Chapter Text
As the sky's usual blue hue turned orange with the decent of the sun, a concerningly small teenager looked up, empty eyes observing as clouds slowly make their way to their location, an obvious indicator that they should hurry and find shelter before rain reached them, but the teenager didn't move, eyes locked in the mixture of oranges, reds, pinks and blues that adorned the horizon as they felt the last bits of today's sun light hit their face like a warm blanket.
Only when the sun fully set and the only visible light was that of the moon and stars, which hanged from the heavens unchanging, did the strange teenager look ahead and started walking, each step carefully, always aware of their surroundings, they didn't really know where they were going, the only goal being to find a temporary shelter.
After awhile, in the distance, they saw a cave. With a little more motivation they walked in the direction of what would probably be their shelter for the night.
As they approached the, supposedly, empty cave they slowed down, looking around before peeking and checking if the cave truly was empty. After guaranteeing that there was nobody inside, the teenager entered the cave, taking the opportunity to truly look at it.
Now that they where inside they could finally see just how big it was, too big to be natural, the wall extending high, making a small curve inwards at the top, creating a weird shape that they couldn't help but be reminded of an apple in a weird way.
Those same walls were filled to the top with paintings and carvings, looking at them closely it seemed they were telling a story, not that they knew what story it was about nor could they decipher the paintings, but they could recognize the constant appearance of the image of two women, one looked like a queen and the other a princess, both drawn beautifully, the paintings making sure to highlight their beauty.
Deciding that the paintings were probably of some old story, and noticing that it was getting increasingly late, the teenager sat in the far corner of the cave, keeping a full vision of the cave and the entrance.
Finally being able to relax for a minute, they noticed how horrible they were looking, after all it's not easy to escape without help, their hair was messy and dirty, clothes that once adorned their fair features were torn and covered in dirt and some sort of black liquid.
If you asked them how long they had been walking for, they wouldn't be able to tell you, maybe days, weeks or just hours. They stopped counting at some point, after passing out for an undetermined amount of time due to their weak hearth hunger and thirst.
While they were looking towards the entrance, waiting for exhaustion to take them to a dreamless sleep, they noticed the stars were filling the sky, for once they were able to look at a dark canvas covered with beautiful lights, illuminating the hollow night.
It was truly a mesmerizing view, they had never seen the true sky before, not like this, not since they escaped had left. Time hadn't allowed them to truly take in the sight of the cosmic bodies traversing the sky, so far away but yet guiding their lost souls to a calm slumber.
Instead of an empty night, the stars had granted them dreams of a young boy, empty red eyes, looking at the false sky above him. They dreamt of themselves, sitting besides the young boy as he told them about the stars outside, explaining the beauty of the night sky beyond the false cover that surrounded them both and the feeling that it brought him.
They always thought the young boy was exaggerating, his love for the cosmic bodies influencing his opinion, but still, they listened to the young boy's description, noting of the small shine his eyes gained when he spoke about the stars and meteor showers from outside.
He dreamt of the young boy sat under the night sky, bashing under the starlight, his eyes with a shine they had only seen once before and his face graced with one of his rare genuine smiles.
As the teenager woke up, their eyes turned to the entrance, the sun now high in the sky. They weren't expecting to dream about Ace the young boy, they underestimated how much they missed the others. They knew how much they loved Jack cared about him, but until recently they hadn't gotten around to acknowledge how much they truly cared about the younger ones.
After all, caring and loving didn't do anything there. Why bother if you'll only be greeted by their bodies in return.
But they left.
They are free.
…
Who are they lying to.
they will never be truly free.
Not while Heperus shadow looms over their bodie.
Not while her spirit lingers in their shoulder. As a reminder. As revenge.
With a small, almost unnoticeable frown, they looked away, deciding to pick the small quantity of things they carried with themselves, a water bottle, already almost empty, and a wanted poster. They used to have a little food but it ended the day before, which meant that they had to look for more as fast as possible.
Looking around now, the room being more clear due to the sunlight that illuminated the cave via the entrance, they noticed something they hadn't noticed before, maybe due to exhaustion or the lack of light, they didn't really know, but on the centre of the wall, opposite the caves entrance, sat a mirror just under the weird curve at the top. The mirror was beautiful, adorned with carvings of people they have never seen before and careful details, making it almost enchanting to look at.
They didn't know why there was a mirror in a cave, but they guessed it was connected with the paintings and carvings that adorned the walls.
After awhile just observing the mirror details, the teenager turned around and left the cave. As they were walking in the opposite direction of when they found the cave, attentive to their surroundings in it, they found something else or something found them.
They suddenly heard the sound of something coming their way. They vaguely remembered the sound belonging to an animal though they couldn't recall which one, but the unmistakable sound of a carriage made them turn around as fast they could, only to see a black carriage above them. They closed their eyes knowing they couldn't escape from being crushed by it. Then, the world suddenly went black, and the only thing they could hear was the noise of the animal … ah it was a horse.
A squeaky voice can be heard, the voice is saying things that the teenager can't really understand, something about a uniform?
They try to move but notice that they are in some sort of box, they're not sure. They just know that they are in a crammed place, making it almost impossible to move.
They could feel the despair clawing them through as their thoughts start to wonder. 'Had they found them? Are they back there? But they hadn't noticed anything resembling those things.' They could feel themselves spiralling until they remembered 'The carriage! That's right. But… if it isn't them then who?'.
They were suddenly pushed out of their thoughts by the lid of what they now noticed was a coffin, which was pushed open by… a cat? whatever it was that was the source of the squeaky voice from before.
Its fur was a deep black, like a void, but the weird part was its tail. It was thin, extending itself until it formed some kind of arrow at the tip, and its ear, which possessed some kind of blue flames burning from the inside, only served to confuse them even more.
"What?! You're not supposed to be awake!" The cat weasel creature exclaimed. They crooked their head in confusion, not understanding what the creature meant.
As they looked around, they noticed that scattered around the grandiose room they found themselves in were a bunch of coffins no different from the one they just came out of. All of them seemed to surround a big mirror, no different from the one they found at the cave, only this time bigger.
'So the mirror has something to do with the reason I am here?' They averted their eyes from the mirror in question, looking at the cat weasel creature "A talking… weasel?".
"How DARE YOU!? I'm no weasel!! I'm Grim, sorcerer extraordinaire!" the weasel- no, Grim- started speaking, revealing its name. The teenager stared in silence 'So loud…' they thought with a small wince.
Without giving room for answer (not that they would've said anything), Grim looks up at them with a smirk "Whatever.. Human! Just give me your uniform, and be quick about it!" his smirk grew wider as the flames that were on his ears burned brighter, sparkling dangerously, as if they were about to spread through the room, ready to engulf them in a hot blue fire. "Otherwise you will regret it!"
Registering Grim's words, the teenager finally look at themselves, noticing clothes they were certain they weren't wearing beforehand. The clothes had a very ceremonial design, consisting of simple black pants and black robes, which were purple with golden symbols on the inside, toped with some sort of black vest with the same inside pattern and golden details along the tip of the sleeves and the base, all tied up with a purple cloth that served as a belt, being held together by a golden emblem. They also noticed they were wearing some sort of black, purple and golden shoes.
Where did the clothes come from? They had no idea, but they couldn't help but think that the robes made them look like they were part of some sort of cult.
Getting impatient after a while, without a response, the creature snapped "Come on! I'm on a tight schedule here!" Grim let out a wave of flames in their direction, intending for it to be a small intimidation, but the fire was bigger than what he wanted.
Startled, the teenager turned and walked in the opposite direction, trying to avoid the flames, stopping in the middle of the corridor where they spotted someone coming in their direction.
"Don't walk away from me!" they heard Grim's voice coming from behind. Turning around, they see the small creature stomping in their direction "Now, unless you want to get burned to a crisp, take off that —"
Grim was interrupted when suddenly someone holds him by the neck, stopping him from doing whatever he was trying to do.
"Me - YEOW! That hurts! What gives?" Grim yelped with surprise at the sudden attack.
"Consider it though love." Grim looked in shock at the voice, slowly looking at its owner. The teenager, having noticed the man before, looked up with a blank face, finally taking a good look at the man.
The man was tall, black hair could be seen falling from the black hat that sat atop his head. He had a black crow mask that hid half of his face. Only two yellow circles that they could only assume were his eyes could be seen. By looking more closely, they could also notice pointy ears that his hair could not hide.
The man was wearing some kind of slightly shiny suite with a black and purple cape adorned in golden details, much like their robes, with crow feathers atop his shoulder-blades.
He also seemed to be holding some sort of cane that looked much like a gigantic key at the end of it, a crow golden statue sitting at the top of it.
But they noticed one key detail. In both the man's hat and belt there were mirrors. One in the hat, which seemed to harbour much more detail, a crow feather coming from behind it, and three at his belt, much simpler in terms of design. Hanging from it, attached to a golden thread, were three golden keys, very similar to the one his cane resembled, all with slightly different designs.
"And who do we have here? Escaping from the entrance ceremony? I trust you are one of this year new students, right?" the crow man turned to address them, looking straight into their eyes "Seems you are rather eager."
He sounded slightly amused at that, a hint of pride in his voice, but suddenly his face morphed into a more angry one as he sent a glance back at Grim.
"But bringing a poorly trained familiar with you? That's a clear violation of the school rules." the man says, now staring at the teenagers eyes again. They keep looking at him with the same emotionless face, not bothering to answer him.
At those words Grim started squirming in the man's hold, attempting to escape it "As if I'd serve some lowly human! Now lemme go!" the small creature sounded offended at the crow man's assumption, yelling the words while still trying to escape.
The man, not even sparing the creature a glance, looked unimpressed at Grim's words "Yes, yes. Rebellious familiars always say that." he seemingly roles his eyes "Do be quiet for a bit, will you?" the man deadpanned, finally looking into the creature's eyes while covering his mouth.
"Mmmrph" Grim shook his head, trying to get the man's hand from his mouth while still attempting to escape.
'Stubborn creature. It doesn't matter how much you resist. You won't be able to escape'. The teenager had not taken their eyes from the man, though never looking at him directly in the eyes.
'Just hope he doesn't want to do anything to you' they quickly glance at Grim, flashes passing through their eyes. They blink rapidly, scolding their faces, even though they doubted they showed much, if any, reaction at all in that small moment.
"Dear me." the crow man sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before looking at them with an exasperated face "Of all the students I've dealt with, you're the first ones with enough temerity to open their own gate and step out of it."
'It wasn't me who opened it but whatever' the teenager slightly rolled their eyes , looking more like they were looking to the side.
The man sighed again, shaking his head slightly "Does the very notion of patience elude you?" they kept their eyes on the wall next to them, tuning out to the man.
The man looked disappointed by the lack of any form of response but continued nonetheless "No matter. Your orientation is about to start if it hasn't begun yet. Let us return to the mirror chamber." he made a gesture with his head, signalling them to turn around and re-enter the room.
After a minute of silence among them, the teenager not moving, the man spoke again "Go on. Make ha—"
"Where am I" they suddenly interrupted the man and looked at him, still the same blank expression on their face.
The man, taken aback by the interruption, crocked his head to the side confused "Hm? Have you not regained full consciousness yet?" he spoke, more to himself than to the teenager, mumbling something else they could not understand.
Shrugging, he spoke to them again "I shall explain it to you while we walk." Suddenly, the crow man smiled smugly, taking a proud and cocky posture "Truly, my magnanimity is boundless"
The crow man readjusted his grip on Grim, keeping his mouth covered, starting to walk in the direction the teenager came from, expecting them to follow him.
"This is Night Raven College!" he spoke proudly while gesturing with his head all around him, making them realize just how gigantic the corridor they were in really was.
"It's an institute for students all over the world who demonstrate an aptitude for magic." he continued his explanation, adjusting his hand as Grim tried to shove it off with a bit more strength.
The man turned smug again, holding his head high as he spoke "It's the most prestigious Academy of its sort in all of Twisted Wonderland" turning around to look at the teenager he continued, a partly proud partly smug smile plastered in his face "And I am Dire Crowley. I serve as the Headmage"
He turned around again, continuing to walk as the door to the mirror chamber was already visible "Only those recognized by the Dark Mirror are allowed in this institute." he added, like he just remembered what he was doing "A black carriage bearing one gate should have come to meet you"
'Does he mean the carriage that ran me over? What a gentle pick up." they kept looking around, tuning out the noises that Grim kept making, still resisting the Headmages hold.
"Now, finally we've arrived!" he said, putting Grim in some kind of spell that kept him tied and silent, as he opened the chamber's doors dramatically.
As the three of them entered they realized that some sort of ceremony had truly begun, if they had to guess, not too long ago. People stood in lines, all wearing the same clothes they were wearing, four of them standing before the mirror seemingly welcoming the new students.
"Hello my dear students! I have brought the escapee in!" as the man started speaking, everyone looked in his direction, the six at the top having very distinct reactions.
Almost all six of them looked in some way annoyed. The first one looked enraged at them, the second just looked tired and annoyed, the third seemed to be trying to fake a polite smile, calculating eyes staring, looking annoyed at him, the next one just looked annoyed but seemed to be more concerned in scolding what seemed to be a new student.
Weirdly enough, the fifth one was smiling kindly at them, no trace of annoyance or frustration in his eyes and posture, and the sixth one looked extremely amused at the interruption.
"Headmage! You are 20 minutes late to the entrance ceremony! That goes clearly against the rules!" the first guy yelled, face turning unnaturally red.
The Headmage sighed, turning to the red guy "Calm down Rosehearts. For your information, I found this wondering student in a corridor, just before the ceremony when I was on my way here."
He turned around, looking directly at the teenager "Step up to the Dark Mirror so you can get your dorm assignment. I'll watch your weasel" he gestured in the direction they had to go, assuring them to the mirror.
As they walked they could feel people staring all around them. They ignored them, not changing their expression as they stepped up and looked at the grand mirror they had seen before.
Suddenly, the mirror lit up, a weird mask appearing, with green fire behind it, and it spoke.
"State your name"
The teenager stopped, looking up at the mirror, no emotion on their faces.
"Yuu"