Thick & Thin [𝓣𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓦𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭]

Chapter 19

October 27th-
I saw nothing. The only thing I could see was black. Darkness. Screams were all around me. I could hear rambling in Italian, Southern accents, Arabic, and all sorts of other languages. Fun fact, I happen to be somewhat French, but I was hearing Rook frightfully scream aloud in French. Did I expect to be falling to my eventual demise during a school field trip? No? I thought so.

~~~

"Everyone, brace yourselves for the impact!" Trein called.

He grabbed all the students, or whoever he could grab, and kept them above him as they kept falling. There was a loud thud sound. "Ow... I hit my butt hard..." Deuce groaned.

"Are you all alright!?" Trein asked, looking at everyone.

It was Annie who wanted to yell out in protest, but she stayed silent. The pain in her side was like a fire; rushing from her forearm to her shoulder. It pulsed and felt bruised. At least she wore a sleeve so it could be hidden. Epel winced as he sat up. "Y-yes, somehow..." he muttered.

"I thought I was done for," Allison breathed, her breath shaky.

"I'm so glad you're all okay," Annie cried, hugging Riddle.

He smiled, hugging in return, giving her a comfortable kiss on her right ear. Azul stood and dusted himself off. "Those who couldn't cushion the fall well seem to be okay thanks to Professor Trein. That was amazing, Professor! Of course, I was able to cushion my fall with wind magic!" he said.

"Leave the ass-kissing for later!" Idia called.

When the students and Trein looked at their surroundings, they saw the whole city covered in flowers. It looked like a raging fire. "The crimson flowers have spread this far already..." Malleus breathed.

Allison staggered back and almost collapsed if it weren't for Annie and Deuce to hold her up. This wasn't what she wished to see a few days before Halloween! "Wait, where exactly are we? There's a lot more of those flowers than I remember!" Ruggie exclaimed.

"The entire place is surrounded by flowers... It's like the city is on fire," Riddle breathed, covering his mouth slightly.

"Did he send us here so that the flowers could absorb our magic faster?" Jamil asked with his arms crossed over his chest.

"That human... How spineless of him!!" Sebek cried out angrily.

Before Jamil could scold him or slap the shit out of him, he stopped and lowered his hand, closing his mouth. "Ya know what, I'll give you that. You can call him that."

Sebek chuckled. "We need to do something about these flowers first. We can't expose Lord Malleus to any more danger," Silver mentioned.

Malleus sat up from where he was, holding his head. "Crimson lotus flowers flourish with magical energy. We can't use magic to get rid of them. What do you plan on doing?" he inquired, his voice low.

Rook chuckled. "You've been blessed with abundant magical energy the moment you were born, so you may not be aware, but... There are other ways to get rid of unwanted plants, correct?" he questioned.

"Other methods... My, you can't possibly mean..." Malleus breathed.

Allison and Annie sneered, giving each other a malicious glare. "WEED KILLER!!" both exclaimed.

Riddle and Jamil blinked, sharing a look of "Don't give them the weed killer." Grim shook his head. "We should get a move on before these flowers bleed us dry... We'll pluck, pluck, and pluck until they're gone!"

Hours passed, and the group was still plucking at the weeds. "Hah... Hah... My paws hurt from all that plucking..." Grim muttered.

"To think that I would be accumulating weeds and not money here on the surface..." Azul said, almost in a whine.