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Chapter Text

It wasn't unusual for him to find himself just laying in bed, unmoving for hours just staring up at his ceiling even though he knew there were things he should be doing. 

He should pick up his laundry. He should get something to eat. He should be studying to get into college.

But instead he laid there, ‘bed rotting’ as his sister would say with a chuckle. He rolled onto his side and made eye contact with the plushie of a character from his sister's favorite game that she had gotten him as a joke. Down the hall he heard her let out a string of curses before he heard her marching down the hall like a toy soldier before she slammed the door to his room open, making him look up at her with a squinty glare due to the bright light leaking into the dark room.

“What do you want..?” he grumbled before letting his head drop back down onto his pillow.

“Raphael boss fight, I keep dying so you have to deal with him. Get out of your depression bed and help me.” She said as she flickered his lights on and off before making his way over to his bed and yanked his blanket off only to be met with a pillow being thrown at her face.

“God, you're such a pest. I'm up! I'm up! Fez, you would think you would learn how to defeat him yourself.” he groaned as she smiled with victory.

As they made their way to the living room he saw the resume fight option on the screen and sighed as he shook his head, “What route are you on this time?” He asked as he plopped down on the couch and grabbed the remote.

“Oh, I'm on ——’s route again, you know me, I'm a creature habit.” she said as she sat next to him on the couch, watching the screen as he restarted the fight.

The screen blacked out and four little coffins with different little images popped up on the screen as the little stars lit up to signal that the game was loading.

When the game was finally done loading the familiar cutscene begins, Raphael was holding his face in his hands, a black ink being to pool and drip from his hands, as green flames began to come to life and form a circle around Raphael and Yuu.

When Raphael looked up from his hands his eyes were cold, the golden irises gleamed with a dull and almost dead light as ink seemed to drip down from his hairline and sear markings into the flesh of his face and his clothes changed from his uniform to a long tattered purple robe as a large monster raised up from his shadow behind him.

“ By the unholy powers vested in me… Reliquary release..! ”

Chapter Text

Waking was a slow affair, blinking up at the stone ceiling above him as he laid up against a large plush pillow, dressed in a white button down and his uniform pants. His mind was calm, too calm considering everything.

With a sigh he sat up slowly, looking around his room, taking note on the orderly desk and shelves but damaged and torn painting that layed on the ground and the spilled ink that covered some of the floor and tissues. When he moved it hurt, a dull pain that seemed to come from the very marrow of his bones and he could feel the dried crust of what .just have been a nosebleed clinging to his face.

He pushed his hair out of his face and cringed at the sweat that clung to his hair, dampening the strains of brunette hair. 

How great, to start a new semester with a burning fever and not being in the right body.

He made his way over to the desk, flipping through the stack of books that sat there waiting for him, each and every one of them were brand new but the spine of the text books have been broken in, and the notebooks already had some of his messy drawl filled out some of the pages and the pen next to his unmarked student calendar was already halfway out of ink.

This was his first time seeing this room, but at the same time it wasn't. He knew where he kept his spare pens and what order the books on the shelf followed. He knew how he preferred to study between the hours of 6 PM to 10 PM, deeming sleep and food unnecessary if it meant getting a perfect grade. He knew all of this, but this was his first time seeing any of this.

He made his way to the small conjoined bathroom and stared at his reflection in the broken mirror. The dried blood around his nose looked more black in color, and the large bags under his eyes looked bruised and his skin was deathly pale. But that wasn't what had his attention, no, what had his attention was the face staring back at him.

It wasn't his face, but it was at the same time.

Nothing in this world or the next could ever properly prepare someone for transportation into someone else's body and to feel their memories slowly but surely split your skull open as they merge with your own making it hard to tell where their memories began and yours ended.

With a grimace he spoke softly to himself, “My name is Raphael, I am a Disomiaia second year… and I am not in my original body…”

***

When he finally left the bathroom after scrubbing his face with cold water he made his way over to his desk and pulled out an empty notebook and began to write everything he knew about the game and body he now resided in, making sure everything was in the fake language him and his sister had made when they were younger and kept it as a secret code.

When he was done he closed the notebook and made his way back over to the bed and lifted the mattress up amd placed it down, once that was done he patted the dust off his hands and stood up, it to hear a little squeak.

Looking up he made eye contact with small pink eyes, the creature was hanging upside down and shook its pinkish-purplish white fur and stretched its wings out.

Raphael sighed and reached his hand out, the small bat launched it's down and latched onto the baggy sleeves of Raphael's shirt.

"Good morning Bartók."

Bartók, the original Raphael's familiar and probably the only thing he could trust in this world, but the original refrained from bringing the small bat in fear that it would get hurt. Raphael sighed a bit more and Bartók tilted his little head.

With a sigh he checked the time and moved to don his vest and shoes, Bartók flew off and landed on the stack of textbooks as Raphael got himself ready for class and moved away as Raphael took the books and put them in his school bag. When Raphael goes to open the door the small bat flies over and lands on his shoulder, Raphael glanced down at the bat and simply raised an eyebrow before sighing, taking the bat with him and ignoring the squeak that sounded somewhat like a cheer.

As he left his dorm room he ignored the cold and quite stone halls, green flames lighting his path as he walked a path he knew he logically shouldn't know and made his way to the gloomy outside, crossing the bridge he ignored the slight shiver that threatened to go down his spin as he made his way to the mirror chamber, but nothing mattered at this moment besides not dying.

***

The Animal Language test on the first day of class comes as a bit of a surprise. He didn’t remember if the game ever mentioned Raphael’s classes. His original memories and Raphael's memories were a chaotic mess where he could remember really specific details about his day to day life, but nothing that could impact the grade of the test before him.

So he filled out his paper as carefully as he could, choosing his answer based off of what seemed right, Bartók would move in the baggy sleeve of Raphael's school shirt, it being the safest hiding spot for the small bat. 

When he was done he looked up and saw that most of the class was still glaring down at their papers or asleep, with a sigh he stood up and walked down the rows of desks slowly, and once he reached Professor Trein's desk he placed his test down in the basket the teacher told everyone to leave it ocne they finished.

The old teacher looked up at him as his cat let out a low meow, "It seems like you finished first like always, go back to your seat for now."

Raphael nodded his head with a bored look on his face, and as he walked back to his table.

Sighing, Raphael took his seat and he watched as other students got up and turned in their own test. With no obvious main characters in his class he felt like one less burden lifted off his chest, only for a figure to walk past him slowly, a familiar gleam of silver hair catching his eyes.

He held back a silent curse as there, walking up to the Professor's desk was an unreleased love interest, and one of Raphael's fellow dorm members.

Raphael watched the male turned in his paper with no fanfare and started walking back to his seat. 

Silver looked exactly like his promo art, fair-skinned and average height. Hiss mid-length, silver colored hair with long bangs that fall around and between his eyes with a slight hint of a small cowlick on the top of his head. His eyes were a mix of light blue and light purple- in the game the color is described as “auroral.”- His classic neutral, and half-lidded expression sat on his face and Raphael wanted nothing more than to hit his head against his table.

With his talent in swordplay and his ability to use light magic, Silver was indeed worthy of being a male lead, however there was something floating above Silver's head that caught Raphael's eyes

Raphael stares at the glowing number and blinking slowly, as if trying to tell if he was imagining things.

In silver numbers inside a heart was a zero affection rating.

Mystified, Raphael’s unable to take his eyes away and had to blink and look away quickly when Silver's eyes trailed onto him.

Raphael was glad when his fellow dorm mate kept walking, despite everything this was a blessing in disguise, this ment he could keep track of Yuu's progress without involving himself with them or any of the love interest.

When the bell rings and the class is dismissed. Raphael starts to pack his bag and got up quickly, not wanting any potential interactions, his mind racing with all the new possibilities with the new development before him.

Chapter Text

The perfect idea came to Raphael during his walk back to his dorm, his notes for Crewel's class sitting heavy in his bag as his gears turned.

Earlier in class they went over a variety of poisonous plants and their side effects, and that's when the plan hit him.

While he couldn't eat the plants safely he could eat something that would have similar effects. And that's how he found himself in the Diasomnia kitchens, knowing that anyone and everyone who could catch him or try to stop him had after school clubs. So, with a deep breath he opened the shared fridge and there and behold laid the most important part of his plan.

Lilia Vanrouge's cooking.

It was infamous in itself and the idea of putting it in his body seemed like the worst and best idea ever.

Raphael looked around a few times before taking a little bit of it and putting it in his bag, careful not to leave evidence of his crime before closing the fridge door and went straight to his room.

Locking the door behind him, he finally took a deep breath, the nerves of being caught gone the moment he shut his door.

With a sight he carefully placed his bag on his desk and undid his shirt sleeve, letting Bartók free. The small bat flew out of his sleeve and circled around the room before landing on the dark wood of the desk.

Pulling out his desk chair and sitting down, Raphael reached forward and scratched Bartók under the chin.

"Quite the first day, huh Bartók?"

"I'll say! If it was up to me I'll give those brats a taste of their own medicine! I'd give them a HA! And a HI-YA! And then a OOH-WAH! And I'd kick them!" A small voice called out, and Raphael chuckled.

"Why am I not surprised you'd say that-!" Raphael stopped what he was saying, sitting up in his chair quickly, looking down at Bartók with wide golden eyes.

"What? Is there something wrong- wait… did you just answer me back!? You can understand me!?" Bartók squeaked out, pink eyes wide.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that…" Raphael laughed, pushing his curly brown hair out of his face.

"I take it it's not normal for people to speak back?" 

"Normal? Normal! As if anyone wants to hear what a bat's got to say! Out of all the animal languages people learn bat the least!" Bartók muttered the last part with an offended huff.

Raphael just smiles and picks his bat familiar up with gentle hands, "Well, I'm not most people, now am I?"

"Obviously, after all, who in their right mind talks to a bat?"

Raphael laughed some more, placing Bartók on his shoulder, "So what are you planning to do with that weird stuff you took from the fridge?"

"Bartók, how does the idea of faking ill sound?"

"Why do I not like the sound of this?" Bartók muttered, weariness strong in his voice.

"I mean, the plan does require me to eat this… and I know the perfect time to do so!" Raphael pushed himself out of his chair, the grin on his face a little crazed.

"And when is that?" Bartók squeaked, clinging tightly to the human's shoulder.

"First of all, how good would you say your acting skills are?"

"I'd say I'm a pretty good actor- wait, why?"

"We're going to a party tonight my dear batty friend!" Raphael pushed open his wardrobe with a dramatic flare.

"A party? Ooh, I could teach you the latest dance step. It starts with, like, a 'whoa.' And then you get really crazy with the hips. It's fun!" Bartók perked up before a look of confusion became clear. "Wait, I'm confused why a party has to do anything with the plan?"

"We're going to Diasomnia's annual welcoming party for all the new first years, and that's when we'll set the stage! After all, who will expect poor ol' Raphael to do anything spontaneous after word goes out that he is deathly ill !"

***

The only downside of the plan was forcing himself to mingle with the other people of his dorm, especially when he seemed to be purposely not invited, the want to just turn tail and go back to the safety of his room and come up with a new plan. But it was a little too late for that now, a bite of Vanrouge's cooking under his tongue (a trick he learned from his last life for the times he had to eat things he didn't like) and he had already made amends with whatever god might exist.

Raphael stood outside the doors leading to the lounge, the sounds of people laughing and talking obvious from where he stood.

Taking a deep breath helped him settle into the role he had to play, "Remember this Bartók, when everyone looks down on you, nothing you can do will surprise them. So let's give 'em a good show." Raphael glanced down before looking back up, masking any emotion on his face with a bored and blank persona.

Placing his hands on the doors he pushed forward with all his strength, letting the doors swing open and bang against the cold stone walls, making them echo and snuff out all conversation. The lounge became deafeningly silent as all eyes glanced up at him, Raphael let his eyes glance across the room broadly, making sure to make eye contact with all whose eyes locked in with him.

With a sigh he stepped into the lounge, his form lax but still holding the strength of a predator on the prowl, he stopped walking when he officially arrived at the center of the crowd, everyone keeping a safe distance from him.

"How odd… to find such a gathering here, especially when I was led to believe that the welcoming party wasn't being held this year. If I didn't know any better, I would think I was purposely not invited…" Raphael let his voice ring out and he saw the students who must have 'lost' his invite glances between themselves nervously.

"Well then, what's with all the grave faces! After all, this is a party for our lucky new first years! Let's not hold back on my accord!" Raphael faked his cheer and grabbed a drink, his grin seeming cruel as he raised his glasses before walking away to a dark corner of the room.

After a bit of time the chatter came back like cricket after the storm, Raphael stayed in his dark corner watching for the main characters and when he saw that they weren't there yet he smirked into his glass, after all, he placed himself by the door that would lead to them when the time was right.

Until the time was right however, he had to wait, the endless chatter filled the air and Raphael truly just wanted to get this over with, Bartók watched everyone from his shoulder, listening for the important part of the plan to arrive. And when the time was right Bartók squeaked in Raphael's ear.

With a grimace Raphael moved the 'food' out from under his tongue and used his beverage to wash it down.

The effect didn't take place right away which gave him enough time to slip out the door, however, it seemed like the moment the door softly clicked shut the effects kicked in, making him stumble and his ears started to ring.

Raphael barely had time to grab onto the wall, his breath becoming labored and any color on his face drained completely. He could see Bartók's panicked face before him but it blurred and he was sure he had lost the strength in his legs and started to drop to the ground.

"-h." Raphael couldn't hear what was being said or who was saying it, but from the feeling of a warm presence at his back he knew someone was there to witness his act and all his efforts weren't in vain.

"Go- grab-"

"-ack!"

Two voices shouted back and forth but Raphael couldn't hear the words they were saying

Raphael smothered a ragged cough with his handfast it itself out of his throat and from the warm and wet sensation it brought with it and the slight red he could see stain his hands his plan went a little bit better than he originally planned.

With a few more coughing fits Raphael's sense slowly started coming back, the smoothing feeling of someone rubbing circles into his back made him sigh in relief and had him leaning into the comforting touch, before his mind raced back to him and he flinched before shooting forward and away from the touch. 

"Whoa there-" a strong hand reaching forward and steady him and Raphael didn't have to turn around to see who was with him, after all who couldn't reorganize a male lead just from the sound of his voice.

Chapter Text

Out of the four possible male leads in Diasomnia to find him in this state he was almost thankful that it was Silver, the tiered swordsman was not only the most quiet but also someone who probably wouldn't be able to see through his act.

With a labored breath Raphael put some distance between them, glaring at Silver like he was the bane of his existence while he was cheering happily on the inside that his plan had worked.

"Sorry for the disturbance, I'll be on my way-" Raphael started to stand, only to be stopped by a hand grabbing his arm.

"Wait, Sebek is grabbing my ol- I mean Lilia, please wait till you've seen medical help."

"You're alive!" Bartók squeaked in relief, flinging himself at Raphael's face, Raphael huffed and gently grabbed the bat by the scruff and pulled him away from his face.

"In a manner of speaking…" Raphael told his familiar.

"Quick! How many thumbs am I holding up!?" Bartók raised a single wing, flapping it in Raphael's face.

"Bartók-"

"How many!?" The bat insists.

"You only have one thumb per wing Bartók, the answer is obvious-" Raphael was cut off by a loud laugh, making him turn his head to glare at the person laughing, only to swear internally at who he saw.

There stood a very young-looking man, black, mid-length hair with angled, straight-cut bangs and magenta peekaboo highlights. Deep red eyes stared at Raphael like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. The benevolent smile on his face made Raphael grimace.

"Vice Prefect Vanrouge." Raphael called, a black look on his face like he wasn't just arguing with a bat.

"Fufufu, there is no need for that, we're all members of the same dorm, now then! It's not an everyday occurrence for Sebek to come running for me in a panic, what seems to be the issue?" Lilia asked but it was obvious that he had already noticed the red on the palms of Raphael's hands and the feverish tone of the human's face.

"It was nothing of great concern, and it was most definitely not enough to have someone send for you in such a panic." Raphael kept calm, meeting Lilia head on and not avoiding eye contact.

"You couldn't breathe and you were coughing up blood, how is that not something of concern?" Silver asked and Raphael almost forgot he was there from how silent he was being.

Raphael waved his hand lazily, "It was just a mild attack, it could have been worse." 

The father and son duo before him stayed silent, Raphael's words echoing in their minds.

Silver was the first to speak again, "Mild? This has happened before?"

Raphael tensed up, like he just realized he had let something slip he wasn't supposed to. He clenched his jaw and made sure he was avoiding eye contact now.

"Tch, it was nothing. Now then, I'll be off now, don't let me ruin your evening." Raphael turned around and speed walked away, this time not letting a call of "Wait!" stop him.

Once he got to the safety of his room he made a show of slamming his door shut behind him just in case, the moment the lock in his door clicked shut he let out a giant sigh.

Walking over and flopping on his bed he finally let out the grin that he had to hold back all the way back to his room show.

"We did it Bartók! The plan went even better than we expected!" Raphael let out a laugh, holding the bat up in the air.

Bartók squeaked at the fast movement, blinking down at his human with his large pink eyes before a small gang filled smile filled out on the bat's face.

"Three of the four people we needed to find out about my sickness found out and they most definitely will tell Malleus about what transpired and then they'll do some snooping, discover I went to the welcoming party uninvited and then fled unprompted and the rest of the story they can piece together themselves!" Raphael throws Bartók up in the air, excitedly laughing, the bat squeaked at the sudden movement before flying around laughing also.

"Truly this plan can't go wrong!"

***

What Raphael didn't put into consideration was a food tray to be plopped down in front of him during lunch and Silver to sit down across from him, the transparent zero above his head now a three.

Raphael put his spoon down carefully, his mind racing, "Yuu and Silver aren't supposed to meet yet!?"

Despite all the screaming and cursing that was going on in his head Raphael's face was completely calm.

"May I ask what you're doing?" Raphael asked coldly, picking up his spoon to continue eating to make himself appear unfazed.

"Eating? What else could I be doing?" Silver asked calmly, seemingly unaware of Raphael's inner conflict.

Raphael gripped his spoon tightly, a tick mark forming on his forehead, Bartók looked up for where he was eating a tomato.

"You know, you really should watch your blood pressure. My nephew Izzy just keeled over mid-mango. Stress, it's a killer, and he was a fruit bat! No meat, no blood even!" Bartók calmly stated and Raphael forced himself to relax and ignore the man in front of him.

"I don't remember you having a bat with you last year." Silver politely said but Raphael had to hold back from yelling, "STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO ME! THIS IS THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING!!!"

Instead he looked up and glared some more, "Just because you didn't see Bartók doesn't mean he wasn't there, after all, it would be unwise for me to have an obvious weakness considering how I am treated."

Silver flinched a little and looked down at his food, but Raphael wasn't done, "You would think a dorm whose Prefect is constantly excluded would be better at inviting people, especially their own dorm mates."

Silver looked like he was slapped at Raphael's words and even Raphael felt a little bad for what he said, after all Silver wasn't the one treating Raphael badly. 

However he felt some anger towards him for the original Raphael's sake, after all, Silver knew how the original was treated, so did Lilia and Sebek but none of them did anything to help the struggling youth who truly only needed someone to reach out for him. 

But nobody did, and he continued to struggle and fight with all he had, so when Yuu came around and was treated better than he was despite not having a drop of magic. The original Raphael couldn't hold it all in anymore.

So yes, Silver has done nothing wrong to him personally, but he felt slight satisfaction at the hurt look on his face.

Raphael looked away with a sigh and continued to eat his lunch in silence, only stopping when Bartók finished eating his tomato.

He collected his stuff quickly, ignoring the look he was getting from the swordsman in front of him and the looks his practically full bowl of soup was getting.

"Well then, this was a very inlightin conversation, but I will be leaving now. Have a good rest of your day."

Chapter Text

Raphael was forced to hold back a headache all day, things having spiraled since lunch. His new shadow continued to follow him around after lunch despite the harsh words.

So, when Professor Crewel called his name as he was about to leave and go back to his dorm for the remainder of the day Raphael felt like he could kiss the handsome teacher.

Silver seemed conflicted, shifting his weight back and forth making Raphael sigh, "Don't you have horseback riding or something? Why are you standing there, you're acting like you won't see me at the dorm."

Silver looked like he was shocked by Raphael's words before the expression wore off.

"Yes, I will see you later."

"Yeah, yeah." Raphael waved lazily and made his way over to the waiting teacher.

Once all the other students cleared out of the room Raphael didn't wait before jumping head first into what the teacher wanted.

"May I ask if something is wrong Professor Crewel? I don't believe I've done anything to warrant a private conversation." Raphael said calmly, slipping his go to mask of someone calm and confident.

"It's nothing you have to worry about puppy, just a request you made last year on tutoring." Raphael nodded like he remembered making such a request while he was internally screaming and cursing the original Raphael out in his head for wanting such a thing.

"I was able to find one of your follow puppies who was more than willing to help out, he said that the two of you can start tomorrow after school when all the clubs are going on to go over which classes you might need help on. He said to meet him in the library." Crewel stated, stacking his papers into a neat pile.

"Thank you Professor, for finding time to help me find someone willing to tutor me." The two of them didn't talk for much longer, getting all the details ironed out and by the end of it Raphael wanted nothing more than to drop into his bed and go to sleep.

But even once he was in the comfort of his room he knew he had to write down all the new developments. Silver's affection rating really was an unexpected surprise, and from what Raphael had seen with some of the other male leads he had seen in passing their affection meters were still a silvery zero, making Silver an outlier.

A sharp knock on his window made him smile, he got up and unlatched it and let it swing open wide. Bartók flew in with a huff, "Gee, who does this place's landscaping?"

Raphael let the bat land on his arm, scratching his fur with a found look.

"And that weather! Talk about windy!" Bartók was right, the normally gloomy Diasomnia weather was worse than normal and Raphael wondered if the rumor that stated that Malleus's mood could contribute to how the weather was like. An idea to test the rumor and see if it had any real merit to it at a later date circled in his mind for a few seconds.

"So, did you check on the thing I asked you too?" Raphael moved back over to his desk, placing the bat down in front of him.

"Yeah and you won't believe what I saw! Two Heartslabyul students, a weird raccoon looking thing, and a kid went into the cave so I followed them in and they were fighting this weird monster!" 

This course of events made Raphael feel relieved, it meant that Yuu had just finished the practice battle with the overblot monster inside of Dwarves mine. Because that was the second objective of Twisted wonderland, besides romancing the player's chosen male lead the player had to fight the evil overblot monsters.

Raphael wrote everything that Bartók said carefully, even asking the bat to repeat some details to make Sure he didn't miss anything. Once he was positive he hadn't missed anything he closed the notebook and put it back under his bed for safe keeping.

Once that was done he went over to his desk and pulled out his work for the day, thankful that the original's memories had been becoming more and more prominent. Raphael went through the questions with ease and explained why he chose his answer carefully and once he was done he went through and double checked his work.

Standing up with a grown he tried to crack his back with little success, but a knock on his door made him snap his head sharply. A weary look on his face as another knock rang out, he waited till he heard quiet footsteps leave before he even thought of going over to his door and even then, when he opened it he did so slowly.

Looking around cautiously, Raphael figured whoever knocked was long gone and not lingering around the corner, Bartók landed within his hair and poked his little head around curiously. With a sigh Raphael looked down at his feet only to discover a small covered bowl with what looked like a few rolls inside of a clear sandwich bag.

Carefully bending down so Bartók wouldn't fall he picked up the bowl and rolls and with his free hand he opened up the little note that was left with it. The note had left nothing incriminating and only said 'Eat Me!' in neat letters.

Raphael closed his door with his foot, still looking at the note with confusion on his face. He walked back over to his desk and placed the covered bowl down gently, pulling out the chair he plopped down and took off the lid and a pleasant smell entered the room, his stomach grumbling from not only skipping breakfast but not eating a lot during lunch.

He opened the bag with the bread rolls and grabbed one, ripping it in half and dipped it into the soup before placing it in his mouth. The warmth of the soup and the soft bread filled him with a soft comfort.

"I don't remember food tasting this good…" Raphael muttered to himself and the fact the last real meal he had was when he was still in his body, his sister's teasing voice and a few playful jabs being thrown between bite of food. Raphael felt tears at the corner of his eyes and he let them fall as he continued to eat, Bartók watched with a sad look on his face but the bat didn't say anything.

Once he finished the last drop of the soup he got up and fell into his bed, not even bothering to get underneath the covers, and that's how he stayed, falling into a peaceful and dreamless sleep.

***

When he went to the library to meet with his potential tutor he almost turned around and booked it when he saw who was waiting for him.

Short, wavy cool light-gray color hair framed and fair skinned face. A small beauty mark rests below his lip on the left side of his face. Rectangular, half-rim glasses with a gray frame covered his eyes that were just a shade darker than his hair, the silver zero floating above his head made Raphael want to cry.

Raphael could have gotten away too, but right before he could turn and leave those gray eyes landed on his form and a modest smile with a calculating gaze greeted him.

"Ah, you must be Raphael. I am Azul Ashengrotto, I volunteered to help you with your tutoring sessions." The kind and pleasant grin screamed bad news.

'God damnit Raphael! This shit wasn't mentioned in the game! I'm not prepared for this shit!!' He screamed and cried in his head but in reality he placed a mask matching Azul's on his face and gave a closed eye smile in response.

Calculating gold didn't look away from calculating gray.

Chapter Text

"Ah, Prefect Ashengrotto! I have heard great things about you, and I must say it's such an honor knowing someone like you might be tutoring me!" Raphael wove his words together carefully, making sure that they were both flattering and borderline rude.

"Might?" And Azul took the bait, and Raphael found dealing with the mer was a lot easier than his own dorm mates, it probably helped that he knew Azul's route like the back of his hand from the amount of times he watched his sister play it. Both good and bad he knew the fate of his fellow second year.

In Azul's bad end, after scamming the whole school his contracts were destroyed making the mer overblot, and within his rage he had killed other students and with his blot twisted mind he had drowned Yuu.

But in his good end it ended rather peacefully, after he graduated from Raven Night College Azul went on to gain a proper business degree and started a popular cafe and restaurant with the Leech twins, and that's when Yuu reappears. After not seeing each other in years the two of them recon and fell in love, after a while the two married and it's implied that the two of them have children.

Raphael smiled to himself but it must have seemed antagonizing to the male before him if the eyebrow twitch was anything to go by. With a sigh Raphael sat down carefully, Bartók clinging to the inside of his oversized school jacket asleep and he didn't want to risk waking the bat.

"Yes might, you are a busy dorm head who runs a successful business and you are the president of your club, I would hate to take time from you that you could be using for more important things. And besides, if we both decided that we don't seem to work well together then it would be best for me to search for a different tutor that way the two of us wouldn't be at each other's throat the entire time." Raphael explained, eyes closed as he pointed out all the good reasons why they might not continue the tutoring sessions.

"Is that so? And what if only one of us decides that they don't like the other's presence?" Azul asked, making Raphael open his eyes only to blink in confusion, the once silver zero now a two, making Raphael look around expecting to see Yuu walking around the library on a noble quest to find a hint back to their world or them working to catch up with their peers who have grown up with the knowledge of this world.

And while Raphael may have not seen the main character doesn't mean Azul didn't, making Raphael shiver, "What a scary protagonist, they don't even have to say anything to make affection points rise…"

"Is there something wrong? You seem distracted."

"Ah, it's nothing, I thought I heard something but I must have been imagining it." Raphael smiled and he hoped it didn't look like a grimace.

***

Despite his worst fears, the tutoring sessions didn't go badly, in fact it went really well. They figured out what topics needed more work than the others and set a schedule for them to meet up. So with an oddly good end of the bad Raphael should have expected something to go wrong.

So as he sat on the ground, his shirt muddy and blood dripping down his nose he was only worried about Bartók getting injured in what was about to be a standard beating.

It was two Diasomnia student, third years his mind added in, and a Savanaclaw student. An odd combination, out of all the dorms to team up with his own he didn't expect Savanaclaw. With a sigh he let them kick him around so that he was curled into himself which let him better protect Bartók and slip what might have been a cookie if it wasn't for the fact that Lilia made it into his mouth.

Swallowing quickly he let the effects rush over him, it was less intense than last time, but it still didn't feel good. His skin became almost as pale as paper and he felt as if he was going to throw up, he vaguely heard one of the students before him mutter something to the others and he felt himself get pushed onto his back. 

Within a few seconds the three students who were using him as a pinata ran off with what sounded like a terrified shout, leaving Raphael where he was on the ground coughing and shivering from a cold breeze that didn't exist.

A shadow over came his crumbled form and he felt himself being lifted up off the ground, his face being pressed into something soft and he let the exhaust take him over and he closed his eyes.

***

He blinked a few times after his consciousness came back to him, Bartók slept peacefully next to him on the pillow and he raised up out of bed slowly before looking around. He was in fact in his room, but he had no idea how he got there.

He got up and out of his bed slowly and discovered that his clothes had been changed and any bruising he had had been treated with ointment. A bowl of soup sat on his bedside dresser next to his lamb along with a note. Picking it up carefully he opened it and read its contents.

'You do not need to worry about class tomorrow, I have it so the teachers think you are sick so stay in bed and rest.'

While on one hand he was glad with the sudden time off, he was equally weary about who could possibly be helping him and why they were helping. With a sigh he went back to bed, falling asleep had been easy enough but his dreams seemed to plague him of a life where no matter what he did he overblots and is killed mercilessly.

***

Waking had been a sudden and unfortunate thing, Raphael closed his eyes and turned over, hoping to fall back asleep but when it became clear that sleep won't grace him with its presence he got up with a sigh.

Bartók was still snoring away and he let the bat sleep, looking at his clock he saw it was four in the morning making him glare at the time like it was at fault for Raphael's inability to go back to sleep.

He got up and winced when his feet hit the cold stone floor, he put on his slippers and he stretched, grabbing the bowl from the night before he carefully left his room with the kitchen in mind. 

The hallways were silent and even with the odd green fire the shadows seemed to make you think you weren't alone. Turning the corner that led to the kitchen made him walk a little faster, he creaked the door open slowly and only stepped inside once he knew for sure that there was nobody there.

Once in the kitchen he placed the bowl down and carefully rinsed it out, after that he made his way over to the kettle, hoping that some tea would help calm him enough that he could go back to sleep. He was as silent as a mouse as he moved around the kitchen and he kept a careful ear out on the kettle trying to listen for the bubbles hitting the metal.

"I should just keep water and food in my room, then I wouldn't have to sneak around…" Raphael muttered to himself, as he waited he noticed a tall figure hiding from the shadows, he didn't say anything in case it was someone who wished him harm. But considering that Raphael had his back turned to the mysterious figure and nothing bad happened he continued with his business.

Once he heard the kettle start to get loud he pulled down two cups and two bags of mint tea, he quickly took the kettle off the burner and prepared the two cups in silence. Once he was done he slid the second one as far from him as he could get it.

"The second cup is for you if you want it, if not just dump it down the sink for all I care. I'll be going back to my room now, have a good rest of your night." Raphael stares directly at the shadowy figure for the first time since it appeared at the corner of his eyes, it stiffened slightly but it didn't move. 

Raphael left through the door leading to the hallway, not looking at the mysterious figure as he left, but if he looked back even for a second as the clouds broke and the moon's light filtered into the room he would have seen a glimpse of dark hair along with a silvery number changing in the moonlight.

Chapter Text

Going back to class after a day off was always odd, but Raphael ignored any questioning looks he was given and told the teachers who felt the need to ask that he was in fact feeling better, most gave a shrug and told him to go back to his seat, but the odd glint in Professor Crewel and Professor Trein's eyes told him that they didn't believe him for a second.

During class he kept silent and did his work, pretending Silver wasn't constantly looking over at him from where he sat.

When lunch came around he was quick to grab his food and a tomato for the hidden Bartók and make his way out of the cafeteria, not wanting an awkward meal with his dorm mate again.

And that's how he found himself outside the botanical garden, it was peaceful and even though he was only sitting at the back of the garden, knowing better to sit at one of the benches at the front of it, he enjoyed how quiet it was. The slight breeze went through the trees and Raphael found himself laying down on his back.

The sun felt nice on his face and he felt like if he were to sink into the ground and stay there forever it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

He closed his eyes with a happy smile, the only noise being of Bartók eating at his tomato and the sound of footsteps- Raphael stiffened up but prayed that whoever it was wouldn't notice him.

But as he felt a shadow block out the sun he let out a deep sigh.

"Oh, what's a Diasomnia bastard like you doing here?" The familiar voice growled out and Raphael wanted to just disappear even more.

"Just enjoying the weather, after all it is such a nice day." Raphael replied back, not bothering to open his eyes, successfully giving off the feeling of someone who couldn't care less.

"Ah? What was that?" Damn, probably not the best choice of words.

"Oh my, such hostility! And here I thought our dorms were starting to get along, after all one of yours was more than willing to team up with some of us 'Diasomnia bastards' the other day over a common goal. Sure it was in my disposal, but they seemed to work very well together, Prefect Kingscholar." Raphael opened his eyes, uncaring if his bandages were on display.

Green met gold and nothing was said between them. The lion just huffed and openly looked Raphael up and down, the human sat up and sat across from the beast-man like it was a usual occurrence.

"So, is there anything else you need from me or can I go back to relaxing and trying to disappear from the world?"

"Why do you smell like that?" Leona ignored Raphael's question and crouched down so he was at the same height. 

"Smell like what? I know I bath regularly so it can't be that." Raphael even raised an arm and smelled it for show.

"Tch, you smell like you're ill."

Raphael glared, all previous humor now gone, "Damn, you really know how to set the mood, you must be really popular with the ladies."

Leona made another 'tch' sound and flicked Raphael's forehead making him shout out in surprise more than pain.

"In the future herbivore, just sit inside the gardens, you look pathetic out here."

"And what if I like it out here? There's no lion's out here to harass me whenever I just want to lay down and enjoy the nice weather." Leona only smirks and walks away, most likely to enter the botanical garden.

***

"I didn't believe I would find myself saying this… especially since I am supposed to be tutoring you, but in my opinion I don't believe you need to be tutoring." Azul looked down at Raphael's papers slowly, acting like he was looking for something he might have missed the first time he looked over them.

"Of course I do, I am at the bottom of the scoreboard for my dorm each semester. I know I am lacking compared to them in the magical straight department, so I will do anything in my power to catch up with them where I can." 

Azul looked at Raphael like he had grown a second head, "Ah, this is what Professor Crewel meant when he said you were particularly stubborn…" Azul muttered, not even bothering to try and hide his words from Raphael.

Raphael's eyebrow twitched in iteration, "What was that?" 

Azul just waxed his question off like it wasn't all important, making Raphael more annoyed.

"With grades like this you would make any dorm happy to have you." Azul went on with his little rant about Raphael's potential and how he would make any dorm proud.

"I wish you could hear yourself. It's really quite irritating." Bartók squeaked, making Azul stop and look down at the bat in confusion.

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Raphael asked, making Azul look away from the bat to the Diasomnia second year.

"Ah yes, if you so wish, I run a small business-"

"No thanks." Raphael cut the octopus mer off, already knowing where it was going.

"I rather not somehow be unable to hold up my end of the bargain and have those twins of yours looking for me."

Azul looked a little put off by Raphael's sudden words, but his grin settled back on his face.

"How odd, how did you know that the Leech twins would help make sure you settled your debt?" Azul's eyes lit up a little too brightly and Raphael refused to make eye contact.

"Education guess?" Raphael shrugged, hoping that it was good enough, when he looked back up at Azul he nearly cursed when he noticed that the affection points had risen from the last time he checked.

"God damn, he must have thought about Yuu… if they are raising points this quickly I most definitely don't want to be on their bad side…"

"Say, would you be interested in joining me tomorrow and come to a club meeting? We have a game in mind but it would seem like we need another player but are short one." Azul's glasses seemed to gleam in the light, resting his face on his hands.

Raphael's face was blank, "Why do I feel like I'm not actually being given an option?"

Azul looked as innocent as a cat that just caught and killed not only a cannery but the whole flock of birds, "Why, of course you have an option! Why wouldn't you?"

Raphael just glared in response, "Fine, we'll do it your way."

"Wonderful! I will meet up with you after class tomorrow." Azul slides Raphael's work back over to him, anything that was incorrect was circled.

"Yeah, wonderful…" Raphael clicked his tongue and started correcting his work, ignoring Azul's reminder to explain why the new answer was correct.

Chapter Text

The next day was oddly calm, no random tripping hazards or mean whispering behind his back. Raphael however, couldn't help but find the whole situation very sketchy and was stuck being on edge the entire day.

So when lunch came around he snuck off to his now favorite spot behind the gardens only for the back of his shirt to get grabbed, yanking him back. With a sigh he closed his eyes and tensed up expecting to get hit.

"Where do you think you're going herbivore?" A familiar voice asked and Raphael opened his eyes, trying to male it seem like he wasn't surprised.

"Ah, Prefect Kingscholar. I wasn't expecting to be manhandled this early in the day, but hey, worse things can happen- Hey! What are you doing!?" The last thing Raphael expected was a nose to be pushed in his hair and to get sniffed by the Lion beastman. Leona lets go of the back of Raphael's shirt and circles him as he smells, only pulling away after he was facing Raphael.

"So, do I just ignore all of that or are we going to talk about what just happened? Because I personally think we need to talk about boundaries-" Leona just grabbed his shirt again, making him almost trip and drop his food at the sudden movement. He let himself get dragged into the gardens, careful not to drop anything.

Once they reached a sunny spot that was hidden by trees and bushes, Leona let him go, flopping down onto the grass and leaned up against the tree.

"Are you going to stand there and stare all day or are you going to sit down?"

"What?" Raphael's mind blanked out at the question, Leona smiled.

"Sit down or I'm gonna start charging you for how much you're looking at me." 

Raphael sat down less than gracefully, but he was more careful about placing his sandwich and Bartók's tomato down, he loosened his sleeve and held his arm out, "Bartók, lunchtime." 

The little bat crawled out carefully, giving the lion an odd glance before flying down to his favorite red fruit.

Bartók gave Leona another quick glance before looking up to Raphael then down to his untouched sandwich, words not needed for the human to understand what he wanted.

With a sigh Raphael picked up his sandwich and took a bite before looking down at the bat with an expression that read 'are you happy now?'

After seeing Raphael swallow his bite the bat started to dig in, but would pause every so often to make sure Raphael was eating.

And that's how lunch was spent, Leona slept and Raphael ate enough of his sandwich that Bartók didn't feel the need to get sassy. With heavy eyelids Raphael laid down in the grass, letting the warm sunlight lull him to a short rest. 

As he slept he didn't notice the emerald green eyes open up and watch him, a zero changing for the better.

***

Finishing class for the day only to find Azul Ashengrotto waiting for you outside your classroom door for most people is a reason for concern, for Raphael however it was just another thing to give him a headache.

Silver watched him with sharp eyes as he walked straight to the mer, an unasked question floating in his mind but Raphael didn't care much for words unspoken.

"Do I want to know how exactly you knew what my last class was?" Raphael asked uncaringly, ignoring the looks of surprise from his classmates. 

"Well it would only make sense for me to figure out which class is your last, after all we made plans together and I didn't want you to 'forget' ." Azul smiled pleasantly.

"How cruel you make me out to be, I said I would join you, how little do you think of my promises?" Raphael shot back with as much dramatic flare he could muster, finding some joy at the twitch of Azul's perfect brow.

With very little fanfare they left, no words being shared between them, both of them seeing no point in useless small talk.

But such a thing didn't last, "As I have mentioned, I do offer a consulting business and I wouldn't mind making a deal with you if you ever so desire it."

"What makes you think I would?"

"Because you have a yearning about you, and how could I look away and not offer my assists?" Azul asked, but they both knew an answer wasn't necessary, but Raphael wouldn't be himself if he didn't try to get that word in.

"To call it yearning makes it sound too delicate, what I have is much more disgusting." For the first time since coming to this Twisted Wonderland did Raphael let his oh so carefully placed mask slip, Azul having seen the person he thought he figured out show off a whole new chapter left him breathless, the five above his head turned to thirteen.

***

Idia Shroud wasn't someone Raphael thought about often, his route being the newest and his sister didn't finish getting through all the endings before he found himself as Raphael, so while he knew some of the basic information he still didn't know what all to expect.

After introductions the three of them went straight into playing the chosen game of the day. It was simple and it kind of reminded Raphael of Clue but Raphael had fun.

And so when the club meeting had ended Azul left first, making things awkward for the Diasomnia and Ignihyde students. Raphael signed and stretched, "God damn… dealing with all these main characters within one day takes too much out of me…" Raphael muttered to himself with a sigh, not expecting any response.

"I used up a week's worth of motivation here, and I didn't have to deal with any Mc's spawning up out of random…"

"At least one of us got lucky, I'm just an average Npc, I shouldn't have to deal with this-" Raphael started, only for both him and Idia to stop what they were doing and look at each other.

Chapter Text

The two of them stood there awkwardly, eyeing each other carefully. Raphael leaned against the table and crossed his arms, listening off what he knew about Idia.

Housewarden of Ignihyde. A gloomy boy who shies away from socialization and prefers to shut himself in his dorm room. At times, though, he gets unusually talkative and animated, or at least that's how the game describes him. 

Idia was tall, at least taller than Raphael, with pale skin and bright blue, fire-like hair. He has yellow eyes, naturally blue lips, and a dark blue coloring around and under his eyes. Idia’s hair was considerably long and reached down to his knees. While his long bangs fall loosely around his face and between his eyes, the hair on the top of his head seems to flow upwards. The tips of his hair, which most closely resemble flames, appeared to be semi-transparent. 

Raphael tilted his head, and smiled, "Most definitely a male lead, no doubt about that."

Idia seemed to stiffen up, a brilliant blush rising on his face, "W-what!?"

Raphael smiled some more and pushed off the table, he stepped closer till he was in Idia's person space.

"Oh yeah, definitely a male lead. Girls do tend to like the antisocial otakus types… After all, who doesn't want a gamer boy bf. Right Bartók?" Raphael broke eye contact to look down at the bat who came out of hiding.

Bartók shook his head in agreement and Raphael grinned at the look on Idia's face which read, 'A wild obstructive event has appeared!' making Raphael chuckle in joy.

However, in Idia's eyes the look on Raphael's face was closer to reading, 'I'm gonna bother you none stop and there is nothing you can do about it." making Idia gulp nervously.

"Let's get along Prefect Shroud."

***

Raphael eats the remainder of his sandwich from lunch for dinner, not wanting to deal with the rest of his dorm more than he had too.

He sat at his desk and did his homework, filling out everything and going over it with the pointers that Azul gave him. The window opened for Bartók who decided he wanted to take a flight that night.

Raphael pinched between his brows and pushed his chair back away from his desk, leaning back in the chair he carefully lifted up his magic pen, the bright green of it was spotless. Raphael moved the gem around so the light would catch it in a specific manner, but as he watched the light make shape and shadows within the gem Raphael's eyes seemed to grow heavy and the world seemed to have gone mute, the only thing that still existed was the shapes that moved within the gem.

…say it…

…call us…

Say it! SAY IT!

"Reliquary…" Raphael couldn't tell if his voice was a whisper or a shout, but a great light shined out of his pen and he felt as the air left his lungs, but he didn't let go of his pen as what looked like a glass vial came flying out of the light, landing perfectly into his hands, "...release."

As the words slipped out of his mouth like honey, the lid popped open and a green smoke came flying out, soon the smoke took the shape of small imp like creatures with glowing red eyes.

Raphael gasped as he seemed to regain control of his attention, he rushed to close the lid again, as it shut with a hiss the imp like creature disappeared from sight and out the window.

With bated breath he put the glass vial down on the table, it was odd to look at, with a lid shaped like thorns holding a familiar green gem in place, connecting to the thorns was a jeweled gold sword that hangs from a golden rope, and coiled along the sides of the glass was a dark snake.

Once it was out of his hands Raphael stood up quietly and rushed out of his room in shock, sweat coating his brows and fear clouded his usually expressionless eyes.

Raphael only seemed to calm down once he reached the dark kitchen, he put the kettle on with more force than he would ever purposely use. As he waited for the water to boil he let himself slide down the counters and land on the floor, his hands were shaking and he couldn't figure out what caused it. He tucked his head between his legs and took deep breaths and that's how he stayed.

His brain didn't register the sound of the kettle until it was taken off the heat and a shadow in the bright moonlight covered his form on the ground.

Raphael untucked his head and looked up, his breath catching when he did.

Bright green eyes with vertical-slit pupils framed by dark long eyelashes looked down at his crumbled form. Cool-black hair with long bangs and two longer sections of hair on the sides that fade into a dark turquoise color that drapes over shoulders. 

Pointed, elf-like ears, and long black horns on the top of dark hair, horns that are covered in small ridges curved back in an s-shape. And between those horns sat something that made Raphael want to cry, because there in the moon light shined a silvery number ten.

Green met gold and Raphael refused to look away.

"Hello Dormhead."

Chapter Text

"Hello Dormhead." Raphael smiled, and for a moment he understood why everyone was inpatient and wanted the Diasomnia route to open up.

Malleus was truly beautiful and was a male lead above the rest. His magic seemed to fill the air with its presence and Raphael wasn't surprised. Malleus has known magic from the moment he was conceived, felt it singing in his chest from the day it knew blood. He is drenched in it, born from it, thrives in it. But he was lonely, everyone who played the game knew that.

The original Raphael knew that but he didn't fear the dragon, no, fear would be too simple a word to describe what the original felt for his dorm head and hate was too weak. Maybe a word in French would explain for its passion, or German for its force.

The original Raphael didn't have the words, and in a small leak for the unreleased Diasomnia route there was a glimpse of Raphael's room, the most prominent thing was a torn up painting of the dragon fea and a tearful look of rage and shame in the antagonist's face.

But that was the original Raphael, and he wasn't him. So Raphael looked up from his place on the ground, gold eyes meeting brilliantly green unflinching.

"It's quite the beautiful night, isn't it? Would you like a cup of tea? I'm afraid I might have put too much water in the kettle." Raphael asked while still on the ground.

Malleus was silent, but his eyes were wide and held a glimpse of something wild in them as the two continued to make eye contact.

"Child of man… you seem to hold no fear of me." Malleus' voice rang out and a crooked grin found its way in Raphael's face.

"It's healthy to have fear, but stupid to let fear control you. Sure, you're some powerful prince, but I'm not gonna let things I've heard about you control my life and how I see you."

As Raphael stood up he noticed that there wasn't much room between the two of them and made his way around the dragon prince, turning his back to him as he walked over to the cabinet's and pulled out two cups.

"I hope mint is alright with you, it relaxes the brain and I can't afford to give myself more stress than needed."

"Because of your illness?" Raphael froze and faked a flinch before placing one of the cups down with more force than necessary. He clicked his tongue before going back to making tea.

"Why am I not surprised that you've heard already… damn, I really didn't want other people involved." Raphael 'muttered' to himself, pouring the water into the cup he turned around and nearly flew back in shock to find Malleus standing directly behind him.

"Shit! Great Seven man, don't just stand that close to someone when they're unaware." Putting some distance between the two of them Raphael carefully slides a cup towards the other.

"Well, that's yours, I'm going to bed for the night so… good night I guess."

"Yes, goodnight Child of man." Raphael was out the door before he could hear Malleus's words, but he did see the silver ten change to fourteen and confusion was clear on his face as he made his way back to his room, but he pushed it aside as a problem for future him.

***

"Tch, why do you smell like that?" A voice hissed out and Raphael just sighed. 

After such an interesting night he had decided that classes just wasn't happening, but as a responsible student he made it out that he was sick and he almost felt bad when he told Silver this, knowing that the knight wouldn't doubt him for a second.

And so that's how he found himself napping in the botanical gardens, a noisy jerk of a Lion sniffing him again.

"Hello to you too Prefect Kingscholar, well yes, I am having a good day. Thank you for asking!" Raphael said, an unamused look on his face as Leona growled at him.

"Why do you smell like that Lizard bastard?" Raphael's expression faded from his face.

"Lizard…?" Raphael questions before the dots connected, making him bark out with laughter.

"D- do you mean my Dormhead? Malleus? Pppffft- Lizard bastard…" Leona flicked him in the forehead, making his laughter cut off.

"Motherfu- that was unnecessary!" The lion beastman just huffed and curled up to take a nap. Raphael muttered under his breath about 'lion bastards' and how 'that was his spot' before plopping down beside the lion and closed his eyes, the warmth of the garden relaxing him into sleep.

***

"Urk… I don’t know how to explain, but his glares are sending chills down my spine!"

"You think I’m gonna let you off scot free after you just stepped on my tail? I’m in a bad mood after being woken up from a good sleep. Start gritting your teeth."

Raphael opened his eyes with a glare, angry that the best sleep he's had in a while getting disturbed from a loud conversation. With a huff he stood up and pushed open the bushes to where Leona held a kid by the tie.

"I don't care if you get woken up rudely, it doesn't mean you have the right to get loud enough to wake up the other sleeping person." Leona turned his head and clicked his tongue.

"I did not just hear you click your tongue at me." Leona dropped the person in front of his and pushed past Raphael, but he didn't leave like Raphael expected.

"Ah- thank you!" The unfamiliar voice called out and Raphael turned to look at the person Leona was about to knock the lights out, only to freeze. He was sure he could be confused with a ghost as his skin lost any color.

Because before him stood Yuu, they looked a bit different from what they looked like in the game but Raphael could recognize them and would continue to recognize them no matter what form they took.

Grim sat on Yuu's shoulders but Raphael didn't spare the cat like monster more than a passing glance, he felt sick to his stomach.

The fear that everything he's planned out in order to survive this game went down the drain, he didn't know what type of expression was on his face but he could recognize the look of concern on Yuu's face and the way their eyes scrunched up with worry was the same as his sister.

Raphael didn't register him rushing out of the green house and only half realized he was puking what little he had in his stomach the moment the doors shut behind him, wheezing and choking as tears fell from his eyes. 

A little relieved that he had left Bartók behind in their room, the idea of the bat seeing him like this when he wasn't faking being unwell made him feel a little better.

A warm hand rubbed his back, a deep and soothing voice filled his ears as he coughed up that of his sick. Warm dark hands grabbed his face, a towel being rubbed against his face and a tail seemed to wrap itself around his leg making him and Leona stand a little too close for people who were only strangers.

But neither of them said anything about it, and that's how they seemed to stay. Yet again Raphael watched the silver number change before his eyes but he was too drained to think about what it might mean for his future.

Chapter Text

After somehow convincing Leona that he was fine the two of them split up at the Mirror Chamber, Leona glaring daggers into his back as Raphael slipped through the Diasomnia mirror.

What he didn't expect was to see Silver leaning on the door leading to the dorm with his arms crossed as he sleeps. Raphael was glad he noticed the male before he reached the door not wanting to interact with his dorm mates more than he needed to. However, before he could sneak away to the back door a toxic green figure moved within the trees and Raphael's eyes widened in panic.

"Shit!" He hissed out, the imp creature that he released the night before that went flying out the window was creeping upon Silver's sleeping form. Despite everything Raphael couldn't walk away, breaking out into a sprint to catch up with the imp he silently cursed even more, his earlier panic at the sight of Yuu took all the energy he had and he was running on nothing but pure spite.

The imp launched itself at silver and Raphael's eyes widened in panic, with a strained voice he could only shout, "STOP!" 

The imp almost froze in midair, Silver's eyes opened up and he drew his pen faster than Raphael's eyes could follow. The green imp went flying back with the wind spell Silver casted out, it landed not far from Raphael and it rolled onto its stomach and stood there like an angry raccoon about to attack, its red eyes staring at Raphael's prone form.

"Return to wince you belong…" Raphael whispered out and the imp seemed to nod its head before turning to Silver to let out a hiss before disappearing quickly.

"Are you alright?" Silver placed a hand on Raphael's shoulder, turning him around so that he could check for an injury.

"Wha- Yes I'm fine, no need for the manhandling!" Raphael said, taking a step back.

"I need to tell my old man about this, we don't know where it came from or if there are more hiding, Raphael don't go walking around by yourself." Silver instructed and Raphael huffed at that.

"Please, I'll be fine. Besides, I don't think I would be a target." Silver gave him a blank look but Raphael could tell that the knight in training didn't believe his words.

"Come on now, let's get you inside. Your health isn't the best so you should take it easy…" Silver started calmly but Raphael bristled up.

"My health is none of your business! Don't tell me what to do!" Raphael started to stomp away, but Silver stayed by his side, talking about what the brunet missed during classes.

***

"Do I want to know why you all are here?" Raphael asked, face painfully blank as he stood in the kitchen, Bartók half asleep on his shoulder.

Because Raphael made it a show on missing dinner yet again he had left his room after he was sure no one else would be up, like always. Only to find four people waiting for him in the kitchen.

"Ah! Perfect timing, the food is done!" Lilia Vanrouge's smile was wide and Raphael paled at the idea of eating the third year's cooking more than he had too.

"HUMAN! Sit down, for you have been given the honor of dining with the Young Master!" Sebek's loud voice rang out and if Lilia's cooking wasn't a good enough reason to not stick around then Sebek's volume was the final straw.

"You'll get used to his volume, I made vegetable soup, please have some." Silver told him with a soft smile before he glanced over at Lilia and shivered, probably at the thought of his cooking. Malleus sat at the end of the table, a cup of tea in his hands as he watched everything with a smile.

Raphael sat down slowly, making sure that his seat was the furthest away from the others but they didn't seem to care. Silver placed a bowl down in front of him, Raphael only then realised that there was already a cup of tea and a bread roll placed down on the table where he sat.

They seemed to expect Raphael to put distance between them all and preset the table accordingly, Raphael only sent them a small glare for that before he started to eat slowly, uncaring if the others had started to eat or not.

Bartók had flown off his shoulder and perched himself above the small table. Small chatter filled the air, Lilia and Sebek being the main ones talking. After eating about half his bowl he placed his spoon down and turned to face the others a little better.

"So who are you?" Raphael asked Sebek, knowing that even if they shared a dorm the two haven't officially met yet.

"Sebek Zigvolt!" The half fea bellowed, straightening in his chair. “First Year, Class D. But that’s not important right now, your appetite is severely lacking! How do you expect to do well in your classes with so little!?" Sebek scolds and Silver seems to kick him under the table and gives him a look.

Which made sense, the real Raphael would snap whenever someone brought up his grades and intelligence. But he wasn't the original, "I find that is the least of my worries nowadays." 

The table went silent for a little and Raphael winced, not meaning to make the atmosphere tense, "What? It's not that big of a deal, it's not like I'm dying."

Malleus and Lilia share a look but the topic wasn't broached, giving Raphael the chance to go into it more but he chooses not to, letting the rest of this odd dinner go on peacefully.

Chapter Text

As the third day of the second week of being trapped in a game Raphael had woken up well rested. He rolled out of bed slowly with a huff, and got ready for class.

With careful hands he picked up a sleeping Bartók and tucked him into his oversized sleeve and looked over at his desk to grab his magic pen. After the odd dinner last night Raphael came back to his room to see that his pen reverted back to normal, a dark spot on the green gem that wouldn't come off on its own.

Seeing the imperfection didn't cause as much worry as it probably should have. Instead he pulled out his notebook from its hiding spot and wrote. He described what he can only conclude as his unique magic and the imp like creatures, noting how they resembled the creatures that would attack Yuu in the game, wondering if the game creators had added such a thing as a hidden detail.

After updating his notebook he went to bed and now here he is, sitting in the cafeteria eating breakfast early in order to avoid the rest of his peers. Bartók was enjoying the raspberries that Raphael grabbed for him and he was stirring his oatmeal slowly, taking a bite whenever the bat stopped eating to look at him.

"Ah, there you are! I was wondering where you went." A familiar voice called out from in front of him as the sound of someone sitting down besides him echoed out in the quiet cafeteria.

"Ah~ the Snake Eel is who we are looking for? Can I squeeze 'em?"

"There is no need for that yet, after all we weren't given the task to bring him to Azul, only to find him."

Azul sat down in front of him and Raphael knew better than to look to see who the two cornering him were.

"Ah, Prefect Ashengrotto, it's a pleasure to see you on this fine day, may I inquire about the reason you have sought me out?" Raphael asked, mimicking the octopus merman's usual flare.

"Well, you are quite the hard person to find, but I suppose I can enlighten you. Yesterday was one of our agreed days for tutoring and yet you didn't show." Azul was smiling but his eyes were cold and Raphael cursed silently.

"Ah- I should have had Silver inform you…"

"Yes?"

Raphael took a bite of his breakfast and swallowed, trying to show that the whole ordeal wasn't his top priority, "I was feeling under the weather yesterday, so I had Silver inform the teachers since we are in the same class. I had assumed that one of the teachers would have informed you of my absence but it was foolish of me to rely on it."

"Does this have something to do with your mysterious illness?" The question didn't come from Azul like Raphael had expected, making him look over at the pair of mitch-matched eyes and he acknowledged one of the twins that trapped him in for the first time since they got there.

Jade looked down at him with curiosity in his eyes, the silver zero above his head reflected the light making Raphael grimace.

"Tch, do I even want to know where you have heard about such a rumor?" Jade seemed a little overjoyed by his response, almost like a predator about to rip apart its meal.

"How odd, it appears all of your dorm mates are talking about it, now why would they be saying such odd things if there wasn't a smig of truth?"

Raphael shot up fast, yanking Bartók off the table with a pissed off glare, "I have no idea what you are talking about, but I think I should go-" the yank on his right arm sent him tumbling back down into his seat, the hand squeezed tightly making Raphael glance over at the other twin.

"Where are you going, Snake Eel? We're not done~ unless you want to get squeezed, that is~" Floyd's eyes held a childlike joy to them as he put more pressure on Raphael's arm, making him place a stone-like calm mask on.

"Floyd, Jade, that's enough." Azul stated sharply, "There's no need to leave, after all you haven't finished your breakfast- is that really all that you are eating?" Azul asked, looking down at the plain oatmeal with a judgemental look.

"What?" Raphael asked, not expecting the turn in the conversation.

***

After the odd breakfast Raphael was ready for his day to end, but the harsh sound of Professor Crewel's crop hitting the board drew everyone's attention to the front.

"Alright Puppies, get into groups of three and fill out the sheet that I gave you, remember! You need to fill it out correctly in order to use it tomorrow for the potion we will be working on!" Raphael sighed, a plan to just crawl into a cauldron and hide seemed more and more tempting by the second.

Flipping through the paper, ignoring the sound of everyone around him moving to work with their friends, he started to read the questions trying to ignore what sounded like his name. But when a shadow covered his frame he looked up with a sigh and gave a questioning look to the sleepy blue and happy red eyes that looked at him.

"Silver, Prefect Al-Asim… to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Silver sat down and Kalim followed suit, "The Professor said to work in groups of three." Silver said simply and Raphael wanted to wrangle him.

"I remember, that doesn't explain why you're here."

"We needed one more person and you needed two people so it works out perfectly! And Silver said that you're really smart so it's a win win!" Kalim states with a blinding smile, Raphael squinted with a grimace, looking over at Silver with an expression that read 'Is he always this bright?' Silver just nodded his head.

Raphael sighed but didn't further question them, knowing it would be pointless. The three of them worked together quite well, Silver would help answer the questions whenever Kalim and Raphael were confused but Raphael was the best at explaining why the answers were the right ones.

As the class packed up for the day, Kalim was right beside Raphael talking about the questions, Silver was walking behind them in silence with a small smile as he watched Raphael and Kalim get along.

As they entered the hallway Raphael's attention was drawn in by neatly braided hair lined with three small golden discs, a neutral expression sat on an attractive face, charcoal grey eyes met his and Raphael looked away. Kalim said his goodbyes to meet up with his Vice, Raphael gave him a small wave before he slowed down his steps so that he could walk besides Silver.

As the two Diasomnia students walked away the feeling of being watched stuck to Raphael, making him turn his head to see who it was and saw that snake-like eyes seemed to follow him as he left.

Chapter Text

There was a painting on the wall.

The room was a mess, broken furniture and ripped up books everywhere, the curtains were ripped off the wall and the fabric torn. Anything and everything that could be broken and ripped was destroyed.

But the painting was still in perfect condition, the golden frame seemed to shine and the oil paint of the eyes seemed to hold life to it. And he hated it, seeing his face look down at him made his blood boil and burn him like acid and the air in his lungs felt like the most dangerous of poison as he looked upon the painting.

He was tired, he worked more than half as hard as the rest of his dorm and yet he still seemed to fall behind. But what did he expect? He was a mere mortal and those who shared his dorm were more than that.

Even Silver, his fellow man was held at a higher caliber than him, and how he envies him, how dare he! He knew how much he suffered and struggled and yet he turned a blind eye, they all did.

He had no one to turn to, not even the people outside his dorm, they all held a fear of his dorm and would avoid him, and if they weren't avoiding him then they were targeting him knowing no one would help him in his plight.

But it doesn't matter, not his struggle to find a place in his dorm, not his grades, not his pathetic magic- none of it.

And so, he stood in front of the painting, breathing heavily and vision blurred, his once clenched hands shaking and he was confused to see that they weren't empty. Looking back up to the painting he felt shame to see the once beautiful painting now ruined.

He felt like crying as he tried to gently put the ruined canvas back together, Malleus's elegant face having been ruined by his filthy hands.

He stopped trying and fell to his knees, he didn't mean to ruin it, he didn't want it to end up like this, HE DIDN'T MEAN TO HAVE IT END LIKE THIS-

Golden eyes fell dull as he started to cough, a dark ink-like substance coating his palm, a small squeak rang out as his only companion came out of hiding and he felt guilt from forcing his only friend to witness such a scene.

Raphael wonders if there could have been any other outcome. He knows better than to try for one.

***

He did not move after he awakened, only laying in his bed with heavy limbs. The leftover rage and sadness he felt in his dream lingered in his lungs- the third emotion left over from the original Raphael was a much more dangerously choking feeling and he didn't feel as if he had the right to name it- he breathed slowly before he forced himself out of bed.

August was shifting to September and Raphael found dread at the change of time, Yuu should have just finished with the Unbirthday Party and soon will finish unlocking the Heartslabyul routes. That is as long as they didn't choose the wrong answers and were quickly spiraling towards the bad endings.

Because he was lost in thought he didn't notice the three that had joined his walk to the cafeteria and sat down with him, only when Bartók bit him out of nowhere did he snap out of his head.

"What the fuc- Bartók, what was that for?" Raphael hissed down at the bat who huffed.

"If you listened the first time someone said your name then there would be no need for such dramatic actions." Bartók squeaked back, biting into his tomato.

"Fufufu, the bat is right, you should pay more attention to your surroundings." Lilia added, almost making Raphael jump out of his seat in shock. Lilia, Silver, and Sebek sat around him eating their breakfast. The two knights looking down at the plate of food Raphael didn't remember grabbing but sat untouched in front of him regardless.

"Human! You have yet to eat your food! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day-" Sebek continues to yell out about the importance of eating breakfast and Raphael drowned him out, choosing to swallow down his fruit salad, letting his eyes roam the mostly empty cafeteria. Boredom thick in his veins as he ate.

However, his eyes gained life to them when he just barely caught a familiar face slip out. Raphael stood up quickly, throwing what felt like a shitty excuse to his dorm mates and Grabbing Bartók before chasing after. Letting the cafeteria doors close behind him, he ran afterwards and a smile found its way on his face.

"Prefect Shroud! It's a pleasant surprise to see you!" Idia froze in place, turning to face him with a wide eyed expression that read, 'A wild destruction flag was raised!'

"Wha- did you just chase me down?" Idia questions but Raphael ignores it.

"I figured since Prefect Ashengrotto won't be leaving me alone anytime soon, we'll be seeing more of each other during club hours and figured it wouldn't hurt for us to be on good terms."

Idia seemed like he wanted to protest but he didn't, letting Raphael walk besides him, however, when Raphael started talking about games did Idia start to speak. 

And that's how the two of them went on, only splitting up so that Idia could return to Ignihyde and so Raphael could head to his classes, as the dorm head left the silver number above his head changed.

Chapter Text

As the weekend rolled in Raphael found himself stumped, what started off as a good method to explain a change of behavior seemed to slowly stop having the same effects. A small bite used to send him straight to the ground in a second, but now it could take up to half an hour before he started to get light headed. 

But that wasn't the only thing he had noticed being different, Raphael's magic seemed to be getting stronger, a simple wind spell could turn into a small tornado or little spell to raise the dirt up to trip people has started to make more than just a molehill.

Then there was Raphael's unique magic, after the first accidentally use of it he was careful to practice it on a small scale, and as he did so he noticed that each of the imp things had a different personality, the one that had escaped and tried to attack Silver seemed to be the most stubborn of them, making it difficult for Raphael to handle him.

With practice Raphael was able to summon them and control them pretty easily, the first time he had somehow 'possessed' one he panicked and ended up tripping over his desk and breaking the chair. The splinters were a pain to pull out and fixing the chair was even more of a pain, but better fixing it himself rather than trying to explain what happened.

He had a few of the more better behaved imps stationed around the school, hidden away and having the extra eyes helped keep him updated with what was happening. And because of his imps did he notice something odd about Yuu, a plan to meet them swirling in his mind despite the first plan that relied on him and Yuu not meeting, the need to confirm his beliefs were more important to him then the safety that his original plan gave him.

***

Despite being the weekend there were the occasional student who lurked the hallways of NRC, but Raphael paid them no mind as he walked to his destination after visiting Sam's shop, the bag he carried swinging about and his wallet a few madol lighter.

He was a bit nervous, after all he didn't want to interact with the male leads or Yuu, but he had something he needed to confirm. And so that's how he found himself in the main building during his weekend, he stood outside the kitchen doors and let out a sigh before pushing the doors open.

A young-looking, fair-skinned boy stood with his back to Raphael. Red color that was shorter in the back and a bit longer around his face. A bottle was in his hands and Raphael rushed forward, grabbed the bottle and pulled back before a single drop of it could fall into the bowl. 

"What in the-! Excuse me! How dare you-" blue-gray eyes glared angrily at Raphael but he was prepared for it.

"I apologize, that was very rude of me to do to a stranger, but I noticed that you were about to put oyster sauce into your mixture and I couldn't let such a thing happen." Raphael calmly explained, putting the bottle down onto the table alongside his bag. Riddle blinked up at him in confusion.

"Why not? My vice told me that he added oyster sauce into his tarts all the time, why would it be an issue?" Riddle seemed a little less angry from Raphael yanking the bottle away from him but there was some irritation in his voice.

"Have you considered that he might have been joking? And besides, what if someone who ate this tart had a shellfish allergy?"

Riddle blinked some more before grabbing his chin, "I hadn't thought of that… I suppose you are right, thank you for stopping me." Riddle stiffly apologized.

"It wasn't that big of a deal, and I should have found a better way to stop you besides taking the bottle away from you, it was very rude of me. But if you want to pull a prank on your vice for pulling one on you you can make two tarts."

"Two tarts? I don't get it." Riddle asked and watched as Raphael pulled a pan out, placing it on heat to warm it up, and washed his hands. 

"One tart can be a normal one, with nothing extra added to it. The other can have just a bit of oyster sauce, make sure your vice gets a slice of the second." Raphael explained as he pulled the items out of his bag.

Raphael didn't get a response but he didn't mind, placing butter down on the pan evenly before cracking two eggs onto it and some slices of ham.As he cooked he noticed Riddle grab a second bowl and separate the tart filling from the corner of his eye.

Pulling out the bread and cheese he added the eggs and ham before putting them onto the pan to toast it. Riddle seemed to glance back up at him every so often before looking back to what he was doing.

Placing the sandwich on some foil and wrapping it up Raphael put the sandwich inside his bag, but he grabbed a plate and placed the second sandwich onto it and slid it to the shorter second year.

"Don't skip meals, good luck with your tarts." Raphael slung his bag over his shoulder and started to push the door open to leave only to stop when a call of "wait" rang out behind him.

Riddle Rosehearts stood behind him with a very uncertain look on his face, "Would- would you like to come to the Unbirthday party…" Raphael blinked in surprise before he looked around like he was expecting to see someone else standing behind him.

"I- …I'll see if I can make it, is it okay for a person out of the dorm to show up?" Raphael asked, shifting his weight.

"There is no rule against it, besides no one will deny you entrance, you will be my guest after all." Riddle seemed to hold the same air of uncertainty that Raphael had when there was no else around.

"I might be a little late… but if you'll have me I'll be there."

***

"People are scared of you." The blacked out figure said, their tone neutral but the emotion was all in their eyes. Raphael looked up at him with dull golden eye's and sneered at that look in the shadow's eyes.

"I know." He stood confidently, his chin raised and his back straight. One could see the weight that was forcing him down but he no longer cried for it to stop, now he seemed to scream, 'More weight!' daring those around him.

"They better be after what they have done." Raphael walked away, unaware or uncaring for the hand that stretched out for him. 

As an almost unpleasant tingle forced its way through his body, setting down in the pit of his stomach as he stared down at those before him- he knows it's unfair, but he can't do anything about it anymore-

And with his overblot he brought a strange sort of beauty in the broken edges, a wingspan of ink and deep dark red, an image that appeals much too much to the zealot tucked behind his rationale. 

The iconographies, the plaster-molding, the

gold-glint eyes losing rationality and life. Raphael stood as a mastery of work, otherworldly and real. 

Even as he was bleeding out onto the harsh marble floor.

***

The rose maze was breathtakingly beautiful, the flowers gleamed with the sun's light and one could tell that those that worked on the plants truly cared for them. Once he came to the sight of where the Unbirthday party was being held he didn't make a move to join the festivities, keeping his eyes out for a specific person.

It wasn't hard to find them, all he had to do was find the infamous troublesome first years and there they sat between them, their back was to him so all Raphael could truly see was a summer tan turning pale and dyed red hair, a familiar patch of dark hair sat on the back of their head.

The breath left his lungs and he felt like crying or laughing, whichever emotion helped him express what he felt at that moment but he didn't let it show on his face and let a more uncaring mask slide into place after all he was invited by the boy Queen himself and it would be rude of him to become distracted.

From his spot hiding in the bushes he could see Riddle looking around the maze, the seat to his left empty. He let himself step out a little more, just enough that Riddle would notice the movement and it worked, blue-gray landed on him and he seemed to puff up. Raphael sighed and stepped forward, ignoring how the card soldiers of Heartslabyul quiet down around him and how the whispers started.

"It seems that I'm late, I hope that doesn't mean that my invite is no longer valid?" Raphael asked, ignoring how those around him seemed to gasp like a fish out of water.

"Of course not, Diasomnia is quite far from Heartslabyul after all, Gogi." Riddle replied, seemingly not noticing Cater questioning glance and Trey's shrug of confusion.

"Please, call me Raphael. Being called by my last name makes me feel awkward." Raphael smiled as he accidentally made eye contact with 'Yuu'.

"After all, I get the feeling we'll be seeing each other a lot more frequently."

***

Despite the awkward atmosphere at first, the moment Trey took a bite of his tart and discovered it salty while everyone else's was normal seemed to help get rid of the bad air. Raphael enjoyed himself more than he first thought he did and felt bad that he had left Bartók behind, but he didn't wish to disturb the bat's sleep schedule.

At first it was hard to ignore Yuu's constant looks but after Che'nya's appearance they seemed to forget about Raphael's unexpected presence. However Raphael had something in store for the magic-less student.

And so after the Unbirthday party had ended Raphael found himself following Yuu and Grim, watching as Ace and Deuce walked ahead of them and joked around. Ace said something with a laugh that made Grim launch forward at the red head causing a commotion that sent the three of them running ahead, leaving Yuu behind despite their protests.

"Oh, Directing Student, just the person I wanted to talk to." Raphael called, watching as Yuu frozen in place and slowly turned to face him.

"Ah… Raphael was it? Is there something you need?" Yuu questioned unsure, weariness coming off them in waves and Raphael smiled some more.

"I thought we agreed not to do DIY haircuts after last time? It seems like someone never learned her lesson." The tick mark appeared on Yuu's forehead quickly and she stepped forward angrily.

"It only ended that way because a certain someone didn't tell me to stop when they were supposed to-" Yuu stopped mid rant, the realization of what was said and who said it settling in, she looked up at Raphael and found what she was looking for, "Big bro?"

"Hello too, you little shit."

Chapter Text

With teary eyes Yuu started to run forward to Raphael, but instead of opening his arms for a hug he turned to the side as Yuu kicked out at him.

"Hey! We agreed that kicking was off limits!" Raphael hissed as he and Yuu started to horse around, fake punches being blocked and returned with the occasional kick to the back of the knee.

"Those are house rules, also- what the fuck dude! Do you know how confused I've been!? When I saw you in the bionicle garden I thought that I somehow fucked up the plot, and then when you showed up to the Unbirthday party!? I thought I was going insane!" Yuu shouted out, pulling on Raphael's hair as he pinched her cheeks and pulled them so that her voice came out funny.

"Hey, watch you fucking language- stop pulling on my hair you little troll!" Raphael cried out, but the sound of sniffling made him freeze and let go of his sister, tears were building up at the corner of her eyes and he panicked.

"Uh-huh, stop crying! You know I don't know  what to do when people are crying-!" 

"HEY!? What did you do to the Directing student!?" A harsh voice shouted and Raphael gulped as he saw Ace and Deuce crack their knuckles and stomped towards him.

"Yeah! What did ya do to my henchman!?" Grim hissed and Raphael's panic grew even more as Ace grabbed him by the collar.

"H-hey- this isn't what it looks like-! Yuu, h-help me!" Raphael cried, looking between his sister and the Heartslabyul first years.

"You stupid big brother!" Yuu cried as she grabbed onto the back of Raphael's jack and hugged him.

"Eh!?"

***

The inside of Ramshackle was exactly how the game described it, but Raphael couldn't take the time to look around as the confused glares the troublesome trio were giving him.

"I don't get it, Yuu, aren't you from a different world? So how would your brother be here? And in a dorm for that matter!?" Ace questioned and Deuce nodded his head in agreement.

"Well… it's a bit complicated to explain…" Yuu started but Raphael cut her off.

"I went to sleep in our world, and when I opened my eyes I was here in the body. You know, body snatcher style. " Raphael explained.

The Heartslabyul duo blinked at him for a good solid minute before Ace signed out, "This is just too unbelievable, like this feels like it's straight out of a movie!"

"A non magical student from another world is more believable than me taking over another body?" Raphael raised his brow in questioning.

"Yeah! Like where did the original dude go!?" Ace asked, Raphael and Yuu flinched and looked away knowing that wherever the original went that he was probably at his happiest then when he was in his own body. They didn't want to think about what that meant for the person who currently resides in the villain's body.

***

"So, do they know you're a girl or do they just believe that you're," Raphael asked, hitting his chest with a fist two times, "one of the guys?" 

Yuu glared from across the small table they were eating at and kicking at him, making Raphael laugh.

"No, I haven't told them. It is literally one of my last priorities." Yuu said as she stabbed into her spaghetti. Bartók, who Raphael had gone back to Diasomnia for, stopped eating and looked up with wide eyes.

"The magic-less kid is a girl!?" Bartók squeaked and Yuu had stars in her eyes as she looked at the bat.

"Damn… Bartók is so much cuter in real life than he looks in the game!" She whispered to Raphael, making him smile.

"Soooo, what's with the bag?" Yuu asked, looking at the ground by Raphael's feet.

"Surprise sleepover, I'm giving myself a reason not to go back to Diasomnia for the night." Raphael smiled some.

"I got all the important shit right in this bag and your lounge couch has my name written all over it." He said as he finished the rest of his dinner without Bartók having to hound him.

"And my choice in the matter?" Yuu questioned with a raised brow but the smile on her face said that she wouldn't have things any other way.

"Irrelevant." Raphael grinned right back with joy.

"Also- what was that thing with Leona the other day? You know in the garden? I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you walking towards me! It should have been a sign that you weren't the original-" Raphael rushed forward to cover Yuu's mouth, glancing briefly at Bartók.

"Don't- ack! Did you lick my hand you little troll!?" Raphael pulled his hand back and looked at his sister in disgust. 

"That's what you get!" Yuu hissed out as Raphael kicked at her leg.

"Stop avoiding the topic! What was that with you and Leona?" 

"Nothing, we were just napping before you came over and stepped on his tail. Which, by the way, is a very Y/n thing to do."

Yuu gasped and acted like she was just shot in the heart, "Take that back! I'm a hundred times better than those basic Mary Sue's!"

"Yeah, well the rate that you're raising the ml's affect points makes me think that someone here fits the title of Y/n pretty well." Raphael teased, however Yuu just blinked back at him with confusion"

"What?" 

"Oh come on, let's not play the innocent card, that only works are strangers and mom." But Yuu just continued to be confused. Raphael blinked at the silence and chuckled.

"Raph, that wasn't me." 

"Haha, very funny, but you're not pulling this one over me."

"Ollie ," Raphael flinched, and for a second his eyes seemed to lose their gold and settle with a warm brown and his hair darkened, " That wasn't me. "

Chapter Text

Breakfast was a quiet ordeal, all things considering. Deuce, Ace, and Grim were more concerned about shoving food into their mouths and Bartók was curled up in Raphael's hair sleeping away.

However, Raphael made the mistake of making eye contact with Yuu as he finished his food, the silence in the room was broken with mad laughter, making Raphael's ears burn brightly.

"Shut up! This isn't funny!" Raphael snapped, making Yuu laugh even more, Deuce and Ace looked between the siblings in confusion before looking at each other.

"What's so funny?" Ace asked, making Raphael glare.

"None of your business! Yuu, shut up!" Raphael cried, reaching over the table and shaking Yuu back and forth.

"Pppffft- how does it feel being the Mc big bro?" Yuu chuckled out, making the blush on his face burn even brighter.

Raphael stiffened up, the look on his face would make any normal person flinch in fear but the bright blush made the look less intimidating, Raphael grabbed his school jacket from the back of his chair and his empty plate.

"Finish your food, we still have school and I refuse to be late because of you all!" Raphael turned and started to stomp off to the kitchen to put his plate away.

"You can run and you can hide, but the back of your neck is bright red!" Yuu teased, Raphael flinched and with his free hand covered the blush on his neck from his sister.

***

All throughout class Raphael kept his head low and refused to make eye contact with anyone else, the fact that he was the one making the affection points rise still felt like a prank or at least a sick joke of some kind.

Looking back on it he's glad that whatever higher being there was seemed to be watching out for him in the sense he hasn't fucking up and caused a bad ending.

And so, when lunch came around Raphael had decided to stop overthinking everything and continue on like he has, the fact that he hasn't messed up big time yet ment that he must have been doing something right.

However, the moment he opened the doors to escape to the bionicle garden he was met with the happy face of his sister and her little friends too.

"Oh Raph! I was just talking about you- Oh? What's this? Are you running off to you little boy-" Yuu started to say after seeing Raphael's lunch in his arms, but Raphael was quick to make her stop talking by shoving a piece of bread in her mouth.

"The fact that you have friends astonishes me. What were you three saying about me?" Raphael asked the Heartslabyul students.

"Eh! Well, Yuu was planning to find you and ask if you would want to eat lunch with us…" Deuce said, Ace was too busy making fun of Yuu getting bread shoved into her face.

"Ah, makes sense." Raphael sighed and followed the four back into the cafeteria.

The five of them sat down and Bartók crawled out of his hiding spot to eat his lunch, smirking as he noticed Yuu take the tomatoes off her sandwich to give them to Bartók.

"Damn, what are you five? Stop picking the vegetables out of your food, this is the reason you look like your ten." Yuu glared at him and Raphael felt proud to get back at her for the teasing that he suffered earlier.

"Well, at least I'm not the weirdo who would eat tomatoes like they were apples you freak." 

"Jokes on you, I only did that because you found it gross!" Raphael stuck his tongue out at her.

"You know, I didn't believe it when the two of you said that you were actually siblings, but I see it now. My brother does the same shit to me." Ace said, Deuce looked up from his omelet and nodded his head in agreement.

"I don't have siblings but the two of you definitely act how I expect them to act."

Raphael was about to say something, only to stop when he felt eyes on him, he looked up quickly and caught Silver's eyes clouded with confusion. Raphael looked away quickly, "Shit…"

"What is it?" Yuu asked, looking around to see what Raphael saw.

"Nothing, just my good ol' knight is silver armor." The three of them seemed to look at Silver at the same time before looking back at him.

"Damn, I keep forgetting that you're in Diasomnia. You're completely different from those guys." Ace shivered before looking back at his food.

Raphael flinched at that a little, Ace may have no idea how true his words were but to Raphael, who has seen the original memories like they were his own his words stuck a cord in him.

"Damn bro, you've been a busy bee huh?" Yuu teased and Raphael kicked her with more force than he usually would use, Ace yelped out when the kick landed but not on the right leg.

"I am calm. I am heartless. I have no feelings whatsoever." Raphael chanted letting a calm mask slid into place.

"Really now? Then why are your ears red?"

***

Sighing for the hundredth time, Raphael flicked his pencil forward and stopped it when it rolled back to him. He proceeded to do this motion over and over again till he put a little too much effort into a flick causing the pencil to go flying off the desk. Instead of picking the pencil back up Raphael let out another sigh.

"If you're so bored why don't you fix the problems I gave back to you?" Azul all but snapped, having grown tired of Raphael's behavior.

"How would you go about getting back at someone over something they wouldn't stop making fun of?" Raphael questioned, but the look on Azul's face made him look away.

"Never mind, I already feel like I know what you would do." Raphael leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"Oh? And what would Azul do?" 

"Hm? Why, find something he can hold against them and use it to his advantage-" Raphael's golden eyes snapped open, just barely avoided making eye contact by resting his eyes on the Silver three above teal hair.

"Don't stop on my accord, do finish your thought process." Azul smiled pleasantly, the thirteen turning to a eighteen.

"I rather not, I fear it may bring me more trouble than it's worth. Also, I finished my work half an hour ago." Azul lost all interest in the conversation to grab Raphael's work to see that he had in fact finished it. Jade however, seemed a little too interested then Raphael felt comfortable with.

"I've heard an interesting rumor today." Jade settled into place at the table, trying to get Raphael to make eye contact.

"And what rumor is that? After all you can probably find a thousand of them." Raphael eyes settled onto Jade's darker strand of hair.

"That you and the magic-less Directing Student seem quite close, almost like the two of you have known each other for quite some time. I mean, after all the two of you were seen eating together at lunch." Jade put his hand on his chin like he was trying to recall the details.

Raphael sat up straight in his chair, and settled his mask into place. After all, what's a villain without a signature expression?

"Oh, Yuu, it's nothing of major interest. I simply helped him with a small issue and he's been clinging to my side ever since, like a Leech. " Raphael made eye contact then, being careful on which eye he settled on.

His uncaring mask was still hard in place as he saw the numbers flicker and change, three turning to nine and a smile too filled with teeth to he considered pleasant grow. He could already hear his sister's voice in the back of his head laughing away.

Chapter Text

He watched from afar as those who tormented him stared at their newest victim, the magic-less Directing student. He felt for them, how could he not when he knows what it's like to be in their shoes? How can he not know the frustrations and bitterness that came with being in the place of weakness? Unlike the Directing student, he didn't have the will to step in for others.

He would never admit he was the one to draw the teachers attention, after all he could never bring himself to care for the weakness of others.

***

His mirror was broken again, its glass shattered across his cold floor surrounding his bare feet. Instead of finding the need to clean the mess he found himself at home in it's mess, his eyes meeting each other in a thousand broken pieces. 

And if the eyes are the window to the soul then he was glancing at every little part that made him who he was, a thousand dark rooms staring back at him to show him who he was.

But they weren't cruel with their glaze nor were they indifferent, but he found the emotion held in them crushing all the same.

'I don't care if you are guilty.' They seemed to whisper softly, like a mother soothing a child after a nightmare.

He had to look away from it in fear that he would let himself fall into those places.

"Is that supposed to make me feel any better?" He spoke out loud, "I am still guilty."

***

His blot was too much and he knew there was no going back now, those dark rooms had caved in on him and swallowed him in their abyss, dragging him under too far to be seen or saved. And he was drowning in the ink in his lungs, his blood, his body. Everything that made him who he was was being taken away and replaced with something that just wasn't right .

Towards the end he let his exhausted body fall, his throat burning from his howling for anyone and everyone who could hear his wounded screams. The darkness in the corner of his eyes closed in, placing gentle kisses on his temples.

His heart a hummingbird at his final moments, his desires and ambitions fleeing him as the throb faded and he struggled to will his body to move, to keep going.

'Please, let me try!' He pleads, body trembling from the cold even as the ink burns.

But even as his mind cried out one thing, his soul whispered out.

'Let me rest…'

A last howl bleed from the cracks of grieving and wounded lips.

***

After the overblot nobody seemed to notice the single white bat who seemed lost in the cheers, he could not understand why they cheered. "Why must everyone cheer? Why must this be a moment to celebrate? I loved him, he was my family, why must you be cheering while I am crying?"

"Why?" He cried, as silence filled the night.

" WHY!? " As stars filled across the black sky.

Chapter Text

"Check mate." The click of marble against marble rang out and Raphael was getting tired of the losing streak.

"Tch, damn it…" Leona paid no attention to Raphael's curses and placed the pieces back to their original spot on the board.

Raphael took a large bite from his chicken salad, chewing angrily as his inner sore loser huffed and puffed.

Leona placed his pawn out and watched Raphael waiting for him to make his move. "The Magical Shift Tournament is coming up, do you plan to participate?" Leona asked without looking up as Raphael placed a random pawn out.

"Me? Playing Magical Shift? You have a higher likelihood of see my Dormhead get invited to event then seeing me on the team." Raphael comments offhandedly as he watches Leona take his pawn with the knight.

"Oh? That's too bad, I would have loved to see you play." Leona smirked, green eyes gleaming in the light making Raphael just want to stop and stare, wanting to figure out the different shades and hues.

"It would be the quickest game you'll ever get the misfortune of playing, our games of chess are humiliating as it is." Raphael sneered, making Leona chuckle.

"Then how about we make a bet, to make things more interesting." Leona held his piece in hand, not placing it down as he watched Raphael with the intensity only a predator could have.

Raphael freezes in place, hand twitching as he touches his rook, "A bet…? What are we betting?"

"A bet over which of our dorms will win the Magical Shift Tournament."

"And what's the stakes?" Gold eyes gleaming with interest. Leona placed his bishop down but his eyes never left Raphael as the brunette contemplated.

Raphael's finger taped against the chessboard, "Can I add to the bet?"

Leona sat up straighter and a smirk started to crawl up his face, "Sure, what do you want to add?"

"The loser can deny the request that the winner first comes up with, but has to do whatever the second request is." Raphael stated simply as he took Leona's queen, placing the piece by his lips he looked up and made eye contact. Leona smirked and made his move, the corner of Raphael's eyes crinkled as Leona took the bait he had so carefully laid out.

"May the best dorm win, also- check mate." The rook clicked against the board softly, Leona looked away from the brunette to stare at the board in confusion. Raphael stood up and laughed at the look on the lion's face.

"I look forward to you fulfilling my request, Prefect Kingscholar~" the grin on his face was wider and softer than the one he usually carried, the sun hitting his face making his pale complexion warm up.

A shiny number flickered and changed, a proud 20 floating in air but no one seemed to notice the change.

***

The walk back to the Chamber of Mirrors was peaceful, and Raphael felt like nothing could bring him down, however, when a tall figure seemed to drown him in their shadow and a slender hand placed itself on his shoulder he felt dread for what was to come.

Eyes were clenched shut and his body was tense waiting for the first hit to come, glad that Bartók was with his sister and far away from what was about to happen.

However, when the hits and pushing didn't come he cracked an eye open slowly and flinched to find a pair of mismatched eyes staring back at him, an eerie still look on Jade's face as they stood in silence.

Jade blinked slowly once, twice, and then his eyes stayed closed and his signature smile slipped onto his face.

"Mister Gogi, it's been awhile. I presume you've been well?" Jade inquired, the expression on his face was harmless but the brunette still felt the need to be on edge. Raphael always held the belief that Jade was the scariest of the Leech twins, after all at least with Floyd you could tell if he was displeased.

"Mister? When you call me that I feel as if I'm an old man, when we're in the same grade. And please, there's no need to call me by my last name." He cringed a bit at the idea of someone constantly calling him by the original's last name while he knew that he was only pretending to be him.

Jade's smile just widened, his eyes cracked open and Raphael felt as if he was being seen through with his fellow second years stare.

"You didn't answer me when I asked about your health." 

"My health is on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know." Raphael broke eye contact and turned to leave, not expecting Jade to walk around him and stand in his way, the numbers above his head flickered but didn't change.

"Have you ever been to the Monstro Lounge? We cater to all types of-"

"I have already stated to Prefect Ashengrotto that I have no interest in his consulting business, my desires cannot be feed by such manners." Raphael ranted and let out a dramatic sign, a hand placed on his cheek and his eyes closed.

"Good thing I wasn't advertising Azul's contracts then," Jade's eyes gleamed and Raphael knew he swimed right into the mall of the awaiting predator. "It breaks my heart that my sincerity seems to not have reached out to you properly."

Jade steps forward and bent at an angle to make it so that Raphael didn't have to look up to make eye contact. The brunette gulped a little, mouth moving up in down trying to come up with a response but failed to.

"As I was saying, Monstro Lounge caters to all types of people and their different tastes. You should come in sometime, I promise we won't disappoint." Jade placed a hand over his heart and Raphael knew there was no way to escape.

"I guess I will, however I must warn you, I am a picky eater so I may not finish my food." Raphael refused eye contact, but he wasn't lying. After all, ever since he woke up in this body he hasn't had the appetite to finish anything.

Jade, pleased with his answer, backed away.

"I will wait eagerly for that day then."

***

When Raphael walked into his dorm all he wanted was to plop down onto his bed and pass out, but being greeted by a pillow in the face made him pause in place.

"What took you so long to get here big bro?" Yuu asked, chilling on Raphael's bed and flipping through his book of notes of Twisted Wonderland.

"What are you doing here?" Raphael questioned as he picked the pillow up off the floor and closed his door behind him.

"Surprise sleepover." Yuu said without looking up from the notebook, starting intensely at the percentages of the male leads.

"And my opinion on the matter?" Raphael chucked the pillow back on his bed and sat down next to his sister.

"Irreverent." Yuu looked up with a crooked grin. Raphael looked over to where Bartók was near a snoring Grim.

"She was begging. She killed me. The litt in her voice was all it took! Nobody could resist that!" Bartók complained, covering his eyes with his wings pretending to be ashamed of his actions.

Raphael just shocked his head, "Move over, you're taking up all my space." He said while nudging Yuu in the side, he knew the two of them won't be sleeping till later, especially with the recent developments in the plot.

Chapter Text

The two of them sat in the shadows of the school in silence, club activities in full force and no one was coming to look for them at this moment. They sat in a way that they couldn't see the other, but their hands laid on the ground atoms away from the other.

"I hate him. I hate him so much it consumes me and he is unaware of the difference between us- but, at the same time it's…" He said, and Raphael longed to look at his companion's face as he spoke.

"Like trying to hate the sun, soul crushing and yet impossible to do because what would you do without its warmth?" Raphael answered and his companion made a noise in recognition.

"You understand, don't you Gogi." It wasn't a question and Raphael would never dream to see it as one, not when a hand worn and callous from work found itself on his. And in that moment Raphael dreamed that they were two different people, that they were somewhere else in time where they could clasp each other in secure arms and hide away. 'Yeah.'

Raphael almost turned around then, to glance at his face or even at the small details that made him who he was but settled with moving his hand so his fingers could interweave themselves in. ' Yeah. '

And with a thousand things his wish could leave his lips he settled for a simple response.

"Yeah."

***

"Stop it! You're bleeding!" His figure was blurred out but Raphael knew who it was and sneered in warning.

"Don't touch me!" Raphael turned but he couldn't leave, not when he felt himself getting tugged back.

"Stop, you are hurt, I am your friend." Raphael felt his heart shutting at that moment, any rage and hatred fleeing his body.

"I'm afraid to stain your hands with me…"

"Stain them, I don't care, I am your friend."

***

In that moment their eyes met and his ink filled brain found satisfaction in the look of horror in charcoal eyes and usually neat hair out of place. 

When the final blow was struck Raphael found regret in the moment, 'I'm sorry…' he wished to speak, 'your memory of me will be like a rope around your neck.'

***

Waking up with tears in his eyes Raphael laid there, staring up blankly at his ceiling. The sounds of breathing from his sister and Bartók with the roar of Grim's snoring keeping him grounded as a sob threatened to claw itself out of his throat.

As time passed his dreams of the original became more and more vivid and they weren't just flashes of memories that helped him go through day to day life pretending to be the original. No, these were memories that played out during the timeframe of the game. The original's thoughts and the feelings that lead up to his overblot in all the different routes that the player could choose and in each one the same shadow appeared but now Raphael had a face and the longing that the original held to his hiding shadow could drown .

***

"So, I noticed your ratings needed to be touched up when you got back to your room last night…" Yuu started, speaking around the food in her mouth. Raphael felt his eye twitching at his least favorite hobby of his sisters.

"Yuu, please swallow before you speak." Raphael pleads, trying not to let his exhaustion leak into his voice.

"You're avoiding the question, and you hid your little diary so I can't read in myself- also, writing in our little code was a smart move, who knows what someone would do with all that info." Yuu added before taking a large bite out of her breakfast.

Raphael sighed, thankful that they had returned to Ramshackle to eat breakfast before they had to go to class and not the cafeteria. The idea of someone overhearing their conversation sent shivers down his spin.

"Leona is at twenty." Yuu stopped chewing and the silence that came after was deafening, but the grin that grew on his sister's face scared him more than any silence could.

"Fuck yeah lover boy! Just five more points and you can unlock his route-"

"I'm not going to." Yuu blinked in confusion as Raphael avoided eye contact.

"What!? Why not?" Yuu questions as she settles back down, "You know his route and how to get the right endings…" Raphael sighed and looked at his sister.

"You're right, I did know his route, but that was when Yuu was the protagonist. But he isn't just coding and dialogue anymore, because I am a different person and not just some faceless Mc. There is no way to safely choose a route and be sure that a happy ending will be my outcome."

Yuu was silent at that, and she knew her brother was right. Yuu leaned back in her chair and ruffled her hair. "Yeah, you're right. God I hate it when you're right." Yuu seemed to snap out of the funk she was in and kicked Raphael from under the table.

Raphael yelped in shock of the blow and put his legs up on the chair to prevent any other hits. Yuu got up with a slam of her hands against the table, her grin back in place as Raphael looked up at her with a questioning look.

"Sooo, since yuu aren't planning to romance anyone, who's to say I can't play cupid?"

"Did you just make a fucking pun?"

***

After his sister's declaration Raphael went through his day in a fog, disbelief clouded his mind and he didn't even realize his arrival to the library until the doors closed onto the sleeve of his shirt making him jolt forward a bit. Cursing under his breath he tugged the fabric free and made his way to the table. He and Azul did their tutoring, but today Azul won't show, after all the Prefect meeting discussing the Magical Shift Tournament was today.

Instead Raphael planned to grab books and do research, Yuu and the AcDc duo were supposed to come in and help but he doesn't know when they are going to get there. And knowing them they will get into some type of trouble on the way making them late.

Going through the book shelves slowly and carefully in search of anything that could help him and Yuu find a way home he kept an ear out for the sound of his sister's friends barging in. Carefully grabbing books down from their shelves he cares them back to his table before going back to the forest of pages.

After a while he sat down and started to read through his piles, notebook and pen off to the side to write down anything that might be useful. But his mind kept wandering far from the safety of Raphael's consciousness.

The dreams, the emotions- it seemed too fluid for the memories of his body, almost if he was remembering something he had long since forgotten.

The sound of bickering brought him back to reality, the Heartslabyul first years and Grim having a heated conversation while Yuu added things here and there to continue the argument. What Raphael wasn't expecting was a certain two Heartslabyul seniors following behind them.

When they made eye contact Yuu gave a sheepish smile and shrugged her shoulders. Raphael sighed and slammed his book shut, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Yuu… you're late, and you brought extra company…" Their last conversation was heavy on Raphael's mind and he hoped she wasn't planning what he thought she was.

"Yeah, but the more eyes the better right? Besides, these two let the secret slip." Yuu pushed Ace and Deuce forward, making Twiddle Dumb and Dumber stumble.

"We said we're sorry." Ace huffed out rather halfheartedly. But Yuu wasn't taking it.

"I'd believe it when you act sorry, look at Deuce! He is truly sorry for his mistakes, take a page from his books!"

"Tch, even if I did I wouldn't be able to read his chicken scratch."

"Why you-"

"Enough." Raphael all but growled, making the brewing fight stop in its tracks. He pushed his chair back and gestured towards the chairs.

"Sit down," he looked to the third years with a blank expression."What do you two know?"

Chapter Text

"So… these two idiots told you that Yuu is from another world?" Raphael said holding his forehead with his hand, he would occasionally rub his temple.

Trey nodded and Cater hummed wide eyed.

"What I don't understand is why you are helping the directing student." Trey said, his tone was friendly but the look in his eyes told me what he really thought.

"Can't I be a good senior who wants to help his poor pathetic junior?" Raphael said, with a mocking look on his face, the look quickly disappeared the moment Yuu kicked his shin from under the table.

"Shi- you little troll! You didn't need to kick so hard!" Raphael hissed and Yuu crossed her arms.

"Stop being a dick. Play nice you nerd." Yuu scolds Raphael and he mutters under his breath.

" Play nice you nerd , ugh. Fine, I'll play nice . I am Raphael Gogi, you might remember me from the Unbirthday party, please take care of me seniors." Raphael introduced himself and Yuu just shook her head and all she could think was how her brother somehow gained the affection points he did.

***

Raphael's week was going normal, it was going perfect.

Until Yuu and her little boy band decided to include him in their questioning. The incidents had started and with Trey in crutches everyone felt a need to find the culprit. Well, everyone who wasn't Yuu and Raphael.

The two of them both agreed that it would be best to not poke at the plot like a sleeping bear so they went with the flow.

And so here he was, watching the Leech twins from a safe distance.

"Next up’s Octavinelle Dorm. The ones to pay attention to are those 2nd years, Jade and Floyd Leech." Cater informed us and for a second Raphael wondered who the poor soul willing to snitch the info on the twins was.

"My info says that their strongest point is their coordinated playing. I’ve heard that anyone who plays against them is always at a loss." Cater finished and Grim stared at them wide eyed.

"Uwah…! They both have the same face. They look lanky, but those legs are probably no joke."

"Should we keep an eye out for them, then?" Deuce asked tilting his head and Yuu made a joke to her brother about him reminding her of a puppy.

"Hm. If I were the culprit, I'd go after them last." Riddle shivers at the idea of going against the eels. "Those two are, well… I especially would not want to get too close to Floyd."

Nobody seemed to notice how Floyd's head seemed to snap in the direction everyone was in.

Ace turned to talk to Raphael and blinked in surprise when he saw the second year brunette was gone from where he was standing a second ago. "What the… where did Raphael g-"

"Ah! It’s Little Goldfish!" Floyd's voice rang out from the court yard drawing everyone's attention to the quickly approaching twins.

"He saw me!" Riddle stiffened up, the two cow licks standing up on his head in surprise.

"Little Goldfish, what are you doing here? Playing hide-and-seek? That sounds like fun~" Floyd asked with a curious and joyful voice.

"F-Floyd, how many times have I told you not to call me by such weird nicknames!" Riddle tried to scold the taller second year but it was obvious that it wasn't working. Yuu had taken this moment to be like her brother and disappear behind a bush.

"I mean, you’re small and red, so obviously you’re a goldfish~"

"He seems like a strange guy…" Grim muttered from where he floated by Ace and Deuce. Floyd's head turned to the first years and he blinked slowly at the cat like monster.

"Ah, it’s a talking cat! You look interesting~ Hey, hey, can I hold and squish you?" Floyd started to harass Grim, leaving everyone distracted from Jade silently approaching, Jade only made his presence noticeable when the twins successfully cornered the investigation team.

"Oh, my. What is everyone from Heartslabyul doing gathering here?" Jade held his chin and had a toothy smile. Everyone seemed to jump when Jade made his presence known.

"Are you perhaps observing the enemy for the coming Magical Shift Tournament?" Jade asked, an even wider and predatory look in his eyes.

"Um, we actually have a lot of reasons, so uh…" Cater had a sheepish smile on his face as he put his hands in surrender.

"We simply cannot let spies go, can we? Can we hear in detail the reasons why you were observing us?" Jade asked and the twins got closer and closer.

"This guy looks so zen, but his eyes are not laughing at all…" Ace muttered, a nervous sweat going down his cheek as he backed up.

"We’re so sorry for the intrusion!" 

***

Meanwhile, as Jade and Floyd messed with everyone Raphael and Yuu were having a silent conversation from their hiding spots.

"There your friends aren't they? You do something." Raphael mouthed at his sister, glaring from behind a bush.

"You're the lover boy! You do something! Those two won't listen to me!" Yuu mouthed from where she hid behind a tree. The two glared at each other from their hiding spots and quickly pulled out a fist and silently did a round of rock paper scissors.

Yuu silently cheered when she won and Raphael cursed. With one last glare at his sister who stuck her tongue out at him in her victory.

Raphael sighed and straightened out his clothes. With a straight back and head held high he slowly made his way out of hiding.

"We're so sorry for the intrusion!" Cater cried as the twin eels got closer.

"Leech, leave them be." Raphael said, a bored look on his face as mix matched eyes locked onto his form.

"Snake eel!" Floyd shouted in excitement and made his way to Raphael.

Jade had a closed eyed smile as he turned away from the Heartslabyul students. "Ah, Raphael. What an unexpected surprise."

"I didn't know you were acquainted with Heartslabyul." Jade looked down at Raphael and he looked back at the taller student with a bored look.

"I owe Riddle a favor, so he asked my help. And their little intrusion is a request from the Headmaster. I'm sure you are well aware of the incidents that have been going around on campus where Magical Shift players have been getting injured." Raphael stated simply. Ignoring how Floyd poked around as he made eye contact with Jade.

"Ah, I see. Then I won't hinder you on your investigation. However, I would love to hear more on this topic, perhaps when you come to Monstro Lounge. Perhaps this Saturday?" Jade asked and Raphael could see Yuu poke her head around the tree she was hiding behind with wide eyes and a cheshire grin.

"Saturday? I would have to check my schedule and make sure I don't have any premade plans. May I ask why so soon?" Raphael kept his calm and bored mask in place as he looked at Jade.

"I feared if I didn't set a date in stone you would never come." Jade said with a smile and Raphael held back the need to flinch because the eel was a hundred percent correct on that.

"Do you not take me as a man of my word? I told you I would come to Monstro Lounge, besides, I want to see if the food meets my standards." 

"A picky customer I see."

"The pickiest."

***

The moment the Leech twins left Raphael turned to the Heartslabyul student, his calm and bored mask gone. 

"I don't care what anybody says… Jade is the scariest twin…"

Chapter Text

"I don't care what anybody says… Jade is the scariest twin…" Raphael said with a shudder. The moment those words left his mouth Yuu was on him.

"What was that? What's happening Saturday? What-" Yuu rambles with bright eyes and Raphael covers her mouth with his hands to shut her up.

Riddle seemed to be the first one to snap out of his frozen state and stepped forward, "Those two have always been so difficult to grasp that I can’t really understand them." He explained and Cater nodded his head in agreement.

"Those two seem like they’ll target you for revenge if you hurt them."

Ace shivers at Cater's words and leaned towards Deuce to mutter, "I probably won’t go after them, then…"

Raphael turned to look at the Heartslabyul students with a blank expression, still covering Yuu's mouth with his hand, "Where to next?"

"It’s Savanaclaw’s Jack Howl. He’s a first year." Cater informed everyone and Raphael made a show of shivering.

"I'll pass on this adventure. It would be best for me to not be seen in Savanaclaw." He said and Riddle nodded along.

"It's already 5 PM. According to Rule #346 of the Queen of Hearts, 'One must not stay and play croquet in the gardens past 5 PM.'" Riddle quotes the rule and looks at his dorm members, "I’ll return to the dorm for now. If I take my eyes off them, there will surely be people breaking the rules."

"Alright, then. Good luck, Riddle. Raphael thank you for the help, it was a blast hanging with a member of Diasomnia." Cater said as he herded the first year Heartslabyul students and Grim.

"Okay, let’s head to Savanaclaw’s Dorm." Yuu said after slipping away from her brother, as she left she sent him a wink and mouthed to him, 'Go get it Tiger!'

Raphael sent her an unamused look as he watched them leave. The silence between Raphael and Riddle was a little awkward and Raphael decided to bite the bullet, "Can I walk you to the Mirror Chamber?"

Riddle seemed happy with the offer and the two of them started to walk to the Mirror Chamber.

"How has Trey's leg been doing"/"How do you and the Directing Student know each other?" The two of them said at the same time, causing them to pause and blink at each other. Raphael was the first to snap out of it.

"Ah, you can go first." He said as Riddle blinked slowly and snapped out of it.

"Ah, yes-" Riddle cleared his throat and they continued walking. "How do you and the Directing Student know each other?" Riddle looked at him curiously.

"It's a long story, but to summarize it I know that they are from a different world and I am helping them find a way home." Raphael explained, only giving half the truth.

Riddle nodded, accepting his answer.

"How is Trey's leg doing?" Raphael asked again, while he wasn't the biggest fan of the Heartslabyul Vice in the game he knew that this wasn't a game anymore and that getting injured sucked.

"Trey has been fine, he has been getting a little restless but he has been healing well." Riddle said and the small Silver number flickered but didn't shift.

The two of them reached the Mirror Chamber and Raphael turned to look at Riddle before walking through his mirror, "If you need Diasomnia's assistance do not be afraid to reach out. Have a good day Perfect Rosehearts."

***

The moment Raphael was through the mirror Bartók was on him like a fly on honey, the sound of Lilia's laughter in the distance. Raphael peeled the bat off his face and placed him on his shoulder.

"Lilia is at it again?" Raphael questioned with a raised eyebrow and Bartók nodded, clinching onto the cloth of his shirt.

Raphael shook his head and walked towards where he heard Lilia laughing, he wasn't surprised to find Lilia floating in the air waving a stick at the bats and Silver standing on the ground asking the fea to leave the bats alone.

This is the second time this week that Lilia has been harassing the bats. The first time it happened Raphael laughed and called it bat on bat crime and walked away without a care in the world, but now his bat was involved in the games.

With a deep sigh he walked forward, an unamused look on his face, "Harassing the wildlife I see, Vice Prefect Vanrouge." Raphael said and both Silver and Lilia looked over at him.

"Usually I wouldn't care, but I draw the line when Bartók gets involved."

"Fufufu, my apologies, it appears like I didn't notice your bat amongst the rest!" Lilia said with a chuckle.

Silver made his way over and stood next to Raphael, slowly shaking his head with a sigh.

"Really now? Bartók, what happened?" Raphael asked and Lilia's grinning face turned to look at the white bat on Raphael's shoulder.

"Eh- oh no I'm not Bartók- Although I hear he is quite gifted. A real talent… I am… uh, it's Bertok! Bertok, uh, it's really quite different." The bat gulped and chuckled nervously, Raphael raised his eyebrow with an unamused look.

"Alright, I'll just be quiet then. That's no problem for me to be quiet. I'll just shush it up." Bartók squeaked looking away.

Raphael sighed and turned his unamused look to Lilia, "Just try to keep your eyes out next time. I don't need my familiar getting scared half to death."

Raphael turned away without waiting for a response, Bartók whispering as they walked back to the dorm room.

"-with a 'Hah' and a 'Hy-ah' those are significant. Are you listening to me?" Bartók asked, giving Raphael a look as they entered the dorm room.

"Of course I am Bartók." Raphael lied through his teeth as he made his way over to his desk, flipping through his calendar and marking a note down for Saturday with dread.

"Say… Bartók, do you think you can teach me some of your fighting moves?" Raphael questioned with a sweat drop as he thought about what was going to happen on Saturday.

***

When the dreaded day finally came Raphael woke up to the sight of Yuu standing over his bed with a large grin.

"Good morning big bro~ are you excited for your little date?~" Yuu said teasingly.

"How in the world did you get in my room? I bought a new lock from Sam, get out you little troll." Raphael grumbled as he turned on his side to face the wall in his room, only to get his blanket yanked off.

"No can do, get your skinny ass out of bed and take a shower. Also, do you not have anything else besides baggy shirts? I wanted to go for a more well put together look today and not your usual 'I don't want to be here' look."

"I don't want to be here, and you are most definitely not picking out my clothes! Go harass your little boy band you little freak." Raphael hissed as he climbed out of bed, glaring at his sister unamused.

Yuu only grinned and lifted up the bucket she had on the ground and stepped closer to him.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Raphael hissed as he backed up a bit.

"I can fix that! Care for a little swim under the ice?" Yuu chuckled as she lifted the bucket even more.

"Yuu… don't do it, don't do it- Shit! God damn it Yuu!"

***

Later Raphael stood in front of the Mirror leading to Octavinelle; he didn't want to go more than he already did. He had a clean white shirt on and Yuu had put something in his hair so his curls were even more wild than they already were.

He wondered if it was too late to turn back and hid in his dorm, but the idea of having Jade Leech tracking him down kept him in place.

With one last sigh he held his breath before stepping through the mirror leading to Octavinelle.

Chapter Text

Walking into Mostro Lounge felt like a death march, he didn't give himself the pleasure to look around the beautifully decorated café as he was greeted and seated by the host. 

Raphael felt odd sitting at the large booth by himself, but he paid no attention to the feeling as he turned his attention to the glass window leading to the ocean. The entire cafe seemed to be under a blue light as the wait staff moved between different tables and booths.

Raphael placed his face in his hand as he looked out the large window, only looking away when he heard the soft clink of a cup being placed down before him.

"How strange, I don't remember ordering this." Raphael said calmly as he looked up from the cup to Jade, who sat down with the grace of a predator across from him.

"It's a new item on the menu, we at the Mostro Lounge are still trying to perfect our recipe and who better to have sample it than a picky customer?" Jade's sharp smile crossed his pale face and Raphael rolled his eyes and took a sip from the cup.

"Considering I haven't been given a menu my order was chosen for me?" Raphael questioned with a bored look on his face as he put the drink down, the cool taste of mint and citrus felt heavy on his tongue.

"I hope you don't mind." Jade replied, giving Raphael a fake concerned look.

Raphael was careful of where he looked when he stared at Jade, not wanting to make eye contact. "I hope whatever was picked for me is good."

"And if it's not?"

Raphael smiled then, it was all teeth and no joy. "Then I won't eat."

Raphael had to fight off the need to drop his smile the moment he saw the silver numbers change from a nine to a eleven.

***

The two of them sat in comfortable silence for the most part, the occasional conversation would start but end once there was nothing more to add. The Diasomnia second year had to ignore how he felt like he was being dissected under a microscope as the food arrived and he took his first bite.

Raphael's grip around the spoon tightened and he had to fight off the desire to dig in. Sharp golden eyes glared into gold and olive, Raphael took a deep breath and stirred his spoon into the goulash. He brought the spoon to his lips and ignored how the mer across from him had a satisfied smile on his face when the second bite was taken.

"I don't believe I've had goulash with mushrooms in it before. Hopefully it's a common one and not something you found during a hike." Raphael said as he finished chewing.

"How odd, I don't remember informing you about my mushroom collection." Jade said, his sharp smile seemed to grow, he leaned forward a bit and attempted to make eye contact.

"How did you know about that?" Jade inquired and Raphael distracted himself from the question by closing his eyes as he took another bite. 

"I happen to hear about it in passing is all." 

If Jade believed Raphael's words he didn't say, but at the end of the night Raphael walked out of Mostro lounge with the feeling of eyes on his back and the words "come again" ringing in his ears.

***

Raphael knew he would never be a hero, it wasn't something he was made to be. He was made to be the anti hero in every story in every twisted path.

But he didn't want this for himself, but now his body drowned in a inky grave. He knew what he had done wasn't right but when he saw an opportunity to no longer be at the bottom of the pecking order he pounced.

He didn't mean to have things get this far…

He only wished-

He only wished- he only wished- he only wished- He Only Wished- HE ONLY WISHED- HE ONLY WISHED -!

***

Raphael woke with a start, his heart in his throat and his eyes wide. He had too look around to regain his memory of where he was.

His back up against a tree and Bartók was hanging upside down on a branch above his head. Raphael took a deep breath and pressed a hand to his eyes.

After class he had declined joining Yuu and Heartslabyul on their adventures in catching the culprit of the incidents and found a hidden spot in the shade to take a nap, the hidden tree had made any stress seem to slip off his shoulders the moment he had seen it and a part of him recognized the spot but he couldn't figure out why.

As he sat there he watched the long grass move in the breeze, his sharp eyes watching the dark scales of a snake slither in the grass.

"How long have you been having nightmares for?" A familiar voice asked from the other side of the tree.

"Recently. They are nothing important." Raphael found himself answering quietly. His hand grasped at the strains of grass and another hand was placed down near him in the grass.

His body seemed to move on autopilot as he let his pale fingers twist in with fingers that were calloused and warm.

"I heard you injured your hand, what happened? I thought you were more careful than that." Raphael questioned, Yuu had told him about the chaos that had unfolded earlier that day.

"It's nothing noteworthy, just a simple blunder. It won't be happening again." Raphael felt his companion's hand tightened against his.

Raphael sat there in silence with their companion and watched as the snake in the grass left his sight.

***

Raphael laid in the grass of the botanical gardens, skimming through his textbooks as Bartók flew around looking for the perfect fruit to eat.

Leona sat under the shade of a tree not to far away, watching the white bat moving intensely as his tail would flick here and there.

After a while he sighed and closed the book with a sigh, turning his attention to the lion.

"Are you excited for the tournament? Better yet are you excited to lose our bet?" Raphael said with a sharp grin amd Leona huffed at his words before returning the grin.

"Just you wait and see, you won't be so smug when I take first place. It's a shame you don't play magical shift." Leona rolled his shoulders back and puffed his chest with pride in his eyes.

"Ah yes, and give your dorm a excuse to knock me around more than they already do, thanks but no thanks." Leona's laugh was breathless at Raphael's words.

"Besides, I think this years tournament will be very interesting." Raphael said lazily, his eyes forming crescents as he smiled at the lion.

"Yes, it really will be." He answered back, his eyes as sharp as his grin.

Chapter Text

Raphael is dead.

He died drowning on the icy cold ink that filled his body. Nobody was able to save him and now he's dead.

A part of him wondered if it was guilt that made him take in the white bat that his companion cared for so dearly, another part of him knew it was.

In his head it was better for him to take in the bat rather than anyone else, he knew Raphael and he hoped he was okay with this decision.

It took the bat a while to get used to his new environment, it tended to cling onto the curtains and sleep throughout the day, but would fly during the nights. Sometimes it would lay on the pillow near his head as he laid awake at night and he would imagine the bat talking to him, saying "Did you love him? Did you care for him like I did? Did it do any good?"

He could never give an answer to the bat, even in his own head.

***

He grew to care for the bat, making sure he had enough to eat and the space to fly as it wished, sometimes it would have too much to eat especially with how Kalim would have bowls upon bowls of exotic fruits laid out just for the bat.

But he couldn't seem to care, the memory of Raphael cutting fruit into bite size pieces in his mind, a less mature him asking why put in the effort when the bat could eat it even without all the extra steps. He remembered how Raphael just chuckled and continued on with what he was doing, not enlightening him with a response.

One of the only times he said something against Kalim and his habbit of leaving out too much was when he saw something that he remembered Raphael talking about.

"The bat doesn't like melon." Kalim blinked at him amd smiled, chuckling before looking at him strangely.

"How come you don't call the bat by a name? It's always the bat this, the bat that. Why don't you give him a name?" 

He felt his mouth go dry at Kalim's words.

He knows the bat has a name, he remembers Raphael saying it so fondly , why can't he remember the Barn's name? Why can't he remember-

***

The bat is tiered all the time now, it can't get itself up to move around very much anymore. 

And everything feels like it's moving slower, and he is starting to understand why. Today feels different, he stays by the bat for a long time, he feels a wetness in his eyes and his throat feels clogged. The bat closes his eyes and he knows it's not to take a nap.

He cries, and cries, and cries. Holding the small white body to his chest, Kalim is there with him, muttering his condolences, tears in the corner of his eyes.

And he hears Raphael's voice, it's soft and barley a whisper, and he knows it's no more than a memory.

'You got it all wrong, it's Bartók, Bartók. My magnificent little bat.' 

Jamil speaks softly as he holds the bat, tears falling down onto the soft fur, "Farewell Bartók… farewell."

***

The morning of the Magical Shift Tournament Raphael got up early so he could head to the Ramshackle dorm, however when he got there he wasn't expecting to see Jack standing outside the door about to knock.

The moment he saw the Savanaclaw first year he remembered that he originally greeted Yuu the day of the Tournament.

"You don't need to knock. Yuu probably isn't even awake yet." Raphael said as he slipped past the taller first year and pushed open the door using his foot, the bag in his hands full.

"Just make yourself at home, I'll get Yuu and Grim." Raphael said as he settled the bag of food he had brought for the two down, but kept the bucket in hand.

"Who are you?" Jack asked and Raphael didn't really care when he heard the gruff tone.

"Your senior, now then, I have a Directing student to wake up." Raphael said with a grin as he slipped upstairs to where Yuu's room was.

It was deathly quiet, until a loud thud rang out followed by Yuu's voice ringing out, "GOD DAMN IT RAPHAEL! WAS DUMPING WATER ON ME NECESSARY!?"

***

After waking Yuu up he left Ramshackle and went back to his dorm for a bit. While he planned to visit the tournament he had no interest in involving himself with the drama that was going to play out.

In the original game, with Yuu as the player, after gaining the evidence Leona's plan was stopped in its tracks and the dorms who had members fall victim to it felt motivated into beating Savanaclaw in the tournament fair and square. After getting dragged by all the other dorms in tdd he tournament Leona and Yuu find themselves having a conversation together and that's when you can choose to go down the Savanaclaw route to gain affection points or you can move forward to the next route.

Since Yuu was still heavily involved with the plot she was the one to be dragged into the investigation and not Raphael so he felt like there wasn't much to worry about.

And so, when Raphael finally found himself at the side street looking at the stalls before the games started he wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary.

So when he felt a hand on his shoulder he knew trouble was coming his way.

"Raphael, what a pleasant surprise to see you here." Raphael looked over his shoulder and deadpanned at the smiling Jade, Azul walking over with Floyd behind him.

"Ah. I didn't expect to see you all here. However I would be lying if I said I was pleasantly surprised." Raphael said with a bored tone as he let his eyes roam around the stalls.

"I am the managing director for this year's tournament, it only makes sense that I am here to make sure things are going the way they are supposed to." Azul said with a smug look on his face as he too looked at the stalls.

"Now then, why exactly are you here Raphael? Here to support your dorm?" Azul said with a slight chuckle.

"Do I look like I am here to support anyone?" Raphael said with an amused tint in his voice, "I'm the furthest thing from one of those over zealous dorm members who are here in their dorm uniform or decked out in dorm colorings." 

Raphael chuckled at the thought, "No… let's just say I'm here to watch as I win a little bet. I want to rub my victory in a little bit."

"Now then, I believe that the tournament is about to begin so I should be heading over to join the crow-" Raphael had started to say as he walked away, but Jade's hand stayed firm in place.

"I'm afraid we can't let you do that." Azul said with a grin, "You see, I made quite the deal to keep you away from the beginning of the tournament." 

Raphael blinked at him slowly, trying to comprehend what he was just told, a cold chill going down his back.

"What had Leona done…" Raphael cursed, a panic in mind.

"So you are aware it was Kingscholar? I wonder what else you are aware of." Raphael paid them no mind as his brain was racing, he needed to get to the stadium before it was too late. Yuu was there, she had no idea what was about to happen-

Ana had no idea what was going to happen-

Raphael pales when he hears the beginning of the announcements to start the tournament.

He needed to do something- anything. The tournament is being and his sister is about to be involved with something dangerous.

They somehow brought a bad ending upon themselves.

Leona is going to overblot.

Chapter Text

Raphael knew he couldn't outrun either of the twins, at least not long enough to reach the stadium, not long enough to get to someplace that matters.

His mind was racing, trying to find out where he went wrong. The ground beneath his feet and the noise in his ears felt wrong when the stampede began, all the visitors running and pushing all at once as their bodies were being moved and controlled. He could see Jade's mouth moving as he said something and Azul answering back but none of their words met his ears as his mind raced trying hard to figure out what to do.

In an instant his magic pen was in his hands, the green stone glowing with life and a familiar light shone as the pen changed shape in his hands, "Reliquary release." His voice was firm as the lid popped open letting the green imps release.

"Find Yuu now, fly ever faster. Help her and guide her towards the right place." He told the imps, with a quick movement he made a window that let him watch what was happening. 

All he could do was watch, through the 'window' ordering his imps from where he was to help with the overblot, hinting where to target just like he did whenever there was a boss fight she had issues with.

In this moment the world around him was nonexistent, all that mattered was making sure his sister somehow survived this.

When the final blow to the overblot monster came Raphael's hold on his unique magic finally snapped, summoning all the imps back and the reliquary reverted back to the shape of a pen, the green stone stained at some parts due to the sheer amount of magic such a spell requires.

All at once the strain from using his unique magic came crashing into him, causing him to lose balance as a coughing fit racked his lungs. He felt hands steady him and all at once he remembered where he was and who he was with.

Raphael looked up and made eye contact with Jade, the eel's eyes were sharp and unblinking.

"Mr. Gogi, you have been holding back on us." Azul's voice sounded a little too pleased for Raphael to feel comfortable.

He grimaced, a quick and waspy laugh escaped his throat, "Shit.." was all Raphael could manage to say before his vision went black.

***

In his dream he isn't in his own body, but his , he watches through his eyes, breathes through his lungs, and he hungers . 

He didn't know him, but he knew him , he wondered what it was like being him . To go through the day like he did, to go to sleep at night without that weight in his chest.

And as he wakes and looks at his own life he felt like a dog who was constantly chasing its own tail and had finally clapped down on it's own flesh, only to find that it can't stand it's own taste but still lapped up it's own blood because that was the only warmth it had.

***

When Raphael woke up he was surprised to find himself in the school infirmary, tucked into a bed with the curtains drawn to give him privacy. His head was killing him in the worst way possible, and the chatter going on across from him wasn't helping. 

He slipped out of the bed, noticing his vest folded with his magic pen laid on top of it off to the side. With a click of his teeth he opened the curtain loudly, gaining the attention of the group across from him, "This is an infirmity and some people are trying to rest, so shut up and-" 

Raphael stopped in his tracks when he made eye contact with Leona before he got tackled by Yuu and Grim in a hug. 

"Raphael! What are you doing in the infirmary!? Are you hurt? Quickly! Tell me how many fingers am I holding up!?" Yuu said, holding up both of her middle fingers causing an annoyed expression to grow on Raphael's face.

"Two, now give me some space for the love of- oi! Can you stop poking me, I'm fine!" The two siblings continue on like this for a while, not noticing the looks of the three Savanaclaw students and how Ace and Deuce snickered at their behavior.

The two only stopped pulling on each other's hair and kicking each other when Leona cleared his throat, causing the two siblings to look up at him.

"Gogi, I wasn't aware you and the Directing student were acquainted…" Leona said from where he was sitting up in an infirmary bed across from him. Raphael pushed Yuu away from him and straightened out his shirt.

"You never asked, so I never brought it up." Raphael said with a calm expression, ignoring how Yuu was still trying to poke at him and kept swatting her away.

"So, big day today, huh? Is now the right time to rub it in that I won our little bet?" Raphael questioned, a smug grin on his face as he heard Leona curse under his breath.

"You really know how to kick a lion when he's down. Tch, Diasomnia bastard…" Leona muttered and Raphael's grin just grew. 

"You're lucky we didn't make any rules for our bet, cause I think trying to cheat would have made me win by default also." Raphael crossed his arms as he said that, the two of them now standing across from each other now, Leona had his arms crossed over his chest.

"You're never going to let me live this down?" Leona huffed, but a slight grin was at the corner of his lips.

"No, also-" Raphael paused mid sentence just to punch Leona in the stomach, ignoring how Yuu and Ruggie gawked in surprise and Ace and Deuce seemed to cheer him on, " That's for being an idiot."

Leona grimaced before chuckling, "You know, that could be considered an attack on royalty, I could have you arrested for that."

"If you think that's an attack then I will be highly disappointed, I'm pretty sure that hurt me more than it hurt you." Raphael deadpanned, shaking his wrist a bit.

Before things could escalate further, the door to the infirmary opened and a tiny head popped in, "I finally found you, Uncle!"

"Who the heck’s that kid?" Grim asked from his place on the bed Raphael had woken up on.

"Uncle Leona!" The child shouted as he rushed in the room and hugged Leona's legs.

"Ah, damn it… The annoying one’s here.

JACK: Uncle… Leona?" Jack muttered from his place by Ace and Deuce.

Leona sighed before gesturing to the kid, "This little furball’s Cheka, my brother’s son.. my nephew."

Most of the people in the room gawked at the new information, "That means… The one who’s next in line for the throne is…" Ruggie muttered but his words were ignored.

Cheka rambled for a bit, talking about how Leona had played during the tournament. Grim snickered a bit as he climbed up onto Yuu's shoulder, "He’s really attached to you, yanno?" 

"Shut it. Stop staring!" Leona snapped, as Cheka was trying to get his attention.

"Hey, hey, Uncle! When are you coming home? Next week? The week after that? Ah! Did you read my letters?"

"Yeah, I told you already. I’ll go back home on the holida—Ow, don’t pull on my tail!"

"H-he’s just pulling on Leona’s tail so casually…!?" Jack muttered in shock as Ruggie started to cackle, causing Cheka to look at everyone.

"Are you all Uncle’s friends?" The child asked innocently, causing Ace to laugh.

"Yup, we’re his friends. Right, Uncle Leona?"

"Uncle… Ahahaha! Ow, ow… Laughing hurts so much…" Ruggie added with a grin.

"Stop laughing, you bastards! You better remember this!" Leona hissed, as Cheka looked over at Raphael and Yuu.

Cheka blinked at Yuu for a few seconds before smiling, "Hello miss! Are you one of Uncle's friends too?"

Everyone in the room paused at the child's words, blinking at Yuu in surprise.

"Miss..?"

Chapter Text

Yuu blinked slowly for a second before looking over at Raphael, she looked him up and down like she was examining him. 

"Now that it has been pointed out, you do have quite feminine qualities and features, how did no one notice you are a girl until now?" Yuu said as she tried to hide her grin but her humor quickly left when Raphael landed a painful kick at her shines.

"Shiii- shoot! What was that for!?" Yuu cried, trying her best not to curse in front of a literal child.

"You know exactly what that was for you little troll." Raphael hissed, glaring at his sister, causing the siblings to start trading mock blows and kicks. 

Meanwhile, Ace and Deuce were blinking in shock, a panicked and high pitched "G-girl!?" left one of their mouths as Ruggie and Jack just blinked at the two siblings who were now pulling each other's hair and pushing each other.

Leona sighed, looking over at Ace and Deuce, "Why are you two so surprised, you are always around the Directing student."

***

The week following the Magic Shift tournament was oddly calm, which left Raphael more on edge than anything else. 

After Cheka had given away Yuu's gender a person came to collect the little lion and he left with a smile and rambling about how Leona had to come home soon.

Once the child was gone Ace and Deuce had really started to hound down on Yuu for not telling them sooner and Leona after being asked explaining that he wasn't surprised because he could smell that Yuu was a girl.

And while that could cause some issues that wasn't the number one issue to Raphael, no, the real issue was Azul fucking Ashengrotto witnessed him using his unique magic. Which ruined Raphael's disguise of an unimpressive try hard student from Diasomnia. But the thing that had Raphael on edge the most was the fact that he hadn't seen hide nor hair from the Octavinelle trio.

With a sigh Raphael stood up from his spot in the library to put the books he was reading back, with the exams starting soon he wanted to get as much studying done as possible and he was making a study guide for Yuu on top of it to help her pass.

He knew that no matter what with all the students who were going to get their hands on Azul's guides it didn't matter how well he studied and prepared because he wouldn't be in the top fifty.

He closed his eyes and sighed as he pulled a thick book off the shelf and turned around to go back to his spot in the library only to jump and let out a yelp in surprise.

The last person he expected to see in front of him was Rook Hunt, his classic smile on his face. 

Raphael was quick to snap out of his surprise and cleared his throat and walked around the third year and sat back down at the table where all his notes were, trying to hold back his embarrassment from how loud he had yelped.

Once he was back in his spot he started to read, flipping through the pages and only stopping when he had to write down the information for the study guide. As he worked he was ignoring the blond who had decided to sit across from him and wasn't even pretending to be studying, after a while he had enough and slammed the book shut and looked at the third year, "I'm sorry, is there something I can help you with?" Raphael said without even trying to sound polite.

"Ah, oui! Monsieur Gogi-"

"How do you know my name?" Raphael questioned but was promptly ignored.

"-I was looking for your companion, la petite chauve-souris blanche." Rook finished and Raphael blinked at him slowly, trying to piece together what Rook had said with what little French he knew.

"You…you're looking for Bartók? Why?" Raphael questioned, on the defensive side.

The moment Raphael asked Rook's face lit up like a Christmas tree, he proceeded to go on a rant about Bartók, fawning over the little bat. After what felt like an hour Raphael had enough and raised his hand, "That's enough, please." Raphael said with a tiered look on his face, a sigh slipped out as he reached into his sleeve and pulled out the previously sleeping bat.

Holding the bat in his hand Bartók let out a little yawn, his large ears twitching.

"If you want, you can pet him." Raphael said, holding his hands out towards Rook. The third year seemed to light up even more and gently ran his hand over the bat's fur.

Rook talked Raphael's ear off, asking him all about Bartók, from his diet to his sleep schedule Rook wanted to know it all and Raphael answered it all easily and Bartók peacocked under all the attention.

After a while Rook finally left, thanking Raphael for his time and disappearing amongst the bookshelves as quickly as he appeared, the flash of a silver number above his head. Once he was alone again he let his head hit the table as he let out a tired groan.

***

Once lunch came around Raphael skipped it in favor to continue studying and making Yuu's guide. He continued to work, ignoring how his wrist was cramping up and how Bartók squeaked at him trying to look away from the pile of books and notes he had let build up. It was easy for him to get absorbed into his work like this, it was familiar and without Yuu here to pull him away from his work and remind him to eat he let himself get swallowed.

A flash passed through his head, Raphael- the real Raphael sitting in this same spot doing the same thing. Staying up late for nights on end and not taking enough breaks to eat, determined to do good, determined to succeed and prove that he could keep up. How the real Raphael seemed to refuse to believe that he was good enough, how it was easier for him to accept a lie and push himself until it was far . To. Late -

The sound of the pencil breaking in his hand snapped him out of his head, Raphael looked down at the broken pieces like he was confused on how it could have happened. With a deep breath he dropped the pencil on the table and used his chair to crack his back before he stretched his arms out.

"I had a feeling you would be here." A voice said behind him and he had to hold back the jolt that threatened to shake through his body, with a careful breath he turned around in his seat and looked over at Lilia.

"Vanrouge." Raphael said in greeting, he hadn't really spoken with anyone from his dorm after the Magical Shift tournament, a part of him felt guilty that he was more concerned about Leona than his dorm members who were almost hurt in the lion's plot, but at the same time he saw Leona as his friend and as someone who he could trust unlike the members of his dorm.

"Is there something that I can help you with, Vanrouge?" Raphael asked as he began to pack his stuff up in neat piles, putting the notes for his sister in a separate folder from the rest of his stuff.

"Fufufu, no need for such formalities, we are from the same dorm are we not?" Lilia said as he stood near Raphael, "And you didn't stop by to eat lunch today." Lilia said and Raphael let out a breathless chuckle.

"I got busy, didn't even notice what time it was." Raphael said, brushing off the slight look of concern on the fea's face. "I'll be sure to eat dinner."

Raphael swung his bag over his shoulder and moved his head to the side a little as Bartók flew up and landed on his shoulder.

"Do you plan to have your supper with the Directing student again this evening?" Lilia asked and Raphael just nodded his head, not questioning how Lilia knew. The fea smiled a bit, "It's good to see you are making friends."

Raphael held back a flinch, the rage that the real Raphael would have felt simmered in his throat and threatened to spill at the words.

"Yeah.. see you around Vanrouge." Raphael said, his tone more harsh than he meant for it to be as he turned and left the library.

Chapter Text

If someone were to ask Raphael where he first messed up in life some might think his answer would be the fact he used his unique magic in front of three very, very, troublesome students.

But they would be wrong.

No, in Raphael's mind he first messed up when he didn't reject the offer of tutoring sessions when Professor Crewel first mentioned them, because now for the second time Raphael has missed a session, and unlike the first time he is doing it on purpose. Which has now led to a very tense game of tag where Raphael was trying to get to his dorm before one of the Leech twins got to him.

In hindsight Raphael knew he couldn't avoid them forever, but it didn't stop him from freezing and walking in the other direction whenever he saw a flash of teal. As the game of cat and mouse continued Raphael couldn't help but get a sinking suspension that he was being herded which made him pause and curse under his breath.

He could practically hear Jade's laughter. With a quick turn he made his way into an empty classroom, keeping a calm expression as he walked the halls. Once inside he closed the door and move a chair in front of it for good measure before he practically sprinted for the window, opening the window he looked down at the distance of his fall and let out a string of curses before he shut his eyes and jumped down.

***

The sound of the door breaking off the hinges rang out through the empty classroom as two figures stepped into the room, “Oops- Eh? Where did Snake Eel go?” 

The two looked around the room and Jade stopped and stared at the open window, his pleasant smile growing as he stepped forward and looked out the window and saw the evidence of someone having ungraciously fallen out the window and into the bush below.

Jade's laughter had started off as a soft chuckle and broke out in full blown laughter as he slowly shook his head and closed the window, his smile growing sharp as his eyes lit up with excitement. Floyd took one look at his brother and gave him a disgusted look, “Gross, you look like you found a new mushroom.”

Jade ignored his brother's comment as he looked out the window, “Oh Gogi… you know how to keep the chase interesting..”

***

“What the hell happened to you?” Yuu said as she opened the door and saw Raphael standing there, his hair was tangled with branches and leaves, his clothes were askew and there were light scratches on his face.

“Don't ask.” Raphael's voice was stoney as he made his way past Yuu and into the Ramshackle lounge, walking with limp due to him landing on his ankle weirdly and twisted it from his landing. When he stepped foot into the room he wasn't expecting to see Leona, Ruggie, and Jack to be sitting in the lounge as Grim was acting food aggressive towards the lion.

Leona looked up almost immediately when Raphael walked into the room and let out low huff before he noticed the state Raphael was in.

“What happened to you? You look like you fell through a window or something.” Leona said in a laughing manner and Raphael avoided eye contact as he sat down on the rocking chair.

“Or something. Now then, why are you three here?” Raphael questioned as Jack and Ruggie watched their dorm leader's easy interaction.

“Have you really not noticed?” Yuu said as she made her way into the lounge, giving Raphael an odd look, “I feel like it's pretty noticeable to see.” 

Raphael blinked in confusion before he really took notice of the dorm around him. Gone was the damaged and abandoned interior, now replaced with new wooden flooring and wallpaper.

“You had Ramshackle repaired.” Raphael said slowly, looking Leona in the eyes as he said this and at the moment he really realized the miracle of seeing Leona Kingscholar sitting in front of him with a smug and self satisfying smirk on his face with the weight that had clung to his shoulders from before his overblot gone. Raphael felt his throat tightened up at that moment, the fear that his overblot could have killed him gone and relief that he was still able to sit across from the third year filled his chest.

“You still owe me a favor, you know, from me winning our bet.” Raphael said the moment he felt his emotions release their hands from his throat- in his head he said some much more, a tiny voice whispered “Are you healthy? Are you happy? Do you want something to eat, a place to sleep?”

Leona clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes as Ruggie and Jack whispered their shock of Leona losing a bet and Yuu's high pitched cackle as she joined Ruggie on teasing the lion. 

Raphael just watched them silently, effortlessly blending in on the background, watching as Leona bat Yuu away from him while growling at Ruggie as the hyena cackled with Yuu, a slight smile on Leona's face and his green eyes shimmering like a peridot before said eyes turned and made contact with Raphael's, the smile turning into a smirk and the numbers flickered and settled at twenty-four.

***

Raphael was being herded again, he could see Floyd popping up way too frequently for it to be coinciden and he knew where Floyd was, Jade was probably not far behind.

Raphael kept calm and packed like he didn't notice the mer trying to herd him as he made his way to an empty classroom and put a chair in front of the door right in time to hear, “Snake Eel!”

He made quick work to go to the window and didn't bother checking before he jumped out, so when he felt himself falling right into the awaiting arms he look up in surprise to see Jade smiling down at him, and if someone were to ask Raphael where messed up in life for the second time he would say it was the fact he didn't consider the fact that the Leech twins would learn from Raphael's first escape and use it to set a trap for him.

Jade's eyes crinkled together as he continued to smile happily at the human in his arms, the silver sixteen shining proudly in the sunlight, “Oh my, that was quite the fall Mister Gogi, I hope you didn't injure yourself.” Jade said, his sharp smile seemed to grow, he leaned forward a bit and attempted to make eye contact, sharp golden and olive eyes trying hard to search his face.

“I believe I told you you don't have to call me by my last name, and I am perfectly fine, so if you could put me down it would be much appreciate- HEY NOW!” Raphael shouted in pain as Jade manhandled him and pulled up the pant leg hiding Raphael's swollen ankle all without putting the smaller second year down.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… now then, how could I put you down and let you walk on such an injury? You must be careful around windows.” Jade said as his smile just continued to grow.

“I said put me down!” Raphael said as he flopped around, trying to be let go as Jade started to walk away with Raphael in his arms.

“Don't worry, you are in good hands, after all, Octavinelle is based on benevolence.” Jade said and Raphael gulped nervously, knowing that he wouldn't be able to escape unless Jade wanted him to.

***

Everyone in the halls made quick work to stay out of Jade's path, despite the overly pleased look on his face and those who made eye contact with Raphael gave him a pale look before scurrying off.

Raphael knew the look on his face was villainous and angry, his arms crossed over his chest as Jade continued to carry him to the mirror chamber.

The mirror chamber was empty which saved Raphael the embarrassment, “You can put me down now. I can make it to my dorm from here.” Raphael said with a deadpan, and despite his words he knew there was no hope that Jade was letting him go.

“Fufufu, how cruel do you think I am? To think I would let you return to your dorm with an empty stomach?” Jade said and Raphael glared up at the eel before closing his eyes as Jade stepped through the mirror leading to Octavinelle.

Unlike the last time Raphael found himself at Octavinelle he let himself look around and admire the pale purple building and the tall columns that stretched up to the dome keeping the water out. He stared at the fish that swimmed amongst the coral and seaweed before he was brought inside of Monstro lounge, instead of being brought back to the VIP room he was placed down on one of the dark leather seats and Jade smiled in a way that promised his return before he left Raphael there.

The human pinched the skin between his eyes before sighing and turning his attention to the view the tall glass window provided of the open ocean beyond the dorm. When Jade returned it was with drink in hand that he placed in front of Raphael's, the orange liquid catching the light of the chandeliers above them.

“This better not be poison.” Raphael said with a monotone as he looked up at Jade as the mer sat down before him.

When Raphael took a sip he was surprised by the sharp taste of ginger and passion fruit, an odd but pleasant combination. Jade continued to watch Raphael and he had enough.

“What is it?” Raphael said with a tone too sharp and defensive but Jade didn't seem to care.

“Every time I think I have you figured out you do something new, it's quite…”

“Annoying?”

“ Fascinating , after all, you seem to know things that you shouldn't and there is no clear explanation on why you know these things, but perhaps it has something to do with that.. eye opening Unique Magic of yours.” Jade reached out then and straightened Raphael's magic pen in his pocket so the magic stone sat up straight. Running a gloved thumb over the dark imperfections from the blot build up.

And from the look in Jade's eyes Raphael knew there was no way he was getting away from this, not with Jade's eyes wide with excitement and curiosity.

Chapter Text

If you were to ask anyone who knew Raphael their opinion on him you would get a variety of answers.

If you asked Bartók, his familiar, the bat-like creature would say that Raphael was a bright mind who burns himself out way too quickly.

If you asked his sister, she would just call him an idiot.

And at this moment of time Raphael would agree with his sister, he is an idiot.

An idiot who was currently surrounded by high leveled demons who all wanted his soul.

***

Raphael and his younger sister were born witches, ‘blessed with the sight’ as some would say, but Raphael disagreed with that notion. For as long as Raphael could remember he has been able to see things he shouldn't, he could see demons. But he was Alright with that, he ignored them and pretended he couldn't see anything and the demons left him alone.

The issue began when his younger sister developed the sight, and unlike him, Yuu wasn't good at ignoring it. 

She was constantly getting chased and attacked by the low level demons that plagued the small town that they lived in, so Raphael did what he did best and he studied, finding an old book he spent all his free moments learning the language and wards to help defend his sister, even managing to summon himself a familiar in the form of a white bat with little horns on its head.

And he was proud of himself, so once he was confident in his abilities he showed Yuu the book, planning to teach her everything he taught himself. Only to discover that she didn't need his help, right off the bat she was able to understand what the book said and at that moment he understood that her ability as a witch was quite grander than his.

He did his best not to let it affect him any but there was always that pinch of envy that twisted his chest. So whenever he managed to get his hands on new material he would hoard it religiously, so much so Yuu would jokingly call him a dragon.

Another thing was that Yuu didn't care about having all the knowledge about being a witch like Raphael did, which during their teenage years caused Raphael to just… give up, he was tired of all the effort he put in and stopped with the research that he felt like kept him going.

After Yuu graduated and left the small town they were raised in, Raphael figured there would be no reason for him to have to put the knowledge he had acquired into use ever again, until one night Yuu called him and said she needed his help.

So here Raphael is, living on the couch in his little sister's apartment, working at Ramshackle Investigations with Yuu and the Honest brothers- Fellow being the biggest con man Raphael has ever seen- going through different cases and breaking human and demon deals left and right.

But that doesn't explain why Raphael was here, at a very important event where witches, demons, and angels get together and rub elbows and settle differences. Yuu was somewhere in the crowd, harassing members of the wrath ring while Raphael had wanted to just drink in the corner and hide from the rest of the event.

But that's not happening.

Sitting to his left was Leona, the ruler of the sloth ring, with his arm resting on the back of Raphael's chair and the lion-like demon was purposely trying to start a fight with Azul and Malleus. 

To Raphael's right was Jamil and the witch could feel the snake-like tail curl around his ankle. Across from him sat a few other demons he knew that he and his sister had angered and when he managed to make eye contact with his sister from across the room she just gave him a peace sign and winked before she turned her back to him.

And at this moment of time Raphael would agree with all the times his sister called him an idiot because now he sat surrounded by high leveled demons who all wanted to devour his soul.

(That idiot)

Chapter Text

Raphael knew he probably looked like an idiot right now, a ugly blush creeping up his neck as he stared a little much with wide eyes before he picked up the cup and took a large sip, needing the cold liquid to distract him from Jade's words.

He put the cup back down with a little too much force before letting his eyes settle on Jade's earring.

“What do you want, Leech?” Raphael said with a harsh tone, trying to ignore the blush on his face and the smug look being aimed at him as Jade leaned back down in his seat.

“Please, call me Jade, we are in the same grade so there's no need for formalities.” Raphael gave him a dull look at that, making Jade smile.

“How does your unique magic work?” 

“Pass.” Raphael said quickly.

“Fufufu, not answering any questions are we?” Jade said with stilted eyes.

“Only an idiot would tell you the details of their unique magic, besides, you have seen it in action, that's all you need to know about it.”

“So cold, and here I thought we were starting to get along, do you not trust me?” Jade said, covering the smirk Raphael knew was on his face.

“I trust you as far as I can throw you.  Now tell me, how much time do I have left before Azul comes in and ambushes me for information?” 

“You think this is an ambush?”

“Moray eels are known for being ambush predators after all.” Raphael answered plainly only to freeze, noticing his mistake a moment too late.

“That's odd, how did you know I was a moray eel?” Jade's smile was all teeth and if Raphael didn't know any better they would say his eyes were glowing as well under the light of the chandelier.

“Would you believe me if I said an educated guess?” Raphael tried, knowing that it was a lackluster explanation.

Jade's smile only grew and with a stiff expression Raphael grabbed his drink and took a gulp of it before putting the cup down with more force than necessary before looking Jade in the eyes.

“You get three questions, and I might answer them honestly.” Raphael said with a sharp look in his eyes. The two of them maintained eye contact, the ball was in Jade's court and it was up to the mer to decide what to do with it.

The eye contact was broken when a plate was put down in front of Raphael by a tired looking Octavinelle student and a cart filled with different dishes was given to Jade.

Raphael blinked in surprise, looking at his dish then Jade's, “I don't remember ordering anything.” Raphael said painfully calm, moving his cup in slow circles.

“I took the initiative to order something for you, after all you won't be able to make it back to your dorm for dinner and I would hate to be the cause of you missing a meal.” 

“And what am I about to put into my mouth?” Raphael questioned as he pushed around the rice and what looked like mango salsa around on his plate.

“Here at Mostro Lounge we have been working on expanding our dinner menu, what you have is the grilled mahi-mahi with a side of coconut-lime rice and mango salsa, do enjoy.”

“This is a lote fancier than what I had last time.” Jade watched as Raphael cut the fish and scooped up a little bit of everything into his fork and ate it, the mer's eyes narrowed and the grin grew as Raphael made a pleased hum.

“I hope you don't mind.” Jade said as he started on his first plate.

Raphael ate slowly and after Jade was done with his third plate the first question was asked.

“How do you know the Directing student?” 

Raphael looked up and he debated how the best way to answer was.

“Tsk… the Directing student… I have known her for a while, practically my entire life.” Raphael answered vaguely, beating around the bush.

“Hmm, so I didn't mishear you when you referred to the Directing student as a girl during the Magical Shift tournament.” Jade's smile grew and Raphael's hand twitched over his pocket, where a bite of Lilia's cooking lay wrapped up in a handkerchief.

“Where are you from?”

“Country of Pyroxenes.” Raphael said calmly before his mind froze before he decided to ignore how easy the answer had come. His hand wrapping around the handkerchief and pulled it out as the waiter came to give Raphael a drink refill and to take some of Jade's empty plates, with a carefully maneuver he popped Lilia's cooking into his mouth a drank it down and let the taste of ginger and passion fruit fill his senses.

It didn't kick in at first, but he expected that, and as Jade's eyes landed back on Raphael he acted unaware of what Raphael had just done.

“You only have one question left, you better think carefully on what you say next.” Raphael said smoothly, propping his chin on his palm as he swirled around his drink, trying to stall for time in order to give his body time to process what he just swallowed so he just continued to ramble dramatically.

“After this you will be lucky to catch me alone, afterall with the exam season coming up I will be devoting myself to my studies.” Raphael continued to ramble as Jade finished off his plates.

“Have you ever considered getting a job?” Jade said calmly, cutting Raphael off and the human paused in his rambling and blinked in confusion.

“A job? That would require asking the Headmaster for permission to leave campus and that would be too much of a waste of precious time and breath.” Raphael replied, waving his hand nonchalantly before taking a sip of his drink.

“Not if you apply here.” Jade said with a smile as Raphael choked a bit on his drink, pressing his handkerchief to his mouth to cover his cough from choking.

After calming down a bit he put his handkerchief away and looked at Jade with a weary glare.

“I'm afraid I might be too clumsy to work here, I have no experience in the kitchen and no experience as a waiter, I would probably be trembled on more than actually being any help.” Raphael said as he looked at the table, putting his glass down. “Besides, soon enough you all won't even need any extra hel-”

Raphael stopped talking when he looked up and noticed Jade's smile was gone, the mer almost painfully still and if it wasn't for the fact he could see his chest moving Raphael would think Jade had stopped breathing. And that's when he felt it, the uncomfortable warmth dripping from his nose, he blinked in confusion before stumbling to get his handkerchief back out.

Raphael found the nosebleed odd, after all the normal results of eating Lilia's cooking was an upset stomach, dizziness, and in extreme cases shortness of breath and vomiting. Never nosebleeds.

In Raphael's panic he didn't notice Jade moving, not until Jade was tilting Raphael's head back and placed a gloved hand over Raphael's to keep the handkerchief in place.

Raphael didn't want to know what this looked like at this moment of time, afterall it must be bad if Jade was still not smiling and Raphael could feel his heart racing from the suddenness of it all.

“You know… I normally tell people to buy me dinner first before getting this close and personal, but I think it doesn't really apply in this situation…” Raphael said with a weak grin, his voice coming out nasally. That seemed to work cause Jade's smile slowly returned to his face.

“I see, then I suppose I should continue to buy you dinner.”

Raphael gawked at that as Jade continued to hold his head back.

“Ah, Mr. Gogi. How kind of you to stop by! Jade, why didn't you inform m- what happened?” Azul's voice called out dramatically before cutting off when he saw the position Jade and Raphael were in.

***

Azul had hurriedly rushed the two into the VIP room, cursing under his breath as Raphael sat there awkwardly, holding a clean handkerchief under his nose as the bleeding stopped.

Azul was rambling about something Raphael deemed unimportant. Jade came back into the room with a tea cart and a clean pair of gloves and placed a cup in front of Azul before handing a cup directly to Raphael before grabbing Raphael's face and tilting it up to check on the bleeding. Once Jade was done he let go of Raphael's face and took a step back.

“What's the verdict, doc?” Raphael questioned jokingly and Jade huffed a bit in laughter.

“The bleeding seems to have stopped for now.” 

“So I'm free to go then?” Raphael questioned before taking a sip of his tea but his attention was taken by Azul clearing his throat before Jade could reply.

“Mr. Gogi, how rude, leaving before you talk to your host? How rude.” Azul said dramatically but couldn't seem to hide the smirk on his face.

“I have no interest in forming a contract with you nor am I interested in working for you.”

***

When Raphael made his way to Ramshackle there were many things he had expected to be happening in the lounge. 

For example, Ace and Deuce playing cards, Yuu doing homework before going to bed, hell- he wouldn't be surprised to see the three ghosts!

So when he walked in like he owned the place he wasn't paying that much attention, “Yuu, guess who just got a job-” Raphael started to say with a tiered sigh only to look up and blinked in a muted surprise.

The one thing he didn't consider to see was Yuu chatting over a cup of tea with Malleus, and sure, in hindsight it wasn't the biggest shocker but it still had him freezing in place as both Yuu and Malleus looked up and stared at him like two kids with their hands in the cookie jar.

“Child of man..?”

“Oh my god- BIG BRO ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?” Yuu shrieked, jumping out of her seat and rushing over to Raphael.

“What- I'm fine, stop freaking out-”

“What do you mean, ‘Stop freaking out’, you have blood all over your shirt!” Yuu continued to shout but lowered her volume and Raphael looked down to see that there was in fact blood on his shirt from his bloody nose from earlier, the other thing that he noticed was his magic pen.

“Oh, all the Blot is gone.” Raphael said in a dull tone and Yuu practically bristled up.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE BLOT IS GONE! WHAT BLOT!?”

There was a loud rumbling of thunder and a bright flash of lightning that made both siblings jump and the two of them both gulped before looking over at the Dormhead they had forgotten was there.

The siblings practically had the same expression of nervousness on their face as Malleus stood up.

“Children of men, sit down.” The two did as they were told silently.

“Raphael, tell me what happened.” Malleus said in a firm calmness and Raphael finally understood how the original Raphael felt when it came to the fea at this moment.

Chapter Text

When morning came Yuu and Raphael both were practically dead on their feet, and Ace and Deuce gave them odd looks as Yuu practically slept with her face in her breakfast and Raphael just used the table as a pillow and didn't bother trying to hide his exhaustion as Bartók stayed nested in his hair.

“What happened to you two?” Ace asked, bumping Yuu's elbow which almost made her go face first into her cereal which then caused Yuu and Ace to break out in a squeamish that ended when Raphael was hit on accident and the older male looking up with a glare and with a wave of his magic pen sent a simple water spell at the two of them, making Deuce and Grim laugh at the wet rat look of their follow first years.

After a while Ace and Yuu dried their faces and hair off and Ace glanced at the siblings, “So, seriously, what happened to you two?”

The siblings glanced at each other, “A slight misunderstanding happened last night his all.” Raphael said and Yuu groaned at the thought of Malleus's silent temper.

But there was more to it for Raphael, the hidden part of his mind that he had labeled the original had preened and felt a satisfaction at his Dormheads attention, all of it stemming from the one sided feud that the original had brought upon himself and that part of him was stated under the acknowledgment even if it wasn't for the reason the original would have wanted.

After breakfast Raphael walked the first years to their class, ignoring the look Professor Crewel gave him as he caught sight of the second year.

Ignoring the questioning look on the Professor's face, Raphael made his way to the library and continued to work on the study guide for Yuu.

As he worked his mind became sluggish and eventually sleep overcame him.

***

It felt like a slap to the face, here he was putting all his time and effort into the exams and burning the candle at both end only to end up at fifty place, at the bottom of the board, around him fools panicked and shouted as anemones sprouted from their heads and it all only made Raphael simmer even more.

How dare they? How dare they !? Raphael put all this time and effort and yet all due to some lazy, ignorant, dumbasses he was still at the bottom of the board! His teeth dug into his bottom lip and iron bloomed in his mouth.

Behind him he heard a familiar voice and he turned his head to see the Directing student, a surprised look on their face as the two Heartslabyul students and their monster sprouted anemones as well and were dragged off to the Octavinelle dorm.

Good riddance, those fools deserved everything that they brought upon themselves by making a deal with that octopus.

Raphael watched the chaos before him with a cold glare, a trail of warmth dripping down his nose and he didn't care, however across from him and separated by the crowd of anemones stood Silver, watching with wide eyes as he looked at Raphael. The brunette could stop the vicious snarl on his face as he wiped the blood off his face and disappeared into the crowd, making his way back to his dorm.

***

When Raphael woke up his head was splitting with a headache, his arms under his head as a pillow a deep scowl forming on his face as he refused to open his eyes.

“How long have you been sitting there?” Raphael questioned bluntly, forcing himself to sit up, the jacket that had laid over his shoulders falling as he glared up at the Pomefiore third year.

Rook just smiled pleasantly, “Bonjour, did you sleep well, petit muflier?” the third year asked as Raphael gathered his belongings.

Raphael picked up the jacket that fell off of him and dusted it off before handing it over to Rook, “I slept fine.” 

“Do you get nosebleeds often?” 

Raphael froze a bit in place, looking up slowly and decided he didn't like the predatory gleam, he glanced down at his hands and did see that there was some dry blood on his palms.

“It's the cold air.” Raphael said nonchalantly and stood, leaving the library at a casual pause so it didn't appear that he was running away.

***

“I'm not wearing that.” Raphael said with a dull tone, his arms crossed in front of him disapprovingly.

“It is the standard work uniform, how else will anyone know you are an employee of Mostro lounge if you aren't wearing the uniform?” Jade asked with a smile and Raphael's eyes narrowed some more.

“I am nothing but a glorified secretary, I will be sitting in Azul's office sorting through paperwork- a job that I am pretty sure is completely pointless and I doubt any actual important papers would be left in a pile that seems to be mostly orders for ingredients!” Raphael rambles on as Jade continues to just smile at the brunette, seeing through Raphael's attempt to steer the conversation.

Seeing his attempt failed Raphael sighed, “I'll wear the shirt and bowtie. That's it.”

“That's a splendid idea, but it is a shame, I was hoping that you would wear the hat as well.” Jade said, hiding his smirk behind his hand.

“You're pushing your luck.” Raphael hissed.

“Now that you two have finally come to an agreement, can you please do your job Jade? I don't pay you to be standing here harassing our newest slav- I mean employee.” Azul said with a smirk and smile, glancing up from his own pile of paperwork.

“You really just said that?” Raphael said with a deadpan, fighting the urge to quit now but then the promise of a good paycheck kept him in place. Snatching the uniform shirt from Jade he made his way to the changing room and switched out his white shirt for the purple one and was trying his best to ignore how the dress shirt was a perfect fit as he loosely tied the bowtie in place.

“Do I want to know why you know my measurements? Cause last I checked that wasn't common knowledge.” Raphael said with a deadpan as he stepped back into the VIP room, not fighting Jade as the mer straightened out and tightened his bowtie.

“As your employer it's only natural, after all how else am I supposed to make sure your uniform fits correctly?” Azul said with a smirk and Raphael sat down and reached for his piles of papers, ready to just get the first night of his job done.

The work really wasn't that difficult, it was mostly just sorting through deliveries that had come in, writing down which ones were already paid for, and filing them accordingly. About halfway through Jade came back with tea and a chicken sandwich and didn't leave until Raphael ate it all.

By the time he was done and leaving Mostro lounge Raphael honestly wasn't dreading his next shift. The night air held the beginning hints of a cold front and Raphael enjoyed the chill. As he stepped through the Mirror out of Octavinelle he was thinking about how Yuu was going to need some items for the winter months, she always hating the snow but that never stopped Yuu from bringing a snowball inside just to throw it at Raphael and he chuckles softly at the memory and decided once he got his first paycheck he would get Yuu a coat and some gloves.

He stepped through the mirror and onto the bridge that leads to the Disomiaia dorm silently, taking a break just to enjoy the peace of the night sky.

***

He woke up with a panicked wheeze for air, the air around him was too dry and he felt like sand was gathering in his lungs.

Throwing himself out of bed he opened the window to try and get some fresh air in his lungs, beads of sweat racing down his back felt like blood and ink which made Raphael's face come to mind.

Raphael with dull burnt yellow eyes instead of them being warm gold, his skin seared by a bubbling ink and his skin a deathly gray that didn't change even with the monster behind him being defeated. Raphael's body hitting the ground with a sickening crack and not moving as red and black spilled out and-

He managed to stick his head out the window in time as he vomited, his head ringing as he forced those thoughts out of his head.

Raphael was alive. 

And he would make sure it stays that way. Even if he had to go against the sands of time.