The next day, Angel slowly opened her eyes, morning light flooding the room as she slowly gets up, seeing that morning has come. She yawns as she stands up, stretching her sleep away as she forces herself to wake up, no matter how much she wanted to lay back down in bed. She thought about the events from last night. Obviously, it happened...right? Could it have been a dream? It seemed a bit farfetched enough to be a dream...right? She see that Grim started moving, waking up himself as his eyes start to open and yawns. "That was the best sleep I've had in ages," he says as he gets up to stretch. "Hey, Angel. You stepped on my tail while I was sleepin' last night, didn't you? Watch where you're walkin' from now on, would ya?"
She looks to the mirror, putting Grim's words to mind. "So Mickey wasn't just a dream after all..." She mumbles in thought. What's on the other side of that mirror...? She looks to Grim, observing him, almost hoping that he would provide an answer to her thoughts.
Grim look at her with a confused expression. "What're you gawkin' at me for?" He asks, skeptical about her look. "You are SO weird sometimes. Anyway, it's back to fire-tendin' duty for us today. We should drop by Scarabia for some grub afterwards!" He happily exclaims as he jumps out of the bed and heads out the room, more excited about the prospect of food rather than their duties. Angel looked at the mirror again, almost hoping that it would glow again, at least for a fleeting moment, but nothing happens, dashing her hopes. She shook the thought away, hoping that the mirror will shine again soon for her questions to be answered, but first thing first, they had to fully enjoy the rest of their holiday.
And so holiday vacation came to an end...
With the start of the school year in January, the two walk down Main Street, a bit groggy from fully enjoying their vacation, sleeping, eating, games, and tending to their duties. Hanging with Scarabia and Octavinelle was exhausting on its own, but fun since they were able to at least welcome the new year together, more like Kalim wanted to welcome in the new year and everyone thought it would be best to do it, helping Jamil on the way. The thought made Angel smile, remembering how much Jamil hated the fact that Kalim and Floyd were cheering throughout the night, while Azul was irritated at the fact that he lost against Jade in some game she didn't know about, making her think it was some kind of game they played when they lived in the sea. She touches her neck, the pain stinging a bit, but over time, the bruise started to fade, at least happy at the fact that whatever that was left was covered by a necklace she got that tightly covered her neck, not getting people's attention. The two yawn at the sight of the school, seeing that other students were yawning as well, not really ready for school to start again, but heading there nonetheless. The two were walking when they heard a couple pairs of footsteps heading to them, seeing their two rescuers behind them. "Heya, Annie. Happy New Year!" Ace says with a smile, in which she smiled in greeting. "Oooh, nice necklace," he says as his eyes land on the necklace she had on.
"I see you guys all the time, but it feels like it's been years, for some reason," Deuce says as he looks at the two.
"Nyeh heh!" Grim chuckles. "Clearly you missed me over break."
Another pair of footsteps approach the four, and they see a familiar tall figure looking at them. "Oi. Don't stand around blocking traffic," Jack says as he approaches the four, something a bit different about him.
"Whoa, Jack! Did you get a tan?" Ace asks, seeing that Jack became a bit darker over winter break, something that Angel didn't expect to happen.
"Did I?" Jack says as he scratches his head in thought. "I spent most of my holidays skiing, so it might be from that." People can get tanned from that?
"Huh, it snows a lot where you're from?" Ace asks.
"What's skiing?" Grim asks, walking around the four teens. "I wanna try it!"
"Grim, stop trotting around underfoot!" Deuce says as he moves around, trying not to step on Grim's tail. As he's moving around, he bumps into someone, making them tumble and fall.
"Ah..." The person softly groans as they sit up. Everyone's eyes were on the boy that fell, seeing that he had a cute face, with shaggy purple hair and bright blue eyes.
"Whoops, sorry about that!" Deuce says as he holds a hand up, helping the boy up. Angel saw that he was about the same height as her, more or less a half a centimeter shorter than her. "You okay?" The boy starts to sniffle, tears falling down from his face, shocking Deuce. "Wh-whoa! Y-you're...crying?!" Deuce exclaims, panic in his voice.
"Profeeeeessooooor!" Ace shouts. "Deuce is bullying a kid from another class and making him cry!"
"That's not funny, Ace!" Deuce snaps, then look at the boy. "Did I hurt you that badly? I am SO sorry. Here, lean on my shoulder. I'll get you to the nurse's office," he says as he tries to help the boy.
"Rgh...Dagnabbit..." He mumbles, confusing everyone.
"Huh? Dag-what...?" Deuce asks.
The boy opens his eyes, looking at everyone looking at him in concern, only to realize what he said. "Ngh!" He grunts, running off, leaving the five alone.
"Aaand he's gone," Ace states as the boy's figure starts to disappear.
"He's in my class," Jack says, remembering the boy. "If I remember right, he's from Pomefiore Dorm. His name's Epel Felmier."
"Epel from Pomefiore..." Deuce mumbles.
In Pomefiore Dorm, a tall figure with blond hair and purple highlights stood in the ballroom, looking at the open door. "So, he got away," Vil says with a sigh. "Rook!" He calls out. "Are you there, Rook?"
Footsteps approach him, and a figure with blond hair and sharp green eyes appears in front of him, wearing a brown hat with a white feather. "You called, Roi do Poison?"
"Capture him and bring him here. Now," Vil commands.
Rook smiles. "Oui. As you wish, my liege." He leaves the room, leaving Vil behind.
"I'll never let you escape..." Vil says with a glare. "I'll stop at nothing to be the fairest of them all."
A/N: FINALLY BOOK 4 IS DONE!!!! 💖 I would like to thank everyone for patiently waiting for the completion of Book 4 after two and a half months. I know that things didn't go to plan to the schedule for Book 4 but I still appreciated you guys respects and understanding for everything that happened and patiently waiting! Since the holiday season is upon us, the work will go on a slight hiatus while I write side stories and enjoy the holidays. I do not know exactly when the side stories will be posted since I'll have to work double time for the holiday season and it'll basically kill me but hopefully I'll be finished with them and ready to start on Book 5 by end of December- early January (perfect time, huh? 😹) but keep an eye out for any updates on the Book! Now, I'll be able to play my games, enjoy spending time with my family, and leisurely write without be bound by a schedule for a while so be prepared when chapters drop. I also appreciate it if you guys share my work with other people and help them enjoy a good story for the holiday break! Anyway, if you need me, I'll be on discord (join the link on my profile!) and on the switch (7313-9264-5424) if you want to play with me (will be playing splatoon, AC, Pokémon, and other games so you guys can see what I mean), and Happy Holidays!
PS: Bonus content for the finale will be added later this week!
PSS: Hogwarts legacy will take up my time so I guess this is the perfect chance for "research"
PSSS: Chapters will be edited during down time so watch out for any updates! (11/15/23)