Chapter Text
A comforting silence filled the air. The smell of old oak and burning candles spread around, creating an aura of comfort, but tension. Ophelia tensed her muscles, realising how little space she really had here. Where was ‘here’ anyway? Nowhere she recognised, that was for sure. Didn’t help there was an odd texture pushed up against her right cheek: soft and warm, like a cat’s fur.
Oh well. Nowhere to go but forward.
Ophelia pushed in front of her, opening some kind of door. It almost blinded her in the process, but she shook it off quickly. Stepping out of the small space, three things immediately became clear:
One: She had just crawled out of a coffin.
Two: The catlike texture against her face was an actual cat.
And three: She had no idea where she was.
The cat nuzzled itself closer to her neck, as she peacefully slept, unaware of what was happening around her. Sighing, Ophelia gently adjusted her hood to allow the cat more room to stretch out.
The cat slowly opened her eyes, as it stretched its small body, before leaving the warmth and comfort of Ophelia’s hood. The cat looked around, her orange fluffy fur illuminated by the moonlight. The cat’s tail puffed up from fear, the left eye changing into a dull yellow colour. Before Ophelia could react, in place of the small cat stood a short female with similar features to the cat.
“Okay… You good, cat…girl…person?” In response, the cat girl looked at Ophelia, her eyes glossed over with fear as her tail puffed up even more, slowly she approached Ophelia as she slowly stood on her tippy toes. No words left the cat girl’s mouth as she softly poked Ophelia’s cheek as she tilted her head in confusion.
“Are you… can you speak?” Ophelia asked the girl, gently taking her hand and moving it away from her cheek. The girl opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out, causing the girl more panic, as her left eye became a brighter yellow, as the cloak hid the left side of her face. “Hey, hey, hey, don’t worry. I… okay.” Ophelia pulled out her lucky card deck, pulling out the King and Queen of Hearts.
“Do you need help? Touch the Queen for yes, touch the King for no.” The girl placed her hand onto the Queen, as her body shakes with fear as her bare feet touched the ground. Ophelia sighed, mentally cursing whoever left this small girl to fend for herself. “Do you want to get back into my hood? You’ll be safe there.” The girl touched the Queen once more before shifting back into her cat form, as she waited to be picked up. Ophelia gently picked up the cat, petting it gently before placing it into her hood. The girl instantly nuzzled into the hood, as she very slowly became less panicked. She tucked the cards back into the deck, just as the headmage opened the door, who seemed very confused at the caped form stood before him.
"Dear me. Of all the students I've dealt with, you're the first with temerity enough to open their own gate and step out of it." The headmage spoke with a monotone voice.
"Does the very notion of patience elude you?"
"No matter. Your orientation has already begun. Let us return to the Mirror Chamber."
Ophelia rolled her eyes at the headmage but begrudgingly followed the shorter man, resting a calming hand on the head of the cat asleep in her hood. “Am I going to get any chance to learn where I am?”
"You awakened in a room full of gates, did you not?"
"All of the students here at the campus arrived by passing through such gates."
"Although typically the students have restraint enough to wait until I open them before waking up." The headmage spoke, a slight tone of annoyance in his voice. The cat in Ophelia’s hood stretched in her sleep, but not enough for the headmage for her to notice her.
“Yeah, no, that didn’t answer my question. I woke up in a coffin, surrounded by floating coffins and candles. I still don’t know where I am.”
“Hm? Have you not fully regained consciousness?”
“The timespace teleportation must have addled your memories…”
“Well, these things happen, I suppose.”
“I shall explain it to you while we walk. Truly, my magnanimity is boundless.” He spoke loudly before clearing his throat.
“This is Night Raven College.”
“It is an institution for students the world over who demonstrate a rare aptitude for magic.”
“It is the most prestigious academy of its sort in all of Twisted Wonderland.”
“And I am Dire Crowley. Having been entrusted with its care by the chairman, I serve as headmage.”
“Oh. Well then.”
“Only those who the Dark Mirror perceives as having a talent for magic are admitted to the college.”
“Those who are selected are summoned to the campus through those "gates," which can appear anywhere.” The cat’s tail could be seen brushing up against Ophelia’s face as the cat slept unaware of what was happening. Ophelia managed to quickly brush the tail from her face before Crowley noticed.
“Now, let us attend your orientation.” He said, still not noticing the sleeping cat in Ophelia’s hood. As soon as they became closer to the Mirror chamber, some masculine voices could be heard, but none of the voices were loud enough to understand what was being said. “Great… a bunch of men…” Ophelia mumbled under her breath.
“You are the only one who has yet to be assigned a dorm. Step up to the Dark Mirror, and be quick about it.” Crowley spoke, still not noticing the cat in Ophelia’s hood, who was starting to awaken slowly. “State your name.” The mirror spoke its voice monotone with a hint of deepness.
“Ophelia Blattidae.”
The mirror seemed to hesitate for a moment.
“Strange. Two souls appear to me, yet neither containing any magic. Shapeless, yet interconnected.”
“What did you just say?” Crowley spoke with a confused tone, as the cat in Ophelia’s hood poked her head out, her eyes locking with Crowley’s for an awkward amount of time.
“I should not have to repeat myself, headmage.”
“What do you mean there's two souls? You don’t normally count the familiar as another soul.” Crowley spoke with confusion.
“Familiar? Oh, no, no, you’ve got me wrong, Mr. Headmage, sir. This isn’t a familiar.”
“What do you mean it’s not an familiar?” Crowley watched as the only ready sorted students and their dorm leaders watched the scene happen in silence, wondering what would happen next.
Ophelia sighed, pulling the cat from her hood. “Hey, I know you were napping in there pretty peacefully, but these people need to know I’m not lying, so could you maybe go human for a second? Nobody will hurt you, I’ll make sure of it.” The cat thought for a second before jumping down from Ophelia’s hood, the cat gracefully landed on the floor. Before shifting back into her human form, some of her long orange hair could be seen poking out from her hood. “How could that be possible, never in my entire time of running this school has an error happened with the student selection process” Crowley said in pure shock. The girl's tail wrapped around her waist as she kept quiet, hiding behind Ophelia.
“It is what it is. So, where are you gonna put us? Cause I’ll be damned if I’m going back home.” The cat girl kept quiet as her left became a brighter yellow, as she fidgeted with her tail. “Remove your hoods, there’s something else odd about you two young men.” Crowley spoke with a confused voice.
“Ah. Right. There’s your problem, sir.” Ophelia flipped down her hood, a grin emerging on her face. A short light brown bob framed her face, with a longer grey patch in the front. Her muted green eyes looked around the room, laughing at the stunned reactions of her peers. “I was never a man in the first place.”
The cat girl slowly removed her hood. As she moved her light orange locks from underneath the cloak, the moonlight made her pale skin look unearthly. Her cat ears twitched slightly as she kept quiet, her eyes glazed over with fear. She slowly fixed her hair as she moved her hair away from the side of her face. Her left eye was an emerald green colour. Her orange tail kept wrapped around her waist as she looked at Crowley with innocence and pure fear. Her right eye became a brighter shade of yellow. Her cheeks became a rosy pink because of the coldness of the air as she kept fidgeting with her tail. Her soft pink lips trembled with fear, as she wondered what was happening.
“Huh. Neither is she, apparently.”
“How…. How is this possible?” Crowley said confused as he looked at the two females. The cat girl kept quiet as she went back to hiding behind Ophelia, as the cold feet touched her bare feet. “You two come with me. Dorm leaders take your first years back to their dorms” Crowley said without looking at the dorm leaders.
Ophelia sighed, picking the cat girl up bridal style and following Crowley. The cat girl kept still as she looked at the sky, her eyes filled with wonder as she tilted her head, unaware of what’s happening around her. A slight burn scar could be seen on most of her neck as she looked at the sky. The stars reflected in her eyes, with Ophelia carrying her as they both followed Crowley to the library.
The three of them made it to the library, Crowley pulled out a piece of paper and pen and handed it to the cat girl. “Can you write your name on this piece of paper, and write where you come from?” Crowley asked the cat girl. The cat girl messily wrote the word ‘Kat’ onto the paper and drew a picture of a room which was empty. The only thing written next to it was the words ‘scary, don’t want to go back to mean people’. Before she handed it back to Crowley.
“Kat, huh? That’s adorable.” Kat’s right eye became a soft pink for a second before going back to a dull yellow colour. Crowley paused as he looked at the paper, as he looked at the two girls. “Well, this is quite the predicament.” Crowley spoke with a monotone voice. “I cannot have two students with no aptitude for magic or the wrong gender bumbling about my magic academy.”
“And yet, as an educator, I am loath to expel two young students without a cent to their name, or any ability to contact their guardian…” Kat tilted her head in confusion from the word guardian”
“Truly, my grace is boundless.” Kat’s left eye became white with confusion as she looked at Crowley as I Crowley thought in silence.
“Hmmmmm... Ah!”
“There is a vacant building on this campus.
It was, in fact, used as a dorm a long time ago. With a proper cleaning, it should be habitable enough.”
“Out of the profound kindness of my heart, I will allow you to live there for the time being.” He said as he looked at the two girls.
“In the meantime, we will investigate other ways to send you both home.”
“Dear me, but I am a gracious man indeed! A model educator, one might say.
Well then, I shall take you to your dorm straight away. It is an older building, but it has plenty of...character, one might say.” Kat titled her even more as her left eye became more white.
Ophelia rolled her eyes, resisting every urge to punch Crowley in the face.