Chapter Text
The events that led up to the current scene could only be described as utter chaos. A talking cat monster had managed to crash the orientation ceremony—setting Kalim on fire in the process—a student with no magic was left unsorted by the Dark Mirror, and then the Dark Mirror itself began glowing. Riddle and his fellow housewardens, barring Leona and Idia for obvious reasons, tried to calm the panicking crowd of students as the light grew brighter while the Headmage stared uselessly at the scene. Covering his eyes from the blinding glow, Riddle tried to think of a way to make it stop. He took a step towards the Mirror but before he could even set his foot back on the ground, his world went dark.
“Riddle? Riddle, wake up!”
“He’s the only one still asleep…”
“Is he dead?!”
“He’s obviously still breathing, idiot!”
“Goldfishie, if you don’t wake up, I’m gonna squeeze ya!”
Opening his eyes, Riddle sat up faster than he probably should have. “I’m up! Don’t you dare touch me, Floyd!” He could barely get the sentence out before he had to close his eyes due to a sharp pain in his head. Groaning, he slowly opened his eyes again and turned to Trey who was splitting up a brewing fight between two of the new Heartslabyul freshmen. “What happened? Where are we?”
Vil crossed his arms. “It seems to be some sort of theater, the movie kind, not the stage kind.” Even in the strange situation they were in, the model seemed to keep his cool. Riddle nodded and looked around to see who else was present. He was pretty shocked to see Idia, wasn’t he in his dorm? How was he dragged into this mess? “Azul did us the favor of making a list of those of us who are present. It is a pretty oddly specific group, yet we still have not figured out the purpose, who did this, how they achieved such a feat, or how to leave.” The information was a shock, but Riddle really only had the energy to nod.
Azul smiled at Riddle and handed him a piece of paper, a list containing names. “I even added identifying features next to each person’s name so they are easy to distinguish. All for free as well, how gracious I am!”
Leona scoffed. “Only because you weren’t able to conjure up your contracts…” He mumbled from his spot on the floor. Of course he found a place to nap, did his lazy tendencies know no bounds?
Azul’s smile became strained. “As far as I am aware, you also lack the ability to use your unique magic. I’m hardly the only one here that was made effectively powerless.”
Riddle frowned. “What do you mean?” There was no way…they were able to use their magic, right?
“I mean that so far, nobody is capable of magic despite the fact that we all have our magic pens.” Was the blunt response from Azul. Riddle frowned and tested his own magic for confirmation. As Azul said, he couldn't access his magic. How vexing.
Floyd groaned. “Don’t remind me! Having no magic is boriiiing.” He then proceeded to drape himself over one of the seats dramatically. Speaking of, Vil was right. The room looked like a movie theater. He had never been to one but even he wasn’t unaware of the basic layout of your average movie theater. He began going over the list that Azul made, memorizing the names of everyone he wasn’t acquainted with:
Created by: Azul Ashengrotto - Identifiable by his silver hair and glasses
Floyd and Jade Leech - Identifiable by their heterochromia: Jade having his golden eye on the left and Floyd having his on the right
Riddle Rosehearts - Identifiable by his short stature and red hair
Trey Clover - Identifiable by his face marking of a club
Cater Diamond - Identifiable by his face marking of a diamond
Ace Trappola - Identifiable by his face marking of a heart
Deuce Spade - Identifiable by his face marking of a spade
Leona Kingscholar - Identifiable as the only lion beastman present
Ruggie Bucchi - Identifiable as the only hyena beastman present
Jack Howl - Identifiable as the only wolf beastman present
Kalim Al-Asim - Identifiable by his white hair and red eyes
Jamil Viper - Identifiable by his braids and hair ornaments
Vil Schoenheit - Identifiable by his blond hair with purple tips
Rook Hunt - Identifiable by his hat and blond hair
Epel Felmier - Identifiable by his purple hair
Idia Shroud - Identifiable by his long blue fire-like hair
Ortho Shroud - Identifiable as the only robot artificial technomantic humanoid present
Malleus Draconia - Identifiable by his horns
Lilia Vanrouge - Identifiable by the pink streaks in his hair
Silver - Identifiable by his silver hair and auroral eyes
Sebek Zigvolt - Identifiable by his green hair and yellow/green eyes
Yuu - Identifiable by his lack of a magic pen
Grim - Identifiable as the only cat weasel monster creature
It took all his willpower not to make a comment about his own description on the list. “Thank you, I have memorized it already, give it to someone who needs it. I’m sure at least one of the freshmen could use it.”
The freshman—no, Ace Trappola according to the list—stared at him wide eyed. “You looked at it for less than a minute! How the heck?! That’s impossible!”
Riddle crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the rowdy freshman. “Ace Trappola, you were just fighting with Deuce Spade, the boy next to you is Epel Felmier, the wolf beastman is named Jack Howl, and the freshman from Diasomnia is Sebek Zigvolt. I am mostly acquainted with everyone else so I really didn’t have to try all that hard to memorize everyone’s names.”
Azul smiled, “I memorized everyone’s names before we were even put in this strange theater. I must be aware of my future clientele after all.”
“Oui! Memorizing everyone’s names and faces is an all too easy feat!” Ah, of course Rook knew their names. Riddle was sure the junior knew more than just names but he wasn’t about to call the other out on it.
Ace and Deuce shuddered in sync. “Creepy.” Ace mumbled to his future dormmate.
Before Riddle could admonish the ginger, the movie screen lit up, showing vague images of the Great Seven, the current Housewardens, and Night Raven College. “What?” A blank screen was shown at the end, words appearing on it.
‘Welcome to the reaction room. This is a pre-written message.’
Leona growled at the screen. “What a joke. Why are we even here?”
‘You may be skeptical, but you all have been brought here to react to the immediate future that would have occurred without interference, as well as a brief recap of the events leading up to your being brought here.’
Riddle didn’t know what to think. Watching the future? That kind of magic should be impossible! How ridiculous of their captors, as if they’d believe such an obvious ruse.
Before anyone could object any more, there was a horrified gasp. “MY PHONE IS MISSING!” Riddle turned to the source and saw Cater digging into his ceremonial robes, looking for his phone.
Leona groaned. “You only just noticed?”
Vil put a hand on his hip. “And you did? Why didn't you mention it earlier?”
“I thought everyone noticed and just weren't talking about it. Why didn't you try and call for help when you woke up?” With another yawn, Leona closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep once more.
Riddle sighed at his fellow housewarden. “Well, if we have no phones we cannot contact anyone for help. It seems we are merely at the mercy of our kidnapper or kidnappers.”
“There are some big names here though, wouldn't people notice us missing? We disappeared in front of the Headmage and a bunch of others.”
Vil nodded at Epel's words. “Correct. However, our…host…seems to have access to the future, which means we are dealing with time magic if they are telling the truth. This means we could be here for who knows how long but be returned before anyone even realizes we're missing.”
Epel frowned. Riddle felt much the same, these circumstances were not ideal. There were too many unknown variables. “So we just go along with this mysterious person or people?”
“This sucks!” Ace cried. “Why did this have to happen on my first day at Night Raven?!”
Deuce crossed his arms. “I hope my mom doesn't worry…I've caused so much trouble for her already.”
Cater smiled and pat Deuce on the back. “I'm sure it'll all be okay! Trust Cay-Cay to take good care of his underclassmen!”
Deuce smiled hesitantly at Cater before the screen lit up again, stopping all conversation.