After the interaction with Lilia, Yuu had indeed retreated to her bed (possibly not a very good idea, but she figured that she could trust Lilia), calming down. Almost immediately after her head hit the pillow, Yuu's mind flashed an image of the mirror glowing. Yuu, like any tired person, opted to ignore the ominous glowing mirror.
Yuu groaned as she turned, no longer hearing Grim's rumbling snoring, rather a very pathetic sounding song. Yuu turned to snuggle into the pillow only to be met face-first with a pile of dirt, which led to her shooting up.
"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen... Nobody knows my sorrow..." Yuu's eyes cleared as she took in the image of a hornbill bird singing sadly as he was imprisoned in an animal's ribcage. Her eyes flashed to the Lion that lounged on a stone, licking a set of bones clean as he turned to the bird.
"Oh, do lighten up, Zazu. Sing something with a little....mmm bounce in it." He suggested, the Hornbill rolling his eyes.
"It's a small world after all-" The bird began, the lion snorting in annoyance.
"No! No. Anything but that." He said, making the bird sigh again, changing the song as he leaned into the rib cage.
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, diddly dee, there they are standing in a row-"
The Hornbill sang, the Lion humming happily as he played with a skull, moving it like a puppet. Yuu cringed at the morbid scene.
As the Lion sang, Zazu groaned before muttering to himself, loud enough for Yuu to hear.
"Oh... I would never have had to do this for Mufasa..."
The Lion's ear twitched as he growled, hopping up from his lounging place.
"WHAT?!" The Lion snarled in warning, making both Yuu and Zazu scramble backward. "What did you say?"
"No! Nothing!" Zazu yelped.
"You know the law! Never ever mention THAT name in my presence!" He growled, eyes boring into the bird menacingly. "I am the king!"
"Yes, sire! You are the king!" Zazu cried. "I- I only mentioned it to illustrate the differences in your managerial approaches!" The Lion simply huffed, turning away from the Hornbill.
Suddenly, three hyenas entered the cave in which the Lion resided, Yuu could instantly recognize them as Banzai, Shenzi, and Ed.
"Hey boss! We gotta bone to pick with you!" Banzai grumbled with a cowardly glare at the Lion.
Shenzi, the female, stepped forward, silencing Banzai to speak with the Lion in a more civilized tone, her tone barely hiding her contempt for the Lion that had promised her clan so much. "Scar, there's no food, no water. We're hungry."
"Oh, what are you complaining to me for? " Scar responded dismissively, waving his paw in the direction of the caged Hornbill"Eat Zazu."
Zazu immediately began to plead for his life, and, much to his relief, the hyenas took no interest in him.
"I thought things were bad under Mufasa..." Banzai grumbled, shrinking before immediately realizing his mistake.
"What?!" Scar stood, lunging threateningly the the male hyena."What did you say?! Get out!"
The hyenas yelped and scrambled out, leaving Banzai to linger for a moment, sheepishly turning to Scar"But we're still hungry-"
"OUT!"
Yuu pursed her lips as she watched the hyena yelp and scramble out of the cave before she felt the familiar tug of the waking world calling her back. Something about the scene seemed to make Yuu uneasy.
"What happened to all that motivation he had before he was king?" She muttered before the scene went completely dark.
.
.
.
"-ke up. Hey, wake up." A gruff voice grumbled, shaking her.
Yuu gasped, shooting upwards, nearly colliding with the face of a certain towering wolfman. She looked around, recalling her surroundings as well as the events of last night.
"Was that just a dream?" She questioned before recalling the presence of the intruder in her room. "Wait a damn minute... Jack?!"
Grim, who'd been safely curled beside her stomach beneath the sheets groaned, sitting up. "Huh? What are you doin' in our dorm?" He mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"I'm on my morning run. Today's the day of the Spelldrive tournament, and I wanted to make sure you didn't mess everything up by oversleeping."
"Oh! Yeah, you're right!" Grim shot up and out of the bed, grabbing a brush and a ribbon (which Yuu would have to tie later, but he was trying at least). "We gotta catch the bad guys so they'll squeeze Ramshackle House into the tournament as a reward!"
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Yuu murmured, nodding before narrowing her eyes as the cloud of sleep from her mind rapidly dissipated. "Wait, so you broke into my dorm to wake me up an hour before I was supposed to be up?"
"Yeah, uh... the door was unlocked." Jack responded awkwardly, his golden eyes accidentally flashing downwards before he briskly turned, averting his eyes.
"Of course he didn't lock the door..." Yuu muttered, recalling the young looking fae that had entered her home, before she also looked down to see her semi-exposed physique. Her arms quickly flew to cover herself, before she mustered her strength to launch a pillow. "Okay, get out! I have to change."
"Y-yes ma'am!" Jack said, scattering away from the young woman before she could launch a heavy-looking book at her bedside.
.
.
.
Yuu now sat in the kitchen, forcing her anxiety down and nibbling at one of the pre-packed breakfasts from Crowley while Grim scarfed down two cans of tuna. Jack stood awkwardly, making Yuu sigh.
"Sit down before you knock your head against a random slab of wood." She said, getting up to get a pre-packed sandwich as well, setting it at the table before setting out three cups.
"Eat." She said, immediately shutting Jack's response down. "You need your strength, and you're already here."
"...okay." Jack mumbled, sitting down. "I'm uh... sorry for breaking in..." He muttered, coughing into his hand to force his voice not to crack. Yuu found that amusing.
"You're fine. The fact that you managed to beat both Crowley and the Heartslabyul boys to the morning visit is actually fun." She sipped on her tea. "Just try not to break into unlocked houses, okay?"
"Yeah," Jack said, trying his best to act natural.
Grim, who'd inhaled his meal, immediately grabbed a bottle of Yuu's vitamins, waddling over to her and holding them up.
"Here, henchman! I'm gonna help ya make me a strong new minion!" He remarked, Yuu's eyes flashing to Jack, who seemed to completely have missed Grim's statement.
Instead, Jack regarded the bottle for a moment, his mind whirring as he thought of a conversation topic. "You taking some training vitamins?" He asked, unable to read the label as Yuu shook two gummy vitamins into her hand, placing it beneath the chair.
"Something like that, I guess." She responded, putting the two into her mouth, chewing thoroughly.
"You got the gummy version? That's a lotta sugar." Jack mentioned as Yuu smiled.
"I like the more tart flavors, like orange or strawberry." She said, swallowing. "Makes them easier to take."
"I like the capsule ones better." Jack said, taking a swig of his tea. "Makes 'em easier to ingest."
"Agree to disagree." She smirked, noticing Jack's tail wagging lightly.
"If you wanna train, I can come and get ya some time." He smirked. "Even girls need a little muscle, noodle arms."
Yuu's eyes widened as she gave a crooked smile. "Ha! At least I can crush an egg with my arm."
Grim hopped up to the table. "And I can roast an egg in three seconds, so ha! I'm the strongest!"
Jack let out an amused laugh before a knock interrupted the two.
"Hey! Yuu! The stupid door's stuck again!" Yuu took a deep breath, realizing it was Ace's voice.
"Look at that! My freeloaders are here. You may wanna cover your ears." She said to Jack, who raised a brow but complied.
Yuu called out loudly. "Coming!"
"Well hurry it up!" Yuu grumbled before noticing the lock. She smirked mischievously.
"Okay! You pull, I push!"
"Fine, just hurry it up! Riddle said we gotta be there early."
"Ace, show some respect, man." Deuce's voice came from the other side.
Ace rolled his eyes and Yuu heard the creaking of the door as he pulled. Yuu unlocked the door, sending Ace flying back with the door's sudden swing.
Yuu fought back a smile as she invited them in. "Come in, grab a sandwich, and let's go boys." She chirped as Ace grumbled, dusting himself off.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get going. Riddle's got a plan laid out and we just need to meet up with him."
Yuu nodded, grabbing her bag, Grim hopping into it like a purse dog and she gestured for Jack to follow.
It's time... but... something doesn't feel right...