"How are you doing, Yuu?" Malleus asks, rubbing Yuu's head.
"My leg feels numb, and I really want a shower," Yuu answers, leaning her head onto the pillow. "It's beautiful outside now that it's starting to get warmer."
"Yeah, spring tends to arrive early. Winter is a few weeks long," Malleus answers, sitting on Yuu's bed. "I'll open the blinds for you so sunshine can get in."
"Thanks, Malleus, you're the man."
"Yes, I am a man, child of man."
"I-you know what, that's fine. Have Riri, Cleora, and Emme asked about me?"
"Not that I know of. I'll tell you if they ask."
Malleus's fingers glaze over Yuu's cheek as if he wants more. He remembers the plan with the others and says goodbye to Yuu. He walks out of Ramshackle, not looking back at the building.
"The sea looks so beautiful from here," Yuu says, looking out the window and seeing the sparkling blue sea. Her senses flooded with the smell of salt water and the touch of water.
Yuu raises her hand and opens the window using her powers. The sweet yet salty smell of the ocean fills the room, and Yuu feels like she's a mermaid again.
"Hey!" Cleora says, standing at the foot of her bed. "We heard you broke your leg and wanted to cheer you up!"
"I was just asking about you three! I'm so glad you came!" Yuu squeals, trying to sit up.
"We brought seashells and some sea glass from the beach! Along with a mermaid's favorite food, lobster!" Cleora says, holding up a bubble of water containing three lobsters. "Got any pot we can put this in?"
"I also brought drinks, fruit, other fish, and a couple of desserts," Emme says, carrying bags of food.
"And you know, since I'm the cool one, I brought the music, makeup, nail polish, and hair dye," Riri announces, dragging a large cooler. "Let's get this party started!"
The four girls cheer in agreement and begin to cook or set up party festivities. Riri is helping Emme cook the lobster while Cleora sets up decorations using her powers combined with Grim's. Ramshackle looks hot, and eventually, the feast is ready. The girls and Grim dig into the shellfish and seafood, tearing it up like they're a creature of the sea.
"I found this old mermaid spellbook. I found a spell for how to heal a broken tail. Wanna see if it works on you?" Riri asks, finishing off her lobster tail.
"Why not?! Let's do this!" Yuu exclaims, putting her plate of food to the side.
"Ooh! A secret sneaking out party! Come on! We'll help you!" Cleora squeals, getting a blanket.
~~~~~~
The plan is simple. The girls carry Yuu to the moonpool in the forest, drop her in the moonpool, then wait to see if Yuu's leg and foot heal. Unfortunately, the plan has a few bumps in the road. All of them start with Yuu's friends.
"Someone stop them!" Malleus screams, trying to catch up with Yuu and her friends.
"This is so much fun!" Riri yells, carrying Yuu as her broken leg and foot are in a cast of seaweed, jellyfish slime, and sea snot.
"We're almost there!" Emmeline says, freezing the ground and making some of the boys slide.
"Yuu, darling, please wait! We don't know what a transformation will do to your legs!" Rook screams, running after Riri.
"Jump!" Cleora yells, seeing the ground opening to the moonpool.
The girls jump down the hole and slide into the moonpool, temporarily escaping everyone else. Riri, Emmeline, and Cleora throw Yuu into the moonpool, making sparkles swirl and arise. The water goes still then Yuu pops up with a smile.
"It worked!" Yuu yells, making the other girls scream with victory. "Let's take a celebratory swim!"
The other three girls jump into the water and swim out to sea. Meanwhile, the boys are just starting to think that Yuu and her friends aren't there anymore.
"They swam away, didn't they?" Idia asks, looking at the still water.
"Yep. They sure did," Malleus replies, trying to figure out what to do now. "Well, I can't replicate Ruggie's UM to give her another broken leg again."
"You gave her a broken leg?!" Grim yells, his black fur standing up.
"Grim, you've got it all wrong. Yuu tripped because her leg fell asleep. I was trying to help her," Malleus lies, making Grim angrier.
Grim releases a fierce growl and runs off to the beach.
"Shit! Someone catch him!" Malleus yells, scrambling to chase after the black cat.
~~~~~~~
"I'm so glad my leg and foot aren't anymore. I missed swimming in the ocean!" Yuu cheers, swimming in a circle.
"We missed swimming in the ocean with you too. Wanna hear about the strange dream I had?" Cleora asks, swimming to the surface and jumping onto a rock.
"Sure," Emmeline says, following Cleora out of the water.
"If it's that dream about Dominic taking your virginity in the most romantic way possible, I don't want to hear it," Riri comments, also popping her head to the surface.
"It's not that dream, Riri! Anyway, I had a dream that I found a trident! Like the one Ariel's dad owned!" Cleora explains, taking a sea shell and braiding her hair.
"Oh my god, same!" Yuu replies, joining Cleora on the rock.
"Same here!" Emmeline and Riri say, swimming closer to them.
"Don't know what the dream means, but I think we found our next adventure," Yuu proposes, looking at her friends.
"I so like this idea!" Riri exclaims, jumping out of the water to high-five Yuu.
The mergirls return to the water and swim to the Isle of Sages. Grim is waiting for Yuu and practically jumps in the water to meet her.
"Yuu, you'll never believe what I found out!" Grim rushes, sitting on the ground.
"What is it, Grim? I'm about to invite the boys to my cheer-up party."
Grim loved a few things in Twisted Wonderland, one of them being Yuu, the human girl he arrived with. They had been together since Grim burst out of the coffin with her. Even if he may call Yuu his servant, she is much more than that. She's his best friend and caretaker. But, as her best friend, Grim didn't want to reveal that her friends from NRC had purposefully broken her tail.
"They wanted to graduate you for getting your leg healed," Grim lies, jumping into Yuu's arms.
"Really?! That's surprisingly nice of them!" Yuu responds, holding Grim as she climbs out of the lake and walks to the NRC campus.
"Yuu, I am so sorry! You must understand we were trying to protect you from-" Malleus rambles, running to Yuu.
"Protect me from what? A little fun? Come on! I know you especially want to go to my party," Yuu says, grabbing Malleus's arms and going to Ramshackle with him.
Riri, Emmeline, and Cleora follow closely behind to converse about Malleus.
"Is it me, or does Malleus seem off?" Riri asks, whispering to Emmeline.
Malleus and Yuu go out of their sight then they converse a bit louder.
"Malleus seems clingy when it comes to the people he loves. I remember when I worked at the IMagic store, that short boy named Lilia came to buy a new phone. From what he told me, Malleus accidentally crushed his phone due to jealousy. I swear I was about to call some social worker that day," Cleora replies, beginning to worry about Yuu.
"Great, so he's essentially a possessive boyfriend. Let's hope he doesn't do anything worse than that," Riri says, kicking a rock. "Now, let's party at Ramshackle and not make a scene. Got it?"
"Got it," Emme and Cleora reply.
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.
