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“You unruly puppies! How dare you break the lab equipment,” Professor Crewel chastised Ace, Deuce, and Grim again. The trio broke an entire table’s worth of lab equipment. Sometimes you wondered why you hung out with these three.
“(Y/N)!” Crewel barked, “Go retrieve the extra equipment like a good kitty. They’re stored in the shed in the botanical gardens.”
“Uh, yes sir,” you quickly ran out of the potionology lab, desperate to get away from Crewel’s lecturing. Once in the hall way you sighed, “I wish he didn’t call me ‘kitty.’”
You noticed that since you were the only female student, Crewel addressed you as ‘kitty’ not ‘puppy’ like he did the boys. Not even Grim and he was an actual… well kind of an actual cat.
“As if being the magicless girl from another world wasn’t obvious enough,” you muttered.
As you walked through the hallway towards the botanical gardens, you passed the library. You noticed a couple of students, Heartslabyul students by their armbands.
“So what are you going to do for your history report?” One of them asked. You tried not to eavesdrop since you had to get the lab equipment. The sooner you came back the sooner Crewel would calm down and maybe spare your three idiotic friends.
“I’m gonna do a report about the keyblade wielders.”
That almost made you stop, but you continued. You didn’t have time.
“Keyblade wielders really?” The other one asked, “You know how housewarden Rosehearts feels about keyblade wielders.”
“It’s my choice, Professor Trein said so.”
“Fine, don’t blame me if you lose your head.”
The rest of the conversation was lost as you turned the corner.
You couldn’t help but agree though, Riddle had made his opinion quite clear about Keyblade wielders.”
“Those wretched Keyblade wielders were anarchists!” Riddle declared angrily, “Once someone tried to assassinate the Queen of Hearts. When she was holding the trial for the assailant, a keyblade wielder and his two henchmen came and attacked the queen. They defeated her entire army and helped the assassin escape! If I was there, I’d have all their heads!”
It wasn’t just Riddle who had a certain opinion of Keyblade wielders. Every housewarden had his own opinion of the magical warriors of the past.
Like Leona.
“What didn’t you know?” Leona asked, “A Keyblade Wielder overthrew the King of Beasts and placed someone else on the throne,” the beastman scoffed, “he couldn’t be that good a king if he had someone else take down the previous king, but that wielder had no business dealing with royal affairs.”
Azul…
“Supposedly, the Keybalde could grant power even to a magicless person. Enough power to either protect the world or destroy it. One Keyblade wielder even fought and killed the Sea Witch. Even when she was armed with the mighty trident and grew to her titanic size. It’s frightening, but…” Azul adjusted his glasses, the greedy glint in his eye did not go unnoticed, “If they were in more capable hands I’m certain that individual would be quite marvelous.”
Kalim…
“Well… not all Keyblade wielders were bad. Once the princess of legend was spirited away to another world, but a Keyblade wielder found her and brought her back a few weeks later. Isn’t that amazing?” Kalim asked with a grin.
“But don’t forget,” Jamil reminded, “It was a Keyblade wielder who killed the Sorcerer of the Sands. They were very unpredictable.”
Vil…
“Keyblade wielders were brutes,” Vil sneered, “Once a Keyblade wielder broke into the Fairest Queen’s castle. He forced her, at blade point, to use the mirror to tell him a secret. Then another one harassed her later on.”
Idia…
“Keyblade wielders, OP as hell, and they were dangerous,” Idia looked nervous, “It’s said that the King of the Underworld fought against three of them before and each one defeated him. One even banished him to the deepest parts of the Underworld. Never to rise again,” Idia shrunk a bit, “How strong can you be to take down a god?”
Even Hornton, or rather Malleus…
Malleus frowned a bit when you asked, “The Thorn Witch was used and then murdered by Keyblade wielders. As a child, I was told ‘if you don’t behave, the Keyblade wielders will come and get you.’ They were monsters who only brought destruction.”
You finally reached the botanical gardens. Now to get that equipment.
You went to the shed that Crewel talked about. However, when you grabbed the door handle, it wouldn’t turn. It was locked.
“You’ve gotta be kidding,” you tried to jiggle the handle again, but no luck. Now what? Do you go back and tell the professor, maybe he had the key? But going back and forth between class and the shed would waste time. If your team didn’t complete the experiment, Professor Crewel would make you stay late to finish it… again.
You sighed. You looked around. You didn’t see anyone, you were alone.
Should you risk it?
You paused a minute.
Real quick. Less than a few seconds. No one will see it.
You took half a step back and raised your hand. Light began to gather in you palm, before bursting out in a small beam of light. The now familiar handle filled your hand, as your keyblade came to be.
You quickly tapped the door, the lock clicked. The shed was unlocked. Quickly you dismissed the keyblade and looked around again, before sighing in relief. No one saw you.
You gathered what you needed in a box and began to make your way back to the lab.
“(Y/N)!” You looked ahead to see Deuce running towards you holding something, it was a key, “Professor Crewel realized that the shed was locked, so he sent me to…” he trailed off when he saw you carrying the box of lab equipment.
You bit your tongue, where was Deuce with that key ten minutes ago?
“I… I got the equipment already,” you said.
“But, Professor Crewel said it was locked, how’d you get it?” Deuce asked.
You opened your mouth to answer, but stopped a second. As you recalled how everyone viewed the keyblade and their chosen wielders.
“…wretched Keyblade wielders…”
“…had no business dealing with royal affairs.”
“If they were in more capable hands…”
“They were very unpredictable.”
“Keyblade wielders were brutes!”
“…and they were dangerous!”
“They were monsters who only brought destruction.”
You closed your mouth for a second before answering with a sheepish smile, “I guess Professor Crewel forgot to lock it,” you shrugged, “I got in easy.”
“Really?”
“I guess,” you said, “Come on, lets get this back to the lab.”
“Alright,” Deuce shrugged before walking back with you. You couldn’t help but feel guilty, lying to Deuce... to everyone actually. It wasn’t always like this. When you said you were a magicless human the first day you arrived, that wasn’t a lie then. But then your keyblade appeared, the very next day.
Now, you have to keep lying. You have to keep being the magicless human prefect of Ramshackle… because that’s the only way to survive the school that worships the keyblade’s enemies.