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Chapter Text

 This wasn’t how it was supposed to go , Arden thought hysterically, running with the others, frantically trying to get out of the cave as it collapsed around them, crystals falling and making her have to dodge around them. After battling with terapagos, the pokemon had suddenly made everything around it shake so hard, making Arden, her friends, and Ms. Briar stumble. Even after catching the pokemon, the ground was still trembling, and in the corner of her eye, Arden had even spotted the crystals clinking into each other, some of it even falling. After looking at each other, they all anonymously agreed to start booking it, trying to get out of there as fast as they possibly can.

  We won’t make it , Arden absently noticed. She's noticing a lot of things today; like how the top of the cave is starting to cave in, Kieran is lagging in front of her, panting, Carmen is starting to trip, almost coming down to smack her face on the ground, and Ms. Briar is running in heels, which will most definitely sprain or break her ankles. Arden can already see her starting to trip up, just like Carmen, and they're still way too far away to get out. Unless…

 Arden took her pokeball out, her face full of determination. “Aspyn! Steel Beam!” And Aspyn, her great excadrill, way too young for all of this, blasted a hole all the way to the elevator. When Kieran and Carmen saw this, they ran as fast as they could, grasping at whatever stamina still left, and were able to make it. Ms. Briar was still not there yet, and she wouldn't make it. But she will, because Arden refused to let anyone die on her watch.

 Arden looked back at the grim odds of her surviving, and made peace with it. With what strength Arden had left, she pushed her professor up into the grasping hands of Kieran and Carmen. Arden fell down. Maybe scraping her knees and hands, but she didn’t care. When Carmen looked back at her, perhaps finally realizing what she was doing, her face was grief stricken.

 But that was okay. They, afterall, would be alive. Perhaps not well mentally, but that was a price Arden was willing to pay if they all would be all safe and sound in the future, even if she didn’t know Ms. Briar all that well. Arden smiled at her, neither of them looking away, as the elevator closed. Because of the flash cannon earlier, everything was already coming down much faster, so it wasn’t a matter of time before something had hit her. A huge cluster of crystals had hit her legs. The pain wasn’t fun at all. No, it was hot,white, blistering pain that caused her to bite down a scream. Sure, she made peace with death, but it doesn’t mean she wants to die like this. Her Pokeballs vibrated against her body, and she can feel their worry and panic. Arden felt as if time was slowing. A particularly spiky rock fell on her stomach, and then everything was rushing in.

 Everything hurts . Arden felt tears sprang to her eyes almost instantly, choking on blood as she started to sob. More rocks fell on her, tearing new marks on her body. And when another clunk of crystals are about to fall on her head, she couldn’t do anything and-

…

Nothing.

______________________________

 Arden very slowly woke up to pain, feeling very sore and dry with something sticky, the stench of blood heavily in the air around her. She groaned, blinking the crust off her eyes, and her pokemons feeling relieved, but still worried and panicked. 

  What in Paldea..? When she was finally able to blink the blurriness out of her eyes, she noticed that it wasn’t the blurriness that made her surroundings dark, but it was actually dark. As she tried to recall what had happened, she heard a voice outside.

“Crap, people are coming.” A high-pitched voice mumbled outside, “Gotta get a uniform while I still have time.”

 The voice was irritatingly high to Arden, and just sounds like it can become very whiny if it just becomes higher. I... am Arden. Studying abroad at BlueBerry Academy. Carmen, Kieran, and my teacher, Briar, and I, went to the craters of Paldea to find terapagos, a legendary pokemon. The pokemon had made the cave tremble, and we had to run out of the cave so that we don’t get crowded in. The three made it out, but I was too far away, being several seconds too late before the elevator closed. I passed out after something hit me on the head. 

 The cover of this closed space shifted, most likely by the same voice from outside. Arden pulled a pokeball from her waist, and out came Rika, creating some light in the otherwise dark space. It instantly whirled around at her, flying around all worried, trying to see the damage, and creating a soft crooning sound. “I'm okay, buddy.” Arden reassured it, even though she certainly felt bad.

“This lid is too heavy!” The voice suddenly yelled, causing her headache (when did she get that?) to be in more pain than it is already. “Time to use my special move!” Before Arden could even process what it had meant, she felt hothothot-!

“Rika, Hydro pump!”

 Rika did it without hesitation, blasting the cover (it was a…coffin door?) from the space, the voice going with it. Arden fell down on the marble floor, but she was already filled with adrenaline, and sprinted to the huge, wooden, doors, Rika following behind her. She slammed her body into the door, making it push open, and ran through the hallways filled with more doors, every now and then taking a turn, before going into a room.

 It appeared to be a classroom, but she didn’t have time to observe the place, already going through a window after she opened it. She doesn’t want to pay money to this extremely wealthy place, given how big it is. Now, she was outside. Looking around the place, noting a big apple tree, and another entrance, which she immediately ran to, while also putting Rika back in its pokeball, clasping the pokeball back to her waist . Running down the hallways once again, Arden briefly wonders why the halls are so empty, but it doesn’t really matter to her, if she can get out without being caught. She went inside another room, this time a library, and remembering she went up several flights of stairs, went to find someplace to hide instead.

 She looked around, and spotted space under a table, maybe not big enough to fit someone grown but certainly big enough for her to be comfortably curled up in there, and so she did. She sat quiet for what felt like hours, and when she couldn’t hear anything after a long time, finally let out a breath. She has to figure out where she is still, but for now, she can breathe for just a moment.

__________________________

 Malleus walked around in the hallways, wondering where everyone was. He had not even encountered Lilia, not even Silver. But he was not brooding, as Lilia had often said, wondering if everyone forgot to invite him again. No, he was simply just… strolling, well, until he scented something that reminded him of iron and copper. Blood.

 How curious, Malleus had thought, his interest piqued, and began to walk to where the blood smells the strongest. He could even see a trail of blood, too. Perhaps a thief, an assassin, or a spy? As he thought more about it, the scent of blood became stronger, before he had to cover his nose because of how bad it was. Malleus was led to the library, and he opened the door.

 He heard a hitch of breath, most likely the person, and went to the sound. What Malleus had stopped to, was not an intruder. Nor an assassin. It was a small student, perhaps even smaller than Rosehearts, a feat of accomplishment, bleeding quite badly. Well, badly isn’t the word for it. Horribly, is the word, yes. He knelt down.

 “Child of man.” The student was startled, and he was now able to see his face. Gold. The child’s eyes were the most golden eyes he had ever seen, barring Crowley. With curly hair that is so dark blue it almost looked black. It was framing dangerously pale skin with tear tracks from crying. The child looks too much like… the headmage. Interesting.

 “Child of Crowley?” The small fey looked up at him, staring, until he muttered, “what?”

  Well, Malleus thought. How the headmage was able to hide a child for who knows how many years is baffling.

 “Would you perhaps like some assistance with your injuries, young fey?” The little one stared at him some more, before slightly nodding his head. “Can you walk?” Malleus started to look for injuries on the child, and upon looking at the legs, spotted an injury. There . It was rather gruesome to look at, with new blood leaking for the wound. There were crystal shards stuck to the leg, interestingly enough. “Perhaps the question was rather foolish,” Malleus said. “Would you like me to carry you?”

 The child stared some more (he really likes to stare a lot) before nodding again. Without any warning, Malleus had grabbed him from under the table gently to then rise up from kneeling on the ground. The child was startled, but settled down after a few seconds, relaxing (or was it slumping?). 

 Now, off to the nurse office they both went to.

_______________________

“Fuuunyaaaa! Get this collar off me!” The creature named Grim had yelled, pawing at the mentioned collar.

“Absolutely not!” The tyrant of Heartslabyl snapped. “ The Law of the Queen of Hearts, rule 23, ‘One shall never bring a cat to an important event! Not to mention,” He continued, as the other new students finally got their bearing together, “you had started a fight with another student! You two nearly ruined the ceremony altogether!”

“Hey! It wasn’t my fault, he tried to burn me!” The aforementioned student exclaimed. “I had to do something unless I wanted to get charred!”

“Silence!” Rosehearts snapped again. The other dorm heads looked on, some looking particularly bored; one yawning, another examining his nails, another one paying interest to the conversation happening.

“Quiet!” The headmage snapped, and the crowd that was whispering before hushed. “Proceed with the ceremony. Someone take the tanuki away.” 

“I won’t be backing down that easily!” Grim scratched at his captors hand, the owner of the hand yelping in response, and dropped to all fours, hissing. “ I won’t give up! If it weren’t for what had happened with the first kid, all of this wouldn’t have happened!”

Several people looked back at Grim instantly, mainly the dorm heads, now interested,  and Rosehearts asked, “What?” rather angrily.

“I will just burn the collar away! And- I can’t use my magic?!” Grim, feeling smug at first, now started to feel panicked.

“What. First. Kid?” Roseheart grinded out, his eyes twitching.

The others sighed, even some of the new students sighed, waiting to now hear Roseheart go off on the cat again.

________________________

 Meanwhile, with Malleus and the small fey (he should really get his name by now), they had just gotten to the nurse office (with the little one still slowly bleeding, but not really getting it on the floor), and he had put the child on the bed, and went to the cabinets to grab supplies. While cleaning him up, Malleus had taken note to know where the child's injuries were. There were many, most minor, but the notable ones were one on the head, causing his hair to be caked up in blood, and he also most likely has a concussion. There was one on the left side of his abdomen, blood oozing out lazily, and one on the right leg, and he can even see the bone in the leg. It was, all in all, horrific to look at.

“Child may I ask for your name?” Malleus asked the little one. In the time that he had cleaned and dressed the wounds, the child dozed off, and startled back awake when he talked to him again.

“You may call me.. Arden.” Malleus curled his lips into a smile. It is not often that the parents tell stories of fey to their young nowadays, thinking that they won’t ever see fey in their lifetime. While that is mostly true, yes, he had still heard other fey in the social gatherings grandmother sometimes made say, or more like brag, that humans these days are so easily tricked into telling their name, some even eating food from fey. The stories can be or not be true, but he had seen evidence several times before, and he wouldn’t let it pass him that it is not true.

“A wonderful name for a beautiful boy. My name is Mal-” “oh- urm… I'm a girl.” 

Malleus blinked at him ( her now?) his mouth slightly opened in shock. She blinked back at him, her expression bewildered. Oh dear.

___________________________

“-I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD ATTACK ANOTHER STUDENT!! HOW WILL WE EVEN KNOW IF HE IS STILL HERE-”

“Rosehearts-san.” The headmage coughed. Riddle had gone on for quite awhile, his voice becoming so shrill that some of the more sensitive hearings covered their ears so that it could quite a little. Some people sighed in relief as Riddle stopped, some even sending the headmage grateful looks, yet Riddle still glared harshly at Grim, who looked scared, or fearful of how loud Riddle was getting. 

“Can someone now take the cat away?” The headmage exasperatedly ordered. Two third year students hurried up where the cat was, and took him away, the aforementioned cat not even protesting as much after being yelled at for quite some time. 

“Anyways, now we can let the ceremony continue, but I shall go and find the lost student now. Dormheads, please stay after the ceremony so that you can escort the lost student to your dorm. The third year will lead them there.” The headmage said, then walked out the ceremony. It was already quite set back by the tanuki, and with Riddle yelling at the aforementioned tanuki,, it was almost midnight. Some of the students were yawning, some even starting to squat or outright sit, which no one called them out for. Even Riddle had started to sweat from the steadily heating room with over hundreds of students. 

 After the ceremony was finally over, the third years hurriedly escorted the first years to their dorms, hoping to get some sleep, while the dorm heads had to stay behind. It was quite well past midnight, and Leona Kingscholar, dorm head of Savanaclaw, was already dozing off, while Vil Schoenheit, head of Pomefiore, snapped at Kingscholar awake. The other dorm heads have taken to entertain themselves;, Azul Ashengrotto, head of Octavinelle, had taken to badger Rosehearts, whose face is becoming more redder and redder, his anger rising, and Kamil Al-Asim, Head of Scarabia, watched the both of them, either to try breaking up a slowly starting fight, or fighting back his amusement, who ever really knows?

 Of course, Idia Shroud, the head of Ignihyde, was playing with his games, safely away in his dorm, because he had sent a flying tablet in his place, which he had made to still interact with the other dorm heads without being there in person, or the real reason, so he does not have to get out of his dorm. No one knows where the head of Diasomnia, Malleus Draconia, is. Perhaps he had opted to not come, but the other heads didn’t think too hard of it, after it had happened for the past 2 years. So, Lilia Vanrouge, the vice-leader, had instead come in his place. But he also does not really know where Malleus is, even if every time before he knew, but not today.

 Everything was normal. Until Headmage Crowley had finally barged in, kicking the double-doors open, startling almost everyone but Vanrouge, and coming after him was the missing Diasomnia dorm head, who seems to be carrying A new student.

Well. They aren’t actually sure if he was a student, given how he seems to be shorter than Rosehearts, who was at 5 '2, and the new student seems to be around 5 ft. They were still all the more confused at the fact that the fey was carrying the student. The headmage also seems to be quieter than usual. Strange, they all thought in unison.

 When Draconia let the student down, did they see the reason why. The student was limping, and even if the ceremony cloak had covered up most of their body, they could see a head injury that caused Kingscholar to lowly whistle, while some others grimaced. They stared at the new student, who was slowly walking-or was he limping?- towards the mirror, and then finally stopped in front of it. 

“Now, child,” Crowley started, “Please state your name.”

______________________________

 Arden looked at the Mirror, there was a face that stared back, its expression neutral. Okay, she thought. She can work with a talking mirror.

 After revealing the fact that she was a female, the headmage barged into the nurse office, with the fey in front of her with his mouth open,just finished with bandaging her, still knelt down infront of her, holding her newly bandaged leg, and she just sitting there looking back at him. It painted quite the image, the headmage said quite joyfully, after staring at them for a few moments before screaming, then fainting. After they, more like she, had finished frantically telling him that they are not together, he looked skeptical for a moment, before the expression fell right off his face. 

 When Arden had announced that she was a girl, the shock gave way to skeptical expression that went back on before she could even blinked, eyeing the two of them. Cue the frantic tellings of not being together again. 

 After that was all over and done with, her becoming more exhausted by the moment, he cheerfully led them back to the room where she had woken up. Apparently, that was the room where they had ceremonies for new students so that they can join a dorm where they are best fitted in. When asked for more details, the headmage gave her a full description of NRC, a collage school. NRC are where students who have potential to become strong mages are sent to, and arrived there via ebony carriages, and then placed in a coffin. “A ceremony to leave your old life behind and go onwards to a new one,” he said.

 “Although,” the headmage also said, “you breaking out of your coffin was unprecedented, but it must’ve been because of the disruptive tanuki.” Arden let him draw his conclusions about that. If what she thought is correct, then perhaps she should keep her pokemon a secret for now. They had gone quiet in their pokeballs after she and the horned man had speaked together, and the link does not show any emotions of worry or caution to the 2 around her; only anticipation to be let out soon. 

 When they had reached the gate, the headmaster kicked in the doors, startling everyone in the room, except for the guy(another fey?) who had pink highlights in his hair. 

“Can you walk now?” The horned man muttered to her. “Yes; I think I can walk now.” She muttered back. He let her down, and she walked slowly to the mirror, lightly stepping to avoid pressure being brought onto her right leg.

And that led her to where she was now. In front of the mirror. “Arden Zenko.” Arden said her name in the silent chamber. The face (mask?) looked at her; observing what, she did not know.

“The nature of this soul…” The face started, before pausing.

…

“What’s taking the mirror so long?” One of them whispered. Arden tried not to fidget as the mirror took its time, shuffling around instead. “Don’t tell me that the guy is an MC who has a secret power locked inside of him that is about to burst out right now,” Another (The tablet?) grumbled, but she chose to ignore what he had said. 

“Tamer of Monsters,” The Mirror boomed.

Chapter Text

“What’s taking the mirror so long?” One of them whispered. Arden tried not to fidget as the mirror took its time, shuffling around instead. “Don’t tell me that the guy is an MC who has a secret power locked inside of him that is about to burst out right now,” Another (The tablet?) grumbled, but she chose to ignore what he had said. 

“Tamer of Monsters,” The Mirror boomed.

_________________

Everyone became alert at that, and she straightened up. 

“We have been waiting for you for the longest time.” The Mirror said, and she could faintly hear a multitude of voices echoing what the Mirror had said. “Champion Arden, the child forever encased in crystals, your fate was not to end in that cave.” Arden flinched slightly. She did not want to remember the incident again.

“..What does the Mirror mean-”

“Be quiet, Kalim, perhaps it will be explained later.”

“Arden Zenko,” The Mirror continued, “Your soul is damaged.”

 There were sharp breaths taken, and the tension became thick.”Wh-What could you mean by that? Never in my hundred years of being the headmaster had this ever happened before!” Mr. Crowley said, coming right beside her.

“The soul is odorless, chaotic, and has no definite shape; yet it is full of colors. Therefore, no dorm is appropriate for you.” The Mirror continued on, as if stating a commonly known fact. Arden took a deep breath; and held herself together. It would be best for her to not break down right now. “Are you saying that the child cannot even use magic?!” Mr. Crowley squawked. Several other students were also alarmed by this.

“Woah, a magicless student! Let's throw a party and celebrate our fir-”

“Kalim,” A red-haired student interrupted him. “The person would most likely not become a student due to the fact that they are magicless.” “So no new-” “No, Kalim.” “Oh… too bad then.” The red-eyed boy slumped, before fixing his posture and looked at her again.

“Ahem,” The headmaster coughed, “You guys can be dismissed, I will now help Arden-kun go back to his home.” As soon as the headmaster said this, one of the dormheads let out a yawn before walking out of the room. Some others let out a sigh of relief and followed suit, and Mal teleported(?) himself away, and the smaller fey followed him. Kalim had waved back at her, and ran off to the others before she could wave back.

“Now then, Arden-san,” The headmaster started. “I am afraid you have to go back to wherever you live.” Mr. Crowleys expression seemed genuine, so she quickly shook her head. “No need to apologize, Mr. Crowley. I was the one who was not supposed to be here.” She reassured him. Crowley smiled at her. “Now then, please go back into the coffin and picture where you live very clearly in your mind.” He instructed her, and she did what he said. Arden pictured Paldea; the fields of grass, the Casseroya lake, her home in Cabo Poco, the pokemons, it was where she belonged.

“O Dark Mirror.” Mr. Crowley started, “Send this soul back where it belongs.”

…

 Crowley coughed. 

“Let's try that again. O Dark Mirr-”

“There is no where she belongs in this world.” The Mirror interrupted. Crowley blinked, before starting to splutter. “What do you mean by that?! Say Arden-san, where did you say you live again?” Arden looked at him. “I live in Paldea, one of the regions?” He stared at her, before slowly saying, “I am intimate with where every student lives, yet I can’t recall if I had ever heard of that place.” Now she was the one staring at him, before a cold feeling started to spread everywhere in her body.

 Well, I had a hunch , Arden thought. But did that mean she liked what was happening? No, in fact, she quite hates this fact. “Let us go to the library to see if we can find your region on the map or books, yes?” Crowley tried to reassure her, which did not work, but she sighed, and followed him to the library.

______________________

“Just as I thought, there are no books nor maps that show this region called ‘Paldea’.” Crowley said as he perused the shelves and floating books. During the whole time, Arden took to studying a map and reading books on this new world. “You aren’t lying to me about where you live, right?” A suspicious expression flickered across his face. “Why would I be lying about my home?” She gave him an annoyed look, before sighing and dropped it. “Well, since it appears that your region is not here, you might be from another world…” He muttered to himself, but she could clearly hear it from the silence. “Welp, I figured; with your magic and a supposedly well known school and all.” She closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. 

“Do you perhaps have anything you have on your person?” Mr. Crowley asked her. She searched around her body, and found her rotom(thank Arceus), a stack of playing cards, her pokeballs, and clips, and handed it over to him (except her pokemon pokeballs). “These are quite the strange things you have on your body, Arden-san.” He eyed the pokeballs and her rotom, looking over her cards and noting the pokemons on them. “If I may, I would like to ask what this tablet and round things are?” His hands prodded at the rotom and pokeballs.“Yes, of course, headmage. This is a rotom phone; it is a smartphone that was enhanced after being possessed by a rotom, and has multiple functions, mainly the pokedex, which was developed by my professor.” Arden took a pokeball and held it in her hands. “This is a pokeball. In my world, we have pokemons, or pocket monsters, which roam our world, but we live peacefully together. Trainers would travel around the world and capture these pokemons with pokeballs, and become closer together. There are many types of pokeballs, but the one with the highest success rate of catching a pokemon is the master ball.”

 She felt a bit breathless after explaining all of what she had known about the two objects, and the headmage seemed intrigued by the information. “Your world is quite interesting, Arden-san,” Mr. Crowley said. “All though, now that you are stuck in another world, that knowledge now is not that useful for you. My consciousness does not let me feel well if I had kicked out a penniless teenager, but I have nowhere to place you…” The headmage thought about it, and let out a little ‘aha!’ when he had a solution, and turned to Arden, who was putting back her stuff. “Arden-san, how would you like to live in your own dorm house?” She blinked at him. “Um, sure..?” 

Mr. Crowley beamed.

_____________________

It was a short walk to the house. Well, if it can even be called a house. “-I know that it has a bit of character but rest assured; with a little bit of cleaning and tidying, it will be perfectly fine to live in!” Headmage told her. Arden turned away from him and looked at it. It was tall and imposing, and was at least 4 floors, including the attic.

 It was also falling apart, the top half practically caving in.

 At Least it’s not outside again, she mused. “It looks fine to live in. Thank you, Mr. Crowley.” she said. He beamed at her again. “I knew you would agree! Now come on inside, but watch the steps. It will start to rain soon.” He ushered her inside. She looked around the first floor. The house had holes in the ceiling and floor, and wherever she stepped sounded squeaky, or on the verge of falling in; and everywhere she saw, it was as dusty as it is dirty, which is very. Judging from the first floor, the other three floors will either be worse or the same. Joy.

“Sevens, I forgot that you need food!” The headmage exclaimed, before hurriedly turning to her. “Why don’t you go explore around Arden-san, and I'll grab you some food, yeah? I'll be back soon!” And with that, he went out the door faster than she could nod. Arden waited for a few seconds, and then grabbed her pokeballs to let her pokemons out. Ajax was out before she could even press the button and was tackling her to the floor before she could even blink. “Sorry I made you feel worried, AJ.” Arden grunted, petting his ridiculously soft green fur. Ajax just kept on purring, rubbing his face on her shoulder. Her other pokemons soon left their balls, Bellatrix was flying instead of standing, and helped Arden and Ajax get on the couch. Rika (with Amphi & Belle) went exploring the house, assured that she was okay from earlier, while Altoid nudged her a bit, and let her pet them. Once they knew she was okay, they too, went to explore the house languidly, taking their time. Aspyn had immediately huddled herself in Arden’s arm, and she let her get comfortable. Afterall, Arden knew Aspyn was shaken after the whole… incident. Raizen, after looking her over and not seeing any serious injuries, had chosen to accompany Altoid in their exploration.

 While the other pokemons explore, Arden relaxes on the couch with her Meowscarada and Excadrill for just a moment. Well, perhaps a few minutes is more correct. Until there came a… pokemon? An undiscovered grey form of a galarian meowth? Was it even a pokemon? Arden didn’t even have time to think, before the weird monster started to talk. “Funyaa! It's really raining out here!” He(?) exclaimed, shaking his grey fur to get rid of the rain water. She blinked at the monster, before tapping Ajax fur once. Quicker than the monster could blink, Ajax used vine whip, restricting the monster's ability to move, being careful to not touch its flaming ears and tail. Ajax got off arden, looking rather annoyed at the fact that his cuddling time was cut short, and Arden followed, still holding Aspyn in her arms. She was sure that the other pokemons were made aware of this, with their rather uncanny ability of knowing whenever she encountered a possible problem.

“What in the fuck,” She started, “are you?”

_______________________

 Crowley was walking back to the ramshackle dorm he had left Arden in, in thought. The rain was falling harshly to the ground around him, making the rainstorm sound much more horrible than it really is. When he had first met Arden, he could barely believe his eyes, and dropped (“Fainted,” said the child and royal), due to the shock. Because Arden, a being from another world, was fae. She was not any fae, no, she was like him. But crow faes were extinct, he thought at the time, still shocked, but the evidence was right in front of him. He had never sired a child, from his many years of living on this world, even if people had pestered him to. But the only other crow fae who was alive was… Vongol. With this revelation, Crowley had almost dropped the child's food, stilling completely. It took him a few minutes slowly starting to walk again, his legs trembling. Because Leticia Vongol, the Briar’s valley Rose and Thorns, sired a child with an unknown fae. That was not the most shocking thing, because of course it wasn’t.

 Vongol participated in the war, and became second just after Vanrouge. Vongol, who was pregnant, who suffered an injury in her abdomen , was still able to form her egg, and hatch it with no issues. What an absolutely powerful woman. But then again, she had disappeared just as the war was almost over, causing an uproar amongst the nobles and common faes. Her majesty Queen Maleanor had sent out a search party, but they only came back with a piece of her armor, and after some studying, confirmed it was her blood. Many faes had mourned for a few decades, believing her to be dead, but if her child was here, then that means…

A faint crashing sound came from the house Crowley was heading to. He hurriedly walked faster, his thoughts before all forgotten in need of getting to the house quicker. When nearing the house, he saw familiar blue flames coming from the second floor windows. The goddamn tanuki was back. Crowley swore quietly, quickly getting inside the house, not forgetting to set the food on the counter of course, and hurriedly walked up the stairs. Just as he stepped foot on the second floor, he could hear voices, calling out… directions?

“-to your right!”

 Just as he rounded to where Arden and that tanuki was, he saw the monster doing exactly what the child had said. The ghost disappeared after coming in contact with the cat's flames. “That seemed to be the last of the ghosts,” the child sighed, before slumping down on a rather strange cat ( perhaps one of her pokemons? ), this one as tall as the child herself, while the grey tanuki let out a relieved sigh, ears and tail drooping down in what Crowley believed to be relief also. 

 Crowley went out of his hiding space behind the wall when he saw that the child was okay, before coughing to alert the three of them with his presence. Both the child and the tanuki flinched, before looking his way. “May I ask what is this tanuki doing here with you, Miss Arden?” He cheerfully forced out. As the two went to explain what had happened while he was away, the tanuki talking louder to drown out what the child had to say, he sighed.

 This is going to be one long night.

Chapter Text

 Crowley went out of his hiding space behind the wall when he saw that the child was okay, before coughing to alert the three of them with his presence. Both the child and the tanuki flinched, before looking his way. “May I ask what is this tanuki doing here with you, Miss Arden?” He cheerfully forced out. As the two went to explain what had happened while he was away, the tanuki talking louder to drown out what the child had to say, he sighed.

 This is going to be one long night.

_______________________

“-so what you mean to tell me is that you caught this tanuki (“Hey!” the tanuki in question was ignored.) trying to hide in this house when he was forced out of the school?” The headmage questioned her.

 “Yes.” 

“And when you were asking him questions, the ghosts that were living here came out and scared you guys, in which then the both of you worked together to make them go away; is this what I am hearing?” He asked again, and Arden nodded. He was silent for a few moments, before bursting out in tears. “What the-?! Henchmen, what is going on with this guy?!” Grim floated further away from the headmage, looking at him like he was crazy. “I don’t really know! Ah, Crowley-san, would you perhaps want some tissues?” Arden grabbed a pack of tissues from her pocket-where it had come from, she had no idea-, and gave it to the Headmage. “OHHHHH! To see the day that a student would respect me and work with someone! Truly, a sight to see!” He said with vigor, using the tissues she gave him.

“Then again, the mirror had said that you were a beast tamer, so maybe it was your skills that made it possible for the cat (“Hey!”) to listen to you.” Crowley-san hummed thoughtfully, his display of tears before all now forgotten. “Headmaster, can I ask a question?” Her question pulled the headmage out of his thoughts, forgetting that they were there. “Of course, I'm all ears.” “Right. So, if I may, would it be ok for Grim to join your school? It’s just that, it is his dream to get into this school, and if he needs supervision, I can do it. B-but only if you would like too! I-i mean, well, um,-""Alright.” the headmaster saved her from embarrassing herself any further. A few moments to process. “Really?” She beamed at him. “Of course! It is with my benevolence and graciousness that I shall allow it! But,” The headmaster interrupted before Grim could start celebrating. “The… whatever it is, will need to be tried so that I know it will be able to control itself and not destroy the property or set fire on anything. So I propose that you guys will be janitors for its trial!” Grim stared at the fae for a bit, before letting out a ‘Hah?’, and Arden thought about it. That’s as good as I can get for Grim, I guess. “ Do you agree with that, Grim?” Arden asked him.

“But I wanna do the fun stuff! I want to wear that fancy uniform of the students and learn spells that are super powerful!” Grim yelled. He looked annoyed, eyes slightly turning smaller and his tail was lashing around. “I could always rescind my offer, you know. Afterall, Arden-san here was the one who vouched for you, and with how you are acting…” The headmaster narrowed his eyes at grim, who let out a small noise, recoiling slightly from the headmaster“ Urk! A-Alright! Fine! I accept your offer.” Grim slightly slumped, while Arden and Ajax exchanged a glance with each other. He had slinked slightly into the shadows as she and Grim explained what happened, only now standing to the right of her again. The Meowscarada looked amused, his eyes looking brighter than earlier.

The headmage looked back at her, now seeing the pokemon besides her. “Arden-san, I had nearly forgotten to ask, but is that your -what do you call it again? Oh, yes!- pokemon?” he questioned her, and Arden startled. She had forgotten that this world does not have pokemons. “Ahem, yes, this is my pokemon. This is Ajax, my Meowscarada. The others are exploring, so can I give you an introduction of them tomorrow?” Crowley thought about it for a moment, before nodding. “I don’t see why not, I shall graciously give some of my time tomorrow! I had almost forgotten to mention that there is food on the table for you, Arden-san, so why don’t we continue this conversation over dinner, yes?” 

 Arden nodded, and off they went downstairs.

_________________________

 Arden layed down on the bed, just finished taking a shower. Grim had already gone to sleep, his snores the only sound filling up the room. Crowley and her had smoothed out the details of her accompanying Grim while he was on trial, while the topic of the conversation was eating up most of the food the headmaster had bought her. Arden let Grim indulge, as she was not hungry, but still ate some soup to appease Crowley when she noticed him frowning. Crowley had also mentioned that he will handle the expenses of the house, which she had protested at because really, she was fine with handling the money needed to run the house (Crowley had not looked convinced at that, but still acquiesced and let her pay for the bills, but she was suspicious because he had given in too willingly). All in all, it was a tiresome night, but she cannot sleep for whatever reason. The pokemons were still out of there balls, and she let them, as it had made them feel safer to scout the place.

 Arden turned to her side, only to pause. Raizen was towering over her, their eyes that cannot seem to choose between blue or yellow are staring through her. Arden smiled at them. “Hey there big guy.do you want to accompany me?” she asked the pokemon. There were no sounds of whirring, as that was covered by grims snoring, and it stayed that way for perhaps a minute or so, but it was fine. Just seeing Raizen made Arden feel more safer, and she can feel her eyes drooping, weighed by sleep.

 Just as she lost her fight to sleep, she felt the Miraidon lay their head on her stomach, and she petted their head, drifting off to the soft mechanical noise the pokemon made.

__________________________

Arden was sitting beside her mothers bed, holding her hand as she watched her sleep quietly. It was the most peaceful her mother looked for the past 2 weeks.

“It is your fault, you know.” A voice spoke from behind her, yet Arden made no move to turn around. “If you had spotted the illness sooner, mother could have survived and been cured before it was too late.” She was quiet for a moment, before she spoke back to the other. “No one could have spotted it, Odette.” Odette coldly stared at her. “You could have spotted it. You were studying to become a doctor, don’t you remember? You had multiple lessons about this, so if you had just stayed with your mother instead of gallivanting around the region, you could have had the doctor take a look at her sooner and get her cured.” The other harshly said, and Arden fully turned to her. “There is no cure for this illness, and you know it. You and I have read about other people with this illness, and all of them died in the end. It was inevit-""STOP SAYING THAT!”

“...”

“... It was not impossible. I refuse to believe that. You were the person in control, and you notice more things than I do. We could have cured-””-No we could have not. Who would listen to the ramblings of a twelve year old girl saying she can cure an illness that does not appear often enough to make a cure?. We may have skipped a few grades, yes, but there are others smarter than us, do not forget that.” Arden sighed as Odette gritted her teeth. It was uncomfortably high in tension around the both of them in the room. She got off the seat beside her mothers bed, walking to Odette. The other glared at her while she looked back coldly, stopping infront of Odette. The silence was broken by Arden sighing once again. “I will be handing off the reins to you, I need some time before we can go back-””You plan on going back? After everything that happened?”

“...We would have needed to go back either way. We cannot stop now just because our mother has died. As the saying goes: ‘The world does not stop for you when you need it to.’” She walked past Odette, just as Odette walked forwards, after a few moments. Just as Arden almost retreated back into her mind, she stopped.

“Odette.”

The footsteps stop.

“Mother wants roses. I hope that whatever else you pick would not disappoint.”

“... Alright.”

_______________________________

The sky was just starting to become brighter when Arden woke up, feeling quite rested. When she looked around, she found that Grim was still sleeping, while Raizen was nowhere to be found. The spot where they laid on her was still warm, so they left her only a few minutes before she woke up. A yawn came out of her as she got up, cracking her back, before slowly walking to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and went to spit the water and paste out, petting Altoid when she noticed they were staring at her, and cleaned her face. Arden didn’t bother to take a shower, already done it yesterday night, and went downstairs to make breakfast for Grim after brushing her hair out. 

When she turned to the fridge to get the eggs, she stopped and realized Crowley was sitting on the stool by the counter.

 “... Would you like some breakfast?” A smile was what she received, and she grabbed some more eggs to make the pancakes. It was after a few minutes of comfortable silence that the headmage speaked again. “Ghosts, wake the monster up from its sleep, won’t you?” Arden guessed that the ghosts listened to the headmage after hearing Grim screaming from upstairs a minute after, but she paid no mind to it. She was almost done making the food anyways. When Arden turned around to put the two plates down, Crowley had somehow procured syrup, and drizzled it on his pancakes. 

Grim had floated not a second later, his nose twitching, and a loud yawn coming from his mouth. Arden gave him his plate once he settled down on the chair, and Grim started to dig in once he half drowned his pancakes in syrup. “Thith is pretthy good fer a human!” Grim eyes sparkled when he ate his first bite, looking much more alive than earlier. “Speak after you're done chewing.” She lightly scolded him, but her ears were slightly red at the tips. Crowley coughed, and Arden turned to him, while Grim was still indulging. “If you could, Arden-san, you mentioned yesterday night that I can be introduced to your pokemon?”

 She nodded at his question, her eyes lighting up. “I had almost forgotten! We should go outside, my pokemons would appreciate some freshness in the air.”

Chapter Text

The new, rewritten fic is in my dashboard!

Sorry for the delay.