Chapter Text
Dreams are something that everyone should have.
The visions that play when going to sleep, everyone has them, right?
Well, this way of thinking would be incorrect. There are people who don’t dream, those whose minds keep them from doing so for one reason or another.
As far as Vaine is concerned, dreams are irrelevant to them. Vaine has never dreamed while asleep, not that she minded. They didn’t need dreams to live normally.
Besides, the only “dream” Vaine had was knocked out of grasp the moment Vaine injured herself during a rehearsal. A foot injury that would cause them to be unable to be a part of the performing arts. Ask anyone else, they’d probably say it was a tragedy, but to Vaine, it was a blessing of sorts. They didn’t have to strain themself anymore, Vaine could finally relax and have time to do what Vaine wanted to.
This lack of a dream, however, did weigh down slightly on Vaine. What did she want to do? What was their goal? Why did Vaine exist? What was the end goal in her life? These were questions that Vaine didn’t like thinking about and tried to ignore. She could just do what was always done: Play games with her friends and support the actors and musicians Vaine followed.
Among those she supported, one person stood out from the rest. Vil Schoenheit. He was famous for his appearance, as well as his habit of playing villains, though if you were to ask Vaine, he didn’t seem suited for some of the roles he got. It was an unfortunate side effect of typecasting, Vaine knew this. Vaine had been following Vil for years, ever since she was a child, almost.
Whenever Vaine looked at an image of Vil, they always got a strange sense of familiarity, as if they knew each other, but that was impossible; the two had never met once in their lives. Vaine put it up to just weird Deja vu, a simple enough explanation for it.
Sitting in their room, Vaine scrolled aimlessly through Magicam, not feeling like doing anything else and wanting to kill some time.
“Damn… they really need to get their life together…… cool, good for her… what the hell is this?” Vaine spoke to no one, simply reacting out loud to the posts on their magicam. This was normal for an afternoon after school.
There then came a knock at Vaine’s door, her mother speaking from the other side.
“Vaine, you got something in the mail!”
Vaine got up, walking to the door and opening it, stretching her arm out with her hand open. She made a “hand it over” motion. Vaine felt a letter get placed into their hand. Pulling her arm back in with a small “thanks,” Vaine looked at the letter. It was certainly addressed to Vaine, but the return address…
Night Raven College
Vaine hadn’t expected to hear anything back from the college, but here was a letter, right in Vaine’s hands. They had a feeling it was going to be a rejection. Why would a prestigious school like NRC accept Vaine? It was an all-boys school… well, Vaine wasn’t exactly a girl, Vaine was Vaine, and they had made that clear in the letter. There was a chance it was an acceptance, but Vaine didn’t count on it.
Vaine grabbed a small blade, putting it under the flap and sliding it along to open it. They pulled the letter out and unfolded it. Definitely from NRC. She started to read it.
Dear Mr. Surette:
Thank you for applying to our prestigious college. We are pleased to inform you that after looking over your application and records, you have been admitted to Night Raven College.
For the next four years, you will be a Night Raven student, and we are excited to have you with us. The next semester starts XX/XX/20XX, please be ready for the carriage to receive you by then.
Sincerely,
Dire Crowley,
Headmaster
Vaine was silent, rereading the letter to make sure it was correct.
“I… Vaine is admitted??? Huh??????” Vaine didn’t know how to react to this. The fact that they were accepted was a surprise to them, but on top of that, Vaine would be attending the same school as The Vil Schoenheit, her idol. Though, even if Vil hadn’t been attending, Vaine would still be happy. They had wanted to go to NRC for a while, and finally, they could fulfil that wish.
Vaine left their room, letter in hand. She was smiling, genuinely smiling. When was the last time Vaine felt like this? She didn’t know, but this small high of happiness was a welcome addition to the otherwise mundane day.
“Mom, I got in! It was an acceptance letter!!” Vaine waved the letter in her mother’s face, obviously excited about everything.
“Oh, that's good! I’m proud of you,” Vaine’s mother seemed happy enough, though Vaine could tell that she expected it to be a rejection. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in Vaine, she just didn’t think they’d accept her on the grounds of it being an all-boys school. That’s what Vaine told themself at least.
Something rubbed against Vaine’s leg; when they looked down, Vaine’s stare was met with large green eyes staring back. A small mew came from the creature, then a headbutt. The cat, Aster, wanted something, probably food and attention.
Vaine sighed, bending down to pet Aster. The cat quickly ran off in the direction of her food bowl. Yep, Aster wanted food and attention, as usual. Vaine grabbed the bag of cat food from the cabinet, measuring it and dropping the food into the bowl. Vaine gave Aster one last pat before going back to their room, laying down on the bed after they had closed the door.
Vaine looked over at the digital clock by her bed.
4:21PM
Bedtime.
Vaine drew the curtains, blocking out the sunlight. Laying down, they threw a blanket over herself, snuggling up in it. She drifted off to sleep silently, yet another dreamless sleep.
-
A few months later, a carriage drawn by a ghastly horse had arrived at the Surette household in the night. It was time for Vaine to leave. They bid farewell to their family, giving Aster a small kiss on the head. Vaine wanted to take the cat with her, but unfortunately, she couldn’t… at least they could be sent pictures.
Getting to the carriage, Vaine looked back at their home. They wouldn’t be back until December, and for the next few months NRC would be Vaine’s home. They soon blacked out as the carriage went off once more, their destination Night Raven College.
When Vaine next awoke, she was in a room filled with coffins, all alike in design. There were students standing in them, some waking up just like Vaine was: A tired looking fellow, a pair of twins, a scrawny beastman, and a rather short redhead. They all wore robes, and when Vaine looked down at themself, she saw that she wore them as well.
There were people in the room other than those in the coffins, possibly people who had woken up before them, but there were also the students Vaine could identify immediately- The dorm leaders. They were scattered across the room, speaking to the students. They wore the robes as well.
Vaine hopped out of their coffin, looking around through the crowd. Vaine never liked large groups of people, they were always too loud. So many conversations at once overwhelmed her, but Vaine still was able to make out what some people said. Any gossip or random facts they picked up was saved to memory; even if it was pointless to remember, it’s nice to have.
Vaine stayed near the walls, pulling their hood up as to try to not drive any attention towards her, but alas, it didn’t work. A student noticed Vaine and approached, his face familiar.
“What are you doing all the way back here? It will be hard to get to the mirror when it is your turn.” The man’s voice was familiar, a youthful voice that Vaine had heard so many times.
“A-ah, yes, you’re right... You’re Vil Schoenheit, right? I’ve been following your movies and such for years… You were a big inspiration to me when I was still in the arts.”
“Yes, that is me. It’s nice hearing someone looked to me for motivation and inspiration, I wish you luck on any future ventures. Now, the ceremony is starting soon, so be ready to get called.” With that, Vil walked off, going to his position with the rest of the dorm leaders.
That was the first conversation they ever had, but Vaine felt like she had spoken to Vil before. It felt like a distant memory, and Vaine had vague ideas of the conversations they had before. But it couldn’t have been possible, this was the first time the two had ever met… Deja vu, that’s what it was. Deja vu and nothing more.
Soon enough, the ceremony started. Students started going up to the mirror, a semblance of a line eventually getting formed. After a while of other students going up, it was Vaine’s turn.
“State thy name.”
Vaine hesitated a moment, feeling everyone’s’ eyes on them.
“Vaine Surette”
“Vaine… the shape of thy soul is… Ignihyde.”
Ignihyde… Yeah, that suited Vaine well enough. They had no quarrels with it. With a small “thank you,” Vaine moved out of the way for the next person to go up, standing by the other students sorted into Ignihyde. No one stood out amongst the other students around Vaine, not that they minded. From her knowledge, Ignihyde was a quieter dorm, so Vaine could really do what she wanted without disturbing anyone or being disturbed, which was nice.
Eventually, everyone had gotten sorted. The dorm leaders called out to their students, urging them to follow. The dorm leader for Ignihyde didn’t seem too bad, unremarkable as he was.
That evening, Ignihyde was surprisingly quiet. The only people around seemed to be the leader and the other new students, not that Vaine minded. Quiet meant less chance of overstimulation, which was nice, though eating in silence was a bit awkward.
After the dinner, everyone was let off to find their dorm rooms. Given that no one knew where anything was, it was somewhat chaotic. Thankfully though, something was there to help them. This help came in the form of… a robot? A fully functioning robot. Vaine stared at it for a moment but didn’t question it. The robot, Ortho, assisted with navigation around the dorm, showing the students maps and where they could room.
When Vaine approached, Ortho seemed happy to assist with anything, talking about how they’ll love it here. Who made this robot? Vaine kinda wanted to find him and give compliments just for how cute and welcoming Ortho was, but that was for another time. Vaine would figure out who made the robot… eventually.
Vaine found their way to their room, going inside and settling down on the bed. Tomorrow was the club fair, meaning Vaine could go and join a club if she really wanted to. Vaine knew about the clubs the school offered, they had looked into them beforehand. Specifically, Vaine was interested in film. One would think this was due to Vil being in it, but no. Really, Vaine still enjoyed acting and such, even if she couldn’t do it anymore. Vaine wanted to help around with the productions and such, act as a stagehand. Vil being the club leader was a plus of sorts, but Vaine never intended to try and get too friendly with him, not in the way certain fans would try. Vaine just wanted to exist, and existing in the same space as her inspiration was enough.
It was late, but Vaine didn’t sleep. Instead, they spend the night getting their room set up as Vaine liked it. If she was going to be staying here for months on end, she should at least be comfortable.
The morning after that was the club fair, and after Vaine got ready in their uniform, she headed straight there.
The venue was crowded, just like the mirror hall had been before. The new first years ran around, looking at all the clubs, but unlike the day before, 2nd and 3rd years were also abundant, mostly repping their club, though some were also looking for clubs.
Vaine headed straight for the Film club booth. The student tending it, a 2nd year, made small conversation and informed Vaine on the club specifics.
“So, overall, that’s what we do here. It’s a lot of pomefiore students, as our dorm leader runs it, but we welcome everyone. So, just sign up here if you’re interested, and if you want, tell us why.” The boy slid a clipboard with a signup sheet on it over to Vaine, who took a pen and signed their name.
“Ah, I want to help out with everything. I used to be in dancing, acting, and singing lessons but I’ve since stopped, so now I just appreciate it from the side and want to help out.”
“I see I see, it’s nice having people who are around to help set things up... Vil should be around here somewhere, if you’d like to try to talk to him, considering he runs the club.”
“Ah, no thanks, I don’t want to bother him too much. Have a good day...!” Vaine bid farewell to the boy, shuffling off from the booth. After getting a fair bit away, however, Vaine felt someone grab their shoulder. Looking back at who it was, Vaine saw those oh so familiar purple eyes.
“Vaine Surette, correct?”
Vaine was somewhat taken aback. Why did he approach her again, what reason did he have to speak to someone like Vaine?
“Yes, I am Vaine. Do you need something with me?”
Vil was… smiling? Why?
“I was looking for you. Come with me, I need to speak with you about something. You aren’t in trouble either, so don’t worry.” Vil motioned Vaine to take his hand. Vaine hesitated but took it, still confused on what Vil could have wanted with them.
Vil led Vaine somewhere away from the commotion of the fair where it was quiet. No one was around but them, and once more Vil spoke.
“Are you able to dance? Forgive the sudden question, but please humor me with this.”
Could Vaine dance? Well, certainly, yes Vaine could, but why did Vil want to know?
“Uh, yes, I am able to dance, but I haven’t done so in years...”
“Ah, I see. Now, please humor what I’m about to say, as cliche as it may sound, but I’m pretty sure that we have met before… You’re definitely the person I’ve seen in my dreams.” Vil seemed truthful, but he was correct, it was cliche, “When I saw you yesterday, I wasn’t sure what to think of it, but I had looked at the new students and saw your name… I have memories that I could never fit into my life, I’ve slowly gained them over the years, and I can only assume that these memories and my dreams are connected. This sounds bizarre, I know, and you don’t have to believe me, it’s extremely hard to believe as it is, but I still wished to tell you.”
...What? Vaine did their best to follow, but it was difficult. He saw her in his dreams? Memories of them that he can’t place into his life? What was he on about? But his words struck a chord in Vaine, a memory long forgotten flashing into her mind.
The memory of her death. A man who looked like Vil had been kneeling next to the chair she was sat in… they were talking. Words then came into Vaine’s mind, words that she had never heard and yet felt familiar.
‘Somewhere in the future, possibly in some other world, let’s be happy, Vaine, together.’
These words hit hard, but why? No one had ever said that sentence to her, not in this life…
This life.
“Vaine? Are you ok?” Vil snapped Vaine out of their head, a look of concern on his face.
“Ah… I believe you, Vil, but I must ask… Do you have memory of a promise you potentially made? A promise to be happy together with someone.”
Vil thought for a moment, most likely trying to remember.
“I… yes, vaguely. It was when you, or the person who looked like you, were dying right in front of me after being stabbed... “
Ah. That was it. That was the memory Vaine had just witnessed.
“Vil, I have no idea what any of this means, but considering that we both remember the same events that seemingly didn’t happen in this time, let's assume that it is all true and help to keep this promise. Let us be happy, together. I’m not suggesting romance, rather a friendship. We barely know each other, but let’s give it a try.” Vaine was smiling. They were close to having a friend, something she hadn’t truly had in a while.
“Let’s” Vil nodded, accepting Vaine’s proposal of friendship. “I look forward to spending more time together.”
Shortly after Vil spoke, a voice called out from the distance. Vil looked towards the source and sighed.
“I need to go, stay safe Vaine, don’t hesitate to come find me if you ever need something.” And with those words, Vil left Vaine alone, heading off towards the man who had called out.
The entire experience was hard for Vaine to believe, but it happened… somehow. Vaine was not only in Vil’s good graces, but also… a friend. It felt surreal.
The memory of Vaine’s death stayed in her head. Vaine had never dreamed before in their life, but now it seemed that may change, now that Vil was in her life.
Reincarnation… is that what this was?
Perhaps that promise they had made bound their souls, the pair destined to meet in life and be together… Maybe this was the case, but Vaine didn’t dwell on it too much. Past lives, reincarnation, it was all an unfamiliar field for Vaine. Vaine wasn’t one to blindly trust things, but maybe this was something to be trusted… the promise of happiness.
A single promise made before death had such a large effect on the next lives of the two who made it; they had to keep it, they had to be together.
Perhaps this friendship made between a 1st and 2nd year could bloom into something more…