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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 3 months

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Twst with a very little twist

Part 3 - Leona’s chapter / If at first you don’t succeed

Summary: Local baby appears in a coffin in a different world with no identification or way home. Prevents several mental breakdowns accidentally. More at 11.

(Masterlist)

Leona stared at the kid Crowley was trying to hand off to him. He kept his arms firmly crossed over his chest to block this from happening, but this was not deterring the man from trying.

“Kingscholar,” Crowley said, his smile strained at the edges. “It would not be fair to leave all of the responsibility to Heartslabyul alone!”

Trey Clover smiled nervously over the Headmaster’s shoulder. “We wouldn’t mind.”

“He said they wouldn’t mind,” Leona said, lifting a hand briefly to gesture for Crowley to turn around and leave.

The Headmaster, though, saw this as an opportunity. He shoved the baby into the crook of his elbow, forcing his arm to close around it, and Leona was forced to either grab hold or let the kid fall.

Leona, regrettably, chose not to let the kid die… actually, perhaps chose is not the correct word to use. It was a force of habit more than anything – he was a Magift player, of course he was going to make sure the projectile that was practically tossed at him didn’t hit the ground. He’d lose possession of the ball!

By the time his brain had caught up to his body, Crowley had taken flight. Literally. Shooting hundreds of feet up in the air because he knew that it was the only way Leona wouldn’t be able to catch him and give the child back.

Leona had half a mind to try throwing the child at the man but, frankly, he didn’t trust Crowley to save them, and attempted child murder should always be avoided. Especially when there are several witnesses around, at least one of which is apparently attached to said child.

Speaking of…

Leona glowered at Trey Clover. “What are you looking at?”

Trey’s eyes widened and he took time to send one last wave to Curly before turning around and booking it out of their dorm.

Absently, Leona noted that the boy was surprisingly fast despite his somewhat bulky frame. He could be a threat in the upcoming Magift games.

Leona should take him out.

Unfortunately, Trey was in his third year. Third-years are expected to be very well versed in flight and wind magic (Leona should know, seeing as this wasn’t exactly his first time being a third-year). Which meant making him fall down the stairs was not exactly an option. Beyond that, though, he wasn’t exactly a ‘careless’ person, meaning staging a different kind of accident would be even more difficult.

He heard the guy baked, and Leona wanted to do something with that, but he only did it in the safety of his dorm, meaning it would be hard to get Ruggie in there without being noticed…

So… it would be hard to take him down directly. Maybe if he was distracted by something else?

He glanced down at Curly, who was waving after Trey long after he had disappeared from view.

If the guy was that attached to the kid after barely a month and a half, so much so that he would come into another dorm so he could bargain with Crowley up to the very last second, then how attached was he to that childhood friend of his? If Riddle Rosehearts were to, say, take a little fall, would he try to help?

Maybe, if Leona was lucky, the both of them would accidentally work against each other while trying to catch themselves and each other, and he would take two powerful players out of the game at once.

The kid, apparently, finally realized that Trey was gone and not coming back. They slumped over his arms.

Wow. Zero years old and the kid was already done with life. Leona had never related to a child more.

Maybe Cheka had been a fluke. People always talk about kids being the best, most fulfilling part of a person’s life, or whatever the hell. Maybe this was what they were talking about. Solidarity, with a small little someone who practically never leaves your side for fear of starving to death. Was this what character development feels like? A new understanding?

Curly peered up at him through their messy fringe.

And then they reached up, towards the top of Leona’s hair.

Nope. Absolutely not. No no no. Gross. Character development canceled. He flattened his ears back before they could touch them.

The kid did not seem particularly happy about this.

Good. At least Leona wasn’t alone in his misery.

Though he would prefer not to be miserable at all. He handed the kid off to Ruggie. “You deal with it.”

“Oh hell no, I don’t want to take care of it either –!”

“I’ll pay you to babysit.”

Ruggie looked down at the baby for a moment, seeing them in a new light, dollar signs practically shining in his eyes. “How much?”

“Three thousand madols a day.”

“Don’t be stingy.”

Leona scoffed. “Don’t be greedy, more like.”

They were silent for a moment. Ruggie’s face lit up in a strange kind of smile, one that was more than a baring of teeth than anything else.

Ruggie pushed the child into Leona’s chest once again. Leona was starting to get deja vu. Curly did not seem particularly happy about getting passed around like a hot potato.

At least Ruggie seemed to be having a good time. One of them had to be.

“Oh, woe is me. The Headmaster so graciously handed the child over to you, it would be wrong for me, someone who is not even Vice Housewarden, to have such a task delegated to me. I could never go against direct orders from the person who runs the prestigious institution at which I reside.”

Leona gritted his teeth.

“Stingy,” the kid parroted.

“Exactly right, he’s so stingy, isn’t he?” Ruggie said.

Curly nodded firmly.

They don’t even know what that word means!

They grabbed a braid in his hair and pulled. Oh, for the love of –.

“Five thousand madols,” he gave in.

Ruggie smirked. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

And, with that, he turned the kid in his arms.

“You and I are going to be best friends,” he told the kid.

Curly reached up and, this time, succeeded in grabbing an ear. Ruggie, to his credit, only barely flinched, before tipping his head forward to allow the kid full access.

The kid beamed. “Fluffy!”

And, so, a vaguely exasperated Ruggie resigned himself to being pet.

Unfortunately, this did not mean Leona was completely free from the responsibility of taking care of a child. If he wanted to take out the competition before the Magift Tournament, he would need Ruggie to use his Unique Magic, since it would make it seem more like an accident to passersby, and carrying around a toddler was not good for stealth.

He grimaced as he watched the kid wander around his room. He had tried to make Curly lay down for a nap, but it seemed Curly had recently decided that naps were government propaganda to make you less productive, because they kicked and screamed until he eventually let them back up.

He had hoped that would be the end of it, but alas. It seemed that Curly’s crusade against naptime extended to other people, too. The moment Leona laid his head down to sleep, he was woken up again by his tail getting stepped on.

He snatched up a giggling Curly. Did they think his bared teeth were a joke?!

Leona took a long, deep breath to steady himself. And then another. A third one for good measure. He looked at Curly for even longer, trying to get across just how unamused he was.

Curly, being a toddler, did not seem to care, wriggling in his grip.

“Fine,” he gritted out. “What do you want to do?”

Curly beamed.

You know, despite having spent… longer at Night Raven College than the average student, Leona couldn’t say he had been to Sam’s shop that many times. It was just as strange as he remembered it. Classic groceries contrasting with the many occult items. The almost overpowering smell of disinfectant, likely to cover up something, but he was fine not knowing exactly what. Shadows that seemed too whole, almost seeming to move when he wasn’t looking directly at them.

Let’s just say that Leona didn’t send Ruggie on all of his grocery runs solely due to his laziness.

It was mostly laziness, don’t get him wrong!

But there was also a healthy level of wariness, too.

Curly, of course, did not seem to have a single self-preserving bone in their body. They waddled through the door with the kind of determination that only a toddler in search of candy can have.

Sam grinned at the pair of them from behind the counter. “Ah, littlest imp, you’re back!”

Curly spun around on their heel to wave at the man, immediately distracted from their mission. “Hi, Mr. Sam!”

Leona watched, mildly amused, as the kid made their way over. They smiled widely at the few shopping students they passed, who all smiled back, with varying levels of sincerity.

Curly really did like everyone.

It was, frankly, as if they didn’t have a favorite person at all.

Leona crossed his arms over his chest. Frankly, he thought it was weird. And dangerous — even Cheka tended to stick with his family members, since he was smart enough to know that strangers might be assassins in disguise.

And, even assuming the kid didn’t have to deal with assassins, had their parents never taught them stranger danger? What if they got kidnapped?

… wait, was Leona technically harboring a kidnapped child?

He grimaced at the thought. And then decided that he was simply no longer going to think about it.

He made his way over to the only part of the store that was ‘new’ — a kids’ section. Fully equipped. There had always been kids' items, for the sake of people who become teen parents, but usually those things were kept in the back of the store, and would be brought out only upon demand.

Not anymore, though, for whatever reason.

Maybe, with all of the shopping trips Ruggie had been forced to take Curly on, Sam had realized that having the items out for the kid to see would ultimately get him more money.

“— it’s soft, too! Here, touch!” Sam said, kneeling down to present Curly with a fuzzy onesie.

Curly reached a pudgy hand out and gasped at the apparent softness.

“We’re here for candy,” Leona said, seeing as both the kid and Sam seemed to have forgotten.

Curly looked up at him, wide-eyed, the onesie still hugged to his chest like a teddy bear. “I wannit.”

“You —?” Leona groaned. It wasn’t worth it to argue. “Fine, sure, whatever. Go grab some candy, too, so we can go.”

It was not that easy. For, you see, every time Leona would look away, even to check his phone, Sam would present Curly with a new item, and Curly would beg for it. Leona wasn’t sure where he was pulling them all from. All he knew was that his hatred for Sam’s shop was only growing by the minute.

And there was a lot of minutes.

They left the store a half hour later. Leona glowered at Sam over his shoulder, the straps of his many grocery bags digging into his hands.

Sam simply smiled, lifting a hand in a wave. “Thanks for the business! Come again soon!”

Ruggie laughed at him for a solid three minutes when he came back to find Curly in a bear onesie, a stuffed mermaid toy hugged to his chest, passed out on Leona’s rug for some reason even though there was a perfectly good bed a meter away.

“Didn’t know you had a soft spot,” Ruggie teased.

“I’m docking your pay.”

Ruggie spluttered.

“Wait, hold on, Leona, learn to take a joke —!”

Leona didn’t have enough curse words for what was going on. And he spoke several languages!

He was woken from his nap to a lot more shouting than he would personally prefer, someone shaking his shoulder persistently. He scowled, flipping over in bed to try and get away from the evil that plagued him, and pressing his face into his pillow, half-hoping he could somehow suffocate himself this way.

The hand was back, and it was back with a vengeance.

Leona was pushed to the floor.

For a moment, he thought about falling asleep in a heap on his rug (Curly might have been right, it really wasn’t all that uncomfortable), out of sheer spite.

But then he opened his eyes.

Mostly because Ruggie said, “Hey, Curly, could you help me wake him up?” and Leona really didn’t want to find out how the kid would interpret that.

Ruggie looked mildly disappointed that he didn’t get to watch Curly kick him, but panic was quick to swallow even that.

“Heartslabyul is picking around.”

Leona narrowed his eyes. “Did you leave anything behind?”

“No!” Ruggie said, surprisingly confident about this despite his concern. “I don’t know why they’re here!”

Leona mulled this over. So, Heartslabyul was here… they shouldn’t know that they were behind the mysterious injuries around campus. And, even if they had known, Leona doubted they would care all that much…

“Any chance they’re looking for Curly?”

Curly lit up.

“Someone told me they were looking for Jack Howl.”

Leona wracked his brain for a second. “That one freshman?”

Ruggie shrugged, nodding.

Okay, fine, Leona was curious. He pushed himself to his feet. “Alright, let’s go see what they want.”

Ruggie picked up Curly. “I’m guessing you wanna see them all, too?”

Curly nodded, beaming.

“Good, ‘cause I wasn’t gonna leave you in this room alone,” Ruggie chirped, pinching Curly’s nose, smiling when they giggled and batted at his hands.

And he said Leona had a soft spot?

They found the Heartslabyul group while they were talking to Jack. And two other people that were on Savanaclaw’s Magift team, Louie and Ronno, who were clearly trying to get the Heartslabyul kids to flee.

Jack just seemed annoyed that Heartslabyul wasn’t letting him leave the conversation, to be honest.

“What’s going on here?” Leona sighed.

Instantly, everyone went tense.

The three Heartslabyul students in attendance softened, though, when they saw Curly. Ruggie set the squirming kid down, and they immediately ran over to hug that one annoying freshman with red hair.

Said freshman smirked at his two dorm mates. And then knelt down to hug Curly back. “Hey, kid, they treating you well here?”

Curly nodded, his eyes gleaming. “They give me lotsa candy!”

“Jeez, they’ve already assimilated,” Cater said mournfully, pulling at one of the bear ears on Curly’s onesie.

Leona blinked. He’d noticed that Curly had had a favorite outfit, but he’d never really put any thought to it. The outfit was just as soft as Sam had advertised it, surely there wasn’t much more to it. But, now, he wondered if they wore it because they felt out of place in a dorm where almost everyone was a yajugen.

“Of course they like it better here,” Ronno said. “This is the best dorm, y’know.”

Cater made a disbelieving clicking sound with his teeth.

Ronna narrowed his eyes, taking a step forward, as if preparing to fight Cater. Leona almost didn’t want to stop him, just because it would be a pain, but it wouldn’t do to have one of his Magift team members getting disqualified…

The blue-haired freshman stepped in for him, though:

“Guys. Trey’s hurt. This isn’t the time to be messing around.”

(When Curly hugged his leg, though, he immediately uncrossed his arms to put his hand atop their head, his serious expression softening.)

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Cater said, waving off the boy’s seriousness with a wide grin. He turned to Leona. “There’s been a string of ‘accidents’ involving Magift players, so we came here to warn you guys about it. Not that I think you’ll have much difficulty with it, Leona.”

Leona fought not to let anything show on his face. “What?”

“Since you’re so intimidating!” Cater said. For a second, his eyes narrowed at Leona, and then they continued on the crinkle in a smile that was so fake Leona’s skin crawled. “So, we’re mostly just here to tell Ruggie and Jack here to look out.”

Ruggie’s lips twitched in that way it always did right before he laughed. Leona sent him a severe look out of the corner of his eyes.

Jack scowled. “You couldn’t have done this during school? Or track club, Deuce?”

The blue-haired one, Deuce, flushed red. “It seemed more convenient to do it here, so we could tell both you and Ruggie at the same time.”

“Besides, it’s hard to investigate dorms without stepping inside them,” the redheaded one added, flippantly, though there was something sly in the way he smiled. “So… here we are!”

“Are you accusing us of something?” Louie asked.

“Yeah, I am, actually,” said the redhead.

“Ace,” snapped Deuce. He was ignored.

“You’re super suspicious.”

“On what grounds?”

“You are acting a little hostile,” Cater said, smiling.

“I’ll show you hostile —,” snapped Ronno, stepping forward once again, only to be stopped by a hand on his chest.

“No. You’re going to get disqualified if you fight them. Instead, how about we all play a little game of Magift together?” Leona smiled, all teeth. “No holds barred.”

Ruggie walked over to Jack, Curly held out in front of him.

“Heyyyy, Jack, take care of Curly for me while we teach these trespassers right and wrong, yeah?”

Jack looked like he was going to disagree.

But then his arms jerked forward to meet Ruggie’s, his hands closing around them.

Ruggie dispelled his signature spell, smirking and saluting Jack. “Thanks, man!”

Jack was left standing there, a squirming child in his outstretched hands, his eyes wide.

Curly was looking at Jack, clearly just as surprised.

But about something else entirely: “Woooooah, you’re big!”

Leona snorted as he walked away, towards the middle of the field, summoning a Magift disk so they could start their little ‘game’.

They managed to get through a little over a game and a half before Jack came back over. Curly was attempting to climb him like a jungle gym, but he was clearly trying to pretend it wasn’t happening.

(His tail was wagging, though, which was definitely giving him away a little.)

“Are you guys done picking on these amateurs?” Jack asked, coldly. The effect was dampened by the child who had noticed his tail and was now trying to grab it.

“Not really!” said Louie.

The three Heartslabyul students, who had been damn near on the ground, immediately attempted to ‘look natural’. Ace went from being flopped on his back to lounging in the sun. Deuce, who had been on crawling on his hands and knees, found his way into a more casual sitting position. Cater stood straighter, arms crossed to hide the way his chest heaved with every breath.

Note to self, Leona thought, bemused, being scared of looking like a wimp in front of a child is a good source of adrenaline.

“What you’re doing is disgusting, and I don’t want to see it,” said Jack.

“Awww, gonna be their knight in shining armor?” Ruggie teased.

Jack scoffed. “Hardly. But if you continue with this, I will have to try to stop you.”

Leona groaned, the amusement bleeding out of him as if it had never been there at all. “You’re ruining our fun.”

“Good!” said Ace, spitefully.

Leona rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Let’s go, everyone.”

Ruggie made his way over to Jack, stepping on Ace’s stomach along the way, to take Curly back from him. “Thanks for your help! Come by my room anytime if you wanna take care of him again!”

Jack rolled his eyes. His tail was wagging, though.

Leona raised an eyebrow. “If you have someone else do the work for you, I have no reason to pay you, Ruggie.”

“Nevermind everything I just said, Jack!”

The freshman’s ears drooped just slightly.

“Running with a kid in your arms is hard,” complained Ruggie, mostly to himself. He flopped into Leona’s bed, lifting Curly above him. “You’re heavy, y’know, I should cut back on your sweets.”

Curly gasped in absolute horror. “No!”

“Ahhhh, you’ve convinced me, I guess,” Ruggie said, smiling. “It’s Leona’s money, anyways.”

“I’m going to dock your pay again,” Leona warned as he stepped out of the bathroom..

Ruggie immediately jumped off of the bed, his eyes wide. He turned to look at Leona. A nervous smile made its way across his face. “A-ah… Leona… didn’t… know you were home yet!”

For a yajugen, Ruggie really was unobservant. He barely ever used his enhanced senses. They were, clearly, wasted on him.

He probably had no idea that Jack was currently lingering outside of their door.

Leona tapped his foot on the floor. “So? Are you going to tell me what you had to run away from?”

“The Heartslabyul kids totally suspect us,” said Ruggie.

Leona crossed his arms over his chest. “Do they have any proof?”

“Nah. They noticed my UM yesterday, when I made Jack grab Curly here, but that’s not really proof — just circumstantial evidence.”

“Then continue on as normal, just be more careful,” Leona waved off his concerns. “Speaking of… Jack, get in here.”

For a few seconds, it was silent. And then Jack, slowly, opened the door, making his way inside.

“I… wanted to see Curly, again.”

Liar, thought Leona. “You wouldn’t admit that if it were true.”

“What’re you actually doing here? Need someone to sing you a lullaby to get you to sleep?” Ruggie said, grinning. “I’ve gotten pretty good at that recently.”

Curly nodded his agreement.

“… why are you two doing all of this?” Jack asked.

Leona sighed. “Ruggie, go put the kid in the bath so I can explain everything.”

Ruggie gave a mocking salute. He went out of his way to shoulder check Jack on the way to the bathroom.

Leona waited until the door to the bathroom was shut before turning back to Jack. If he knew anything about kids, it was that they could not keep a secret for the life of them.

“We went up against Diasomnia in round one of the tournament two years running. We were eliminated both times. We’ve got a wall full of championship trophies, but Malleus Draconia ran circles around us like we were still in diapers. In front of the whole world. I looked like an incompetent moron. And now the pro league recruiters pass right by Savanaclaw.”

“That just means we’re not good enough!”

Leona shrugged. “I agree. That’s why we’ve gotta even the playing field.”

“This is wrong!”

“And?” said Leona. “It’s my job to look after this dorm, so I’m going to make dang su — damn sure — we succeed. This is our last chance to go up against Draconia, to restore our reputation! And you’re going to throw it away over, what, morals?”

Jack hesitated. “I can’t let you get away with this.”

Leona smiled. “And what will you do? You have no proof.”

Jack reached into his back pocket, smirking. Only for his expression to drop. He started patting himself down, even looking at the floor for a second.

Ruggie chose that moment to poke his head out of the bathroom, grinning widely. He tossed Jack his phone, any footage he may have gotten deleted.

And then he gave Leona a slightly wary look. “Er… I don’t have anything for Curly to wear tonight. I wasn’t able to get to the laundry, what with Heartslabyul chasing me everywhere.”

Leona sighed. “Just give them one of your shirts. You’re pretty scrawny, it should be fine.”

Ruggie looked mildly offended, but was quick to disappear in search of his stuff.

“I… will stop you,” Jack said, firmly.

Leona snorted. “You can go ahead and try.”

Ruggie came back, his jersey slung over his shoulder. He sent Jack a smile and mocking little wave before disappearing into the bathroom again. Not even a minute later, Curly came out with Ruggie.

The jersey was way too big on them. Hanging off of both of their shoulders. The short sleeves nearly falling over their hands.

Leona punched a pillow. He was cool and suave and hated children he hated them he hated them so damn much.

At least he wasn’t the only one having a hard time. Ruggie was using the hand that Curly wasn’t holding to hide his face, mumbling curses under his breath. Jack looked perfectly fine, but his tail would have knocked over anyone who came within two meters of him.

The next morning, they had Magift practice, because damn if having a kid to take care of was going to stop them all from winning. This was an unfair disadvantage. Maybe Crowley simply hated them.

(Ignore all of the unfair disadvantages they had created for the other teams.)

But that begged the question of what to do with the kid while they practiced. It was early, on a Saturday, there was no way any of their dorm mates would be awake — and, even if they were awake, it was doubtful that they would agree to take care of Curly.

So, what to do…

Leona sighed and helped Curly onto his broom, getting on behind them, their head under his chin and his hands over theirs. Whatever. He could play Magift in his sleep, and the small handicap could help him get better at playing.

Curly gasped as they lifted off of the ground. They swung their legs back and forth, as if trying to run through the air, trying to help them go faster.

And, if any of his teammates dared to point out that Leona had wrapped his tail around the kid to ensure that they wouldn’t fall, then he would go extra hard on them during practice that day.

In the end, their plan didn’t work out. Heartslabyul had beaten them, Jack had helped them, and Savanaclaw was disqualified for the year.

Leona groaned, his face in his hands, sinking to his knees.

Diasomnia would win, and Malleus Draconia would be inducted into the hall of fame. Their chance at redeeming themselves was gone. All because of a rat in wolf’s clothing and a bunch of people who were mad at them because he went after their dorm’s Dad (or whatever the hell).

A small hand touched his shoulder.

He sighed, deeply, and removed his hands from his face. “What do you want?”

Curly looked at him for a long moment, before smiling. “A hug! I wanna hug!”

Leona barely got time to blink before Curly was crashing into his chest. Tiny arms wrapped around him — or… tried to, they barely even managed to get all of the way around his chest.

He blinked down at the mess of curls beneath his chin.

“I think you’re the coolest, Mr. Leona!”

It was a kid. And an overly friendly one at that. Their standards were probably very low. This meant nothing.

But.

They were clearly trying to comfort him. It was a clumsy attempt, but…

Slowly, he returned the hug, hiding his face in their curls.

For a few minutes. Curly, a typically squirmy kid, didn’t move an inch. Just… stayed there, allowing Leona a moment of reprieve.

Finally, though, he detached from them. Looking at his defeated team.

He cleared his throat. “The inter school Magift Tournament will be happening, and we can — and will — redeem ourselves then.”

For a moment, his teammates looked at him in disbelief.

And then they all jumped to their feet, grinning, already reaching for their brooms and magic pens.

Jack stood off to the side. Awkwardly.

He was a traitor.

“If you want to play, you can.” He grinned, sharply. “But I can’t guarantee your safety, if our teammates want some revenge.”

Jack met his grin, inch by inch.

“Don’t hold back!”

Leona smirked. He had not intentions of doing so.

And, as he got on his broom, holding his hand out for Curly…

He wondered if kids were, really, all that bad.

Nevermind. Kids are the worst.

Leona watched Cheka and Curly talk animatedly, their hands waving wildly as they spoke. Cheka had come to check on him when his team hadn’t shown up, and now he had two mini menaces to watch.

And Ruggie was laughing at him.

“Unca Unca Unca!” Cheka said, tugging on his arm. “Can Curly come visit for the holidays?”

Leona pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply. What did he do to deserve this? Besides the sabotage, of course.

Curly and Cheka looked up at him with eyes that seemed to shine with stars.

“I wanna play with both of you!” Curly said.

And Leona could only give a small shrug. “If the Headmaster allows it, they can come.”

#leona kingscholar #ruggie bucchi #jack howl #twisted wonderland #savanaclaw #they’re somehow more stunted than heartslabyul #congrats kings #oh sorry leona i know you’re self conscious about that -

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