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having to rewrite parts of swan song after the end of book 7 😫😫

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Hello! I am working on getting the next Gehenna update out on Quotev and Archive of Our Own by end of day tomorrow! However, after Gehenna I will be on a brief hiatus; I have a sudden surgical procedure that's scheduled for Wednesday due to a medical complication and do not know how long I will be recovering. Thank you all for understanding ♥

Hopefully when I am feeling better, Swan Song will also be getting an update! I need to update the tags... it's gonna get pretty intense 😅

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I'm sorry Swan Song fans for adding this song to the official playlist in reference to the "Major Character Death" tag. As somebody who specializes in horror and angst, writing this scene even has me in my feels. Good luck 🫡🫡

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apologies for those on ao3 and quotev waiting for gehenna's weekly update! i am super sick rn so writing has been very slow, unfortunately </3

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Gehenna | fem!reader x twst | 00.

[ ao3 | quotev ]

[ index | next chapter (coming soon!) ]

Rating: T CW: Injuries, gore, mentioned death

AN: i wanted to write smth spooky for halloween so i have a reader from the evil dead world being sent over to twisted wonderland. this takes place directly at the end of evil dead 2, when ash gets sent to 1300 A.D.! you do not need to watch or consume evil dead media to hopefully enjoy this piece <3 I do not update often on here but feel free to follow my AO3 or Quotev for more constant updates! <3 there are currently more chapters uploaded to AO3 and Q right now.

It was funny how everything could change in the span of two days.  In just two days, you had watched your sister and her friends die.  In just two days you had gone from the happy-go-lucky 16 year old to a war-hardened vet.  You had seen everybody around you get brutally murdered, had seen your older brother get possessed and try to kill you, had fought against forces best left unseen.

And now, you were dying.

Everything hurt.  Your body felt like it was on fire, and you felt cold.  As you lied on the ground next to the lifeless body of Annie, you struggled to prop yourself up on your one good arm.  Each movement brought fresh waves of pain that had you whimpering.

You had come so far.  So fucking far.  And for what?  To bleed out just when the demon had been defeated?  What a joke.

Your brother crawled over to where you and Annie laid, and you could see tears drip from his eyes as he helped you to sit up.  "We did it," he gasped.  Blood dripped from his head from one of the many wounds he had gotten in his own fight against the Kandarian demon.  "No, no, c'mon kid, stay with me!"

Ash was rapidly smacking your cheek, the sensation stinging.  You didn't realize your eyes had been closing, and you groggily opened them back up, staring up at his panic-stricken face.

"M...  Really tired."  Your words were slurred, and he began to shake you.  In any other instance you would have scolded him for being so rough.  If somebody was bleeding out, you didn't try to give them shaken baby syndrome!

"God damn it, stay awake!"

"Why... are you always so loud?" you rasped.  Before he could respond, though, the cabin door flung open, revealing what could only be described as a worm hole of sorts.  It sucked everything in indiscriminately, and you watched with faint amusement as you could see Ash's car be pulled in from outside.  That was rough.

"Agh!"

Ash cried out, holding you close with his one good arm.  You appreciated him not bringing his chainsaw hand near you, although perhaps that would be the final step to put you out of your misery.

"How do you stop this?!"  Ash exclaimed as the two of you began to be pulled across the floor.  You grimaced at the feel of being pulled by such a strong force.

"Don't worry 'bout me," you muttered.  "Just go."

Ash held onto you tighter.  "No!  First Cheryl...  I'm not losing you, either!"

It was easier said than done, though.  Neither you nor Ashley were strong enough to resist the pull of the vortex, and with no solid grip, you were the first to be pulled in.  You offered no resistance, weakly clutching onto the Kandarian dagger that you had managed to pry from Annie's back.

He cried out your name as you felt yourself lift up off the ground; and the last thing you saw was his distraught face before the world around you turned black.

You were dead.  This, you were certain.  After all, not only were you standing in complete darkness, but you were completely uninjured.  You didn't feel any pain, and both of your arms were in perfect working condition.  You even flexed your left fingers experimentally, relieved to see everything was in order.

Everything that had happened was fresh in your mind, which was why you knew, without a doubt...  

You were dead.

So where were you?  Was this limbo?  Was this truly the afterlife?  Desolate and bleak?  You had at least been hoping to see Cheryl again, but even she was gone.

You were completely alone.

Your knees buckled underneath you, the weight of everything that had happened weighing on you.  You sank to the cold ground, and you let out a shuddering breath.

"You're not dead yet."

Your head snapped up, but you made no move to stand.  In front of you stood...  Well, something.  You weren't sure if it was exactly a person.  Their form seemed to shift and phase.  It was humanoid in shape, but you couldn't really process any features, as if your mind was incapable of handling such a feat.  At this point, you weren't surprised.  The past few days had been literal hell for you.

"What does that mean?"

Slowly, you forced yourself to stand back up.  Your legs trembled, but you stayed standing.  The figure was only a little bit taller than you, and their voice was layered.  When they spoke, it was as if many voices were speaking at once, an amalgamation of tones that created a dissonance in your mind.

"You fought well against the Kandarian demon and the Deadites, child."

"The....  huh?"

The entity sighed, although it seemed to be more in amusement than anything else.  Its tone remained calm and patient, addressing your obvious confusion.

"The ones you once loved, possessed by demons from another plane...  Those beings are, of course, the Deadites I refer to.  It is rather unfortunate that you had to encounter them...  But it is, whether you like it or not, the best."

"The best?  Those things killed my sister, my friends — me."  Your voice was choked up, cracking.  But the being said you weren't dead yet.  Was there hope for you?

"Indeed," the entity did not seem phased by your outburst.  "You and your brother, Ashley Joanna Williams, were prophesized to be the ones to fight against the Kandarian demon, far before your ancestry could be traced back.  Whether you like it or not, it is your duty to protect the Necronomicon from those who wish to wield it.

"You and Ashley Joanna Williams...  Are set to save the world, one day."

You shook your head.  Your throat felt dry.  "No.  No.  We're just...  a couple of idiots from Michigan.  We've never done anything remarkable throughout our lives.  You...  Have to be mistaken.  This was all a mistake.  A simple case of the wrong place and wrong time."  You shook your head again.  There was no way...  No way your fate was to do something so scary.  It was a mistake.  You refused to believe otherwise.

The entity was not perturbed by your adamancy, nor did it budge.  "Whether you want to believe it or not, it is true.  When you are much older, you will face off against Kandar the Destroyer."  The entity paused in its wording, before continuing.  "However...  I do not believe it is time yet to thrust you into such a role.  As Ashley Joanna Williams has been sent to find his own way and truth, so will you."

"Where is my brother?"

You took a hesitant step forward.  If this meant Ash was still alive...  You could at least rest a little bit easier.

"1300 A.D."

You nearly choked on your spit, slapping your hand over your mouth.  "He's where?!"  Your voice came out in a squeak.

"Fret not, child.  I will not be sending you so far back in the past.  His job is to save that era from darkness.  You, too, will be sent somewhere where your presence is needed."

"I want to go back home—"

The entity waved its hand.

"And in time, you shall return to Elks Grove.  But for now, you have your own part to play.  Rest easy, child.  Your story...  Is just beginning."

 The darkness began to lighten up, and you watched as the entity began to fade.

"Who are you?"

The entity spoke next, but it was pure static in your ears.  Brightness engulfed you.

When you woke up, your body was in pain.  You were surrounded by darkness once more, but you could tell this time it was because you were in an enclosed space.

Is this...  a coffin?!

You felt like you were going to throw up.  Sharp pains radiated throughout your torso, and you held your hand up to your abdomen only to find it sticky.  You were still bleeding.  Even worse, only your right hand had any movement, your left arm dangling uselessly at your side.  It was for the best you couldn't see it right now; when possessed, Ash had driven his chainsaw through your forearm.  It was a miracle it was still attached.

"Well, at least somebody had the decency to stay in their coffin before I could grab them!"  The muffled voice was flamboyant in nature, and you winced as light began to crack through the lids.  "Once I grab this last student, we can be on our way to the entrance ceremony to get you all sorted— hm?!"

As the lid was removed, you couldn't help but fall forward.  You landed on the ground with a rough thud, and you were grateful you didn't break your nose in the process.  The room was tinted blue, and you could have sworn you saw books floating around you in the peripheral of your vision.

"Sevens — what has happened to you?!  There's so much blood....!"

The voice was panicked, and you were rolled over onto your back.  You saw glimpses of two faces; one covered in a strange, black mask, and the other of a person with long black hair and worried silver eyes.

"Never in all of my tenure...  No matter!  We must get her to the infirmary posthaste!"

"What the..."

Before the words could finish leaving your lips, everything, once more, went black.

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Swan Song | M. Draconia — 03. familiar faces

[ previous chapter | index | next chapter (coming soon!) ]

Rating: T CW: use of [Y/n], she/her pronouns for reader, swearing, some people are missing

Author's Note: FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY so sorry for the wait guys, i had writer's block for the second half of this chapter :( but i hope the wait was worth it! ♥

Flinching as the monster dove straight at you, you couldn't help but call out the one person you needed most, wishing for one last time to have been able to see him.

"MALLEUS!"

And if you opened your eyes, you would have noticed the fireflies appearing around you.

The blow never came, though, and when you did open your eyes, you saw a familiarly tall and imposing figure in front of you.  His back faced you, but those tall horns were a tell-tale sign of who exactly your savior was.  Green flames licked at the blot monster, and it screeched, rearing back.

Malleus Draconia was relentless, though.  Even as the creature retreated, he easily used his magic to surround it in flames — but before they could reach the monster, it dove back into the mirror, shattering it as it disappeared.

Time seemed to freeze before he turned around, green eyes practically glowing as he regarded you.

"Malleus...  You came...?"  You breathed out heavily, feeling exhaustion weigh over you.  His expression softened, and he reached out to cup your cheek.

"You called," he simply stated, his eyes sweeping over you.  "Are you alright, Child of Man?"

You wanted to cry at the nickname for you.  You hadn't heard it in years.  You hadn't believed anybody would ever call you that again, but here Malleus was, as real as you were, standing right in front of you.  Before you knew it, you were wrapping your arms around him, startling him from the sudden show of affection.  Your hold on him solidified the fact that he was real.  He was real.  And he was here.

It was difficult, but after a beat you managed to nod.  "Yeah...  Yeah.  I'm fine.  Thanks to you."  You had to get it together — now was not the time to get choked up!

After the disappearance of the blot monster, the other smaller monsters seemed to have disappeared — or perhaps they, too, had been eaten away by Malleus' flames.  Whatever the case, they were gone, and with the monsters gone, people began to flock to the streets again.

"Did you see that?  That thing was fucking huge!"

And with people converging back to the streets, all eyes were on you.  Well, actually, they were on Malleus.

"MY LORD!"

You'd recognize that loud voice from anywhere, and turned towards the noise only to see two familiar people stepping out of what you could only describe as a portal.  You couldn't see through the other side, but staring into it felt like looking into a starry abyss, as if it led straight into space.

And stepping out of that portal were Silver and Sebek Zigvolt.

Sebek immediately rushed towards Malleus, not even noticing you for a second as he made sure Malleus had no injuries.  You had stepped back the moment you heard Sebek's voice.  No need to deal with his complaints right now.  "You can't just run off like that!" he exclaimed, before turning towards you finally.  His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, before he gave a small nod.  "Human.  Good to see you're... well," he managed, Silver trailing right behind him.  His expression was serious.

Malleus' expression slipped back into one of stoicism, although his gaze was still soft as he regarded you.  "We need to go," he told you grimly.  There was a hand at the small of your back, and you found yourself being turned around to the glowing black portal.  He barely even acknowledged Sebek, although you assumed time was of the essence right now, especially as police sirens grew louder and louder.  No doubt somebody had reported the phenomena, considering a giant, winged monster had appeared from a mirror.

"Wait!"  Yuna called out, clambering to her feet and catching up to you.  "I'm coming too."

"What?" you asked her, eyebrows raising.  "Wait, where are we even going?"

Before anybody could answer, Yuna was speaking up, her eyes narrowed behind her glasses.  "You already got me invested and involved, so I'm coming along too.  Besides, I am not sticking around to explain this situation to the police and how you disappeared.  Again."

"Yuna, it's way too dangerous!  Did you not notice that giant monster that just attacked us?"

She stood her ground.  "I'm coming with," she insisted.  "I'm not letting you do this alone."

You gave her an incredulous look, and Malleus, Sebek, and Silver stood off to the side, looking out-of-place in your argument with your roommate.  "No offense, but we're barely friends, Yuna.  I thought you could barely stand me."

Yuna rolled her eyes.  "I barely know you," she pointed out.  "Despite rooming with you for a few months now.  But I can stand you perfectly fine, or else I would have moved out by now."  She sighed.  "Just let me come with you.  I don't want you to do this alone.  Besides, girl solidarity and all that, right?"

You wanted to argue that you technically wouldn't be alone, but you knew the brunette wouldn't drop it.  Instead, you gave a defeated nod.  "What if we can't get back?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, I suppose."

You wondered if it was just the adrenaline talking for her, but you were done arguing on the subject.  "Alright.  Alright.  Come on."

Malleus seemed relieved that you two had hashed things out, ushering you towards the mirror once more.  You made sure to grab both of your phones and your backpack.

"We're...  Really going back to Twisted Wonderland?" you asked Malleus, and he gave a nod.

"Yes . . .  We're going home."

Your heart was doing backflips in your chest as you glanced at the portal once more.  With nothing else to lose, you took a step through it, seeming to sink into it as the world around you disappeared.

It was nauseating.  You lost all of your senses for a moment — taste, sight, sound, smell, touch...  You felt completely nothing.  And then, colors seemed to swirl around you.  Next moment you knew, you were standing in a familiar room, stumbling and leaning on a desk.  Yuna didn't fare much better, practically collapsing onto the floor as she gasped.  All around, traveling through that portal was an unpleasant experience, although you were glad your arrival this time didn't entail you waking up in a coffin.

"Welcome back!  It is so wonderful to see you again!"

The jubilant and over-the-top voice had you grimace as you looked up.  "Headmage Crowley.  A pleasure to see you again, too."  Was it actually a pleasure, though?  Crowley's negligence was a huge reason why your school life had been wrought with chaos here.

Behind you all, the portal had closed, revealing the Dark Mirror.  Yuna had quit gasping, but was still struggling to stand for a moment.

Crowley nodded at your saviors, crossing his arms.  "While I loathe for our reunion to be like this, as you are probably already aware—"

Cutting Crowley off was a door opening, revealing another familiar face.  "Malleus!  You cannot just run off like that, especially now of all times!"

Still short and looking as youthful as ever despite his age was Lilia Vanrouge, although he did look weary despite it all.  As his eyes landed on you, his gaze softened slightly.  "Fufufu...  It's nice to see you're alive and well at the very least, [Y/n]."

"You too, Lilia."

You accepted the hug he gave you, before pulling away.

"As much as I love reuniting with you all...  I need an explanation of just what the hell is going on."

"Yes...  It would be wise to contact Mr. Shroud to discuss the situation," Crowley agreed with a nod of his head.

It seemed like there might be more going on than you initially thought.

"But first things first...  Who might this be?"  your former headmage looked over at Yuna quizzically.

Okay; introductions first, and then calling Idia.

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"I can't believe the Prefect is back," Idia muttered on the other end of the video call.  "Although I guess you're not really a prefect anymore."

Idia had been half muttering the entire time the call had been going on, pre-occupied with whatever he was doing on his end of things.

You sighed.  "I can't either," you admitted.  The entire situation seemed so surreal, still.  "Do you have any idea on what is going on, though?"  You had been quick to explain everything that happened back in your world with the mirror and the blot monsters.

"IDK," Idia grumbled, "but we've also been having earthquakes and the like here.  It's weird, NGL."

"I didn't realize people actually spoke like this," you heard Yuna mutter under her breath, thankfully inaudible to Idia.

"Not to mention the disappearances..."

"And the vandalism!"  Headmage Crowley interrupted, clutching his chest as if that was the biggest issue that was going on right now.

"Um...  Can both of you elaborate?"

Silver was grim.  "A few former students have gone missing, and three of the statues of the Great Seven are also gone."

You recalled Ace and Deuce mentioning that Riddle was missing when you were on video call with them, and you had a sinking feeling in your stomach.  "Riddle is one of them, right?  Ace mentioned it when I called him back in my world."

"Along with Azul and Leona," Silver confirmed.

"I didn't realize Leona was also missing," Lilia's eyebrows raised.

Three former overblot victims and dorm heads...

"And let me guess: The statues missing are the Queen of Hearts, the King of Beasts, and the Sea Witch?"

"Why... Yes!  How did you know?"  Crowley exclaimed, and you wondered not for the first time how somebody like him had ever managed to become headmage of such a prestigious school.  With the threat of an oncoming migraine, you gritted your teeth.

No point in responding to Crowley.  "And just to guess, again, they were probably kidnapped in the order of Riddle, Leona, and Azul.  Right?"

"Yep."

"It's the order of those who overblotted," you pointed out.  But you weren't sure why the statues were being stolen.  Of course, you had easily pieced together the connection between the overblot victims and the Great Seven years upon years ago, but what did stealing a statue have to do with anything?  What was the point?

Then again, why were overblot victims being kidnapped once more, if not STYX related?

It was as if Idia could sense your skepticism.  "Wait, I swear it's not me or anybody else in STYX!"  he exclaimed, and while you still remained somewhat skeptical, you found yourself believing him.  After all, Idia had also overblotted, meaning he was in an equal amount of danger now if the kidnappings continued.

"Jesus," you muttered, leaning against the wall.  A wave of dizziness and fatigue washed over you.

"Child of Man?"  Malleus questioned, finally speaking up.  "Are you feeling unwell?"

". . . Just tired," you sighed, crossing your arms.  This was...  A lot to process.  You couldn't really wrap your head around everything.  Was everything connected?  The natural phenomena, the disappearances, and the leakage of blot in your world?  Were they all coincidences?

. . . Probably not.  Twisted Wonderland wasn't knowing for 'coincidences'.  No doubt, this was all connected.  But how?  Why?

Yuna had been silent the entire time, listening grimly.  You wondered how much you were going to have to explain to her later; probably most of it.  Unlike you, this was all completely new to her, although Yuna seemed to be a fast learner.

"Perhaps we should rest and regroup," Lilia suggested.  "As it is, Malleus, you must return.  You shouldn't have ran off like that."

Malleus frowned a bit, but didn't refute the statement.  Still, he looked displeased.  Upon seeing your confused expression, Lilia sighed once more.

"Our Young Malleus has finally accepted the crown to become King of Briar Valley, and thus, really shouldn't have ran off.  Oh, to put an old man in retirement in such a position..."  The sigh was more dramatic than it needed to be, and you glanced up at Malleus.

"Oh.  Congratulations...?"

"Is that all you have to say?" Sebek asked incredulously, and you wondered how hard it was for him to keep his voice level.  The Sebek you knew would have screamed it, although six years was a lot of time for somebody else to change.

Malleus chuckled.  "Thank you," he told you instead.  "Briar Valley is open to you and your friend, of course."

You hesitated.  You would have loved to stay in Briar Valley and remain close to Malleus, but you knew better.  Instead, you turned to Crowley.  "Is...  Is Ramshackle still a viable place to stay?" you asked him.  "Not that I don't want to stay in Briar Valley, but...  I need to stay somewhere that is central to everything."

Plus, you knew Ramshackle and NRC campus a bit better than a castle in Briar Valley, and the familiar playing grounds was somewhat of a comfort to you.

Headmage Crowley crossed his arms once more.  "Well...  If you promise to solve the missing persons cases and the acts of theft upon Night Raven College, you are most welcome to stay back in your old dorm!  Although it may need some fixing up once more...  Oh, aren't I so gracious to host you once more?"

Gracious?  Once again, he was dumping problems way out of your league on you, a magicless human.

You were far used to it, now, though.

"Yes, you sure are," you sarcastically replied.  Crowley didn't pick up on the sarcasm, seeming to preen under your 'praise'.

"Come on, Yuna.  I have a lot to go over with you."

Bidding the others 'goodbye' and ending your call with Idia, you were tempted to pinch yourself.  Was this all really happening?  Everything was moving so fast in a blur, as if this were all some fever dream.  

"Ah, just a moment!"  Crowley followed you and Yuna out of the office, the latter looking around in veiled awe at the interior of the castle.

"What."

You didn't mean to sound so grouchy but, in your defense...  It had been a day.  

"Before you head to the dorm, please take a visit to the courtyard.  We cannot figure out how these statues are missing, and each one is invaluable, as I'm sure you remember—"

"—Yeah, yeah.  We'll swing by the courtyard."

Not even giving Crowley anymore time, you left and dragged Yuna behind her, taking her to the courtyard.

You had previously explained a bit of the world to her, but experiencing it was a different thing.  Recognition flashed over her face; it was dark out, but there was ample lighting to reveal the remaining statues.  You allowed her a moment to circle each of them.

"We're missing the Queen of Hearts, Scar, and Ursula," you told her, before nodding at the statue of Ja'far.  "I'm guessing he's going to go missing next...  maybe.  I don't know.  I really want to sleep."

Yuna ran a hand through her hair, matching your look of exhaustion.  "Me too.  Shit...  Just what am I getting dragged into?"

"You're the one who asked to come along."

"Yeah, touché."

Sleep would have to wait for now, though — the two of you had work to do.

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New chapter of Swan Song is FINALLY in the works. I have such bad writer's block eughhhhhh

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Halloween Reader Insert Writing Collab

Hello! My name is Millie, and while I'm not active here on Tumblr, I am very active over on Quotev at /bloomstruck and /egotistic ! I'm known on there for running huge collabs every year, specifically for Halloween. However, now that Quotev has deleted the groups and messaging functions, it is harder to get participants.

With that said, I am extending this offer to all the Tumblr writers for those who would be interested in joining the Halloween collab! You do not have to have a Quotev account to participate, although the collab will be posted on Quotev!

For all collab info, please view this journal entry on Quotev. This year's theme is "Monster Mayhem", aka reader inserts with a monster twist!

Please spread the word! We have a few spots left still ♥

If you'd like to remain updated on all future collaborations, please join the Discord here!

Happy writing and reading! ♥

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i was thinking about this but as much as i love romantic malleus, i think platonic bestie hornton is equal if not better. you know those fics where grim is the one cock blocking all the other characters? imagine if it was your 6'6 bestie, future ruler of briar valley, the one the only malleus draconia. this man has the highest standards for you. he can't be swayed by a simple can of tuna. what is one meal to a near immortal fae? no, this man is subtly eyeing every single classmate that shows any sort of interest in you, silently judging for their intentions. he doesn't even need to threaten them, just him standing beside you is enough for them to get the picture. do not mess with his child of man. your suitors thought ace and deuce were bad, malleus is a whole other beast all together. if this person loved you like they claimed, whats a few card soldiers and a dragon? be like the heroic knight in legends long passed. fight for your maiden, prince, steal them away from their guardians. try it.

that's not to say he's unwilling to compromise. he loves his child of man very much even if they do make, in his eyes, unwise choices. you've made it very clear to him that even he makes choices that backfire. putting an entire island to sleep is not his proudest moment after all, but that doesn't change the fact he still worries. to him, you are so young, so fragile. isn't it said that your kind can die from a broken heart? the very thought of you leaving him due to his inaction has left him breathless on more then one occasion. where would he be without you?

so he watches and waits by your side, your ever present companion. your platonic soulmate. the man who walks you down the aisle and hands you off to your true love, just like in the fairy tales. he trusts you and loves you with every beat of his heart, his child of man, and he will be your best friend as long as you live and beyond. love never dies after all.

[zinfindoll]

ツイステ🧥👠Fashion LOG

[zinfindoll]

Swan Song | M. Draconia — 02. campus visit

[ previous chapter | index | next chapter ]

Rating: T CW: use of [Y/n], she/her pronouns for reader, swearing, mild violence

Author's Note: so much happens in this chapter! i really hope you all enjoy it, and apologies for the delay! ♥♥ finally get to be reunited with malleus next chapter !

Earlier that day....

There weren't many things that surprised Lilia Vanrouge nowadays.  Part of it was just his age — 700+ years of living would do that to anybody.  The other part was that, in his last year at Night Raven College, he had pretty much seen it all, thanks to an otherworldly traveler who, despite being magicless, had fought off a plethora of overblots and managed to practically unite the school.

Leave it to this little human to be the one to surprise him once more.

Lilia Vanrouge had been enjoying his retirement, living a cozy life away from all the chaos and spending his days picking up new hobbies, improving his cooking, and playing video games.  Today was gaming day since a new event was starting in the co-op him and Idia were currently playing, but as he was setting up his computer, he decided to check his phone.  There was no reason to, but something in him was compelled to pick it up and open up Magicam...

Only to see that one person he thought would never be seen again was online.

Lilia's eyebrows raised.  Nobody had her account information, but the account was kept up for classmates to look back and reminisce.

Before he could even do anything, a text came through from Idia, talking about how he was still caught up in something and might not be able to play today.  Naturally, Lilia immediately asked if it was about the former Ramshackle prefect's sudden online presence, only to earn a 'what???????'.

The old fae hadn't planned on spending his day on the phone with Idia trying to figure out what was going on, but that's how it ended up.

"IDK how this is happening... ugh, terrible timing, too..." Idia grumbled over the phone.

"Ahh, that's right.  You're still working on those missing persons cases, right?"  That... was another worrisome thing.

Idia was silent for a moment.  "Yeah...  Nobody has been found yet."

Lilia couldn't offer any reassurances, but he did know that their previous classmates going missing was certainly worrisome.  Among other things going on in the world...  He wondered if it was related to the prefect's return.

Idia clearly thought the same thing.  "Ortho's running a scan now.  Are we having a sequel or something..?" 

"Big Brother!  The signal is gone!"

Sure enough, the prefect was no longer online.  Lilia could hear Idia's groaning over the line, and after a bit more talking, the two hung up with Lilia mentioning he would tell Idia if it happened again.

With this on top of three former NRC students missing...  Lilia couldn't help the foreboding feeling in his chest that he may be having to come out of retirement.

══════════════════

Idia Shroud couldn't stop thinking about the earlier phone call with Lilia and the fact that the former Ramshackle prefect had been online.  Even if it was only for moments, it was still bugging him.  He didn't need this added stress — and as cool as the prefect was, there was trouble wherever she went.  Not that she wanted said trouble, but she unfortunately had that main character energy that naturally attracted it.  Cool, but completely overwhelming for Idia at times.

Pouring over the files in front of him, Idia kept on going over the security footages of the latest disappearance.  Due to the nature of the disappearances, STYX had been tasked to look into them — and since Idia had gone to school with the victims, they were hoping to get added insight.

So of course, this meant more work for Idia.  And he would complain that it dug into his video game time (especially since Project Idol came out with a new installment), but deep down he was worried.  Not just for the ones who disappeared, but if things kept up...  He had a feeling it wasn't going to stop.

"Big Brother!  The prefect is online again!"

This caught Idia's attention.

Immediately switching monitors, Idia had started to try and track the location signal.  Moments later, his phone started ringing, and Idia picked it up.

"I know, I'm on it," Idia told Lilia curtly.

The signal was weak — but it was there.  Idia could hear conversation in the background on the phone, but he didn't pay much attention to it as he continued to trace the signal.

PING.

"Got it!"  Idia cheered a bit too loudly, cringing at himself immediately.  Thankfully, Lilia didn't comment on his voice and instead asked Idia to send the location.  Idia did moments later — better Lilia than him.  He did not want to travel and see what the hell was going on over there.

"Wait— Malleus!"

Idia cringed as he heard Lilia's stern voice call out to him, using his first name rather than his newly-appointed title.  After a few moments, Lilia sighed.  "That child...  I suppose I'll follow him.  Maybe it's for the best.  I was getting outta practice as it is!"  Despite the bravado of cheer, Lilia sounded bone-weary.

"Um..  yeah.  GL, HF," Idia told Lilia, who chortled and thanked him before hanging up.

And Idia couldn't help to think once more about how everything happening was probably connected right now.

Keeping an eye on the signal to make sure it didn't disappear once more, Idia went back to work, rapidly typing away at his keyboard.

"Ace?!"

Even through the bad resolution that was no doubt the product of terrible service, you would recognize the two faces anywhere.  Six years had passed since you had last seen them, but they still looked more-or-less the same, if not more mature.  Just by a bit, though.

"YO it's actually you!" Ace exclaimed, the audio cutting out a bit.  You could see Deuce attempting to shove more of himself into the frame.

"Dude, move over!"

You were quick to cut them off before they started bickering.  "How... Shit, I mean— what the fuck is going on?!"

It was hard to get your thoughts together.  So much was happening, between the mirror and the earthquakes and now this!  You struggled to wrap your head around it all, and you knew it was all connected somehow.  There was no way it wasn't.

"We don't know either," Deuce responded.  "But it's bad over here!"  The audio started to glitch out worse.  "Riddle is — ing!"

"Wait, what?  I can barely hear you!"

"Riddle is missing!" Ace said louder, static still crackling.

"Wait, what?!" You repeated, although this time you did hear them, you just couldn't believe it.  Riddle was missing?!  How the hell was that possible?

They started to say something else just as the ground began to shake again.  It started out gentle before it seemed to get worse.  You vaguely heard Yuna call your name as you toppled onto the grass, your phone nearly flying out of your grasp as you waited for the tremors to stop.  Almost distantly you could hear people screaming, car alarms going off violently at the earthquake.

You weren't sure how long this one lasted.  Between Ace and Deuce yelling for you, Yuna yelling by your ear, the screaming and the car alarms...  It was overwhelming.  You squeezed your eyes shut, fists clenching at the grass as you waited for it to stop.

Even when it did, you felt as if the world was still trembling around you.  You were barely aware as Yuna helped you to your feet.  She looked disheveled and frazzled; no doubt you matched her appearance.

"Are you okay?" Yuna asked, her glasses askew.  You nodded.

"You?"

She gave you a shaky nod, before her eyes widened, looking behind you.

"Wha...?"

You turned around to see what she was looking at, only to feel the blood leave your face.

The mirror wasn't just leaking blot — it was now bubbling, hitting the grass in acidic splashes that killed the plant life.

"Guys..."  You turned to face the phone camera at the mirror, hearing broken up exclamations from your friends at the sight.

"Is that blot?!"

Deuce spoke up over Ace.  "I thought your world didn't have magic!"

"It doesn't!"  But even despite the irrefutable fact that magic didn't exist in your world, the blot kept pouring fourth, covering the entire surface of the mirror and pooling dangerously on the ground around it.  You dragged Yuna back with you as you noticed the pool of blot getting closer and closer to your feet.

What were you even supposed to do in this situation?!  It's not like you could just magic it away!

"You have more of those magic friends, right?"  Yuna asked, grabbing at your arm without tearing her gaze away from the mirror.  You nodded, your mouth dry.

"Uh... yeah."

"Can you Instalive it?  Or whatever their version of Instagram is called?"

That was...  Actually a good idea.

"Guys, I'm hanging up to live stream this in hopes others will see this," you told them.

"WAIT—"

You hung up before they could say 'goodbye'.  Unfortunately, you didn't have a lot of time right now.  Fumbling with the Magicam app, you managed to get to the livestream feature, immediately making sure the camera was facing the mirror as you hurriedly began to try and explain the situation.  You noticed a couple of usernames, but tried to ignore the comments as Cater immediately started to bombard you.

"What the hell is that."

You looked over your phone at the mirror, only to see in horror what was rising up from it.

A blot creature.

Well, sort of.

It was clearly fashioned out of blot, but it didn't look like the previous blot monsters you had faced off again.  It was a lot smaller, with a dripping, goopy head rather than a glass bulb.  It almost looked like a Kingdom Hearts villain, but more...  Malleable?  Liquid?

Either way, it definitely didn't bring forth any positive feelings.

And of course, because life really liked testing you, more of these mini blot monsters started to form.

"Oh fuck me," you muttered under your breath.  Before you could even say anything in the live stream to see if somebody had an idea to help, your phone powered off, dead.  Probably for the best — you were going to need both hands for whatever shit this was about to be.

Yuna called out your name in a panic as you both backed up.  Those who were outside immediately noticed the monsters appearing, phone cameras popping out to video this when all you wanted to do was to yell at them to fucking run!  

But... the monsters didn't seem to care much about you or anybody else around.  They all started to crawl towards your dorm.  Exchanging confused glances at Yuna, you tried to think of what the hell could be important in the dorm unless something was hidden in there.

Like, say, a shoebox under your bed.

You swore again.  "Yuna, we have to get back to the room."

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"I think they're after something I brought back from Twisted Wonderland!"

"Then let them have it!"

You gave her an exasperated look before sighing.  You didn't have time to argue this right now!  Shaking your head and gritting your teeth, you started to run towards the dorm, ignoring the burn in your legs and lungs.  Yuna cried out in frustration behind you before following you.

It was nice to know that your current roomie was apparently a ride or die at the very least.

"If we get killed, I'm going to kill you!" she shouted at you as the two of you ran into the building, avoiding the monsters as if they were the plague.  You skidded to a stop by the door, grabbing the fire extinguisher mounted crookedly on the wall.  It wasn't a great weapon... But it was better than trying to square up with a blot monster with your bare hands and wet noodle arms.

The weird thing about these monsters was that they didn't have the helmet heads.  Without hesitation, you swung the fire extinguisher down on one that got too close to you and Yuna, only for it to immediately splatter into harmless ink all over you both and the walls.  Some got in your mouth, tasting like dirt and ash.  Ew.

Ignoring Yuna's commentary, you continued to run up the stairs, mind racing.  The blot didn't sting — not that you were complaining, of course.  Not to mention there were so many, and as long as you didn't get in their way, they didn't seem aggressive.  And that made you wonder...

Was it actually blot?  Or was it the product of somebody's unique magic?

Maybe you were overthinking it.  You tended to do that a lot, paranoia being one of your best friends, but there was a hell of a good reason for that.  Your time in Twisted Wonderland had unfortunately taught you to be wary and cautious of everybody you met, to suspect everybody had ulterior motives.

Besides — how else could this all be happening?  Somebody had to be behind it.  But if they were, were they behind the earthquakes and other disasters happening?

Ugh.  You wished you had more time to think, but time was of the essence.

"There's so many...!"

Yuna was kicking at them, and a part of you feared of her after you saw her splatter three without breaking a sweat.

Note to self: don't ever get kicked by Yuna.

Thankfully, there were none of these monsters in your dorm room yet.  Shutting the door behind yourselves, you immediately went to pull the shoebox out from under your bed, trying to sift through the items.

"Um?!  Do we have time to go through everything right now?!"

. . . Yuna had a point.  Grabbing your backpack, you started to dump all of the items inside, one of them catching your attention.  Without thinking twice, you caught it, gazing at the shimmering green gem stone.

It was a simple necklace, with a silver chain and what was apparently green sapphire.  It looked simple, but considering the gift giver, it no doubt cost more than your college tuition.

"Come on!"

Slipping the necklace on, you grabbed the backpack and started to leave the dorm room — only to get swarmed.  Yuna shrieked, kicking one away from you and stomping on it as you two traversed the narrow hallways once more to leave the dorm.  Now the monsters seemed to be targeting you, which proved your theory right.  Something in that shoebox was attracting them.  But what the hell was it?

Progress was annoyingly slow but eventually you and Yuna made it out in the fresh air again.  There seemed to be no end of the small monsters, and you could feel yourself getting winded.  Yuna didn't look much better.

"What now?" she asked.  You didn't have an answer, grimacing as one got you with sharp claws through your jeans.

"Hell if I know," you responded breathlessly.  Wait until the cops show up?  What could they even do?

The ground started to shake again.  It hindered the monsters as much as it hindered you, and you and Yuna held onto each other, attempting to stay upright to no avail.  It didn't take long for both of you to topple like dominos — the pavement you were standing on was less forgiving than the grass you fell on earlier, but you could barely focus on the numbing pain as you saw the ground cracking a few feet away from where you and Yuna were.

Through the earthquake, you could shakily make out something larger leaving the mirror, squeezing through and ballooning out.  Yuna watched it with wide, horrified eyes; you were sure your expression mirrored hers.

It was nothing like the small menaces from before.  This thing was the size of your dorm, with large, bat-like, inky wings that dripped blot threateningly.  On it's head was the signature black helmet of a blot monster, and its talons tore up the grass as it stepped out of the mirror.

It was horrifying.

And it was the exact same creature from your nightmares.

As the ground stopped shaking, you pulled yourself and Yuna up, your legs feeling both like jelly and lead at the same time.

"Run," you breathed, tapping Yuna's arm without looking at her.  "RUN!"

The two of you started to bolt just as the blot monster swooped down, cleaving through the pavement and causing you and Yuna to dive in separate directions.  You barely registered the stinging scrape of pavement against your flesh, scrambling to your feet as the monster instantly turned to you.

Welp...  At least Yuna will hopefully be safe, because there was absolutely no chance you could dodge this one.

Flinching as the monster dove straight at you, you couldn't help but call out the one person you needed most, wishing for one last time to have been able to see him.

"MALLEUS!"

And if you opened your eyes, you would have noticed the fireflies appearing around you.

[zinfindoll]

How You Turn My World; Chapter 4

You finally find your way into the labyrinth, coming across some new and old faces; both friendly and malicious.

Character; Lilia Vanrouge

Content; Gender-neutral reader, reader is getting tired of being stuck here and smelling like a bog

Content Warnings; Swearing, some talk of death, reader passes out

Word Count; 2.2 K

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 |

As per usual, don't put my work into AI.

You were finally making some decent progress, what, with not being stuck in some bog and knowing somewhat of where you were going. A vast improvement really! Well, it would be, but unfortunately, you still reeked of rotten eggs and skunk — apparently the bog stench only got worse the longer it stayed on.

“Why did it have to dump me into the swamp,” you huffed, rounding yet another corner. “Like, it could have dumped me beside the water, but, no, no, let’s dump the magicless human right into the putrid bog water! A good guffaw, don’t you think? Ha ha ha HA!”

At least your au de Bog of Eternal Stench kept any would-be assailants away since you hadn’t run into anything (besides a rose bush, ouch) since you started making your way through the labyrinth. So maybe it wasn’t all that bad… damn, maybe your sense of smell was just used to it… hey, if stink helps you not die, then you would gladly stay stinky! Well, bitterly stay stinky is more like it.

“Assholes,” you muttered, rounding another corner. 

But it wasn’t a corner; it was a crossroad. Three paths merged off of the one you were on.

… aren’t labyrinths just one long line? THIS IS A FUCKING MAZE?! You groaned, looking at your possible options which all looked exactly the same.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Of course nothing is easy here, no no no! Gotta make things difficult now.

The hedge behind you rustled, and you whipped around, getting into a stance where you could either land a pretty good sucker punch to the hedge-stalker or make a mad dash away. But out of the hedge crawled out a small, fuzzy, caterpillar. And back at home you would have thought it was cute, but you learned your lesson from the doors; don’t trust it, or anyone for that matter.

You looked down at the caterpillar, and the caterpillar looked up at you, blinking slowly. 

What are the chances… 

“Do you know a way out,” you asked the caterpillar, crouching down so that you didn’t tower over it.

The caterpillar blinked at you again (apparently caterpillars in the Underground have eyelids, which isn’t the weirdest thing considering everything). “No,” it chirped and continued crawling on its merry way, wherever that may be. “But you’ll find the way.” And it disappeared into the growth of the maze, humming a little tune to itself.

You sighed, and pushed yourself back up, straightening out your shoulders and looking up to the sky. “I’ll find a way,” you breathed, looking up at the cloudless sky which was starting to turn a brilliant amber with the setting sun. “I might want to find a way is more like it.”

You looked back down to the ground, looking at the three paths in front of you. They all look the same, save for the ground making up paths themselves, with the middle and right paths looking well worn with travel. And while they may be well worn, there was a voice at the back of your head that was whispering caution. The left-most path was not as well travelled, with dead vines covering parts of it.

“Hopefully you’re right, little buddy since I could use all the luck I can get.” And you made your way down the path, hoping that it was the correct one and didn’t lead you to your death or some other unpleasant thing.

…

…

Lilia was at the entrance of the labyrinth, in front of the two doors.

“Have you seen a human, about this tall, a bit of a temper, and smelling foul,” he asked the doors.

The doors looked at each other before looking at Lilia. “And what’s it to you,” they said in unison.

Lilia smiled, but it was one of mild annoyance, not joy or amusement. “Royal orders I fear. You wouldn’t want the mistress finding out about you both tampering with a royal matter, would you?” The smile turned cat-like since Lilia had backed them into a corner.

The doors paled, with the blue door speaking up. “No no, sir! We would never dream of such a thing!!! Yes, there was a human, a wretched one at that, horribly rude!”

Lilia hummed, cocking a brow at the door. “I do think wretched is a bit of an overstatement now,” he whispered to himself. “Well, tell me where about they are then. The sooner I can collect them, the better for you lot.”

The red door sighed, “Near the heart of it, they took the left path.”

Left path? Why the left path leads to… Shit. Lilia mentally groaned, knowing that regardless of the path you took, you would end up having to deal with them eventually. “Your cooperation has been noted,” is what he said though, giving the doors both a nod before turning into a bat and flying over the labyrinth, trying to find you before you ran into whoever them was.

“Please be clever enough not to die,” he whispered to no one, hoping that he didn’t have to deliver your body to the Queen.

…

…

The left path brought you to what looked like a forest; with old-growth trees, ferns and moss covering the ground, and a list mist hanging in the air. It was peaceful and beautiful, with the setting sun illuminating the mist without burning it away.

But that would not last, night was fast approaching and you had nothing to protect you this time; no rowan tree to haul your ass up, and no sort of weapon to protect yourself besides the oh-so-lovely smell of the bog to deter something from eating you. You were pretty sure it would also keep away anything that wanted to otherwise snatch you up.

“AH!” Something jumped out from a tree, and you couldn’t fully register what it was since you were also screeching, much like the creature was at you; you with fright, the creature with amusement and joy.

Two other creatures jumped out from behind the trees and startled cackling, jumping, and clapping. Together, they surrounded you, with no way to really escape them without fighting through.

… you really should have read about fae species, since you didn’t know what they exactly were, or how dangerous they were either. 

One pulled you near a pit and lit a fire, cackling in glee and dancing, trying to get you to join them. “Ah come on, human, have some fun! DANCE BABEY!!!!”

But you stayed still as more creatures came out of the shadows, dancing around the fire, giggling, cackling, and pulling a bit at your clothes to prompt you to join them. You didn’t know, cementing your feet down, your eyes watching their movements with caution.

‘Should you dance with the fae, you shall not stop dancing until you exhaust yourself. And once you wake up, you will continue dancing. This cycle will repeat itself until you dance to death.’ 

At least that was what the book said, and so you stayed still, regardless of how much the creatures pulled at you. While it looked like a grand old time, you remained where you were.

“I don’t have time for dancing,” you answered coldly, flinching from pinching fingers. You were also a bit shocked that Eau de Bog of Eternal Stench wasn’t keeping them away. Either, they couldn’t smell, or, they didn’t care that you smelled downright awful. “So this ‘baby’ won’t dance.”

And should I be offended by you calling me ‘baby’ or am I reading too much into it?

The main creature just shrugged and spun its dancing partner around. “Your loss human! More fun for us then! YIPPEE!!!” And it threw something in the fire to where you could feel the heat on your face.

What now? You were just standing there awkwardly as the creatures danced about, singing something that you couldn’t really make out. All you knew was that the heat, noise, and the dizzying dance of them was making your head pound, and throat scream in thirst. You hadn’t drank anything for over a day(?) — no, bog water did not count — and the heat from the fire made the thirst only worse. Shit.

“Ah, you don’t look too… hot there human,” one of the creatures snickered at its own joke at your expense. “Maybe if you dance with us, loosen up and have a bit of fun, then you can have a drink? Hmm? Dancing won’t kill you!” But its failed attempts at covering up its own malicious giggles were more than enough to stand your ground… which was coming at you quite fast since you practically collapsed.

Was it the thirst? The pounding migraine that wanted nothing more than to crawl into some dark hole and hide? Or your exhaustion from making that tiring trek, crawling yourself out of the bog and making the trek again, or the hours you had spent wandering around the maze with no real idea of where you were going? All you really knew was that you were now on the ground with the creatures poking at you to see if you were still alive.

“Aw, man! Are they already dead? That’s no fun!” One of the creatures pouted, raising up your arm, and you let it plop back to the ground. “Come on human! Get up! You’re not a party pooper are you?”

Scre you buddy! Can’t you read the situation?!

You were trying your best to stay quiet, which wasn’t all that hard, since all of your energy was gone. 

“They best not be,” a familiar voice called out.

From your position, you couldn’t see who it was, but you could make out the creatures jumping away from you like you were the hot fire instead of the fire pit. But someone else was approaching until you could make out a pair of shoes in front of your face.

They crouched down beside you, placing their fingers gently at the base of your throat; taking your pulse. “Hmph, playing dead, are we, Beastie?”

That irritating chuckle. The annoying nickname. Those mischievous magenta eyes that now looked at you with curiosity and amusement.

It was him — Mr. Sparkles.

And he had just blown your act of playing possum (well, not really, since you had actually collapsed).

But you didn’t say anything, instead favouring to give him a dirty look. Yet he just shook his head in jest, and proceeded to pick you up and wrap you around his shoulders and neck like some sort of bizarre ermine pelt; better than being carried like a sack of potatoes or the bridal carry you supposed.

“Her majesty sends her regards for not turning or killing her guest,” Lilia offered the creatures. It would be such a waste and pity to see such an entertaining Beastie leave us too soon now. “But do know she won’t take to their condition lightly.”

My condition? I’m not some Victorian child with some unknown illness wreaking havoc on their body you know?! But all that you did was groan and cough. You couldn’t even cough in Mr. Sparkles’ (Lilia’s) face, since you had a lovely view of the moss-covered ground and the fae’s shoes.

He patted the back of your calves, and you would have kicked him if you had more energy, but you didn’t. “Now, we really should be off, since Beastie has… an hour to get out of this maze before they turn into some sort of worm, or a hedge; never know what this old labyrinth will decide on really.” Lilia chuckled at the thought (was it merriment, or was he happy that you weren’t joining the caterpillar you met earlier?).

“No,” you wheezed. “WoRm!”

“See! They said it themself! No worm! How lovely that we are on a similar wavelength, Beastie! Marvellous even!” Lilia exclaimed, and the both of you started levitating off of the ground. “Now, do enjoy your party, Fireys!”

The creatures (Fireys apparently) groaned but got back to their party, dancing around the fire like they didn’t just try to lure you to your death mere minutes before.

“Tsk tsk, Beastie,” Lilia’s tutting brought your attention back to him and you grumbled. “You owe me two favours now, you know. Lucky that I found you… although that part wasn’t hard. I thought you learned your lesson the first time you decided to take a dip into the Bog of Eternal Stench?”

You lightly kicked him, letting your irritation be known, but Lilia just hummed. “Now now, no need to be like that! Do you want to smell like a bog when you meet the mistress? She wouldn’t take kindly to your… unique aroma.”

You hissed out a breath since he decided to pinch at your ear rather harshly — prompting for you to answer. “No,” you whispered hoarsely.

“Also, do read up on that book, since you will want to know about the government and fae species etiquette!”

From a smelly bog and fumbling around a maze for hours on end, to finding yourself being taken to fae high society… was it too late to become some worm in the maze? I think being a worm actually has a better chance of me living.

But sadly, you were saved from an eternity of being a worm. Hopefully, Mr. Sparkles (Lilia) would cover for your blunders a little for when you found yourself in front of ‘the mistress’.

...

...

...

...

To be continued!

~~~~~~~

Tags; @afunkyfreshblog @cheezy-moon @eynnwwyjth @identity-theft-101 @ithseem @lucid-stories @ryker-writes @twistwonderlanddevotee @xxoomiii

Link to Masterlist

[zinfindoll]

How You Turn My World; Chapter 1

Your day started with chaos, and my dear, it looks like it will continue to be chaos. But only time will tell. The Underground holds many surprises in store for you.

Characters; Grim, Lilia Vanrouge, Deuce Spade, Ace Trappola

Content; Gender-neutral reader, cat shenanigans, building the plot

Content Warnings; Swearing, illusion to marijuana but there is none

Word Count; 4.6 K

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 |

Don't put my work into AI; I'll make sure you go to the Underground and don't return. Mwah mwah, kisses~

Ah, the joys of cat parenthood. Days spent cuddling your little bundle of furry joy. That’s what your friends preached. That having a feline roommate was easy and rewarding. That you would benefit by having a cute and fuzzy companion that didn’t demand much of anything. That you would love your little kitty friend like a child. Well, either your friends were liars with questionable senses of humour, or you drew the short stick when it came to choosing a furry companion. And there’s always the possibility of it being both, what with having Ace as a friend and all, but you just hoped it was just your shit luck and not that you had shit friends.

Seriously, though, what higher power did you manage to piss off to deserve the royal hobgoblin of a cat you have? He has shit and pissed in your plants on several occasions. Demolished every single curtain he laid eyes on like he had a personal vendetta against them. Stole your breakfast off your plate right as you were about to take a bite. Puked on your last pair of good white shoes, which still had stains on them because they wouldn’t come out. The cherry on top of it all though was that he insists on yowling and crying in the middle of the damn night for no good reason. Rudely awaking you from the dead of sleep because he demanded attention. With how loud he was, you were surprised that you hadn’t gotten a noise complaint from any of your neighbours… yet. But then again, you could hear the upstairs neighbours’ children screaming bloody murder every so often — what were their names, the Clovers? They were probably so used to it that they threw you a bone, or they didn’t want extra grey hairs from filing a complaint to the landlord. So maybe Grim wasn’t all that bad, but he was still a gremlin child. 

“MROWWWWWW!!!!!” Ah, so tonight was no different then. Grim had decided that you needed to be woken up before even the birds started to sing, needed to be yanked out of the land of dreams. That whatever had caught the attention of his singular brain cell was more important than you recharging so you don’t accidentally say the wrong thing to your boss. Since last time you had slipped up and called him dad, even though no one in their right mind would leave him alone with a rutabaga unattended, and he went on a two-hour long monologue about how much of a kind and generous person he was for you to see him as a father figure. And your salary wasn’t high enough, nor would it ever be, to deal with his eccentric and maddening behaviour.

Maybe, just maybe, if you ignored him and stared at the ceiling long enough he would stop his caterwauling and go to sleep. “MROWWWW!!!!!” Apparently not.

Just one night, ONE NIGHT, of peace and quiet. PLEASE. But you knew that if you didn’t get up soon, he would get up on the bed and put his fluffy butt in your face… like he did last night and the night before that. Sighing, you begrudgingly got out of your cocoon of warm, fluffy, blankets, and hoped you would soon be back in them after dealing with Grim. Hopefully, he was just complaining about his food bowl not being as full as he would like it.

What was the time anyways? Three-thirty in the morning? Ugh, Grim! What did Ace say about it, ah, yes, “Primetime witching hour. Demons and all sorts of creepies” yada yada yada. But you didn’t pay any mind to him, as his annoying smug look would taunt you in your mind even though he was probably sound asleep, blissfully asleep. Something that you wanted to be doing, but woefully you were not.

Stepping out into the main living space, you shot the grey fuzzball the stink eye. “What the hell do you want? You absolute gremlin!” You hissed through gritted teeth, very much annoyed with your brat of a fur child and wanting nothing more than to crawl back to bed, hell, even the loveseat would suffice.  

The offending feline just trilled at you in response, and his tail vibrated, happy that you had come out to see him. How is he so cute but so annoying? He rubbed against your legs before trotting off to one of his hidey holes, which also served as his nest of your stolen socks. He has a weird obsession with socks. But he popped back out, holding something in his mouth. Something small and fuzzy that didn’t look like any of his toys.

“Prowwww,” he dropped it at your feet as if saying that catching whatever it was, was the equivalent to paying his share of rent. Which, it was very much not.

You closed your eyes and pinched your brow. Please be one of his toys. PLEASE be one of his toys. You chanted to yourself in your mind and then opened your eyes. Unfortunately, it was not one of his toys. The small, fuzzy thing in question seemed to be a mouse or some other kind of rodent. It was too late (too early?) for this, and quite frankly you didn’t have the brain power to confirm whatever the hell it was. All you knew was that it looked like a mouse, therefore it was a mouse.

“Is this what you’ve been screaming about this whole time? A mouse,” you sighed. Shaking your head, you went to the bathroom, grabbing some paper towel so you could at least put it outside for something else to eat, or go back to nature in some other way. It was better than just being left to decompose in the communal garbage bin. When you came back out though, it was nowhere to be seen. Now, either Grim decided to eat it like a good kitty cat, or, with your luck, it was still alive and was now running amuck in your apartment.

Grim’s chattering was coming from the kitchen now, and he was up on top of the fridge. It was running amuck in your apartment, how lovely.

“Why, why, are you like this?! Get down from there!” You really didn’t have the energy for this.

Grim just blinked at you before his eyes dilated. He leapt down from his perch on the fridge and was pawing at a corner by the window. Looking down and you couldn’t make out anything on the floor. But you had the oh-so-brilliant idea to look up toward the ceiling. The ‘mouse’ was very much alive, and wasn’t a mouse at all, since it was flying around and banging itself against the corner.

“YOU CAUGHT A FUCKING BAT?!”

He had indeed caught a fucking bat. And bats were normally fine, when they were outside. Not when they’re flying around your apartment at three o’clock in the morning and your cat is losing his goddamn mind trying to catch it. So no, this was very much not fine. 

The bat was about as pleased as you were with this whole situation and kept on flinging itself against the glass of the window, desperately trying to get back outside. How the hell did it get inside in the first place? That could be pondered on upon at a later time, as the first priority was getting it back outside.

“Don’t fly towards my head, bat. I’m just trying to get you back outside. You’re a nice bat, right? Nice bat, nice bat,” you whispered in a non-threatening tone. Could the flying mammal understand what you were saying? Mostly likely not. Hopefully it understood that you, unlike your cat, were trying to help and did not want some fresh bat as your late night snack tonight.

After what felt like forever fuddling with the window to open with a broom in hand, just in case the bat decided to dive bomb your head, you finally got the cursed thing open. 

Grabbing Grim, who was still trying to catch the bat for a second time tonight, you got back to your bedroom and locked the door shut. You hoped that the bat would take the hint that it now had a path to freedom, but only time, and a bit of sleep, would tell. Slumping against the door frame, you sighed and looked over at Grim. He was playing with the door stop, the boing, boingg, boinggg sounds filling in the quiet. Whether it was to amuse himself, or to annoy you was a fifty-fifty bet.

Just as you were about to crawl back under the covers a string of anxiety connected in your head. Shit, did Grim get bit? DAMMIT GRIM! After leaving a somewhat desperate and tired call to your vet’s voicemail, alongside an apology for the late call (early call?), you peeked outside to see if the bat was still flying around. According to Google, the bat should be tested for rabies. You did not trust your no brain cell having fluff ball to know better than to get bit by a possibly rabid bat. But it was gone, so yet again, you were out of luck.

You had enough with today, even though it had just really begun. Pulling up the covers, you sighed in the dark warmth of your blanket cocoon. Grim was busying himself by trying to pounce on your feet, but you ignored him, falling back to sleep and hoping that the rest of your day wouldn’t bring any more shenanigans, migraines, or small flying mammals.

…

…

…

By some miracle, you managed to get Grim to the vet the very same day. Your boss agreed to let you work from home because he is ever so kind and generous… It did help that one of the other higher-ups nearly nagged off his ear upon hearing about the condition of your cat. Even through the phone you could hear it, and could only imagine the spectacle it must have been. Oh well, you had the day off and that is what mattered… but you would be lying if you said that you didn’t cough out a laugh just imagining the scene on the other side of the phone.

You were relieved, Grim on the other hand was not having it. To be fair, you did trick him into his crate with some tuna. He made his disdain known to all though by crying the entire way there. You almost felt bad for him, almost being the key word. 

“You have no one to blame for this but yourself, ya know.” You huffed at him, feeling your shit sleep all too well. “Crying about it won’t help you any.”

Grim let out a pathetic little mew. His little, bright, blue eyes being the only visible part of him, which peered out miserably from the crate. Caving to the kitty manipulation, you poked your finger in as a peace offering. Grim booped his nose to your finger and then proceeded to nibble on it; such a vicious beast.

The vet visit went as well as you could hope it could, as Grim only tried to maim the vet a few times. Hey, it was an improvement from last time, as he had actually peed on them. So yes, trying to maim was vastly better than seeing your figurative child pee on the doctor. You’re pretty sure your vet didn’t go through years of schooling and thousands of dollars into debt just to get peed on by your unruly cat. But Grim was won over by the offering of that cat gogurt, his nose and stomach betraying him. Note to self, stock up on some of that stuff.

The rest of the visit went on without a hitch; he had some blood drawn, got his booster shot for rabies, and even managed to squeeze in a bonus nail trim. There was no evidence of any bite or puncture marks, so Grim by some miracle, did indeed have enough brain cells not to get bit.

“Grim will have to be watched for about forty-five days,” the vet hummed, checking Grim’s chart. “Since you don’t have any other animals it shouldn’t be too difficult to keep him in quarantine. If you see any symptoms be sure to bring him back, just in case.” They gave you a tired smile, and then turned that smile towards their cantankerous patient. “And thank you for deciding not to pee on me this time, Grim. I’m not so bad, see?”

Grim swatted at them, which was his answer to the vet’s question. In Grim’s book, the vet was that bad.

Ignoring his attitude, as you would whenever you came across a screaming toddler and exhausted parent while doing your grocery run, you turned back to your vet. “Thank you, and sorry for Grim. If it makes you feel any better, he’s just as much as a gremlin child at home as well.” At least today went better than last time.

The vet chuckled goodheartedly, “Don’t worry about it, I have more unruly patients than little Grim here.”

Damn, they have seen some shit, haven’t they? … Maybe I should, I don’t know, bring them a gift basket next time I’m in? Or maybe a gift card for a spa day or something??? You should really get them something for the amount of dry cleaning they probably needed to do.

With the visit over, and Grim having a clear bill of health, you shoved him back into his carrier with zero decorum, closing the door as fast as possible before he could escape and try to hide behind the counter like he did last time. I know your tricks, cat. Speaking of bills, the one that was waiting for you at the front desk was enough for you to point an icy glare at your unruly ward.

“You’re lucky that I love you, asshole.” And much like the vet you too got a swat as your thank you. Wonder if this is what the Clovers feel about their children? At least their kids didn’t wake them up in the middle of the night with a bat they caught… You shook your head, moving past those thoughts, and hauled your wailing cat back home.

…

...

By the time you got back to your place, it was just a little past noon. The rest of your day was wide open, and you didn’t really have anything else to do, since taking Grim to the vet was the most urgent of your tasks. Your place could benefit from some tidying, since your boss had recently been demanding more as of late and has been even less useful than he usually was… which was saying something. Seriously, how does he have his position? It was baffling. You swore you could hear his monologue playing on loop in your head whenever you thought of the man, which you tried to keep to a minimum for your own sanity… whatever little of it still remained that is.

Shaking your head to rid the annoying voice, you put on your favourite playlist and got to work. You took your time, putting away the dishes, vacuumed the main room, and even got rid of the dust on the high shelves. But your place was small, so it didn’t take very long for you to tidy up, and deep cleaning could wait for another day when you had enough energy to mentally and physically deal with that undertaking.

You knew that your email probably had a few messages, but it could wait. You weren’t on the clock and therefore didn’t have to check it. Only do the stuff you’re required to do when you get paid, it makes your downtime way more enjoyable.

But, you were bored. The cleaning helped with it, but with the majority of it done and the more intense stuff waiting for another day, you had nothing else to do. And while doom scrolling through social media may fill in the time, it too, was boring, predictable.

… There were two people though who were the exact opposite of boring and predictable. And yes, they did give you your fair share of migraines and questioning your life decisions more than you usually do, they were your best friends. And you were in need of having a movie night with them.

Opening up the group chat, you typed in a message.

| The Responsible One | You guys down for a movie night at my place tonight?

And almost immediately, Ace replied.

| Ginger, derogatory | depends  | ya got fiid?

Deuce responded shortly after.

| Mama’s Boi | Yeah, I’m down | What time? | . . . | And what’s fiid?

|The Responsible One | How does 6 sound?

| Ginger, derogatory | IT WAS A TYOP | *TYPO | I MEANT FOOD | F O O D

| Mama’s Boi | 6 works for me

| The Responsible One | I took a screenshot of that btw love you Ace | Thanks Deuce for actually giving me an answer. | What FIID do you guys want?

| Ginger, derogatory | FUCK YOU | … but yeah 6 works 4 me | any is cool with me

| The Responsible One | Yes yes, fuck you too Ace | Bring your own snacks it is then | See you guys at 6!

That gave you about ninety minutes to hide your good snacks, since the last time, Ace had made himself too comfortable and ate all your fancy treats that you paid way too much for. But like they say, you deserve to ‘treat yoself’ … Ace still owed you for those snacks though. They were fucking expensive, prick.

…

Ninety minutes didn’t take very long, but you managed to hide some of the mess that you hadn’t tackled in your bedroom; it could stand to wait. And the first of your dork friends arrived right on time, count on Deuce trying to be punctual… even if he was panting like he had run a marathon to make it.

“You know,” you sighed, “you didn’t have to sprint here.” You grabbed a glass, filled it with some ice water, and handed it over to your flushed and heaving friend. Please don’t pass out on me. “It’s not a race.”

Deuce took the glass and downed it, still catching his breath. He lifted up the tote bag he was carrying, “Mom made brownies.” A series of coughs escaped him, but he gave you a bashful smile and showed off the multiple Tupperware containers filled to the brim with still warm chocolatey divineness. “Didn’t want them to get cold! Oh! She also made extra for you too!”

He is such a sweetheart… but he’s also pretty dense at times, still a sweetie though. You could have just warmed them back up in the microwave — yes, they weren’t the same as fresh from the oven, but still — you didn’t have the heart to tell Deuce that though. He looked so proud that he made it on time and that the brownies were still warm. What did you do to deserve Deuce as a friend? 

“Also,” he fished around the tote bag, “I brought extra popcorn, since we ate all of yours last time.” And he pulled out an unopened bag of popcorn, the bashful smile turning bright.

Deuce took a step forward, but stopped and backpedalled, taking off his shoes. After he set them neatly by the door, he made his way to the kitchen, and set all of his assorted belongings on the meagre counter space. Once he unloaded the tasty cargo, he made his way over to your loveseat, which had seen better days, and sat down, getting comfortable.

He was looking at you, and there was a little crease in between his eyebrows. Deuce only wore that look when he was worried. “Are you feeling okay? You seem a bit… off.” 

You gave him a tired smile, “Meh. Tired, stressed, not enough money. You know, the usual.” You noticed that his frown was only deepening, so you took a seat next to him and patted his shoulder. “Seriously, Deuce, I’m okay. Plus you got enough on your own plate without worrying about me. I’m going to be fine.”

Deuce pursed his lips, but let out a long sigh, accepting your answer without much fuss. You were capable of dealing with whatever it was, he knew that. You were one of the most capable, and stubborn, people that he knew. You would be fine in the end. “Whose turn is it to pick the movie this time?” He asked, stretching out, trying not to bump into you.

“Hmm, your turn actually,” you hummed. “But–”

Bzz! Bzzz! BZZZ! Someone was buzzing your door, repeatedly pushing at the button. Only one person you know did that. BZZZZZZZZ! And he wouldn’t let up until you answered the door.

Groaning, you got out of your spot and peaked through the peephole. On the other side was none other than Ace, who’s leg was bouncing and he kept on pushing your damn buzzer.

You only opened the door when he decided to lean on it, making him almost fall… almost. Maybe next time would be the day where you would see him eat dirt. “Happy you could join us on this lovely evening,” you drawl, doing a little bow.

Ace rolled his eyes at you, “Seriously? Feeling petty tonight I see.” He too took off his shoes, since the last time he wore them in and tracked in mud from outside, you made him clean it up. He learned his lesson that day, and really didn’t feel like cleaning your floor again.

You smiled at him, “Yeah, yeah I am~” You dropped the smile and went back to your comfy spot beside Deuce. “Also,” you turned around right as Ace was about to plunder your fridge. You glared at him, and he backed off, giving you a sheepish look. “Don’t even think about stealing my food, there’s popcorn and you have food at your home. Unless you want to start paying for my groceries, stick to what’s on the counter.”

Closing the fridge, Ace busied himself by making himself some popcorn, and sneaking a brownie or two in his mouth as he waited for the microwave to finish making his treat. While he was busy in the kitchen, you and Deuce were slowly going through the seemingly endless catalogue of movies. 

“What are we even watching tonight? There’s no special occasion,” Ace mused, sitting on the counter, swinging his legs back and forth. “Action? Horror? Sci-fi? Perhaps,” he paused and made a kissy face, “romance?~”

You stared at him, until he dropped the kissy face. “Never do that again,” you deadpanned, turning back to the screen. “Found something?”

Deuce was hovering over a title, Labyrinth. “Can we watch this? Mom said it was one of her favourites when she was a kid.”

Ace plopped into the armchair, and started chowing down on his fresh popcorn. “Dude, your mom probs just had the hots for, uhhh, Jared? Or whatever his name is.”

You threw a pillow at him, but missed unfortunately, and Ace flipped you off. “First off, Ace, his name is Jareth not Jared. And yeah, we can watch it,” you said, stretching back and getting into prime comfortable blob position. Oh yeah, you weren’t getting back up. 

Once Deuce got up and brought some snacks back in, you started the movie. And damn, these brownies are divine. You really needed to ask Ms. Spade for her recipe. The popcorn was decent, overall meh, but the brownies! THE BROWNIES!!!

You all settled down after being rationed your snacks, and you pressed play. Ace and Deuce both nearly choked on popcorn when Jareth appeared.

“WHY ARE HIS PANTS SO TIGHT?!” They both choked in unison. 

You just rolled your eyes and ignored them, trying to focus on the movie. Other than you nearly having to do the Heimlich manoeuvre on the both of them, the movie continued without incident, until a certain gremlin decided to start crying right as Magic Dance began playing. Seriously Grim, must you choose the most inopportune time to act like Toby does in the movie? But that’s life with a cat.

You paused the movie and looked at Deuce. You were in prime comfortable blob mode, you weren’t getting up. Deuce patted you on the shoulder and went to go see what on Earth Grim was screaming about. Ace just continued to scarf back brownies, thank goodness you hid some away before he got here, or else you wouldn’t have any come tomorrow.

But Deuce came running back out of your room, since that was where Grim was. And you were about to question why he looked like he’d just seen a ghost when something blurred right past him; something small, fuzzy, and flying.

The damn bat is back?! Yeah, you definitely felt like you were cursed.

Now, you could either get up and deal with the bat, since Deuce was just trying to shoo it outside the window with a mop and Ace was screaming much like Grim was, or you could stay warm and comfy and hide under the blanket, pretending that this wasn’t your waking reality…

Option B was really tempting right now, to be honest. Sighing, you got up, massaged your temples to collect yourself, before arming yourself with a broom yet again. Grim has his rabies vaccine, you don’t, so you weren’t taking any chances.

“WHY IS THERE A BAT IN YOUR APARTMENT?!” Ace hissed, ducking as the bat swooped near him.

You opened the window right open, almost threatening to take it off its bearings, “Because the universe hates me, that’s why!” Was it dramatic? Yes. Did it contain a seed of truth? Yes. So that’s what you went with. Was it really an exaggeration though? In the past twenty-four hours it really felt like the universe was sending you a personal ‘Fuck You ♡ ' letter with a kiss mark on the envelope.

You and Deuce tried to work together as a team to coax the bat outside. Come on, the window is wide open. Come on bat, get your fuzzy ass out of my place. 

All that was happening though, was some scene that belonged in a Three Stooges act. With Ace and Grim screeching — yes they counted as one collective unit — Deuce trying his best, but not getting anywhere, and you feeling like you were about to explode from the stress and noise. Even on an impromptu day off, you didn’t get a break, not really.

Getting whisked away by the Goblin King is looking real appealing right now. The bat swooped down close to you, and your instincts kicked in and you swung at it, making it crash land into your coffee table, right into the popcorn. And alongside the popcorn getting spilled everywhere, there was also a poof of green sparkles.

When the green sparkles subsided, there was a strange person with long black hair and red streaks, wearing something that looked straight out of a Ren Faire, and he was standing on your table. The strange man looked straight at you, and you looked back, blinking fast. Did Ms. Spade give us a different kind of brownie? Or is this actually happening?

He snapped his fingers, and you watched as he slowly disappeared into another poof of green sparkles. You were backing up, since hey there was a stranger in your place out of nowhere, but thanks to your shit luck, you tripped over your own feet, tumbling into them. And as the green poof subsided, both you, and the stranger, were nowhere to be seen. Leaving a very confused Ace, Deuce, and Grim to wonder what the hell happened to you.

And honestly? You were thinking the same. Where the FUCK am I?!

...

...

...

...

Tags; @busycloudy, @eynnwwyjth, @identity-theft-101, @ithseem, @krenenbaker, @ryker-writes, @twistwonderlanddevotee, @xxoomiii

~~~~~~~

Author's Note; And I'm finally showing this to the world, after months of collecting dust in my Google Docs. I have no idea how long this fic will go on for, and the length may be dictated by how much feedback and interaction this gets, so yeah. General rating for this is Teen but might change in the future; I won't tag people if that happens though, cuz, yeah.

If you enjoyed this story, and want to read more of my stuff while I slowly work on more installments to this fic, check out my masterlist! Please ignore any spelling mistakes, I write and die with no beta.

[zinfindoll]

Heyyaaa

May I request dorm leaders finding out you’re a girl please? If it’s too much u can make a part 2

Dorm Leaders Find Out You're a Girl?!?!?! (NOT CLICKBAIT!!!)

TW: Mentions of transphobia (nothing awful, just literally dropping the word lol); Idia is creepy

Info: Riddle, Leona, Azul, Kalim, Vil, Idia, Malleus x Reader (Platonic or Romantic); Fluff, Comedy(?)

🍓This one is gonna be long, like 5.3k words long. I love writing the dorm leaders so damn much <3 Besides, there’s been a long wait for this one, so I hope I make it worth it! You might see some favoritism shine through, but I did my best to keep it even. Hope you all enjoy!

Tags: @kierancaz @danchann33 @arashrita @the-ace-reader @akiyamasmizuki @kitsun369 @bloomstruck (I think I got all of you)

First Years

Ortho Sebek

Second Years

Third Years

-Okay so, I know we’re all wondering, how the hell do you get away with hiding your gender for so damn long?

-Firstly, those ceremonial robes do great at hiding the figure. The only tell would maybe be your hair, but feminine men aren’t unwelcome at Nightraven College, so you mostly get a few questioning stares and that’s it.

-Secondly, Crowley wants to save his own fucking ass. He already has to hide from the press that he has a MAGICLESS student from ANOTHER DIMENSION here, he doesn’t need the fact that you are a woman ALSO on his plate. So, obviously, he helps you hide your gender from others.

-Grim knows, of course, and he keeps his mouth shut for a few yummy cans of tuna (and threats of being expelled from Crowley <3)

-Even when you were just a janitor, he couldn’t have the rumor that he put a “helpless” young woman to work. (Like it wouldn’t be expected.)

-So how do you two do it?

-Baggy ass uniform. Crowley gave you at least three sizes too big.

-Your figure is completely hidden. Sure, you look completely homeless, but at least you’re hidden.

-For your voice, you simply deepen it. After some point, you blackmail Crowley into giving you a potion to help with it, since it's so taxing on your voice. (Or maybe your voice is naturally deep!)

-Sam provides you (for an unfairly pretty penny (not too different from your original world…)) any feminine hygiene products you might need.

-Honestly, you’re set for being cared for, but it’s the adjustment period that’s the hardest part. 

-Truly, it’s very jarring to suddenly be thrown into both a magical world and be isolated in a man's world with nowhere to hide.

-At least in your world you had other women who could understand your struggles. Here though? You’re completely alone.

-You notice how… messy some of these guys could be. How some of them smell… really rancid. -How rough they were with you and each other.

-Honestly, it’s kinda eye-opening. The way men show affection to each other is oddly refreshing to watch and experience!

-Ace and Deuce specifically are a good… trial run.

-That’s not what we’re here to talk about though…

-For the most part, it's incredibly easy to hide yourself for the first while on campus. Everyone on campus is so self-absorbed that they don’t bother questioning you.

-Your only real risk factor is Savannaclaw, but it's easy to avoid those guys (minus Jack, of course).

-However, you can only hide your gender for so long… It’s mentally draining to keep up this facade all the time around people you care about.

-So… how do they find out?

Riddle

-Riddle is the last student in Heartslabyul to find out.

-It’s not like he did anything to you for you to hold off on telling him (you know, other than the whole almost killing you that one time thing), it’s just that you don’t feel inclined to tell him. 

-Simple as that.

-He also really has no reason to question your gender. 

-Riddle didn’t have must interaction with people his own age until he came to night raven college, he doesn’t have the same social ideologies as other people do.

-Nightraven college is really his first touch with society outside of his mothers very watchful, conservative eye.

-So, excuse him for not picking up on stupid little gendered norms that the other students do.

-In his eyes, you dress like a man, you act (sort of) like the other male students, and you prefer he/him pronouns. 

-There’s nothing more to it then, right? If you identify as a man, he has no reason not to treat you as such - nor should he suspect you would hide your gender like that.

-Besides, this is an all boys school! Crowley wouldn’t allow you to attend here unless you were also a boy… right?

-He is aware there are exceptions — and you are already QUITE the exception, but surely Crowley wouldn’t be so cruel as to force a young woman to attend an all boys academy.

-Ah, sweet Riddle, ever in denial.

-He isn’t STUPID though. He notices how brotherly Trey is to you. He knows (and has heard) your many “secret sleepovers” with Cater.

-He ignores these things and doesn’t comment on them simply because, well, he likes you!

-He helps to tutor you sometimes, and he’s gotten to know you through that, and he really does come around on enjoying your presence.

-So, he ignores Trey and Cater’s odd behaviors for your sake.

-You keep him and his dorm members in high spirits, why would he want to shoo something like that away?

-He doesn’t really questionthings until he… overhears a conversation between Deuce and Ace. (A rather loud one, for how supposedly secret this topic was meant to be).

-One of them had gotten in trouble with a professor, and he was going to give them a stern scolding when he overheard what they were talking about.

-“Deuce, dude, you’re gonna want to sit down for this one.”

“What is it, I’m busy trying to finish my potionology homework.”

“Seriously this one is crazy, you’re not ready for for it.”

“Ace, if you’re just messing with me I’m going to leave.”

“Dude, the prefect is a girl.”

“…What?”

-Riddle did not bother the two after that. In fact, he just walked back to his room to sit and think about what he just overheard.

-It DID make sense. You didn’t quite fit in with everyone else for reasons outside of your otherworldly origin.

-You acted differently than the typical guy here at NRC, and you seemed to get along with the peers that were more ‘traditionally feminine’ best.

-It would explain Trey’s coddling and Cater’s secretiveness.

-Still, he didn’t want to assume. This was Ace and Deuce, and Ace could just be messing around with Deuce.

-So, at your next tutoring session, he broaches the subject as politely as possible.

-“So, prefect, I have… overheard something that I wanted to ask you about.”

“Oh no, am I in trouble because of Ace and Deuce again.”

“Not… technically… I did, however, overhear them talking about… you being a woman.”

“…I’m gonna kill them.”

“I could collar them for you, if that would help.”

-The confirmation was reassuring for Riddle in multiple ways. 

-1) Ace isn’t as terrible of a person as the thought he was.

-2) He wasn’t crazy in noticing the slight differences in you and your other peers.

-Now, you and Riddle aren’t exactly super close by any means, so your interactions with each other are limited to when you’re either being tutored or with friends in Heartslabyul.

-However, he is notably more nervous than he usually is.

-He doesn’t have some super secret crush on your all of the sudden, he just… never really had a chance to interact with women before.

-His mom kept him very sheltered from the opposite gender, so he has little to no experience with them.

-On top of that, because of his mother, he does have a slight fear of women. He’s afraid he’s going to upset you and you’ll blow a fuse on him or something.

-You have to assure him that you don’t bite and you won’t suddenly start screaming at him for no reason, and then he begins to relax a bit.

-Still, he’s very sweet and gentlemanly to you.

-If you need help with anyone around campus, you should come to him and he will have them dealt with accordingly.

Leona

-Leona “Respects Women” Kingscholar.

-Leona has SLIGHTLY worse smell than Ruggie, but he also knew immediately upon your arrival that you were a girl.

-In fact, he knew you weren’t a trans man, because they smell distinctly different from the typical woman.

-There aren’t many trans people in the Savannah though, so Ruggie not being able to pick up on that doesn’t really shock him.

-Leona, however, has smelled and seen plenty of trans people in his life time — you aren’t one of them.

-He won’t lie, he’s definitely interested in you. Women where he comes from are big and strong and proud, you’re just kind of plain.

-He keeps his ever curious eye on you though, because he’s interested in how you might navigate this whole thing.

-Now don’t get it twisted, he doesn’t care about you, he’s curious about you. 

-If you were to ask him for help on something, he wouldn’t offer it. (Not that you would, you seem particularly averse to him).

-However, if he were to see some creep trying to… well… creep on you, he’d chase them away without ever having you know he did.

-He was your secret bodyguard who wouldn’t admit it even if you held a knife to his throat.

-Still, he stayed out of your way and you stayed out of his. 

-A symbiotic relationship that you weren’t even aware existed… until you got in his way.

-Like Ruggie, when you start getting a little too involved in his ahem business, he gets pretty damn annoyed.

-You’re not exactly a threat to start, but you are a little trouble maker. If you find out what he’s up to, you’ll ruin his plans completely, and he can’t have that.

-However, he’s not exactly comfortable “taking care of you” like he is his male peers.

-He respects women, okay, you can’t blame him for not wanting to purposefully hurt you. (If his mom and brother found out, he’d never hear the damn end of it)

-He sends out Ruggie to scare you off, explicitly telling him he can’t hurt you on purpose.

-He knows Ruggie already has an idea of what’s going on, so he doesn’t have any qualms with telling him to be careful with you.

-Still, despite all this, he doesn’t really broach the topic until he’s forced to.

-He’s made it known to you, at this point, that he knows your secret. 

-He hasn’t caused you any extra trouble since his overblot, and he keeps his dorm members off your back, so you have no reason to interact with him… until, again, you get yourself into trouble.

-This time it’s YOU dragging him into your mess, despite him wanting nothing to do with it.

-You are convincing, though, so he gives and allows you to stay in his dorm room — rent free! Isn’t he so nice.

-Jack offers himself for protection if you need it, but you can see that Ruggie is quite bemused with the whole situation, so you decide to turn him down.

-Leona hasn’t tried anything yet, and he really could if he wanted to.

-You decide you can trust him. (You have to trust him).

-Then presents the issue of sharing a bed.

-Leona isn’t a weird pervert, okay. He isn’t absolutely leaping at the idea to be in bed with you — he’s so sorry.

-Honestly, it makes him a bit… uncomfortable.

-Sharing a bed is something you do with family or someone you’re involved with, not the weird magic-less kid who’s at least three years too young for you.

-So, Leona, ever the women’s rights activist, approaches you with a proposition.

-“Listen, I know you’re a woman and I know you know that. We’re not sharing a bed, there ain’t no way that’s happening.”

“Oh, so would you like the poor helpless homeless woman to sleep on the floor? How cruel can you be Leona.”

“Shut up, I’m not gonna do that to you. Listen, you can have the bed all to yourself and I’ll sleep on the couch, so long as you promise not to tell a single soul about this.”

“I promise.”

-You immediately tell Ruggie the next morning, and he is sure to make sure Leona never forgets it.

-Living with Leona for the short period of time that you do is very insightful!

-He’s actually pretty funny, much smarter than he lets on, and almost brotherly to you. Which does not fit the M.O. you built of him in your head.

-He’s gruff and pushy, but he does it out of genuineness.

-You end up getting really close to him because of it. 

-His quiet and laid-back demeanor are a break from the chaos of everyone else on campus, and he doesn’t make a big deal out of anything so you can just complain and he nods along unbothered.

-Only thing you notice that upsets him is when you bring up guys who bother you.

-Those guys tend to stop bothering you shortly after. How strange…

Azul

-Azul is hands down the last person on campus you want knowing about this.

-Riddle, Ruggie, Trey, Cater and pretty much everyone with half a brain tell you to stay as far away from him as possible.

-You see him in the halls sometimes, and he doesn’t look to bad. Unapproachable, sure, but he’s a rather pretty guy. Well put together and seemingly very smart from what you’ve been told.

-He helped to subdue Grim in the opening ceremony, so you know he’s magically capable. He’s also a house warden, so that goes unspoken, I suppose.

-He seems interested in you, from what you can tell. He always waves at you when he does see you in a sort of fake friendly kind of way. 

-You’ve seen him and his little (large, very large) goonies admiring ramshackle before.

-You’ve also politely asked them to not do that when you moved in, because it freaks you out a lot. To which they all gave you very eerie smiles and walked away.

-They remind you of a very small mafia, and you decided to heed your friends warnings because of that.

-You do so successfully for a long time too. Other than the few previously stated interactions, Azul seems un-inclined to bother you, and you don’t want to catch his leering eyes.

-Little do you know, Azul has a much more watchful eye on you that you initially thought.

-Sure, you don’t have much to offer him magic wise, but you have ramshackle. Oh, how he wants ramshackle.

-You are key to obtaining it, he just… has to find something on you first.

-You’re so painfully average. Perhaps a little more pretty in the face than his other peers, but you sacrifice that with the atrociousness of your uniform. 

-Truly, nothing about you is different.

-He almost gives up until Grim delivers him an opportunity in a pretty little bow.

-You agree to his contract out of the goodness of your heart, just like he knew you would. So sweet and kind are you, to practically hand him the deed to ramshackle on a silver platter.

-He notices, however, that Jade grows a very… sudden fascination with you.

-Sure, he told both Jade and Floyd to keep and eye on you and keep you in like, but for Jade to be so interested… very odd.

-Then, shortly after, Floyd’s own interest is piqued. Alright… less odd than Jade, but to have both of their eyes on you must mean he’s missing something. (I know I previously said that Floyd found out after Azul, but I was stupid and wrong and you should never listen to me when I’m talking about Floyd).

-He tries to get it out of them by any means, Asking, blackmailing, manipulation. He really does try, but their lips are sealed tight.

-It frustrates him to no end that they know something he doesn’t, and that he can’t figure out this very big secret.

-It stumps him for so long, because he’s looking in all the wrong places for the answer.

-Meanwhile, you know that Jade and Floyd know and you are TERRIFIED waiting for Azul to use this against you.

-The suspense starts killing you and making you anxious enough that its affecting sleep, so you decide to bite the bullet and arrange a meeting with him.

-Azul is honestly delighted, because he was just going to outright force the truth from you at this point.

-“I’m glad you set up this meeting, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“I know… I’ve been pretty nervous about it since Jade and Floyd started pestering me.”

“Before I talk about what I want to, I’d like to hear what you have to say. I’m a good listener after all.”

“Too good, if you ask me. Uhm, anyway, so I know that Jade and Floyd to you that I’m a girl already, but I’m really hoping you would just leave me be. You owe me after all.”

“…You’re a girl?”

“Did they not tell you…?”

-what. What? WHAT?!?!?!

-How could he not tell, he feel so incredibly stupid. Its so obvious now that he thinks about it.

-No wonder Jade and Floyd wouldn’t stop teasing him about it.

-He agrees not to let the secret out — he DOES owe you his life, after all. This is a minor trade.

-However, he does not mentally recover from this revelation for a while.

-He doesn’t treat you very different, I suppose. He’s more gentlemanly with you, and is generally more friendly, but those things come from saving a persons life regardless.

-He is, surprisingly, willing to ensure your whole gender thing doesn’t get out so long as you work a few hours at the monster lounge.

-Probably the best at keeping it to himself and making sure it doesn’t get out. You wouldn’t expect any less with Azul, though.

Kalim

-You and Kalim don’t really have much of a chance to interact.

-He seems sweet enough, and you know he’s much kinder than the rest of the dorm leaders, but you don’t really have any reason to interact with him.

-Kalim also doesn’t think too much of you. 

-You caused a ruckus at the entrance ceremony, that’s for sure, but you kinda blend into the background.

-Besides he’s a party animal — constantly hosting these huge parties at his dorm just because he can.

-As someone trying to keep out of trouble and hide such a huge secret… yeah, parties aren’t exactly your forte.

-So, when you get roped in to coming to Scarabia over winter break, Kalim is pleasantly surprised!

-He’s always excited to make a new friend, and you’re pretty infamous around school, so he’s extra excited to get to know you.

-Kalim has no reason to question anything about you, like most other people would.

-However, he isn’t stupid. He has plenty of younger sisters, and he picks up on social queues better than you’d expect.

-He definitely suspects something is off, but he figures you would tell him if something was up. 

-You actually find him quite easy to be around. He’s someone who makes it easy to let your walls down and just relax with.

-Despite his sudden mood shifts, he always makes sure that you’re happy and healthy and doing the best you can be in your position.

-However, you run out of the magical potion that deepens your voice pretty quickly, and you have to go back to dramatically straining your voice.

-You sound sick, honestly, and it makes Kalim worry. 

-He figures that you’re forcing yourself to deepen your voice so you’re still perceived as a man.

-Instead of asking you directly, as Kalim does, he goes to Jamil.

-“Jamil…”

“What do you need, Kalim?”

“Don’t you think somethings… off with the prefect?”

“Off? What are you talking about, nothings off with them.”

“No, I mean… do you think they might be… a girl?”

“…Kalim, that’s very rude to say. You need to be more respectful.”

“…You’re right, I’m sorry. Could we get him something to soothe his voice though, it sounds rough.”

-Kalim is a lot more watchful of you after that. He just… knows something is wrong, but he doesn’t want to be rude.

-It’s actually you who comes to him when no one is around for help.

-“Kalim, uhm, I need your help.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“So, I’m pretty sure you know, but I’m not a guy… I’m a girl, and I really need help hiding it. The longer I’ve been here, the harder it’s been on me.”

-Sweetheart he is, he promises to both help you and keep your secret to himself — and he does both surprisingly well!

-He offers his private bathroom to you so you can shower in peace. 

-It’s honestly the best bath you’ve ever had with all his sweet smelling oils. Your skin feels so smooth and renewed.

-Still, even with this, you still don’t feel safe with anyone else — plus the fact that Kalim has random and horrifying mood shifts. You have to flee.

-And yet you still get dragged into more trouble with the octatrio. You still get exposed to the whole dorm by a crazed Jamil, and now have to deal with the horror that they’ll tell everyone.

-Kalim feels awful, and thus shows his forgiveness in the best way he can: giving gifts.

-You get tons of apology gifts from him in the coming months. Baskets of the best shower stuff you’ve ever had; a new, better fitted but still innocuous uniform; enough tuna to keep grim satisfied for years (and sweets that you happily keep to yourself).

-It’s so nice, but you start to feel bad. It feels like you’re taking advantage of his guilt, when you’re not really upset at anyone involved anymore.

-You’re welcome at Scarabia any time. None of his dorm members will ever cause you any trouble, and you can dress and act and sound however you want within Scarabia’s walls. 

Vil

-Miss beauty queen himself. We love Vil, we Stan Vil, we adore Vil… 

-Oh my god he’s a pain in the ass though, especially for you.

-He sees through you in an instant.

-Truly, Vil finds you to be more of a little pest than anything.

-You are constantly in trouble, you are magic less, and you decided to needlessly hide your gender.

-The last one is the worst offense in his eyes.

-Vil is someone who does not value gender, but expression. Your gender does not matter as much as your expression, therefore you hiding your expression irks him.

-He’s understanding enough in the fact that he knows you might be doing this to protect yourself, but he finds it stupid and useless, because you’re easy to see through.

-He avoids you, and you avoid him. Simple as that.

-Unfortunately for Vil, you’ve caught Rook’s eye, which means he must sit through many hours of Rook rambling on about his “findings” about you.

-When you tried out for the VDC, he was simply going to turn you and Grim away, but Rook convinced him to give you a chance.

-Rook wanted him to help your reveal your “inner beauty”, though Vil wasn’t sure if you had any of that.

-You wore baggy, horrifically ugly clothing up until winter break. Your hair was constantly a mess. Your skin was poorly taken care of, and the bags under your eyes were as dark as night.

-It almost made him feel bad for you… so despite his better judgement, he decided to invest time in you.

-Vil makes it very clear that he knows what your whole secret is.

-“I am aware of the fact that you are a woman, however, I will continue to use your preferred pronouns since it seems to bring you comfort.”

-He’s very insistent that you allow him to do your skincare AND your makeup whenever you give him the chance.

-Especially when he moves into ramshackle temporarily, he’s very insistent on maintaining your skincare routine.

-He essentially makes your entire nightly routine himself, and is right there over your shoulder making sure you do it right.

-Despite how overbearing it is, you actually make good friends with him through this.

-Being stuck alone in a room with no one but him to talk to forces you two to talk.

-You get to learn why he cares so much about appearances, and he gets to know why you hide to protect yourself.

-“It’s just… easier to pretend, because guys will bother me less that way.”

“I can’t understand why they would bother you. You’ve done nothing to them, so why would they want to do anything to you.”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know either. I just know it’s scary, and I don’t want to deal with it.”

-You move him, honestly. You’re strong even though you’re scared, and that’s beautiful. Thats what true beauty is.

-He helps you embrace your inner self and express that, while still helping you to hide your gender in a way that feels safe.

-You are always welcome at Pomefiore, and you can come to either him or Rook if you have any issues at all.

-It’s like having a big sister, almost.

Idia

-Idia has eyes everywhere.

-Every inch of that campus is (illegally) being monitored by his watchful eyes. 

-When he’s bored in class, he flicks through the cameras to amuse himself — maybe he’ll see someone slip and fall on their ass. That would be funny.

-He’s not really interested in you in particular.

-In fact, he’d like to keep a very far distance between the two of you.

-You’re… intimidating. You’ve fought some of the most powerful mages on campus and won.

-Total final boss energy, not something Idia is interested in being around.

-What he IS interested in is that wittle kitty you’ve got following you around.

-When he’s bored in class, he goes searching for Grim, and where Grim is you are sure to be.

-So, despite his aversion to you, he ends up spending a lot of time watching you.

-He starts to notice… things about you.

-He notices that you seem to put on a tough guy persona around… well… other guys in your class.

-When it’s just you and Grim though? You’re the softest softie he’s ever seen.

-It’s top tier cringe watching you try to being all macho, so he much prefers your more quiet and relaxed self you show in private.

-Seriously though, you’re a TOTALLY DIFFERENT PERSON when you’re alone with certain people.

-EVEN YOUR VOICE CHANGES!!!

-It’s so uber creepy, it’s like a jumpscare every time you drop that fake deep voice.

-If he’s being real, you’ve got a pretty voice. Honestly, you’re really pretty period. Too pretty to be a guy honestly.

-…

-….

-…..HOLY SHIT!!!

-He has to check your medical files to be sure — which he obviously has access to, thanks to having access to everything Ortho has access to.

-Blah blah blah allergies, blah blah blah horrific injuries from overblots, blah blah blah- AH HAH!

-Next to gender you are listed as… transgender man.

-He doesn’t wanna be that weird transphobic incel, but from what he’s seen? He highly doubts that.

-From what he’s seen in his (invasive) watching, you’re definitely doing the troupe of hiding your gender to better fit in.

-He feels like he’s in an anime or something.

-He doesn’t really want to bother you about it — but from watching you, you seem like someone he’d really enjoy being around.

-Ortho also insists that he’d get along with you very well!

-…It’s worth a shot right.

-He tries several times to “bump” into you, which always ends in him skittering away in fear.

-He psyches himself out every time. “They wouldn’t even wanna hang out with a loser like me.” “They’re way too cool for someone as lame as me.” 

-It’s not until you invite yourself to one of tabletop club’s meetings that he’s forced to interact with you.

-He’s really banking on the fact that you’ll be too busy talking with Azul to notice him, but then Azul leaves and its just you and him.

-Him and you…

-Both of you… in total and complete silence.

-…yep… 

-“Uhm, Idia…?”

“yES!?”

“I came here cause I wanted to talk to you, sorry for being so underhanded about it, I just couldn’t get you alone without you running off.”

“AH— I mean, ahem, okay. My bad.”

-You totally cornered him like an evil villain.

-All because you wanted to… be his friend?

-Is he dreaming, going insane perhaps, did HE get isekaied into an alternate universe where he was likable???

-Nope, Ortho just talks him up a lot, and you think his hair is cool. Huh. Kinda lame compared to what he was thinking.

-You guys talk a LOT after that. You exchange numbers and you text him about all sorts of stuff — and he’s actually interested in it!

-You learn that he’s been watching you and Grim for a long time, and while you scold him.

-You think it’s pretty funny that he’s embarrassed about his love for cute things.

-“If you’ve been keeping your eye on me for so long, you must’ve figured out that I’m a girl, right?”

“Yeah, you’re not great at hiding it. That macho guy act is suuuuper lame, you look like a noob lol.”

“Hey! I’m just copying what Deuce told me to do!”

-You guys don’t really see each other face to face very often, but like I said you text a lot.

-Sometimes he’ll text you shit like ‘I saw that, saved it for blackmail.’ After you biffed your shit on the pavement or something.

-When Idia gets more comfortable, you two spend hours on call whenever you get the chance.

-He lends you some of his precious manga, and even gives you an older TV he had laying around so you can watch stuff at ramshackle.

-Sometimes he invites you over to play video games with him and Ortho, and he gets all cocky and proud when you gush about how cool all his tech is.

-And, yeah, Idia definitely forms a little crush on you — but he would do that regardless of your gender. 

-He just likes you a lot, and you can feel safe on campus knowing he’s watching over you when you need it. (Mostly watching Grim, tbh.)

Malleus

-We know that Malleus enjoys… creeping outside of Ramshackle.

-He spends quite a lot of time on your front lawn, therefore, he’s usually in proximity of you.

-However, he is very intimidating!

-As a young woman in a magical world that you are not from, a very tall man with horns is the exact opposite of what you want to be around.

-Besides, you’ve heard the rumors about him — how powerful he is, and how scary he is.

-Malleus, on the other hand, is admittedly curious about you.

-He finds humans in their own right incredibly interesting, but you are not just a regular human.

-You are a human who has no magic and is from another world entirely. 

-You are something he has never once seen in his whole life, so excuse his childish curiosity.

-Still, you’re sort of cleverly avoiding him at every chance you get, and he just can’t quite find the time to talk to you.

-Until one night, you come back rather late and you find him in your yard… again.

-You send Grim in by himself and decide to confront him by yourself, because you are tired of being afraid to fall asleep at night.

-“Hey, you, could you maybe not stare at my house in the middle of the night!”

-Oh. You are quite feisty, and very bold to approach Malleus Draconia with such an aggressive tone.

-“I’m unsure what you mean, I’m simply admiring the architecture.”

“I don’t care WHAT you’re doing, you’re freaking me out! I know you’re supposedly some big scary monster guy, but I need you to STOP being weird outside my house.”

“…My apologies…”

-Malleus is pleasantly surprised at your spunk — he’s never been spoken to like that, he’s excited by it.

-After you yell at him, you let him explain himself, and you realize he is just… really, really bad at socializing.

-He wasn’t watching you, he just really enjoys silence and ramshackle is the quietest place on campus — even with you living in it.

-So, you give him the benefit of the doubt, because he really does just seem like he’s lost on everything around him 90% of the time.

-You don’t hang out with him during the day, but if you happen to see him on your lawn (as he usually is), you go out and hang out with him for a while.

-It makes Malleus happy, because you treat him like a friend. You give him cute nicknames, and you invite him inside for snacks, and you go out of your way to say hello to him when you pass him in the halls.

-He also gets to know more about you, and his curiosities about you and your world get quelled.

-He doesn’t really question anything about you, especially not your gender.

-Gender is hardly important for fae, and you seem confident in your expression, so he has no reason to wonder. Besides, there are far more thrilling things about you than your sex.

-So, you and Malleus start to grow close. So close, in fact, that you can confidently say that he’s one of your closest friends.

-At this point, almost everyone who you want to know about your gender knows. Everyone but Malleus.

-Initially you kept it a secret because you didn’t know how good he was at not talking, but now…

-Now, well, you don’t really have a reason.

-People usually question you at this point, or at least seem suspicious, but Malleus?

-Malleus shows not a hint that he thinks something is up. It’s odd to you, isn’t he supposed to be super smart or something. Maybe he’s just too respectful.

-Regardless, you decided to talk to him about it the next time you see him staring at the gargoyles around campus.

-“Hey Tsunotaro, what’re you up to?”

“Just admiring these gargoyles here, aren’t they fascinating? They were the first few installed in the school, if my memory serves me correctly.”

“They are very cool, but could I ask you something not gargoyle related?”

“What is it, child of man?”

“You know that I’m, uhm, a girl right?”

“Oh. I did not know that, how interesting.”

-He doesn’t understand why you would hide that, but it doesn’t really perturb him that much.

-The most you got was an eyebrow raise, and then he was back to his gargoyles.

-You were pretty satisfied with that, so you figured he wouldn’t tell anyone… and then you hear him loudly talking about it with his friends in Diasomania.

-Sigh… he means well, but he just doesn’t get the social stuff.

-You’re not mad, because pretty much everyone knows at this point, but it still sucks that he’s such a loudmouth.

[zinfindoll]

Swan Song | M. Draconia — 01. bleeding over

[ prologue | index | next chapter ]

Rating: T CW: use of [Y/n], she/her pronouns for reader, swearing

There was no way you or Yuna could go to sleep after that, leading to the two of you going to a 24-hour café that was by your dorms.  Neither of you talked for a moment, and you were content with just sipping your favorite comfort drink as you waited for Yuna to snap out of whatever daze she was in.

It took a few minutes, but finally her eyes snapped to you as she took a sip of hot coffee.  "Just...  What the hell was that?"

"Huh?"

The question caught you off guard, and you waited for Yuna to elaborate.  She didn't keep you waiting.

"Back at the dorm, it was like you knew what was going on with the mirror.  So, what — are you in some kind of cult?  What the hell did I see?"

"I have no clue because you haven't said anything.  So what did you see?"  More importantly — was it that creepy Mickey Mouse that you had once seen, or one of your friends?  You paused, then tacked on: "And no, I was not in a cult."

Yuna exhaled through her nose.  While you could understand that she was shaken up, a tired sort of impatience was welling up in your stomach.  For six years had you tried to look for some proof that Twisted Wonderland had been real.  It's not that you cared about proving to others that it was — you couldn't care less what they thought or believed.  However, as much as you were glad to be in the comfort of your world...  You missed Twisted Wonderland.  You missed your friends, the crazy shenanigans you all got into, and even Grim.  You had written off the possibility of going back years ago...

But what if it was still possible?

"I don't know," Yuna took another long sip from her cup.  "It was some tall, dark, shadowy creature.  I couldn't make out any features, except for red eyes, and horns that curled outwards."  She shuddered.  "It was only there for a second.  When I turned the light on, it was gone, and the mirror was..."

That didn't sound familiar to you.  Red eyes and horns?  It didn't sound like anybody you had known.  Hell, it might not even be from Twisted Wonderland.  If two worlds already existed, what's to say that more alternate universes and worlds didn't exist?  Not that you wanted to entertain that possibility.  You did not have the mental energy to get involved with a third world.  What was next?  Pixar rip-offs instead?  Some messed up Grimm Fairytales universe?

But then, how did that explain the blot?  If the mirror really was leaking blot, that was...

". . . Well, anyways."  Yuna cleared her throat.  "Not to pry into personal stuff, but does this have to do with anything about you disappearing all those years ago?"

Your eyebrows shot up.  "You knew about that?"

"You went through three roommates in one semester, so, yeah, I did some digging.  Just never brought it up because, well, I figured it was traumatic.  Or something."

"Well, thanks, then."  Your tone was dry, and you pondered your next words.  Again, you had no clue how to explain this, and there were no promises that Yuna would even believe you.  The brunette wasn't going to let this go, though.  Sigh.  "Look...  It's absolutely batshit insane.  You wouldn't believe me."

Yuna was unimpressed with your feeble excuse.  "I just saw a demon in our mirror which is now bleeding some kind of black substance.  Try me."

Chewing on your lip, you debated your options.  It would be easy to just lie and brush it off.  It was certainly better than having your dormmate think your crazy or, even worse, file to move rooms and leave you stuck with somebody else.  You had very little evidence of Twisted Wonderland outside of your hidden shoebox — just the few scars that littered your body, and the memories you retained.

At the same time, though...  Wouldn't it be relieving to get this off your chest?  Sure, you had your therapist, but she didn't believe you for a second, no matter how she worded it.  While Yuna believing you was slim, there was still a chance...

And no matter how jaded you had become, you still craved for somebody to understand what all you had been through.

Ugh.  Fuck it.  Yuna's the one that's insisting.

"Alright, alright."  You leaned back in your chair, crossing your arms and pursing your lips.  "Not sure where to start, so bare with me..."

Where did you start?  It was certainly too lengthy to start from the very beginning, but perhaps if you just condensed it a little bit it would suffice?

"I guess I'll start with nine years ago..."

══════════════════

Unsurprisingly, it was a lengthy story, even abridged — after all, you spent three years in that world.  You didn't give Yuna a complete play-by-play, but you gave her the rundown.  How you woke up in a coffin, made friends with an egotistical and pyromaniac cat, and proceeded to survive near-death experiences not once, not twice, but nine separate times.  At least.  You didn't tell Yuna about the friends you made, or about the clubs and the more fun experiences, but you told her about blot and overblot, and how it could affect others.

For Yuna's credit, she didn't interrupt you, even as her expression grew more and more incredulous.  By the time you had finished with your "little" rundown, at least an hour and a half had gone by.  You awaited her reaction with crossed arms — judging by her expression, she didn't believe you for a single second.

Honestly, you couldn't blame her.  If the roles were reversed, you would have thought she was delusional as well, but it didn't make the scenario any less frustrating.

Yuna finally shook her head as if to clear her thoughts.  "You have got to be kidding me..."  It came out in a grumble.  "Be for real right now.  Are you fucking with me or something?"

The look you gave her spoke leagues without you needing to open your mouth, and she threw her hands up in the air, on the cusp of disbelief and exasperation.

"Everything you just told me is absolutely insane.  You basically went to some — some Disneyworld-based alternate universe with magic?  And — and — ugh."  She was struggling with getting her thoughts together, and you allowed her a couple of moments, trying to debate on your next move.

Well, I'm already in this deep.

"I have proof.  Back at the dorm.  It's not much, but..."

Yuna scrutinized you for a moment, before relenting.  "Jesus.  Okay."

Your eyebrows raised.  "You're not going to argue anymore???"

"As unbelievable this all is...  I know I saw something in the mirror.  And you saw that stuff dripping from the mirror, too...  I don't fully believe your story, but something is going on."  She took a deep breath, finishing her coffee.  It was her third one.

"Gee.  Thanks."  With a roll of your eyes, you pulled some cash out and left it on the table, enough to cover your drinks and tip.  You'd take her half-hearted belief, even with all the sarcasm you gave your roommate back.  It was baby-steps.

The walk back to your dorm was thankfully quick, shortened by the quick steps you and Yuna took to try and get out of the night time air.  During the middle of your walk, the ground seemed to rumble for a little bit, but it certainly wasn't as bad as the earthquake from earlier, and quite frankly, you and Yuna had bigger problems to deal with right now.  

For better or worse, the mirror looked the same.  You weren't a fan of it leaking blot into your dorm room of all places, but at least nothing was crawling out of it.

You did not voice your worries or thoughts to Yuna.

Checking over it one more time to confirm that the mirror looked okay, you went to grab the shoe box from underneath your bed while Yuna kept a watchful eye on it.

"Hey, does this look like it has more blot...?"

"Probably," you answered absentmindedly as you unlocked your phone.  "Here.  Feel free to go through the photo album."  You shouldn't have anything weird on there, save for some of the memes you stole from your friends back in their world.  Yuna fumbled with the device, and you tensed as she nearly dropped it before she managed to get a grip on it.  Carefully, she started to go through the photo album, and you gauged her expressions.

"No way...  These are all photoshopped, right?" she asked with furrowed eyebrows, although you could tell she hardly believed it herself that they were photoshopped.  Most likely because she had seen your computer graphics skills and, well, they certainly could use work.

"They aren't, but I don't have any other way to prove it," you admitted with a frown.  She seemed to have scrolled over a video; moments later, you heard the obnoxious voice of Ace speak up, yelling for your attention in the video.

Glancing over Yuna's shoulder, you saw how Ace was (poorly) filming it — he had stolen your phone for some reason or another, and had started to harass you, Deuce, Grim, and Jack as you all studied.  It was a short-lived video before Jack had sighed and yanked your phone back, but the short video made your heart ache and yearn for something you knew you would never have again.

You weren't sure what expression was on your face.  You didn't even know you were pulling a face until Yuna called out your name in concern, pursing her lips in thought.  ". . . Look.  I'm sorry," she sighed, scratching the back of her head.  "This is all a lot to swallow.  But whether it's real or not, it's clearly affected you.  I wish...  If all of this is truly real, I hope you can see them again."

The brunette didn't quite seem on board all the way, but she was trying, and you had to give her props for that.

Yuna glanced back over to the mirror, humming.  "You think that could be the key to getting back?"

". . . I don't know," you sighed.  "But honestly, I doubt it's anything good."

"What do we do, then?"

And that was the golden question — what did you guys do?  Throwing it out might do more harm than good, but it's not like you could call the police, either.  You and Yuna exchanged a glance that proved you were both on the same mindset that you didn't have many options right now, and she groaned, throwing her head back.

"This sucks."

And honestly?  You agreed.

══════════════════

The next day, you and Yuna made a bit more of a solid game plan: since the two of you had alternating class schedules, you'd trade off.  Today, she would watch the mirror and keep an eye on it, and you would go to class, and then vice versa.  It was the best option you both had right now while you brainstormed how to deal with this.  Yuna promised to try and do some research via good old Google, but considering you had been trying for years, you weren't too positive she'd get any results.

The first half of your day had been going relatively smooth.  Blotted mirror and your growing anxieties aside, your classes passed by without a hitch, and you were able to swing by the campus store to pick up thick cleaning gloves in case you needed to handle the mirror.  In the mean time, you warned Yuna to not touch the blot at all.

Around 4 in the afternoon during a lecture hall, your phone had started to go off.  Thankfully it was on silent, but you could feel it vibrating insistently in your pocket.  Not wanting to get in trouble, you ignored it — but then it started to ring again, and you quickly excused yourself to go out into the hallway, glancing at the caller I.D.

Yuna C.

. . .

"Hey.  Is everything okay?" you picked it up, not getting a good feeling at her calling.

"Yeah.  Sort of?"  She sounded a bit frazzled.  "The mirror looks the same...ish.  But your phone has been going off like crazy here.  It won't stop ringing."

"My — huh?"

"Your phone!  The one you showed me with all the photos from Wonderland?"

"Oh shit.  I'm on my way right now."

Hanging up on Yuna, you went back into the lecture hall and hastily apologized to the professor, spouting a half-assed lie about some emergency before grabbing your belongings and running out of there.

While the lecture hall wasn't super close to your dorm, you made it there within twenty minutes, something you were certain was a record for yourself if you weren't too preoccupied with what Yuna had told you.

Your phone has been going off like crazy here.

Maybe once upon a time, you would have been excited, but considering it was right by the mirror dripping with blot, you were more scared for Yuna than anything.

Busting into your dorm room, you expected the worst, afraid to see some blot monster in the room, or to see the mirror doused, but it more or less looked the same.  Yuna didn't seem too concerned, instead holding your phone.  When you came into the room, she readily handed it to you.

"Sorry...  Wasn't sure if I should answer it.  Your DMs on MagiGram?  MagiCam?  Have been blowing up.  So have your texts."

She was right, and you noticed how it showed you had one bar of service.  Somehow, you were getting service from Twisted Wonderland.

"Ugh...  I don't have a good feeling about this," you murmured, unlocking the phone.  Unsurprisingly, a majority of the texts and DMs were from Ace, Deuce, and Cater, and even a few from Kalim and surprisingly one from Idia.  They had all apparently gotten the notification that you were online, and you hesitated, debating on who you should send a message to.

Well, you didn't know if anybody got new phone numbers, so you opened the group chat you had with a majority of your friends on MagiCam.

hey guys, i don't know how i'm getting service, but i am. i think something is wrong. i am still in my world, but blot is here and now i can get service again. if you guys get this, i'm afraid it's affecting your world too.

You hesitated, fingers hovering hesitantly before you sent it and added on one more message.

i miss you guys.

You waited impatiently for the messages to send, the shitty service taking forever to go through...

. . . Only for the "FAILED MESSAGE" to appear besides both messages, "NO SERVICE" once more at the top of your phone.

"Damn it!"

In anger, you chucked your phone at the wall, watching it bounce off the wall and onto your bed.  Hot tears pricked your eyes.

You had been so close!  So close, only to have it snatched away again!  You could almost scream in frustration, and you buried your face in your hands, resisting the urge to just scream.  Yuna hovered over you, unsure of what to do.  She seemed awkward, clearly not good at comforting others.  Even if she was, you weren't sure anything she could say would comfort you.

"What do you think it means?" she asked after a second.  You glanced up at her, not quite understanding what she was getting at, and she gestured towards the mirror.  "I mean, first the mirror, and then the phone.  Clearly they're correlated.  And you mentioned you traveled in that other world through a mirror, right?  What if this mirror is like, I don't know...  Some gateway?"

You glanced back at the mirror.  With the amount of blot accumulating, you weren't sure you wanted to attempt stepping through it right now.

"Try bringing the phone over to it?"

Well, it was worth a shot.  Grabbing the phone, you made about two steps before the dorm room started to shake.  Unlike last night, this earthquake was much more sizable, sending you and Yuna toppling to the ground unceremoniously as the items and books off your shelves fell to the floor.

"The mirror!"

Yuna shrieked as the mirror fell off the wall, landing glass down on the wooden floor.  Neither of you could get up for a few seconds, and only when the shaking stopped did the two of you scramble to a stand on shaky legs.

"Is it broken?"

She nudged it with her foot and flipped it over, careful to not touch the blot.  It seemed unharmed, not even a crack on it, but you noticed how the blot was slowly eating away at the floorboards beneath it.  In fact...

"Hey.  Is it just me, or is that way more blot coming out of the mirror?"

It certainly was.  At Yuna's words, you grabbed out the gloves you bought from campus store earlier, giving her a pair.

"We have to get this out of here," you demanded.

Yuna looked pointedly at the floor boards.  "You don't think they'll charge us for that, do you...?"

"Now, Yuna!"

She slipped the gloves on, and the two of you quickly and carefully brought the mirror out of your apartment, blot dripping onto the floors in small droplets, leading a trail until the two of you got outside.

The earthquake had been one of the largest by far.  Car alarms once more were blaring, and the damage of trees was easy to see.  There was a huge crack in the sidewalk that made your heart clench, but you had not time to survey the aftermath.  With the mirror dripping with blot, your first priority was to get it away from anybody else.  The two of you made it to the lawn before dumping the mirror onto the grass, both of you panting.

"Shit.  It's getting worse," Yuna pointed out, almost the entire mirror engulfed and overflowing with blot now.  "What do we do?!"

"I don't know," you replied grimly.  Who did you even call in such a situation?  It's not like the police could do anything!  At the same time, though, clearly you couldn't do nothing.  The blot wasn't stopping any time soon, and your world didn't have magic to combat blot!  You weren't equipped to deal with this!

"Well, we have to do something!" Yuna shouted, throwing her hands up in the air.

What to do, what to do...!

Your phone started to ring.  In irritation, you pulled it out, ready to turn it off silent only to realize which phone it was that was going off.  Without hesitation, you found your thumb pressing the 'answer' button, a familiar face popping up on the screen in terrible pixilation and glitchy quality.

"Ace?!"

[zinfindoll]

“I will love you forever and when ‘forever’ ends, I’ll love you some more.”

For the event, can I request Malleus for this? I need to send ALL my love to him ASAP. Although for this, feel free to have him being the one saying it to reader.

Gender Neutral Reader x Malleus Draconia Word Count: 1.2k

Prompt 51: "I will love you forever and when ‘forever’ ends, I’ll love you some more."

[EVENT MASTERLIST]

There was something about being in love with a fae that would always be at least a little intimidating.

No, it wasn’t the unearthly powers that could literally rip through the fabric of time and space with a snap of his fingers. No, it wasn’t the cold, serpentine stare or the sharp fangs in his mouth that shined like well-polished knives under the right light. It wasn’t even the horns. Even though they added an extra foot onto the dragon’s already stupidly impressive height.

But there were other things, sometimes. Less tangiblethings.

You tried not to think about it too much, because you loved Tsunotarou. Really, you did. And you didn’t want some… some creeping thing at the fringes of your consciousness to ruin that.

It was cold tonight, and you puffed warm breath onto your fingers. Normally Malleus was the one waiting for you to arrive at your usual Gargoyle Filled haunts, but he’d had a meeting with his retainers today. And you weren’t surprised he was running a bit late in the aftermath.

‘Man, I’m surprised Draconia is ever on time for anything,’ Ace had complained, during some mandatory assembly or other. Watching as Malleus floated into the room a solid two hours after scheduled.

‘He’s usually very punctual,’ you’d answered, confused.

‘Sure, sure. But don’t fae have, like, super fucked up senses of time?’ the redhead mused. ‘Like I bet you could tell him to meet you in an hour and he’d show up a week later or something.’

“Child of man,” a familiar timbre called out over the snow, and you perked up immediately, hopping from foot to foot to get your circulation going again before trotting out to meet him halfway.

“Tsunotarou!” you chirped. “How was your day?”

“Dreadful,” he answered, deadpan, and bent his arm neatly so that you could tuck your fingers into the crook of his elbow and snuggle yourself into his side. He was like a walking furnace, what with the roaring, emerald fires in his belly. And the snowflakes seemed to melt before they’d even touched his skin. “Nothing but paperwork. Perhaps I should turn them all into enchanted quills, and then they might finally be fit for their positions.”

You snorted into your glove. “You’d need to turn some of them into ink then, too.”

“Ah, of course,” he intoned. And then shot you a smirk that was just on the right side of besotted. “Whatever would I do without your wise guidance?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” you teased, and then smiled right back in that stupidly, soppy way. “But you seemed more than smart enough to manage on your own before I came along. And I’m sure you’ll go back to being brilliant when I’m gone,” you added on a laugh.

But Malleus didn’t join in your giggling.

The fae stopped in place, and you were dragged to a halt with him. You blinked up at him, confused. His expression was… complicated.

“You are leaving?” he asked, each word sounding like it had to be pried out of his mouth with a crowbar.

“What?” you blinked. “Of course not.” Crowley never having bothered to lift a feathery finger to find you a way home aside, you had more than enough reasons to stay here for as long as your meager, mortal life would allow. Going home… it soured something in your stomach that you didn’t even want to consider. So you just tightened your fingers around his arm and shot him as reassuring of a smile as you could muster. “Even if I had the choice, I’d be staying right here.”

But that just made Malleus’s brow pinch up tighter.

“Then what did you mean?” he questioned, perplexed. “When you said ‘when I’m gone.’”

Ah.

You fought a guilty wince. You hadn’t wanted to drag your own little terrors into his worries as well. You really needed to get a better leash on the poor quips that managed to tumble out of your mouth.

“Well, just that, uhm…” You waved your free hand awkwardly. “You know.”

More furrowing.

“I do not,” he said, sounding grumpy. It was a bit adorable, seeing an almighty prince and near God pout at you. But you fought off the urge to coo over his pursed lips and scrunched nose. Time and place, self. Time and place.

“I’m mortal,” you said finally, hoping that would cover it.

“And?”

Ugh. Come on, dude. Give me something here.

You shrugged, tight and awkward. “Just that, well, you know. Your lifespan is near infinite right? And mine is sort of set to be…” You held up your fingers and pinched them close together. “Uhm. Not that.”

“And you think that such an inconsequential factor means that you will be leaving me?” he asked, and you blinked at him in outright confusion.

“It’s pretty consequential,” you squeaked out, and averted your gaze. “And.. and besides. I knew that from the beginning. And I just want to be able to make the best out of the time with you that I have,” you said, hoping it sounded properly reassuring and not like the start of a particularly peppy obituary.

“…I see,” the Prince said, low. “But that doesn’t mean you’ll be gone, I’m sure.”

You blinked again, owlish and slow.

“Pardon?”

“What is the human expression…?” he hummed, tucking your arm back tightly against his side and starting up your leisurely stroll once more. “Distance makes the heart grow fonder? Almost so much as time itself.”

Yeah, you wanted to amend. But not from beyond the grave.

“I guess so,” you shrugged.  

“Can you imagine then,” he hummed. “How much I’ll love you in a thousand years?”

“I—” you swallowed, feeling tears prick at the back of your eyes.

But rather than give your poor, fluttering soul a chance to recover, he just pushed onwards.

“I will love you forever, and when ‘forever’ ends, I suppose that I’ll just love you even more,” he said, perfectly level and serious, like he hadn’t just absolutely pulled your heart out of your chest and set the whole of you on fire.

You stared up at his regal, handsome face from beneath a soft veil of falling snow. With those cold, emerald eyes, the pointed fangs, the horns. You felt like your stomach had fallen out at your toes, like the whole of you was bound to float away like a balloon lost in the breeze. Because he’d said—he’d really—

“And of course,” the dragon shrugged. “I’ve always intended to extend your lifespan to begin with.”

You gaped at him wordlessly for a moment, before letting out a hideously embarrassed squawk and pounding at his chest with your gloved hands.

“You could’ve told me that!” you shrieked, practically steaming in the cold with the heat pulsing off your cheeks.

“I suppose,” he smirked, catching your flailing fists easily in one of his own large hands. “But then I wouldn’t have been able to see your reaction to my declarations, would I?” he cooed, all smooth, dark chocolate and smoky embers. “And I had to work so hard to memorize those lines. Fitting as they are, I was told that the moment to use them would have to be perfect, and—"

“Did Lilia set you up for this?” you choked.

Malleus snorted and turned to tug you further down the path. “Only a little.”

.

.

[zinfindoll]

Hello fellow Lilia simps. So, this is kind of a continuation of this post of mine about a General Vanrouge x Human Spy Reader prompt but in actual written form this time. This is brought to you by my friend Teara saying "Something something "Showing up on your enemy's doorstep, bloody and wounded becase 'I didn't know where else to go…' and then collapsing into their arms"" and also someone saying that the og post gave them serotonin. I am only a human being weak to the happiness of other human beings so @thatonedemonbitch this for you!! I hope you enjoy this one too 💕

Content warning: A bit of blood and non-graphic description of injury.

The night is cold, quiet, and lonely… until it isn't.

Generally, when patrolling Wild Rose Castle, any kind of commotion isn't a good sign, whether it be from within the castle or outside of it. This time though, the sound that draws General Vanrouge's attention isn't loud and thunderous. The night sky is cloudless, and the screeching bat that appears to alert him is lit by the glow of starlight.

"What is it?" the General asks as the bat clumsily clings to the skin-tight material on his shoulder. She squeaks frantically as she climbs down to cling more securely to his chest. Lilia sighs as he brings up a hand to help soothe her. "Slow down, I can't understand what you're going on about."

The little messenger does not slow down. Instead, she seems to grow more frantic, squealing loudly and insistently as she pulls on the fabric of his hood. He honestly can't be bothered to keep trying to make sense of her babbling, so, resigned to another busy night, General Vanrouge picks up his mask and secures it over his face.

Lilia climbs onto the edge of the tower. The bat hangs off his hand before dropping off and taking flight and the general flies after it.

The bat continues crying out as she leads him, insistent despite him flying right at her tail. Some of his fellow guards rouse from their positions upon seeing him come down from his post on the tower overlooking the castle grounds and hurry to join him.

"General!" Lilia jolts in surprise at the bark of Baul's thunderous voice. "Did you see something? Is the castle under siege?!"

"We don't appear to be." Though his pause to address Baul is only brief, the bat quickly grows alarmed and doubles back to scream at him. He swats at her with an irritated groan. "I get it, I get it! What in the world has gotten into you…?!"

"Sir?" Baul's mask is turned towards the fussy bat, no doubt growing increasingly concerned himself at her demeanor.

"I didn't see anything threatening, but tell everyone else to be on their guard. Baul, come with me." He addresses one of the other guards before turning to Baul and nodding towards the bat.

Baul follows after him dutifully, keeping pace with him even as he sprints to catch up with the bat. Despite his much heavier armor, his movements barely make a sound, but it's not comparable to how the Phantom General seems to melt in and out of the shadows as if he was one himself.

They both slow to a halt when they hear more squeaks and flapping wings in the the forest. Lilia moves slowly and warily despite knowing that it's his own bats gathered somewhere ahead. One can never be too careful, and he was correct to be, for among the din of his bats is another sound—The drag of feet and heavy huffs of breath.

Sure enough, Lilia sees his bats crowded around an unfamiliar hooded figure, hunched over as the little critters tug and pull on whatever piece of their clothing they can grab onto. Lilia's brows furrow at their behaviour. He's about to call out to them when the little messenger bat beats him to it with a piercing cry, and some of the flock splits away to also start screaming at him.

"Hey!" Lilia exclaims when they pull on his hair and flap around his face. He swats them away and hisses at them, making his annoyance at their misbehaviour clear.

The hooded figure stumbles and his bats squeal with alarm. Lilia's hand flies to grip his cleaver as the person hobbles towards him with their futile aid.

Lilia sniffs the air. The thick scent of iron is evident. Behind him, Baul growls, having come to the same realisation. What is a human doing all alone so close to Wild Rose Castle? And why are his bats behaving so strangely?

Realisation suddenly strikes him, as quick and shocking as lightning. A part of him immediately shoves it down—Shoves away false hope like he has been doing for the past months of coldness, silence, and loneliness.

But it isn't false. It can't be, because the human lifts their head, and he sees your eyes.

"Vanrouge…" Your voice is faint and weak, quiet even to his keen hearing. He hears it though when you lose your footing and before he knows it he's leaping forward and catching you in his arms. You fall limply, and as he feels warmth seep into his gloves, he realises that the iron he's smelling isn't armor or weapons.

He adjusts his hold on you and your heavy cloak falls away to reveal your front that's almost completely soaked red. Your hands are stained, trembling over a hastily-dressed wound. Your face is bruised and bloody with scratches and cuts.

"I-I didn't… nowhere to go…" you croak out. Your lips wobble in your attempt to speak. Baul watches over Lilia's shoulder with confusion from where he's standing behind him.

The shock abates and urgency takes its place.

"Don't just stand there and gawk!" Lilia yells as he whirls his head around to glare at Baul from behind his mask, making the other fae jump. "Get the healers!"

"Y-Yes sir!"

Baul runs off, his voice loud as thunder as he yells out to the other guards. Bats continue flapping around Lilia, but in a more fearful manner this time.

"Be still," he commands you as he hovers his hand over your wound. His hand glows with magic, and you gasp and hiss at the sting of the hasty healing spell. "This should keep you alive a bit longer."

"Oh, wonderful," you murmur with a strained voice.

"See? You're doing better already, since you're well enough to crack jokes." A part of him is relieved, but he also feels bitter at how you seem completely unaware of just how much turmoil you've put him through. He doesn't blame you though—Even he was unaware of it, and it had all only come washing over him the moment he realised he was looking at you and watching you bleed to death.

When your letters had stopped coming, Lilia had suffocated all the heavy feelings that came in their stead. He already had enough things to worry about without your lack of response weighing him down. Now though, he regrets having ignored them so stubbornly, because now they rise up his chest and throat and threaten to suffocate him as if in revenge.

Lilia does what he can do—Shove them down, again, because you're bleeding all over him and him sobbing over your disappearance and subsequent return or demanding answers from you are not ways to ensure that your dumb ass doesn't die on him immediately after reappearing from obscurity.

You groan when Lilia adjusts his arms to hold you more securely and rises to his feet. To avoid jostling your weak little injured human body, he drifts off the ground and flies the both of you back to the castle.

His bats flutter after him, noticeably calmer but no less concerned over you. You remain oblivious to their fretting and Lilia's desperation beginning to make his heart race as you sluggishly turn your head to hide your face against his chest.

Lilia doesn't realise how much of a grip he has on you until he touches back down and the royal healers swarm him. He has to tear his hands off of you as he lays you down on the cot they've prepared. He has to leave, to give the healers space to do their work, but he finds that the thought of leaving you makes him uneasy.

He discovers that you're just as reluctant to part from him, because when he finally tears himself away, you reach out and grasp his fingers with the miniscule amount of strength that remains in your body. Lilia has felt much more unrelenting grips in his centuries of living, and yet he's unable to pull away.

Your eyes are glazed with pain, but still you look at him the best you can from beneath heavy eyelids. You're possibly on your deathbed but you'd still rather look at him than anything else. You've most definitely gone delirious from blood loss, but still, he finds himself reassured enough to finally pull away, but not without a brief squeeze of your paled fingers, the slightest indulgence of your touch that he hasn't felt in so long.

Lilia leaves your side and the image of your beaten and bleeding body disappears behind a wall of frantic healers. He unintentionally lingers and has to be shooed away by a very displeased medic.

Lilia drags his feet. His bats drop heavily onto him and hang off various nooks, exhausted. There's nothing else left to do but wait, but whether or not you manage to live, Lilia remains a royal guard and General of the Land of Briar so he leaves to return to his post, but not without thoughts of your well-being having overtaken his mind.

It's not something he's unused to, and it's also something he doesn't think he'll ever have the privilege to admit out loud.