Chapter Text
As I looked up upon the star filled sky, I wondered…..how did my life come to this?....
It started months ago, as I opened my eyes, all I could see was pitch darkness. As I lifted up my hands, I felt something blocking my way. It felt like it had a soft cushion above the hard wood. As I felt it, I panicked, thinking someone had buried me alive in a coffin. I immediately tried lifting up the coffin cover, it was surprisingly easy. As I lifted up the cover, a voice had gotten my attention.
‘You’re not supposed to be awake so early, the ceremony doesn’t start in an hour’ they said.
I looked around and found someone wearing a dark high collared button up blouse with silver accents at the collar accompanied with a cape that looked like feathers, dark hair with a streak of their hair being completely white and a small black top hat with a purple trim and gold accessories adorning it. They were also wearing what presumed to be a crow mask and holding a staff with a gem on top of it. As I sat there staring, they continued to speaking,
‘*sigh* I suppose there is nothing we can do about it, you’re lucky I found you instead of the headmaster, otherwise you would be shoved back into the coffin without time to process what just happened.’
‘Headmaster?’ I asked as I looked down and noticed I was wearing a dark robe with a purple lining and gold accents. Huh when did I have clothing like this…. I thought to myself. In the middle of my thoughts a creature suddenly pounced at me.
‘Haha, finally, I got one! Give me your clothes right now human!’
I screamed as I hurriedly got up and tried to get the talking creature ( weasel?) off of me. The person from before quickly lifted their staff and it started to glow. Suddenly the creature levitated off of me and glided to the person.
‘My my, what do we have here? A weasel?’ They said while scruffing the creature.
‘HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A WEASEL!!! I AM OBVIOUSLY A FERRET!!!’ the milk coloured creature screamed.
The doors suddenly flew open and a taller man with similar attire walked in.
‘What is all that noise? The orientation is about to start!’
Behind him, a man with dark skin, dark hair and what seems to be cat ears with blue flames coming out of them, walked into the room. The beast man looked around and made eye contact with me.
‘Um…are they supposed to wake up this early? And what happened here? Why are you holding a weasel?’
‘ I AM A FERRET GODDAMMIT!!’
‘ What is the meaning of this, counselor?’ the man, who I presumed to be the headmaster, said frantically.
The person, now who I know as the counselor, sighed heavily and they began to explain the situation. At least that’s what I thought, I wasn't paying attention at the time. I began to think what was happening and completely zoned out thinking, trying to process the information that was given.
‘Hello¬ Are you there?’ The beast man said as he waved his hand in front of my face.
‘Grim! Don’t do that!’
I blinked and the next thing I knew was that I was suddenly outside of the room, in the hallway with the beast man and the counselor.
‘Where am I?’ I asked, still a little zoned out.
‘You’re in the hallway outside the mirror room dear.’ the counselor said as he put a hand on my shoulder and bent down a little to see me eye to eye.
‘ Mirror room?’
‘ Yes, the mirror room, now tell me, how many fingers am I holding up?’ they said as they brought up three fingers.
‘Three?’ I answered, trying to focus.
‘Good, you seem to be fine now.’ They stood up properly and turned to face the beast man.
‘Grim, would you mind telling Crowley I would be late? I’m bringing this little fledgling to my office to have a cup to help them calm their nerves.’
The beast man paused for a moment to think.
‘Fine…you better get me a can of tuna afterwards.’ and like that, the beast man went back into the room.
‘Now that’s settled, why don’t we head our way to my office?’ The counselor said as they smiled softly at me.
The counselor's office is quite nice. There was an office desk that had many books and documents neatly stacked together situated in front of a large window that oversees the whole campus. There were tall bookshelves lining the walls from top to bottom, all on various subjects and there was a long coffee table in the centre of the room with two dark purple sofas with gold trims facing each other on both sides of the coffee table. I was seated on one of the sofas, waiting patiently for the counselor to come back with the tea. As I stared up to the ceiling, I noticed there were lit string lights hanging above the room. No wonder the room felt more cosy than overwhelming. As I was about to close my eyes, I heard the door click open. The counselor walked in holding a tray with a teapot with matching teacups.
‘Sorry if I took too long, normally I would have prepared the tea here but unfortunately I have run out of tea leaves, and the cafeteria is not close by.’ They said with an apologetic smile as they placed the teacup in front of me.
‘It’s…alright….’ ‘I’m glad, what’s your name, little fledgling?’
‘I’m Rei…’ ‘Rei? Just Rei? No last name?’ The counselor seems confused.
‘ Ya…I don’t really have a last name…I grew up in an orphanage.’ I said as I sip the tea.
‘I see… in any case Night Raven College will accept any talented students, regardless of background. Are you feeling a little better now?’
Night Raven College? What’s that? I thought to myself.
‘Ya, I feel a lot better now…thanks for the tea.’ I gave them a small smile. ‘Um…I didn’t quite get your name…um…counselor.’ I see them widening their eyes behind the mask.
‘Oh my, where are my manners? As you know, I am who they call the counselor. I'm also a professor at NRC, so you can call me Professor Crowley. The beast man we were with earlier was Grim, he’s also a professor here at NRC .’
‘How about the headmaster? What’s his name?’
‘That would be our ‘‘gracious’’ headmaster, Headmaster Dire Crowley.’ I giggled a little when Professor Crowley did the little air quotes with his fingers.
‘ Wait … Dire Crowley? Doesn’t he have the same last name as you?’
‘Yes, unfortunately.’ They sighed and dropped their head a little.
I chuckled a little at that. I asked him a few more questions regarding NRC and he patiently listened and explained everything I’ve asked. Turns out students are sorted into dorms, that includes Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octivinelle, Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde and Diasomnia. Each of the seven dorms here are modeled after one of the Great Seven, and upon entering the school, students are sorted into these dorms.
‘Speaking of dorms, it should be around time to- Oh dear! We’re late! Come on now, we don’t have much time before orientation ends!’ Professor Crowley said frantically and quickly got us in front of the mirror room. Luckily, Professor Crowley got us there before the ceremony ended.
Upon entering, I felt eyes staring at me.
‘Sorry that we’re late, we had a little situation before the ceremony, I hope it’s alright.’ Professor Crowley smiled apologetically.
‘Yes, I am aware, and those who are late are not permitted to be sorted into a dorm, but as the generous headmaster I am, I will grant you the chance to step forward and take a look at the magic mirror!’ Headmaster Crowley said proudly.
‘*Sigh*, I can't believe the counselor out of all the people being late to an event .’ A boy with teal haired said disappointingly
‘How troublesome, the ceremony was just about to end.’ A guy with lion ears muttered.
‘Oh my, how surprising, the counselor being late. Usually it’s them that arrives early.’ A boy with white hair and mismatched coloured eyes commented.
‘*Chuckles* , usually it’s the headmaster that’s late.’ said the boy with tanned skin.
‘ I believe Professor Crewley has a good reason for being late.’ the beautiful lion commented as he poked the taller lion. The taller lion muttered something again that I couldn't quite catch.
‘ Can we please quickly end the ceremony? I need to get back to my game….’ The guy with blue flamed hair stated.
The student with horns only hummed.
The students began to murmur amongst themselves as I walked up to the mirror.
‘ Ahem, state your name to the mirror and it will do the rest!’ the headmaster smiled sheepishly as he said it.
As I was about to say my name, a familiar voice suddenly called out.
‘LET ME GO RIGHT NOW!!!’