Chapter Text
Vil sat alone in his room, as tears rolled down his face. He’d been laboring under the wrong impression that Rook was his soulmate for the past almost 3 years. They had met at the opening ceremony and Vil had felt a warmth spread through him, that he’d been taught from an early age meant his Soulmate was near. It was right after that, he found Rook in front of him, talking to him, and he only felt the feeling increase.
They’d never officially started dating but that was fine. Vil was busy focusing on his school work, and Rook was constantly at his side, praising him. They never talked about that night at the ceremony, but Vil didn’t think they had to. It was obvious, wasn’t it? And they had the rest of their lives to figure the rest out.
That was until Rook had met her . The prefect from Ramshackle dorm. A visitor from another world. She had been Rook’s soulmate. Not Vil, and who had he told first? The man he only thought of as his best friend. It had been a hard conversation for him to sit through. As Rook recounted the pull he’d felt towards her, in Awe of its beauty, he’d never felt that way before.
Vil sat there with his world crashing down around him, as the man he thought was his soulmate went on about how he felt about someone else. And all he could do was smile, and look for an opportunity to slip away to his room and cry. He felt destroyed, betrayed, a fool.
He knew what he felt that night at the ceremony was a soulmate’s pull….but if not Rook then who? Why wouldn’t his soulmate have approached him by now almost 3 years later? Why had Rook approached him in that moment? Had he been rejected by his real soulmate? There were some cultures that took no stock in soulmates, and preferred to ignore the concept altogether. Vil’s heart hurt, and for the first time he was unsure of his future.
Vil had to get out, and he had to get out now. As he let his feet carry him out somewhere, anywhere, away from Pomefiore Dorm.
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Cater sat on his bed shaking rocking back and forth as various dark thoughts ran through his head. He knew he didn’t need to be alone right now. Not with the conversation he’d just had with his mother. It would be too easy for him to do something stupid and permanent if he was left alone. He needed someone, anyone, right now. So he stood, wearing only his uniform slacks and shirt, his tie and coat tossed to the side some time ago, and made his way out to the lounge. Maybe there would be some freshies around he could distract himself with.
What he found was Riddle running a study session with Trey. He popped on his signature smile and leaned on the door frame. Maybe he could borrow his friend. “Hey Trey can I talk to you for a bit, maybe hang out some.”
Trey just sighed taking off his glasses. “I wish I could, but we’ve got a test coming up in two days. You really should be studying with us.”
“Oh right.” Cater internally frowned, he wasn’t much for studying but it was better than being alone. “Sure I’ll join you.”
Riddle gave him a disbelieving gaze. “This is new.”
Cater shrugged smile still on his face. “Well if I gotta hit the books to hang out with my friends, then I gotta hit the books.”
“We are not hanging out ” Riddle stressed. “If you want to stay, then I expect you to focus.”
“Alright, alright.” the ginger laughed before picking up one of the books on the table. He wanted to focus, he really did, but when he couldn't actively talk with them, and he was staring at words on the page, it made it impossible. He realized he had glazed over the same sentence ten times when he felt a hand on his knee.
“Cater, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Riddle says sternly. “I can help prepare you a study guide for the text later. But it's clear your head is in the clouds. Trey and I really need to focus.”
“I…” the ginger sighed and closed the book. None of this had done anything to chase the thoughts from his head anyway. It wasn’t like he was gonna dump any of this nastiness on them. Riddle had enough to deal with concerning his own family, and Trey had his hands full with Riddle. There was no way he could tell them the real reason he wanted to hang out right now. “Alright, sorry my head’s just not in it.”
“We can hang out this weekend if you want. After the test is over.” Trey smiled at him and Cater returned it, before standing. And making his way out of Heartslabyul. His heart was pounding, and he knew they didn’t mean anything by it, but on the heels of the conversation with his mother his dismissal felt like rejection. Nobody wants me around. No one cares about me. I’m better off… He needed to shake those thoughts, those thoughts lead to dangerous things. Things that couldn’t be undone. Cater needed a distraction and he needed it now.
Ace and Deuce were out, it was movie night at Ramshackle dorm. First Years Only. Something else he was excluded from. More people who didn’t want him. Why would anyone want someone as fucked up as him? His mother sure didn’t. A mistake, a failure. The words rang in his head, playing over and over with her voice. He knew it was stupid, it was alright if the first years wanted to hang out together. It wasn’t really rejection, but like with Riddle and Trey, his current state of mind wouldn’t allow him to see it any other way.
Worthless, failure, mistake.
Cater wasn’t really paying attention to where he was going. He was just looking for someone, anyone. But out in the cold of a winter’s night, the campus was deserted. There was no one around. Cater Diamond was truly and utterly alone. He felt cracks starting to form at the edges of his consciousness. He’d kept up his happy-go-lucky persona for so long. Taken on the weight of everyone else’s problems. Always making sure everyone else had what they needed. Always happy to provide help and comfort.
He’d always kept people at arm's length. It was easier that way. Lasting connections were impossible for someone like him. Cater could never hope to have something like what Trey and Riddle did. What Lilia had with Malleus, Sebek, and Silver. Hell, he was even jealous of Kalim and Jamil as screwed up as that sounded. Someone to take care of him when he needed it. was that such a selfish desire? It sure felt like it. How dare he ask for anything, a notion drilled into his head from a young age. Everyone needed more than him, everyone was more important than him. Worthless.
The thoughts raised in a cacophony in his mind, as he gripped the side of his head and sank to his knees. This was why he didn’t want to be alone. But what he had wanted, never really mattered.
It was then however that he finally realized where he was. The fountain in the school’s courtyard. And he wasn’t actually alone, there sitting on the edge of the stone circle was Vil. Beautiful as he’d ever been. He’d always found the blonde to be breathtaking but in the moonlight, his hair shone an unearthly hue. It was a rare treat for the ginger, and suddenly some of the darker thoughts were chased from his head, as a warmth spread through his chest, just from being in Vil’s presence.
He approached slowly and frowned when he saw Vil had clearly been crying. What had shaken the normally stoic Pomefoire dorm lead to have him out there at this hour crying at the fountain? “Vil…?” he spoke hesitantly.
The blonde looked up at him with a look of frustration. “Can I help you?” there was a bit of bite to Vil’s words and Cater hesitated for a moment.
“I just saw you out here alone crying, and I thought I might come lend an ear? Whatever it is that has you upset must be major. I don’t think I’ve actually seen you shed a tear before.” Cater crossed his arms, forcing a smile on his face.
“What, so you can go run and tell all you’re little followers on magicam about what’s got me like this?” Vil sneered standing. “I came out here to be alone, not to have someone watch me cry, and certainly not offer me fake sincerity.”
“Vil I wouldn’t-” Cater started but was cut off by the blonde.
“Save it. You’ve always got some angle, you always have since we first met. You just can’t leave me alone.” Vil snapped, he knew it wasn’t fair to speak to the ginger like this, but he was hurting right now. “You are the last person I want to see right now.”
“I-” Cater felt pain lace through him, as the blonde left him alone. It was always like this when Vil pushed him away. But still, he couldn't help but reach out when he had the chance. He was drawn to the other, in a way he couldn’t even explain. All he wanted to do was shower Vil with praise and affection, even if the other’s rejection cut him like knives.
He fell to his knees, gripping his head once more, the voices started screaming at him again, louder than before. Useless worthless, good for nothing, fake, ungrateful, mistake. Cater could feel himself coming apart at the seams. Cracking, breaking, likely beyond repair. Maybe this was it, maybe he’d finally stop being a burden on everyone else. Somehow the notion didn’t fill him with fear but with an overwhelming sense of calm, as finally the voices fell silent and everything went black.
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Riddle was preparing to go to bed, he’d already bathed, and gotten dressed in his pajamas. Tomorrow’s itinerary was on his desk. He was ready to curl up in his bed after a long productive day when the knock came at his door. The redhead opened it to find a very concerned looking Trey standing there. “What’s wrong?”
“Cater’s not in our room.” Trey crossed his arms and Riddle’s brow furled. While Cater had always flirted with the dorm rules, he’d never actually broke them. Especially curfew, without a good reason. “I tried to call him but he’s not answering.”
“Give me a minute.” Riddle shut the door, and grabbed his magic pen, using it to change into his dorm uniform. Before greeting Trey at the door. “Have you told anyone else?”
“No.” Trey shook his head. “I thought we could look for him. I don’t know where he’d be that he couldn’t answer his phone unless he fell asleep somewhere….”
Riddle pulled out his own phone calling the ginger, it wasn’t that he didn’t believe Trey but, Cater lived and breathed with his phone in his hand. ‘ You’ve reached Cay-Cay, leave a message and I’ll get back to you quicker than a snap!’ The redhead frowned as he shut his phone. There was a sense of dread rising in his stomach but he didn’t know why. There wasn’t anything that could have seriously happened to his friend on campus was there?
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Vil was emotionally and mentally exhausted when he got back to his dorm that night. Thankfully he didn’t have to face anyone. Yuu had been hosting a movie night for the first years at her dorm, and Rook had tagged along with Epel as a chaperone. A thinly veiled excuse to spend more time with the one he was actually meant to be with. Seeing how Rook had thrown himself into this relationship, he knew he’d just been fooling himself before. Rook never did anything by half. Why would he have even thought for a moment he’d have taken things this slow. A fool he surely was. He didn’t dare share his misery, and who would he tell it to anyway? No this was his shame to bear.
But as he opened his door, he stared, because on his bed, was the figure of a small boy. He was curled up in a ball crying. He couldn’t have been older than 5, he bore a striking resemblance to Cater, with reddish-orange hair, and tear-stained green eyes. “Hello” he spoke softly as not to startle the child as he moved closer to him, the boy looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes but didn’t speak. “Can I ask how you got here?”
The boy sniffled a bit “I don’t know.” he squirmed.
“Ok, then can you tell me who you are? I can take you to the headmaster, and he can help find your parents.” Vil kept his tone even as he sat down on the bed next to the small child.
“I…I think they sent me here.” the boy sounded like he was about to cry. “Mommy doesn’t really want me around.”
That single statement broke Vil’s heart, and while he was still concerned about how the boy had managed to not only get onto NRC’s campus, and into Pomefiore’s dorm, he was clearly scared and alone. They were all questions that could be answered later. “I’m sure she wants you and is worried about where you are.” the idea of a parent not wanting a child was something Vil couldn’t even fathom. “If you tell me who you are I can help you find them.”
The boy’s eyes looked downcast. “No one really wants me, not even you.” the boy’s eyes filled with tears. “But, my name is Cater.”
“What.” Vil shot up and looked at the boy in disbelief. “What game is this.”
The boy flinched at the sudden movement before his tears began in earnest again. The blonde stared trying to process what was going on. There was no way this child was his classmate was there? He’d just left him not that long ago….was this some kind of joke?
He couldn’t risk that it wasn’t. “Let's get you to the headmaster.” if nothing else then Crowley should have some answers. So Vil stuck out his hand to the boy.
The child looked at him, quivering but did as he was asked, reaching out to take Vil’s hand. As he did so however Vil felt a rush of magical energy surround him and a moment later, he and the boy had disappeared from his room.