Chapter Text
Ace Trappola is not a wanted child.
He has known this for as long as he has been alive. Not at first, of course. It hadn’t been until he went to school that he realised there was something different with the way other parents looked at their child. Their eyes always looked warm, somehow, even when they should be tired from a long day of work. Even their scowl would disappear as soon as they looked at their child.
Ace doesn’t understand that, at first. His mother rarely smiles, especially at him, and he’s never seen his dad even smirk.
Despite that, they are not cruel. Ace never goes hungry, never craves for any toy or game or anything like that. His parents make sure he is taken care of, be it by themselves or by some neighbour or nanny who look at him with sadness in their eyes.
You would think that he grows up unhappy, and though his childhood is filled with sadness, with whispers from other parents and children, but for all that his parents never show him love, that doesn’t mean Ace grows up without it.
Kinger is seven years older than him, but more mature than a lot of adults in little Ace’s opinion. His older brother gives him candy and reads him bedtime stories even as he too struggles to read, young as he is, and hides his yawns with laughter.
On his first day of school, Kinger ruffles his hair with a soft smile on his face and tells his little brother not to make too much trouble.
“I love you.” his brother says, voice warm, and Ace knows this to be the truth. His older brother always looks tired, always scowls at their parents before getting into arguments when he thinks Ace can’t hear, and that, more than anything, is love – to stand up for those you love, to stick to your own principles.
Ace is not a wanted child – but he is loved, nonetheless.
Of course, Kinger’s love can’t fix everything.
Ace still gets angry, still wonders and screams at the unfairness of it all. Why aren’t his parents here? Why do they keep ignoring them? They make sure their sons don’t starve, give them toys to play with, but that only appease the toddler that he once was. Ace grows up and craves affection that won’t be given to him.
This is what he learns: life isn’t fair.
His parents never do anything wrong, not in the eyes of the law: they just don’t love him. That is no crime, even though it feels like it should be one.
Going to Night Raven College feels like his best chance at living a life away from his family.
Ace loves his brother, he does, but he’s still young, they both are, and fights are bound to happen. Going away to meet new people, to become someone away from those who already know him and his story – how could he not take that chance?
(And maybe then, Kinger will finally be able to be happier, to spend more time with his friends without having to worry about the brother he was obliged to parent when their own genitors didn’t bother to pay attention.)
Night Raven College is both what he expected and yet not.
The start is rough – Ace assumes the whole fire weasel thing is not usual – but even then, as he steps into his new dorm and his new Housewarden explains the rules and what their new life is going to be like, Ace feels something close to uneasiness sink into his chest before he manages to brush it away.
Whatever. He’ll work around it, find loopholes and be discreet, and it should be fine.
Of course, everything goes to hell on the first day.
He meets the weird weasel – a cat, apparently – and the strange magicless kid, and then one of his dormmates, and they get dragged into a mine to fix a mistake that is, admittedly, his fault. Partially.
By some miracle, they succeed. Barely, but a success nonetheless.
And Ace can’t help but think that maybe, this will finally be the start of something new.
He steals a tart and gets kicked out.
Well, okay, he steals three tarts and kicks himself out, but getting his magic sealed is still incredibly unfair.
Things go from bad to worse, after that, so quickly that he can barely keep up and before he knows it, Deuce and he are standing in front of Riddle, ready to fight to prove their point, to prove that this is not how things are supposed to be.
They lose the duel, because of course they do. Things in his life are never easy.
And perhaps it could have stopped there. Perhaps he could have swallowed his bitterness and admitted defeat, perhaps he could have moved into Ramshackle even though the idea felt like admitting defeat.
But that’s not what happens.
Riddle looks down on them, on Yuu, one of the only people who helped though they had nothing to gain, and speaks the words that damn him.
“Clearly, you were born to parents with no great magical capability. And as a result., you lack even the basic education necessary to attend a school such as this. It's quite sad.”
And he sounds so sincere, as if he wholeheartedly believes that parents define what you are, as if it mattered in the grand scheme of things, as if you weren’t your own fucking person, able to make your own choices.
And Ace – well. Ace has never pretended to be anything other than selfish, but even he has his principles he’ll stick to, no matter what.
Punishing people for the smallest of offences, giving everyone the same collar even though the rules they break are vastly different.
I cannot get behind this, Ace thinks, and at first beating Riddle was just a selfish desire to be free, but now something in his chest is burning, fighting to get out, and he realises that this goes far beyond that. I cannot get behind this.
Honestly, punching him in the face might be the greatest things he’s done since coming to NRC.
“You’re a tyrant.” Ace says, and the words escape him as though someone else was speaking. It feels like he’s losing control – yet he’s never felt more in tune with himself before. “You've been here for so long and haven't even made a single friend who cared enough about you to call you out on your shit. And that's on you, not your mom, you.”
Riddle opens and closes his mouth, as if shocked into silence, but Ace doesn’t back down. There’s something growing inside his chest, something strange and unknown but undeniably his, and standing up for Yuu makes it spread throughout his whole body.
This, more than anything, is what he stands for – his own principles, other rules be damned. He will not allow anyone to walk over them.
But standing up for something has its own consequences, and Ace can only watch powerless as someone throws an egg at the Housewarden, as Riddle screams his outrage, as the students stand up for themselves and as ink drips and drips and drips until it drowns someone.
Things happen quickly then.
Riddle rises his hand, and Ace grits his teeth even as he readies his magic pen. The vine speeds up toward him, too fast to summon a shield or to dodge, and all Ace can think is-
I haven’t proven him wrong yet!
(Then what are you waiting for?)
And his vision is filled with light.
(Tell me, have you ever swam in a lake? The water is cold, but the waves are so slow, so soft, they cradle you as if you were its child. In its arms, you are weightless. You are safe.)
“What is that-”
“What’s happening?!”
“ACE! ACE-”
(Tell me, have you ever swam in the ocean? The water is cold, and the waves are wild, the tides strong, but they play with you as if you were its friend, and you can’t help but laugh. In its arms, you are free. You are yourself.)
“Ace?” Deuce whispers, and only then does he snap out of his shock.
Oh, he realises numbly, this is not magic.
(This is far more than magic.)
Water flows through the air – but it’s not water, not completely, it’s so much more – and Ace can’t hide the smile that grows on his face as something inside his soul clicks in place.
This is me.
“Right,” he mutters, before turning toward the others, a smirk on his face, “Let’s do this!”
On his chest, replacing the rose of his uniform, the divine blessing shines blue, bright enough to cleanse the darkest ink.