Chapter 53

"Leona didn't pick up either," Kalim said. He bit his lip as he gave me a worried look. "I think you might be right about who they targeted."

"But what does Grim have to do with the overblotters?" Epel asked.

"It's complicated," I said. Suddenly, me heart clenched. "Oh, Grim... He's gone. They're all gone. Were they captured because that weird organization thinks they're a danger? What are they going to do to them?" My heart began beating irregularly.

"Take a breath, Trickster," Rook advised.

I nodded. "R-Right. I need to do something." I knew just who to contact. My hands shook as I brought my phone to my face again. Somehow, I managed to make another call without dropping the phone.

"Hello?" Jade said when he answered.

"Jade!" I cried. "It's terrible! They're gone! They attacked them and abducted them!"

"What? Ona, slow down. What happened?"

"I told you! Some weirdos broke into my dorm and stole Jamil and Vil! They've also got Grim, Azul, Riddle, and Leona."

"That's everyone who-"

"-who overblotted, I know. What are we supposed to do? What if they hurt them? What if we never see them again? I - I can't-" My words broke off as my breathing became super heavy and my heart pounded in my chest. It felt like I was going to faint.

"Ona, I need you to listen to me." Jade's voice had a commanding tone, although it somehow still sounded soft and soothing.

"B-But, Jade, this is-"

"I am going to help you get through this. I have never let you down, have I?"

"N-No." Despite knowings, my breathing continued to become shallower, and I could not stop shaking.

"Take a deep breath. Can you do that for me?"

"I - I don't know."

"It's alright. I'm here." He paused. "Do you want me to come to you?"

I glanced at the others, noticing how they were picking up Ace and Deuce. I swallowed hard. "No. Meet us at the infirmary. Ace and Deuce were h-hurt." Tears filled my eyes. "Oh, Jade! They're hurt, and I couldn't do anything. I'm useless. Why is all this happening? What if-"

"Take a deep breath, Ona. I won't speak to you until you do."

"O-Okay. I'll try." I took in a shaky breath.

"Good. Now, keep taking deep breaths while you listen to me. You think my voice is soothing, don't you?"

"Y-Yes. That's right." I tried to focus on breathing slowly and deeply. It did seem to help.

"I understand why you're upset. I will help you come up with a solution. I will never abandon you. You can count on me, you know that?"

Tears filled my eyes again, this time for a whole different reason. "Thank you, Jade. I'm so lucky to have you. I can't do this without you."

"You're going to be fine. I believe in you. Can you count to ten for me?"

"Alright." I paused when I noticed Kalim trying to get my attention.

"We're heading out," Kalim said. "Can you open the doors for us?" He and Epel were carrying Deuce while Rook held Ace.

I nodded. "We're heading to the infirmary," I said into the phone. Once we were on our way, I counted to ten.

"Good job, Ona. How do you feel now?"

"Better. Much better." I let out a breath of relief. "Thanks. You're the best, Jade."

"Anything for you. I am going to let you go now so I can take care of something, but I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Bye, Jade." I hung up the phone and returned to focusing on taking deep breaths.

The next 15 minutes passed by in a blur. We arrived at the infirmary and watched as Ace and Deuce were taken care of. The rest of us were checked out too, but none of us had any major injuries. No physical injuries, at least.

I could feel my anxiety rising as each second passed. I slowly backed away from everyone else, feeling more distant and alone. I hugged myself and shut my eyes. It felt like everything was crashing down around me, and I just wanted it all to stop.

I barely heard the door open, but I did hear the voice that spoke my name: "Ona."

I immediately snapped back to reality. I only had to look at Jade's concerned face for my emotions to bubble over. "Jade!" I cried as I ran into his arms. I buried my face into his chest as we hugged each other tightly.

"It's going to be alright," Jade said softly.

"No, it's not, it's not." Tears started to spill from my eyes, but I didn't care. Jade didn't seem to mind either. He only held me tighter. He rubbed my back and stroked my hair while whispering comforting words to me. His words and actions were so soothing, and, gradually, I calmed down.

Jade gave me a soft kiss on the top of my head. "That's better. I know you've been through a lot. It is fine to be upset. Just let it out."

"Th-Thanks, Jade."

"Little Shrimpy!" Floyd cried, slamming the door open. I flinched at the sound.

"Floyd, please keep it down," Jade said, though he loosened his arms so I could turn to see him. "I hope it's alright that I informed him of the situation and called him here."

I wiped my eyes with my sleeve. "No, it's fine." I tried to smile at Floyd but it came out all wrong.

Floyd gave me a sad look as he approached us. "Aw, I'm sorry, Little Shrimpy!" When he got close enough, I reached out an arm to hug him. Jade let me go, and Floyd pulled me more into him. "I'll make you feel better."

"Thank you." Then I noticed Jade trying to slip away. I gave him a look of distress and reached out a hand to him. "Don't leave. I need you."

Jade hesitated, and I could see surprise in his eyes. "Floyd will take care of you."

"For someone so good at reading people, you can miss a lot sometimes," Floyd said with a hint of annoyance. "She needs both of us."

"Please," I said.

Jade dipped his head in acceptance. "Very well. Perhaps we should talk outside."

"Okay, let's go," said Floyd. He kept an arm around me as we walked out of the infirmary. There was a bench right outside for those waiting for patients, and I sat down on it between Floyd and Jade. I linked my arms with them, and they put their free arms around me. It felt nice, but it was not enough to stave off my anxiety and rushing thoughts.

"Ona, I know something is bothering you," Jade said gently. "Do you mind telling us what it is?"

"It's nothing," I mumbled.

"You can trust us," Floyd said. "We want to help."

"You can't help. You can't change who I am."

"What do you mean by that?" said Jade.

Tears formed in my eyes again. "I'm useless. Jamil and Vil were taken right in front of my eyes. Ace and Deuce were hurt so badly that they're unconscious now. And I could do nothing! I don't have any magic or powers of my own. I've never done anything to help anyone."

"That's not true," said Floyd. "You helped all those guys who overblotted."

"And now they're all kidnapped because of it! What if I haven't been helping but hurting them this entire time? What are the chances of give students overblotting in the same year? The only thing that connects them is me. Maybe my interference pushed them over the edge and caused them to overblot. They probably would have been fine without me. Everyone here would be better off without me. I don't belong here. I don't want to be here anymore. I just want to go home. I need to leave!" A few tears spilled out as he anxiety magnified.

"What?!" Floyd exclaimed. He gripped my arm tighter. "None of that is true, Little Shrimpy! We need you."

"No, you don't. No one does." I closed my eyes in defeat.

"Jade! You have to tell her!"

"I don't have to tell her anything, Floyd," Jade said in a calm voice.

"Yes, you do! She wants to leave!"

"She cannot leave. She has no way back to her own world and nowhere else to go."

"But she wants to leave! If she checks out mentally, we have already lost her! Please, Jade. She needs to know how important she is. Tell her what you see in her."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Huh?"

"You tell her," Jade said with a hint of something else in his voice.

"No, Jade," Floyd said. "You're the one who figured it out, not me. You're the one who saw it. She needs to hear it from you. Stop pushing everything onto me! It's not helping her, me, or you. She needs you, and she deserves to hear what you think of her!" I had never heard him speak so harshly to his brother before. He held righteous anger like when I called out those who needed to hear the truth. Knowing this spurred me out of my anxiety and depression.

I opened my eyes and looked up at Jade. I knew he had many secrets, and it was fine with me. He did not need to share everything with me all at once. However, if Floyd believed it was best for all of us that he shared something in particular, then I believed him. "Jade, please?" I said softly.

For the first time, I saw Jade's resolve crumble. There were so many emotions on his face, and I could not begin to decipher them all. "Ona, I-" He cut himself off and looked around the hallway.

"It's alright," Floyd said gently. "I'll keep a watch out. You're safe." I realized he was looking out for his brother. Protecting him so he could be vulnerable in front of us. In front of me. The amount of care they held for each other and for me was enough for me to push down my own issues to listen to them.

"Tell me Jade," I said gently. I took his hand in mine and interlocked out fingers. "I want to hear it. You can trust me."

Jade gave me a soft smile. "I know. I'll tell you." He closed his eyes and squeezed my hand. When he opened them, I saw resolve in them. "You are far from useless, Ona. You are not to blame for those students overblotting. There is no evidence you made the situations worse. If they happened anyway, your absence would have made their odds of survival a lot lower."

"But I didn't do anything. It was everyone else who defeated them with their magic."

"And do you really think so many students from different dorms would willingly work together and help save the overblotters if not for you? Perhaps cooperation is normal in your world, but among mages, pride often rules the day. Yet, you are able to bring people together. If not for you, there could have been many casualties."

I sighed. "Maybe, but that doesn't matter if I did cause them to overblot, which led them to be kidnapped. They would have been better off if I had not interfered."

"No, Ona. That's not true." Jade's gaze remained gentle and sincere. "Let's say you're right and they would not have overblotted without your presence. Do you really think it's that simple? Each one of them had serious issues that led to their overblot. Those issues were only going to grow worse without any intervention. Trust me, the outcomes would have been a lot worse if they overblotted outside of school. And, at that point, they may have been too far gone to save."

"I... never thought about it like that."

"You saved all of those students, Ona. And not just them but those around them."

"Yeah, like Jade and me," said Floyd.

Jade nodded. "Where do you think we would be if Azul's problems were allowed to escalate even further? All three of us were on a very dangerous path, and we did not care. Even if we managed to escape with our lives, they would hardly have been ones worth living. And I know everyone else feels the same way even if they would never admit it. You not only saved their lives, but you improved them after their overblots. You have an effect on people. Not just on them but on everyone you meet.

"When I first met you, I thought this school would destroy you. I was wrong. You are incredibly strong. You have not let anyone here change you. To the contrary, you have changed others. Not because you have tried to change them. You simply accepted them as they were. You called out their bad behavior but didn't condemn them for it. You tried to help them find alternative, healthier ways to meet their needs. You have a way of bringing out the best in people. You see who they really are past all their problems and negative behaviors. Many of them may not seem radically different, but they have been slowly changing... because of you."

"And you changed Jade and me the most," said Floyd.

I looked from Floyd to Jade in surprise. "Really?"

Jade gave me a soft smile. "Yes, really. We have never met anyone like you, Ona. Before we met you, all we had was each other and Azul. The three of us encouraged our negative traits in many ways. We never imagined someone like you - some good - would want to be our friend."

"Of course I did," I said. "You guys are great."

Jade smiled wider in amusement. "You know you are the only one to think that, right? Everyone else is either afraid of us or wants something from us."

"What about Azul?"

Jade paused to consider this. "Perhaps he cares, but he still still finds us useful. You are the only one who wants absolutely nothing from us. You are not afraid of us. You accept us. You understand us. You see something in us no one else does. You care about us for who we are. You know how to handle Floyd better than anyone except myself."

"Yeah," Floyd agreed. "You're a lot of fun and not boring at all. You never do anything to trigger my mood swings. And you know what to do when others do or when I'm in a bad mood already. You don't instantly make everything better, but it feels nice to have you there, you know? I've never had that from anyone besides Jade. You know me almost as well as he does."

I cannot help but smile slightly at this. "Really?"

"You are very good for him," Jade said. "I would not have allowed you to spend so much time with him at the beginning if I did not think so." He smirked at the look on my face. "Yes, I may not have interacted with you much back then, but I observed you quite enough. And Floyd talked about you a lot. I could tell you were different from everyone else. I would have intervened if I thought you might hurt him. But you made him happy, and even if Azul did not approve at first, I could not get in the way of that."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Oh yeah?"

Floyd smiled happily. "Yeah! I told you Jade would help hide you if you needed a place to stay. And I knew you guys would get along too. I knew you could make him happy. I knew you would be good for him."

I smiled back at him before glancing at Jade. "Is that true?"

Jade smiled softly, his face looking more gentle than I had ever seen it. "Yes, it is true. I think you are wonderful, Ona. You know, you are the only person I could never win over in any way with my charms. I can even get into skeptical Riddle's head if I try hard enough. I can't make you like me, but you do anyway. You like me for who I am beyond the facade I put up. You care about me for me. I have never known that before - aside from Floyd, of course.

"You understand me, Ona. In some ways, you understand me better than Floyd does. It's not his fault, of course. Your mind just works more similarly to mine. I've never had someone who could keep up with me mentally. No one else has liked the kind of mind games I enjoy. Normally, it's completely one-sided. I find enjoyment in messing with people and manipulating them for fun. With you around, I feel no need for that. And I'm not simply talking about when I'm with you. I have not felt the desire to trick others and subtly cause chaos to the same extent as before I met you."

"Wow," I murmured. "I didn't notice." At this point, I had taken Floyd's hand in mine as well as they both leaned against him. I absentmindedly ran my thumb across Jade's hand that I held.

"Of course you didn't. How are you to know how I act when you're not around? Rest assured, my behavior has changed... for the most part. I no longer have any desire to cause any serious harm to anyone." Jade's smile grew warmer. He lightly rubbed my back with his free hand. I couldn't help but lean into his touch. "You fulfill something in me in a way that's better than all my attempts to entertain myself."

"I know what he means!" Floyd said excitedly. "I don't feel the need to test my strength against everyone as much - unless they're all for it. You're the one I want to squeeze the most because you like it." He grinned at me happily. "I don't even mind that Azul isn't having us do what he used to because of the help you've been giving him."

"Well, that's good to hear," I said. "Maybe you guys have a point." I had tried to help all of the overblotters after their incident, but Azul was the only one who really took me up on the offer. He allowed me to teach ethical business practices, and the results had proven it was the best way to go. Now that I thought about it, my Octavinelle friends were the ones most receptive to me and the methods I used that Jade had outlined. Even if they were the only ones I ended up helping, it was entirely worth it. I looked from Floyd to Jade, smiling. "Thank you.

"You're right about the way I try to help others, Jade. People don't change. Not at their core. They can change their behavior but not who they are. The only way to help someone is to work with their personality, not against it. I wouldn't want you to keep up your polite gentleman demeanor all the time. You don't have to be like that to be a good guy. You already have amazing qualities you could utilize in better ways. You don't need to change."

Jade's face softened even more. He appeared touched by my words. "Thank you, Ona. You have no idea how much that means to me."

I smiled at him once more before glancing at Floyd. "The same is true for you, Floyd. I think you're great just the way you are. You're not broken. You don't need to be fixed. You just need a friend. Someone who will let you feel all your emotions without judgment. Someone who knows how to motivate you properly. You're pretty awesome."

Floyd grinned at me and hugged me a little tighter. "Thanks, Little Shrimpy! Now do you see why you can't leave?"

"He's right," said Jade. "You've done something for us that no one else could. It doesn't matter if you don't don't have magic. You are amazing and capable of greatness. You make Floyd's and my lives significantly better, and we don't want to lose that." His eyes shone with the most sincerity and vulnerability that I had ever seen in them. "The truth is, Ona, we would be lost without you. We need you... I need you."

My eyes watered as I looked from Jade to Floyd. "I don't want to leave you guys either." I let go of their hands and wrapped my arms around their waists. They leaned in closer to me, hugging me. "Both of you have done so much for me. I feel so safe knowing you have my back. And I always have a blast when I'm with either of you. I - I want to stay with you guys. We're all good together." I took a deep breath. "B-But we need to get Azul back. He's part of your ohana, right?"

"Ohana..." Floyd murmured.

I took a deep breath. "Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."

"Family?" Jade said thoughtfully. It didn't seem like he was disputing the claim. More like he had never thought about it that way.

"Floyd, why doesn't Azul have a nickname?" Jade did not have one either, and the reason why was obvious.

Floyd shrugged. "Azul is Azul."

I smiled. "He's family."

Floyd nodded. "Yeah, we gotta get him back."

"And Grim too. He's more than family too me. He's more than a brother. More than a partner. I don't know how to explain it, but he's like a-"

"Like a twin?" Jade suggested.

I looked at him with slight surprise, and then I nodded. "Yeah, like a twin."

Jade smiled at me with compassion. "Then we must save him."

I felt relief flood me. Even though it seemed crazy that the three of us could do anything about the situation, I felt better knowing they wanted to help. "And Jamil and the others too. They don't deserve whatever has befallen them."

Jade gently stroked my hair while Floyd wrapped his arms around me tighter. "It will be alright, Ona," Jade said softly. "They'll be alright. We'll figure something out. I have faith in you. please have faith in us."

I gave them both a small smile. "Yeah, I do. I believe in both of you."

Floyd grinned. "Good!"

"Thank you, princess," Jade said in a low voice before kissing my forehead. I heard the sound of a door opening, and he let go of me, his demeanor returning to the normal one he used in public. I followed his gaze to see Kalim, Rook, and Epel exiting the infirmary, looking solemn.

"Hey, guys," Kalim said. "We're having a meeting in the headmage's office. He called all the remaining housewardens and vice housewardens."

"We will be there in a moment. Thank you you, Kalim."

Floyd helped me to my feet, keeping an arm around me. "Ready to go, Little Shrimpy?"

I wiped my eyes and then nodded. "Yeah, I'm good for now."

Jade placed his hand on my shoulder and gave me a comforting smile. "I have to fulfill my vice housewarden duties and represent Octavinelle, but Floyd will take care of you. Stay with him, and you'll be fine."

I mustered up a smile for him. "Yeah, I will be. Let's go." With the two of them by my side, I felt my spirits lift. Somehow, I believed Jade. Everything would work out in the end.

A/N: I hope that turned out well. Ona's conversation with Jade and Floyd is important to the story for showing the effect she has on the others. I also wanted to reveal a bit more about how her relationship with the twins works and they're not acting as terrible as they are capable of. And Jade opening up is important too.