Author's Note: It's finally time for Octavinelle, guys! Oh my goodness, I have been looking forward to covering this part of the main story since I first started planning this fic! I think it's fitting that this is the first chapter that was started and finished in 2023. New year, new story arc!

Devon could smell salt in the air mixed with the smell of smoke. She opened her eyes to find herself floating above a large ship that had apparently caught fire at sea. Powerful storm winds whipped the waves into a frenzy, tossing the ship this way and that on the water. She could just barely make out the shouts of the crew as they tried to flee to the lifeboats.

"Huh. It's been a hot minute since I've had one of these dreams," Devon mused as she watched the scene continue to unfold. Her attention was pulled away from the ship as a girl with bright red hair broke through the surface of the ocean and began hauling an unconscious man in the direction of the shore. "Oh, so it's The Little Mermaid this time…"

"-von!"

Devon looked around; she could've sworn she'd just heard a familiar voice calling to her. She couldn't see anyone else around, so she shrugged and refocused her attention on the scene before her. The scenery had changed to a shoreline. Ariel had successfully gotten Prince Eric to safety and he was being led away by his faithful dog, Max, and his steward, Grimsby, talking about how a girl with a beautiful voice had rescued him. She could still hear what sounded like two people trying to call out to her now, but there was nobody else nearby that she could see despite the voices sounding like they were getting closer.

Meanwhile, Ariel watched from afar as Eric was led away. It sounded like she was about to break into song in true Disney Princess fashion, but it was hard for Devon to focus on much besides the voices calling her. She did manage to catch sight of Flotsam and Jetsam, Ursula's eel sidekicks, hovering nearby and chuckling darkly before the voice called to her again.

"Devon!"

"Can you hear us?!"

Devon jumped; this time the voices sounded like they were right next to her. She looked in the direction they'd come from and was once again unable to see anyone…at first. Slowly, two pairs of glowing eyes, one purple and one pink, became visible next to her. Suddenly it clicked and she recognized them instantly.

"…Dominic? DJ?"

Devon sat up in bed, eyes darting around as she took in her surroundings. The dream had left her a little shaken; it certainly wasn't the first Disney dream she'd had since arriving in Twisted Wonderland, but it was definitely the first that her brothers had appeared in. At least, she thought it was them. The glowing pairs of eyes threw her off a bit, but she knew those voices clear as day. Besides, her friends had told her that her eyes tended to glow when she used her powers, so maybe something like that was happening here. She shook her head, trying to get her bearings, when she caught sight of the Sending Stone on her bracelet. It was glowing, not nearly as brightly as it did when she spoke to her brothers through the mirror, but it was glowing just the same.

'Maybe that wasn't just another part of the dream,' Devon thought. 'Maybe they really were there with me…'

"So if the trend is that two options make it a trick question…"

Grim's mumbling pulled Devon from her thoughts. She looked up to see the little monster sitting on their desk for what she was fairly certain was the first time since she'd brought it into their room, pouring over what looked like a notebook. Odd, considering she couldn't remember him ever taking notes in class, but who was she to complain if Grim was actually taking their final exams seriously.

"Mornin', Grim!" Devon called out. "Comin' off a late-night cram session, huh?"

"MYAH!" Grim shouted, jumping in surprise before whipping around to shoot a glare at Devon. "Don't scare me like that! You're gonna make me forget everything I memorized! Today's our last day of finals, y'know!" He smirked and crossed his arms. "You and I are technically counted as one student, so you'd better pull your weight and not tank my grades, Dev!"

Devon rolled her eyes playfully. "This coming from the guy cramming at the last minute instead of studying beforehand. Seriously, it was like pulling teeth getting you and Ace to come to study sessions with the rest of the squad. I've been carrying us all through fall term and you know it." She reached her arms up and stretched. "Now to get dressed and get breakfast started so we can knock those last tests outta the park!"

"So…I'm guessin' you had a weird dream last night too?" DJ asked Dominic as the two of them drove to school.

"If by "weird dream", you mean we watched a scene from The Little Mermaid play out in front of us, saw Dev watching the same thing and tried calling out and getting closer to her but she couldn't seem to hear us until right before everything faded away, then yes," Dominic replied. "Did her eyes look like they were glowing to you too?"

DJ nodded. "Sure did. And when you woke up, was your bracelet glowing?"

"Yep," Dominic confirmed. The pair were silent for a moment as DJ continued driving. "Were you almost freaked about how not surprised you were by the whole once you woke up too?"

"Please, dude. That's probably the least freaky thing that's happened since Dev was taken," DJ reminded him.

Dominic chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that's true. What do you think it means?"

DJ shrugged. "If I were a bettin' man, I'd say it meant that our precious sister's about to get herself into some shit again."

Dominic snorted. "Probably." Another wave of silence fell over them before Dominic spoke up again. "…Do you think the dream thing will happen again? I know we didn't really get through to her until the end there, but it was nice getting to see Devon again. It might have been a dream but it really felt like we were right there with her."

"Yeah, it did," DJ agreed. He blew out a breath before continuing. "I hope we get to see her again soon, whether through another weird thing or however else she can talk to us from where she is." He sent his brother an encouraging smile. "Something tells me that if the dream thing does happen again, we'll get through to her loud and clear."

The sound of the bell signaled the end of the last exam. All of Class 1-A heaved a sigh, for some it was a sigh of relief, for others it was a sigh of despair.

"Alright pups, the test is over. Put your pens away and hand in your answer sheets," Crewel instructed. He waited until he'd collected everyone's answer sheets before continuing. "And with that, your final exams for fall term have been completed." The room erupted into cheers, causing Crewel to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Alright, that's enough. HEEL!" He brought out his pointer, causing everyone to quiet down. "That's better," he continued, nodding in approval. "It's too early to celebrate just yet. Any bad dogs who do poorly on their exams can expect mandatory remedial lessons over the winter holidays. You've all been warned. Class dismissed."

The students began chattering amongst themselves as Crewel left the classroom.

"Whew! We're done! We're finally done!" Ace cheered.

"I did my very best. All that's left to do now is wait for the results," Deuce said.

"Myahaha! Please! No measly test is a match for my big brain!" Grim boasted.

"Hmm? You two sound pretty confident for guys who usually look like the world's about to end after written exams. What's so different about this time?" Ace asked.

"I have to agree with Ace here," Devon chimed in. "I'm glad you're both so sure of yourselves, but I didn't expect to see it happen during final exams."

"Yeah well, this is dawn of a new and improved me!" Grim declared. "Just you watch; I'll get the highest scores outta everyone in this class and soon all of ya are gonna be beggin' me to help you study!"

"That's some big talk there, Grim, but I'm pretty confident in how I did too. No offense, but I'm definitely going to outscore you," Deuce replied.

"Says the guy who's constantly biting back tears during exams and barely staying above a failing grade," Ace shot back. "'Course, this was a piece of cake for me too, so I'm sure I'll come out on top." He leaned his weight against Devon. "So how about you, New York? You wanna weigh in?"

Devon shook her head. "Nah. Sadly, I am unequipped for this dick-measuring contest. I know I passed all my exams and that's all I need." She smiled at her friends. "It really does sound like you guys worked pretty hard to prepare for these tests, though. I'm proud of you." 'Even though I'm pretty sure Grim's studying only amounted to that one all-nighter…'

"H-Heh," Ace chuckled bashfully as he rubbed the back his head. "Well, y'know, it was easy. I bet you did well too. You always do."

"Simp…," Deuce muttered as Ace sent him a dirty look. "Anyway, now that exams are outta the way, I should probably make an appearance at Track and Field."

"I hear ya. I haven't had the energy to go all out in Basketball Club for a while, but I'm feelin' pretty motivated right now," Ace agreed. "Why don't we break the huddle here for today?"

"Let's go home, Dev," Grim said, hopping onto Devon's shoulder as she finished gathering her stuff. "I'm beyond pooped from studying all night."

"Is it cool if I swing by for dinner later, Dev?" Ace asked.

Devon rolled her eyes playfully. "As if anything I said would actually stop you." She ruffled his hair. "You know you guys are always welcome at Ramshackle."

"In that case, I'd like to come over after club too," Deuce said. "And unlike my freeloader roommate, I'll actually help with cleanup and stuff."

Meanwhile, over in Octavinelle's Mostro Lounge, Azul was having a not-so-pleasant chat with one of his dorm members. The Leech twins flanked him on either side, waiting -and hoping- to be called upon to…assist.

"Would you care to explain why you failed to answer my summons yesterday?" Azul asked, his question sounding more like a demand as he gave his peer a stern, cold look, appearing every bit the businessman-slash-mob boss. "It appears you don't understand the position you're in."

"W-Well, y'see… I-I had a bit of a stomachache yesterday…," the dorm member stammered, his eyes darted back and forth between Azul and the twins.

"Is that so?" Azul drawled, looking thoroughly unconvinced. "You understand that lying will only make your situation worse, do you not?"

"I-It's true!" the dorm member insisted. "I really wasn't feeling well!"

Azul sighed and adjusted his glasses before turning to the twin on his right. "Jade. Please give our friend here the push he needs to speak a little more honestly, if you don't mind."

"Of course," Jade replied. The student flinched as he stepped closer, causing Jade to chuckle as if he were watching a pet do something amusing. "There's no need to be frightened. I'm not going to hurt you. If I could ask you to look at me for a moment." His gold eye began to glow right as the dorm member made eye contact. "Now then… [Shock the Heart]."

All the student could do was yelp helplessly, unable to tear his eyes away from Jade as he waited for some terrible fate to befall him…only to find that nothing happened. Once the glow in Jade's eye finally dimmed, the student looked around the room in confusion. "Umm… What happened…?"

"I'll ask you but once more," Jade began politely with a pleasant smile on his face. "Why did you fail to answer Azul's summons yesterday?"

"Because I was sick… Sick of being used for Azul's underhanded, shady schemes! The cheating bastard…," the dorm member blurted out. "Of course I wasn't actually laid up with a stomachache!" His eyes widened as he realized what he'd said, his hands flying up to cover his mouth. "What the-?! It's like my mouth started moving on its own!"

"Oho? So that's the truth of the matter, then?" Jade asked. The smile was still on his face but it didn't look nearly as polite now. It was sharper, more sadistic.

"My, my. I'm beyond hurt that you would say such a thing," Azul lamented, a look of mock sadness on his face. "And after I made your wish come true in the spirit of the benevolent Sea Witch, you would still call me a… What was it again? A "cheating bastard"?"

"I-I'm sorry!" the student said hastily, trying to redeem himself. "What I said just now wasn't true! I-"

"It's too late for that now," Azul cut him off sharply as he leveled an icy glare at the student. He then turned to the twin on his left. "Floyd. You're up."

"You done talkin' now? That mean I can squeeze this minnow?" Floyd asked as a twisted smile spread over his face.

"Indeed," Azul replied with a smirk. "Squeeze as much as you'd like."

"Lucky me," Floyd sing-songed as he stepped toward the cowering student.

"P-Please wait!" the student begged. "Just give me one more chance! I can-ulp!" He was cut off as Floyd began squeezing him, making it nearly impossible to breathe, let alone speak. He tried to claw feebly at Floyd's hands but it did no good. He passed out in a matter of seconds and Floyd dropped him into a heap on the floor.

"Dear me," Azul sighed, shaking his head. "Lately there have been more and more instances of people trying to skip out on their payments. Pay for what you buy and return what you borrow. I fail to see what's so difficult to understand about that."

Jade nodded in agreement. "Quite so, Azul."

"Here's hoping we end up with a better crop this year," Azul said.

Jade smirked. "Heheheh. I know I'm looking forward to seeing the exam results."

"I know I've told you this before, but I can't get over how much better Ramshackle looks now," Deuce told Devon as they made their way to their classroom. Professor Crewel had asked them to pick up some materials for class during morning break.

"It really is an improvement, huh?" Devon agreed. After months of Crowley dodging the subject of making repairs to the dorm so that Regina's enchantment wasn't the only thing keeping it from collapsing, he'd somehow been convinced to bring in a team to fix it up. The holes in the roof, the broken and boarded up windows, and the moldy, peeling wallpaper had all been fixed and/or replaced and the whole dorm had been given a new coat of paint. It still wasn't anywhere near as fancy as the other dorms, but it was a massive improvement compared to when Devon had first moved in. She wasn't sure what exactly had brought on Crowley's sudden spark of motivation but she'd heard from a pretty reliable source (that source being Ruggie who "just happened to overhear" when he walked by the faculty room one day) that Trein and Crewel were involved somehow. "If only someone could give Crowley a kick in the pants about gettin' me home too."

There was a shout from the end of the hallway and Devon and Deuce turned to see Ace chasing Grim toward them.

"Hold it right there, Grim! You picked the wrong day to mess with me!" Ace shouted.

"Oh yeah? Let's see you try and catch me then, sucker!" Grim challenged as he ran along on all fours.

"You little…!" Ace grumbled as Grim hopped up onto Devon's shoulder.

"Alright, what happened this time?" Devon sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Can't you two give it a rest?" Deuce asked, shaking his head.

"Shut up, Deuce!" Ace shot back before turning to Devon. "Hey, New York! You're supposed to be the dorm leader, so do some dorm leading!" He pointed at Grim and narrowed his eyes. "That little thief stole the bread I set aside for a breaktime snack! Again!"

"Pfft," Grim scoffed. "I did nothin' of the sort. All I did was pick up some food that had been carelessly abandoned on a desk and gave it a home in my belly."

"Grrrr! I wasn't "abandoned" if someone set it there!" Ace retorted before pulling out his magical pen. "I think a little wind magic oughta put you in your place, furball!"

"Bring it!" Grim retorted. "I've got some fire magic with your name on it!"

The pair smirked at each other, ready to fight, when their eyes suddenly widened as if remembering something. The 'ulp'ed simultaneously and eased out of their fighting stances.

"Y-Y'know, on second thought, maybe we oughta stow the magic attacks for now," Ace said, the smirk still on his face despite the hesitation in his voice. "The last thing I want is to have to wash windows as a punishment again."

"H-Heh. I guess even you have good ideas sometimes," Grim replied. "I'd look really uncool if I was the only one using magic so I guess I can let you off the hook this time."

"C'mon guys, knock it off already-wait, what?" Devon said, unable to believe her ears.

"It's not like you two to simmer down on your own," Deuce commented. "Usually it takes the headmaster storming in after the classroom's been destroyed to put an end to one of your fights."

Ace shrugged. "Yeah well, I'd look pretty dumb throwin' hands with a raccoon over some snacks."

"What'd you say?!" Grim shouted. "Always gotta get the last word in, don't ya?"

"Ugh, whatever. Let's just get to class already!" Devon urged as she ushered her friends into their classroom.

"Alright pups, sit down! Class is about to begin!" Crewel ordered as he entered the room a few minutes later. "Before we get into the lesson, I'll be returning your tests."

The tension in the room grew palpable and several students began taking deep breaths to try and calm themselves.

"It's finally time…," Deuce whispered nervously.

Other students, however, were practically vibrating with excitement.

"Myahaha! The moment I've been waiting for!" Grim exclaimed. "Lemme see my scores, Teach!"

"Calm yourself, Grim! Stay!" Crewel ordered, an amused smirk on his lips. "I'll call you up by your seat numbers to hand back your scores. Number one!"

Slowly but surely, all the exams were handed back. Much to Devon's surprise, most of her classmates looked pleased with whatever results they got, a far cry from the nervous whisperings she'd heard all through exam week. 'Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit. Final exams are different from regular tests. They'd be absolute morons not to take them seriously and study.'

"Alright! I scored a 92!" Ace exclaimed, pulling Devon from her thoughts.

"An 88…," Deuce muttered with a tearful smile. "I didn't think I'd ever see the day when I managed to score above an 80!"

"Look Devon, look, look!" Grim shouted, waving his test papers in her face. "I scored an 85!"

As happy as she wanted to be about her friends' scores, Devon couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right; those scores seemed extraordinarily high compared to how they normally did. Of the three, Ace's score was the most believable. He could be an absolute genius when he bothered to apply himself, so maybe that's what happened here. Sure, he rarely actually joined in their squad's study sessions, but some people study better on their own than in a group. Deuce… Sweet baby Deuce… The poor guy was serious and motivated to study but the fact remained that he didn't test well unless it was PE related. Even so, she knew how hard he'd been studying and wanted to believe it had paid off for him, but for it to have paid off that much…? Hmm…

Now, Grim's score was the one Devon was the most suspicious of. She knew for a fact that the little monster hadn't picked up a textbook at all leading up to exams, claiming that a genius like him didn't need to study despite failing or nearly failing every exam or quiz they had taken thus far. He'd pulled that one all-nighter, but he was looking at a notebook she'd never seen before and it had mysteriously vanished without a trace once exams were done. Yet he'd somehow managed to score an 85 after studying for just one night?

Devon smiled despite her suspicions. Deuce and Grim looked so genuinely happy with their scores and she didn't have it in her to burst their bubbles. "That's great, you guys! Congrats!"

"Th-This means I won't have to repeat a year…," Deuce muttered, holding his test papers reverently.

Ace gently nudged Devon with his elbow. "Well don't hold out on us, New York! How'd you do?"

"90," Devon replied, showing them her scores.

"For real?" Ace said, leaning in to get a closer look. "I mean, no offense, but I kinda thought you'd end up wipin' the floor with all of us."

Devon smirked playfully. "Yeah no offense, but I thought I would too. I didn't score as high as I thought I would. There were a few questions on our Alchemy written exam that screwed me up, but I ended up acing the practical so I guess it evened out."

"Hey, a 90's nothing to turn your nose up at. These were some really tough tests, Dev. You should be proud of yourself! Especially since you didn't know anything about magic or Twisted Wonderland when you first got here," Deuce assured her.

"It seems you all studied quite a bit these exams. This is a complete turn-around for some of you compared to your quizzes," Crewel commented. There was an unreadable expression on his face as he looked at each of the students as if searching for some sort of answer. "In fact, the average has increased to such a degree that I'm tempted to call it 'abnormal'…"

"What do you mean, sir?" Ace asked.

'So Crewel's suspicious too, huh? Guess that means there really is somethin' fishy goin' on,' Devon thought.

"The average score for Potionology exams is over 90 for all grade levels," Crewel explained. "Professor Trein told me this morning that there are similarly positive trends in the scores for his History classes."

"Huh?!/Fgnya?!" Deuce and Grim exclaimed.

"Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?" Ace muttered.

Devon was about to ask him what he meant by that but Crewel continued speaking before she could.

"The fifty students with the highest test scores will be posted in the hallway soon. I hope you'll be looking forward to it. Now, open your textbooks and we can get started."

Ending Notes: Not Professor Crewel and Professor Trein being the real (human) guardians Devon needs in Twisted Wonderland. Crowley's just lucky those two came after him instead of Devon's actual parents. Or uncle. Or cousin.

Remember those developments I mentioned in the last chapter's notes? Well, we've already hit one of 'em! Honestly, I wanted to have DJ and Dominic be able to see the Disney dreams from the start, but the Sending Stones and the triplets' blessings needed to be revealed first. I'm actually really looking forward to the Disney dream after Devon signs Azul's contract because I can totally see her explaining what happened to her brothers and both of them just being like, "You dumb bitch."

Thank you all so much for reading! As always, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome! Geekinthepink, out!