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cyn-write · 9 months ago

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"You've Bewitched Me"

Prompt - NRC is in upheaval. A video of Yuu singing a song has been circling around the school about her being "bewitched," and everyone is trying to figure out by who. Yuu is embarrassed and upset about her private song being the subject of gossip, so she decides to hide from everyone only for her crush to find her and reveal he has been "bewitched," by her...

Pairings - NRC Students x F!reader

Warnings - Gossip, Incredibly Shy Reader with Stage Fright, Depictions of Anxiety, Not Beta Read

Song - "Bewitched" by Laufey

Prologue (Here) - Heartsyble - Savannaclaw - Octavinelle - Scarabia - Pomefiore - Ignanhyde - Diasmonia

When @/thegreatestmagealive uploaded a video of the Ramshackle Perfect singing a love song, to say NRC nearly blew up would be an understatement.

The song, the poster titled “Bewitched,” became an instant hit across campus, but also became the source of tension as everyone was asking the same question: Who bewitched the Ramshackle Perfect?

“20 Thumbmarks on Leona!”

“15 on Kalim!”

“Kalim? Really, no it has to be Vil!”

“30 DOLLARS ON LORD MALLEUS!”

“EVERYONE HUSH! Now Francis, how much on Vil?” The Halls of NRC were filled with gossip on who the song was about. There were multiple pots floating around of people betting on who it was about, and just as many heated discussions.

“Who says it’s a housewarden? She spends most of her time with the Freshies so it has to be one of them! My money is on the Red Head on the Basketball team, he is always hanging on her!” A Scarabia student chimed in at this corner table of the Cafateria.

“Ace? He’s an ass, no it has to be Spade! Anytime someone makes a comment about he at practice, he gets all defensive.” A Heartstyble student on the track team chimed in.

“That runt? Na, he has nothing on Jack.” The Savannaclaw student across from them chimed in.

“The Wolf? He barely says any words! Besides, the Perfect has more class than that, it has to be Epel!” A Pomefoire Student retorted getting glares from the Savannaclaw student.

“All of you are wrong, I ran the data,” The Ignanhyde student pulled out his tablet and showed them a chart, “Out of all the possibilities crossed referenced with the lyrics of the song, it has to be-“

Debates across the school were happening as people discussed who she was singing for. While some advocated for others, others advocated for themselves.

That night, in the midst of the debates, a poor Grim was looking for a place to stay the night. So he went first to Heartstyble.

Grim walked through the portal and saw *chaos*.

“CAULDRON!”

“DEUCE WHAT THE HELL!”

“Calm down you two! No one is going anywhere till Riddle gets back!”

Trey helped Ace out from under the cauldron while Cater tried to calm down Deuce who was red as roses. “Yuu��s private song was just released and all you can think about it YOURSELF!” Deuce called out to Ace as he attempted to wesal himself out of Cater’s grip.

Ace dusted himself off as Trey helped him up, “Well, it is pretty obvious! Who else could it be about? You Loosey Duece? Or maybe Mr. Magicam? Chef Dad? Or maybe, our esteemed leader? No. It has to be me, so I am going to go check on her-“

Deuce tackled Ace, again, so Trey and Cater had to dive in to separate the two.

It did not take long for grim to realize it might be best to come back later. So he went back through the portal to try Savannaclaw.

But his scruff was grabbed before he could step through.

“Heeeey, Sealie!!” Grim gulped as he knew that voice all too well. Floyd turned Grim around so he was facing the two most terrifying smiles in NRC. “Mind clearing something up for Jade and I? See, he thinks Shrimpy’s song is about him, but I say its bout me. And every guppy is saying a different name, so we wanted to get info from them inside fishie~”

“W-what are you talking about!” Grim said crossing his arms. He knew he was in deeeeep dodo.

“Come now Grim, you must know who she’s singing about?” Jade said with a sonically smile on his face, “Now, as Yuu’s close friends, we just want to know, who bewitched our dear friend?”

“Yeeeaaah Sealie, who?” Floyd sung melodically.

“I-I ain’t saying anything!” Grim kept his mouth shut. He had already made Yuu mad, he didn’t want to make. It any worse.

“Oh come on Sealie! Everyone has a price! What’s yours??-“

“What are you two doing?” Came the harsh voice of Vil, Grim’s savior. The housewarden meeting must have finished. Early as all seven, yes even Malleus, came into the hall of mirrors to witness poor little grim shiver in his fur.

“Heya Beta!” Floyd said and waved Grim around, “We’re just asking Sealie a question! That’s all!”

“I’m guessing it’s about Yuu?” Azul asked as he made his way over to his Eel’s. “How is the Ramshackle Perfect? We missed her at the meeting.”

“Yuu… wellllllllll….” Grim scratched his cheek and the other housewarden’s came over, all wondering the same thing, “She is kinda sorta mad at me. And kinda sorta threw me out for ‘not respecting her privacy’ which I didn’t mean to get her upset, I just wanted to show everyone she had a pretty voice and she got all mad.”

“We’ll if you need a place to stay, Octavinelle is always open to poor souls! And I am sure we can work out a pi-“

“We all know what you want Azul, just ask him now so we can clear this up!” Leona said, clearly annoyed at the Mers underhanded methods. “Whose the song about?”

“I-I don-“

“Why are we even asking this question? It is clearly me!” Vil said shaking his head.

“What makes you so sure Schoenheit?” Malleus asked, “I spend more time with the Child of Man and have more magical prowess, it is defiantly about me. I was just about to grab her the-“

“No way the songs about you Lizard!” Leona retorted, “She clearly-“

“The Song’s about Nii-Chan! I ran the-“ Ortho chimed in with Idia listening in on his screen.

“WILL YOU ALL BE QUIET!” Riddle yelled, somehow getting the attention of the others, “This is disgraceful! You are. All concerned with your own selfish needs when you should be worrying about our fellow housewarden whose privacy has been breached and is probably distraught!”

Kalim nodded and said, “Yeah, we need to go cheer her up! Besides, it was probably just a song about love, nothing else!”

Grim sighed and added, “Oh its about someone, You she hear the other songs she wrote about him-“

“About WHO!” Everyone asked.

“I DON’T KNOW!” Grim said and got the glares of everyone.

Azul sighed and said, “You just said you knew.”

“I said I knew she has a crush and wrote more songs about him. I never said I knew WHO it was.” He crossed his arms and looked at the ground, “And she threw me out before I could ask. I tried going back in but she sounded so… upset. When I asked to come back in and apologized she said she just wanted to be alone…”

The group looked dejected at this. Floyd let Grim go and sighed, “Poor Shrimpy…”

Azul looked at Jade and Floyd, “Let’s go, Lounge won’t run itself.”

As Azul left with his Eels, Leona and Kalim also branched off their dorms, “Jamil is probably wondering where I am.”

“Yeah, I gotta make sure Savannaclaw is still in one piece.”

Vil and Ortho branched off next with Vil grumbling about wrinkles and Ortho talking to Idia.

Riddle and Malleus were the last two left with Grim.

“Grim, your welcome to stay at Heartstyble. It might help keep Ace and Deuce in.” Riddle said then looked to Malleus, “The Perfect probably needs a night, but if you do check on her, please let her know I-… We are here if she needs us.”

“I will Roseheart,” Malleus nodded to his red haired companion as he and Grim walk through the Heartstyble Mirror. Malleus turns and before he can make his way to Ramshackle, Lilia is there. All he has to do is shake his head and Malleus knows what his mentor is trying to say, she needs time alone.

The next morning, the first years go to Ramshackle to walk with Yuu to breakfast as they do every morning, but when they got their, the ghost intervened and said she needs to sleep in. The three ghost refused to let any of them enter and even brought Grim’s stuff to the door.

Yuu did not show to any of her classes or reply to any text, and all of her friends quickly understood why. Yuu’s song was all everyone was talking about, more specifically, who it was about. All the pots from the nights before had tripled and almost every students had a guess on who it was about. Yuu has never felt more embarrassed.

By the time night rolled around again, Yuu had read every text, post, and comment about her song. People were making guesses and demanding she confess who. In the midst of the chaos and rumors, all she could think about was what her crush was thinking. She had liked him as more than a friend for a while now, but had no clue if he returned the sentiment. All the worse possibilities were running through her head.. ‘He probably thinks I’m some obsessed freak, this is so embarrassing, Grim ruined. everything, there is no coming back from this. our friendship is ruined, I can never show my face at school again…” Thoughts like this combined with her stage fright made her mood worse. She wrote songs and sang them to help her work through things, it was incredibly personal for her and she never intended to share any of them, not yet at least. Now she was lying in her bed, curled up in her blankets with her phone lighting up with text next to her. She could not bring herself to talk to anyone, she was too scared and embarrassed to.

The Ghost have been kind enough to fend off Grim (who she was still mad at) and her friends (who she was still too embarrassed to see) so she could have some time alone. They worked as her guards and caretakers, making her eat and get up every now and then. They were also the only ones who knew who her songs were about.

So when he arrived on her doorstep, the ghost decided to let him in.

Yuu was looking at her notebook, pouring over the lyrics again and again when a knock came at her bedroom door.

“Yuu… can I come in?” His voice carried through the door.

Yuu felt her heart stop. She held her notebook tightly and sighed, “I guess its now or never…”

She got up from her bed, notebook in hand, and stood in front of the door. She was shaking and as she stared at the door, terrified of what would happen next, when he cast a spell over her once again:

“Yuu, I… I don’t. know if that song was about me but I want you to know. You’ve bewitched me too.”

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Note: This is the Prolouge to a small series! Be on the look out for each characters part and if you want tagged please let me know! Please Like, Reblog, and Follow for more! If you are interested in seeing more characters in this scenario or these characters in different scenarios, please let me know! (Do not Steal)

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cqaeluvs · 3 months ago

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can you do the housewardens with a m!mc who collects a bunch of stuff? like cool rocks or gadgets (and he gives them to people he cares about a lot or has a big crush on)

A familiar books seems to shine, begging for your attention .. would you like to join in ..?

omggg hii... i totally havent vanished from tumblr.. its been like, a year and nearly a week !! so im back !! this was an interesting request and a bit w self insert(? since i do then to collect rock of gadgets and give them to friends/ family !! anon didnt specified much so im going to do little headcanons & scenarios !

some of them might be longer that others !! because i am under huge stress and writers block !!3kfjger gejrg send help (i wrote this at 3am)

(reader is gender neutral, and implied to be yuu !!) (no proof reading so maybe spelling mistakes !!)

-- Even if you two started with the wrong foot, as you did with almost half of the school...

-- Time went on and after the event's of chapter 2, both of you went into a more friendly territory, and not long after was when he started to notice the way you seem to collect diferent types of rocks, somehow you found a ruby and gave it to him like nothing ?!

-- Now even if he looks at you with a blank expression, the moment he gets to his dorm, carefully looking around his hands go to a drawer and he takes out a box, that kept every single rock and gadget you given to him safe and sound, perfectly clean too!.

" Oh, another one? .. and of amazing quality too, as long as you are not stealing them from anyone nor are you breaking any rules to get these, i am more than willing to take all of them. "

-- He smiled at you, your hands came into contact with his own as you handed him another of the pretty rocks you find, he can't help but think that only someone as gorgeous as you could find this type of good quality gadgets.

-- Oh?, and from where did you found such a good quality brooch, you aren't stealing from other people are you Herbivore? he chuckles as you looked at him annoyed that he would think of you as a thief. both of you know he doesn't mean it, and even if you were actually stealing them he would turn a blind eye

-- He does the same thing Riddle does, he saves them in a box away from any public eye, including Ruggie's. Every morning he checks them and makes sure every one is there, as he goes back to sleep.

-- He enjoys the feeling of your presence, nose twitching at the faint smell of that perfume he left on Ramshackles' door on your birthday, so he knew that a new rock or gadget was gonna be soon layed on his chest.

Leona's ears twitched as your footsteps became louder, one of his eyes opening slowly as he watched you carefully placed a shiny small rock on his chest, when you left his hand went to his chest grabbing carefully the rock with a caring yet tight grip in a case someone wanted to act funny and steal it from him.

-- Azul and you also didn't start with the right foot !!, but since you seem to have a fascination for the beach you guys started to bond quite a lot.

-- It was one of this days that the sea decided to give you quite the beautiful stone to gift to your beloved crush, a beautiful lilac that reminded you of the octopus that stole your heart without knowing.

-- You cleaned it really well, looked at the sea one last time as you decided to run as fast as your legs can let you, nearly bumping into Azul himself, who seemed startled as you placed the beautiful stone on his gloved hands.

Azul ajusted his glasses that slided a bit from his nose because of the jump you cause him since you appeared out of nowhere screaming at him when you saw him from the corner of your eyes. He cleaned some inexistent dust as he looked at you nerveous, his hand your hand. He felt the small rock placed on his palm, as you told him how much i reminded you of him because of the lilac color feeling the need of giving it to him.

-- You must be really naive if you think you can give him anything and not expect anything in return, Jamil is starting to get gray hairs because of you two. Kalim needs to stop throwing so much money, especially with how greedy NRC students can be.

-- The first time you gifted him an cheese shaped erased he felt to happy and also unable of using it because it's a gift from you !!.

-- And at the next day, there was a silver necklace for you, or if you are one of the gold people!, a beautiful gold ring was in quite the expensive box, behind it .. more boxes, with clothes and food.

" Ah, Hello !, did you liked the gift i left at your porch this morning?, i felt like its the least i could do for you. How do you feel about some ride on the carpet in the night?, or you can go and have dinner with us in Scarabia!, im sure Jamil won't mind. "

-- A rainbow diamond ? .. Dear potato from where you got this ?.

-- The Dwarfs' Mines .. !? Potato that so dangerous ! How and when did you go there ?!

-- A rainbow diamond is what you found the first day as a janitor, in that cave after the chandelier accident, you couldn't help yourself from grabbing it besides the magestone that Deuce grabbed. And until now, you have kept that diamond safe.

-- When you met Vil, your first thought was the rainbow diamond no one but him seemed fit for the gem in your eyes, every thing about him reminded you of the diamond, and so when the VDC camp started, late at night when it was just you two, you carefully gave the blond the perfect and beautiful rainbow diamond.

" How.. Potato, do you know how rare and expensive this is..? " Vil looked at you in a disbelief he masked immideatly, his gloved hands carefully traced over the beautiful gem, he hid how flustered he felt when you explained him that out of everyone in NRC, you only saw him fit to have such a rare and expensive gem but you didnt know it was that rare, he cleared his throat as he sent you off to sleep, considering how late it was. As he walked towards his dorm in Ramshackle he made sure to hide it very well as a small pink adorned his cheeks.

-- Since Idia barely comes out of his room, you mostly go find Ortho, giving him rocks and flowers. Some for him and Of course, Idia.

-- As you cleaned around Ramshackle, something fell on your head .. some weird blue heart shaped rock? weirdly specific, as you caressed the rock your thought drifted to the blue-fire haired man, such an awkward man that you couldn't help but find him endearing, and his little brother has always been there for you.

-- You placed the cleaning kit back into that small room, fixing yourself a little bit as you decided to give the rock to your crush face to face, you walked towards the mirrow hall then you stood infront of the mirror that lead to Ignihyde.

-- As you looked around, Ortho who looked beyond happy to see you there, taking your hand he lead you into his and Idia's room.

Idia jumped from his chair as Ortho open the door with a loud bang, as he was about to sigh and scold him, the familiar picture of his crush appeared, he jumped even higher as he tried to escape. He closed his eyes as he felt his hands touch something cold, his slim finger wrapped around your warm hands. His hair started to turn pink the moment you left the dorm, he could feel the smoke leaving his head, feeling like an overheated console. when he open his hands, he nearly fainted at the small heart shaped rock with a flower, putting the rock into his pocket, playing with inbetween his fingers, Idia looked the monitor screen with a blank stare with tainted cheeks.

-- Oh?, trying to court him now or are you not, dear child of man?.

-- When you first gave him a random rock you found outside of Ramshackle, he looked perplexed. Not only you were not afraid of him, but you were also actively trying to court him?. Oh dear, you two just met a few minutes ago, but he wont mind.

-- Infact he love it, and as dragons have their fascination for special types of treasure, of course as Riddle. Malleus has a special box where he saves all of the rocks and gadgets you had given to him.

" Child of man, are you aware of what this means .. ? " Malleus looked at you, many stones in his hands. Different sizes and colors as he looked at you crouched a few miles infront of him, colleting more rocks and gadgets to give him. If Malleus had his dragon tail out, it would be wagging like crazy, dilated pupils as he stared at the back of your head, with pure adoration as he extended his hands for the new pile of rocks that you are placing.

AND ITS NOW OFFICIALLY 6 AM AS I FINISH WRITING THIS !! I CANT TO THIS ANYMORE, im going to vanish for a year again because oh lord !!, i hope you guys enjoyed it (i cant put more tags?!?!?!)

#twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland x yuu #twistedwonderland #twisted wonderland x gender neutral reader #twst x male reader #twisted wonderland x male reader #riddle rosehearts x reader #leona kingscholar x reader #azul ashengrotto x reader

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cheezeybread · 5 months ago

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Based off of the headcanon that @thecoolsquirrel made about Yuu losing their memory of their homeworld the longer they're in Twisted Wonderland!

Link to the OG post here!

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"Oh, yeah, didn't your friend Ṡ̷̢̫̞̻͈͋͛̓̅͜͜͜͠͠͠a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡h̷̶̘̘̬ͭ̏͞͡ do something like that once?" Ace chuckled, looking over to you.

You glanced over to him after taking a massive chunk out of your sandwich- Ace always did have the talent of asking you questions as soon as you had something in your mouth (something that, yes, he joked about quite often). Chewing thoughtfully, you tried to recall what he had said. Something about a friend of yours? But recalling the name made it sound almost...blurry...in your mind. As if there was a heavy static noise playing over it, teasingly dangling it just out of reach. You heard Ace say it out loud, but thinking about it...huh. Nothing but an itch that it was something you were supposed to know.

"Mmm, mmhm," you agreed, mouth still full. Although you couldn't quite remember what he said 100%, it wasn't that big of a deal, right? Ace had a tendency to get ahead of himself while talking, and as a result, slurred words or babbling slang came out instead. Maybe this was one of those times, where he messed up on his wording and just continued talking like normal, leaving your unfocused self to not hear what he had meant to say.

Nonetheless, your muffled agreement was enough to satisfy Ace, and he, Deuce, and Grim carried on their conversation eagerly, discussing everything from Spelldrive tournaments to school gossip- which was their usual brand of conversations at the cafeteria during lunchtime. You propped your elbows up on the table, only slightly bothered by the odd blank in your mind that the unknown word left behind.

----

There were a few more instances of this happening, and every time, you tried to shrug it off. But it got harder and harder to make up excuses for yourself as time went on.

Kalim was asking you about a favorite dish you had mentioned in your world. You couldn't recall the exact name of it, instead feeling that same static-y blank where you knew the name lie. It was stuck in your memory somewhere, no big whoop. You'd remember it later! Getting put on the spot like this was one way to forget anything- like being forced to do Icebreakers in classes.

Jack wanted to know more about the muscle-enhancing drugs that people took back at your home world, especially the people that overdid it. He was curious to know why someone would do such a thing to their bodies for such a temporary satisfaction. Of course, he was inquiring about all of this while he himself was working out, so perhaps it was just a question to validate his own hard work and make him feel better about himself. Either way, when trying to recall a specific instance of a professional football player who took steroids, you couldn't recall the player's name...nor what happened to him, in the end.

While studying plants in the gardening area for extra credit, Jade approached you with a question that had been going through his mind for a while: how did the flora differentiate between the two worlds? Were these plants similar to yours? Did they share characteristics? Or were these entirely different plant species? You just laughed it off, claiming that you were never one to pay attention to plants back at home. You didn't mention that you were lying, of course, that you often went on short walks to pick flowers and climb trees. That you were quite a curious kid long ago who asked questions about anything you could, especially with the plants.

Late at night, when Grim woke up with a nightmare and curled up next to you in bed, asking for you to tell him a story in that pitiful way of his, you scrunched up your eyebrows and closed your eyes in an attempt to think. You couldn't recall any folklore from your home, probably because you were just tired, right? That fizzy feeling in your head was just because you were exhausted from a day of running errands for students and the headmage, alongside mountains of homework, right? The story you told Grim ended up being your own, from the moment you came to Twisted Wonderland, to the overblots and tough trials you and he faced in the time you've spent together.

But it all finally clicked when you were in Crowley's office the week after all of these events. Of course, you were there to deliver important papers from one of the professors, but he had forced you to stay so that he could update you on his progress on getting you home....and so he could give you a list of things he needed done.

"So the Dark Mirror has been of no help whatsoever," he stated, as he did every time he started a conversation about getting you home. The Mirror never was helpful in the least, despite it being the one to drag you here in the first place "I must make a trip to a country inland nearby in the next month or so, and they happen to have an extensive library, full of books dating back to the time of the gods. If there's any knowledge about your world, it shall be there. Now, what information can you give me about your world? Cultures, lands, religions, wars, anything you think might be helpful?" He tilted his head at you as he looked up, his pen hovering above a notepad as he awaited your response.

You shrugged your shoulders, glad to be able to talk about your world, even if it was just to Crowley for research purposes. Despite some students asking you specific questions, not very many seemed to be too keen on you wistfully talking about your world and how homesick you were. How long had it even been since you arrived here? At least seven months, right? Maybe six, but somewhere in that ballpark, for sure. But when you opened your mouth to speak, it clamped shut just as fast.

Trying to think about something, anything, from your world...it only brought up that static-y feeling again.

"Well, there was a world....war....that was fought because, uh...." the facts and dates to the 'world war', which had been drilled into your head since some...some class in middle school, were slipping away as you tried to remember them. Like a trick of light in the corner of your peripheral vision that darted away as soon as you looked directly at it.

"But there was also a-" a what? "religion-" what sort of religion? How many gods? One god? Two gods? Red fish? Blue fish? Wait, what?

Crowley frowned at you, his posture straightening a bit "If it's too difficult for you to think about, you have a month until I leave- or you can simply write it all down instead of saying it out loud."

"No, no, it's not-" You stopped, plopping yourself down in one of the ornate chairs in front of Crowley's desk. Your hand gripped at the gilded armrest, sliding up and down the cool surface. How could you explain to him that yes, you were feeling rough about it all, of course, but it wasn't so painful to think about that you couldn't say anything out loud? How could you tell him that you wanted to talk about your home, but every time you tried to hold a memory, it slipped out of your hands like running water? How could you tell him that-

"I....can't remember."

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#twisted wonderland #twst fanfic #twst #twst x reader

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xoxopuffsz · 1 month ago

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I have a request if it piques your interest; Yuu!reader who takes a break during book 7 and snaps dream Rook out of it by... physical means of you're catching my drift.

AN: I’m so sorry for being away so long every1!!! I was super busy, and forgot completely about the pending requests, I’m very sorry, enjoy this short little thing I’ll leave for you guys at the moment! With love, Koko.

Warning - Rook Hunt (Dream Ver.) x Fem!Reader, Mature themes, sex, p in v, etc. MDNI!

——————————- ＾＿－）≡★

This dream was so.. confusing. You didn’t know what happened. You didn’t know why you were awake but you have actually stumbled onto a version of Rook that didn’t.. look like him at the same time. You weren’t awake.

it’s a dream.

You tried convincing him to break out of this reality, to go back to the real world to help you fight against Malleus, and bring back everyone.

but.. he refused. You didn’t know what else to do. So, you silently sat by the lonely school well, it felt horrible, this loneliness. How could you even influence him to follow you? To show him your in the right?

When Rook saw you crying, he silently walked over to you, your tears staining his shirt as you grip onto him, as he rests his hands on your thighs, as they lie on top of his.

He felt moved. He felt.. trusted. And honestly, feeling you so close? Oh, it felt good.

Sure, a few kisses became hot open ones. His hands gripping your face so gently but his body moved differently, wanting to just devour the rest of your weak being at the moment. He knew better than to catch weak prey, but I mean, that a hunters job right? To hunt..

His hands slowly went up your thighs, skirt on the ground as a few droplets of rain poured down gently, not so loud, yet so wet. Maybe even more than the feeling pooling between the heat of your legs, his hands gripping the top of your chest as your shirt became see through, the light color of your bra even matching your underwear.

He couldn’t help himself, your shivers sending a spike of heat up your core, and making your body tremble as he un did his belt, the noise of the metal clinking as he moves you against his hips. So gently, was he always like this? As long as you remember, Rook always took his time to be as harsh as he could be with you, he had fun with it, but this?..

Oh, it turned you on just how slowly and patronizing he was moving his clothed dick against you, gentle rain wetting the both of you, as he took off the edge of his boxers, letting his member free.

Not even in a dream did Rook disappoint, each thrust of his hips meeting your needs as his tip bullied your g-spot, your noises echoing into his ears as your head rested next to his. It was so.. it felt so.. good. It made you weak in your legs, the way he spread your legs so you fit him better, slowly increasing a hellish pace in which you seemed to seek constantly.

And just as the rain poured by, just as his juices rested on your wet body and stomach, you said.

“Will you come with me? To get out of this dream?”

——————- ♡

AN - THANK YOU FOR READING TO THE END!! I hope you guys enjoyed this small thing, I love you all, have a good rest of your day! ❤︎

#twst smut #Rook x Reader #rook hunt smut #rook hunt x reader #Twisted wonderland smut #fem reader #Smut

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bitethedustfools · 7 months ago

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TWST Story Idea (15)

The story goes as follows: Yuu woke up in a coffin in another world, became a student with a cat after an accident, and solved it. They deal with chaotic school life and overblots, and then go home, and that's the end.

That's how it goes.

That's how Yuu believed it to be.

Except Yuu woke up again in the same coffin, the same scenario repeating before their eyes upon seeing Grim blasted their coffin into a wreck and demanding their robe, feeling as though they just had a long bittersweet dream.

Yuu remembered every moment, every dialogue, and every incident that leads to overblots, so this can't be a dream. Yuu would say that they dreamt of the future. Maybe that's true, but maybe it's also the past.

That's right…

Yuu had finally come to a revelation.

Yuu had woken up at the very beginning of his new life in Twisted Wonderland, complete with the memories of the future.

Yuu was confused. Why? Why did they have to repeat this all over again? Why did time turn back?

Plenty of questions they don't know the answer to.

Despite feeling upset, Yuu had no choice but to go through it all over again, although the only blessing that came to them was in the form of a book hiding somewhere in the library. A way to go home.

If they could find that, maybe they would be able to go home sooner than before. That was their goal. Friends or not, the others could sort their own traumas with each other.

After going through the first overblot Yuu faced, just like before, and then becoming a student, Yuu's first destination was the library.

They leashed Grim out of caution while they're off to search for the book based on the memories they had, ignoring his yelling.

Before Yuu ever had the chance to, Ace and Deuce barged into the library, making quite a racket. And before Yuu knew it, they all were researching about unique plants because Ace said he and Deuce got punished due to messing up their first brewing lesson.

Yuu thought that it's only for a moment, so why not. They can find the book another day since it won't go anywhere.

Following the story of the future, Ace knocked on the door in the middle of the night with a metal collar.

Yuu let him sleep there with no hesitation. There was no need to listen; Yuu knew what happened already. Ace's expression looked a bit strange, though Yuu couldn't fault him, seeing how Yuu didn't even look a little bit curious.

It went the same as they expected after that night; Deuce came in the morning, berated Ace, and then everyone went to Heartslabyul to accompany Ace to apologize, and Cater took advantage of them and blah blah blah.

Yuu was autopiloting, but the moment Trey suggested baking a mont blanc tart, they blinked out of their daydream and suggested to bake another dessert instead of a mont blanc tart.

Trey asked Why not? And Yuu questioned back if mont blanc is allowed during the unbirthday party.

This is where Yuu started to notice there's something wrong. They all looked at Yuu with complicated looks, almost anxious. Some even insisted that the tart is a must at the unbirthday party.

Yuu tried to convince them when they complained about gathering thousands of chestnuts, but it didn't work.

And just like that, the Riddle overblot happened (again).

Yuu was met with this strange phenomenon again after that.

Yuu tried to prevent Trey, Jamil, and the others from the accident before the Spelldrive tournament. But somehow, it still happened. They still had to meet Vil, Rook, and Epel, as well as the Leech twins, no matter how much Yuu said it's Ruggie. It was also inevitable that the Savanaclaw would also bully them in a Spelldrive and the overblot happening.

Every time Yuu wanted to alter it or 'speedrun' it, the others, although some are perfect, weren't able to conceal their expression from Yuu.

Yuu wasn't able to recognize what kind of expression it was since they hid it again. However, Yuu felt dread growing in their guts.

The feelings of uneasiness and fear grew as the story goes on.

Their relationship, along with their expression with the others, felt strange. It felt forced but not really. Sometimes they looked genuine, and sometimes they are not. Their movement looked practiced as if they've done this many times, and their dialogues were the exact same thing from the future memories.

Other than that, Yuu even noticed that Yuu would get dragged out of the library whenever there's an important 'event' to the plot going on by many excuses made by their friends. However, when it was finished, they would go to the library and search for the book.

However, all the free time spent here, Yuu still couldn't find the book even with the aid of the future memories. It looked like the book disappeared out of the shelves.

And so, with a heavy heart, Yuu was unable to go home earlier as they anticipated and had to proceed like normal.

It was just that a thought still lingered in their mind. It was as if someone took the book out…

Something weird is going on.

One day, Yuu was certain that their friends knew what the future held, but then questions arose. For what reason do they reenact the story once more? Why do they pretend? What's the goal of all of this?

Is there something Yuu is missing?

Yuu was still questioning everything even as the final chapter unfolded before their eyes. Except, it's not the way he knew of.

Grim overblotted, scorching the whole room in bright blue flame. The mighty roar shook the room and broke the windows. The shadow of a horrifying beast loomed over all.

Everything is destroyed, and everyone is at the brink of death.

This was not what Yuu experienced before. In that future, everyone is alive. Yuu gets to go home. So what is this? How did this happened?

Another wave of unforgiving flame, and their eyes were blinded by the bright light it emitted before pain overwhelmed their whole body until they felt nothing, only the feeling of being suspended in the air.

Multiple voices, so quiet yet loud, reverberated inside their head, overlapping each other to the point they sounded incomprehensible.

"̵͕̪̪̄̾̈̕͝À̸͖͓͆n̶̪̐̈́o̴̖̼̣͋ṭ̷̜̺̭͕̂͑̿͑ḧ̶͕͎̹́̓̔͠e̵̪̽̇̈͆͝r̴̥͉͗̌̅̊ ̵̗͍͌͌̒̂ͅf̸͓̻̃a̷̠̬̤̔i̴͎̕ḽ̷̝̜͆̾͛́͠ͅe̶̜̿̓͝d̷̡̺̣͚̹́̐͝ ̸̓͝��̰̗͙͚͜s̸͕͗͌̈́̃t̶̰̩̫̪̾͑̾̐̃ǫ̵̝͚̈̋͌̾͑ŗ̶̫͎̥̎̊͘y̴̻̗̮͝.̸̡̛̘̮̤̿͝"̶͍͖͔̳̃̓̏̆͠ ̴̬̮̊̽̒̚͝ ̵͇͔̰̓"̵͍͙̺͑͘T̴͖͕͖̠̻͌͌͝h̸̢̙̙̊̾̓ȇ̴̓̂͊͘͜ ̶͔̾̃̄͜͝p̵͉̩͆ę̷͕̀͋̅̑̈́ř̷̮͎͐̈́f̷̡̞̹͖̀͠ë̸̙͓͉́͝c̸̞̗̫͎͌͝t̷̤̙̕ ̷̭̲̦̦̇̏e̸̠̍͝n̴̫̗̻̠͍͗͑̉̐d̷̳̭̤̍̆͠ĭ̵͉͖̤̌n̴̩̣̕͠g̶͚͚͖͂̈́̅͒̀ͅ ̵͋͗͝ͅh̸̜̼̠͔̠͗a̶͓͕̥͈͙͒̽s̶̬̣̯̈́͊͑ņ̴̬̌͗'̴͇̿̐͜ẗ̴̛͎̝͒̀̓ ̴̱̻̰̈́̐͐b̷̛̰̺̩͍e̴̹̠̼̤̊̊́ę̸̤͈͇̺͝͝n̶̡̺͙͍̩͑ ̵̛̥̩̮f̸̰̣̦͆̊̿͠ỏ̴̝͖̮͉ů̵͎͛̇̕n̴͕̋͂̚̚͠d̶̩̤͖͙̿̈.̷̞̝͓̻̃́̚"̴͍͈̙̓͗́ ̸̥͙̫̬͈̓̏̂ ̸̳̯͑̌͆͝͝"̴̨̪̳̼̩̌̓̚Ẅ̵̳̘͎͕̬́i̵̢̪̲̦͊̆͝l̵̡̩͆̋̐̓̎l̵̬̐ ̴̠̓̋̂t̶̻͐̈͜ḧ̸̨̹͔̇͆̾̚ͅe̵̺̲̣̽r̵̤̒e̸̼͛ ̷̱̂͊̽͘͝b̷̳̄͛̄e̵̛̦̳̠̩̍̌̍͝ ̴̣̤͓̞̺͘̕͘a̴̢̘̥͕͌̎̅ ̵̣̬̖͈̳͌̆͌s̶̰͈̤͆͝t̸̻̀o̸̢̨͇͖̦͑̊̌ŗ̶͉͈̠̆̍́͂y̸̩͋̔̇̏ ̴̗͍̼͎͊ẃ̸̡͙h̷̙̯̆͋͝é̶̥͛͂̉͝r̵̪̪̯̱͎̒e̶̳̾͒͂ ̸͈̒̀͆ẻ̸͙͎͇̖v̶̀͜e̷̲̠̅̏̽ŕ̵̞̩̫͇̃͜y̶̙̆̄̂o̷͓̱̿n̴͎̻̾ë̶͚́̀̈́͆ ̴̤͒́̈l̸̠͓̗̬̈́i̸̭͊́v̵͍̞̹̽̓̓͜ḙ̴̡͌̈́͆̌̕š̶͍̘̉̑̈́͝ ̵̳̪̫̿̚ẖ̶̮̺̿͊a̷̠͗͝p̴̟̑̾͂̎p̵̡̲̈̍͘î̸̡͓̮̫̩̄̍͆̚l̷͕̯̥͂͒̇ÿ̸̛̗́̚ ̸̛̗̣̘̙̬̐̒̎i̷̲̼̩̹̬͝n̶͇̰̻͋ ̶̛̮̘̜͊͝ţ̸̼̺͍͙̂͊̈́ẖ̵̀̏͆i̵̘̻͕̥̙͆͘͝s̸̜̘̹͉̳͑̔͂ ̸̧̧̳̙̗̈́͋͊̕ẅ̷̪̖́ö̷̠͚͚̊̍͘ȓ̸̖͊͐̀l̷̤͝ḑ̵̼̗̰̑̀͘͜ ̷̺̤̗̮́͘t̴̳͇͍̽̈̕o̷̧̪̬͋͋͊̕̕ǵ̷͚̭͙̩̍̌̕͝e̶̦̔͂ṱ̵̓͠h̷̪̿͐̚e̸̤͌͊̿̂̕ͅr̷̖̺͉̿?̸̝̏̾"̸̨̧̗̻̀͗̇̒ ̵̢̼͆̅̅ ̵̼̩̖̰̒̀"̵͓͈̦͓̈́L̶̫̪͑̋̃̐͝ë̴͇̭͈͕̽̍t̶̩͓̥̥̀̀͘͝͝'̶͇̉̏̏̀̑s̴̪͎̙̈́͒ ̶̢̹̖͙̓ͅp̶̪̻̟̟̈́l̶̙̜̫͉͉̏̍̈́a̷̜͎̞̎̽ý̸̝͔͆̈́̐̽ ̶̱̍a̵͕̍̒̓ģ̵͚̤̮̂ä̶͚͇̲́̔́̾ḯ̷̧̠͚̦̮̅̏́͌n̷̛̠̂.̸̧̭͓̮̿̿̌"̷̞͔̱̄̓̉

And then Yuu woke up in the same coffin, the start of everything.

Yuu dreamt of their school life and dealing with overblots as well as friends who are so full of deceptions yet so guileless.

Yuu dreamt of hot blue fire burning everything down to ashes and the coffins floating all around the room. The pupil-less glare of a beast scorched deep into their soul.

That's right…

Yuu had finally come to a revelation.

Yuu had woken up at the very beginning of his new life in Twisted Wonderland, complete with the memories of the future.

Yuu was confused. Why? Why did they have to repeat this all over again? Why did time turn back?

Plenty of questions they don't know the answer to.

But they remembered the future and how it ended. They need to find other ways to solve the overblots and prevent that ending from coming true.

That is Yuu's goal for now.

-----

The concept of this time loop is not when you have many save files with different endings, but you only have one file and you played and saved different endings on it. That explains that Yuu doesn't remember the previous 'story' where he gets to go home instead Yuu remembered the new one. It got overwritten, simply put.

Also, it might be Malleus doing the time turning back because all of them like a happy ending where everyone lives and stuck together. They all remember and pretend to go along because it is still the story/game. Might work for the Yandere theme as well.

Everyone remembered, but they had no choice but to pretend. There are other entities out there (players) watching (playing?) and Yuu is the key to a happy ending and stopping time from turning back and being free.

#twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst wonderland #twst #twst yuu #writing prompt #yandere twst #everyone loves yuu

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idkwhattoputhereidontknow · 7 months ago

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Child!Yuu in Twisted Wonderland!

Here is a little link if you want to know a little more about this Yuu. https://www.tumblr.com/Little Yuu ideas! \^o^/ This is just how I think it would go when my Child!Yuu enters Twisted Wonderland!

"Yuu?"

"YUU?!"

A familiar voice snapped Yuu out of their thoughts. "Yeah?" Yuu says, lifting their head to make eye contact with the owner of the voice, Yuu's close friend, Ava, "Ya gonna eat that?" Ava is pointing at the roll on Yuu's lunch tray, "Cause if you're not, I want it."

"Oh....I'm not. Here you go." Yuu says passing the roll to Ava, only for her to turn back to they're other friends at the lunch table, ignoring Yuu once again...This was the routine that happened every day since Yuu and her friends started middle school. They wouldn't talk to Yuu unless they wanted something then once they got it, they would completely ignore Yuu like they were a ghost. No matter how many times Yuu would try to speak they would just get ignored over and over again...I can't really blame them it's not like we're in the same classes anyway, so it's probably just a bit awkward trying to talk to me. Is what Yuu would tell themselves after the cycle repeated itself.

Maybe I need a breather...? Yeah, I should go wash my face or something like that. And with that thought, Yuu excused themselves from the lunch table to use the restroom. "I'll be right back guys." As Yuu got up from the table not a single one of their so-called friends responded, they didn't even give Yuu a glance or a nod, just silence. Almost like Yuu didn't even exist in their world.

Yuu took one of the bathroom passes off an empty table and retreated to the restroom. Much to Yuu's relief, no one was in there. It was just them, all alone. They stood in front of a mirror and a sink, looking at their reflection before they splash their face with some icy cold water. Even with the freezing water against their face it still felt uncomfortably hot...Geez, Yuu. Ava just asked for some bread that you knew you weren't going to eat, so why are you so upset? Yuu couldn't quite understand why they were feeling so...yucky. The nasty warm face that they only got when they were having anxiety, not to mention the empty pit they felt in their stomach. Maybe it was from the fact that they haven't really eaten anything today or maybe it was also from this uncalled-for unease.

Well, whatever it was, Yuu knows they can't stay in the bathroom for too long or the teachers will come to check on them, and they can't have that, now can they? I guess it's time to head back. Once Yuu dries their face off with the top of their shirt, they turn to head out of the restroom.... Why is my vision so blurry? Everything Yuu sees starts to contort and blur into each other. Yuu also starts to sway from side to side slightly in a zombie like mannerism.... Ouch my head! What's happening..? Before Yuu had the chance to balance themselves everything went black........

Once Yuu opened their eyes all they could see is black...? Huh?! Did I go blind!? No, no, don't be overdramatic, Yuu. I'm sure you'll be fine. Once Yuu attempts to calm down at this weird situation, they slowly move their hands in front of them to get a feel of their surroundings. Their hands press against a wood like wall that feels cold to the touch causing Yuu to wince back. Seriously, where am I? Before Yuu could think another thought-

BANG

The sudden banging quickly made Yuu back up into the corner of this cramped place. What the hell was that?! As Yuu thought, there was another voice that was coming from outside the box Yuu is trapped in. "I better hurry up and find that uniform before someone spots me... Urgggh... This lid weighs a ton! Try this on for a size! Mya-ha!" As soon as the voice finished speaking, blue flames engulfed the area around Yuu!

"AHHHH!!!" Yuu quickly shut their eyes tight and covered their face with their arms, "What?! You ain't supposed to be awake!" The voice says in a surprised voice. Since Yuu didn't feel any fire burn them, they slowly pecked their eyes open, still keeping their arms over their face. Yuu could now see the surrounding area outside the box. There were floating coffins running along the sides of the room with a large black mirror hovering over the floor in the middle of the room. Although, the thing that immediately caught Yuu's attention was a small grey cat standing on its hind legs in front of Yuu. The cat also had blue flames just like the ones before coming out of its ears with a pitchfork tail! Why does this seem so familiar...? Yuu glances around the bizarre room once more before it finally settles in.

"Am I in Twisted Wonderland..?"

Hope you enjoyed this little fanfic or whatever I just made is called. I don't know if I'm the best at writing, but I at least tried, right? Oh, and I'm going to start working on those requests I asked you guys for now. ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

#twst x reader #twst #twisted wonderland #twst x child yuu #twst x yuu #fanfic #What else to put?#Ummmm #twst yuu #child!reader #Child!Yuu #I think that's it!#Oh #Wait! I forgot #Have a great day!!! ╰(*°▽°*)╯

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mahs-dumpster · 9 months ago

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twst canon divergences to fit my OC and OC x canon.

Content: random headcanons I have for Daisy (my Yuu) up until book 5; book 6 is so long it deserves its own post + I feel like I still need to figure out Daisy's role there. Everything is subject to change.

words: around 3k+ (I know but I promise I did my best to make this as short as I could)

🏷️: @viilpstick @justm3di0cr3

Prologue

- Daisy was brought to twst after wishing upon a star. More info about her background can be found out here.

- Daisy made the association that the star she made a wish to brought her there as soon as she had time to breathe. She tried wishing for it to send her back but to no avail.

- She didn't mind how ruined Ramshackle was, in fact, she saw its potential right away. Once she saw the ghosts she was super scared but she told Grim to not harm them, since they were living there first so technically Daisy and Grim were the intruders. She apologized and asked if she could stay for a while, the ghosts immediately loved her for this.

- Daisy got so compelled by Grim’s will to enroll on the school she told him she would do her best to support him and help him enroll while she was there. Grim got embarrassed by how supportive Daisy was but said he could use the help of a hench-human.

- Daisy didn't get along with Ace from the start, when he belittled Grim and her for not knowing about the Great Seven, Daisy told him in a stern tone that “it's pretty narrow minded to believe everyone should have the same information as you do. In my view, you're the dumb one.”

- When Ace and Deuce were fighting in the mines and Daisy tried to calm them down, Ace went as far as to mock her for being a “useless magicless girl”, which made her so upset she told them strictly to suck it up and work together, otherwise they would end up being expelled on the first day and as far as she knew that was the worst thing for a student, regardless of magic. This shocked them because so far Daisy had never seem so angry, they decided to finally listen and work together.

- Once they enrolled, along with the ghost camera, Crowley gave Daisy her uniform, making it up with magic – or whatever I haven't decided – so it would be different from every other dorm. He also gave her a dorm uniform so she would feel like a normal student.

Book 1

- Upon having her first dream, Daisy realizes The Great Seven are actually characters she's read in her fairy tales, but they're the villains of the story. She didn't say anything about it, thinking it was a dream to comfort her – because these stories were told to her by her parents when she was younger – in this dire situation and because maybe in this universe these people weren't the villains. She only mentions it in book 5 like in canon because that's when she actually starts getting worried these might somehow be premonitions.

- She let Ace stay and treated him with kindness, but he realized she was a bit uncomfortable with his presence, so, in his own way, Ace apologized for calling her useless, saying “your plan really helped that day. Thanks, I guess.” making Daisy super happy.

- Daisy felt scared of Riddle at first, not being able to speak nor look him in the eyes because he reminded her of her stepmother. But she really wanted to help Ace, seeing that Riddle's punishment was way too severe.

- Meeting Leona was the same as canon, but when Ruggie showed up him and Daisy had a deja vu moment – this is a reference to the fact that before Daisy was brought to twst, she and Ruggie had dreams almost every night about each other, but they don't remember who the person in their dreams were.

- During the incident where Deuce lost his temper, Daisy told him it was fine that he lost control for a moment, and it was admirable that he had such a great sense of justice. She told him she was proud of how much he loved his mother and that she wished she could be more like him, Ace and Grim, and fight for herself and what she thought was right. Deuce tells her that she already took the first step by inspiring both of them to get the mage stone.

- When Riddle rejected the tart, Daisy finally worked up the courage to speak, even if she was a bit awkward. She told him he would soon regret what he was doing, and that if he didn't change, he would end up exactly like her stepmother: a ruthless tyrant.

- Daisy was the one to suggest Ace fought for the housewarden position after they learn about it, supporting Ace and saying he could be a decent housewarden if he managed to win.

- During the overblot fight Daisy couldn't do much, she mostly distracted Riddle and managed to save Grim from an attack, but needed to be saved by Cater from another.

- Upon seeing Riddle's backstory, Daisy cried with him, saying how much he had suffered on his mother's hand and that she understood what he had gone through to some degree. Still, she tells him that he was wrong, and needed to apologize.

Book 2

- Daisy accepts to help Crowley not simply because of the small blackmail he does, but because she herself decides to fight for what her parents taught her was correct and the idea of someone hurting others for their personal gain goes 100% against those principles.

- The little game between HeartShackle and Savanaclaw is awful, they lose to Ruggie and Leona so fast, and Ruggie makes it his life mission to poke fun at Daisy specifically for not being able to use magic and for being unathletic.

- Once they all make the connection that it was Ruggie behind all the injuries and run after him, Daisy manages to catch up to him through a shortcut – or something like that idk – and pins him down (my attempt to make the famous Simba/Nala scene) ordering him to stop running like a coward and bring them back their magical pens; not only does Ruggie not comply, he switches the situation by pinning her down and stealing her earrings, saying it's her fault for getting into other people's business.

- Near the overblot Daisy gets visually worried for Ruggie, seeing how Leona speaks to him and hurts him; she learns about his desperation to succeed.

- During the overblot Daisy is considerably more helpful because she has been making extra potions – supervised by Crewel – just in case something happens and she needs to defend herself.

- After learning about Leona's past, and after playing the Spelldrive match, in the infirmary, Daisy is unsure if she should say anything to him, but once they're alone she manages to say she's in awe of how smart and cunning he is, and that he's incredible despite not agreeing with what he did. He tells her to get lost but she could see her words got through to him.

- By the end Daisy helps Ruggie with his arm despite his complains and tells him that despite their complicated beginning she was willing to see him in a new light. He told her he didn't care and just didn't want to be in debt with her, so she told him that she wasn't helping him to get something in return, but if she must she asked for her earrings back, as they belonged to her late mother and she loved them dearly.

- Bonus: Daisy kept helping Ruggie with his arm in between book 2 and 3, he didn't like it but she was so insistent on it he just let her do what she wanted to.

Book 3

- Along with Jack, Daisy also said how much she was disappointed with ADeuce + Grim for going as far as to do a contract with someone so shady and for not even thinking enough about the consequences.

- Daisy was scared of the tweels, but because she already dealt with two overblots and her friends were with her, she stood tall and did her best to not be intimidated by them.

- Daisy seriously tried to not mess around with Azul, but seeing Grim (and the others) suffer so much made her give up and follow the tweels to the Mostro Lounge, saying that she would just discuss with Azul and nothing else. Jack obviously came along and the others as well just like canon.

- When Azul proposed the idea of a contract with her, Daisy frowned and told him “I explicitly said I would not do any contracts with you. I do not think it is wise to do so.” but Azul managed to nudge her just the right way by reading her and understanding her empathetic nature. Basically, he told her that unless she truly wanted her friends to be free, he couldn't offer anything other than a contract. Daisy told Jack that she knew what she was doing was careless, but that she was with her hands tied, and so, she signed the contract.

- Daisy complained a lot when the tweels basically shoved Grim and Daisy out of Ramshackle, not backing away even when they tried to intimidate her, but unfortunately it was in vain. Daisy and Grim were shoved off of the dorm with a few pieces of clothing and essentials they were able to pack.

- Daisy didn't mind sleeping in a cramped space in Heartslabyul, but she was scared of being a bother, so she went with Jack to Savanaclaw. The only reason Leona even let her stay was because Ruggie told Leona his arm was still hurting and he couldn't do all the chores by himself, – a lie – so Daisy could help out. She agreed because she was already used to cleaning and catering to people's needs, so, Leona begrudgingly let her stay as long as she kept quiet and helped out while she was there. When she tried thanking Ruggie for helping convince Leona he said he was doing that to pay his debt with her for helping him heal his arm, nothing more.

- Most things happen close to canon throughout the story, but we get more time with Daisy at Savanaclaw, seeing her helping clean the dorm when she has time, which makes her get very close to Ruggie. She ends up developing a crush when she learns more about his personality and past, hearing him fondly talking about his grandmother. Ruggie also slowly starts liking her, but he denies it to himself for a while.

- Until the overblot fight, everything is close to canon. Daisy comes back from the museum with the photo to find an Azul who overblotted. Throughout the fight, Daisy is seen visibility tired and slower than usual, having trouble protecting herself, needing ADeuce and the other boys to help her out so she wouldn't get hurt.

- Upon seeing Azul’s story, Daisy tells Azul she thinks he was actually super cute as a child – which he HATES like he screams bc she saw him as a kid in the photo – and that she gets him in a way, having image problems herself. This is the first we hear about Daisy’s insecurities with her appearance. She tells him she's also super surprised with how hard he worked and how hardworking he is.

- After the fight and her small talk with Azul, Daisy basically passes out – she stayed awake all night trying to get Leona to help her out, plus she was super tired from all the cleaning around Savanaclaw and trying to get the photo. Ace is able to catch her before she hit the ground, and tells Deuce and Grim they should get her to the infirmary, but instead, Ruggie tells them that was his job since part of the reason that Daisy was so tired was because of him, so he would take her to the infirmary himself.

- There's a bonus scene not in canon, in which Ruggie and Daisy have a conversation in the infirmary. She thanks him for helping her out with Azul and for taking her there, and she also apologizes for being a bother all of these days. Ruggie says she wasn't a bother in the least, and that having her around Savanaclaw was actually great and that he looked forward to see her in the morning everyday; he told her he expected to see more of her around the school.

- When following Azul and the tweels to the museum to return the photo, Daisy once again expressed her admiration to how hardworking he was, and told him she would be delighted in doing business with him again, as long as it didn't involve any taking of her house. Azul laughed at that.

- Bonus, in between book 3 and 4: I actually don't remember how long it is between the two books, but regardless I'm making up more time for Daisy and Ruggie to interact. They become closer during this period and Ruggie starts doing very minor favors for Daisy and giving her pumpkin flavored desserts to show his affection in a way where he won't need to actually say he likes her with his words. Soon enough Daisy notices this and asks him on a date.

Book 4

- I think the beginning of the book is very close to canon, in fact I don't think there's much canon divergence in this book. Daisy makes sure not only to get ADeuce’s number but to also get Ruggie’s number, she also tells him to say hi to his grandma for her.

- Daisy and Kalim hit it off like immediately. They are people who are naturally kind and empathetic, seeing someone like Kalim was a breath of fresh air and within just the few minutes she starts considering him someone very dear to her, they have instant chemistry. All the more reason for, when he starts acting weirdly, Daisy gets really worried and urges Jamil that they should get help, but instead chaos ensues and like canon they get stuck at Scarabia.

- Daisy gets visibly worried about Kalim throughout the book and tries talking to him when he’s his normal self, he tells her that he genuinely doesn't know what's going on, and before she can dig deeper Jamil always intervenes, making her wonder if perhaps he knows something about the issue, remembering the instances where she did stuff against her will near him.

- I didn't mention my other ocs until now bc I want to make a separate post about their own canon divergences on their specific books, but I will mention that Damali helps Grim and Daisy escape and leads them to the treasury, gifting them the carpet under the condition to give it back (and she slightly threatens them if they don't give the carpet back). So they escape and meet the octatrio.

- Since Azul and Daisy are in better terms and they both have a soft spot for each other (Azul will NEVER admit this tho) Azul decided to help, but obviously he also uses the excuse in game, it's Azul we’re talking about even if he has a soft spot there must be something in it for him. It's kinda funny to see this princess-like character walking around with these mafia coded characters.

- Basically everything happens pretty similarly to canon, but Daisy helps Azul making up their plans, as I want to lean into the fact that Daisy is a “Trickster” as Rook says, meaning she's good at planning and outsmarting others. I'm unsure of what she makes up by herself, but I don't want to leave all the planning to Azul because the whole purpose of this is to make Daisy/Yuu a more proactive character.

- Throughout this book Daisy is not scared at all from the tweels. If before she was forcing herself to not be scared, now she’s just plainly not scared at all. After everything that went down in book 3 and now their alliance in book 4 she grew accustomed to their presence and even finds them kinda funny. Azul is worried.

- Daisy gets super defensive over Kalim, basically standing in front of him protectively when Jamil is spilling all his feelings and intentions — not that it matters much, but it shows how much she cares for Kalim. When they're sent away Daisy is super angry, nearly as angry as in the prologue with ADeuce and tells Kalim straight away that Jamil is a jerk. She tells him that she herself believes in forgiveness and second chances — since her parents taught her this — but told him that until Jamil apologizes Kalim has all the right to be upset, and that he should at least get his dorm back.

- Because Daisy is very sympathetic and forgives easily, she quickly decides to accept Jamil as he is, being happy that Kalim is with him. But she still defends Kalim from every single insult Jamil gave him.

- Later at the small party thingy in the Oasis, Daisy apologizes for being so harsh on Jamil, but still tells him he deserved it in a way. She says she understands him to a degree, being treated as a servant by her stepmother and never being able to do what she wishes because of that. Daisy says she hopes that he’s able to be free and that she's looking forward to meeting the true Jamil from now on. He says she's being stupid and way too trusting and Daisy just nods, saying that yes, maybe she is, but she doesn't mind.

- Not only the ADeuce duo show up but Ruggie does as well, since she sent him a message too. He used his money to get there and gets upset when Daisy says everything’s fine now, he tells her to never scare him again and mumbles about having wasted money, Daisy offers to pay up but he declines, until Kalim hears the convo and offers to pay, Daisy tries to say no but Ruggie says yes and Kalim insists, so she kinda gives up.

Book 5

- Daisy doesn't sign up for the VDC, saying that while she is interested in singing she wanted to rest and have a breather from all the stuff that she's been doing, but she still accompanies Jamil and Kalim and they — and by they I mean Jamil — teach ADeuce + Grim how to dance.

- Daisy knew Ruggie would be trying for the VDC, having offered a few singing lessons to him before so he at least had more of a decent understanding of singing, even if very basic. The ADeuce duo asks for lessons too but Ruggie laughs at them and tells them it's “boyfriend privileges”, this being the first time Ruggie had referred to himself as her boyfriend (even though both of them knew that), this makes Daisy so happy she agrees with Ruggie and doesn't share her singing lessons with them.

- Daisy didn't like how Vil bossed Epel around, but after their first encounter her and Vil actually got along pretty well, him being surprised she accompanied ADeuce + Grim to the auditions. Daisy is obviously not casted, since she didn't audition, but one day before the results Daisy caught Epel failing while singing and offered to help, showing him her own singing abilities; Rook was nearby and heard her, talking about her voice with Vil and convincing him to include her in the group.

- Throughout the book Daisy seems to be having a pretty easy time with maintaining Vil’s routine, even finding joy in it. Vil noticed how she had a very good posture, moved graciously while dancing and didn't had trouble adapting to her diet. He once asked about all this and she shared that before her parents died and her stepmother took over her home, they had quite a good amount of money and put her in ballet, singing and etiquette lessons at a young age.

- Daisy has a problem that is brought up in this book and calls back to book 3: she's insecure about her appearance. Everytime the topic of beauty is brought up Daisy seems quite uncomfortable and avoids eye contact, she also has trouble following the skin care routine because she thinks she's not worthy of using the products. She has two important conversations with different characters: one with Epel, where he complains about how he hated that Vil wanted him to act all princely because of his appearance, and while Daisy agrees that Vil seems too much she tells him she kind of wishes she had a Vil around in her own world to tell her what he thought of her looks and what she could do to get better; another with Rook and Kalim, where Daisy basically opens up about her insecurities, telling them she didn't believe she was beautiful, and both of them telling her quite the opposite, Kalim specifically being by her side and helping her understand she should feel confident in her own skin; and another very small one with Vil, when he scolds her for letting the words of others (her stepmother) affect her and saying that if she truly was insecure, she must use it as a weapon and not a way to run from her fears.

- Daisy helps Kalim understand that his problems are valid, scolding Grim when he said Kalim didn't have the right to complain. She tells him that he has all the right to feel upset for not getting the lead and that he should aspire to get even better, after all, Jamil wouldn't want to win against an already defeated opponent.

- Daisy offers to teach Deuce and Epel ballet. She takes the opportunity to explain to them how there were boys who liked ballet when she was little and that they really shouldn't be ashamed of practicing it.

- Daisy scolds Ace a lot once he and Deuce fight, being worried sick until she can finally see Epel and Deuce again. She tells him he was a jerk and there's a gag where she turns her face away from him for like a day because of what he did, but they get over it.

- Daisy admits she finds Neige very pretty and she feels very drawn to his personality, his smile seeming comforting to her and she even wonders if everyone in RSA is like Neige.

- Basically everything else happens like canon with very minor divergences that I don't think are worthy of being mentioned. When Vil tried to poison Neige though, Daisy was there alongside Kalim, the boy telling her — since they grew close — that Vil seemed to have a worrying expression and her agreeing to have seen the same on Jamil.

- Overblot happens like in canon with minor changes in the fight. After it and it's revealed that her and Malleus are friends and that she calls him “tsunotaro”, she doesn't really get surprised by his title as Malleus Draconia, instead smiling at him and saying “to me you're the same old Tsunotaro”.

- When everything is done and they lose, Daisy takes a time to get to talk with Vil in private and tells him that despite the overblot and how he feels about Neige and his roles, she still finds him enchantingly beautiful, and she tells him that he truly was like a hero to her, helping her understand the value in her appearance.

#💌! daisy #💌! mah writes #twisted wonderland #twst #oc x canon #twst oc #twst yuu #yuu twisted wonderland

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britishassistant · 2 years ago

Text

Soul Searching (Is Harder If You Have Different Maps)

Leona (dream sharing) - Yuu (first words)

It’s been on your wrist for as long as you can remember.

A short paragraph in neat, flowing handwriting, forming one of the oddest sentences you’ve ever read.

Your half-siblings gave you no end of grief about it once the Words Resolved, at least one of them leaking it whenever you moved up a year in school so everybody always knew.

Your father ordered you to keep it covered at all times, then ignored it and you from then on. Just another way you were a stain on the family name.

One of the good things about leaving was at least it became your own.

You buy a new cover, the nicest you can afford with your meager funds. Not because you’re ashamed of it, but because for the first time in your life you could control who knew about it. It was yours, no one else’s.

Still. You really can’t imagine what sort of first encounter you’ll have with your soulmate that results in what’s on your wrist.

Maybe they have a pet? A dog or a cat?

Conversely, even though your meeting requires you to (you hope not seriously) potentially hurt an animal, you find yourself becoming hyper-aware of them. Always keeping a healthy distance between them and yourself.

It helps when you wake up in a coffin after dreaming about (maybe living through?) your gruesome death via monster to a talking, fire-breathing tanuki trying to steal your clothes.

You don’t think stepping on it would improve your situation any.

You’re distracted, is the thing.

You’ve somehow been transported to another world, forced to live in a should-be-condemned building, made a groundskeeper, watched as Grim the monster-tanuki burnt a statue and broke a chandelier with the help of a cocky feckless asshole and a dumbass wannabe honor student, had your ribs broken by a nightmarish ink-like monster that you still can’t find any information on, defeated that monster by somehow getting Grim, the feckless asshole and dumbass honor student to cooperate with your improvised plan, made a two-in-one student and a prefect, hosted Ace in your ramshackle dorm when he pissed off his dorm leader, had a weird dream about a queen and some cards you barely remember, tried to get Grim to attend classes, somehow got shanghai’d into making a mont blanc to appease the same dorm leader who Ace somehow belatedly realized was his soulmate, and—!

Look, it’s been a long two days, alright?

So maybe, when Grim dashes off the path to go steal some random fruit you’ve never seen before, you’re more concerned with catching him than watching where you’re going.

With your luck, Grim’ll end up rolling around in poison ivy. The magical equivalent of poison ivy. Which he’ll transfer to you first thing, but he won’t be affected by because he’s got fur.

You stumble as something… round and thin disrupts your footing by being inconveniently beneath your sole.

“Ow!”

Maybe it was a hose? A greenhouse this big has got to have some sort of sprinkler system, after all. Hopefully you haven’t bent it or anything.

Also since when was Grim’s voice that deep?

“Oi. You’ve got some nerve, stepping on someone’s tail without saying anything.”

Oh.

Oh, come on.

At least he’s good looking, the treacherous part of your brain whispers as a boy so tall and broad he can only really be called a man stands and pins you in place with a glare. With all the ways this could’ve turned out, you really got lucky with this one, didn’t you?

The rest of you mentally screams at it to shut up, because holy shit, this guy has animal ears and a tail and there is no way in hell you could’ve predicted this in a million years.

“Fnah? Are you the custodian here?” Because naturally, Grim would decide now’s the best time to abandon his quest for food. “You look like a rude guy, y’know?”

The guy who said the words on your wrist (your soulmate, your soulmate, he’s your soulmate!) curls his lip. “I may have been in the middle of a shitty nap, but you went and walked on my tail. I can’t just let you get away with that.”

You’re the one who left your tail lying where anyone can step on it…is what you want to say, but for some reason the words won’t come out your mouth.

He tilts his head. “You…aren’t you that herbivore the mirror said can’t use magic? Hmm…”

He seizes your tie and the front of your shirt in a fist, and you discover that being lifted by your clothes? Is something that can and does happen in the reality you now inhabit. You’re hauled up until you’re dangling just below your soulmate’s eye level, getting an unwitting closeup of his collarbone and down his shirt.

You try and will yourself to stop staring.

He leans forwards and his nose twitches as he inhales repeatedly. Is he…is he smelling you?!

“I-I bathe daily!” You splutter out.

You immediately want to find a wall and slam your head into it. The first words you say to your soulmate, what he’ll have been judging your character by right up until this moment, and this is what you come up with? “I bathe daily”? No wonder your soulmate’s wearing gloves.

Your father was right to disown you.

“Ha. I really can’t smell a spark of magic on you.” Your soulmate drawls, one of his ears flickering. “I don’t really feel like taking on an opponent that can’t resist…but it’s not like I, Leona-sama can let you just walk away after stepping on my tail, right?”

You have a sinking feeling in your stomach. “Wh-mmfph?!”

It’s hard to finish your sentence around the hand that this guy has just shoved into your mouth.

“Now,” You can feel his glove-clad fingers poking and prodding at one of your canines with intent. “I was having a shitty dream, and got woken up so rudely that it’s pissed me off. I think a tooth is a fair trade for that, right?”

Oh fuck no.

You think you can hear Grim babbling about running away somewhere around this guy’s ankles, while your legs windmill uselessly in midair.

The hand that’s not trying to fruitlessly pull at his wrist scrabbles for sharpened pencil in your pants pocket. You rip it out and brandish it as menacingly as you can.

“Hoh?” He still looks amused, damn him. “And what are you planning on doing with that, herbivore?”

“Ay’ll ta’e y’r othe’ eye ‘f y’dun ge’ y’r ‘and ou’ a ma mouf!” You threaten with as much bravado as you can muster.

Judging by the way his grin widens, it’s much less effective than you were hoping it would be.

He opens his mouth—

“Leona-san!”

And just like that, it’s like someone’s flicked off a light switch. His eyes go flat, his ears droop, his mouth thins into an annoyed scowl.

He also drops you.

You land hard on your tailbone on the stone path, coughing and gagging from the sudden removal of his entire hand from your mouth.

“Minion!” Grim pounces on your stomach, which does not help with how winded you are. “Are you okay? Did he take all yer teeth?”

You shake your head, trying to wordlessly convey that you’re mostly unharmed.

“Leona-San, there you are.” Another boy with ears and a tail and dyed blond hair comes strolling up the path. “I’ve been sent to get you for your remedi—ah? Don’t tell me you’ve traumatized another firstie again already.”

Again?

“Already?!” Grim squeaks.

The guy who is apparently the other half of your soul turns his head to shoot you a dangerous smirk.

You scoop up Grim and run for your life.

You’re panting by the time you reach the outside of the greenhouse where Ace and Deuce are waiting.

“Ah, Prefect, Grim, we found some…hey, what happened to you?” Deuce asks, taking in the sight of you, bent almost double as you try to get your breath back.

“Th-there was a really rude custodian sleeping in there!” Grim bursts out. “He was super scary!”

“Custodian?” Ace tilts his head. “What are you talking about?”

“I just met my soulmate.” You sing-song quietly.

“Wha-seriously?!” Ace’s face begins quirking in an astonished grin. “Both of us in the same day! Damn, what are those odds?”

“Congratulations, Prefect!” Deuce says, clapping you on the shoulder. “Who is he? What’s he like?”

“He was going to rip my teeth out.” You say brightly, unable to get the sing-song out of your voice.

There’s a moment of uncomfortable silence.

“Hah?” Ace says blankly. “Wait, seriously?! This isn’t some kinda joke?! And I thought what the dorm head did to me was bad.”

“Maybe it’ll get better?” Deuce, the kind, naive sap, suggests.

It does not get better.

Turns out that the weird dreams about the Queen and the cards and the little girl? Get followed up by Dorm Head Rosehearts overblotting and becoming the same kind of monster that broke your ribs.

You leave that encounter with a torn ligament in your ankle, and another dream of that monster murdering you brutally.

(Except this time, Ace, Deuce, and Trey are trying to fight it and dying to it alongside you, and before its teeth close around your head, you glimpse that the beast’s front paws are actually a grasping, disturbing pair of hands…

You wake in a cold sweat, body shaking and fingers numb around charcoal you don’t remember buying as you try to sketch out the monstrosity, as if confining it to paper will lessen its threat.)

Despite your terror, life goes on. You’re lulled into a routine of going to class, corralling Grim, trying not to die when bits of your Dorm collapse suddenly, making repairs, dealing with your ghostly roommates, hanging out with Ace and Deuce, and doing homework when you find the time.

And then your soulmate decides the best way to prepare for a sports tournament is by maiming the competition.

Your bad feeling from the dreams returning, this time with a Lion rather than a Queen, is only intensified when the headmaster threatens you and bribes Grim into investigating the “accidents”.

Even if he says “The Prefect is so diligent at note-taking I’m sure it’ll be a cinch~” isn’t pushing this kind of thing onto you really way too carefree for an adult?!

The only good thing about this investigation is you, Grim, Deuce, and Cater-senpai get a front seat to Ace’s corny flirtations at Riddle-senpai, and Riddle-senpai’s flustered reactions to him. It’s nice to see they’re getting along well.

It becomes readily apparent from your interviews that the only dorm to be entirely unaffected is Savannaclaw. Even if there are strong players from other dorms who haven’t been injured, they’re usually the type whose…personality quirks have provided them with a defense against the fates that befell their weaker dorm-mates.

Savannaclaw is the only one with all players in fighting form. That, combined with Jack Howl’s certainty that he won’t have an accident when rebuffing Grim’s offer of protection…

Of course, this is when three upperclassmen decide that it’s time to circle you, Ace, Deuce and Cater. Their threats are almost laughably cliche, but when they’ve got the muscle to back it up…

“What’s all this yapping for? Annoying.”

All the muscles in your back lock up.

“Dorm Head Kingscholar!” One of the upperclassmen barks as the jerk who might match your soul strides towards your group followed by the dyed blond guy who took Grim’s sandwich.

Well, at least that gives you a complete name to put to the face. Not that you wanted one.

He looks…? He’s slouching like he hasn’t a care in the world, like he’s the one with all the power here but it’s. Off, somehow. Not quite the casual ease he had when messing with you in the Botanical Gardens, no matter how hard he’s trying to seem otherwise.

“Aren’t you the herbivore who stepped on my tail?” Dorm Head Leona Kingscholar asks rhetorically, prompting his riled up dorm mates to turn towards you, teeth bared.

Your jaw clenches. “And you’re the creep with the tooth fetish. How’ve your naps been lately? I hope karma isn’t making your nightmares too unbearable.”

That gets his eyes narrowing at you, a growl rumbling from his chest and dumb tail swishing as his groupies’ snarls ratchet up a notch.

You can’t say you aren’t grateful for the way Ace and Deuce step in front of you, Grim hissing from the safety of your shoulders, like they could actually do anything if your soulmate decided to assault you again.

The impromptu game of Magift that he challenges the investigation team to certainly feels like one, a beat down dressed up in the guise of a “friendly match” with how often your boys are getting body checked out of the way and the sparks of white hot magic coming from the disk that even have you ducking for cover. There’s no way that this can be safe. It’s as if they’re hoping to take all of you out of commission if they injure you badly enough here.

It takes Jack Howl intervening for you all to have the pretext to escape without any major injuries. You should be following Cater’s speedy retreat, it would be the smart move…

But something stops you in your tracks, leaves you gnawing at your thumbnail as you watch the Dorm Head of Savannaclaw.

All this—the dreams, the plotting for control over something that’s usually left to chance, the weary dorm head you suspect is behind it all, it’s pricking at your brain, drawing comparisons between what happened a few weeks ago with Riddle-senpai. Which is ridiculous, Crowley told you that Overblot is rare and that Riddle’s case was the first time there’s been a major outbreak in decades, but—

Well. You didn’t survive the last 15 years by having the luxury to write connections like this off as mere coincidence.

Which leads to your next quandary: do you attempt to say something? Leona Kingscholar may be a bastard, but you are still his soulmate, even if he doesn’t act like it. The idea of him ending up as one of those monsters that Riddle-senpai became…it makes your fingers go cold and bile rise in your throat. But how—?

He catches your eye.

“See something you like, herbivore?”

You can feel your expression fall flat. “Hardly. A fool on an errand is never an impressive sight. Except, perhaps, for seeing how deep he can dig himself.”

“Hn. I feel like I could say the same whenever I see you.” Kingscholar-senpai retorts, the same damn amusement on his face again as he saunters over to you. Like he’s enjoying himself.

You have to take a breath to keep from gritting your teeth, letting him see how much he’s riling you up, even as he starts reaching towards your face. “Listen. If I could offer some advice? I would tread carefully, if I were you. The path you’re going down with all this, this, you may not like where you end up. If you do, more power to you, but…I wouldn’t want to see you biting off more than you can chew.”

“Even if I knew what you were talking about herbivore,” His grin curls wider when he pinches you chin between his fingers. “Which I don’t, what makes you think that someone like you has any right to tell me what to do? Even among lions there are limits to arrogance, you know.”

You can feel blood rush to your cheeks are indignation flares hot in your gut. Why this little—!

You pull your face out of his hand and turn sharply on your heel, striding off after your friends as his laughter echoes in your ears.

Fine. Fine! It seems that you’re going to have to take Ace’s approach to the problem. Try and put a stop to whatever mayhem Leona Kingscholar is causing before he can reach overblot status. Your soulmate, your responsibility.

You’re just hoping you’ll be slightly more successful this time than you all were with Riddle.

So you end up in the infirmary again.

Jumping off of a set of collapsing bleachers while your soulmate’s Unique Magic eats a hole into your side during his overblot doesn’t make you a better Magift player, surprisingly.

Though you were mostly sitting on the sidelines and shouting directions to Grim, Ace and Deuce until the disk came flying at the back of your head.

At least you’re not alone here though.

In the bed next to yours is Kingscholar-senpai, with Buchie-senpai in the one on his other side.

Your thoughts are still fixed on what Kingscholar-senpai was saying before his overblot, his anger at his powerlessness and his despair at being unable to change anything due to something as immutable as birth.

You’re wondering whether it would be good to talk to him about it once everyone else has left, to tell him a bit about yourself and where you come from, just enough to let him know you understand, even if you don’t condone sabotaging sports tournaments or overblots. Except no, Buchie-senpai will still be here too, the last thing he wants to be subject to is the pair of soulmates who are responsible for his injuries getting mushy when he can’t escape. Maybe this kind of conversation is a bit too heavy to have while you’re both still trying to heal, so perhaps it would be better to ask him to meet you alone once you’re both out of the infirmary?

And then a tiny, excitable angel of a child scurries into the room, looking for Leona-oji-tan, and your soulmate’s hands come up to stabilize the boy when he clambers onto his stomach.

His gloves are off.

There are a limited number of areas where your soulmate’s words can appear, and all of them are localized to the arms, hands, and neck. The lowest anyone has ever had words appear outside of these areas was over the breastbone, and the studies you’ve read showed that this was purely because the poor girl’s soulmate was giving an extremely long and impassioned speech on women’s right to suffrage that took up her neck and both of her arms besides.

Leo—Kingscholar’s overblot form didn’t exactly leave much to the imagination, and it makes sense, given that he hadn’t shown any reaction to your first words to him, but with the inky blot over his hands, you had thought, you had hoped—!

Your words aren’t there. At all.

It’s unrequited.

Of course it is. Of course.

It’s you, after all.

You spend a few days moping once you get out of the infirmary.

It’s not helped by the fact that the dream of the monster that kills you is back with a vengeance, tearing apart Riddle, Cater, and Buchie-senpai before shaking out its leonine fur as it prepares to pounce—!

(You hate how the drawing is getting more detailed.)

And that’s not even mentioning the other dream where you heard knocking from the inside of your mirror…

Between the stresses of the dreams, exhaustion from the crutches you need while the injury on your thigh and hip heals, and the new revelation about your soul’s other half…well, is it any surprise you don’t feel as energetic as before? You’re dealing with enough as it is. Between school and navigating your broken down excuse of a dorm, it’s a wonder you can get out of bed in the morning, much less socialize.

Kingscholar-san sends Jack bearing a brand new uniform to Ramshackle, only one size too big. It takes everything you have to smile and thank him without the annoying waver your voice has taken on lately.

It only ends when you look up one morning to see Grim nudge his tuna can back towards you, a worried frown on his furry little face.

“I dun’ need it.” He insists. “You eat, minion. You need ta build up yer strength and fill yer tummy, you’ve been all droopy and sad and not eatin’! What kinda great magician would I be if I couldn’t look after one a’ my minions? So be grateful, fgnah!”

You try and tell him that you’re fine, you’ve got your rice and egg, but he refuses to budge until you’ve choked down a little under half of the can.

You’re not sure whether it was the shock of greedy, selfish Grim insisting you take his food or how unpleasant eating the oily, unseasoned cat-food-level tuna was, but after you clean your teeth you give yourself a long, hard look in the mirror.

You…well, let’s be honest.

You look like shit. Tired and in pain, yes, but more than that you look like you did when you were floundering on your own for the first time at 14. Alone and directionless and reeling from loss.

You look like you’ve given up.

That more than anything else, makes you scoff in disgust. Really? Of all the things you’ve lived through, all the letdowns you’ve experienced, this is what beats you? A guy? One you don’t even know very well, and is under no obligations towards you besides? Are you seriously making yourself miserable over the hope of a possibility that’s been crushed?

As if.

You didn’t let your middle school graduation break you. You didn’t let your disownment break you. You are not going to lose yourself over an unrequited soulmate.

You’re trying to get back to your world, after all. And sure, you may be leaving a piece of your soul here, and it will hurt, but you’ll live. You’ll move on. You’ll survive.

You slap your cheeks twice.

At lunch, you announce, “I’m going to need some help carrying paint and wood back to my dorm after classes today.”

Ace and Deuce stare at you as you continue, “It’s seriously a pain to try and guess where I can put my crutches that won’t send them through the floors again. Even the ghosts are getting tired of all the holes. Plus, it’s just, really filthy, you know? If it’s going to take the headmaster this long to send me back, I’d rather live somewhere that isn’t going to fall down on me and Grim in our sleep or give us tetanus.”

You feel your smile begin to falter slightly as the silence continues.

“Freaking finally, fgnah!” Grim cheers through a mouthful of your curry. “It’s about time Ramshackle got an upgrade to reflect the majesty of the Great Genius Grim!”

“O-of course, Prefect!” Deuce, angel that he is, puffs out his chest. “I’d be glad to help out!”

“I’m not carrying jack shit.” Ace says, little shit that he is. “But try asking Jack or Riddle or Trey-senpai with that face—it’s so pathetic they’ll probably do anything you ask.”

You kick him in the shins, out of principle.

And then it turns out that Ace, Deuce, and Grim have all gone and sold their souls to the dorm head of Octavinelle in exchange for academic success.

Because, lest you forget, your closest friends and associates are absolute morons.

At least they had the decency to wait until you’d been off the crutches for two weeks and finals were done before springing this onto you.

(You should have known when you woke on the last day of exams to dreams of mermaids and shipwrecks, but you were so busy trying to track down who this figure could possibly be, trying to uncover something, anything more about overblot in the texts that are overdue for the library to update your wall that—!

But that’s hardly an excuse. You should have known.)

Crowley once again commands you to investigate the Octavinelle Dorm Head, with the understanding that your meager allowance for food will be jeopardized if not.

Azul Ashengrotto, as you and Jack discover while following him around, is for all appearances a model student, if a bit of a kiss-up. He is careful to never do anything untoward where the public can see.

Azul Ashengrotto is a boy with what romantics call “a threefold soul”. The one in his body is partnered with the two inside the twins, who only leave his side to slink up to you with promises of deals that will solve all of your problems.

Azul Ashengrotto will only consent to freeing all the students if you sign a contract with him. Three days to steal a photograph from a museum in the Coral Sea, or you join Grim, Ace and Deuce in servitude.

It’s not the first time you’ve signed a contract with every fiber of your being screaming “NO”, but hopefully this will be the last.

And, just to add insult to injury, what Azul Ashengrotto wants as collateral more than anything else? Is your dorm that you and your friends spent the past months making downright hospitable as a way to distract from your soulmate issues.

You think you’re meant to be grateful that those twins let you grab what few changes of clothes you could before throwing you and Grim out.

You are grateful to Jack for offering you a room in Savannaclaw so you don’t need to squeeze into a bed with Ace and Deuce in a four student room, even if that means you’ll definitely come into contact with the person you’ve been avoiding since his overblot.

This gratitude lasts for about as long as it takes Kingscholar-san to open his mouth.

“They can’t stay here.” He grumbles, looking almost as weary as before his overblot. “The empty rooms have been dumping grounds for stuff from the other students—even if they’re used to living in that decrepit wreck, trying to sleep in one of those rooms would be impossible.”

“Hey! Don’t insult our dorm!” Grim protests, hackles raised. “It’s really, really nice now, fgnah!”

“I don’t care.” Kingscholar-san replies.

“Senpai.” Jack groans.

“Ah, I’ve got it.” Buchie-senpai says with a grin you’re really learning to dislike. “We’ll put them in Leona’s room.”

“Do you want me to sew your mouth shut?!” Kingscholar-san growls as you loudly proclaim, “HELL NO.”

“Eh? But Prefect, Leona’s digs would be waaay comfier than any old dusty room.” Buchie-senpai wheedles. “Plus Leona-san is used to having servants sleep in his room as a prince, so this’ll be just like home, right? Plus this way the Prefect and Grim can earn their keep by helping look after him. It’s a win-win!”

There’s a weird interest in Kingscholar-san’s eyes that sends a shiver down your spine (no, stop, stop that, it’s unrequited, he’s not, he doesn’t), before his growl increases in volume. “Ruggie, you—!”

“Right, thanks for the offer Jack but we’re just going to share with Ace or Deuce in Heartslaybul, so…” Back up slowly, very slowly, eyes on them, don’t run.

“Oi.”

You don’t entirely mean to freeze in place at the sound, but your pesky survival instincts have other plans.

Kingscholar-san attempts to cover his scowl with a nonchalant expression. “Well, if you’re truly intent on running away with your tails between your legs, I can’t stop you. After all, only the strong are welcome in Savannaclaw, even if it’s only for three days. But if you’re really sure…oi, you lot! Get out here!”

From the depths of the dorm, three upperclassmen come trooping out. The same three, you note to your displeasure, who tried to waylay the Investigation Team last time.

“Ah! It’s the prey that got away last time! It came back all on its own!” The biggest one crows.

“If you want to stay, you’ll need to prove yourself. Otherwise these three will have the pleasure of escorting you to Heartslaybul.” Kingscholar’s smug look really shouldn’t set your blood ablaze by now. “After all, such delicate, weak herbivores who got taken advantage of need to be looked after so they don’t get gobbled up late at night, right?”

“Who’re you callin’ weak?!” Grim hisses, back arched.

“Aw, does the kitty cat have claws?” The one with floppy ears simpers. “Better have me carry ‘im for you, little prince, otherwise you’ll get aaaall scratched up!”

The three of them cackle like this is the funniest thing they’ve heard all day.

You feel your lip curl.

Fine. Fine! These brats want a piece of you so bad? You’ll show them precisely why the headmaster appointed you “Beast Tamer”.

Grim gave up his fire magic to Azul, so the only real magical support you’ll have against these guys is Jack. But from what you remember from Magift, these upperclassmen are only really good at coordinating when Kingscholar-san is keeping them in line. When they’re on their own…

“Jack, think you can distract the big one until I’m ready?” You ask. “Grim, give the one with the smallest ears the runaround. Pretend he’s Ace and you stole his lunch again.”

“Can do, Prefect.” Jack growls, while the upperclassman with small ears claps a hand over them and yells, “SHUT UP!! THEY AIN'T SMALL, YA BASTARD!!”

“Nah, they’re tiny!!” Grim cackles, darting away like a tiny streak of grey wind, prompting the guy you’ve given a complex to roar and give chase. The biggest one is having similar problems hitting the equally quick Jack, which leaves you in careful position to deal with…

“I’ll make you eat those words!!” The third upperclassman vows as he aims for you with his magic pen.

The last one has the floppy ears of a prey animal rather than a predator. At a guess you’d say some kind of impala or oxen, something with horns. Which means that unlike the other two, who probably rely on their ancestor’s habits of intimidation and claws to inform how they fight, this one is much more used to—

“HIIIYAAAH—!” Charging at threats headfirst.

You skip to the side to avoid the spell he slings at you and hook out your foot to snag one of his.

“Hah!” The punk leaps over your leg. “You gotta try haaaraaaauuowhOAAAAAGH!!”

There’s a large splash as he drops into the pool of water behind you.

You make a show of peering down. “Oh my. Is that much blood normal?”

“GOTAMA!!” The biggest upperclassman shoves past Jack with ease while the one with small ears gives up on chasing Grim, the pair of them rushing to the water’s edge in an attempt to see if their buddy is alright. It’s almost sweet.

Though you’d think with their more sensitive senses, these beastmen would recognize a lie when they hear one.

You catch Grim’s eye and draw an english “m” with your finger. He beams.

All it takes from him is a running leap at the nearest punk to sending him sprawling into the pool on top of his buddy with a scream. Grim spring-boards off of the last one to complete the set and lands safely in your outstretched arms.

You cuddle him to you as he cheers. “Yeah!! Take that, fgnah!”

Jack huffs, looking disapproving even as his tail swishes from side to side. “That was sneaky, Prefect.”

You give him a cheeky “v” with your fingers and a grin, “Well, underhanded tactics are still strength, after all. Right, Kingscholar-san?”

“Don’t go putting words in my mouth, herbivore.” He says that, but his eyes are raking over you, as if seeing you in a new light. As if you’ve impressed him, somehow.

Bad for your heart, that.

It’s possible you may have gotten caught up in their pace and forgotten what this grudge match was for.

“You’re gonna fry in that.” Comes the unwelcome commentary from Kingscholar-san’s bed. “It gets colder at night, but not that cold.”

You clutch at your discount Night Raven College hoodie. Sure it’s big and bulky, but. “Then I’ll deal with it. It’s comfy.”

He rolls over, away from the futon where you and Grim are bunking. You think you hear a mutter of “annoying”.

Grim sticks out his tongue. You do too.

“I heard that.”

You’d almost hoped that being away from Ramshackle would mean the dreams don’t come again.

And for one night, you’re proven right.

It’s the second night, after you’ve gone to bed with advice churning in your brain about destroying the contracts rather than attempting to complete the task Azul had set you, that’s the when they come for you.

You blink awake in the quiet dark of the room, a thin layer of sweat clinging to you.

“Another deal…?” You mutter sleepily to yourself, scrunching your eyes shut. “Guess even mermaids don’t know any better than dealing with octopi…”

There’s a sudden rustle of fabric.

You open your eyes to find Kingscholar-san about half an inch away from your face.

“Are you dreaming about weird twisted versions of the Great Seven?” He demands.

Your mouth goes dry.

“TOO CLOSE!”

He lets you shove his face away until you can sit up before grabbing your wrist and yanking it off.

“Answer the question.” He snarls, grip tightening until the leather of your cover begins to creak under your hoodie.

“I—what?!” You try and parse his nonsensical demands. “No, I just—that was one of the weird dreams I’ve been getting. There was a small fish mermaid, and eels, and this octopus lady who had a contract she was making the little mermaid sign to…I don’t know, go on land, I think? But it’s only recently it’s been mermaids, before that it was lions and then it was queens and cards, and…what’s that look?”

He’s staring intently at you, ears forward and pupils so much larger than they are in the day.

“The Witch of the Sea.” He says, so low that you almost have to strain your ears to hear him. “That’s who the mermaid was making a deal with. The Witch of the Sea, whose benevolence is the basis for Octavinelle House.”

You feel yourself waking up so quickly it’s like caffeine has been injected straight into your veins.

“Then the, the previous two sets of dreams?” You ask, hardly daring to believe your luck.

“The Queen of Hearts, of Heartslaybul.” His eyes dart away from you. “And…the King of the Beasts. For Savannaclaw.”

You gape at him.

You need your notebook, you need to write this all down, this, this is—!

“How’d you not even know who they were?” There’s stifled amusement in Kingscholar-san’s voice as you tear through your clothes from yesterday at the end of your futon, trying to find it.

“I only started hearing about them when I arrived here this year, forgive me if I can’t identify them on sight yet.” You retort, finally finding the little spiral notebook in the pocket of your blazer.

Something long and thin tickles beneath your chin, something fluffy at the end flicking your cheek.

You rear away from it, falling backwards.

You hit something warm and solid and upright, rather than the quickly cooling sheets of your futon. Your position puts you in the ideal position to look up and see Kingscholar-san smirking down at you as you’re caged between his chest and knees.

Oh Seven help you, this is too dangerous.

“I won’t say this isn’t a surprise.” He starts, as the fluffy thing comes back to flick your chin again. His tail. “But it’s not. Hm. There are worse people in this school who could be my soulmate than you, I guess.”

Ice slides down your spine.

“Who,” You rasp as you push yourself up and away. “Who the hell told you?!”

Grim hasn’t been away from you long enough to say anything to Kingscholar, either with you or serving in the Monstro Lounge. Ace may have teased you about it before the Magift Tournament, but after, he clammed up and would always change the subject when someone tried to ask you about it. Deuce is the same, though that doesn’t mean he didn’t blurt something out on accident. Maybe Jack? But no, Jack didn’t know, and even if he did he’s the kind of guy whose moral compass would never—

“What?” Kingscholar-san’s face is a mask of confusion. “You just—”

“And if this is some,” You can feel your face twist as you spit it out, heart pounding double time with hurt. “Pity thing, trying to make the poor, arrogant Prefect feel better because it’s unrequited, then I’d like you to stop, right now. I don’t need to be pandered to, not about something like this.”

His eyebrows lower until he’s giving you a steely glare, and his voice has gone cold. “The hell does that mean?”

“Don’t play dumb.” You snap, one hand coming to rub the wrist where your cover lies. “I have your Words, but you don’t have mine anywhere on you. Your dorm uniform is sleeveless, and I’ve seen you without gloves.”

Rather than looking away from you, shame-faced, or admitting to you straight that it was all one big game, to see how he can toy with the person who’s devoted to him but not the other way around, Kingscholar-san says something that leaves you aghast.

“Words? What kind of bullshit are you spouting now?”

You yank up your hoodie sleeve and attack the fastenings on your cover with a ferocity you didn’t know you had, letting it land on a sleeping Grim with a thwap as you shove the underside of your wrist into his face.

He blinks, pushing it back, eyes flicking back and forth as he reads your Words. “What? When did you get this…?”

“I’ve had this since I was four years old!” You cry. “The first Words my soulmate will ever say to me, the way I’ll know who he is, and trust me, if I could have gotten them to Resolve as something else, I would.”

His mouth works soundlessly for a moment, before he says, “That’s not. Soulmates don’t have that.”

You scoff, incredulous. Of all the lame excuses…! “Yes. They do.”

“No, they don’t.” He insists, glaring. “Not in this world.”

“Then why,” You are half a second from either tearing your hair out or punching him in the face and only the gods and the Seven know which. “Does everyone here wear long sleeves or gloves?!”

That actually stops him up short for a second, before he pinches the bridge of his nose.

“They are part of the uniform.” He stresses, speaking slowly and loudly like he thinks you’re stupid. “But let me guess, in your world, everyone wears them to cover up that.”

“What other reason is there?!” You fling your arms out to the side. “And don’t you dare try to tell me that soulmates don’t exist in this world or whatever, I’ve been hanging around Ace and Riddle for long enough, I know this world has them!”

“Yeah,” He’s scowling at you, and the fact that he still looks hot like this is pissing you off even more. “But here, soulmates find each other by sharing dreams. Like the ones I’ve had to put up with ever since the start of the school year.”

You freeze mid-retort.

So many things start clicking into place. How Ace wasn’t sure Riddle was his soulmate until the morning after their confrontation over the tart. Why Deuce has so many questions about the meaning of gold in dreams when you’re all meant to be studying in private. The dumb jokes Ace makes about Riddle “keeping him up at night” that have the dorm head turning red and beheading him.

“But why didn’t anyone tell me?” Escapes you in a plaintive murmur.

“I dunno. Why didn’t you tell me that you knew what we were from the moment we met?” Kingscholar-san snipes back.

You scoff, “Oh right, when was I meant to tell you again? When you had your hand in my mouth? Oh! Or maybe it was while telling me that I had arrogance that surpassed even a lion’s when I was worrying about you?”

He face twists into a snarl. “After the overblot then! We were in the infirmary for three days together!”

“And I thought I’d just discovered that my soul bond was unrequited!” You insist, feeling your teeth grit. “I couldn’t put that on you! Not then and certainly not now!”

“And why not?!”

“Because, of all the people in this stupid, insane, dysfunctional, twisted world, you’re the one who shouldn’t have to settle for second-best!” You only realize you’re yelling after the words leave your mouth.

Kingscholar-senpai is staring at you, ears almost flat against his head.

Grim is also staring at you, from where he’s hiding under the covers.

“It’s just…You deserve first prize when it comes to stuff like this.” You finish lamely. “You shouldn’t have to settle for me if you don’t need to.”

Your cheeks are burning, your head is spinning. Why, oh why did you say something so, so melodramatic and stupid?!

“Uh…” There’s a haphazard knock on the doorframe. Buchie-senpai looks incredibly awkward as he continues. “Sorry to interrupt, but, uh. Morning practice?”

“Morning practice! Right!” You have never been happier for an escape. “I-uh-Grim and I need to get ready!”

You scoop Grim up, ignoring his cry of, “But I’m cozy!”

“Herbivore, wait—!”

You aren’t afraid to say you run as fast as your legs can physically take you.

“Please tell me you and Riddle have each others’ Words.” You beg Ace when you meet up with him, Deuce and Jack.

Ace has the audacity to blink at you, bewildered. “Wh-words? Prefect, what the hell are you talking about?”

You take a moment to hide your face in your hands and scream.

That day’s attempts to discover a way to destroy the contract are almost a complete failure.

It’s only thanks to running into Tsunotaro the gargoyle enthusiast outside of Ramshackle that you can add the “almost”.

His words about statuary and forms not matching up to function are bouncing around your head even as you make your slow way back to Savannaclaw. It feels like it should be significant in some way, but how—

“Where the hell have you been?”

Geh.

You’d forgot that coming back here means dealing with him.

“I went to Ramshackle out of habit.” You say breezily, proud of yourself for how you can project nonchalance into your tone. “Ended up talking to a friend who gave me some advice about the situation.”

Kingscholar-san stares at you for a moment, before turning over with a scoff. Dismissing your existence.

Maybe it’s like Vanrouge-senpai said. Leona Kingscholar isn’t the type to expend the energy fighting for what he sees as lost causes.

You huff at the painful twinge in your chest from that thought. You’re over him, you’re over him, you didn’t pour all the blood and sweat into repairing Ramshackle to not be over him by now.

Instead you begin to clean under Buchie-senpai’s instructions, picking up the mess strewing the room—and keeping Grim from pocketing your apparently-not-so-unrequited-soulmate’s valuables along the way.

Which leads to an argument where Buchie-senpai nags Kingscholar-san to hide his valuable before they get stolen, only for your soulmate to retort that he’d like to meet the person who had the guts to steal from him, which makes sense because if he’s truly that confident in his ability to stop a thief, why would—!

“THAT’S IT!”

It finally clicks.

“…vore? Herbivore. Yuu.”

“Hm?” You shake a little, coming back to yourself from where your mind is racing. “Sorry, what is it?”

“You just shouted really loudly, fgnah!” Grim protests. “Made all my fur stand up…”

“Grim.” You kneel down, putting your hands on his little shoulders. “If the contracts really are invincible and untouchable, why does Azul need a safe?”

Grim stares at you, little eyebrows furrowed. “…Because he needs them protected?”

Behind you, Kingscholar-senpai begins to laugh. “Now I see. You’ve thought of something pretty interesting, haven’t you?”

“Eh, so that’s how it is…” Buchie-senpai rubs his chin. “But still, you’re forgetting a pretty big obstacle if you wanna exploit this.”

“Those eel bastards!” Grim spits, hackles raising again. “They chased us around so much today, and made me work so hard in the Lounge…if I had my fire magic, I’d make sushi outta them, y’know!”

“No, sushi isn’t cooked.” Buchie-senpai interjects.

“If only the Leech twins weren’t there…” The gears in your head are turning, a plan forming before your very eyes.

“I’m going to stop you right there.”

You look up to see Kingscholar-senpai frowning. “I’ve got a general idea of what you’re thinking, but let me say right now that I absolutely will not help. I’m not getting involved with troublesome things, and the only thing more troublesome that you is that octopunk. Count me out.”

You can’t deny the hurt that twinges in your chest as he lies back down and turns away from you, even as Grim puffs up at your feet, looking a second away from hissing.

You catch Buchie-senpai facepalming out of the corner of your eye.

That, of all things, is what inspires you to stand and march around the bed until you’re in front of Kingscholar’s face.

“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.” You declare, folding your arms across your chest.

“Hah?” At least that gets him sitting up.

You tick it off on your fingers. “The easy way is you decide to be nice to your poor, unfortunate soulmate and agree to help us out with my plan. I might even give you a reward for it.”

He shoots you a disinterested look. “And the hard way?”

You smirk at him.

You wish what few hours of sleep you do get aren’t plagued by the dreams.

But no. Instead you’re treated to a montage of the Witch of the Seas actively sabotaging the mermaid until she has the girl’s kingly father in a position to trade everything for his daughter.

“So she was after everything from the start…” You mutter as you feel yourself wake up more.

“Hn.” Comes the grunt from the bed above you. “…How can you look so well-rested after what you did last night. ‘S insulting.”

You smile innocently. “You were the one who wanted it the hard way, senpai.”

There’s a series of noises above you that have you sitting up, frowning in concern. You can’t have him choke to death yet, you’ve got a plan to implement!

Although that reminds you, as you take a seat on the edge of the bed and he watches you warily, that there’s something you need to get through to him before you part ways.

“Whatever you do today,” You warn. “Do not agitate Ashengrotto-senpai. No boasting, no bragging, no giving false hope, nothing that could drag his mental state down. Just destroy the contracts quietly and leave. We do not need another overblot on our hands.”

Kingscholar-senpai groans. “Quit nagging herbivore. I know what I’m doing.”

Which is funny really, because this?

This situation right here, where Ashengrotto-senpai is in the middle of overblotting, screaming about how he’s not going back to being a “lame ink-squirting crybaby”?

This does not look like Leona knows what he’s doing.

You attempt to communicate this to him through gaze alone before beginning to rally everyone plus Jade and Floyd to take Azul down.

At least this overblot is a bit better than Kingscholar-senpai’s in that it seems to be fuel more by lashing out at the nearest targets rather than coldly calculating which targets are the best to attack in its quest to murder everyone.

Unfortunately, as you dart forward to drag Floyd-senpai back when he won’t get out of the line of fire himself, that includes you as well.

In a heartbeat, one of the phantom’s tentacles curls around your arm and shoulder.

It yanks.

You don’t have the breath in your lungs to scream.

It begins dragging you towards where Ashengrotto-senpai is waiting, trident at the ready—!

“King’s Roar!”

Sand, floating away in the water around you, as the phantom thrashes in agony, the disintegrating tentacle threatening the rest of the body before Ashengrotto-senpai lops it off.

An arm snags you about the waist, pulling you tight to Kingscholar-senpai’s side even as it’s careful not to jostle where your shoulder’s been dislocated.

He doesn’t let you go until the fight’s over.

You go to bed in your Ramshackle Dorm that night, uneasy.

Sure, you resolved the issue with Ashengrotto-senpai and now know the truth about this world’s soulmates, much to Ace and Floyd-senpai’s teasing, but Kingscholar-senpai sloped off without a word once he’d taken you to the infirmary again. You still don’t know where you stand with him, if there’s anything you could still make of this or if that ship has sailed, if he has any idea why these dreams are coming to you or even what they are. You just! You don’t know. You don’t know if he knows either.

The dreams are waiting for you the moment you close your eyes.

The first one isn’t so bad, if a little unsettling. Your mirror glowing and an odd voice resounding from its depths doesn’t even ping your weirdness sensor too much anymore, sadly.

But then you shift, dropping deeper into sleep.

And come face to face with the monster again.

It’s head is maned with large, grasping tentacles, and Floyd-senpai lies several paces behind it, already torn in two, mismatched eyes staring at you accusingly.

Jack and Leona are the only two between you and it, and you try to remember how it’s gone other nights, how you can possibly beat it or hold it off long enough to make an opening for all of you to escape.

A sweep of a tentacle and Jack meets the same fate as Floyd-senpai. Torn to bits as if he’s a discarded toy.

Leona shoves you behind him, away from him his mouth forming the word “RUN!”

You scream as the teeth close around his chest, shaking him like a rag doll before tossing him away.

You stumble to his corpse, begging him to get up, look at you, anything, Leona, don’t leave you, not like this, please—!

You can’t even bring yourself to run even as the grasping hands close around you.

You wake.

You’re coated in sweat. Your dislocated shoulder aches.

You ignore it all as you lurch from the bed, non dominant hand grabbing the charcoal as you tug out the paper from under the bed with a foot.

You have to—you can’t let—if you can just—!

A sob is trapped in your throat.

You sit up the rest of the night, staring at the monstrosity forming before your eyes.

Even when the light under the curtains turns from black to dark blue, you do not. Take your gaze. Off of it.

It doesn’t really surprise you when you hear a thunderous pounding on the door downstairs.

Startle you? Yes.

But you can guess who it is with almost comical ease.

You shoot a wary glance at the drawing, but. You already took your eyes off it. If it was going to do anything, it would’ve done so by now.

The pounding starts up again.

You groan as you get to your feet, wanting to itch at your shoulder under the sling as you troop down the cold stairs. “M coming, ‘m coming.”

You yank open the door to see Kingscholar-senpai standing there.

He doesn’t look like he’s slept either.

“It is,” You inform him gravely. “Not even five in the morning. Why are you here.”

He snorts as he steps past you into the building. “Don’t ask questions we both know the answer to.”

You sigh as you shut and lock the door behind him.

“Huh.” He says as he heads up the stairs. “It’s less…run-down than I was expecting.”

“Thanks.” You retort, your verbal filter not quite as awake as you are. “Fixing it up was my project to get over an unrequited soulmate.”

He gives you an unamused stare.

“…Sorry.” You rub the back of your head. “I promise I’m not actually trying to start a fight every time we talk. It’s just…”

“Hn.” He grins at you for some reason. “Ruggie says I have that effect on people. That it’s my ‘winning personality.’”

After a moment, you smile back. “Well, I suppose that’s one way to put it.”

He looks around your room with interest.

Right up until he notices your wall by the door. “King’s balls!”

“Shh!” You hush. “Grim’s still sleeping!”

You both pause for a moment, listening hard. Grim smacks his lips in his sleep and rolls over onto his tummy, his paws coming up to cover his ears.

“Honestly,” Kingscholar-senpai huffs. “Warn me before you show me all. All this.”

You look at your wall, the names of your friends and their connections to recent overblots, the dreams, and any literature which could contribute to your understanding of these events all neatly connected with pushpins and red thread.

“It’s not that bad.” You say, limply.

He raises an eyebrow in your direction. “Sure. Why’d you have all this anyway? Seems…excessive.”

You scrub a fist over your eyes, exhaustion setting in. “I just…these dreams. They feel way too real to be just dreams, right? And you said that they’re of twisted versions of the myths of the Great Seven, which somehow connect to the dorm that has something going on. Usually by reflecting the actions of the one about to overblot. So if I can understand them, maybe, maybe get ahead of them somehow…”

You scratch at your sling. Kingscholar-senpai catches your hand, and you smile weakly at him. “These kinds of dreams didn’t start until after the first overblot. The monster in the Dwarf Mines that was so far gone that it didn’t even have a person attached anymore. And then there’s…you know.”

You gesture to where the drawing sits on the floor.

Kingscholar-senpai actually lets out a small snarl at the sight of it.

“If it were just a stress dream, something my subconscious is coming up with to process all this, this stuff I’m going through, that’d be ine.” You ramble, feeling slightly feverish. “But that dream only ever comes the night after an overblot, not, not more frequently like a normal stress dream. I’m scared that it’s somehow trying to tell me that this…thing is coming. And, and I’m getting more and more injured with every overblot, so unless I can find a way to counteract them, stop them, I’m not sure I can save—I’ll—!”

To your horror, there are hot tears sliding down your cheeks. You try to mop them up on your hoodie, sniffing hard. “…Sorry.”

“Right.”

You look up to see him standing there, with his arms crossed over his chest. “Where do we start?”

You blink.

“Huh…?”

Leona-senpai gives you an unimpressed look. “Don’t be stupid. Admittedly, if you tried to tell me about this without the dreams, I’d’ve told the crow to get you a therapist. Maybe stop pushing all his duties onto a first year, let alone the one who doesn’t have magic, before you have a mental breakdown.”

“Gee, thanks.” You say, voice flat, but a smile is trying to quirk the corners of your mouth.

“But we do share the dreams.” He scruffs a hand through his bangs, gaze flickering over your wall before landing on you. “And as much as I’d love to wash my hands of this and say it’s someone else’s problem, this stuff is targeting my soulmate. And how could I say I’m the dorm head of Savannaclaw if I just stood aside and let my soulmate get preyed on without helping you fight back?”

Leona-senpai almost seems shy as he suddenly avoids your gaze. “The King of the Beasts wouldn’t. He defended his lioness and cubs to the last. It’s only natural I’d do the same for you.”

You can’t quite help the watery laugh that escapes you at that.

“Oi.”

At the sight of his ears going flat, you raise your hands. “Sorry! Sorry, I’m not, not mocking you or anything, it’s just. I don’t think I knew how much I needed to hear someone say that. To hear you say that.”

Pride is still an annoyingly good look on him. You find you like it more when it’s paired with the soft smile he’s favoring you with now.

“As for where to start…” You gnaw at your thumbnail. “Ah, right. We’ve talked about the dreams about the Great Seven, and of the, that, but what about the mirror dreams? What did you make of them?”

“Mirror dreams?” Ah, his expression of confusion. An old friend which is wearing out its welcome.

“Yeah, you know? The dreams where that mirror is glowing? And there’s knocking from behind it, and tonight there was a weird voice saying something that I couldn’t make out.” He still is staring at you, blank-faced. “It happened before the monster dream…?”

“Yuu,” You can’t even enjoy the shiver that goes through you from hearing him say your name with how serious he sounds. “I haven’t had any dreams like that.”

But then…that means….

You both glance over at the mirror.

The laugh you let out is more than a bit hysterical. You fold forward until you hit his chest.

“Fi-figures.” You hiccup, trying to keep what little composure you can. “Even on top of all of this, there’s always something, right? No rest for the wicked.”

His heartbeat is reassuring at least, as is the low growl that’s rumbling through him and into you.

“Fuck this.”

You yelp as an arm sweeps under your legs. You find yourself grabbing at his sleep shirt as he marches over to the bed and clambers onto it, arranging himself and you so that he forms a wall between you and the mirror.

“Le-Leona-senpai! Wh-what are?” It’s hard to remember to keep your volume down. Grim snuffles behind him and lets out another snore.

“We haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a day.” He says as he arranges you to his liking, his tail coiling around your leg. “And we’re both too tired to deal with this bullshit. Whatever it is, it can wait until morning. Maybe even later.”

“B-but-?!” You protest, even as your eyes feel heavy.

“Sleep.” His voice rumbles beneath your ear, and his arm is warm around you, coaxing your muscles to relax of their own accord.

Well, with an order like that, you can hardly disobey, can you?

#twisted wonderland #twst #villainous paranoiac yuu #leona kingscholar #twst leona #different soulmates method au #twisted wonderland yuu #twst yuu #leona x yuu #soulmates #first words #dream sharing #yuu has an identity crisis over being a latent furry #slowest of slow burns #my god this thing is a monster

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lyrical-fanfics · 2 years ago

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That looks like fun! (Floyd LeechxFem!Reader)

FLOYD TOOK ME SO LONG! I deleted several drafts and it resulted in this. I hope you all like it!

This is part of a series of one-shots that will later tie into a longer series on my AO3. They're meant to be read like the vignettes in Twisted Wonderland, so if you want a sequel please let me know. Also, let me know if you think you know what the dorm the reader is based on!

The reader is not Yuu. The reader is a student at the OC sister school Fantasia College for girls

3rd person POV

Genre: Fluff

Fem!Reader

Most people were terrified of the Leech twins. Their reputation preceded them with their sadistic tendencies. Some thought they were safer with either one or the other, but most agreed that both were bad news. With Jade, they could at least pretend that nothing might happen. Floyd was a different story. Some people found his moods more annoying than anything, especially his peers in club activities. The closer you got to Floyd, the more you understood how to maneuver his moods or lack of maneuverability. In most cases, there wasn’t much you could do.

His moods would change fast, and his willingness to do anything changed rapidly. Most of the Students on the Fantasia campus were less than thrilled when learning about him, and would mainly avoid him when possible. While they had less experience with him, Night Raven College students would often exchange information to sweeten the girls’ opinions of them.

(Name) had just been dealing with such sweetening before Floyd chased the persistent student off. They were on their way to (Name)’s club meeting now, but (Name) had been left alone while Floyd had run off to grab a snack. The two were now bickering over the reasoning behind the boy’s advances.

“He knows you’re loaded, there’s no other reason why he was so persistent. ” Floyd scowled as he walked alongside (Name). He had handed over a piece of candy to (Name) out of habit, and she snatched it up with a bit of anger. She was a bit peeved by Floyd’s reasoning, as it made her feel as if Floyd was dismissing her charm. She quickly jumped to debate this reasoning.

“Eh? No way, the only people that know are you, Housewarden Indraa, and the Trend club. ” (Name) argued. She quickly stuffed some of the candy into her mouth. “I think he thought I was cute! ”

“Yeah, but you act ‘not cute’. ” Floyd retorted, causing (Name) to snort. She took that as a challenge.

“I can act cute! Easily! ” (Name) argued back, but Floyd grabbed both of (Name)’s cheeks, pulling at them and causing her face to distort slightly.

“Awww, you think you can? Haha! You’d probably end up looking dumb. ” Floyd’s teasing frustrated (Name). Maybe he didn’t see it, or maybe he chose to ignore it, but (Name) had a massive crush on Floyd. His lackadaisical attitude was aspirational for (Name), whose freedom was restricted to her schooling here. Not many people knew just how little control (Name) had.

Floyd didn’t care, however. He cared about the now, and how he felt in the moment. She knew that even if he knew everything, he would probably still treat her the same.

Probably. Can’t be too cautious.

(Name) threw off Floyd’s hands before defending herself. “I can be! I guarantee it! ”

“Ha! Yeah right. You’re really persistent about this. Just drop it. ” Floyd squashed the topic with one hand as he ruffled (Name)’s hair. “I wanna talk about something else. ” easily changed the flow of conversation, and (Name) went along with it. She didn’t forget about Floyd’s proclamation, however. She could be cute. She wanted to be cute in Floyd’s eyes, especially.

The members of the Trend club were all too familiar with Floyd, and often welcomed him, even the ones that didn’t enjoy him as a person.

“I see Floyd is with us again today… How fortunate for us. ” Aster Giesell, the Housewarden of Gothelweiss and head of the club held a particular disdain in her voice. Floyd’s presence meant that there would be no snack leftovers if the snack met his fancy.

“Oh! Hello Floyd! Our favorite unofficial member! ” Nagai’s tone was far more jovial. As the Vice-Housewarden of (Name)’s house, she knew far more about the situation than (Name) would like.

“Hiya, what girlie magazines are you all looking at today? ” Even before (Name) could grab some of the subscriptions Aster had brought, Floyd began flipping through them. He loved perusing the Trend club’s materials, as nothing was ever the same. They observed trends and would sometimes try to replicate them, whether it be in fashion, cooking, home goods, or anything.

“I have an abundance of fashion magazines today. I also have some Magicam accounts we can look at. ” Aster starts off with order, but she knows how easily these meets can devolve into chaos when Floyd attends.

“Hey! Look at these, (Name)! ” Floyd immediately spots a magazine with all sorts of shoes, along with other men’s fashion magazines. “Man, it still amazes me how much you humans put on your body. ” Floyd begins to flip through one, allowing room for (Name) to peruse over his shoulder.

“Oh, that’s right, Mermen don’t really wear clothes, huh? ” (Name) remarked, but she was called away by Nagai.

“Speaking of clothing! (Name)! I found something that would work best on you! ” Both Floyd and (Name) lifted their heads to look over at Nagai. In her hands was a magazine, covered in pink decals and articles. (Name) recognized the magazine as one that was popular, especially around Valentine's day. Aster had also lifted her head from what she was doing, pushing copious amounts of curly blonde hair out of her face while looking it over.

“Right, Nagai and I were talking about this before you came in (Name). ” (Name) took the magazine in her hands as she looked over the article about a certain sundress that was currently the talk of the internet.

“Cottagecore might be on its way out, but this ultra-sheer fabric layered up to create a voluptuous yet ethereal look is to die for, ” Nagai explains as she points at the layers in the magazine. “Some might say this is heading into craft core with how the magazine styled it with those cute thick tights and the knit sweater, but that babydoll look would be perfect on you! ” (Name) furrowed her brows at Nagai, and Floyd spoke up.

“Eh? Why’re you making (Name) try it? Why not one of you two? ” Floyd was slightly annoyed with Nagai’s pushiness.

“Because both Nagai and I, while I hate to admit it, are more suited for either sexier styles or the Chic styles. ” Nagai’s ears perked as she slinked around Aster, wrapping her arms around the more serious member of the club.

“Oooh! You think I’m sexy? ” Nagai was shrugged off quickly as Aster stepped out of her reach.

“(Name) on the other hand has a lot more potential for different styles. ” Aster then gives Floyd a glare, realizing he was protesting. “(Name) is our ideal for this style. Besides, I already ordered the clothes. ”

“Man, does (Name) even get a say? ” Floyd tried once again to keep (Name) out of the cute clothes, but (Name) piped in.

“I want to wear it! It looks cute! ” She then looked over at Floyd with determination in her eyes, and he realized what this meant. She wanted to prove him wrong. She wanted to take back what he said about her acting ‘not cute. ’ He grumbled before looking back at the magazine in his hands. He had some issues with the plan.

A few days pass and the club meets again. Once again, Floyd joins them. He was in a rather sour mood that day, and debated not tagging along.

“Meh, I’m gonna lay over there, ” Floyd stated as he passed the group and lay down across some desks, causing Aster to give a quizzical look to (Name). (Name) only shrugged at the cause of Floyd’s mood. All she knew is that he needed some space and probably some peace. Aster quickly shrugged it off as she knew a majority of the snacks she got were probably safe today. She hummed as she placed a tablecloth down on a fold-out card table.

“(Name)! The clothes came in! Let's get you changed! ” Nagai didn’t miss a beat as she latched onto (Name)’s arm while Aster worked, and began working on her clothes. Aster panicked and began berating Nagai.

“Don’t strip her with a man in the room! NAGAI! ” Aster panicked further. “Floyd! Don’t you dare look this way! ”

“Don’t tell me what to do. It’s not like I care if people wear clothes or not. ” Floyd replied with a grumble, causing Aster to act quickly and without reason. She ran over to Floyd’s perch and threw the tablecloth she was straightening out over Floyd’s upper half to block his sight. He looked like a child dressing up as a ghost who hadn’t quite figured out the eyeholes yet.

“Why didn’t you just hold this up in front of (Name). . . So dumb. ” Floyd scoffed but didn’t bother to remove the tablecloth. (Name) couldn’t help but laugh at the situation as Nagai laid out the dress for her. Aster’s red face spoke of both anger and embarrassment.

“Whatever. Let’s finish styling up (Name) before taking pictures. ”

Aster and Nagai made quick work of the look. They adjusted (Name)’s hair, the fit of the dress, the accessories, the shoes, everything. They were professionals when it came to making trendy clothes look their best, and were done within minutes. The end result was an off-the-shoulder tulle sundress with embroidered flowers near the hem. The sleeves were bishop sleeves, and translucent. The accessories that Nagai and Aster added were a rather simple necklace, some hair clips, and a couple of rings. They disposed of the tights that the magazine styled the look with and instead went with some simple strappy flats. The makeup was also simple, with mascara, neutral tones, cute blush, and a bright stained lip with some shimmer on the crease.

“Perfect. I’ll grab the camera and we’ll begin the photo shoot. ” Aster smiled as Nagai gushed over (Name).

“You really rock this! If we tried to do this look, we wouldn’t get the same effect! Ah! It’s so cute on you! ”

“Can I take this off yet? ” Floyd made his presence known again as he whipped off the tablecloth that was thrown over him, not caring anymore if (Name) was decent or not, but was soon surprised by the figure who was now in (Name)’s place. (Name) locked eyes with Floyd, who only stared at her with a blank expression and slightly parted lips. She smiled and took her opportunity.

“Hey, Floyd! Look at how fun this dress is to spin in! ” (Name) then spun to show the grumpy moray, whose face perked up a bit.

“It does look fun,” Floyd, hopped up from his perch, walking in front of Aster who readied her camera.

“Hey! Floyd! Move! ” Aster angrily tried to control the situation, but she had about as much control of Floyd now as she did when she threw the tablecloth over him.

“Come here! I wanna try spinning it! ” Floyd quickly hugged and picked up (Name), spinning her around. (Name) couldn’t help but start to giggle as Floyd got a kick out of the dress and how it spun. He would stop for a bit to enjoy the laughter with (Name) before starting back up again spinning in the opposite direction.

“Hey, Aster, just take the pictures, ” Nagai stated as the two upperclassmen watched the interaction. Aster grimaced at Nagai, but something in Nagai’s eye caught Aster’s attention. “Just trust me. These are gonna be some good pictures. ”

Aster sighed before holding up the camera and snapping a few pictures. Floyd was pleased with the outcome.

If people had to see (Name) being this cute, they would have to associate him with it. This level of cuteness was all his.

thank you for reading! If you'd like to keep up to date with my fics as soon as they come off the editing table, follow my AO3

#twst x reader #twst imagines #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #disney twst #twst #twisted wonderland #Lyric's Vignette Series #twst reader insert #Floyd Leech x reader #twst floyd leech #Floyd x reader

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raptorsaurusmelain · 1 year ago

Text

Let me show you... Youtube - chapter 23

I think I want to post it on AO3, is this a good idea ?

Warning : no proof reading, English is not my mother tongue.

Trigger warning : once sentence speak about unaliving themselves.

If you are interested in reading this fic, the tag "#twst lmsyy" will give you all the chapters.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

The woman didn’t understand the sentence really well. She turned her head. No one. [Strange… I was sure someone was there.]

Victoria looked at Crewel with her eyes full of questions. “Did you speak to me ?”

Crewel patted her head. “No. Hearing voices ?”

Victoria frowned. “... Maybe.”

Like magic, she received a text. about the painting. She smiled “I am sorry, I gotta go. Thank you for spending all this time with me.”

The man coveted her. He feathered the back of her hand with his mouth. “No big deals, it was wonderful to spend all this time with such a beautiful woman.”

Victoria reddened. “Thank you for the compliment… Goodbye.”

She flew to the art room. She was panting by the time she arrived. “I am here for the painting !”

A teenage boy greeted her. “Hello, I am the painter ! Nice to meet you.”

Victoria looked at him from head to toe. He seemed near a good burn out. They had the same dark circles and pasty white complexion, indicating the unhealthy lifestyle they lived. They even had the same fake smile plastered on their face. Damn it was like looking at a gender bending mirror.

The boy spoke first “Mh, about the canvas… Do you really want to buy it ? It is a depressing one… Ladies normally prefer bright paintings with flowers and cute animals on them…”

Victoria nodded. “No, I want this one. It is really a melting pot of raw emotions, I like it. It reminds me of myself.”

He seemed troubled. “Oh… Ok… Then for the price..”

They discussed the price. Once she gave him the money -after insisting to pay him rightfully- she asked. “This painting feels like something you already experienced. Is it you ? Or someone you know ?”

The boy had a faint smile. “I am the one in this painting…”

Victoria felt tears coming out. “You know… If you have help, everything will get better. I know it for sure.”

The poor teenager squeezed her hand before she went away. “Thank you..”

She turned around with her new addition when she heard a faint whisper. “Whore.”

She turned her head as fast as a human could to see who was speaking. No one again. [I don’t like this at all.]

When she was in the corridor she was stopped by a voice she knew. “Mrs Devi ? What are you doing here ? You should be watching the games.”

She smiled facing the man. “I could tell you the same professor Trein.”

He coughed. “I was merely patrolling inside the school.”

The cat in his arms meowed. He added/ “What do you have here ? A painting ?”

She nodded and showed him. “Indeed ! A fellow student made it. I think he has a lot of talent, the emotions are so raw. I love it.”

Lucius seemed intrigued by the canvas. He sniffed it. Trein frowned. “It is… an unusual taste in painting.”

Victoria shrugged. “Well you need a little bit of everything to make a world… I don’t critique people’s taste in food, don’t critique my taste in paint.”

The duo was stunned by her comeback. “I am not criticizing your taste, I just find it original.”

Victoria, deadpan, looked at him. “‘Original’ often means ugly. Like when we say that a hat is ‘original’ when it is just plain old ugly. In short, I have a painting and I am going to hang it, if you excuse me. Humpf!”

Trein was left speechless. Lucius meowed. Trein asked the cat. “What do you mean I screw things up ?”

Victoria came back quickly to the dorm to hang her painting in her bedroom -after watching a quick tutorial on how to hang a frame on old wood wall-. No one had good taste in paintings here. She could spend hours looking at it without getting tired of it.

She heard noises then a good “Victoria we are hoooome.”

The woman welcomed the duo. “Hello dearies ! How were the games ? I filmed your game of course !”

Yuu became shy while Grim boasted confidence. “Nya ha ha !!! We were awesome, no ?”

Victoria applauded, smiling. “Of course ! Everyone has witnessed the great Grim in action !”

Grim continued to laugh. This time it was Yuu’s time to speak. “You… Aren't you going to ask us about what happened before the match ?”

Victoria looked at the Child and asked. “Do you want to speak about it ?”

Tears filled Yuu’s eyes. The woman guided the Child to the sofa and Grim said. “You are a cry baby, subordinate !”

Victoria clicked her tongue. “Shh Grim if you want tuna later.”

Grim shut his trap and Yuu began to speak. The fear they had when Ruggie was hurt, the disaster it was to escape the attacks,... They had a lot to unpack, like last time.

She let them cry all they needed. It was to a point they fell asleep on the couch. Victoria covered them with a duvet before preparing dinner. She made tuna mayo onigiri for everyone and left a plate covered with cellophane on the table. She wrote ‘For Yuu <3’ in her best penmanship.

She was in a dire need of sleep.

Tag : @boba-tea-fish @hipsterteller

#disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twst #disney twst #twst lmsyy #twst fanfic #twst yuu #twst grim #mozus trein #twst mozus trein

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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 29 days ago

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Yuu can do it!

Part 62

First - Previous - Masterlist - Next

They sighed, squinting at a map of the school. They knew the place pretty well by now, but they had never actually taken the time to note where the fireplaces were… because they had never had much reason to think about it. Obviously. Who bothers to keep track of fireplaces?

If they went around on autopilot, they might have been able to find all of them, but conscious thought had ruined their life once again.

See, this is why they don’t think.

Ito tilted their head to the side. “Which side is the North end of the castle again?”

Enma squinted at the sun outside, absently rolling his shoulders – not quite in a shrug, more as if he had a crick in his neck.

He had been fine while in the snow as it made him numb to any overexertion he might have accumulated, but now that he was out of it he was sore.

Ito and Kuroki were going to hold this over him for the rest of his life.

(Starting tomorrow. He was in pain now, so they would patiently wait to be assholes about it until he was feeling okay again.)

“Uhhhhhhh. Sun’s on this side, so this is either East or West… which means…”

He pointed in two opposite directions. Then shrugged, as if to say ‘one of these, I dunno’.

Helpful.

“What time is it?” Kuroki asked, looking right at Ito.

Which was fair. For some reason, Enma and Kuroki weren’t actually all that great at remembering that time existed, and they refused to wear watches.

Ito had a watch. But that was more ornamental than anything – for the aesthetic. And in case Kuroki or Enma needed it. They didn’t need to look at it to know it was around… “18:30-ish?”

Kuroki blinked. “Oh. That’s way later than I thought it was. Is that why I’m hungry?”

“No, that’s because you don’t eat enough,” Ito said, immediately.

Instead of responding to their valid point about how he would not survive the winter if not for the wonders of modern technology, Kuroki took a moment to look outside, peering at the sky.

“Onceeee there wasssss the sunnnn,” Kuroki sang, quietly. “Rising in the eeeeaaaast…” He then made a couple of pointing motions, muttering under his breath, until he finally turned to face North.

Ito pressed a quick kiss to his cheek as a reward, before heading off in that direction.

Enma crouched by the fireplace, his eyes bright. Possibly because of the flames reflecting off of them, but also because of the fire faeries hidden amongst the flames, dancing around, trailing fire in their footsteps.

Ito made sure to grab him by the back of his shirt, since Enma was leaning far too close to the fire for comfort, and they didn’t want to risk him falling in.

One of the faeries paused, peering back up at Enma. It lifted its hand in a wave, smiling.

Enma beamed. “Hi.”

The fire faerie made a strange, crackling sound in response.

Enma blinked, and then glanced up. “It can’t speak to us…?”

“I mean, it’s not insane to assume that different species speak different languages,” Ito said. And then they frowned. “Don’t know how we could replicate their language enough to have a proper conversation, though. It might have different vocal cords… if they have vocal cords at all, I guess.”

“But the Headmaster said faerie can imbue their voices with magic, and that’s why he technically speaks every language,” Enma said, seeming genuinely disappointed.

Kuroki shrugged. “I mean, they look way different from Crowley. They might not be the same species… maybe they just have a different skillset?”

“Wait, he can speak every language?” Ito cut in, raising their hand. “Is he like Grim?”

Grim frowned. “I can only understand you three, ‘cause you’re my familiars. The way Crowley said it, I’m pretty sure he can do it with everyone.”

Ito blinked. Would Crowley be able to understand them if they spoke in Spanish, then? They didn’t get a lot of opportunities to. Technically, they could speak to Grim in Spanish, and sometimes did in private, but if either Kuroki or Enma were around they would get somewhat sulky over not being able to understand what Ito was saying. Kuroki would feel left out, and Enma would want to know exactly what they were saying, and they would be stuck translating for them, which made it more trouble than it was worth.

No matter how much they tried to explain that direct translation was actually super hard – even harder than just outright speaking English – their friends didn’t really… understand. Knowing something intellectually doesn’t necessarily mean that you actually process it.

It made sense. Kuroki and Enma didn’t speak a second language, so of course Ito didn’t expect them to truly get it. And, in the end, it wasn’t too difficult to simply speak in English all the time. They were fine. English wasn’t the language with the most native speakers, but it was the language that the highest number of people knew (usually for the sake of business, or because the internet tended to be English-centric), and they had traveled enough with their parents to get a lot of practice.

It was just… tiring, sometimes.

Sometimes, they wanted a few moments to decompress and simply speak the language they had been born with.

Unfortunately for them, no one in this entire dimension spoke Spanish, so they were shit out of luck.

(There was Professor Yaxha, who seemed to be this universe’s version of Incan, and Trein, who spoke what appeared to be Latin for academic purposes… but Ito couldn’t exactly explain why they knew a strange mix of what would essentially be Incan, Latin, and two things that would be complete gibberish as far as this world was concerned.)

They were pulled back into the conversation when Enma grabbed their hand, tugging slightly on their arm. Ito blinked back at him, a little bit off-kilter now that they had stopped drifting.

Enma didn’t seem surprised to find they hadn’t been listening.

“Can we give them some food?” Enma repeated, his eyes bright.

“That’s what we’re here for,” Ito said, slowly, pointing to the logs not that far away from the fireplace. At least Crowley hadn’t made them chop wood and/or carry it across campus.

“Nonono. I mean, like, food food.”

Ito stared at him, blankly.

Kuroki, though, seemed to understand. “We don’t have that much food, though. I don’t want to give our limited food to literal fire.”

Oh, so that’s what he meant.

Enma sent Ito a pleading look.

Ito shrugged. “Sure. We can always raid the kitchens for stuff to eat while we’re tending to the fire faeries there.”

Enma lit up, pulling a small breakfast bar from one of his pockets.

“You know, you always have that on you, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat one of those,” Ito said, their head tipping to the side.

Enma shrugged as he peeled it open. He offered it to the fire faerie, who eyed it warily. It approached the granola bar it had been offered, poking and prodding at it curiously. Tiny wisps of smoke curled from the food.

“Started bringing it around with me that one time Kuroki fainted. It’s got caramel and chocolate. Salt, sugar, and carbs are all supposed to help with blood pressure and/or sugar… I think…? Guess I can look that up, now…”

Kuroki’s face flushed bright red. He didn’t seem to know what to do with the display of care, so he turned to Ito, flicking them in the arm. “Stop checking our pockets!”

Ito huffed. “Hey, those are basically my pockets too! I only have two, and putting things in your back pockets can mess up your spine. You guys have soooo many, and I need some extras. It works out.”

“Just wear a jacket!” Kuroki said.

“No. It’s ugly. Think of this as – uh – reparations,” Ito joked to a very confused Grim.

“Is that why I keep finding random pens and things in my jacket pockets?” Enma said, his eyes widening in realization.

Ito treated their pens with the same level of care that they treated their notebooks – which is to say they tossed them into their backpack at random and hoped they would be able to find them when they needed them later. But Enma seemed relieved, for some reason, so they nodded along.

Enma’s shoulders relaxed and he went back to watching the fire faeries.

Oh. Great. The fire faeries seemed to be worshipping the granola bar, now.

“Alright, last fireplace is in… the kitchen,” said Ito, after squinting at the map for a while just to make sure they weren’t missing any.

“I wonder if they have any food to spare there,” Grim said.

“Ruggie probably took everything close to its sell-by date,” Enma said.

Kuroki, however, could never be deterred when it came to getting things for free: “Who said we were going for things that were close to their sell-by date?”

“The ghosts might give us some food if you ask them, Enma,” Ito said.

Enma considered this.

“It’s worth a shot,” he decided.

“We can always just steal if they say no,” they added.

Enma and Kuroki nodded along.

Grim frowned, raising a paw. “Isn’t stealing food… bad? Wasn’t that the whole point of Ace’s whole Thing with Riddle a few months ago?”

(“Rosehearts-senpai,” Enma corrected, absently. Grim blew a raspberry at him.)

“It’s not bad if you really need it, and are stealing from someone who has more than enough,” Kuroki assured.

“Or if you really want some,” Enma added.

“Shhhhhh,” said Kuroki. “In order for a slippery slope to work, you have to get them to used to the first thing and then slowly get worse.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Grim said.

“... do you want food or not?” Ito sighed.

Grim immediately stopped protesting about the morality of what they were doing. They probably should have pulled that card earlier.

“I smell spices,” Grim said, his nose twitching.

“You usually smell spices when you’re heading towards a kitchen,” Enma said.

But, as they neared the kitchens… well, it became abundantly clear that Grim was talking about someone cooking, not just the mere existence of spices.

“Do you think the ghosts forgot that there’s no one around to feed?” Kuroki asked, his eyebrows knitting.

“Maybe it’s for us!” Grim gasped.

It was not.

It wasn’t even the ghosts’ doing, surprisingly.

No, from the looks of it, the entirety of Scarabia’s dorm members had decided to spend the day in the school kitchens. Which was already strange – all of the dorms had at least one kitchen (even Ramshackle, though theirs’ was definitely more defunct than the ones the other dorms enjoyed), after all, so if everyone had piled inside that meant that either every kitchen in Scarabia had broken down or they were making food for every person in the dorm at once.

Ito supposed that it was possible that they were having a party to celebrate the end of the semester, or the start of Winter Break.

But Scarabia… wasn’t really supposed to be on campus. The going-away party should have been yesterday or the day prior. Ito was pretty sure that the Dark Mirror had been powered down the moment after Crowley had left for vacation.

If they tried to go home now, they would have quite the downer of a realization.

The Yuus peered around the doorway, frowning confusedly, trying to make sense of the strange happenings.

“Why are you four here?”

Enma yelped and attempted to punch Jamil Viper in the face.

Luckily for Jamil’s face, Jamil was actually good at dodging, and sidestepped with ease.

Enma looked thrown. Ito figured that it was probably because of Enma’s constant complaints about how no one at this school was good in a fight – someone knowing the first rule of fighting (hit them more than they hit you) was probably a hell of a shock.

“We have our reasons,” Kuroki said, immediately. “Why are all of you guys here?”

“We have our reasons,” Jamil parroted.

“They’re cooking,” Grim whispered.

“That is one of the reasons, yes,” Jamil said.

Kuroki’s face flushed.

Ito sighed. They could argue that, honestly, Jamil had way better reason to be suspicious of them, considering they had just been kinda-spying on his dorm, and people were technically allowed to stay on campus over the break, people just usually didn’t want to.

“Our esteemed Headmaster has asked me to maintain the fireplaces on campus. The last one’s in the kitchen, but we’re willing to wait until you guys are done.”

Enma gave them a look that screamed ‘we are?’

Ito just shrugged. It wasn’t like they were on a strict schedule. And, besides, it wouldn’t be easy to steal from the kitchens if the entirety of Scarabia Dorm was there. So, what other choice did they have?

Jamil tilted his head to the side. “Do you think you could help out a little?”

Ito raised an eyebrow. “What, not scared we’ll poison it?”

“I taste test everything that gets put in front of Kalim regardless of who makes it, he will be fine,” Jamil said, casual in a way that he probably shouldn’t be?

“And… who taste tests for you?” Ito said, slowly.

Jamil just stared at them, as if they had asked something stupid.

Ito’s eyes narrowed, briefly, before they yawned. “Sure, I guess Kuroki and I can help. Enma, tend to the fire, yeah?”

“What about me?” said Grim.

“You can taste test what we make,” Ito said, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, smiling.

“Hell yeah. That’s my favorite job.”

“The most important one, too,” Enma said. “Only the best for our boss.”

Grim nodded along, unaware that Enma was teasing him.

Ito raised an eyebrow at Enma, briefly, their lips twitching into a grin. It was bold of him to make fun of Grim for not being allowed in the kitchen, when he, too, had been sent away for the sake of this world’s future.

For Enma’s part, the tips of his ears tinted pink, but he still grinned back at them.

Ito’s gaze flicked to Jamil again, and found the boy watching them.

Ito flashed a smile, hoping that their choice to have Grim taste test everything they cooked – ensuring that Jamil wouldn’t have to worry about them poisoning it – would actually put the boy at ease, instead of making him more suspicious of them. They didn’t know Jamil well enough to know what he responded well to, so they had gone for what would help the most people and prayed that it was the right choice.

It really was an olive branch. Ito didn’t have any reasons to hate the guy, nor were they close enough to him to mess with him for fun, so why wouldn’t they be nice?

(If they had wanted to be mean, they would assure him that, even if they wanted to murder someone, they wouldn’t opt for poison. Underhanded means, sure, they absolutely were a knife-in-the-back kind of person, but not poison. It went against their morals – food was food. And they would even be telling the truth when they said it. But people usually got uncomfortable when they implied that they had thought through their preferred method of murdering people. Who knows why.)

Finally, Jamil’s eyes cut away, and he brushed past them, into the kitchens, a hand thrown behind himself to gesture for them to follow.

Jamil led them to an empty workstation.

Okay, well, empty as in it had no people in it. The Scarabia students had been using it as a place to stack all of the dishes they hadn’t wanted to clean yet. When they noticed the newcomers, several people pointed their wands at the stacks upon stacks of pots and pans, blasting them with various types of magic. Water magic in an attempt to scrub some of the pots clean, wind magic to try and move everything away, fire magic thanks to a particularly frazzled-looking first year…

One of the pans exploded under the strain. People ducked under the shrapnel with a kind of practiced ease. Ah, the ‘joys’ of living in a magical prep school. Everyone is used to magic mishaps by the end of the first semester.

Jamil told them that he wanted them to make shakshuka. It wasn’t a particularly difficult dish to make – hell, a lot of people make something similar without realizing it – but it did require a bit of care, since all of the ingredients had their own specific cooking times.

Again, not too bad, unless you have to manage an entire kitchen at the same time, in which case things become dicey.

So, Enma was ushered off before he could accidentally curse the cookware, and Ito found themself drifting as they cooked, more on instinct than anything.

Their eyes flicked up to the first year across from them. A Scarabia student, obviously. They were pretty sure he was in their class, but he hadn’t made much of an impression either way.

The magical mishap, though, had drawn their attention. Because they couldn’t remember the guy ever messing up spectacularly enough for them to notice – and sending flames rocketing from his wand was definitely enough to make them draw their eyes at least once.

And, if magic was all about visualization, then had the flames been on purpose? They might have brushed it off as an accident if he had somehow messed up water or wind magic, but to summon flames…

Was he trying to seem incompetent?

Or was he actually incompetent?

It was a school, after all, messing up wasn’t entirely out of the question.

Frankly, they were surprised no one had died yet.

The bar is in Hell.

And Crowley was barely clearing it.

But, hey, at least he was clearing it! And that was worthy of – well, not praise, but certainly not scorn!

Ito turned off the burner and set the dish aside, content that the eggs had been cooked enough to not give someone salmonella.

Was salmonella still a thing here? Did it affect mages, who were supposedly stronger than regular humans?

Eh. Who cares. The eggs had been cooked enough to get rid of any bacteria, if any had existed in the first place, so they supposed it didn’t really matter.

They had managed to make the food without causing a fire (or, at least, not an unnecessary one, seeing as they still had gas stoves in this universe, for some reason), and for this Jamil seemed eternally grateful.

Which was rude, in their opinion. They were good at cooking, thank you very much! Hell, they were so good at cooking that they managed to pass the Culinary Crucible while trying to fail!

But whatever. Sometimes people are rude, and you just have to deal with it, because making a scene is way more effort than just brushing things off.

“Thanks for this,” Jamil said, dipping forward just slightly in a bow.

Ito bowed, too, even though they weren’t sure whether it was right for them to do so. If it was wrong, Jamil didn’t say anything.

Ito snatched up Grim by the collar before he could launch himself at the plate they handed off to Jamil.

Grim squirmed, looking like he was tempted to let his head separate from his neck enough for the ribbon to slip through. Now that the Yuus knew, Grim didn’t seem to care about who knew his death status. In fact, Ito suspected that they were the only people who hadn’t known, and no one had told them because they had assumed that the Yuus would know, too. So, yeah, Grim had no reason not to sever his head. Ito quickly shifted to hug the monster around the middle instead.

Grim huffed, spitting flames. Said flames missed Ito by a long shot.

“Why can’t I have any, huh?!” Grim said, his voice nearly a hiss. He might not be a cat, but he certainly was one at some point.

“You already tried it,” Ito reminded him.

“So?! We never get to eat anything spicy, you know!”

They raised an eyebrow. “I add in spices after I make Kuroki’s portion.”

“It’s not the same,” Grim lamented. “The spices don’t get to marinate enough.”

Ito, privately, agreed.

Kuroki frowned just slightly. “You could always make something separate for me, if you’re really missing spices that much…”

“Too much work,” Ito said, shrugging.

“Or I could cook my own food,” Kuroki tried.

Ito flicked him in the shoulder. “Please. It’s not that bad.”

“Yes it is!” Grim said, puffing up with anger, only to deflate when he realized he didn’t really have anything he could be angry at. “Bet if we had gone on that vacation with the Headmaster there would have been tons of spicy food…”

Ito couldn’t say for sure whether or not this was true – there are a lot of tropical places that this world’s version of the tropics could be based upon, and all of them had their own specific ways of seasoning food.

“Hey, I wouldn’t have minded,” said Ito, shrugging. “Look at Enma and Kuroki, they’re the ones who said no.”

Enma groaned, nearing them, soot smeared over the bridge of his nose. “Why would you throw us under the bus like that?”

Kuroki made a face. “That’s messed up.”

Ito grinned, opening their mouth –.

“If you really want to try something spicy,” Jamil cut in, making the Yuus jump. They really needed to stop acting like they were the only people to ever exist. “You could always come over for dinner. We have more than enough food to go around.”

Grim immediately started giving them all pleading looks.

Ito sighed. Their eyes flicked to meet Jamil’s. “If it’s really not too big of an imposition, I guess…”

He gave a thin-lipped smile. “Don’t worry, it’s not! And, besides, I’d rather not owe you four for helping out today.”

Kuroki looked like he was about to disagree, now, because damn it they liked being owed!, but then there was a buzzing sound from Enma’s pocket.

Enma pulled out the phone, squinting at the number on the screen for a second, before hesitantly bringing it to his ear. “Um, hi?”

The phone call didn’t last long. The most notable thing was that Enma’s eyes widened, briefly, when the person on the other end of the line said something – which is to say, not much happened.

“... Floyd Leech-senpai says that they finished prepping our room for us.”

Oh, right, that. Ito had forgotten about that.

“Kuroki can’t come with us to eat food in Scarabia anyways,” Grim pointed out. “He should deal with it.”

For once, Kuroki didn’t argue. Instead, he eyed the phone in Enma’s hand warily.

“Did we ever give them our number?”

No, no they hadn’t.

Hm.

This was probably fine.

“Go ahead and deal with Octavinelle,” Ito said, bumping their shoulder against Kuroki’s. “They’ll probably have something you can eat there, and someone has to make sure that they didn’t booby trap the room.”

Kuroki looked like he would rather be force-fed peppers.

“I’ll go with Ito and Grim, then –,” Enma said.

“No,” said Kuroki, immediately grabbing Enma by the arm. “Figure out how to deal with Jade Leech-senpai, because you’re acting weird about it all and I don’t like it.”

“You just don’t want to go alone,” Enma huffed, rolling his eyes.

“I just think you should get over it!”

“I’m sorry, would you be ‘normal’ about seeing someone’s…?!”

“Yes! I saw their dicks, too, y’know! And look at me! Normal!”

Huh?!

Ito was so confused.

But they were perfectly fine not knowing things. In fact, they would much prefer it in situations like this.

“Guys, not in front of the baby,” Ito said, covering Grim’s ears.

“I’m not a baby!”

Doubtful.

“I know, I am,” Ito lied.

“Ito-san, Grim-san?” Jamil cut in again. Poor guy. It must suck being around people who forget about you every time you stop talking. In their defense, though, the guy was kind of forgettable. “We should get going soon, we can’t serve Kalim cold food.”

Kuroki and Enma looked at Ito.

“Are you sure you’ll be fine alone?” Kuroki asked, hesitantly.

Grim huffed. “They won’t be alone! I’ll be there, and I would never let any of my henchmen get hurt!”

Kuroki and Enma, however, looked at Ito.

They shrugged, smiling. “It’s just dinner. I’ll be back in three hours – max, yeah?”

Ito hugged the dish to their chest as they followed the procession of Scarabia students. Chatting with each other in low tones, clumped into small established friend groups.

They let their steps slow just slightly, until they were standing next to that one Scarabia first year. They were pretty sure his name was, like, John, or something similar, but they weren’t going to risk being wrong by saying his maybe-name aloud. Not when they needed answers.

And Maybe-John was the guy who was most likely to give them the information.

If he had truly done fire magic by accident, then the guy seemed nice enough, if a bit ditzy, and might let things slip.

And, if it wasn’t an accident, then the guy was clearly trying to seem unintimidating. Probably to make the Yuus feel more comfortable talking to him (perhaps in a mistaken attempt to try and get on the Headmaster’s good side through them, which… yeah, no, that wasn’t something he actually wanted… not that they would tell him). Which meant he would give them information if they wanted it.

They smiled at him. “You’re in my homeroom, right?”

The guy smiled right back. “Yeah, actually, I’m surprised you noticed.”

“We know this guy?” Grim whispered.

Ito snickered, nodding. “A little. He’s in Alchemy with us, we just spend most of our time in there getting blown up, so we’ve never really talked.”

His eyes widened. He moved his arms, awkwardly, as if he was trying to make a placating motion but couldn’t do so when he was carrying a pot as big as his entire torso. “No, no, that’s not what I meant! I just – you guys don’t really talk to a lot of people outside of each other.”

Neither do you, Ito thought, thinking of the Savanaclaw student the guy was frequently found with. But they weren’t interested in that, so instead they said:

“I’m just messing with you,” Ito said. “Besides, you’re not that great at Alchemy, either, are you?”

He looked away, tugging long red hair into his face as if to hide a blush. At the angle they were standing at, Ito couldn’t tell whether it was real.

“Ugh, I can’t believe you know that, that’s so embarrassing…”

“Don’t worry about it!” Ito laughed. “We can be bad at Alchemy together. Start a study group or something.”

“Really?” he asked, his eyes brightening just slightly. “Your dorm’s pretty empty, think I can come over sometime over the break for a study session? Because, I don’t know if you’ve seen the homework yet or not, but I’ve got no idea what to do.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure we’re staying at Octavinelle,” Ito said, their eyes narrowing when his happiness dimmed ever so slightly. They forced their eyes to crinkle at the edges in a smile. “But we’ll probably be sick of them in a day or two, you can come visit then.”

He nodded quickly. “That sounds great.”

… he wanted to stay out of his own dorm.

Why, though?

They considered outright asking why they were staying over the break, but they didn’t want the guy to feel interrogated and start clamming up, so they would have to ask later, or find someone else to talk to…

Besides, they had finally reached the mirror.

Ito looked over it.

At first, it looked as if there was no design engraved in the silver surrounding the mirror. That the most interesting thing about the mirror leading to Scarabia was the thin trail of sand leading away from it. But then they noticed the snake head near the top.

The silver band encircling the mirror was, apparently, a snake eating its own tail.

They were quick to step through the mirror.

They blinked at the blast of warm air.

It wasn’t like Savanaclaw, which was also warm but in a humid way which made their hair frizz. No, this was dry, sand blazingly hot even through their shoes, each step uncertain. An unending wasteland in every direction.

Ito sighed a little in relief. They much preferred the heat to the snow waiting for them on the campus grounds.

Enma and Kuroki would hate it, though, they thought, grinning bemusedly.

Their eyes turned onto Grim, absently wondering if the monster was going to struggle with the heat, what with all of his fur, or if him being a fire-related monster would shield him from the heat, too… only to be suddenly reminded that Grim didn’t have fur anymore, and the monster seemed fine.

Ito moved the dish in their hand to rest on their hip so they could carefully tug the bobby pins out of their hair and (reluctantly) shove them into their pockets, silently wishing either Kuroki or Enma had come with them – if only so they could borrow their jacket pockets. With both the bobby pins and their phone, they felt strangely off-balance, even if they knew, logically, that the extra weight shouldn’t be enough to throw them off.

“So, how long will we have to walk?” they asked.

Grim’s eyes widened. He turned to look at Ito. “We have to walk?!”

“I have to walk,” Ito said, and grinned a little when the monster immediately rushed to curl himself around the back of their neck.

Grim was warmer than most of the other things that Ito would willingly touch while in the desert (namely: a water bottle, or an ice pack if they were feeling adventurous), but he was much cuter, so… the tradeoffs were, probably, worth it.

So long as they didn’t get heatstroke.

They turned to look at Jamil for an answer to their question, only to find the people of Scarabia… well, they weren’t quite laughing, not openly, but they were definitely amused.

“Don’t worry. It’s a long walk, but it won’t be in the sun,” Maybe-John promised.

Ito raised an eyebrow, absently looking around for something they had missed. Maybe it was, like, an anti-mirage? A barren landscape that fades away to reveal a dazzling place they had never noticed before…?

“ فَتَحَ ” said Jamil.

Ito was only given a half second to puzzle over what that could mean before the ground began to rumble, the sand beneath their feet shifting. Sliding away from them, slowly congealing into a mass that sprouted from the sand, taking the shape of a tiger’s head.

Slowly, its mouth opened – unhinged, really, stretching far larger than a tiger’s mouth ever should – revealing a staircase that led deep underground.

The staircase was hardly lit. The ceiling was dotted with what looked to be facsimiles of stars, and they did have faint golden glows, but this wasn’t nearly enough for them to be comfortable walking down a set of stairs with only them for guidance.

“I’m not going in there,” Ito said, hugging Grim closer to their chest.

Jamil gave them a flat look. “Then stay out in the sun.”

Ito went in there.

Slowly, they descended. Most of the Scarabia people opted to rush down the stairs, not concerned with the steps after over a semester’s-worth of walking up and down them every day… and, perhaps, more importantly, they were all carrying at least one dish each, and while there wasn’t any reason to fear the food going lukewarm in this weather, it was still annoying to carry. The sooner they got down, the better.

Ito, however? They were taking their sweet time. Falling down the stairs wasn’t exactly on their to-do list. Especially not when they couldn’t even see the bottom.

Jamil seemed content to stay close.

“Ssssso,” Ito said, their eyes determinedly never leaving their feet. “What does… fa-ta-ha mean? Is it a spell?”

“No. It’s a literal keyword. Directly translated, it would mean… ‘unlock’,” Jamil said.

Ito nodded.

And then something hit them. They stopped walking in favor of turning to glare at Grim’s head, resting on their shoulder. “Why am I still carrying you? You can float.”

Grim’s eyes widened. “You’re going to make me move on my own?!”

“It’s, frankly, safer for you,” Ito said, but if Grim wanted them to continue carrying him then… sure. He would complain the whole way down if they didn’t, which was way more trouble than it was worth.

Absently, Ito pressed a kiss to the top of Grim’s head.

Jamil stepped slightly closer, and Ito glanced up, mildly curious.

“Wasn’t he covered in fur before?” Jamil asked.

Ito shrugged just slightly. “He was, yeah. We’ve got to make a potion to give it back to him.”

Something flashed in the corner of their eye and Ito blinked. One of the stars on the ceiling had, apparently, fallen to earth.

And mages love to act like they’re better. Seems like they’ve never heard of tape before.

… why was the star moving?

That’s a bug.

They jolted back a step.

“Oh, Jesus –.”

Right. Stairs. They were on stairs.

“Are you okay?!” Kalim asked for the millionth time, his eyes wide.

Ito had answered ‘totally fine’ the first few times, but now they were too exasperated to bother with that, since Kalim seemed to be pushing for a different answer.

So, instead, they grumbled that they were, “Peachy.”

They really weren’t injured, though. Jamil had managed to catch them with wind magic before they had cracked their head open, and then had proceeded to levitate them the rest of the way down the stairs. It was embarrassing as hell. Frankly, they would have preferred it if they had simply fallen the whole way down. “Can’t believe I was scared of a –...”

They had forgotten what those godforsaken bugs were called.

“Scarab,” said Kalim.

“That’s the bitch,” Ito said.

“They’re not dangerous,” Kalim assured them. “But, if it makes you feel better, Jamil –.”

Jamil covered Kalim’s mouth.

Ito raised an eyebrow at him, but decided to let it go. The guy did save them from a rather embarrassing death there.

Instead, Ito lifted their head to look at Kalim. Slowly – not because of reluctance, Grim had decided that he was now their helmet. Which they would be more than fine with if the monster wasn’t messing up their hair… but whatever. So long as his claws didn’t start digging in, they could tolerate it. It wasn’t as if they couldn’t fix their hair afterward.

“So… why did they decide to use bugs and not just – I don’t know – stars?!”

“... it’s cooler?” Kalim said, unsure himself.

Ito stared at him, blankly. Thought that Enma would hate it here.

Kalim smiled. “Well, those bugs are cooler. I mean, besides what they symbolize back home – rebirth and regeneration, cool, right?! – the real-life bugs actually use the stars to navigate! It’s kind of awesome, don’t you think?”

Ito could admit that, if that was true, that was kind of interesting. Enma would probably like to know that, fear of bugs be damned the guy still liked random information (so long as he didn’t have to see the bugs himself), but Ito? They now had a one-sided grudge against these things. They were evil. They had to go. Ito couldn’t afford an exterminator, but they were buying one in spirit. Those things needed to count their days.

“I’m so sorry that you got hurt,” Kalim said, even though they hadn’t been. “Can I make it up to you?”

Ito pulled a plate of kebabs towards themself. “This food is more than good enough to make up for it, don’t worry.”

“No, no, I insist!”

“... I mean, if you have any Coke here, I’d accept that.”

Kalim looked at Jamil. Who shrugged and shook his head.

Kalim looked devastated.

Ito, too, was pretty devastated that this meant they would need to rely on Octavinelle to get them their fix, but they were a little better at hiding it.

“Don’t worry, I was mostly kidding,” Ito lied, smiling.

“You weren’t,” Kalim said, and Ito jolted. They blinked, mildly perturbed when Kalim grabbed one of their hands and solemnly promised that, “When school starts up again, I’ll get a lifetime’s supply of Coke shipped to the school for you.”

Damn, that was tempting. Too bad they were currently extremely unsettled, and didn’t exactly feel eager to accept the offer.

“You… don’t owe me, I was the one who fucked up. If anything, I owe B-Viper-senpai, since he kept me from breaking my head open.”

Kalim looked reluctant, but he let go of their hand. “If you say so. Just tell me if you want me to make it up to you.”

Did he not hear what they just said?

Kalim sure was… an interesting guy. Good intentioned, Ito was pretty sure, just…

“Hey, Grim-chan! Have you tried this goat's milk blue cheese yet? It goes great with crackers.”

“Don’t you think that ‘Grim-chan’ is a little too familiar –?” Grim started, only to almost choke when Kalim shoved a cracker into his mouth.

Or, rather, pushed a cracker into his mouth, because wow this guy was pushy.

“Good, right?”

Now, personally, in the face of Kalim’s sunshine-y smile, Ito would have hesitated to say no.

Grim, however, had no qualms saying what he thought: “Ew, moldy cheese –” Another cracker found its way into his mouth, and he tried to spit it out, only to find another. “H-hey –!”

“He prefers tuna to cheese,” Ito said, quickly, grabbing Kalim’s arm to stop him from shoving yet another cracker into Grim’s mouth.

“Oh!” said Kalim. He looked at Jamil, who shook his head once again. Kalim slumped a little in his seat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you two were visiting, so I didn’t even get to prepare your favorite dishes!”

“That’s fine, you’re not psychic. I would have been more weirded out if you had known ahead of time,” Ito said, pulling Grim into their lap to better protect him, absently wiping a few crumbs away from the monster’s mouth. “And, even if you had known, it’s not like Sam’s shop is open right now, and shipments from outside are halted for the break, so it’s not like you could have done anything, anyways.”

Kalim sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right…”

Ito grinned. “I always am,” they joked, lightly, their mind racing a mile a minute. They were so close to being able to ask why Scarabia was still here in a way that would feel like a natural extension of the conversation, but they were just a little bit off, enough that it would be too sudden to ask about it. “Except for the times when I’m wrong. Like when I waited too long and Bucchi-senpai got to Sam’s Coke supply before I could.”

Kalim gasped. “Did he know you wanted it?”

“Don’t think so,” said Ito, shrugging. “He bought out the whole place, pretty much. Wanted to take it all home, I guess, but it means that Ramshackle is shit out of luck food-wise.”

“Yeah, we have the same problem,” Kalim said, nodding along. “We weren’t exactly planning to stay here, so we have to make do with what we had leftover in the kitchen.”

Ito tipped their head to the side. “Wait, seriously? Are you gonna need to go to Octavinelle for help, too? Because that’s what we’re doing for food. They’re the only people that actually planned to stay over the break, I think.”

A white lie, but who cares? It wasn’t like it mattered in the grand scheme of things.

And scheme was definitely the word to describe what was going on.

Kalim waved them off. “I think we’ll be fine. Worst comes to worse, I can always send everyone home early.”

(Out of the corner of their eyes, Ito saw people start shoveling food in their mouths faster.)

Hm. So, it was a choice that Kalim was making, which everyone else disagreed with. The choice had been relatively last minute…

Ito blinked at him, oh-so-very innocent. “Why not send them home now? You shouldn’t wait for people to starve…”

Kalim seemed to think this over, before snapping his fingers and pointing at them. “You’re right! I should send them home!”

Huh?!

“W… what?” Ito said, their expression going blank for a second in sheer surprise.

“You’re right,” Kalim repeated, as if he thought that Ito had simply not heard him. He set his hands on the table, pushing himself to his feet. “Really, a few bad grades, a bad performance in Magift… does it really matter? We can always work on that after the break – but Winter Break is all about relaxing!”

Ito felt like they had whiplash. Not, exactly, because of Kalim, the guy hadn’t changed his tone once, but Ito had been so sure that they were finally on the cusp of knowing what was going on, and this was not it.

Kalim clapped a hand on their shoulder. “Thanks for talking this out with me! I’m going to tell everyone the good news!”

Ito looked at Jamil, who seemed just as surprised by this development as they were.

And then Jamil forced an awkward smile to his face. “Er, are you… sure Kalim? This is quite different from what you said not even a few days ago…”

“I am!” Kalim said.

“... if that’s what you want,” said Jamil, reaching over to straighten out Kalim’s turban, before drawing back. “Go ahead and tell everyone.”

Kalim nodded, disappearing through the nearest door.

Grim looked at Ito, who was still staring at where Kalim had just been, stunned.

“Henchman?”

“I… was wrong,” Ito said, slowly, their eyebrows knitting.

Grim patted the top of their head. “Not everyone can carry the burden of always being right like I can.”

“Of course, Grim-sama,” Ito said, scratching him behind the ears, smiling halfheartedly when Grim gave a low purr.

They felt eyes on the side of their head.

Jamil frowned at Ito, something complicated in his expression. They pulled a smile to their face, hugging Grim closer, quietly wondering what he was thinking. The guy didn’t talk much, did he?

Kalim appeared on an upper balcony.

The feast hall went silent.

“After a short chat with Ito-chan, I have been reminded of what Winter Break is supposed to be about – rest and relaxation.”

Despite his words, Kalim’s expression was strangely flat.

Jamil went tense.

He grabbed Ito by the arm, a little more harshly than they would normally expect from him.

“Senpai –?”

“You need to go,” he whispered, urgently. “Now.”

“What? Why should I –?”

Kalim’s arms leaned against the balcony in front of him. A grin spread across his face, but it was colder than the one he usually sported.

“But none of you have earned the right to relax.”

#twisted wonderland #twst yuu #twst grim #kuroki yuuya #enma yuuken #jamil viper #kalim al asim #scarabia #i wrote this chap like a month ago idk if anyone else is here

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the-silver-peahen-residence · 5 months ago

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||An Officer's Corruption part Thirty-Nine||

Hello my dears, guess who is back! I know, it's been a long time since I wrote the next part but lets see if we can fix that. But I hope you like.

If you wish to see how or where everything is going, you can follow up on the chapters down below.

||Chapters so far|| 1-30||((Click here))

||Chapters so far|| 31-37 ((Click here))

||OVA Chapters 1-7|| ((Written by my amazing friend demon mun and me)) (Click here))

Part Thirty Eight

((Your reading part Thirty Nine right now))

||Drabble Summary||

After finding out more of the drug given to Yuuka, Ophelia speaks with some other doctors in hopes of finding a way to help her. Meanwhile, someone has spoken with the principle and teacher regarding Yuuka's condition. More things will be happening in the prisons and at the school in japan. Though, that goes with some guests showing up there too. Who could be the guests? Want to know what? Read to find out.

||Warning||

~drug use is spoken of in this

~Slight violence will be seen in this

~Tw: Throwing up and blood will be present in this chapter

~Dark theme is heavy in this part

~Gun use might or will be seen in this part. You were warned. Heavy anguish/drama is also present in this

||Guests in Drabble||

Alexandria "Ophelia" Dryad, Jung-hoon Kouki Seon (Oblivion's father) and anyone else mention belongs to my amazing Rp partner @demon-blood-youths while Cobin a.k.a the horror of the machines belong to and is from @lovelyxhorrors

Arnold Wayne Hexford, Swan Halls, Yuuka Nakano, Qiao and Sakura Nakano(Yuu's parents) and others mentioned are my OC's and belong to me. While junichiro tanizaki and others spoken of comes from the anime BSD but also me due to rping as them.

((Note: Their will be grammar mistakes and errors in this drabble as others have this warning. But like I state before, this is written for fun. So I hope you like it and my friend too. I hope you Enjoy.))

"Thank you for telling me what you know so far. I think this will help me in the long run with this investigation." Oblivion was done with the talk but she got more information and maybe she can figure out a plan or something to track the mixing agent of this item. However, the Akutagawa twins were seeing another officer show up while both Jason and Sid would take them back to their cells.

"You are welcome. I hope you find the assholes that did this to the inmate your watching after...the same for getting them back for getting us in trouble." Ryunosuke sighed but he hopes they pay for this. Oblivion said nothing with a nod, seeing the two siblings being led out from the room.

Now it was Dazai and Oblivion there.

"Well, seems you got a trail now, little Tae. Though, I will see if I can get more looking around for you in case something else is found. That way, we can be close to what your looking for." he said.

"Thanks uncle. I just want to be able to do what I can and head back....." she said.

"Let me guess; your charge is getting worse I take it?" How did he know? Maybe he could tell just how she looked and reacted. Though, he also knew so many that went through the same issue back then. For now, he would hope for the best. "Come on, I guess if you wish you can give some information to your fellow officers in case they found something else." he said patting her shoulder but Tae only nods ready to head out to do that. She wonders if Sai and Terry found anything else about this. For now, only time will tell.

~~~~~In the hallways~~~~~

Sid was leading the two back to their cells but saw Matt there waiting for them. "Matt?"

"Hey Sid. Just came to take Ryu to meet his lawyer. Their waiting for him in the main room down the hall." he jabs a thumb over his left shoulder to a door while Sid remembers they were going to visit them. Guess they came a bit early.

"Very well..Mr. Akutagawa, Officer Matt will take you to the room to meet with your lawyers. Miss Akutagawa please follow Jason to your cell." Sid said as the two look at one another before Ryu follows Matt to the room while Jason takes her back to her cell. Seeing this, Sid pushes her glasses up and goes to check on Chuya to see if he was alright.

~~~~~~Meanwhile back at T Prison~~~~~~~~

"Hey Kali! You never told us this was your charge!" Kali tense hearing a familiar voice looking to see Ink and Jinx there waiving happily to her. She didn't respond to the two but only sighed.

"Yeah, because you two are too nosy for your own good!" she said with arms crossed.

"But you never tell us anything!" Ink said pouting.

"I wonder why? -_-"

"But again...he's your charge?" Jinx said seeing Rex sitting quietly like a good boy while enjoying the fresh air once in a while. It's been such a long time since he's been out. Though most of the other inmates were nervous seeing him back out after so long. He has his own little section in the prison to keep him from beating up the ones that was stupid enough to try challenging him.

"Ughhh, I'm not answering that Jinx! That's none of your business!" she said.

"Huh?!? But it's not fair! You know who our charges are! I bet he is your charge! Right?"

"........"

"Sooooo is h-"

"Stop. Asking. or I'll bonk you two hard to knock you out!" she said with her eye twitching.

"But we were just asking Kali!" Ink said.

"Yeah! Were your fellow officers! You can trust us! :3" Jinx said but Kali sighed with a sweatdrop.

"I know.....and trying to be sure you two stay professional is hard enough. Can't you two just go back to your duties and stop being dummies?" she said.

"..Were not dummies!" they said that Kali facepalms shaking her head. Rex heard this but chuckled finding it adorable while the six claws looks to Rex sensing he was something else. Even Yuji, Megumi, and Kisho senses it too. Just who was this guy?

~~~~~~~~Meanwhile in the medic ward section~~~~~~~~

Doctor Ophelia Alexandria was checking on some medical records of some prisoners with doctor Hex doing the same. They were just finished helping a officer who was injured on duty but now he was on sick leave because of it. As Hex was about to set some files down, the screen near by shows a telephone picture and the name "Doctor Swan" is calling on the screen.

'Hmmm? Doctor swan? That must be the other doctor on Roosevelt Island? I wonder what she could be calling about?' He walks over to the computer and hits the enter key to answer the call. He sits down to look at the screen seeing another woman sitting there but she looked worried.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Doctor Hex? This is Doctor Swan. How are you?"

'I'm alright today. How about you?"

"I'm hanging in there but....Is Doctor Ophelia there? I need to speak with her and you about something. It's a serious situation."

He blinks hearing doctor Swan on the line but he looks to see Ophelia working before looking ahead.

"She's here. Just a moment." he said. "Hey Ophelia." he calls to her as she looks up hearing his voice.

"Yes?"

"Doctor Swan is on the line. She wishes to speak with you about something serious." he said showing the video phone call that Ophelia walks over confused getting a chair to sit. "Hello?"

"Oh good. Your both there."

"Yes of course. Was their something wrong?" she asked.

"Well, you may say that. I have to speak to you about something regarding one of the inmates here in our prison. I don't know if Oblivion told you anything but it's about inmate Nakano." she said.

"Nakano? You mean Yuuka Nakano correct?" He asked seeing Swan nod.

"Yes. I was just doing a test scan on her and....well, were in a situation regarding a doctor The Hero Public Safety Commission sent over to us when we were told about her. Right now, she's....she's in 24/7 isolation medic ward area because of recent behavior." Swan said.

"What do you mean?" He asked but Ophelia knew. She remembers Oblivion sent her something speaking about it. Something of some medicine this doctor is giving her.

"I think I know. It's resulting in the double strength in medicine and the shots right?" Ophelia said seeing Swan nod. "I get the bad feeling their getting worse?"

"..Yeah. Because of the double strength, Yuu's quirk has started to become dangerous weak. But..it's a lot to explain. Here, I can fax you the notes we taken so far or found in it." she said.

"That's fine. Please send them over." she said as Swan nods.

"Alright hold on." she begins typing on the computer checking the documents they had before she copies them and sent it by e-mail.

"Wait, what do she mean by that?" Hex asked.

"It's something I'm looking into for Oblivion..but I'll explain in a moment." Ophelia said to him. In a while, Hex heard a ping showing one new mail.

"We got it."

"Alright, go ahead and look for yourself. It's something we found regarding the shot or what it's doing so far." Swan said as Hex opens it and looks to the message with Ophelia.

The e-mail reads as follows:

~~~Info for Tz45 medicine for inmate 2239 a.k.a Yuuka Nakano~~~

((Note from doctor: Due to her high stress levels and other dangerous levels from her quirk. She is to be put on this medication to help with keeping her mentally stable till further notice. Drugs along with the shot will be given ever 5 hours every day but this might result in change. Please speak with Doctor lee for more information.))

By order of the HPSC, this patient is to be administered this medicine to help with keeping her stable and under the orders of the prison to insure she is not to be in a dangerous emotional state. Because of her violent dangerous behavior, this is to help her keep calm and her quirk neutralized.

If medicine is not strong enough or if changing the dose is needed, the strength will be changed to continue the process of keeping miss Nakano calm. The doctor, Doctor Narashi Lee, assigned to her will keep us up to date to say if we need it to be doubled or tripled if results are not changed.

The two blinks reading this but looks at a list.

"Wait, this is the medicine their giving the inmate? I've never heard of such things. I thought from what they said, she was only getting a shot ever 8 hours." Ophelia said.

"They were but they might have changed it after increasing the strength of it. Right now, whatever they done, it's effecting Yuuka pretty strong like. She's not as moveable right now thanks to it."

Hex checks the list but he begins opening another laptop to start checking the ingredients in this.

"But let me ask; has anything changed since they double the strength of this?" Ophelia asked worried.

"Like I said, they double the strength and right now, it's hitting her pretty hard. But their is a list of her health status on the message." Swan said seeing Ophelia checking seeing the list.

~~Nakano's health status~~

On first strength of dose

*Still violent at the beginning

*Still tends to get itchy and irritated on the skin

*Rashes sometimes tend to show but disappear due to her poison quirk

*Has got anxiety and mood swings is present

*has nosebleeds a few times but not as much

*Scratching at her skin or clawing at it like something is in her

*Has become very scared of Needles/has to use force when giving shots

((Note: Inmate Nakano has gotten more violent even when the medicine was first given to her. At first, she's become threatening to where her quirk has doubled in strength. She's already attacked so many of the doctors here in this prison but still showing the same results. I got word they will work on increasing the strength to see new results.))

Dr. Narashi Lee

~~Nakano's heath status #22~~

On double strength of dose

*Seeing things/having hallucinations saying she keeps seeing 'worms' under her skin

*Quirk has weakened greatly to showing only slight particles/no toxic flames is present now thanks to this.

*Still having nosebleeds but their a lot more heavy

*Freaking out a lot more that she's more scared of the staff while not attacking. This might change later on in the future.

*Tends to scratch herself a lot more leaving deep scratches to bleed

*Muttering and whispering to herself/behavior changes from time to time

*Fear of needles have grown strongly now

((Note: After sending the request, it seems now we are using double the strength. So far from the double dose, it's stronger and a lot more effective now. I'm still watching over her to insure she's getting the proper dose of the medicine. However, Nakano has shown a lot more different behaviors now. However, study shows the new ingredient in the double douse is working wonders. If we keep giving or administering the drug, she'll have her quirk be weak enough to where she's quirkless. I might have to request them to triple the strength and see where it goes. I'll keep working on it for later information.))

Dr. Narashi Lee

Ophelia, Hex, and Swan was shocked reading this but even swan didn't read that far.

"A new ingredient was added to this? But what was it?" Swan said now checking the report. The three keep look only for Hex to see.

"I see it. Most of these drugs are mostly found in the black market. I thought the ones that sent her to you made sure of that. Ophelia was reading too, seeing so many different drugs but she looks to the first one but it didn't have much on it's list.

The first list shows 5 things used to make it. The double dose has 11 things added to it. So far, Hex can clearly see most of them were not suppose to be there.

"Okay, I see." he said.

"What is it?" Ophelia said.

"See these here? Those were not added before. And looking to the first list, these ingredients are usually to help calm the other down from violent behavior. Something like a calming agent." He explains to the two. "But, the new eleven is the opposite of it. These are a lot more heavy and stronger that it's over powering the main five that was first there." he said.

"....So over drugs I take it? But...is that why the 'medicine' is doing this to her?" Ophelia asked Hex.

"From what I can see yes. I've seen these drugs before but their pretty dangerous if one is not careful. However, in the most cases, these are not always mixed together to be like this. I say someone either mixed this and added it into the medicine or...their trying to work undercover to cause harm." He said.

This worried Swan and Ophelia.

"We need to double check this double strength.....even if you say what is true, we need something to cancel or stop this effects on her." Ophelia said.

"Yeah, do you have a idea?" Swan said.

"I might have something..but I'll have to speak to doctor Cobin about it. He's well known for these sort of drugs and he might know more about them too. I'll go ahead and fax this to him and we will see what he says. In the meantime, do your best to keep her calm. Even if she got these shots and medicine, we don't know what they might be thinking." he said.

"R...right of course.." she said.

"I'll call you again when we have Doctor Cobin on the line. For now, keep a eye on Yuuka....we might be indeed going into another situation." he said.

"U..Understood." Swan said before ending the call. Ophelia was now worried but she hopes it was not the case. For now, Hex goes ahead to send this e-mail to Cobin as well to show him what is going on. However, when Swan gets off the call, she stood up worried.

What the heck was going on? She was going to figure it out but that's when officer Lecross shouts out, "Everyone calm down! Just relax!"

"???" Hearing this, she rushes to find out what is going on. She sees some officers in the hallway worried but Luna was also pushing through wondering the same.

"What the hell is going on!?" Luna said.

"It's the inmate. Yuuka is acting strange but another officer is in there with her. He's got her at gun point!"

"What!?"

Hearing this, Luna pushes through but gets to the door and opens it. When she did, she stops to see. The officer was shaking scared, holding a gun at Yuuka but she didn't move looking at him. At first she couldn't move or walk but now she's sitting on the ground.

"........"

"Officer, what is going on?! Why do you have-"

"Something is wrong with her, ma'am. She's not sane. We need to do something." he said shaking but his finger is on the trigger. Luna didn't want him to shoot her but tries to calm him down.

"..Easy now....lower the gun. I don't want anyone getting shot here."

"...B..but I do...." Luna and the officer looks to see Yuu look at them again, she was scratching her arm again but she looks weaker.

"I....want this to end you know? I can't keep this up. The worms...their eating me alive right now.....I can see them....I can feel them...I don't want to go through this...I just want it to end.." she said then looks to the officer. "But he was going t..to do that for me...before he freaked out. So why don't you give me the peace I want? Please...shot me right here...right in the heart and end this." she said.

"..I....."

"Officer, lower your gun right now." Luna orders.

"But she's...she's a threat ma'am..we need to do something or she might end up hurting others here." he aims the gun to Yuu but she didn't move wanting him to shoot her.

"I said Lower. Your. Weapon!" she demands but the officer lowers it.

"...Your a coward......I'm begging you to set me free. I hate feeling like this..I hate it!" Yuu slowly tries to sit up but she winces holding her stomach feeling sick suddenly again. She's been throwing up all morning but looks to the officers while snickering.

"Besides...I'm already...d...dead anyway...I just want it to end so badly...I'm asking you...to give me that..I want this pain to end. I hate this...so just shoot me already!" she forces herself up but looks to the officer who was scared seeing her slowly crawling to him. He backs up scared as Luna did too.

"Yuuka, stop. This is not you..just calm down-"

"I'm...not going to. I want him...to shoot me...right here. End my suffering...end it all right now....make it end!" she said now looking to try and grabbing him. The officer got scared holding his gun before three loud bangs was heard.

Luna's eyes widen with some others as blood spills on the ground. Yuu didn't move but she slowly looks seeing her shoulder and arm as it was bleeding from being shot. She reaches up with one hand to grip her arm seeing and feeling how much it burned.

"Officer!"

"I..I'm sorry! She...she's.."

Yuu said nothing before lowering her hand seeing her blood. This only made her laugh softly. The two look at her but she looks to her bloody hand to smile a little.

"I..It hurts.....even worse from being shot..b..but it's true.....the worms look s...so gross.." from her view, she sees worms wriggling in her blood but the others didn't. She saw them due to hallucinating. Now, she just leans back to look up but begins laughing.

"It burns and it hurts..I to..told you...their just eating me a..alive...I'll be free from this soon...so soon! Then I won't have to suffer anymore!" she said now laughing while leaning against the wall bleeding heavily.

"GET ME A MEDIC IN HERE NOW!" Luna shouted seeing some nurses rush to help her but Yuu kept laughing crazy like while crying while being taken to get treated. Now everyone was worried to see the blood once more on the floor and wall. Something was off but this worried her but this really made Swan more worried. Seems it was starting to become true. Was this because of the doctor or something else? For now, she will hope Ophelia and Hex gets more info from Cobin.

~~~~~Meanwhile in UA~~~~~~~

It was another calm day so far here but, some of the teachers were worried after something happened a while ago. Right now, Aizawa and Principal Nezu were in a private meeting room with two men and one female. One male was silent and worried for his friend but the second one was furious and angry.

"Mr. Nakano please, if you just calm down we can-"

"NO! No, I won't calm down! How the hell did you not know about this!?" Qiao and Sakura Nakano were visiting the school right now after finding out more about their daughter. "You told me that she was in a safe place to heal. Now your telling me she's getting ill and getting worse!?"

Seems thanks to some info, it seems they were understanding what is happening.

"Mr. Nakano I know your upset right now but please...we just need to-"

"What you need to do is start telling us what the hell is going on!? Where is our daughter! You told me she was alright or that's what the school told us. Right now, I demand you tell me what the hell is going on or else I'm going to sue this damn place because you all didn't do shit!" he said slamming a fist on the table. His fist was shaking but the two saw some smoke rising showing his toxic flames were burning the wood.

"Qiao please calm down, I'm sure they will tell us what is happening. But getting mad won't make this go any smoother." Jung-hoon Kouki Seon, Oblivion's father was with his friend or asked to go with them to keep Qiao calm. He knew he was not happy right now and was now demanding answers to what happened to his daughter.

".........."

"I know your mad...but just take a deep breath and calm down.....let them speak." Jung said only for him to sigh and sit down. Sakura was holding his hand worried but looks to the two.

"....So talk. What is going on? Where is Yuuka?" he asked.

"....Right now, you know she's in prison in America but we were told she's getting treatment for what ever is happening to her. Though, I'm afraid we got new information speaking about her." Nezu said that Qiao looks at him.

"New information? We already know about the whole prison thing but what else is their to know?" he asked.

"...It seems the public has asked for your daughter to get help...so she's under medication to insure she's....stable. I've been asking time and time again to explain what is happening but all The Hero Public Safety Commission told me is that she's 'fine and is getting help as we speak.' " He said in quote.

"T..then she's fine right? Our daughter is f..fine...even if she became a vigilante...it's like her home is nothing but a death bed for her...the people they...they just don't understand-"

"Oh no, they do Sakura. They see Yuu as a monster now after what happened but it wasn't her fault. She was kidnapped! Taken from her friends and us. The ones that did this to her hurt her physically and mentally that it got her to that state. Those bastards harmed my child and did this to her. What if they come back to do the same to our other kids?! Their grown up but I don't want them to get hurt either!"

"Calm down......I assure you the police is looking for the ones responsible right now..we got intel one officer is looking after her or is her charge right now. So far, they told us the situation with her. She's....mentally ill or sick from what I was said. Officer Seon tells me she's now under a double strength medicine that is trying to help her but I don't think it is." Nezu said seeing the three shocked.

"Wait..their giving her medicine and doubling it's strength!?" Sakura said in a panic.

"Yes. But that's all we know so far...she's gone through a lot...even when trying to harm herself to..." Aizawa looks away not wanting to say too much but Sakura, Qiao, and Juna was silent.

"H..Harm herself? You mean she tried to-"

"Yes...but officer Seon stopped her before she could. She's tried a few times from what she told us. But she's alright..still being watched over right now in America but we don't know anything else yet. We are hoping to get more info soon.." Aizawa said but Sakura looks down only to start crying.

"My baby...oh Yuuka.." she closed her eyes but felt her husband hold her close trying to calm her.

"That's.....I see. But nothing new about what is going on right now?" Juna said to see the two shake their heads.

"No, but we will be keeping up to date to see how she's doing. Don't worry, i know you are upset about this....but we never wanted this to happen. We only thought getting her help would do better for her." Aizawa said but Qiao heard to look at him.

"You thought?! You seriously thought getting her help was something like this!" he said now mad again. "My daughter was suspended from YOUR school due to what happened! She was FUCKING KIDNAPPED!" He said now mad.

"We-"

"No, just shut up!"

"Please listen to me. If you let us explain. We never wanted anything to happen to any student in our school. That includes Yuu too. This isn't what we-"

"You say you never wanted this to happen but it happened anyway! My daughter was kidnapped, physically abused, drugged by creeps, wanting to kill others even villains, and now she's in prison being given medicine that might be doing more harm than good!? You say you tried to get her help well let me ask...IS THAT THE FUCKING KIND OF HELP YOU WERE GIVING HER!? SENDING HER TO PRISON WHERE SHE ENDS UP LIKE THAT!?" he said mad.

"No! We never wanted this to happen this way as I said! We wanted to help your daughter! I wanted to help her get better! She just....after what happened she changed quickly. We just wanted to help her."

".....You got a weird way to help her! She's in prison! No one is saying what is happening till now! And I'm worried that my oldest daughter is going to get worse the more this goes on!"

"....Mr. Nakano-"

"I'm scared for her now. I'm scared that now I don't want her to come back here because I fear the The Hero Public Safety Commission and the people will do worse to her. I fear even her own home is no longer safe for her because of this!" he said. Even if both said nothing worried, they knew he was furious right now to cover his face.

"......I don't even know if she's going to be the same again after all this.....I......" In a moment, Sakura saw her husband start to cry that she held him close.

"Honey.."

"...." Qiao said nothing but his hands were in fists, shaking a bit as tears were seen near his eyes and running down his cheeks. He was not happy right now but both mad and worried. Even if she was a woman now, that was still his child.

This reminds Jung about his own daughter Tae. He was always worried about her even when he feared she would turn that same path but..he was happy that she didn't to become a officer when her own dream was taken. She learned from it and now is who she is now.

Jung said nothing worried but he pats his back but he gets the feeling his own daughter Tae was the officer that was watching over her.

"We...I know this is a hard time for you..but understand, we will still wish to help your family and her. Yuuka was one of my best students..before she got kidnapped that night.....we are sorry about this....but we will find a way to fix this. We give you our word." Nezu said to Qiao but he didn't even look up still gripping some of his dark purple hair. Sakura said nothing but sighed.

"I..If you do find anything else...please let us know....we will take our leave." she said to then look at him. "Honey, come on..lets go home...I'm sure Yuu will be alright....." she said to help him stand so the two can leave. Jung follows but he looks back to Aizawa and Nezu before turning to follow his friends out the office into the hallway. This leaves the other two alone that the Principle sighed with eyes closed.

".........I hope we can get forgiveness for this......Principle Nezu.." Aizawa said.

"...I do too..I just hope those two investigators are doing what they can to fix this. And prey that Yuu is holding on.......but something feels off about this..for now, we'll just keep our eyes peeled...understand?"

"Yes sir."

With that, the two looks out the window but thinks and hopes Yuu was holding on. The ones that caused this will be caught one day.......or sooner. For now, it's unknown for now.

#IC #silver roses #Drabble/short or long stories #silver butterfly mun #peahen mom #the mansion owner #A Officer's corruption part Thirty nine #older luna #older Oblivion #older yuuka #older hex #The fractions of NYC #the outside fractions of NYC #officer demons au #demon-blood-youths #peahen writer

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