor, releasing a crack from her bones.
"Oh my God, are you ok?!" Malleus asks, rushing to Yuu's side.
"My foot..." Yuu whimpers, trying to hold her right leg.
Yuu's right foot is facing backward, and something white is about to break out of Yuu's legs. Malleus's eyes widen with concern, and gently puts his hands under Yuu to scoop her up. He teleports to the nurse's office, and the nurse immediately tends to Yuu.
"Sweetie, I need you to lift your leg up," The nurse with a name tag of Minnie says.
"I can't. It hurts to lift my leg," Yuu says, about to cry.
"Ok then, here I'll sedate you. You'll be fine when you wake up," Minnie says, pulling out a needle full of green liquid.
Minnie sticks the needle in Yuu as Malleus holds her down to stop Yuu from moving too much. Yuu's vision goes black, and her body is still on the bed.
~~~~~
Yuu POV
Everything is a bright blue with the shimmer of waves moving above me. The sunshine is peeking through the holes in the rock, and small fish swim everywhere. There's a lot of food like shrimp, shellfish, caviar, sushi, and some things that don't belong underwater, like ice cream, cake, and tiramisu chocolate mousse. I grab the ice cream and lick the cone as I swim out of the room. It's an endless pathway of doors, and every door seems to have my reflection. Light is under the large door, and I swim to it, putting my hand on it.
A circle of ancient ruins forms under my hand. Then, a second circle forms with every sea creature imaginable over the ruins, then a third circle forms on top of it with merpeople. A blue light bursts out from the circle, and everything begins to spin like a lock. I can't remove my hand no matter how hard I pull. Then a trident symbol forms underneath my hand, pulling it into the warm water. I scream as the door opens, and a water tentacle pulls me inside. My body hits a trident with a blue gem inside it, and I grip it. Everything starts to become white, and the scene fades away like dust.
"Ah-oh holy fuck, what does my leg hurt so much?!" I yell as my body jolts up from the bed.
"Yuu, you're awake. The nurse had to put a cast around your foot and leg. The good news is you'll be ok after 3-6 months," Malleus says, hugging me.
"Don't you guys have healing potions or something like that?" I ask, confused as to why I can't be healed immediately.
"We do, but we're out right now. The potions class has to make more," Malleus replies, looking at me with happiness. "I brought you food. They had grouper and chicken-flavored rice. I also made you a strawberry daiquiri."
"Oh, thank you. The grouper tastes delicious," I compliment, savoring the taste of fried grouper.
"I'm glad you like it. I'm going to step outside for a while," Malleus says, kissing my cheek.
~~~~~
Malleus steps outside and converses with every student from the NRC cast.
"I feel bad that I had to lie to Yuu like that, but it was for her own benefit," Malleus says in a whisper.
"We all agreed this was the best way to help her. Effectively, a broken leg stops her from swimming for a long time," Idia says, pulling up a body scan of Yuu. "We can't have a repeat of the moon charging incident. Too much attention is on the minority mermaid types. Especially after what happened in the City of Flowers."
"Agreed, and I don't think Yuu's friends are careful. Well, two out of three aren't very careful," Deuce says.
"With a broken leg and foot, Yuu can't even walk to the beach under a full moon. It'll be easier for everyone," Rook comments.
"Under no circumstances is anyone allowed to use magic to accelerate Yuu's leg and foot. Agreed?" Jamil proposes, putting his hand out.
"Agreed," Everyone says, putting their hand on top of his and throwing it into the air.
Everyone walks into the nurse's office and begins to talk to Yuu. Grim moves from Yuu's lap to her feet and continues to sleep with a half-eaten shrimp in his mouth.
YOU ARE READING
A Twisted H2O
FanfictionYuu sneaks out into the woods and finds herself in an underground cave. Unfortunately, the consequences of sneaking out had more fishy effects. Also known as Part of That World on Ao3 on the account Notthisg1rlagain.
