The Other Side of Darkness

🔴Scarabia Finale!🔴

"Jamil!" Lev shouted, sprinting out of the foliage and tackling him into the water. 

Jamil coughed as they resurfaced. "Lev?! What were you thinking?!" 

"You need to cool your engines," she told him, splashing water in his face. "So I thought that getting you in the water would be a good idea!"

Jamil glared at her. "You little brat."

"You like me though~," she teased. Jamil didn't object.

"....eeeeey! Heey!" a voice shouted.

Grim's ears perked up and he dashed to the edge of the oasis. "Hey, Lev. I think there's someone over there." He pointed to the desert. Two figures ran up to them, and Lev's face lit up.

"Hey! Lev! Grim!" Ace shouted, panting.

"Are you guys alright?" Deuce asked.

"Ace! Deuce!" Lev exclaimed. Jamil tried to swim away to get out of the water, but Lev grabbed the back of his hood and forced him to stay. So, he sunk just enough that his nose was still above the surface and hid behind her.

Ace huffed. "You're alright...thank goodness." He panted. "What is wrong with this place? Why's it summer?"

"What happened to you guys?" Lev asked. "You look beat."

"Eh? What do you mean 'what happened to us'? What on Earth is going on with you?!" Ace questioned.

"We ran over here as soon as we got your 'trouble's going down in Scarabia, might need some assistance,' message," Deuce said, wiping some sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Oh yeah," Lev muttered. "Sorry, probably should've responded back. We're good now!" 

"Seriously?!" Ace groaned. "It took us so long to get here...with the mirror being down and all...uuuuuugggggh." 

Lev winced. "Sorry."

"I'm just glad you're safe," Deuce sighed. 

"Hello!" Kalim chirped, skipping over. "Are these some friends of your, Lev?"

Floyd suddenly popped out of the water beside Lev, grinning. "Oh, hey Crabby! Did'jya come to hang out?" 

Lev blinked and stared at him in confusion. "Crabby?" That was a new one.

Ace sighed. "That's me. I'm on the basketball team with Floyd. Jamil from Scarabia is on it, too. Hey, Jamil." 

"Hi," Jamil greeted dully, straightening himself.

"Ooooh! I see!" Kalim laughed. "Well, any friends of Jamil's are friends on mine!" 

Jamil shoved some of his wet bangs out of his face. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not your friend." Kalim ignored him.

"Since you guys came all this way, why don't you join us?!" Kalim suggested. He pointed at Azul and Jade, who were helping with dishing out food. "We've got games and food and everything!" The Octavinelle duo waved.

The Heartslabyul students paled. "Ack! It's them!" Ace hissed.

"What are you doing hanging around them?" Deuce asked.

Lev puffed out her cheeks in an annoyed manner. "Well, we were kinda limited in our options just a little while ago, so we had make do with what we had."

"Yeah! I'll tell you the whole story!" Grim said, pushing on Ace and Deuce's legs to get them to move. 

Deuce sighed. "Man...you two really know who to freak a person out..." 

Lev frowned. "I'm sorry. I feel bad for making you guys come all this way during Winter Vacation for nothing."

Kalim grinned childishly. "Let's fix it then! C'mon! We're gonna party and have the best holiday ever!" 

"YEAH!" everyone cheered (aside from Jamil...again).

Lev laughed lightly. Please don't ever change, Kalim.

 ====Time Skip====

After the party at Scarabia, Lev bundled herself up in her winter clothes and traveled with Grim back to Ramshackle Dorm. To her surprise, the ghosts were genuinely happy to see them. They had also carried out the chore the Headmaster had given to Grim and Lev to feed the Fire Fae with logs over the break so that the school wouldn't go cold. Since Crowley didn't know any better, they told them that he had sent them the holiday feast he promised.

Blinded by his sudden hunger, Grim and the ghosts traveled back inside to eat while Lev stayed outside a moment longer to enjoy the cold winter air and the feeling of snow beneath her feet.

Never thought I'd miss snow so much... 

"Ooh, you're back!" a voice chirped. 

Lev flinched and spun around. "What the--?!" Hanging upside-down from the tree she just so happened to be standing next to was none other than Lilia Vanrouge. "Lilia! You scared me."

Lilia laughed. "My apologies, Miss Route. I didn't mean to frighten you. I only came to give you this holiday card addressed to you from a certain individual." He pulled out a card from his jacket pocket and held it out to her.

"Oh?" She took it. It was a plain white envelope with a golden seal. Opening the envelope, a simple but pretty card slipped out. Near the bottom were the initials M.D. 

Lilia sighed. "Such a pity. He was sulking about not being invited to any holiday parties again this year. Please make sure to invite him if you ever happen to host a party with your friends." He flipped and landed on his feet, right-side-up. "Well, that concludes my business here. Have a wonderful holiday, Prefect." With that he disappeared.

"Wait!" Lev shouted. But he was gone. She studied the card again.

M.D....who's M.D.?

====Time Skip====

Late that night, Lev was awake. Despite passing out almost immediately after putting her head on her pillow, she woke up a few hours later feeling completely exhausted.

As she closed her eyes to try and get back to sleep, something flashed. Sitting up quickly, she saw it was her mirror again. After carefully maneuvering and almost waking up Grim, she silently walked over to the mirror and stared hard into it's surface. Someone was touching it. Someone on the other side. It was a shadow with big ears. 

Is it that creature from my dream? The one with the boy and the key?

"Is someone there?" the shadow asked. "Who are you?" 

Lev swallowed nervously. "I'm Leviline. Leviline Route." 

"Leviline...?" the voice repeated absentmindedly. "It a beautiful name." 

"Who are you?"

"I'm Mickey. Mickey Mouse." 

Mickey? That name sounds...familiar.

"I'm I having a dream again?" Mickey asked. "It can't be. This is the third time I'm having it. Usually, there's a music box and some living cards...but I can only seem to hear your voice really clearly. Are you a dream?"

"I don't think so," Lev said.

"Where are you?"

"I'm in...Twisted Wonderland."