Chapter Text
She doesn’t want to get up. She ignores the sounds of her alarm going off beside her. The sun is barely laughing in the sky. Small beams of light peering through the window shine on her face. It warms her soul while her bed and her blankets warm her body. It’s peaceful and quiet, and there is nothing that can ruin this morning. Literally nothing could spoil this quiet moment.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“If you don’t get up, you pathetic welp, I am going to make you sleep a lot longer than the night!” The voice was stern and borderline nasally. The kind of voice that no matter what is said, it will never come out as kind or true.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
She sighed as she swung her legs over the side of her bed. She hated getting up this morning. It’s not like she even benefitted from these training sessions. Well, benefited as much as she would have liked. She did get something out of them
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“I’m up! I’m up!” She yelled before letting out a sigh. “Lord Death! Let me get dressed and I will be out!” She walked over to her closet. She looked over her options and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a thrifted DWMA sweatshirt.
She hated getting up early in the morning. A perk of being a part of the DWMA. Well, not her, she isn’t allowed to attend the academy. Alas, The Mistress says that her girls need someone to train against in the mornings before classes.
Vanessa, The Mistress as she liked to be called, yelled for her to hurry up once more. Y/n sighed and took a deep breath before lacing up her sneakers and making her way out of her room.
It actually wasn’t a room. She actually lived in the basement. It's more comfortable than one might expect Vanessa’s kindness to go. Most of the basement was unfinished. Drywall exposing insulation. There were nails sticking out of most boards. Ventilation tubes sticking out through the ceiling. It was something that her father never got to finish.
All of her father’s belongings were down here too. Everything chucked into cardboard boxes and the words ‘Siegfried’s Junk’ written across them. It was good to know that his legacy was still being honored. But hey, half an unfinished basement is better than having to live under a staircase. She was doing better than most orphans.
She walks up the stairs and enters into the backyard. The basement led into the kitchen and into the backyard. She sees her stepmother and her twin step-sisters waiting for her.
“It’s about time that you showed up, you insolent girl.” Vanessa scoffed as she pointed for her to join the twins in a line. Y/N stood beside them and she glanced at them before facing forward.
The twins, the twins, the twins, where does she start with those two? Vanessa’s twin weapon daughters that she brought from a previous marriage and into her and her father’s life. Odette didn’t say a whole lot. She would mostly stand there, smile, and maybe say a few words. She was usually pretty kind to Y/n. She never added to her problems, but she didn’t always help them either. Now, Odile on the other hand, she was a demon in her own right. She did whatever her mother wanted first, and then whatever she wanted second.
“Today, we will be focusing on hand to hand combat.” Vanessa paced back and forth in front of them, holding a riding crop in one hand and smacking it into the other. The twins knew she would never use it on them. “The two of you will go after Y/n, and you are not allowed to transform. You must win without using your abilities.” Vanessa looked to Y/n, staring hard into what felt like her soul.
Y/n felt a chill go down her spine. She knew the drill here with the morning training. The three girls then split and then began to form almost a circle. The three of them circled around each other. Y/n had her hands up ready to guard their attacks.
Odile lunged forward, right fist flying towards her face. Y/n ducked down and feigned a swipe at the legs. Odile side stepped and Odette took a deep breath and launched herself forward with a kick.
Shit! That’s what she gets for ducking to start with. She springs back up and just barely dodges the foot to her face.
“I’m sorry!” Odette said as she turned her body around to strike with her fist. Y/n sighed and lifted her arms to guard her face. To her misfortune, she felt a strike towards her ribs. She lurched forward and held her stomach. She should be used to this now at this point. She turned to try and look at her opponent. But that was when fate, or rather Odile, decided that a fist would meet her face.
She fell to her knees. She needed to get up. She couldn’t just sit and take the hits. She sprung, or at least stood, and raised her firsts, moving towards Odile. She threw a couple of combos her way. Odile missed them with ease.
Odette on the other hand attempted another go to strike at Y/n. She saw this and moved out of the way. She pushed her arm to the side causing Odette to go towards Odile. Odile sneered and judo flipped Odette to the ground.
“One down, one to go.” She then turned to face Y/n, popping her neck to the side, hearing a pop as she cracked it. She launched forward and started a barrage of punches and kicks. Y/n took a deep breath as she was able to guard or dodge most of them.
She glanced over at Vanessa as she was ready to start her counterattack, but saw the daggers burning straight into her soul. Quite literally, Vanessa used to be a meister and this was one of her soul abilities. By using her soul wavelength she was able to project it onto others souls. It was called ‘Soul Pressure.’ She could use this ability to essentially cause panic attacks and project fear or other emotions into people’s souls. It’s probably the ability that allowed her to get so far with the Academy.
Y/n clutched her chest, falling back onto her knees. She tried to control her breathing. It was hard when it felt like someone was squeezing her soul. She’s fine. She’s fine. She just has to keep breathing, she will get through this. Thoughts of her father flashed through her mind. Images of her last moments with him. Deep breaths, she just had to keep breathing.
Odile chuckled as she went in for the kill. Odile grabbed the side of her head and collided her knee with it. Y/n could taste metal in her mouth, as her head hit the cobblestone ground of their backyard. Odile dusted her hands off as she looked down on Y/n.
“I love starting my mornings like this.” Odile smiled wide as she continued to look down at her. She kicked her one more time before allowing Y/n to get up. The rest of the morning continued in a similar fashion. Vanessa would give an exercise and the girls got to get their beatings, ahem, workout in.
When Vanessa had decided that she had enough, she sent her off to clean herself and to get breakfast started. Y/n grumbled under her breath as she walked back into her lair. She liked calling it that. It made it feel a little less like a dungeon, or a prison. Her own little lair that she got to escape to.
She changed out of her sweatshirt and pants. She threw on a pair of black jeans, simple white t-shirt, and a burgundy cardigan. She figured that she would keep it simple for the day, and comfy. She threw on her favorite pair of sneakers before heading up to the kitchen.
She had to remember everybody’s dietary restrictions. The Mistress, Y/n sneered as she thought about the fact that she had to call her that, and was on a low-carb, low-fat, no dairy diet. Odette was a pescatarian, so no meat other than fish in her future. Then Odile was on a high protein, low-carb vegan diet.
She sighed as she got started on the three different breakfasts. She made Odette a Lox bagel. It was essentially smoked salmon on a bagel with a low-fat cream cheese spread. Odile had a chia seed pudding with a protein smoothie. The Grand High Bitch herself had scrambled eggs with spinach, some of the chia seed pudding herself, and a cup of tea. Earl grey, specifically steeped for 5 minutes with half a teaspoon of sugar. Any more or any less, then the whole pot would have to be remade.
She put all the breakfasts on a tray and carried them up to their rooms. All three of them were getting ready to go to the DWMA. The famous Death Weapon Meister Academy, where those with heightened soul abilities learn to wield a special set of people who have the ability to transform their bodies into weapons.
The twins attended the Academy in the NOT class. They hadn’t yet found a partner that met up their, and their mother’s, standard. So they were stuck in the NOT class until further notice. She sighed and prayed that they could find one soon. Maybe if they did, then maybe she can stop with the morning ‘training’ sessions. That would probably be the best gift that she could get to be honest. Other than being able to escape that hellhole.
Odette is finishing her makeup as Y/n makes her first stop for her breakfast rounds. She wears it light and soft. Soft hues brush her lids and her cheeks, enhancing her soft and round features. She brushes her blonde hair into a simple braid that sits in front of her. She wears an all white outfit with small black accents. A black ribbon holding her braid together. A black lace trim on the bottom of her blouse. A set of shiny, black laces hold her knee-high boots together. She smiles as Y/n sets her food on her vanity.
“Oh thank you!” Odette took her plate and set it in front of her. She took a bite of it and smiled. “It’s delicious as always, thank you.” Y/n nodded as she began to make her way out of the room. Odette extended a hand. “Sorry about this morning. I hope I didn’t hit you too hard.”
Y/n shrugged. “It’s fine. You weren’t the one who kicked me in the ribs.” She set the tray on a table near the door and crossed her arms while she leaned against the wall. Odette sighed and looked at the ground.
“But it’s not fair to you. You can barely even fight back. I hate that mother makes us fight you, it’s not fair that you are weaker than us.” Odette seemed to almost have tears well up in her eyes. She fanned her eyes to keep them from coming down. She couldn’t ruin the eye shadow she just did.
“It’s fine. I am sure that one day that I could be as strong as you two.” Sure, she was ‘weak’. That’s the story that they liked to go with. The girls didn’t know the truth of Vanessa’s tactics during their training sessions.
“I would hope so. I mean your dad was a Death Scythe.” Odette took a bite of her breakfast before she went back to looking at herself in the mirror. Oh yeah, her dad, Siegfried Lance, former Death Scythe for Lord Death himself. Emphasis on the former part.
“Yeah. Maybe one day..” Y/n pushed herself off the wall and picked up the tray. “Well duty calls and I got breakfast to deliver. You know how your mom gets when she doesn’t get her tea when it's just right.” Odette nodded and dismissed her.
Next stop, the spawn of Satan herself. She knocked on the door before letting herself in. Odile was blasting music off of her phone, something edge as she would call it. It was actually whatever the students thought was ‘cool, indie punk’ but it was all aesthetic and no meaning. Just like her.
While she worked on her eyeliner, she glanced over at the tray in Y/n’s hands. She let out a sigh and went back to her mirror. She was slow, carefully defining her eyes and her lashes.
Her make up consisted of a pale foundation, smoky eyes, and a deep red lip. She had her hair dyed black, she refused to keep the blonde hair that Odette had. She wore a tight black dress with a lace long sleeve top over it. Black thigh high boots sat on the floor nearby.
“You can set it here on the vanity. I need to get my protein in before we get to the school.” She pulled away from the mirror and looked at Y/n. She reached over and grabbed her face. She tilted from right to left, looking at the damage that she had caused that morning. She smiled before releasing her face.
“That’ll be all.” Y/n nodded and turned to leave the room tray in hand. “Oh!” Y/n turned back around to look at Odile. “I need my laundry done, actually dry cleaned, I don’t need your clumsy hands ruining the lace. So, make sure you drop it off at the shop by the Academy.”
Y/n nodded and took note of it to grab her laundry later. She silently grumbled under her breath. Of course the brat wanted her laundry dry-cleaned, steamed, starched, ironed, and all back before hell froze over.
She took a deep breath after she left the room. It’s fine, she just has to get them out of the house. After that, she will have peace and quiet for the next eight hours. She’s just got a suck it up for a little bit longer.
Her last stop was the Grand High Bitch, ahem Witch, herself. She stopped in front of the door, and supported the tray on her hip. She knocked on the door and waited for a response from Vanessa. When she heard the response, she walked inside and set the tray on the table right by the vanity.
“Your breakfast, Mistress.” She wanted to barf, she hated that she had to say that. It was either use that name or face the wrath of her Soul Pressure. She set down her tea in front of Vanessa, and her plate with utensils next to it.
She held the tray in front of her while she stood off to the side, waiting for further instructions. She watched as her step-mother got ready for the day. She wore a tight pant-suit. It was all black with white and gray accents, and embellishments of Lord Death and the Academy’s logo.
She was a teacher at the Academy. It made sense when you find out that she did technically create a Death Scythe. Even though it was years ago, and that Death Scythe is now gone. She was still hell of a meister. Though, she hasn’t taken a new weapon since her father’s death. She didn’t know why.
“I need the laundry done, and I have certain garments that I need taken to the dry cleaners.” Y/n nodded as she continued to list off the rest of her chores for the day. Do the laundry, pick up Odette’s medications, pick up the groceries from the store, and make sure that everything was in order for Lord Death’s party that was coming up at the end of the month.
Vanessa turned from the mirror to look at Y/n. She eyed her up and down, taking in her outfit. Y/n looked at her own outfit. She didn’t have a lot to work with. It was mostly hand-me-downs and thrifted finds using the small allowance that she got from the inheritance.
“Did you need anything else, Mistress?” Y/n kept her back straight as she looked at her.
“No. That's all.” She said before waving her hand to dismiss her. Y/n bowed before she left the room tray in hand. She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. She took a couple steps down the hall before she stopped and leaned against the wall. She sank to the floor, back pressed against it.
She took a deep breath and sighed. She could throw the tray across the room, she could slam the vase that sat on the nearby table. She could see all the little pieces of clay on the ground, surrounded by water and flower petals.
She took a couple more deep breaths. It could be more trouble than relief to do that. Instead, she stood up, dusted herself off and made her way back to the kitchens. Breakdowns were not an excuse to not get things done.
She walked into the kitchen and looked at the dishes. Her shoulders slumped as she looked at the pile of them. She would have her bowl of cereal before she tackled those. Well, she would soak the dishes first and then get cereal. It’d save her time later.
She made her cereal. Something sugary and fun. One of the little joys that she had. Another one being that she didn’t have to make their lunches, since they tended to eat at the DWMA much more than anything they wanted her to make.
Well, that and the fact that Odile complained that what Y/n made was lackluster compared to that of the chefs there. Something about how it was another thing that she couldn’t amount to. She rolled her eyes at the thought.
Moments later, she could hear their footsteps coming down the stairs and into the foyer. They didn’t bother to stop by the kitchen, a common occurrence. She didn’t mind it. She heard voices of the twins going after each other. In which, Vanessa would likely snap at them to shut up. She then heard the door slam shut.
She stood up from the seat at the kitchen island. She tiptoed her way over to the foyer and peaked out. The coast was clear. No bickering, no sneering, no quiet giggles. There was just silence.
She crept out a little further and looked out the window. She saw the car that would take them to the entrance of the school in the distance. She smiled as she turned to to look at the empty house before her.
Finally, her day could really begin.