Chapter Text
All housewardens were being forced to attend, Crowley deemed it so. It didn't matter who else was convinced to come along, as long as the housewardens allowed that student to go. Crowley also graciously decided that everything would be put into their hands once everyone was loaded onto the bus. How generous.
Riddle had asked Trey and Cater to accompany him, and the vice insisted they bring their rowdy first years as well so they wouldn't have an opportunity to misbehave without Riddle's watchful eye. He relented.
Leona hadn't told anyone about the trip, but apparently Kalim had been boasting about it on his date with Ruggie, who decided he had to tag along, and invited Jack during a spell drive practice.
Azul didn't see any other option than to bring the twins. Anyone else would be an annoyance, someone he had to look after, but he trusted the twins... well, he trusted Jade to somewhat keep Floyd from releasing havoc.
Kalim wanted to bring his entire dorm. It sounded so fun! And it would be a shame if anyone missed any festivities. Jamil, however, reasoned with him that they literally had no idea what the trip was for, and inviting over a hundred students could mess with Crowley's, hopefully good, intentions.
Vil.. Honestly, he struggled. He had been in a rather sour mood when told about the trip, and any questions he asked were immediately shut down with 'it's a surprise,' a comment he would never trust. So while the choice should have been simple, his dorm has proven to be quite annoying in certain situations. He had explained to Rook, knowing he would never be offended by his doubt. Oh, how wrong he was. Rook bothered him for hours until he inevitably caved, agreeing to take both him and Epel on this secretive trip.
Idia had no doubt; none of these nerds wanted to go on this trip. He could ask any one of his dorm members, and everyone would have turned the idea down. He decided to save the embarrassment. It would just be him and Ortho... And some student, he could hardly remember interacting with, that happened to hear about the trip from a first year in Pomefiore wanted to join the excursion. Great, now Idia actually had to deal with someone. What was this kid's name… Apaté?
Malleus had barely uttered a sentence about his trip, and Sebek was eager to serve as his knight during said trip. Silver was much quieter about his desire to be there for his Lord. No brother was probably a better term for their relationship. However, Malleus didn't want them to come as people to serve him; he wanted his friends, his family, to enjoy a seemingly spontaneous trip with him, and Lilia was never not an endorser of chaos.
Crowley clapped his hands with glee as looked at the 23 students all standing together with varying amounts of items as it was never said how long this trip would last.
"Thank you all so much for gathering. Housewardens, I commend you on bringing students together!" Crowley paused, waiting for anyone to give thanks for his gracious actions of giving the opportunity for such a trip. Except it was completely silent aside from a few chirps.
"Ahem- I'm sure you're all wondering what wonderous activities you will be partaking in! Drum roll please. “ The request was only met by the whistle of wind. “Community service in Aristo islands!!"
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"Where the hell even is that..?"
"Aren't they like snobbishly poor?"
"Yo! Who said that!? Huh? Got an issue with poor people?"
"Just the snobby ones."
"Work...? You want me to work?"
"We're doing this.. For free?... Why?"
Crowley was a bit taken aback by the negativity happening in front of him. "Uh- ahem! Student, settle down, settle down. Aristo Island is South of the Queendom of Roses, although they are independent."
"How the hell are we getting to an island on a bus?"
"Excellent question! Mr Gernatto, your bus driver, has a unique magic that allows him to fly vehicles. Perfect for safe travels!" Crowley made a hand gesture to a rather elderly man, who gave a curt nod at being mentioned.
"Why are housewardens required?" It wasn't even a housewarden asking. Jamil Viper stood blocking Kalim Al-Asim just the slightest bit.
"They are most reliable as well as powerful. The perfect bunch of people to assist a dying land."
After that, the questions ended. The students began to unload onto the bus.
As soon as the bus started the frustration of being sent on a spontaneous trip to be good people simmered away. Noise erupted as friends began settling in for a long ride. An experience usually taken away due to the use of portals, but Aristo Island was so old, run down, and poor it simply failed to provide any such ways of travel.
The five freshmen all sat towards the back of the bus- Ortho had insisted he wanted to sit with his brother- had started with a game of uno. Only making it through one round before Deuce hit Ace causing all the cards to fall from the red heads sleeves, efficiently ending the game.
The freshmen then went on to play marshmallow. “One marshmallow.”
“Check it out.”
“Woo!”
“TWO MARSHMALLOW!”
“Shut up.” Silver had pinched Sebek’s side, his head still resting on the fae’s shoulder. Before Sebek could even refute Silver had already fallen back asleep.
A quieter game that didn't rely on poorly timed rhythms would have to do.
Just a seat in front of the group of underclassmen sat the leech twins.
Unfortunately for Jade, he struggled with rather intense motion sickness. He could handle a broom, a car, and anything where he had contact with water. Despite his tolerance to several other forms of travel, air travel always made the eel sick. They had tried to place his hands into a bowl of water, and it did work!
For like an hour. Or until they were hit with turbulence that would spill all the water that would get all over Floyd, rather than the one who needed it.
Oh boy, did that piss Floyd off. He might have tried to calm down if it weren't for Jade vomiting once more.
Azul, who had been doing paperwork for the lounge with Riddle, whose face was almost the same shade as his hair. Floyd could only guess Azul had used Riddle as a shield from the motion-sick eel.
“Deal with him,” Floyd said before throwing Azul into the seat he had just come from.
“What the-!? Floyd?” Azul grumbled as he fell into Jade. Riddle looked shocked, maybe even relieved, as Azul disappeared from his view. His eyebrows furrowed as his big blue eyes landed on Floyd.
Floyd's mood changed in a heartbeat as soon as he was graced with his goldfishie’s angry face. Immediately, he started talking Riddle’s ear off about whatever topic might be most annoying.
Trey sat in front of the rather loud freshman. He had both earbuds in while watching a cooking show; they were making carrot soufflés, a dish he had been dying to try making himself. Yet he could still hear the obnoxious freshman screaming about Marshmallows, distracting him enough to lose focus on the steps. He had about ten minutes of reprieve before Epel was jumping out of his seat, launching himself towards either Ace or Deuce, both them were in the crossfire.
He watched as Floyd stood from the seat next to him and threw Azul at his brother. He could practically see Riddle’s face absorb with anger as that gleeful grin infiltrated the eel's features.
The surrounding chaos almost made him flee to Carter's seat up in the front; however, that would be hell on earth, and he knew it. The constant bumping on his shoulder to show him whatever caught his interest enough to share. Even worse, the gawking at Idia in hopes his crush would spare him a glance. Yuck!
That settled it; he would just have to yell at the freshman.
Leona had his head resting against Ruggie's shoulder for the majority of the trip. His breathing was even enough for someone to perceive him to be asleep, but the way the hyena fiddled with braided hair, while speaking to Kalim, told Leona that the uneasy feeling about this trip was shared. As well as the knowledge that the lazy prince was not sleeping the day away like he normally would.
It had almost slipped past Leona. A shift in magic. The driver was using magic to fly the bus over a large body of water. That fact alone almost made the lion overlook the difference in the air, but with a long sniff of the air, Leona's head snapped up to look at the Ignihyde kid.
Ruggie ceased his conversation with Kalim as soon as the weight on his shoulder was lifted.
He felt like something was wrong ever since he got on the bus. It didn't make anything better when he realised his sleepy housewarden was still awake. Despite the strange feeling, he decided to distract himself by talking to Kalim, trusting Leona to whatever was wrong. It worked for the most part; his fingers still found their way to Leona's hair.
Ruggie follows Leona's line of sight to a boy with very long black hair that used to have a spider-webbed veil resting atop his head, now circling his face, framing bangs, perhaps a sign of magic use. He then turns back to Kalim, whose head is being pushed into his seat by Jamil.
Jamil grabbed Ruggie's arm and threw him at Kalim. “Protect him.” Was all he said before marching up to the boy Leona was currently growling at. A barely audible “Snake charmer” left his lips before he grabbed the boy's face, forcing eye contact. “What do you think you're doing?“
The raven-haired boy had a slight smirk on his face. “Silly human.. Go sit back in your seat and wait for your prince to be taken from you.” Jamil's cold grey eyes turned dull in seconds as he began making his way back to his seat.
That's when the bus started to go down. And magic began to drain from all of them.