Summary: There was a new student attending the Great Hall, Beldaruit's apprentice in fact, that left everyone in a frenzy on who was the person to be taken in by such a talented witch. Olruggio seemed ecstatic at this and wants to be his friend despite his first impression of the boy. However, for you, you found it hard to trust this gloomy boy. Will you consider him a friend or not? Who knows? Only time will tell.
Pairing: Aglaea! Inspired reader x Qifrey
Warnings: Mentions of Sexual Harassment (SH), unwanted touching, and violation of personal boundaries (if you have ever experienced this before or even now, please seek support from a friend, family or even a loved one. Remember, it's not your fault and never will be.)
A/N: HIYYAAAAA NEW AND AWAITED CHAP IS HEREE IM SOSOOSOSOSOSOSOS SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG UEUUEUEUEE anyway, i wanted to focus on the friendship between you and qifrey and how it formed up until you grew to be close to one another and up until to the bond the both you have now :3 also please be careful in reading this chap as i included a content warning. i love each and every single one of uuu till next chap :D
The great hall is loud; it always was when you first stepped foot into it before.
“Morning [Y]! Beautiful morning, isn’t it? "an apprentice called over from the staircase, waving at you at a distance. You gave them a warm smile and nod and then went on your day.
Around you, you can see many students buzzing with anticipation for the next lesson, friend groups being made, and master witches roaming the hallways from time to time. You were so used to the quiet atmosphere of your home that it took time for you to fully adjust to the noise of the hall. Moreover, you also found it hard to make friends with the other students. You noticed that many people liked to stare at your figure at a distance instead. You were used to the stares; after all, it was a thing you brushed off as you grew up.
You were like beauty that descended onto a human body, with characteristics as if you were blessed by the god Aphrodite herself while also being paired with beautiful magic and a wealthy family background. Safe to say, the people there were intimidated by your presence alone. Moreover, you were one of the apprentices under one of the most respected witches in the magic society, Vinanna, the Wise in Principles, one of the Three Wise Ones and the captain of Knights Moralis. Despite this, you never failed to be kind to your classmates, helping them with spells they couldn't comprehend, spending time with them and also being the shoulder who listens to their cries or frustrations when things get too heavy.
It was no shock to everyone that you were popular. Very popular.
Being constantly surrounded by other apprentices in the hall when they see you and also being acknowledged by the other master witches for your magic. However, you found it really hard to trust people. Sure you were friendly, but you had kept a firm boundary between friendliness and closeness. Maybe this was also the reason why you found it hard to create a close bond with the other witches. Your master and Easthes do not count.
That boundary was then broken by an eccentric and optimistic witch, the so-called prodigy from Ghodrey, Olruggio.
"...[Y]! Wait up for me, won't you?!" You then heard a distant yet loud voice coming from none other than your friend, Olruggio. You then stopped and looked behind you, only to be then greeted by warm arms wrapping around your neck. You stumbled for a moment before regaining your balance. "You know, you always don’t have to greet me this way; one day I'll actually fall and we’ll both get hurt…" you scolded him, your voice muffled under his embrace, but he didn’t mind and continued to wrap his arms around you tighter. He then laughed and separated himself from you but was still all over you like an excited puppy.
“[Y]! , [Y]!, [Y]! Have you heard of it? Master Beldaruit took on an apprentice!" Eyes sparkling like the stars, you couldn’t help but avert your gaze away from him while pushing his face away from you. “I have, it's all they talk about this morning. I am also curious as to who Master Beldaruit took in all of a sudden…" Your voice trailed off in wonder, brows furrowing in thought as you began to move. Olruggio just hummed and put his hands behind his head and began to walk alongside you, matching your pace.
“I met him the other day…he was in some sort of trance.." he said, brows furrowed in worry as you stared at him, head tilting at his words. "Oh? How so?” he let out a weak chuckle before continuing, "He quite left a strong impression on me…” He sighed "He was walking straight onto the deep waters of the ocean, not caring about the water about to submerge him before I interfered with his actions.” You hummed at his experience, then replied "That is quite weird. Why would someone want to walk themselves onto their death?” Olruggio nodded your words, “right? Imagine how scared I was when I saw him before dragging him to shore and drawing some basic spells to keep his mind from his attempt" he huffed, one of his feet tapping against the floor repeatedly as you grew annoyed at the noise. "Stop that, Olly." He then snapped himself out of his trance before giggling “Sorry, [Y]..." He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.
A moment passed between the both of you, and then he looked at you and grinned. "As apprentices of the Great Hall, we should greet them with a warm welcome and be his first friends!” he exclaimed out loud, earning a few looks from the other witches in the hall. “Quiet down for a moment, alright? It's way too early for your energy" you said while placing your hands over his mouth, face burning from the pointed stares coming from the other people, and then sighed as you removed your hands from his face.
“Anyway, you go do the welcoming of the newbie since you’re desperate; count me out of it." You walked away from him while waving your hand goodbye, ignoring his pleas for you to stay. You sighed at the noise before you looked at him over your shoulder. "You can introduce him to me once I'm done with my lessons, Olly. Moreover, the longer I stay here, my master will surely have my head for being late, and I do not want to hear Easthies mouth babbling about me needing to be punctual." you sighed, already feeling the headache coming in at the expectation if you were ever late again to your lesson with your master. “I’ll see you later, Olly. Don't make the first day for the new student to be hard from your likely self~" you teased, then entered your respective space for your master's lessons, shutting out his words of protest at your implication.
During your lesson, you couldn’t help but let your mind wander over the new student. It was no surprise that Master Beldaruit is a very respected witch in the witch society, but for him to randomly take in an apprentice out of the blue?
Weird, it was very weird. But you try to not let your mind focus on it too much.
Because of your sudden daze, you felt a sharp poke on the side of your stomach. Looking over in irritation at who did that, you were faced with the annoyed look sent over by your seatmate, Easthies. “Your mind is wandering off again. When will you actually be focused on the lesson for once? ” he snarked at you, but still keeping his voice low. "My mind wandered for a few minutes, but I actually am listening to Master Vinanna's lesson, Easthies," you replied, annoyed. "Liar, you were not listening to her words at all this entire time," he rebutted back before a cough was then heard from your teacher. "What are you two talking about that got you both gossiping on my lesson? ” she asked with a hand on her hip, voice stern. “My apologies, Master. Easthies here kept on bothering me, so I had to tell him off," you said with a strained smile while he looked at you in shock at your words, shaking his head. “That’s not true! I was just telling her that she was letting her mind wander instead of listening to yo—" Her voice cut off his words. “Silence. Both of you. I assume you don't want me writing to your parents about your behavior today? ” she threatened while the both of you shook your heads no. "Please don't! I promise we’ll behave, master. "Continue on with your lesson, please," you said to her, hands clasping as you gave her the most pitiful eyes you could give while Easthies watched in disgust at your actions.
She just sighed at your behavior before turning her back in front of you and began to teach again. You heard Easthies whisper “spoiled brat" and you grew even more irritated as you discreetly slid your foot over his and stepped on his toes, ignoring his quiet cries of pain and continued to write down notes like nothing happened.
After your lesson, you rushed out of the classroom, not before waving goodbye to your master and none for Easthies. You went straight into the garden of the great hall, waiting for Olruggio and the new student if he was lucky enough to drag the said student with him. To pass the time, you rewrote your once messy notes from your recent lesson and studied a few spells when you heard the familiar footsteps and the loud greeting from your friend and an extra pair of steps alongside him. Looking up, you finally saw the new apprentice of Beldaruit.
You stared at him for a while, quickly looking at him up and down and inspecting his figure. He was unsettling and gloomy, judging from the permanent frown settled on his face. He had white hair, somewhat bushy, as his hair covered one of his eyes, which you observed to be light blue from his other eye. He was wearing apprentice robes, similar to his master's robes, as he clutched the hem of it, sensing your gaze on him for a long time.
The tension between the two of you was then broken by your friend, his voice snapping both of our attention to him.
“Right, okay, introductions!” Olruggio exclaimed with a smile. “Qifrey, meet my close friend, [Y]! She may not look like it, but she is a very kind person once you get to know her!” He smiled before looking at you. “[Y], meet Qifrey! He’s the new student I was talking about earlier!” he said proudly while huffing. You just looked at your energetic friend before closing your eyes and sighing, then reaching over and bringing your hand out for him to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Qifrey. Welcome to the Great Hall. If you ever want to ask questions, feel free to ask me." you said while giving him a warm smile. He just stared at your hand for a moment before grabbing your hand and shaking it. "It's nice to...meet you too." Olruggio told me a lot about you" he said in a quiet voice and then let go of your hand. You hummed at his words, giving Olruggio a smile, a very forced smile; annoyance radiated off it as he yelped at your look. "Olly, what did I say about you oversharing?” you chuckled darkly as he sweated bullets at your state. “Eeep! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry [Y]! I didn't mean to say all of that, I promise! You were just so cool, and I couldn't help it…!! "He then began to fake cry and knelt down to the grass for your mercy.
You and Qifrey just stared at his figure before you pinched your nose in irritation and took a deep breath, then approached your now kneeling friend and helped him up, brushing the bits of grass that stuck on his robes. "It's quite alright, Olly; don't do it again, okay? If you want to talk about me, do so with my permission, okay?" You grabbed a fistful of his robes as he yelped and then let go as he stumbled a bit. He just chuckled nervously and just clasped his hands together for your forgiveness.
Qifrey just stared at the scene and wondered what it was like to have such close friends. To have someone close enough to tease and get along with easily. Nevertheless, he does not deserve such friends, as he believed he was not worthy of them in any way. He then was pulled out of his state when Olruggio then grabbed his hand and began to pull him along with us as we were discussing what food to eat for lunch as Qifrey just quietly lingered at our space.
After that day, you really couldn't consider Qifrey as your friend, at least not yet. To you, he was someone hard to trust and someone that hid his words behind a lie, so you didn't get close with him that much, unlike Olruggio, who immediately formed a close bond with him after a while as he tried to convince you that Qifrey was an okay guy. Despite this, you often heard the both of them always being in trouble, mostly caused by Qifrey, as he always sneaked out at night from the great hall, often dragging Olruggio into his shenanigans, thus getting him in trouble. You tried to talk to your friend about the constant trouble he was in when hanging out with Qifrey, but he just brushed off your worries and quoted a phrase like "Life is short; it's okay to have fun once in a while!” with a grin on his face, making you more agitated at his carefree behavior after meeting the boy. Because of this, you were sure you really didn't trust Qifrey after he had such a negative impact on your close friend, and you noticed how Olruggio's attention was always on him instead of you, making you feel jealous and invisible at the same time.
However, that does not mean you were always surrounded by other students other than your close friend Olruggio; they were sort of filling in the space your friend filled but not as much when you were with him. You could do nothing but adapt to this lifestyle after all. Qifrey watched as you easily entertained quite a few people surrounding you with ease, but he felt like your smile was fake when you were chatting with them.
“Olruggio?” he called over to his friend who was busy chewing on a honeybun. “Yeah? ” Olruggio replied, mouth full of the snack as his words came slightly muffled. “Does [Y] deal with this every day?” Qifrey then pointed over to you, as it can be seen that you were slightly drained from all the talking but still continuing to talk. Olruggio just hummed and quickly gobbled down on his snack as Qifrey rushed over and patted his back as Olruggio began to choke from eating too fast. “Geez, you are a glutton, Olruggio…” he said while staring at his friend, disgusted at his impulsiveness while giving him a bottle of water. Olruggio then drank the water and composed himself for a moment before charging onto your circle like a bull. "Excuse me! Coming through!” he said while shocking everyone as he quickly grabbed your hand and dragged you out of there. Then sending over a smug look at the stunned crowd and ignoring the yells from the students
"Olruggio, you mutt! You can't just grab a lady like that! “Come back here, Olruggio! "Wait, I'm not done talking to [Y] yet, Olruggio! ”
“Blah, blah blah, you could all talk to her tomorrow. Can't you see she's tired from all your boring ramblings?! ” he yelled back, the crowd gasping at his audacity as they stared at yours, Oloruggios' and Qifreys' retreating figures from the distance.
Once you were all in a safe place, Olruggio then fussed over you like a mother hen before you had to calm him down. “Seriously, I'm fine, tired, yes, but not that much." He just huffed at your lies. "No, you’re not, you are clearly tired! You’ll have gray hair at 18! " He jabbed at you while you pinched his ear, as he let out a yowl of pain. "Do not test me right now, Olly.'" you threatened him, clearly agitated as he muttered a "Yes, ma’am…” quietly, rubbing his sore ear from your assault.
“Are you really okay with them hovering over you like that? Qifrey's voice then grabbed your attention as you thought about his words for a little bit before smiling. “I mean, I had to, of course. No matter how many times I tell them to stop hovering over me, they can't seem to fully understand my words." You took a deep breath. “So I knew I needed to accept my fate from then on." You chuckled tiredly before turning your attention back to Olruggio again as he talked about random things again to pass the time.
Qifrey could do nothing but clench his fist at your situation; he couldn't help but feel helpless. He hates feeling helpless. He wanted to help so badly but feared he'd overstep his boundaries, so he could do nothing but act like he didn't feel bothered by you. He wanted to understand you; for someone who is kind and friendly to others, it was clear that you didn't trust so easily.
That all changed one day when he helped you in a way you never expected he would.
Normally, Qlruggio and Qifrey would wait for you outside your classroom and hang out with you when your lessons were done. However, it had been 30 minutes since your class with your master ended, and you were nowhere to be seen. They tried to ask your master where you were, but even she didn't have an idea where you were right now after she asked you to run an errand for her and left quickly because of her duties. Easthes wasn’t as much help either, as he just scowled at their faces and brushed them off, going on his own way.
“Do you think she ditched us?” Qifrey asked his worried friend “No, I don’t think so. Even if she did, she’d send me a letter if she were…” Olruggio muttered, clearly restless as he kept on fidgeting on his robes. He closed his eyes deep in thought before coming up with an idea. “How about this? Qifrey, we’ll split to look for her, and after 10 minutes we still can't find her; we’ll regroup here, and then I'll tell the masters that [Y] is missing and can't be found anywhere." he proposed, eyes burning with determination. "Uhh... Sure, I'll go this way then…" Qifrey said to Olruggio as he watched his friend take the opposite direction.
Qifrey wandered the halls and asked other students if they saw you, but they just said no and checked the vacant classrooms, but you weren’t there. He was growing restless at your missing presence and was about to give up when he heard a familiar voice from a distance. He followed the noise, and there you were, talking to another apprentice that seemed to be 2 years older than you. However, he could observe that it wasn't a pleasant one as he noticed you growing irritated at their question. Silently, he hid himself behind a pillar, listening in on your conversation.
"C'mon, [Y], I promise you that I'll treat you so well, just accept my confession.." the person you were talking to pleaded, even going as far as to hold your hand in his, but you carefully removed your hands from his grasp. “How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not interested in a relationship." you said, exhausted. "Besides, isn't it quite weird that I'm younger than you? And I don't even know you that well.." you retaliated, but the guy didn't dare back down and began to grow angry at your refusal of his advances towards you. “So what? Age is nothing to me, [Y]. I promise you you will get to know me so well when you finally accept my confession." he creepily said, placing his hands on your shoulders, scaring you as he neared his face towards your own. "You'll say yes to me, won’t you? Don’t make me sad now [Y]. It's your fault for leading me on.." he chuckled as he twirled a strand of your hair in his fingers.
Scared. You were so, so, so scared; you wanted to move your body, but his hands stopped you from doing so.
You wanted to yell for help, but there was no one else in the space but only the two of you. He cornered you earlier when you were about to meet up with your two friends as your master had an errand for you to do before your class ended. "Let—let go of me! you said, voice trembling, and the older boy just laughed at your attempt of help when all of a sudden a strong water spell sent the guy flying off you and far away. Your mind didn't register what fully happened because of your fear when a warm hand firmly grabbed onto yours and dragged you away from the scene.
“Run [Y]!" You heard Qifrey's voice snap you out of your trance as he continued to run and dragged you with him, ignoring the shouts of the now fallen male behind you. You just gripped his hand and found your legs began to move, and you ran beside him while both of your hands were still intertwined with one another. You felt your legs begin to burn due to how fast the two of you were going and ran like your life depended on it. You both arrived in an empty classroom to catch your breath and to hide from the man as you watched Qifrey collapse on the ground, his chest heaving up and down, catching his breath.
Silence then filled the empty classroom. You only heard the pants of one another and the pounding of your heart in your ears.
“...I think.." Qifrey panted. "I think we lost him.." he said breathlessly.
Relief. That was all that you felt at that moment.
Your body continued to tremble after what happened earlier, and you felt your knees give out and your body thudding against the floor. Qifrey looked up from his position and quickly made his way towards you but maintained a safe distance to not make you uncomfortable even further after what happened. "...[Y]?” he called out to you gently, but your eyes were unfocused and stared at the floor. "I... I was so scared..." you said, voice shaking. "My body had a mind of its own. I couldn't move at all..." you continued. "I didn't know what to do..." You felt tears forming in your eyes “and if you weren't there to interfere… I..." You couldn't speak as you let out a choked sob at the thought.
Qifrey froze at your stake. He didn't know what to do when you started to cry in front of him. All of a sudden, he wrapped his arms around you softly. "You don't have to say anything, [Y]." he gently whispered in your ears. "I'm just very glad I found you…and I'm here now, you don't have to be scared anymore.." he reassured you as he began to rub your back soothingly. You felt your lips tremble as more tears poured down on your cheeks. “I'm sorry, Qifrey…" You let out a weak laugh in between your tears. "Why are you apologizing to me?” he replied back, "I don't...I don't even know..." You let out a weak sob. "I never had someone see me that vulnerable before...I always had to act in front of everyone.." you said, voice meek. Qifrey absorbed your words for a moment, then carefully said "You don't have to act now then…" he murmured, “at least not in front of me…" He sighed before pulling himself away from the embrace. "I care about you, [Y]; you worry me a lot…" he admitted, his cheeks reddening at his words as he had to look away from your gaze.
You stared at him for a moment, and you felt your chest begin to warm up at the sincerity of his words. “Thank you, Qifrey…" you said, warmly smiling. "I really didn’t do much…" he said, continuing to look away from you as you grabbed both of his hands and held them in yours. "No…" You did, you saved me.” You looked at him properly, your gaze warm. "It was the right thing to do, [Y]; I couldn't ignore it at all, and it made me really, really angry." He furrowed his brows at the memory of you looking so scared, his heart aching at the memory. Before you could utter another word—
The classroom door broke open.
“There you guys are! ” There stood Olruggios’ figure who basically broke the room while panting due to exhaustion. “Qifrey! I couldn’t believe you didn't come back to the place we were supposed to meet! I had to look for yo—" His words were cut short when he finally noticed your tear-stained cheeks. "Hey… what happened to you, [Y]?” he said worriedly, kneeling down at your fallen form beside Qifrey, but you just stared at his form and stayed quiet. “Qifrey?..” He then looked at his friend for an answer. "Someone cornered her when I found her earlier. And wouldn't let her leave," Qifrey said while standing up. “Who?" Olruggio asked his friend, voice cold. "It was an older apprentice, i dont know which master but their room was the one next to ours" Qifrey said carefully as a way to not anger his friend even more.
The room became silent after his words "Qifrey, take [Y] back to her room." he said in a calm voice, but his jaw was clenched and his shoulder was tense; he was clearly agitated.
Carefully, you reached out to him, holding the hem of his robes. "Wait, where are you going, Olly?” He looked at you for a moment, softening his gaze before hardening again.
"I'm reporting what happened to the Three Wise Ones." he said through gritted teeth. “That apprentice…” His jaw tightened. "Someone who harasses witches like [Y] has no place in the great hall and is undeserving of becoming a witch.” His fist clenched at the thought. "If he thinks he can get away with this, then he is wrong.” He then looked at you once more at your tear-stained figure, his resolve strengthening every second. “I’ll make sure he gets banned from the great hall after this, [Y]. You don't have to worry anymore." he said gently, patting your head and removing your grasp from his robe and then leaving the room to report the incident.
Both of you were left alone in the room once more before Qifrey broke out of his state and gently helped you up, leading you out of the room and coming with you to direct you back to your room safely. A quiet silence then filled the air as you only heard your own footsteps and quivers as you noticed he was looking straight ahead and dared not to look at you.
"Qifrey…" you called out to him softly. “Yes? ” he replied curiously. "I know I said that earlier, but… I'm really glad you came…" you murmured, looking at the ground again, and he just hummed at your words. “It's nothing; don't think of it too much. It's what friends do to one another, after all, right?” he said, now looking at you while smiling as your eyes widened at his smile and returned it with yours. "Yeah... it is.." you said, giggling a little, as his and your laughter filled the once tense air between the both of you as he continued to lead you back to your room safely and bid goodbye to one another.
You and Qifrey began to grow close to one another after the incident as you let down your guard around him, and so did he as Olruggio watched his two best friends be able to feel safe in each other's presence and was glad that they were after so much unsaid tension filled between the both of them before and was now gone.
After that, it was safe to say the witch that harassed you was stripped of his title and studies, as he was banned from the great hall once the three wise ones heard about what happened to you because Olruggio reported it to them, ignoring the pleas and cries of the exiled apprentice to reconsider, but to no avail; they did not hear him out. Moreover, it was then revealed that he cheated his way up and took advantage of other witches in the past after he was exiled from the hall. You felt nothing but relief that the man was gone and were satisfied with the amount of karma he got for his actions.
__________________________________________
You felt two gentle hands shake you awake and a voice calling you from your now drowsy state.
“Time for breakfast, come on…”
You felt the sunlight from the windows kiss your face, heat emitting from it as you rolled away and registered the voice who was calling to you. It was none other than your friend, Qifrey.
He stopped his actions when he noticed you were awake and smiled. “Glad to see you all awake now [Y]; come, breakfast is served, and the girls are waiting for you." He hummed as he continued to stare at you before he saw that you were still in a drowsy state. "Hm? Did you have a good dream [Y}? You’re quite smiling right now.." he said while chuckling.
You yawned and stretched your body before relaxing and then sighed "Yes... You could say that it was a good one." You smiled before you ushered Qifrey out of your room as you were going to change and listened to his footsteps fade down the hallway of the atelier.
Your smile lingered on your face when you recalled the dream you had where things were quite easy during your apprentice days.
‘It was a really great one indeed…’ you thought before composing yourself and then joining the others for breakfast.