Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🐙The Merchant from the Depths🐙 Chapter 24

A/N: hiyas guys! So I haven't started writing the finale for book 3 yet since the past few days I've had NO power and the fact that school is taking up my time. If I didn't have no power then that also mean that I haven't been editing chapters 34 and 37 which might be a troublesome thing to post when it's the release time. I'm going to take a week off writing to focus on those two chapters when I have time (at least until monday 6/26) to get those two chapters out of the way before focusing on the finale. Do know that book 3 will be finished releasing by the end of July so it should be around the time of either mid august or late august that I should start book 4 under a new work. The side stories will be at least ready to be written in July but remember: I have class all month in July so I will be lagging a bit with release schedules because of class so thank you guys for understanding! Leave any comments throughout the story if you guys can't understand what I'm writing and I'll edit it when I have the time! You guys rock! ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜 (6/21/23)

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Later that night, Angel was walking through campus, mainly trying to clear her head from the events so far. Luckily, Leona wasn't in his room while she left, and she sighs, hoping that the lion man won't be sleeping when she comes back, making her have to tiptoe around him again. What am I going to do? There's only one more day before we lose out dorm privileges for good...and we haven't even gotten a single clue on how to annul the contract. I...should have never made a deal with him. She stopped, looking at her surroundings, seeing that she was right outside the gate of Ramshackle Dorm. She looked at the dorm with a distanced look in her eyes. The dorm never felt...so far away. The dorm that she's been living in for two months were just a few feet away from her, but at the same time, it felt so far away, almost as if it's moving further and further away from her the longer she looks at it. The place where she had doubts about, turned out to be the home she cherished, and she looked at the dorm with tears in her eyes, knowing that if she or the others don't come up with anything for Azul's terms, then she would lose it for good. "I walked back here out of pure habit," she dryly chuckles, a tear slowly falling down her face. She didn't want to lose this place, but she might not have a choice at this point. What was she to do? Would she have to just give up knowing that nothing she could do work or keep trying, failing at each opportunity, dashing her hopes of getting get her home back? Another tear falls, and as the third tear was about to fall, something caught her eye. Suddenly, small lights starts to flicker around her, making her look around, seeing that small specks of yellow-green light surrounding her as she continues to look. She looked at the lights, briefly forgetting the thoughts in her head, as she looked at them with a smile smile, wondering how they came just at the right time as if saying 'everything will be fine'. "What a pretty sight..." She whispers in awe, looking at the lights, but her attention was broken when she heard footsteps. She looks at the person behind her, seeing a familiar face, specifically familiar horns and gasps.

"Hm?" The person hums as they look at her. "You're..."

"You're Midnight!" She exclaims, surprising the person.

"Midnight? Who is that?" The person asks, crossing his arms, looking at Angel with his eyes wide. "Are you...referring to me?"

Angel blushes, realizing how embarrassing both the name and the outburst was. "Ah...you said I could call you a name of my choosing..." she said quietly, looking at the person's intense stare on her. "I-it's better than t-the one Grim picked out...He was g-going to call you 'Hornton'..."she whispers, trying not to anger the person further.

"Heh...Hmhm," The person chuckles then his chuckles turned into a laugh, shocking Angel. "Ha ha ha! Me, being called 'Midnight'! You really are fearless, it seems." He stops laughing and looks at Angel with a smile. "No matter. It was I who told you to use a name of your choosing. I'll indulge this liberty and permit you to refer to me by your...curious nickname," he says amused, but then looks at the dorm. "By the by," he says with arms crossed. "I've noticed that this dorm has seemed rowdier as of late. Are you taking in more students?"

The statement only bring Angel back to the thoughts she had before being distracted by the lights and Midnight. Midnight only watches her as she give him a sad expression and hesitates before speaking. "Actually..." she starts, explaining the deal with Azul and the conditions, along with the fact that the dorm will be under Azul by tomorrow's sun set. Midnight only quietly listens to her, thinking about the situation she was in.

"What? You made a deal with Ashengrotto?" He says as he looks at the dorm. "Well...I suppose that does explain it. Then once the sun sets tomorrow, I suppose this place will belong to him and become a hotspot for noisy students." He looks to Angel and see her frowning at him and smiles. "Heh. You look like you take issue with my statement. You don't like me speaking as thought your loss is a given?" She sighs and he thinks for a moment, looking at the dorm. "Incidentally, the walls of this dorm have some rather impressive gargoyle sculptures," he says and Angel just look at him confused.

"Gargoyles?" She asks curiously, wondering about the topic change.

"At first glance, these gargoyles appear to be imposing, dangerous monsters...but in reality, they are a kind of drainage spout built to keep rainwater from sullying the walls," he explains and smiles. "They look frightful, and yet they are beings devoted to the preservation of their home."

Angel only look at the dorm, seeing that there are some designs on the walls if she squint, mainly sculptures of beasts on the edges of the dorm, but think about Midnight's words. "There's a stark contrast between what they do and how they look, huh?" She asks.

"Sometimes, what you see with your eyes is the complete opposite of the truth," Midnight states. "And...I, too, would prefer to avoid this place becoming rowdy every night," he sighs. "Continue fighting to protect your dorm," he says with a smile and then disappears, leaving Angel alone, looking at the spot he was.

"He acted like he knows all the answers..." She pouts for a moment, then look at the dorm again, trying to see the gargoyles more clearly. "So what I see...isn't always the truth?" She mumbles, trying to make sense of what he said. After a while of looking, she turned around, heading back to Savanaclaw dorm.