Chapter Text
1. Yuuken
Enma Yuuken should’ve been sorted into Savanaclaw, is what Leona thinks when he first sees the large human. Magic or not, it was rather a waste to see all that brute and brawn be wasted in the likes of Ramshackle and (Leona scoffs even thinking about it) Heartslabyul, who seem to have adopted the interdimensional human.
But even before then, their interactions had been sparse, not that Leona really cares to put in any effort into recruiting. That’s something for Ruggie to do if he is so inclined, and no doubt not without a cost. Leona only cares for two things in life: Spelldrive and sleep. And meat too, when he is hungry, but if Leona could close his eyes and sleep forever more he’ll be more than willing to take that opportunity.
The first time he meets Yuuken (outside of the headache-inducing clown show that was the entrance ceremony), is when the wandering dolt accidentally steps on his tail in the greenhouse. The idiot quickly apologizes but then has the audacity to look and smell utterly unphased when Leona bares his fangs at him and threatens to send him to the infirmary. It pissed Leona off as much as it impressed him.
One thing is certain. Enma Yuuken is not a sniveling herbivore like the rest of this pathetic student populus. And in that Leona can respect.
The asshole does fit right in with the rest of this hellhole though, with a particular propensity for getting into all sorts of bullshit. Within two weeks of the semester start, there’s already a bid for power in Heartslabyul. And Yuuken, who should have no reason to be anyway involved in it somehow is.
Leona didn’t really care to know about the pointless squabbling of those beneath his notice or in the other houses, but can’t escape Ruggie’s running mouth and the ever circulating rumor mill of Night Raven. All Leona knows is that if Riddle can’t keep his inferiors in place, then he isn’t worth the crown he wears on his pretty little head.
And then Rosehearts goes and overblots .
Even Leona is a bit shaken from this event, as unrelated as it is to him. There hasn’t been an overblot in the Sunset Savanna in over a decade . It is as rare of a phenomenon as a human appearing from another universe without explanation.
But life at NRC goes on. Yuuken supposedly defeats an overblotted Rosehearts with nothing but a wooden sword and some technique with a name Leona is sure originates from the far East. Once more Leona finds himself unwillingly impressed with the human, and again of the opinion Yuuken should really be in Savanaclaw. Leona thinks he wouldn’t mind sparring the other man.
That respect plummets a little when Ruggie gleefully regales him with rumors that Yuuken and Riddle started dating some weeks following the incident. Rosehearts is a lot of things, not the least of which is a whiny brat who was pathetic enough to succumb to something as shameful as overblot. Leona knows what he would do if he defeated someone on a throne, and it definitely wasn’t to date them.
Despite his opinions on the strange couple, Leona could honestly say he couldn’t care less about what they do at the end of the day.
He doesn’t care until the human starts to get involved in Leona’s personal business— sticking his nosy snout about where it doesn’t belong. Leona is this close to finally showing Malleus fucking Draconia his fucking place and in comes Enma Yuuken and his entourage of Heartslabyul stooges to fuck Leona’s shit up.
Riddle and Yuuken team up against him.
He loses.
There is not much to say after that.
Things go from bad to worse.
Leona overblots.
Things become a bit fuzzy after that.
Everything is darkness and dry desert sand and the overwhelming scent of ink and ozone.
And then Leona wakes up beneath the familiar canopy of the greenhouse with naught but the receding scent of ink in his nostrils and a fading sensation that something was not right .
2. Yuuya
The second entrance ceremony (or is it the first? Leona’s forehead feels like it’s about to split) is marked by the arrival of a strange human from a different dimension, accompanied by a fire breathing weasel that Leona doesn’t understand how he knows is named Grim.
The dark mirror hall is set ablaze, the entrance ceremony is in ruins, and Dire Crowley is wailing like the useless roaster he is. But through it all, it is all Leona Kingscholar can do to keep upright when he is hit by a powerful bout of nausea and deja vu. As the other Housewardens run around like headless chickens trying to catch Grim (no, Leona doesn’t know that’s his– it’s name), Leona is busy trying to gather his thoughts together. Ruggie shoots him suspicious glances but a warning growl and a flash of fangs is enough to keep his nosy-gaze off.
The human’s name is Kuroki Yuuya.
Not Yuuken.
He has similar black hair, a similar complexion, and clearly hails from the same part of the world as the human Leona remembers from his… Dreams? But that is where the similarities end.
Where Yuuken was large, Yuuya is short and slender. Where Yuuken was stern but still outgoing, Yuuya is reserved and quiet and seems to carry a heavy weight that Leona will never admit he is all too familiar with. Where Yuuken occasionally held himself in a larger-than-life manner, Yuuya was… Bland. Ordinary. Boring. But Leona can’t help but follow the human with his eyes, confused at the world he is currently witnessing and the too-real world within his dreams and memories.
Some things are different.
But too many are the same.
Unlike the Yuuken in Leona’s memories, the first time he actually meets Yuuya is out in the main street where Deuce Spade threatens to fight a couple of Leona’s underclassmen, over cracked eggs of all things. Leona has to pause to really take in the human in front of him, trying to reconcile the visage of this strange being to the one he remembers, though he doesn’t understand why he does.
But then later that same day he’s napping in the greenhouse when once more his tail is being carelessly trampled over. This time, when he bares his fangs and threatens to rip out the clumsy herbivore’s teeth, he is met with a different type of unphasedness. For a moment Leona can see the fear in Yuuya’s eyes, the smaller man acknowledging the clear superior predator before him, before it is quickly replaced by a resignation that churns at Leona’s stomach.
Right before his eyes, this human just gives up and accepts his fate. Even if that fate is to become a chopped meat.
For some reason this infuriates Leona, who cannot decide if he should really let the human go or teach him a lesson. What lesson? Leona cannot say, just that he was prepared to spill some blood, the sensation of ink and sand still brimming beneath his skin, too close to the surface.
Yuuya is saved by the arrival of Ruggie.
He doesn’t see the human for a while after that.
Leona will not admit that he actually puts in effort to avoid him.
And then Riddle Rosehearts goes and overblots ( again ) and Leona considers swallowing his pride and going home to get away from the madness of his own stirring thoughts. Even dealing with Falena would be better than this fever dream, where everyday is one Leona feels he has lived before– and not in the usual way he feels about the monotonous passage of time.
But as said before, there are discrepancies from the visions that haunt Leona’s every waking hour.
Ruggie does not gleefully regale him of Yuuya and Riddle’s budding relationship–because there is no relationship. Besides the Heartslabyul tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum (and the fucking weasel), Yuuya seemingly makes no effort to reach out beyond that. He keeps to himself, head down as he goes from class to class (not that Leona is paying attention, of course), and there is a haunted look in his eyes.
So it’s a bit of a surprise when the next series of events remain relatively unchanged.
Leona goes through the motions of his plans. His dreams always end on the day of the interdorm tournament and all he ever remembers is that something goes terribly wrong as those events grow fuzzy before stopping altogether. But he continues on his way regardless, unwilling to let meaningless visions and paranoia keep him from taking Draconia down a few pegs.
But once again, Rosehearts (and the four other Heartslabyul headaches) starts to meddle in his business. With everything else going on, Leona cannot find it in himself to be surprised. Not about Rosehearts that is.
What is surprising is that Yuuya gets involved–all dead-eyed and long sighs. For once since he’s arrived here, this white-bread herbivore actually decides to do something besides wander around at the whims of his friends.
And it’s to screw up Leona’s plans.
And this really pisses Leona off.
How dare this pathetic herbivore, who can’t even seem to bring himself to care about a single thing, now decide to take a stand? At least the one from Leona’s dreams did so with steadfast and unwavering intentions and beliefs. What did Kuroki have going for him? Endless woes and a pathetic sob story Leona has already heard once before?
Why choose to fuck with Leona if he can’t be bothered with literally anything else?
That ozone and ink scent, which had been slowly going away, starts to bubble beneath his skin once more. Leona feels close to bursting . Like his skin is too tight and stretched too thin to contain all the rage and confusion and frustration (and suffocatingly painful grief) that is pushing and straining. Existence once more starts to feel unbearable and not even sleep can fully soothe the aches.
And like a madman (because madness is trying the same thing over and over and over again when you already know the outcome), Leona keeps to his plan. And when the Caters reveal themselves, all decked out in green and silver and black, Leona can only laugh. Everyone stares at him like he’s insane (and maybe he is).
Everyone except for Kuroki Yuuya.
When the ink begins to spill from him, as the world grows dim and confused, Leona wonders if this is his fate. There’s a moment of fear, intense and delirious, as he wonders what he will see when he opens his eyes once more.
Will he open them to the canopy of the greenhouse?
. . .
Leona opens his eyes on the Spelldrive field, surrounded by grim and relieved faces.
A weight lifts from his chest, so sudden that he hadn’t realized how great the burden he had been carrying this entire time until this very moment. He is under the blue sky of the interhouse tournament.
He is past the point in his dream where everything goes black.
It is so jarring, so relieving , that Leona can’t even bring himself to be annoyed when everyone insists on Savanaclaw keep playing in the tournament, just so the other houses can all have a turn getting their revenge. It’s a sentiment Leona can respect.
School life goes on. Time goes on.
Leona ceases to have dreams and visions of this other world. Memories of some human who doesn’t exist, by the name of Enma Yuuken, is pushed to the back of his mind as Leona relishes in the simplicity of the passage of time. And if Ruggie ever notices Leona’s pained grunts and moans while he naps, it is never commented on. So long as the dreams stop pestering him in the waking hours, Leona does not care if nightmares do so in the others.
A month passes. Then another.
Leona’s ire at Kuroki simmers down to an ember so small it practically does not exist. He still avoids the human if he can, and Leona’s only solace is that Yuuya also avoids him (though he seems to avoid basically everyone). Their paths do not cross much due to school standings regardless, so Leona’s days pass by almost peacefully.
He doesn’t even give two rat arses about whatever is going on with Ashengrotto during finals week. If his own herd are stupid enough to make a deal with the cephalo-bastard (nevermind Leona himself did so–twice, technically), then that is their own problem to deal with. Leona can’t be bothered.
He also cannot be bothered when Howl drags a pathetic looking Yuuya and Grim to his doorstep, begging for a place to stay. He may no longer want to rip into the human with his teeth every time he sees him now, but that doesn’t mean he’s suddenly fond of the herbivore–far from it. And he certainly isn’t going to entertain a couple of freeloaders.
Leona kicks them to the curb without a second thought.
He spends the last few days of the semester enjoying his freedom before he is inevitably forced to deal with his family again over break.
But then Azul goes and overblots in the middle of the hall of mirrors.
Leona has a responsibility as a housewarden to evacuate his dorm, proven much more difficult when there is ink spilling through their dorm mirror and a raging mage on the other side of it. He orders them all to the Savanaclaw training field.
He barely gets to read the panicked texts on his phone from Crowley and Ruggie and a dozen other pests when his vision goes dim and the world around him physically shudders. He snarls and pushes a student out of the way of a collapsing pillar, a piece of debris clipping him across the shoulder.
Leona barely feels it.
His vision dims further.
Everything goes black.
. . .
Leona opens his eyes to the familiar canopy of the greenhouse