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The first time Yuu heard what exactly Ernesto was doing, they felt cold. The creeping feeling of their body slowly but surely turning into wood felt even more terrifying than it had before. This wasn’t just an angry, traumatized person taking out their feelings on others, like the overblots were. This wasn’t just some pointless rivalry. This was cold, hard, calculated, human trafficking. When they had processed just exactly what was happening to the people who entered Playful land, it’s as if all air was sucked out of the room, their ears were ringing and they were sure they were hyperventilating. If it wasn’t for the very same curse that was damning them keeping them upright, Yuu would’ve collapsed then and there. As it were, their panic went mostly unnoticed, except for Leona and Lilia. Damn those advanced senses.
As Yuu tried to calm down, they could see that the information hadn’t fully set in for some of their friends. After all, being trafficked wasn’t exactly something most people thought would happen to them, let alone something that would happen to such high profile people as the nrc students.
With every new person that got captured, yuu started feeling sicker and sicker, to the point they were surprised they hadn’t hurled yet. They didn’t want to know if it was due to their new puppet anatomy. All they could do was watch and wait, so trapped they couldn’t even twitch their fingers. They had felt hopeless before, but this was new.
And then of course the motherfucking fox opened his mouth to complain about not getting into a prestigious school. What once was fear was now replaced by burning rage. Don’t get them wrong, they were very familiar with classism, but there’s a difference between rebelling against the system and kidnapping, torturing (and make no mistake, unconsented mody modifications was torture. Especially to this extent), and selling innocent people. Children, even.
At least leona, lilia, vil, kalim, and such would be looked for, but would they? Hell, Crowley would probably find relief in no longer having to take care of the unfortunate world jumper that has nowhere to go. And there’s no guarantee that anyone else would look for them either. Sure, yuu considered them friends, but there is only so much they could do while they were technically still children. By the time they would’ve had the power necessary, chances were they’d be dead.
All in all, this was a very sobering and terrifying experience.
Which is why they didn’t believe Ernesto’s “change of heart” for a second.
The fox has been doing nothing but lie since they met and now he expects them to believe him? What? Because he’s pissed at his boss? After everything he’s already done? Screw that, Yuu would bet the fox just decided they were too much trouble to keep, given their prominence, and it would be better to just let them go and cover his tracks. The fucker hasn’t even given his bosses name, for fucks sake, and he wants us to believe that he’s betraying them? Yuu has gotten suckered once, they’re not going to be fooled again.
So why were some of their classmates believing the things coming out of the bastard's mouth???
Yuu tried their best not to stare at Kalim in disbelief when they heard him want Ernesto to be their friend. Jamil’s resentment for Kalim’s attitude makes so much more sense if this is how Kalim always acts. After Ernesto freed them, he led the NRC students on a rampage across the island, supposedly to destroy it. It did not escape Yuu’s notice that they were the only ones free, despite the hundreds of visitors that were packed into playful land the day prior. As such, Yuu pulled Leona aside. The lion might not be the most charitable of the lot, but he could get shit done when he needs to with ruthless methodology, and that is exactly what the magicless human needs right now.
“What do you want herbivor?” Leona asked, mildly intrigued as Yuu pulled him away from the others.
“You can’t seriously believe that the fox is actually going to give all this up just to spite his boss. He’s been doing nothing but lying to us since the beginning, and now we’re supposed to trust him at his word?” Yuu hissed. The lion hummed in agreement. He too, had noticed that there were plenty of holes in Ernesto’s “promise” to set the visitors free, and he wouldn’t be surprised if the other third years caught on too.
“Not to mention,” Yuu continued, “what about all the visitors that he kidnapped and trafficked before he docked at Sage Island. Ernesto is beyond the point of no return, and I bet even he knows it.”
“I agree,” Yuu yelped as Lilia appeared behind them. Luckily, none of the others caught it, the sound disappearing into the crashes and explosions of burning attractions.
“Besides,” the bat continued as if they didn’t just scare the daylights out of the prefect, “he might say he wants us to destroy playful land with him to truly finish it off, but we have all been witness to how well the puppets can repair whatever damage may happen to the park.”
“Agreed,” Yuu nodded after they got over the fright, “we need to do something about it, and soon. Because this isn’t something to be swept under the rug.”
Yuu paused, their expression turning bitter, “i can’t believe some of them want to actually be the fucker’s friend.”
The three turned to look at the rest of the students, who were enthusiastically tearing the place apart. They mostly focused on kalim, who stuck close to the fox as attraction after attraction fell.
“Kalim has a good heart,” Lilia began, “but sometimes his desire to only see the bright side and keep things simple is more of a curse.”
Leona scoffed, “please, in order for him to remain happy-go-lucky, he’s forcing the people around him to carry the mental and emotional load of being even more alert because they can’t rely on him to do his part. I used to think Falena was bad, but not even he would smile at a human trafficker.”
“Yeah… i like that kalim’s so optimistic, but it doesn’t seem fair that it comes at the expense of other’s burdens.” and it was true, Yuu thought Kalim was a breath of fresh air, compared to most of nrc’s more pessimistic population, but this was insane.
“Anyways,” they began again, “ when we get to the dock, I vote we knock them out, both Ernesto and gino. If we only tie them up, they might tempt some people to let them escape.”
The fae and beastman thought it over quickly.
“Yes, that would be the best course of action. None of us know how to navigate this ship, so we can’t attack earlier and as long as we are in playful land, the fox can still use the rules for his benefit.” Lilia agreed. Leona gave a lazy nod.
“Great! Now how do we knock them out, because I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to hit them over the head.”
Leona let out a sharp bark of laughter and lilia grinned.
“As satisfying as that would be, doing so might damage his brain and we could at the least cause him to forget who his boss is, and at most kill him. Not that he doesn’t deserve that at this point.” the former general commented.
“It’s fine,” Leona waved them off, “between myself and lilia it’ll be no trouble knocking them out with a bit of magic. They aren’t strong mages so they won’t be able to put up much of a fight.”
Yuu couldn’t help but pout, "I wanted to get at least one punch in…”
The short fae ruffled their hair, despite the height difference, “maybe later. Now let us go before anyone gets suspicious.”
The three broke apart and joined the havoc, each counting down the seconds before they would strike.
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When they finally set foot back on land, Yuu wanted to collapse onto the ground in relief and safety. It was overwhelming how much they wanted to cry, but they kept it together. No way in hell they were gonna let the damned fox and cat duo know how much they terrified them. They wouldn’t give em the satisfaction.
Ernesto was in the middle of “thanking” the NRC students, “-and i will take playful land and make sure it sinks down to the depths below, so as to make sure it will truly be the end of it.”
Yuu knew it. There was no way Ernesto would’ve given up the ship, given up the job. Between that and not seeing any other of the visitors exit the theme park, it all but confirmed the prefect’s suspicions: Ernesto is lying.
The rage came back, but they managed to keep it in as they saw Lilia and Leona approach the trafficking duo from behind. The rest was none the wiser as the two slowly took out their pens.
It was over before it even began. Where seconds before, Ernesto was paying lip service to the NRC students, he was now splayed out on the ground, unconscious. Next to him, gino was sprawled out, face down. It was still for a second, as the others stared at Leona and Lilia in shock.
“Why did you do that!?” kalim exclaimed, flabbergasted, “they apologised and let us free! They’re out friends now! They were going to-”
A slap rang out. It took a second for Yuu to realize it was them who smacked the Asim heir across the cheek.
“Those monsters,” Yuu breathed, rage heavy in their voice, “kidnapped, mutelated, sold innocent people, children! And you want to be their friend?!”
Silence.
Yuu lowered their arm and stepped back, away from the stock still kalim that was still clutching his cheek.
“If that's the kind of people you call friends, then I don't want to be yours.” they said flatly, before fishing out their phone from their pocket, dialing the police. The rest of those present watched the exchange, sans lilia and leona, who were tying up the traffickers.
“As much as i hate to say it,” vil sighed, breaking the silence, “i have to agree. What they did isn’t forgivable. And even if it was, it would be our place to decide that.”
Kalim frowned, “what do you mean?”
Vil turned to him, “we are free. He let us go. But what about the hundreds, nay thousands, of people he turned into puppets and sold before us? I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them were dead, given how fragile puppets can be.”
Kalim flinched at this. Having finished talking to the police, Yuu hung up the phone and turned back to the group. “It is not fair to them for us to let Ernesto and Gino go, just because we escaped.”
Unexpectedly, Yuu turned towards the others sharply, “and don’t think for a second i have forgotten how you all seemed perfectly ok with letting them get away either. I know NRC students have a reputation for only looking out for themselves, but this is ridiculous.”
They couldn’t help but flinch at the coldness in the prefect’s usually warm voice. A few of them looked down, some opening and closing their mouths, as if wanting to say something, but unsure as to what. Even Vil was struck silent.
“I am ashamed,” Jack, unsurprisingly, was the first to acknowledge the situation, “that i let my relief at being free overwrite my logical thinking. I know that Ernesto has a unique magic that allows him to skew our thoughts in his favor, but that is no excuse.”
Yuu clicked their tongue, because the wolf was right, the fox could do that, and there’s no true way to know just how powerful the UM actually is, given they only know what the fox has told them. The silence stretched on and stayed until sirens could be heard.
“Look,” Lilia clapped their hands, “it’s been a long night, and we don’t know to what extent we have been influenced by Ernesto, and we’re about to be bombarded by police, who undoubtedly will have hundred of questions, so i say we should talk about this after we’ve decompressed and gotten some rest.”
Yuu clenched their teeth, “fine.” the others nodded their heads in agreement, some more solemn than others.
Pretty soon, police officers swarmed the docks, and everyone was swept away in the chaos. As Yuu stepped into the car that would take them to the police station, they took one last look at where Playful Land sat broken on the water, and hoped to heaven they’d never have to see the damned thing again.