The full silver moon shone that night. It was a romantic evening date where Prince Eric rows the boat with human Ariel into a willow tree.

"At least tell me your name." Eric said to her, who was rendered mute after bargaining her treasured voice unknowingly to him.

Ariel's sea creature friends were watching the evening unfold.

"Her name is Ariel!" Sebastian whispered for the prince to hear.

"That's a pretty name. Ariel..."

Just when they slowly leaned in for a kiss, the boat toppled them over. A pair of moray eels mirthfully grinned from the side.

The scene transitions to the depths of the sea where Flotsam and Jetsam had held mermaid Ariel captive by the arms.

"That girl is tougher than I thought. I'll show you what my magic is really capable of!" Ursula swore.

"Ursula, enough! Release my daughter." King Triton pleaded.

"She belongs to me now. But I'll gladly make a trade. Her, for someone more valuable." Ursula flashed her golden contract before the merman. "King Triton, accept the deal and sign the contract!"

The greedy sea witch, Ursula... A cunning woman of silver tongue and intellect. She wanted everything from the start.

I felt my body float in the cold underwater sea. I slowly open my eyes halfway.

Aqua blue light swims my vision. The world around me was dark. My only guiding light was the sunlight beyond the surface of the sea.

A blurry silhouette stands from above. They were looking down at me with an outstretched hand.

The first person to cross my mind was my brother.

Caelum?

I lift my hand.

["Why are you leaving me again?!"]

I faltered. That was my voice. I hear anguish behind the desperate plea begging an answer. It was utterly vulnerable as though on the brink of crippling. A shrill pitch uncharacteristic of me. Or is it?

["We just reunited. Yet, now you're going to go somewhere far away again?"]

My eyes widen a fraction. This is...

Black appendages shrouded in mystery grabs my body, sealing my mouth and tugging my outstretched hand back.

It was then I registered the water drowning me. Bubbles brush past me and fade to the surface where my brother is waiting. The light was becoming farther from my reach.

I hear Caelum utter softly, painfully.

["I'm sorry..."]

My body is pulled backwards as I gradually plunge headfirst into the depths of the ocean by invisible appendages of darkness. I couldn't resist, or rather, I had long surrendered the notion.

I didn't want that night to end up on a horrible note. I don't want to remember the somber face he made when he said those words sadly. It was pity I detected.

Yet I knew it was all my fault. I let my darkness control me. I wanted to say something positive, yet I was overcome with negative emotions.

I closed my eyes.

Is this...deja vu?

...

I awoke to the morning sun marking the third and final day of my contract.

I clutched my heart lock. Somehow that felt really real, like it wasn't just a dream.

Perhaps it was because of that realistic sensation of being drowned that I was wide awake. I arise from the futon and stretched my body.

Leona stirs in his sleep and released a yawn.

"Good morning." I greeted.

"Huh? ...Are you already awake?" Bright green eyes blinked before glowering at me. "...How dare you look well rested. Thanks to you I couldn't sleep at all..."

I gave a small wry smile. Oh the irony...

Leona ran a hand through his tangled mane and clicked his tongue. "Today is the promised third day. You'd best not fail and come back wallowing in your misery before me. Be prepared."

...

Three pairs of eyes stared in bewilderment. The silence shared among them was mutual in the courtyard we were meeting up in.

Jack was the first to speak up. "...Are you serious?"

I nodded. "To that end, we should hurry over to the Coral Sea."

Ace was quick to hold his hand up. "Whoa whoa whoa. Didn't we talk about how getting the photo was impossible since the Leech brothers will come after us?!"

"Even I think that's a little too crazy..." Deuce frowned dubiously.

Grim clicked his tongue and waved a paw at their pensive reactions. "Tsk tsk tsk... You've gotta listen to our plan first..." Before he could explain, he broke out into a coughing fit.

"What's your problem? A cold?" Ace quirked a brow questionably at the wheezing Grim.

"Not at all. I was yelling a bunch yesterday so..." Grim shook his head, "Wait, that's not important right now. I've gotta explain our plan first. Listen up..."

Soon after he finished, exclamations of "What?!" echoed throughout the courtyard.

"Are you serious about that? That course of action is way too bold." Ace said, gaping.

Meanwhile Deuce was awed. "Amazing. Strix, you've got some insane determination."

"But is it all really going to go that well...?" Jack voices aloud.

"We've come this far so we've got no choice to gamble on Strix's idea. There's not a lot of time until sunset."

"True. I'd rather not just wait around for sunset to come and go." Ace attested to Deuce.

"...Fine. Then we don't have time to stand around, let's go." A smile quirked Jack's lips. "Strix, you're really unstoppable once you've made up your mind."

"There are times when you're a bit too bold, though." Ace muttered with a sigh before smiling. "All right. Let's get this show on the road!"

"We depart for the Atlantica Memorial Museum to get that photo! Y'know!"

We made a beeline to the mirror chamber and warped to the Coral Sea but...

"Closed?!!"

"Whoa whoa... This is too unlucky." Jack frowned.

"We haven't been attacked by the Leech brothers at all today, did they know about this?" Deuce furrowed his brows.

"Well... I wonder about that." Ace mused.

"Are you saying we should run with our tails between our legs after coming all the way out here?" Jack turned to us but was stopped when Ace held up a hand.

"...Wait a second. I've got an idea."

We peek our heads behind a pillar where we were hidden from the guards' watchful eyes.

"Ffgna! In the world of merfolk, even the security guards are merfolk." Grim said.

"Why are you staying the obvious..." Deuce sweatdropped.

Ace looked from the guards to me. I eye him peculiarly as I could practically see the gears turn in his head.

"Strix, you go and ask them to let you in."

The rest of the boys looked at him oddly. "What?"

"I know you won't trip yourself over like Deuce so if you ask them 'pretty please', they'll let you pass without suspecting a thing."

I was dubious. "I think you're placing high hopes on me, Ace..."

However, Ace dismisses me with a hand. "Trust me, you'll manage. You'd get it once you talk to them."

"You gonna be okay by yourself?" Jack asked.

I pursed my lips. "...If things get dirty I'll resort to my Dream Eaters. Though I'd rather not..."

I slip out of the rock and approach the entrance. I willed myself to not look behind me to see the hovering heads of anxious boys (except Ace who was watching this play out) ready to leap into the rescue.

"Good morning. I've come to visit the museum... Is it closed?" I feigned ignorance and asked.

The two guards regard me curiously.

"You have a peculiar tail fin. A human? Certainly not...right?" A merman glanced to his colleague.

"You must be a princess, no? Your fair beauty rivals a mermaid of royalty."

Surprise registers behind my mask. So this is what Ace meant... But a mermaid princess?!

I put on my polite smile. "As of now I'm a student studying on land among the land dwellers. As you can see, this is my human form. I'm afraid I attract attention in my true form whether land or even in sea." That's not a lie, I can say for certain now, with the sea creatures taking a liking to me and the merfolk in front of me clearly, dare I say, mesmerized. It's...kind of embarrassing yet not unfamiliar simultaneously.

"I see... The museum may be closed, but we'll make an exception. Where's your vassal?"

Vassal?

My mind first went to the boys hiding behind a rock. The thought of them being my "vassals" is an entertaining thought, though to be real I wouldn't want three brainless idiots hovering me on a daily basis while dragging me into their mess. Some "vassals" they are. Jack is the only exception.

Without skipping a beat, I reply, "They're unavailable at the moment due to family reasons so it's enough for myself to suffice."

"Ah, is that so? You may enter, young lady." With welcoming smiles, they parted way for me.

"Thank you." I bowed to them respectably before being invited through their open doors to the museum.

I refrained from looking back until I was in a different room that I internally sighed in relief, the sophisticated young lady in me dissipating into sea foam.

I can't believe that worked! Maybe merfolk are a little gullible like Disney made them out to be? At least with Ariel? Whatever the case, I got in.

I made a beeline straight for the photo section of the museum with the help of the directory board. Walking through an empty museum kind of makes it seem like an abandoned site, an area full of historical artifacts and statues erected in honor of particular individuals.

"...This is the place Azul pointed out. Photo commemorating the visit by Imperial Musician: Horatio the 12th... Photo commemorating the visit by the fourth princess... There's a bunch on display. It's true that they probably wouldn't notice if one went missing." I muttered before wandering to the center of the area.

I stared with what is hopefully not a bug-eyed expression at the tall stone statue. The clear glass dome directly above it refracts light through to shine upon the statue.

'Isn't this a carbon copy of King Triton?'

I suppressed the urge to fangirl. It's like this museum is completely dedicated to The Little Mermaid lore and I love it. It's practically every nerd's dream to have a museum in honor of a franchise.

However, I have a mission. I turn away from the statue and skim through the array of photos pinned to the wall. "The photo commemorating Prince Rielle's visit 10 years ago is... Is this it?"

I read the caption, " 'Prince Rielle, visiting with his friends from school...' It looks like it's from when they came during elementary school."

I furrowed my brows. "Why would Azul order to get something like this?"

I looked around the room for any potential security alarms. If there's a hidden alarm, I might have to call my Dream Eaters to save myself.

I remove the tack off the photo. Nothing happened.

"It didn't trip the alarm. It's really just a plain old memorial photo... Well, they are just left in the open with no case or anything..." I mumbled. At least getting it wasn't tedious for a high schooler, I thought before pocketing it in my breast pocket.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed another presence standing by the statue. My breath hitched in my throat, and suddenly I saw nothing but what was in front of me.

Under the ray of sunlight, bright red tousled hair was caressed by the gentle current of the underwater sea. I could barely make out the color of his eyes creased with familial affection and playfulness of an older sibling. They were a warm mercury gold glistening with life unlike my cold blue moon, dull slates spat with contempt since I was born.

A dream. It had to be a dream. My eyes are playing tricks on me with the light.

I blinked rapidly, rubbed my eyes, and pinched my hand until it was red. Yet the man was still standing before me.

My lips parted.

"...Caelum...?"

The innocent smile was still retained on his sun-kissed skin.

I asked myself countless repeated questions: Why is he here? Why do I continue to see him when I try not to? First the Magift Tournament, then my dreams, and now the museum. Why is the image of my brother figure smiling as though spiting me? I...I don't understand why he's looking at me like he did back when we were still together as lonely souls who never had a sibling to love.

The thought of being smiled at like that... It made me feel sick. Not towards my brother, but towards myself.

["Why are you leaving me again?!"]

The voice rings in my ears.

["You'll leave me alone just like him! In the end, you'll never accept me!"]

My hands crept up to clutch either side of my head in a vain attempt to drown out the noise. I don't want to hear it.

["Why... Why does the light always, always, ALWAYS...take everything I love away?"] My eyes were wet with glistening tears that refused to fall.

Caelum's parted lips pressed together into a solemn thin line. For the first time, his head hung in shame. A weight hanging over his broad back beyond my juvenile comprehension was grave and realistically adult-like.

I recognized this posture. I knew a man who loved a woman so blindly that he refused to grace the same affection on to me, the parasite that snuffed out the light of his world and continues to breath life in exchange. He would assume the same hunched stature and sunken eyes wallowing in melancholy.

["I'm sorry..."]

Those words plummeted achingly heartbreaking, and all I registered was a feeling of betrayal.

Then I ran. To another world behind the looking glass whose hand guided me.

I shake my head vehemently. I don't know what to do. But for some reason, I know this to be real...

I didn't want to face him.

Caelum slowly closed his eyes. The smile was somehow much gentle now with a peaceful, patient air surrounding him. As though he read through me in that very instance. He then walks behind the statue.

A part of me under my shell wanted him to stay, despite the paralysis in my legs that didn't know between forward and backward. My hand instinctively shot up to reach out to him. But he disappeared.

The museum continued to remain quiet, not acknowledging the presence of someone dear to me.

An unreadable expression clouded my visage. I slowly turned on my heel, dragging my legs out of the museum with an unknown weight pressing onto the soles of my feet with each stride taken.

I patted my cheeks firmly to shape the contour of melancholy into something not so visibly depressing from my face. After assuring myself I was fine, I meet up a few ways with the boys from the entrance of the museum where the guards wouldn't see us.

"So how'd things go on your end?" Ace asked, perking up from the coral reef scenery to me.

"Got the photo. It was cakewalk, honestly." I said, shrugging. Behind my confident mask, I prayed no one would notice anything off from me.

Ace took one look over my face. I didn't dare to open my eyes. I finally hear him reply, "Then let's get back to school while the gettin's good."

Deuce nodded. "Yeah. Let's go throw this photo in Azul's face."

Before we could leave, Jack senses something coming towards us. He stands alert. "...Wait!"

This is not a good feeling. I suppressed a shiver when I saw something move. "Did you guys see a really long shadow just now..."

"Ahhh~ They're here. Lil' Shrimp."

"How are you all this fine day? I see you haven't learned your lesson and came back to the bottom of the sea."

Jack bared his fangs. "The moray eels are here!"

"It seems you were able to get your hands on the photo." Jade said.

"So hard working. Good little kids. But... We can't have you running off with it so we're gonna chase you around until sunset, m'kay." Floyd smiles with sneering eyes.

Ace's red eyes narrowed. "I knew you guys would be here. I thought this was going way too smoothly. Your plan is to chase us around until time's up then just pluck the photo out of our hands, right? Then we can't get these anemones removed and you still get your hands on the photo!"

"Fufufu... Using the least amount of effort to get the maximum amount of returns. That's just smart business." Jade states with a pleasant smile.

"What... You are really conniving!" Jack growled.

"So, Strix, now what do we do?" Ace asked.

"I don't think you would come this far without considering this." Deuce said.

I was not deterred. "For now, protect the photo!"

Deuce smirked. "All right, keeping it simple. I don't know how well it'll go without my specialty magic but..."

"We came this far so let's just do it!" Jack barked.

We resisted the twins for some time.

"I'm getting really fed up with this game of tag." Floyd muttered lowly.

"It's only a bit longer. Try to keep your momentum." Jade patiently told his brother.

"Strix, the sun is going to set at this rate." Jack said.

"Are you sure this plan is going to work out?" Grim asked.

I smirked. "It definitely will."

~~~~~~~

As long as the contracts are secured in the vault, they're in a state of invincibility. There was no reason to keep them in a vault if Azul claims anyone who touches the contract will be in for a shock. Just like Leona's wallet, Azul could leave them lying around without a care in the world. Even the tiniest scratch had Azul visibly on edge as though his lifeline was a mere hair length from slipping away.

It's common sense to put your valuable in a safe place so no one would think to question it.

"Leona, you will work with me. After all, I have a deal above what Azul could ever offer."

Leona elegantly raised a brow. "Do tell."

"If you don't help me, I swear to commit to harassing your sleep schedule the same manner I did until you only have the chance to blink for sleep."

Strix rested the side of her face on her fist and shifted her weight to the side of the chair. Her body language was too lax for Leona to comprehend where she got her confidence from.

"Plus, you get to get rid of your contract with Azul with your own hands. I'll leave Savanaclaw as well. It's killing two birds with one stone."

The silver moonlight shone upon her face, casting the other half in darkness. An uncharacteristic smirk grew on her lips curling at the corners ever subtly.

"I'm not taking no for an answer."

~~~~~~~

With Ruggie's sticky fingers, Leona used the key to the vault and retrieved the contracts while Azul was preoccupied handling Mostro Lounge from a whole party of Savanaclaw residents ordering left and right, demanding meat and working the waiters to the bone. Azul was too late the moment he returned to find both Leona and Ruggie outside Octavinelle's entrance.

Despite Leona claiming to make a deal and Azul desperately throwing out offers fulfilling any wish in exchange for returning the contracts, Leona knew none would outweigh the offer Strix had on the table.

Azul clenched his jaw as his sky blue eyes beheld him indignantly. "You're doing this for that...?!"

The lion hybrid almost roared with laughter looking back on that night. The human girl with no magic had been hiding her talons that only sharpened and polished as she adapts to the environment.

The memory of deep glowing blue eyes piercing through half-lidded eyelashes would strike anyone as villainous as though it was second-nature for her. In that rare lapse, her aggression emerged from the shadows, unmasked by the moonlight.

An all too amused smirk curled Leona's lips. "The herbivore also left a message for you."

Azul's eyes flared wide once he heard these words.

" 'No hard feelings. It's just business.'"

Leona was going to treasure the expression the octopus made for a long time. "You've been out-villained, Azul."

Chanting the incantation to his unique magic, the 225 golden contracts turn to dust and drift away into the open sea in spite of Azul's shrill pleas.

What came after would be another threat rising in jet black spilling from the tears of a "good-for-nothing, crybaby" octopus.

...

A white flash suddenly transpired the area.

Deuce perks up. "What was that light just now?"

"...Hm? Ah! Deuce, your anemone is gone!" Ace exclaimed with wide eyes and a pointed finger.

Deuce shot his hand up to the space where a sea plant should be rooted but brushed against his scalp to find none. "You're right!"

"Mine and Ace's disappeared, too!" Grim then cheered, "Hooray! Leona and Ruggie came through!"

I internally sighed in relief. I knew they would be able to do it. I'd be pretty pissed if they didn't...

Upon hearing their names, Jade's eyes widen. The calm composure he usually carried with grace tipped over like a boat. "...What did you say?"

"What d'ya mean by that?" Floyd asked, expression guarded.

I smirked and laughed by the nose. "We made a deal with Leona to get him to help us out with this!"

"What? That guy's always lazing about and sleeping all the time like a sea lion. There's no way he'd help you." Floyd said in disbelief.

"As a fellow dorm head, he should have wanted to avoid getting involved with Azul. How exactly did you convince him to help you?" Jade narrowed his heterochromatic eyes at us.

"I don't blame you for thinking that. I told him that we'd quietly leave Savanaclaw tomorrow if he cooperated with us to get Ramshackle Dorm back. But if he didn't, we promised to keep him up every single night. To really show him our power, we gave him a taste of how loud we can get last night." I boasted a proud smirk at the fresh memory.

"Thanks to that, we stayed up all night shouting our lungs out and didn't sleep at all, y'know." Grim's shoulders sagged.

The twins deadpanned. "Wow..."

"So that's why your throat was rough as sandpaper..." Deuce remarked from when Grim had coughed before we had headed for the museum.

"That performance was one hell of a show..." Jack muttered.

"Isn't that more of a threat than a deal?" Floyd said to Grim and I.

"Hm? Was it?" I tilted my head innocently, smirk anything but. "I simply took a page from Azul and negotiated with Leona."

"A coward for a coward, a villain for a villain." Jack mused, glancing from me to the eel mermen, unsurprised at this point.

"I can finally get some payback now that I've got my wind magic back." Ace cracks his knuckles and cocked a smirk.

"Come forth, cauldron!" Deuce managed to summon a black pot and smiled widely. "...Yay, it's back!"

"Ffgnya! I'm the only one who can't check since we're still underwater!" Grim stomped his foot.

"No worries, we're totally good to go without your flimsy fire." Ace told the little fire cat, much to his chagrin.

"We should head back, Floyd. Their anemones disappearing can only mean one thing..." Jade frowned.

Floyd mirrors his expression. "Yeah. This doesn't bode well."

"Whoa, hold on. We're finally back in top form." Deuce spoke up with a smirk laced in his words.

"Don't say that you're going home, play with us some more, y'know." Ace taunted.

"Annoying fries. This won't last long."

"Floyd, just leave them be!" Jade tried protesting but knowing his brother wouldn't listen, he relented. "...Ugh, fine."

Now that the boys' specialty magic returned, the fight became much more intense.

"Aaah, shit! They're a pain!" Floyd cried in an outburst after deflecting their magic countless times.

Jade swims up beside him. "We should retreat, Floyd. I don't think this is the time to be playing around with them."

"Tch... I know. Let's go."

After having entertained us, the aggravated twin eels swim away.

"Let's get back to school, too. We've got to show this photo in Azul's face and celebrate our complete victory!" Jack said, grinning.

We head back to Octavinelle with the ideal moment of flashing the photo to Azul and finally being freed from his shady business intervening our high school careers. However, upon arriving at the entrance...

The once beautiful blue sea is now murky with black haze. Students' screams are heard, and multiple bodies lay limp on the ground.

Ace gasped. "Things are crazy right now!"

"Is Azul...on a rampage?!" Deuce exclaimed.

"He's absorbing abilities from students left and right." Jack said as Octavinelle's dorm leader continued robbing magic powers from every student in sight.

My wide eyes were filled with dread and horror at the unexpected sight. "Did Azul lose his mind after the contracts were erased?" I thought he was more level-headed, but I guess the contracts he collected really were that sacred to him.

Grim squeaked in terror. He then glares pointedly, "Leona! This is because you picked on him, isn't it?!"

"This is my fault? You're the ones who told me to turn his contracts into sand." Leona defended, tossing a half-hearted glare at Grim's accusation.

"Jade, Floyd, aaah, you've finally come back to me. Those bastards went and destroyed all of my precious contracts. So please give me your strength, too. Give it to me!" Azul desperately pleads with a manic smile.

"Stop this instant. You know that you can't control your unique magic properly without a contract in place, it's too strong. If you keep on like this you know what will happen!" Jade firmly reprimands.

Azul wasn't listening. "It's all gone, you know, everything... Ahahaha... AHAHAHA! I don't wanna go back to the way I was before!"

"Umm, y'know, you're way lamer right now than you ever were before." Floyd flatly states. I deadpanned at this because he's saying that when someone is going berserk?! He really has no filter!

However, Azul simply smiled as though he expected no less from Floyd. "Ah... Is that so? You're aware I am a stupid, clumsy octopus that can't do anything by himself. So I'm going to keep taking until I'm the best version of myself I can possibly be. A beautiful singing voice, powerful magic, everything belongs to me! Give it all to me!"

Black and purple sparkles scatter across the dorm. More agonized screams are heard.

Floyd watch disturbed as black oozes from the young man. "The hell is that? Black mud is coming from Azul. That's not ink...right?"

"He's using his magic too much. He's accumulating blot beyond safe levels! At this rate..." Alarm widens Jade's eyes. "He's going to Overblot!"

Azul laughs maniacally as the blot danced around his feet before rising to swallow him whole. Once the blot drips away, it revealed Azul not in his human form but his true appearance. Black octopus tentacles with purple undersides, gray skin and black barnacles on his shoulders, and a gold seashell necklace just like the one Ursula has. A violet flame actively burns from his left eye glowing a pale glacier blue unlike his sky blue ones.

A massive shadow assuming Ursula's appearance floats behind him, wielding a black trident.

Grim gasped. "He's an octopus where his legs should be!"

"That's what Azul looks like underwater." Jade stated after he and Floyd placed distance and appeared to their side.

"What's behind him? I can't squeeze something that big!" Floyd glared at the patchwork monster towering everyone.

"Our priority is bringing Azul back to his senses." Leona whipped out his magic staff while everyone else equipped their magical pens in hand.

"Or we're all gonna become anemones!" Ruggie exclaimed.

I clenched my jaw behind sealed lips. The more I basked in Azul's Overblot, the more dread I feel building up in my chest. Could there have been another way to avoid this? If I knew this would happen, I wouldn't have pulled this plan...

If we don't manage to save Azul from the blot, if Azul loses his life, wouldn't I have to take responsibility? Though Leona was the one who did the dirty work, I was the one who enabled him that ability. There's no denying I'm the mastermind.

Knowing this, am I going to kill another person? Just as I killed my mother by breathing, this time I would have stained my hands.

["You only exist to bring misfortune. If being born killed her, imagine the bloodshed you'll create with a conscience. It's easy when you don't have a soul, isn't it."]

"Strix! Pull yourself together!" It was Ace. He shot a concerned glance over his shoulder while delivering his signature wind magic towards Azul who was resisting against the boys' magic.

I snapped to reality. What was I doing, hyperventilating in the middle of a crisis. "R-Right."

My hands curled into fists. I steeled myself and hardened my eyes now burning in resolve. There's no time to lose. The one suffering right now is the victim who succumbed to the blot, Azul. It's up to us to return him to normal before his soul is completely dyed black beyond repair.

A wicked smile strained with wet tears appears on Azul as he coos, "Let's make a deal. Come on, make a deal with me..."

"Normally I'd be cool with making a deal but, right now, not a chance." Floyd replied.

"I agree." Jade said.

I watched as the faceless Ursula swings her trident, deflecting magic projectiles from making contact with her host. To be honest I think the trident itself is a major obstacle, just as King Triton's trident itself was powerful.

If we can stop shadow Ursula from waving the weapon around then we would have a higher chance of succeeding.

I quickly formulated a scheme with the Dream Eaters I currently know of in my arsenal. "Guys, I have a plan! Stall Azul for a bit until then!"

"Got another crazy idea up your sleeve? It better not be reckless!" Jack called out to me.

My eyes didn't leave the threat looming over Azul. "Trust me! I got this!"

A rainbow penguin with a ring of pearls for a collar and goggles as well as a seal in a blue striped swimsuit manifests.

Iceguin Ace and R and R Seal propelled themselves into the battlefield.

"You little pests! Out of my way!"

The penguin and seal spirits evade with their acrobatic skills as the faceless Ursula tries to swat them away to no avail.

I picked up a pebble and tossed it experimentally. The size is as small as a pebble it can be, and it sinks to the palm of my hand. All right.

Iceguin Ace waved a flipper for the boys' attention before summoning blocks of ice at Ursula's tentacles. Though they were blocked by her trident, the general direction demonstrated much of the plan. They seem to catch on quick.

R and R Seal dives low and deflects her pitch black trident upwards with its surprisingly strong tail flippers. The Sea Witch incarnate flinches from the impact, trident slipping from her grasp and drifting into the sea beyond her reach. Her weapon is no longer standing between us.

That was the cue. "Now!"

The boys launched ice magic for the ground where Ursula stood, freezing the bottom of her tentacles in place. The flustered shadow squirms before resorting to pounding her fists to shatter it.

I tossed the pebble. R and R Seal leaps and smacked it with its tail flippers using all its might.

Something whizzed by and struck her by the glass jar of blot that is her face. The incarnation jerked backwards and nursed the area. By the time she turned to my direction, I held a confident smirk with R Seal waving its flipper beside me.

"Where are you looking?"

While Ursula was distracted by me and R and R Seal's attack, Iceguin Ace had spiraled around her, creating an ice trail while gliding on its smooth belly. Ice builds up from the ground beneath where she was rooted by ice. A colossal pillar shoots up within, blossoming into a pale flower swallowing her whole.

'Icicle Barrage!'

Ice particles rain upon the field. Azul had shielded his face from the glaring white chunk of frosty ice that managed to freeze her before looking up. "This powerful advanced ice magic... Her familiars are capable of this...?"

Abruptly the ice barrage shattered, rendering Ursula weak and staggers onto the ground, now a heap of tentacles.

Azul muttered breathlessly, "This can't be..."

I summon Tatsu Steed.

A bubble encompasses Azul whole. Just like with the blot monster, the bubble bursts. Azul howls in pain and staggers, eight tentacles the only thing keeping him upright. He sucks in through his teeth and hung his head in miserable defeat.

"Why does everyone bully me! Because I'm a stupid, clumsy octopus? I just wanted to be strong and show them they're all wrong...!! I...I just..." The black miasma slowly fades from his body as he loses consciousness.

R and R Seal reappears with Ghost Camera slung over its body by my side. I held a solemn frown as I took a snap behind the lenses, the twisted shadow contour lining his negative emotions and pain.

~~~~~~~

Deep Sea Melancholy

~~~~~~~

The familiar sound of the reel told me I was back in the cinema once again for the third time. The film is starting.

I am the sole audience. The narrator speaks.

["I was only ever meant to be inside an octopus pot."]

The setting appears to be the underwater version of a classroom with stone desks surrounding in a semi-circle before a podium.

"Wow, look it's Azullulu, the ink barf-er!"

"Hurry, get away. He's got all those creepy legs!"

"Kn-Knock it off... Wh-Why would you say that..." Child Azul whimpered.

"Swim away! We're gonna get inked~"

The other merchild of the two laughed gleefully, "He's never gonna catch us."

Child Azul choked through his hiccups and sobs, tormented by their verbal harassment.

["Unlike other merfolk, I had legs covered in suction cups. I was an introverted child who could never speak their mind. No good at school or sports, I was left all alone. A dumb, clumsy octopus."]

"That guy barfs ink when he cries and pollutes the water wherever he goes."

"And he's out in no time during tag, it's so lame."

["Ohh, really? Then why don't you just leave me be and go run around playing your pointless games!"] Seethed Azul.

He then states, ["I lack the tail to swim quickly. But, instead I have ten arms and legs I can move at will. That means I have five times the ability to write tomes than those two armed fools. I can spit out the ink needed to write spells at any time."]

["Just you wait. Someday I'll put you insolent mers in your damn place!"] Azul swore vehemently.

"Hey, little octo, why are you holed up in there?" This is...Floyd? But as a child? So the twins and Azul go back, huh.

"Shut up. Leave me alone." Child Azul snapped.

"Amazing. All those shells are covered in spells and curses. Magic to shapeshift, magic to steal someone's voice... Have you been using those eight legs to write all these this whole time?" Child Jade was about to reach out for a paper until Child Azul hissed at him.

"Don't touch them! You wanna get inked? I'm gonna keep studying and become just as powerful as the Sea Witch! So don't get in my way! Just go away!"

"Jade, that octopus is pretty funny."

"Yes, Floyd, he is very interesting."

["I kept studying like that until several years later..."]

"I heard that a kid in another class got super skinny and even got a girlfriend." Junior High Floyd gossiped.

"In exchange, his beautiful tenor has gone completely silent." Junior High Jade said.

"You don't say."

"In another class, someone with frizzy, unruly hair suddenly became a silky, blond." Jade gossiped.

"In exchange, they lost their tail that swam so fast." Floyd said.

"Hmm, I see."

"And, Azul, isn't this all your doing?" Jade inquired.

"...Mine? Why?"

"I can't imagine any of those airheaded fish being able to pull off such impressive spells."

"You've been studying magic for so long."

"...Pfft!" Azul bursts into laughter. "Is that so? I can't believe I've been found out already."

"We were right?" Floyd asked gleefully.

"Yes, you are. I finally perfected it. All I need is for someone to sign this magic contract then I can take whatever ability I want from them... I call it, 'It's a Deal'! With this, I can make them all kneel before me. Everything you've ever taken pride in, is now mine!!" Azul laughs a villainous one again.

["I haven't forgotten what happened for even a moment. Those who made fun of me. The faces of those who bullied me. I bide my time, observing them from a distance. Their weaknesses, their failings... I know it all! Press on their weak points and I can take their fast tail. If I know what's bothering them, I can take their beautiful singing voice. With this golden contract I am unbeatable! I am no longer the dumb, clumsy octopus left all alone. Everything is under my control with this power. All those who ever made fun of me, will now kneel before me."]

I was left staring into the blank white screen.

Azul hated himself for how weak he was that he was greedy to get whatever power in his hands. I now learn that his professionalism is part of his strong font, constantly burying the wimpy kid still following his shadow no matter how much he tries to erase that part of him.

I clenched my fists.

He can't keep looking down on his past self. Not when his childhood shaped him today.

The cinema suddenly becomes flooded with water. I inwardly shut my eyes and held my breath before realizing this is all in the mind. I can still breathe here as long as I will it.

The seats and stage dissipate in sea foam, and I sink to the bottom of the ocean. As I traveled through the Dream Drop Dive passage, there was only darkness ahead of me. Until a white light flashed in the center and expanded into a radius large enough for a single person.

I slowly floated until the soles of my feet landed.

I look up to my surroundings. It's pitch black beyond the radius of the spotlight I stood in.

From across me, a violet flame burns in the darkness. Cold blue eyes framed with black ink tattoos bored at me.

"I could have had it all. All my anemone slaves and Ramshackle Dorm was about to fall into my hands so easily."

I only stared directly back into his eyes.

Overblot Azul grits his teeth. "Why are you not saying anything? Do you think I'm too stupid to comprehend? Is that it? You think an octopus like me is stupid, right?"

I shake my head.

"Then say something with that sly, scheming brain!"

I didn't pay heed. Instead, I slowly walked towards him, never once leaving my sights from him with clenched fists at my sides. With each step I take, Azul creeps back.

Panic registers in his expression as he desperately attempts to deter me by saying, "You must be so proud to have beaten my genius! After I've taken so many careful steps to devise the perfect plan! Yet you! You're just a human with no magic with no name to swear on, no upstanding role, no value for magicians."

I've yet to waver in my stride. The spotlight above me merged with Azul's once I stepped into his circle. The octopus merman was nearing the edge trying to keep as much distance between us as possible, yet no spotlight spawned. He realized that entering into the darkness means fleeing from me, who should supposedly pose no threat to him as he could easily overwhelm my lacking prowess with his merman powers.

Azul watched with batted breath as I slowly outstretched my hand for him to take. My still, luminous eyes beneath long lashes bored into his pale glowing ones. Seeing as he still has yet to respond, I took a step forward.

Azul jolts visibly trembling in fear, yet that same fear rendered him paralyzed as I closed in the distance.

"Stay away!"

I grunt from the constricting tentacles wrapped around my body. Azul looms over me, flame actively dancing in his left eye and a stream of tears falling down his purple gray cheeks.

Though the unfamiliar feel of tentacles wrapped around me has me internally fidgety, I didn't struggle to escape, not when we're finally face-to-face for a heart-to-heart. I could only stare back at him as I've been doing.

"What... What's with the look in your eyes?" Overblot Azul breathed, leaning back slowly. In the pale reflection, I see my calm expression boring into him. Not a shred of fear is found within me.

I have not once left my sights on Azul. I acknowledged him not any lesser than I am, because he is not some wimpy fat octopus that barfs out ink. Azul has potential only he himself will achieve unlike any other merfolk.

However, he needs to know that there is moderation to everything in life. He let his greed consume him to the point of becoming like his bullies he so despised. Just having a slither of strength above the other could drive people lusting for more and more power and abuse the weak.

Azul understood that from simply looking into my eyes, the eyes that are the window to the soul, to the heart. No words were needed from me to communicate the wrongdoings he had done, to convey that I will not shun him nor his past with disdain.

His eight appendages slackened the slightest.

I slip my arms out to pull him close.

I know a man with trust issues such as Azul won't simply listen to pretty speeches. I know very well the power action brings over words.

Because I was the same way as well. Perhaps I still am.

I secure my hold on him. I want him to know I'm not going to give up on him after learning of his past. I would never turn my eyes away when someone reveals their vulnerability seeking for a hand to hold onto right in front of me. I know how that feels.

If I couldn't find "that someone" to cry on their shoulder, I'll just become that someone instead and bear their pain before my own. By doing so, a part of me is validated.

["You only exist to bring misfortune. If being born killed her, imagine the bloodshed you'll create with a conscience. It's easy when you don't have a soul, isn't it."]

That's not true, father. It was because I was nurtured with the love and affection of Sidney and Caelum that I'm here at this very moment, with the heart and soul to carry burdens. I've always wondered why my estranged father said those things when he gave up hope on me without even trying since the very beginning. I don't think I'll ever know nor understand any time soon.

Many aspects of Azul's weaknesses that I've witnessed, I sympathize with them all. I may not have been bullied in a way similarly to Azul, but because I saw myself in him, my animosity towards the one who caused grief for the boys prior to now faded. It hasn't completely disappeared, but at the moment I held empathy for the individual who tries to appear professional but is still a teenager undergoing emotional strifes underneath.

Azul stilled.

"Why... Why are you embracing a pathetic octopus like me?" His voice was barely above a whisper, dulled by the numb shock slowly registering inside. "I'm repulsive. Creepy. Good-for-nothing heap of space."

I pull back to look into his eyes.

His breath hitched.

There was nothing but kindness and empathy in my gentle expression. Never once did fear or disgust twist the soft smile gracing my lips.

My hand rests atop his head, gently stroking his silver wavy locks in a consoling manner.

In that instance, he faltered. One moment stood a man, the next flickered to a child. The arms that clung around my back remained a sorrowful soul that knows how to cry and grow to become strong.

That was the one part of him I didn't see myself in. Unlike him, I couldn't openly shed tears even if I want to. I don't see myself as strong as Azul is. I would make sure he sees I respect him for that outside of this dream realm.

I rested my arms on his back and gently held the weeping young man in my embrace almost tender like a mother to her child. Ironically that comparison is unlike me. As if I could ever be like a mother...

The light expands across the entire sea until only deep blue takes the eye far beyond. Darkness was no more. And so were the blots surrounding Azul, flame dimming until it was snuffed out.

Azul fell asleep in my embrace. I may be mistaken, but I thought I saw a smile of gratitude lift his lips before he disappeared in soft light.

My arms fall limp to my sides as I tilt my chin up to the sapphire blue surface of the sea.

I gingerly touched my throat and open my mouth.

"..."

A frown settled on my lips. I stared into the distance pensively, alone in this cold space. It was then I was affirmed of my suspicions.

Not a single Dream Eater's voice was heard.

Why did none of them appear when I needed them the most? To dream of the nightmares I suppress from breaking my mask only for no one to save me...

Something tapped against my toe.

From what felt like eternity of staring into the constant blue screen, I look down.

A rainbow trident head the size of my palm glistens in the spotlight.

I crouch to pick it up between my dainty fingers. When I closely examine the mysterious gummy-like piece, I wonder just what are these dream-like pieces for.

["..."]

I blinked out of my daze. A voice...just came from the gem? I couldn't hear anything but muffled noise, though.

Suddenly I was feeling lightheaded and cradled my head with my free hand. My eyes couldn't focus that my hands look fuzzy. I must be waking up.

I clutched the dream piece tightly in my hand before my vision faded away.