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Aftermath | Rated: G | reader pronouns: none
CW: none
AO3 link
Part two to "Slumber"!
Woken up, you're faced with an important decision while dealing with the aftermath of Malleus' overblot.
Your dreams were whimsical. Of you playing in a field of flowers, to going to an amusement park, then finally, to you relaxing on the shore of an ocean. It was just you — nobody else was around as you sat on the beach, gazing out at the ocean serenely. The sun seemed to be setting, but it had been for a while, hanging stagnantly in the air and dying the sky of reds and purples that any photographer would have killed to capture.
It was just you, on this beach, staring out at the ocean and trying to remember why you had felt so stressed.
Your memories were jumbled. The world of Twisted Wonderland seemed a lifetime away, small fragments barely seeping into your mind. It was hard to make sense of them. At some point, you felt stressed again, as if your peaceful life on this beach wasn't natural, but the moment you got that feeling, a fog seemed to settle over your mind.
No. Everything was just fine.
You don't know how long you had been sitting on the beach when you finally got up, turning around. The scenery morphed into a clearing into the woods, and despite the strangeness of it, you didn't find any fault with it. The trees dipped low, creating an almost hidden nook in the forest as wildflowers dotted the clearing. It was magical, breathtaking, and...
Yet, something felt off.
That fog threatened to take over your mind, its soothing fingers trying to reassure you that you were safe, but this time you brushed it off as you noticed somebody else in the clearing, snoozing away peacefully on the grass. He had to have been around your age, with glass-like skin and silver hair that spread out around him like silk.
Up until now, you hadn't seen a single other soul in this (reality? dream? space?) place, and so naturally curiosity took ahold of you. For some reason, he looked familiar, but you weren't sure you had ever seen him in your life.
In a bed of thorns laid Silver, peacefully resting, an odd green glow surrounding him.
Silver... Silver?
Your head started to hurt a bit, causing you to grimace as you took a step forward. Your legs felt like lead, but the closer you got, the more your mind seemed to regain its clarity until you were collapsing by his side, trying to clumsily shake the teen awake. Fragments of your memory were still floating around, not quite allowing you to piece together the full picture, but you understood enough.
Something was dearly wrong.
"Silver... Silver! You have to wake up! Please..."
The boy stirred, purple eyes fluttering open as his eyebrows knit together, mumbling your name in confusion.
"Where... are we?"
You wished you had the answer to that question. You didn't, though, so instead you tried your best to fill the knight in on the situation. "I believe... We're both under a sleeping curse. Malleus... He...." It was a struggle to tell Silver that his lord overblotted, but Silver seemed to get the memo, a heavy sigh leaving him.
"I understand." Closing his eyes in thought for a moment, he seemed to be dredging up his own memories of what had happened before Malleus had cursed him. "You found a way home, didn't you?"
"Ah..." So, that really was the cause. Malleus couldn't stand the thought of you going back... ". . . Yes. Crowley made a breakthrough, and I had told Malleus about it."
Silver nodded, standing up before helping you up. He didn't seem as lethargic as he sometimes was; was it perhaps because he technically was asleep in your reality? Neither of you planned on staying here long enough to find out.
As more memories seeped through, your surroundings seemed to shift. You were still in the clearing, but no longer did it look magical. The flowers were wilted, the trees now without leaves and all jagged branches. Thorns seemed to poke out in the darkness, viscous black ink dripping onto the ground. Where the overblot droplets met the ground, it seemed to corrode, the grass and flowers folding in on themselves and disintegrating.
No longer was this world enchanting. It had warped into its nightmarish actuality, as if to punish you for fighting against Malleus' curse.
How did you two get out, though? Malleus was one of Twisted Wonderland's best mages, and you were a magicless human from a different universe. Was there even a way out for you?
Silver nudged you along, hand on his sword. "Come on." You didn't need to be told twice, following close behind him as he lead you through a narrow path in the woods. Not for a second did you take your eyes off him, afraid that if you looked away for even a moment, he would disappear and your surroundings would shift once more. That worry never came to fruition, though. Without any other problems, Silver had managed to guide you both out of the woods and at the entrance of the Diasomnia dorm.
The sky was dark green, almost black with the storm clouds hovering menacingly above the dorm, and everything was covered in thick thorns, blocking entrance. Withdrawing his sword, though, Silver made quick work of the thorns, allowing you two to pass and enter the building.
The dorm was empty. Everything cast alight in green, you had never seen Diasomnia look so dead before, dust floating around in the air as everything else seemed eerily still. Like you had walked into a picture, everything stuck motionless and unchanging for eternity. Nothing else could be heard besides your quiet footsteps, yours and Silver's steady breathing. Where did you two go in the dorm?
Thankfully, your question was answered. Some hallways were blocked by thorns too thick for Silver to cut down, and without his pen, there was only so much you all could do. The thorns seemed to lead you and Silver down a path until you eventually made it to the room you had met Malleus in. The doors, which had previously been barred shut in your reality, were now open, one door looking as if it had been almost ripped off its hinges.
The air seemed to shimmer around you as you and Silver stepped in, the scene before you contorting into something almost cartoonish as if you were looking through a bubble. You recognized the people in the room, but you struggled to make sense of the scene before your eyes. Leona, Ruggie, and Jack all seemed to have confronted Malleus, the large phantom behind him reminiscent of a huge dragon. Lilia and Sebek were somewhat in the middle between the Savanaclaw students and their dorm leader, trying to appeal to Malleus. What was most jarring, though, was what was floating behind Malleus...
Floating on beds of thorns, were you and Silver, ensnared and glowing lightly. You both looked so peaceful in your sleep, but when you looked closer you could see the trail of dried tears on your cheek, a light smudge of black on the corner of your lips.
Silver seemed frozen beside you, taking in the scene with a severity you had never seen on his face before now.
The others were talking, but you couldn't hear them. It sounded distant and warbled, as if your ears were clogged with water. It was a strain to even hear them, let alone try and make out what they were saying. Likewise, reading lips was impossible with how the scene rippled like a disturbed pond, constantly moving the images.
Slowly, though, the phantom behind Malleus seemed to dissipate, his attire changing back to his normal Diasomnia form. You and Silver had clearly arrived at the tail end of whatever confrontation had broken out as Lilia stepped forward to comfort Malleus. From behind, yours and Silver's bodies ( god that was so weird to think about) were gently lowered to the crown, the thorns dissolving into thousands of green sparkles.
And yet, you still remained asleep, even as Jack ran towards you, catching you before you could hit the ground (not like you had plummeted to behind with, you had been let down so softly ). You could barely hear him, but it didn't take a genius to guess he was calling out your name, trying to wake you up.
You looked beside you towards Silver, only to see him gone. Glancing back at his body, you saw the way Lilia had gone over to him, kissing his forehead gently, seeming to break the curse that had caused him to sleep.
Why were you still asleep? Malleus was brought back to his senses; why were you still cursed?
Jack had turned to Malleus in anger, and you could tell by the look on Leona's face, his ears pressed back, that he was also berating Malleus. The fae in return had slowly gotten up and walked over to you, Jack seeming to hover over your body for a moment before stepping back. His eyes didn't leave Malleus or you, but Malleus took no notice of him. His attention was solely on you as he caressed your face, a thumb swiping over your lip to rid it of the black ink that had smudged when he kissed you earlier.
Malleus murmured something, but you couldn't hear it. His grip on you tightened as he pulled you closer, and he stooped down, lips hovering over your own for a moment. He hesitated to kiss you, before moving up slightly, lips pressing softly onto your forehead as if to coax you awake from the sleeping curse he had inflicted upon you.
The bubble you were in, watching this scene, suddenly popped.
Your eyes felt unbearably heavy when you woke up, squinting them closed more before struggling to open them. You felt fatigued, your body drained as you looked up. All you could see was Malleus, holding you close and looking relieved to the point of tears as you finally were freed from the curse he inflicted upon you.
When he spoke, he used your name, your true name and not 'Child of Man', and you found it hard to find yourself angry at him. You were much too tired for anger, or any other spiteful emotion.
"We need to... Talk," you slurred out to him, before sleep took you once more, body needing to recuperate from the magic.
When you next awoke, it was not in the arms of Malleus, but in the infirmary. Sunlight filtered in brightly through the windows, and judging by the amount of small gifts and flowers littering the window sill (most gifts shoddily wrapped), you could safely assume you had been out for a decent amount of time.
You didn't wake alone.
Snoozing on your lap was Grimm, and when you shifted he immediately bolted up, eyes wide as he noticed you were awake.
"MY HENCHMAN!"
Practically bawling, Grimm threw himself in your arms, and you immediately hugged him back. Shushing him as you would a scared child, you glanced out the window, glad to see the sky was back to normal, no thorns to be seen.
After Grimm had finally let go, your day was filled with visitors from all sorts of dorms. You had apparently been asleep for three days — three days as your body got much-needed rest from what it had been through. The rest had caused you to feel rejuvenated, if not a bit restless as you were forced to spend one more day in the infirmary. Your friends had used this time to swing by, expressing well wishes and filling you in on everything you had missed. Even Crowley had popped in, letting you know that everything was set for you to go home now should you wish to leave (which was very fun to explain to Grimm and the ADeuce duo, who had been in the room when Crowley decided to swing by).
Despite all of your visitors, though, Malleus never came. It wasn't until late in the night, when Ace and Deuce managed to drag Grimm off, that Lilia had swung by your room by himself. Despite his usual smile, the air felt somewhat heavy, and you spoke first, suddenly feeling tired once more at the conversation that was ahead of you.
"I didn't mean to hurt Malleus," you started, but Lilia shushed you.
"It is not your fault that he overblotted," he cut you off. "In honesty... It may have been brewing for a while. As his guardian, I should have noticed the problem in his feelings, but instead I fed into them. But please, do not hold this against him, either."
"I don't." Your response was mindless and swift, but after taking a moment to think about it, you realized you really didn't hold it against him. He hadn't been in his right mind, and while you perhaps were a bit frustrated with how everything had played out, anger wasn't one of the emotions you felt towards your friend.
Still, you wanted to talk it out.
Lilia had been speaking, but you hadn't truly been paying attention when you unapologetically cut him off. "I want to talk to Malleus." Realizing moments after how rude your interruption was, you could feel yourself flush. "Er... Please." If anybody could convince Malleus to come see you, it'd probably be Lilia. Sure enough, Lilia didn't take your interruption or you ignoring him to heart — he only gave you an enigmatic smile, patting you twice on the head before heading out to probably find his ward.
It was only a few moments before a couple of fireflies floated into the room, one landing on your nose and distracting you as the very man you had been waiting for all day appeared. The firefly on your nose floated off, allowing you to give Malleus your undivided attention as he shifted in place, arms crossed. He didn't meet your eyes for a moment, and you had to think — for somebody usually imposing, he seemed more reminiscent of a scolded child, or a pouty toddler.
You sighed. You were just glad he had been pulled back to reality from his overblot.
"I'm not mad."
Finally, his gaze met yours, searching your face to see if you were lying. When he didn't respond, you continued, leaning back in your bed. "I'm... A bit upset with how everything turned out. I don't appreciate being put under a sleeping curse." Your voice was stern, and you made sure to not break your gaze from Malleus. "But..." Your shoulders slumped. "I can't find it in me to be mad at you."
"You should be," he murmured. ". . . I hurt you."
He was right. You should be; and while you weren't mad, it didn't mean your relationship with him could just easily bounce back to normal. Overblot or not, he had broken your trust. It would take time to recover that, time which you may not even have should you choose to go back and stay in your world. You told him as much, wanting to be firm that, despite the lack of hostility, you did not condone what he did to you and Silver, watching as he seemed to slump slightly. He didn't argue, though — chances were, Lilia had given him a similar lecture.
Still...
"Crowley found a way to keep the portal stable should I choose to go home," you started slowly, gauging his reaction. "I don't have any magic, so I can't open it back up to come back, but if somebody were to open it on this end for me to allow me to come back..." You trailed off, hoping for Malleus to catch the hint.
He did. "Child of Man... Are you saying you'd want to come back to this world?"
Did you? You weren't entirely sure yet, but the thought of leaving your friends behind hurt, and you figured it may be better for you to visit here than to have them visit your world. The thought of somebody like Malleus, or the Leech brothers, or even Ace in your world was enough to make you shudder at the chaos. Best to not deal with that.
"At the very least, it'll be possible for me to travel between the two. So I won't be gone forever."
"You'd want to come back, even after what happened?"
Even after I almost cursed you to sleep for a thousand years? He seemed to mean.
You leaned forward, gently grabbing his hand, calling out his name softly. He watched you carefully, emerald eyes hopeful. "I... Care for you a lot, Malleus. Of course, I care for my other friends greatly, but..." You busied yourself with looking at your conjoined hands, watching as your fingers intertwined with his own. "You hold a special place in my heart, even with what had happened. I don't want to leave this world on such a dark note with you. I want... To continue to spend more time with you."
Your voice cracked at the end of your confession, and Malleus had finally closed the distance, pulling you into him in a comforting hug. You were still in bed, but he had sat down, practically pulling you into his lap as he held you close, your face buried in his chest. Fingers stroked your head, and while you couldn't see Malleus' face, you could imagine the soft look on it that he often donned when around you.
"Even now, you're not afraid of me... You're truly something else, my dearest Child of Man." An amused huff left him — at least, you think he was amused. "Truthfully... I don't want to part with you, even for a moment. If you'll allow me, I'll rebuild the trust between us. I, too, care for you greatly."
Pulling back slightly, Malleus tilted your chin up to meet his gaze. "I didn't ask back then, but I will ask now... Can I kiss you?"
Once again, it was your name, and not his nickname for you, that left his lips. Heart fluttering, you could only nod, allowing him to tenderly place his lips upon your own, a kiss soft and sweet and conveying all the emotions neither of you had spoken out loud. When you finally separated, you leaned your forehead against him once more, feeling somewhat tired from the long day of visitors and the heavy conversations.
Sensing your fatigue, Malleus once more stroked your head, holding you firm in his arms. "Rest. I'll stay right here."
Unlike before, when you had resisted sleep in Malleus' arms, knowing about the curse he had placed, you found yourself more willing to relax. There was no curse, or overblot, or betrayal here. It was just you and Malleus, and while you knew you'd need to rebuild that trust with him, for now, you felt safe in his arms.
Night Raven Kindergarten chapter 21 | Rated: G...PG for language?
CW: none | art by aedilynn
AO3 link to chapter
Story summary: Join Night Raven Academy's kindergarteners on their adventures! Kindergarten teachers Trey and Cater try to survive the school year with this year's new roster of children that come with complicated parents.
excerpt of chapter below!
“Damn it,” Vil growled, glaring out the glass doors. “It’s been nearly fifteen minutes. I should be out there. How could I trust some potato to find my son?”
“Okay, please don’t call my coworker a potato,” Trey said. “And Cater was right that it’s best for you to wait here. You’re–”
“I know. I–” Vil touched his neck again, voice pained, and for more than once in his life, cursed his public status.
Trey wordlessly pushed a nearby chair with his foot. Vil eyed it for a moment before he finally staggered forward and slumped onto the seat. He leaned forward on the table, covering his face with a slender hand.
“Damn it,” Vil repeated softly, eyes closing. “Did he hate me that much to run away?”
Trey stayed silent out of compassion. He thought back to just nearly fifteen minutes ago, gaze straying to a nearby wall clock that ticked constantly in the silence.
“He’s not in the nap room nor in any closet. Hallways are clear. He must have left through the elementary school door,” Trey concluded coming out from the nap room, unsettled. “I’ll go report this to Crowley and alert security.”
Without speaking a word, Vil whipped around and grabbed his keys. He strode swiftly towards the front doors. He’d barely reached them, however, before Cater grabbed him roughly by the arm.
“Vil, hold on! You should wait here,” Cater said urgently. “I’ll go look for him.”
Vil ripped his arm out of Cater’s grasp. “You must be absolutely delusional if you think you can stop me from going out and finding my son!”
“Think about who you are!” Cater nearly shouted. Ignoring Vil’s warning glare, he grabbed Vil’s shoulders and pulled him closer. “You’re Vil Schoenheit. Can you imagine what would happen if you went to the streets publicly, looking for your son? Paparazzi would be there in an instant. It’d be impossible to find Epel.”
“Cater’s right,” Trey said behind Cater. “If news spread to the public that Epel was missing, he might be in even more danger. You also don’t live in this neighborhood. Cater does. You should stay here and call your contacts, Vil.”
Vil grit his teeth. He appeared ready to knock Cater to the ground (and Cater wouldn’t be surprised if he was able to). But in the next moment, a hand reached up to grab Cater’s wrist instead.
“Find my son,” Vil said hoarsely. “If I don’t hear back in twenty minutes, I will go out there myself, publicity be damned.”
Cater nodded. He hastily grabbed his coat and keys and said behind his shoulder, “Trey has my personal cell. I’ll canvas the immediate area first. He couldn’t have gotten far!”
Slumber | Rated: T | reader pronuns: none
CW: none
AO3 link
Part One | Part Two can be found here!
Malleus overblots at the thought of losing you when you going home becomes reality.
Six overblots — since you had arrived in the world of Twisted Wonderland, thrust into a world of magic and mayhem, you had saved six people from being consumed by the negativity of their magic.
So far, it was one from each dorm. Diasomnia had been the odd one out, and while you sometimes were afraid Sebek might wind up going too far, you never believed that any of your friends from Diasomnia would risk overblotting. Lilia and Malleus themselves lived for hundreds of years already, Silver was much too mild-mannered, and Sebek was, well, Sebek. His loyalty to Malleus would probably keep him from overblotting, if only to not bring shame to his lord's name.
You were so confident in your friends, that you had missed the warning signs, the red flags slowly raising.
It started when you had gotten hurt.
You had tried to break up a fight Ace had started, resulting in you getting punched in the face. It left a nasty lump above your eye, the right side of your face purpling from the resulting bruise, and you had immediately been taken to the nurse's. Still, there was only so much that could be done for you, and so you were sent back to your dorm, icing your face the rest of the day.
When Malleus had seen you that night for your nightly walk (by now, Tsunotarou was more a force of habit to call him, rather than the placeholder for when you didn't know his identity), emerald green eyes had immediately picked up on your injury.
"Child of Man," he started, a finger underneath your chin as he tilted your head up. You winced slightly, not out of pain, but rather for his reaction. "Who did this to you?"
"It was just a random Heartslabyul student. Riddle already dealt with them." It wasn't a lie — both Ace and the student he had been fighting got collared as a result of your injury.
Malleus wasn't convinced, but allowed you to pull away from him. "Does it hurt?"
Yeah. You didn't want to worry him, though, so you lied. "Mm. Not really. It'll heal in no time."
A huff left your taller friend; he knew you were lying, and you knew he knew, but thankfully he didn't call you out on it. Instead, he once again pulled you close. "Come with me back to Diasomnia. We'll get this fixed up."
He didn't need to ask twice.
The second flag should have been the increased worrying over you. Granted, over the past year, you had gotten injured a lot, but now it seemed personal to Malleus whenever you got injured, as if he were wounded himself. More often than not, you found Sebek or Silver hanging around you, as if to guard you. Malleus didn't tend to make appearances around you in the day time, but even Lilia would pop in every now and then, scaring you as he usually did.
Your nighttime walks also tended to last longer. It was harder to part with Malleus, now. While the feelings between the two of you remained unspoken, it was clear you had grown on him much more than he prepared; and vice versa. You assumed, though, that the feelings would always remain unspoken.
After all, one day, you'd be back in your own world, leaving everybody behind.
You had no time for romance.
By the time the third flag had raised, it was too late. You were lost in your own world as Crowley finally declared that there was a breakthrough, that he had found evidence of interdimensional travel and that you were much closer to getting home. While interdimensional and reality-altering magic was difficult, it wasn't impossible.
Finally... Finally!
You could finally get home.
The thought, though hurt you. You had made so many friends here, had been through so much... You knew you would never forget the memories you made here. Those memories, and the people you met, would always be held close to your heart and cherished...
But what if you could never come back and visit?
Would this be a final goodbye to all of your friends?
Holding onto those worries, you stayed quiet about it until that night, wanting to confide into Malleus as your closest friend.
"Crowley finally figured out how to get me back to my world."
Beside you, Malleus seemed to still. ". . . Is that so."
"I mean, there's still time before I'm able to leave, but... I don't know if I'll be able to come back. I've been gone for so long in my own world..." You trailed off, not giving voice to your fears. What if everybody had given up on you, had assumed you were dead? It had been months, after all...
But you had people waiting for you. To not give them closure... It was terrible.
Why did you have to choose between one or the other? Why, when you had been so excited to finally get back home, did you feel melancholic now that it was becoming reality?
Malleus peered down at you, eyes seeming to glow in the night as they always did. "Do you wish to stay, Child of Man?"
Did you? You didn't know.
"I have to go back," was your response. "My parents, my friends... They're all probably worried about my disappearance. I miss home."
Still, Malleus pressed the issue, not quite believing your answer. "And so you'd leave behind the ones that care about you in this world?"
He seemed to pick out your biggest worry and hand it back to you, hitting you tenfold with the simple question. While you had never gotten irritated at Malleus, you couldn't help the feeling that rose up as you whirled on him.
"It's not like that," you insisted, eyes stinging with unshed tears. "I'll miss everybody here, so much! If I could have both, I would , but I don't really belong here. It's only right for me to go home."
Malleus' response was somewhat stoic and underwhelming. ". . . I see." He was right next to you, but felt so far, as if your words had bridged a distance to great to repair. "I believe I'll have to cut our walk short tonight. Apologies, Child of Man."
No — this wasn't how you wanted this conversation to go, but before you could cry out to him, the fae seemed to disappear, a trail of fireflies in his wake.
You stumbled, staring in the place Malleus once was with clenched fists, willing yourself to not cry.
You were finally able to go home...
... So why did it feel like you were making a mistake?
The day after you broke the news to Malleus, the weather was gloomy and stormy, the skies tinted green. Back in your world, it would be a warning that a tornado was near. Was it same, here? It was hard to tell. The air was still, stagnant. The calm before a huge storm.
You opted to wait to tell your friends, and even Grim, about the news Crowley broke to you. You wanted more time to think.
"Something's off today." It was Jack who pointed this out at lunch, his ear twitching as if he could hear something you couldn't. While Ace, Deuce, and Grim didn't quite get what Jack was getting at, you understood, nodding once.
"Right?" you confirmed, pursing your lips together. "I have this weird feeling in my stomach that I can't shake..."
As if to punctuate the strange feeling, thunder echoed out, rumbling so violently you could feel the ground beneath you shake. You could only grip onto the table as you watched your tray clatter to the ground, splattering your lunch everywhere. Despite your stomach's growls, you found it hard to care about that right now.
Shooting up from your seat, you looked around in confusion, everybody else visibly confused. "What was that ?!"
"Nothing good," Jack replied grimly, also standing up.
"Yeah, no shit! That shook the entire campus!" Ace exclaimed in irritation. You could tell that some of his food spilt onto him as he tried to wipe it off his blazer. "There's no way that was just normal thunder!"
Ace was, unfortunately, right. As your group (along with many other students) peered outside to see what was going on, you noticed the thick stalks of thorns slowly encompassing the school, threatening to devour the campus of NRC. The thorns were gargantuan, and you couldn't help but blanch at the thought of getting stuck with one of those.
Nudging your friends, you began to usher them back inside.
"Get in, now !"
The thorns were fast, but not fast enough. The students that had gone outside had heard your shouting, had realized what was going on, and soon everybody was back inside, just in time for the windows to be completely covered. The lack of outside lighting made the cafeteria feel a bit dimmer, but thankfully the lights were still on.
"FNNNNG?! JUST WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Grim yowled, and you looked around, trying to find somebody who might have the information. Azul and the Leech twins didn't have a clue, and neither did Jamil or Kalim. Your eyes darted over to where your favorite Diasomnia members usually were, only to see that all four of them were gone.
The knot in your stomach tightened.
This didn't bode well. In fact, if you had to fathom a guess....
"We need to get to the Diasomnia dorm," you declared to your small group of friends. " Now."
How did you explain to your friends your thought process, and your feelings? The original Maleficent (at least in the fairytales of your world) had encompassed a castle in thorns. Diasomnia was based off Maleficent — seeing all of the past dorms and members having some correlation with the Disney tales you grew up on, it wasn't a farfetched idea to correlate this to Diasomnia.
But that meant, then...
Were your friends in danger?
The last time you had seen Malleus, he had parted abruptly. You hadn't ended that interaction on good terms.
Was he alright?
"Whoa, whoa, wait, seriously?! Are you nuts?!" Ace asked, pulling you back by the arm. "Did you not just see how those vines or whatever swallowed this building?!"
Deuce nodded, crossing his arms, but Jack was the one who spoke, always the voice of reason. "I wouldn't rush over yet. Look who's coming over."
You followed his gaze, eyebrows shooting up in surprise at the last dorm leader you would have expected to be in the cafeteria, let alone interact with your group.
"Leona," you greeted, looking at the familiar teen trailing behind him. "And Ruggie. I'm surprised you two are here."
"Not by choice," Leona grumbled. "Did I hear ya correct? You're headin' over to that lizard's dorm?"
You shifted in place, nodding. "Yes. I think what's happening is Diasomnia related."
"It is," Leona confirmed, once again taking you by surprise. "This magic... It reeks of an overgrown lizard throwing a temper tantrum."
So it is Malleus...
"N' how do you think you're gonna manage making it to the dorm with all those thorns?"
You resisted rolling your eyes. "If only there were somebody who could turn what they touch into sand," you drily responded, looking up at the beastman sarcastically.
Ruggie chuckled. "Shyeeehihihi, is there somebody like that?"
On the other hand, Grim was not amused. "Will you just help us?! How am I supposed to stock up on tuna if I can't even go outside?!"
Talk about priorities.
Leona scowled. "And what will I get out of it?"
"The opportunity to one-up Diasomnia," you told him. While you had no care about the conflict and one-sided rivalry between the two princes, you needed all the help you could get. By the way Leona's ear twitched, you could tell he was hooked on the thought of showing Malleus what for, even if it wasn't actually going to happen.
"Did I hear that the Ramshackle Prefect is going to tread once more into enemy territory?"
You looked back to see it was Azul who spoke up, Jade and Floyd right beside him. Floyd grinned. "Shrimpy's gotta backbone as always!"
"I'm not making a deal, and I don't have time for this." You glanced at the cafeteria windows, dismayed to see some kind of black substance dripping on the windows like rain. However, this wasn't your first rodeo, or your second, or even your third. By now, you knew what that was.
Overblot.
Somebody had overblotted.
Malleus....
Your fingers curled up into fists once more, gritting your teeth. Was this your fault? Was last night the catalyst? You weren't sure, but there was only one way to find out.
"Ace, Deuce. Can you ask Housewarden Riddle to try and keep order here?" Another glance at the window, and you saw that the thorns seemed to be pressing more insistently into the glass. Would the window panes hold up, or would they shatter? "I don't know how much longer those windows and the walls will keep the thorns from closing in if they are still growing. We'll need as much magic here as possible to ward them off."
Azul nodded. "We'll stay here and help with that. Floyd, I trust you're in a good enough mood today for your unique magic to actually be useful?"
"Aye aye!"
You knew there was no point in asking Grim to stay behind — where you went, he tended to follow. And so, after a brief game plan, you set off with Leona, Ruggie, Jack, and Grim, everybody else staying behind to try and protect the school. With Leona's unique magic dissolving the thorns, the three of you were able to make it to the mirror hall in no time.
It was eerily empty.
A part of you had honestly expected for Crowley to be waiting for you, to ask you to take care of this like he always did. To push his duties as headmaster onto the magicless, otherworldly human.
He wasn't here, though. It was just you and your group, and you had no time to worry over how strange it felt before you were barreling forward, growing more and more concerned.
When you went through the mirror, you had expected to step out to a large castle like you always did. Instead, you appeared in an empty throne room. Thorns covered the walls, sprawled like ivy, and the room itself was dim, cast in a green glow. Turning around, you saw there was no mirror, and that you were all alone.
"Grim?" You called out hesitantly. The door behind you was closed, the thorns and vines preventing it from being opened through normal means. "Jack? Ruggie? Leona?! "
Your voice echoed, but there was no response.
Something had interfered, and separated you from your friends.
Glancing around the room, you tried to see if there was anything hiding that might be of use; a soft glint of silver was what caught your eye, and before you knew it, you were running forward, hoping your eyes were just deceiving you.
In a bed of thorns laid Silver, peacefully resting, an odd green glow surrounding him.
"Silver? Silver!" Gently, you shook him, careful to not prick yourself. "Silver... Please, wake up!"
"It's no use, Child of Man."
The sudden voice and drop in temperature had you whirl around to the newcomer, your breath stopping at the sight before you.
As you thought...
It was Malleus. Dressed regally in what you could only assume was black, formal attire from his home kingdom. His horns seemed larger, black scales seeming to litter his skin in small patches. His hands, usually gloved, were curled into sharp, vicious looking claws, dipped black in ink and overblot. Even from here, his eyes seemed even more bright than usual, black dripping from his head and mouth in thin rivulets.
Your knees felt weak, but you forced yourself to stay standing.
"Malleus..."
His name left your lips in a breathless whisper, and he stepped closer to you. "Malleus..." You licked your lips, unbearably dry. "What... What did you do?"
He sighed, and you were glad to see there was no phantom lurking over him. Yet.
"After our conversation last night... I began to realize... You humans are truly fragile." His voice was low, a mere murmur, but you heard him crystal clear. "It would be so easy for you to be ripped away from me, be it illness, or injury, or even going back home...
". . . Unless I interfered."
Your heart seemed to stammer in your chest, but you stood your ground, looking up at one of your dearest friends, hurt that you were the one that caused for this to happen to him.
"I..."
Voice trailing off, you fumbled. What could you even say? An apology wasn't the move.
"You and Silver, both children of man... I came to realize, perhaps it's best that I keep you both safe, until the danger passes."
Danger? What danger?
Malleus was standing right in front of you, now, and you noticed the small puffs of smoke that left his lips. A pointed claw tilted your chin up to look at him, and you felt mesmerized by his stare, as if you couldn't pull away.
Perhaps you shouldn't... Perhaps he's right...
What? No. He wasn't right. He was slowly losing his grip! You had to do something!
And yet... Why did you feel as if you lacked the will to act?
Sensing your warring emotions, Malleus continued. "Child of Man... Here. A gift from me..."
The smoke that left his lips was now tinted green as he bent forward, pressing a chaste kiss to your mouth. You felt ink smudge against your skin, felt the smoke seeming to settle into your body, invading your lungs and bones and filling you until you felt weightless, weightless, weightless , as if you could easily float away.
Your head felt foggy.
This wasn't normal.
None of this was normal.
"Malleus, please..." You could feel the drowsiness starting to take into effect, eyelids heavy, but you forced yourself to stay awake as you wobbled forward and into Malleus' arms. He held you gently, as if you could break under the slightest bit of stress. You probably could, right now.
Your plea fell on deaf ears.
"It's alright," he murmured, tugging you closer. Your forehead rested on his chest, and you fought to keep your eyes open, but it was difficult, only growing increasingly harder to stay awake. "One thousand years will feel nothing but a dream to you."
"No... I can't..."
You couldn't finish your sentence before finally succumbing to the magic Malleus had cast upon you, growing limp in his arms as you fell into an endless slumber.
"When you next wake up... I promise, things will be better."
But you were already lost in your dream world, too gone to hear Malleus' promise to you.
"And I promise... I'll show you a real happy ending."
Snowball | Rated: G | reader pronouns: none
CW: none
Part of the 25 Days of TWSTmas collab on Quotev!
"HENCHMAN, WAKE UP! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"
Waking up to Grim shaking you awake on a Saturday morning was not how you wanted to start your day. Cold and groggy, you brought the blanket closer to you, not fully conscious yet as you mumbled for him to go back to bed. Unsurprisingly, Grim persisted, jumping on your stomach and causing all the air to leave your body momentarily.
"Ow — hey! What was that for?!"
Brushing him off and sitting up, you could only glare at the furry little demon, waiting for an explanation as to why he was so adamant on getting you up at — you glanced at the clock on your phone — seven in the morning. Couldn't you be allowed to sleep in on your day off?!
Grim, unperturbed by the look you gave him, waved a paw over to the window. "I told you, it's an E—MER—GEN—CY!" He emphasized every syllable in annoyance, and dread pooled in your stomach. Clutching the thin blanket around your shoulders, you stood up and padded over to the window, flinching as bare feet met cold wood.
A part of you just didn't want to look outside. Whatever 'emergency' this was, perhaps blissful ignorance was better. However, peering out the window gave you no answer to the question you had for Grim.
Frost crept on the window edges, and for a moment you could only look out in awe at the beautiful sight before you. The ground was blanketed in crystalline white powder, only continuing to pile on as snow drifted softly to the ground. It must have started sometime while you were sleeping — there had to be a couple inches by now.
It was your first snow since coming to this world and school, and the sight was mesmerizing.
Grim broke you out of your reverie. "It's terrible! I'm going to go melt it all right now—HUH?!"
Arm snapping out, you gripped the back of Grim's neck like you would any other cat. Despite the sweet smile, you were anything but pleased as you realized the real reason why Grim roused you out of the comfort of your warm bed.
"You will do no such thing." Grim trying to melt the snow was a recipe for disaster, not to mention it'd ruin the beautiful picture. "Did you seriously wake me up for this?"
"PUT ME DOWN!"
Well, now that you were up, you might as well get ready for the day. Dropping the feral little gremlin, and ignoring his cry of annoyance with your treatment to him, you made sure to dress as warm as you could.
By the time you were done, it was just after eight, and snow was still sprinkling down. A week ago, you had borrowed some products from Vil (at his utmost insistence that you improve on your self-care). Unfortunately, one of the things he gave you had made your skin itchy, and so you wanted to return it to him. You were aware he was probably already out for the day doing a photoshoot or advertisement, as such was the life of a celebrity, but nonetheless you could at least leave it with Rook or Epel or somebody else at his dorm.
While you were aware the weather might not be the same at the Pomefiore Dorm than on the rest of campus or Ramshackle, you were pleasantly surprised to see it had still snowed a bit. Snow dusted the ground and the roofing of the castle-like dorm, although not in the quantity that Ramshackle had. It wasn't near as windy, only a bit of nip from the cold. Pomefiore was always a beautiful dorm to admire, but the snow gave it a whole other quality, and you couldn't help but take a moment to appreciate the view.
That was, until something cold and wet was lobbed at you, hitting you in the back of the head and knocking your hat off. Immediately, your shoulders scrunched up towards your neck at the sensation, but snow was already seeping down the back of your jacket and shirt.
Whirling around, you fully expected to see Grim, or even Ace (although why would Ace be at Pomefiore first thing in the morning?), but instead you were met with a different face, grinning cheekily at you.
Epel was bundled up, with a hat and matching gloves, and your eyes zeroed in on the ball of snow that he had in his hands, ready to be weaponized against you or any other unsuspecting student.
"If Vil catches you throwing snow, he's really going to get on your case," you teased, not quite making a move to retaliate. Yet.
Epel stuck his tongue out, and when he spoke, you could tell he wasn't caring too much about hiding his accent.
"Vil's not around. Off doin' some kinda photoshoot for the day."
"And so you're using your temporary freedom to harass innocent bypassers? Why, Epel, I never knew you to be so cruel!" With dramatics that could almost rival Rook, you placed a hand to your chest and pretended to feel faint. Epel saw this as his chance to try and throw another snowball at you, but you ducked just in time, hastily scooping up snow to throw back at him. You also missed, your aim not quite the best, but at least he got the message as he continued to grin mischievously.
"When else am I gon' be able ta?"
"Well, you're going to regret challenging me. Not to brag, but I was the king of snowball fights growing up."
The threat of a challenge was enough to spur both of you on to a full-fledged war, the serum you had for Vil all but forgotten as you and Epel threw snowballs at each other. Ducking and dodging, time seemed to slip right by you both — students learned quickly of the war going outside Pomefiore, and many of the dorm members avoided the area like the plague, not wanting to get involved.
Many of the dorm members — not all.
Neither you nor Epel had seen it coming until it was much too late, both of you getting nailed in the heads with snow. Knowing it wasn't either of you, you both stopped, glancing around. It didn't seem like there was anybody that could be a culprit, until a voice called out, cheery and dramatic and definitely belonging to the guilty party (not that he sounded guilty whatsoever).
"Monsieur Cherry Apple, Trickster! Whatever are you two doing?"
Rook's hands looked clean, but you knew better. Before you could call him out, though, Epel immediately straightened his posture, hands going behind his back as if he could hide what he was doing.
"Why does it matter?" Epel asked defensively, and you wearily looked at both of them. If Rook, for some reason, decided to join the fight, you were going to dip. He would absolutely annihilate you, that you were sure of.
"Why, mes amies, it just looked like you two were having a wonderful time! I'm sure—"
Rook was cut off as Epel lobbed a snowball right at him; if he was surprised, Rook didn't show it, swiftly dodging. The only problem was, neither you nor Epel had noticed the figure standing behind Rook with arms crossed until it was too late, the snowball hitting the chest of the only person that willingly would stand so close to Rook.
Vil Schoenheit.
Your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, the scene seeming to progress in slow motion as the snow splattered over his outfit, a bit of it going upwards and hitting his face. Already, he had looked displeased with yours and Epel's antics; now, he looked downright furious, his face flushing so violently that you could see a bit of red peeking through his foundation.
Epel's face was paler than the snow outside, and a glance at his expression told you all you needed to know.
You both were totally screwed.
Giving an awkward little wave and smile, you tried to diffuse the situation. "Um... Hi, Vil! I came to return the serum you lent me...."
"Both of you inside. Now."
He wasn't your dorm leader, Pomefiore wasn't your dorm, but you still followed Epel inside the dorm like kicked puppies, realizing that you were about to be on the receiving end of a lengthy lecture at hitting the Vil Schoenheit with a snowball.
Hello and thank you for stopping by to visit my blog! This isn't my first writing blog as I've written for fandoms such as: SWD Wizardess Hearts, Obey Me, and Genshin Impact here on Tumblr, but it's been a little while since I felt inspired to write until now. I'm excited to share my original characters with you all as I'm always happy to answer questions about them or just talk about them in general (One of them originally belonged to another fandom but I've skillfully implemented her into TWST)
Here's a small introducing to my original characters
[ Heartslabyul Dorm ]
Name: Lizette “Lizzy” Luna
Nickname(s): Tetra-chan (Floyd), Reine des Paillettes (Rook), Tiny Fox (Leona)
Grade/Class: Sophomore/Class B (No. 19)
DOB: April 11 (Aries)
Race: Human
Pronouns: She/Her
Age: 17
Height: 160 cm
Dominant Hand: Left
Homeland: Gedonelune (Not from Twisted Wonderland)
