Work Text:
Yuuwyn regretted it. More than he'd ever like to admit, guilt was constantly rushing through him and messing with his head. Though he'd never admit it to her if they'd ever found her, he truly felt immense guilt and wanted nothing more than to apologise. Yuu blamed himself for thinking shielding her, hiding the truth from her would ever help her. He felt so selfish. He'd spent her entire childhood shielding her from the harsh truth of how toxic and dysfunctional their family was.
Even worse? When she'd rightfully gotten upset and blew up at him for how inconsiderate he was acting, he told her to get over it. "I don't have a sister." That. That is the last thing he'd told her before she stormed off. And...now she was missing; gone. Possibly forever. She could even be dead. Nobody knew. Their parents didn't even care. Infact, they were even against Yuuwyn calling the police. Not that he cared about their opinion.
So, he did. It had only been 2 days, but Clair was a mere 16 years old. Was he only one year older? Yes. But she was also tenfold more naive and optimistic than he was. She wasn't prepared to go off all alone, with no money nor support. They weren't exactly located in the most safe neighborhood, either. It wasn't as bad as the big cities in Germany, but it wasn't any better either.
Yuuwyn was — again — deeply concerned. He felt so utterly horrible and he had no way to cope with any of these thoughts of self-hatred, he wasn't sure what he was going to tell her of what he was going to say if he ever saw her again. Yuuwyn was torn between being honest and apologizing and continuing to act like he was absolutely in the right. The latter was what Yuuwyn always did, because he sucked at expressing kindness and care.
knock, knock, knock.
Yuuwyn snapped out of his thoughts.
It was incredibly late. Who could this be? His family did not have many friends nor did relatives bother much to contact. Since his father had fallen into deep alcoholism and his mother fell deathly sick years ago, they had a falling out with the rest of the family. Yuuwyn set down his tea cup — stood up, grabbed his cardigan and put it on whilst walking over to the front door. Yuuwyn grabbed the handle and opened the door.
Just to be met, face-to-face, with two police officers. One had a more solemn, empathetic expression and the other seemed to be more stern. "Yuuwyn Grimsley?" Asked the stoic one. Yuu nodded, slightly confused, but not necessarily caught off guard. "Yes. What do you need, officer?" One police officer glanced at the other in the corner of his eye before huffing. "We've found signs of your sister."
Yuuwyn kept quiet. He was better off listening before asking hopeful questions. "Near a pond in the forest. We found her DNA and one of her shoes," The officer explained. "Where?" Yuuwyn asked, straightforward. "What's the location?" "The Fisher's pond. We just..wanted to update you—" Before the officer could even properly get the sentence out, Yuuwyn pushed past the two and sprinted off whilst the other two were yelling for him. He knew this was stupid. It was probably going to be marked off with Police tape and he'd likely not at all be given access, but he couldn't think clearly.
Yuu's legs moved before his brain could process this. He ran along a path he wasn't even sure was going to take him to that old lake. It was too dark to see properly. Yuu ran through the forest, stopping for a second to determine which of the two paths of the crossroad he should take — looking left and right hurriedly before randomly choosing left.
Yuu ran, ran and ran. He could barely feel his legs at this point. Unluckily for him, eventually that would catch up to him as he stumbled over a rock just at the worst time. He hadn't even heard it, but a carriage was going down the path — a black carriage with..horses? People still used that nowadays? Yuuwyn did not catch his balance in time, getting horribly hit in the head by one of the horses hooves.
Yuuwyn groaned. A quiet groan— He blinked. Whatever tiny room he seemed to be in, was completely shrouded in darkness. By that, I absolutely mean completely. Yuuwyn couldn't see one thing. There was a rattling noise, like someone wanted to open something. All Yuuwyn could ask himself "What the fuck is going on?" and also; "What was that noise?" He stayed quiet, trying to listen for any sign of life. Until he heard a voice— a squeaky kind of voice.
"I better hurry up and find that uniform before someone spots me..." What? What was going on? WHERE was he? Yuuwyn didn't understand anything, but he kept quiet, trying to listen for more information. He heard the person groan, trying to open whatever confinement Yuuwyn was in. "Urggghh.. This lid weighs a ton!" Yuuwyn carefully, quietly, tried to feel around. This was no room. This was too small to be considered a room— It was shaped like a coffin.
He heard them speak again. "Try this on for size! Mya-ha!" He couldn't help but think whatever person was trying to open this...coffin-shaped box, sounded very, very odd. BOOM! What the fuck? Yuuwyn put his elbow over his eyes at the sudden flashbang. Wait— was that fire!? Yuuwyn let out a yelp unintentionally. He carefully opened his eyes again, squinting, before assessing it was safe to open his eyes. He put his elbow down. "Now to grab the goods.. What!? You ain't supposed to be awake!" The...cat-creature-thing yelped. This was no human.
This was..some sort of mythological creature? Yuuwyn has read tons of folklore and fairytales growing up, but he's never heard of a cat-looking creature with fire ears whom wears a striped bow and has a pitch-fork-like tail. Yuuwyn squinted slightly in confusion, eyebrows farrowing. Then he looked around the room carefully. "Floating coffins..?" He muttered in awe. This must've been a dream, right? This defies laws of physics— and also everything in reality in general. It made no logical sense. He looked back down to the cat-weasel-thing.
"Floating coffins.." He murmured, "...and a talking weasel." He continued. The cat-looking-creature thing immediately got defensive, having clearly been offended by Yuuwyn's remark. "How...How DARE you! I am no WEASEL!" The creature blew up at him. Yuuwyn crossed his arms. Then, it continued; "I'm Grim, sorcerer extraordinaire!" Yeah. This had to be a dream. Some sort of... head-trauma dream. He did get hit pretty badly. But..somehow, it barely hurt anymore? His head pounded a little, but not so much to a worrying degree.
"Tch. Whatever. You, human! Gimmie your uniform, be quick about it!" Yuuwyn's eyebrows shot up. Uniform? What uniform? Yuuwyn didn't go to school, nor college for that matter. He had been working himself up for law school, but that was a mere dream. His parents never cared enough to spend money on school, so he'd learnt everything from books, more or less. "Why would I..." Yuuwyn trailed off slightly. "...give my supposed uniform to you?"
The creature— Or, well, Grim, smirked, like a tiny idiot, summoning...fire? Yeah, no, this definitely had to be a dream. "Cause if you don't...you're gonna regret it!" Grim said, trying to seem intimidating. The fires were the tiniest bit intimidating, but Yuuwyn wasn't going to take a dream seriously. "Huh." Yuuwyn huffed. "I'm not looking to be roasted by a weasel today." Yuuwyn pinched his nose. "I didn't know head trauma caused such illogical dreams.." Grim grew irritated again.
"Well— Keep dreamin', 'cause I ain't no weasel!" This little guy really despised being seen as a weasel, huh. Yuuwyn had no time for this— not at all. What usually wakes someone up in a lucid dream? How does one wake themselves up from a lucid dream? Yuuwyn walked past the little creature, which offended it even more. He opened the heavy door and — upon seeing the angry little creature was following him — started sprinting off. It was seemingly dark out, in the dream atleast, and whatever building they were in was completely empty.
There were classrooms and it seemed like a college, so that explains the demand for a uniform from the weasel. Yuuwyn eventually stopped at a door with a 'library' sign to catch his breath. His stamina wasn't the greatest— he wasn't even half as athletic as his sister was. He heard a loud yell from around the corner and, without thinking, he pushed the library door open and closed it behind him, hoping to lose the weasel. "For God's sake," He murmured to himself. "Mental commands. Right. That's supposed to work. If this is a dream, I'm ready to wake up now. Wake up!" Yuuwyn sounded ridiculous and, internally, he felt a little embarrassed.
Fire sparked again. He tried to shake that creature off to no avail. Grim smirked again — what was up with this weasel and smirking? — "Foolish human!" Grim started. "Did you really think you could slip away from ME?" Yuuwyn glared at the cat-looking weasel creature. "Now, unless you wanna get burned to a crisp, take off that—" SLAP! "Me-YEOW!" Grim exclaimed In pain. Yuuwyn stood up straight, confused. "That hurt! What gives!?" An older, taller man appeared. He had an odd hat and even odder mask. A Crow-looking mask, that only covered his eyes and his nose. His outfit was even more extravagant, with a white button-up, a tie, a waistcoat—
And an extremely extra coat. The man spoke. "Consider it tough love." Ah. He was the one who'd hit Grim. Did he..follow them? He then shifted his focus to Yuu— expression going from slight condescending to neutral. "Ah, I've found you at last. Splendid." What? Found who? "I trust you're one of this years new students?" What the hell was this old man talking about? Yuuwyn looked at him with utter confusion. For a man that never lived through anything unexpected, he couldn't control this at all.
This clearly was not a dream. It was obvious to him now. It was far too realistic for any lucid dream— Yuu wasn't an idiot. He'd read enough books to know the difference by now. The man's expression changed to a more annoyed — maybe frustrated — expression as he continued speaking. "My, were you ever eager to make your debut." The man — who was probably staff — crossed his arms. Yuuwyn hated his tone, but kept quiet. "And bringing a poorly trained familiar with you? That is a clear violation of the school's rules." A familiar? This man thought this weasel was his familiar? Yuuwyn looked perfectly calm on the outside, but internally he was utterly bewildered and confused. He didn't understand anything that was going on.
Grim, who was being held up like a disobedient kitten, protested almost immediately; "As if I'd serve some lowly human! Now lemme go!!" The man was unimpressed, didn't believe the little weasel at all. "Yes, yes. Rebellious familiars always say that." The man shushed the creature by putting his hand on it's mouth. "Do be quiet for a bit, won't you?"
The man spoke, again, seems like he could speak quite alot. He sounded exasperated. "Dear me. Of all the students I've dealt with, you're the first with temerity enough to open their own gate...and step out of it." Yuuwyn raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "Gates?" He mumbled. "Those floating coffin-shaped things?" He asked, remaining ever polite. He didn't like this stranger at all, but it wouldn't benefit him to start out rude. "Quite right. Does the very notion of patience elude you? No matter. Your orientation has already begun. Let us return to the Mirror Chamber."
"Hold on." Yuuwyn put a hand up. "What do you mean by, 'student'?" He asked. "You awakened in a room full of gates, did you not? All of the students here at the campus arrived by passing through such gates." Yuuwyn listened quietly, putting a hand on his chin. "Although typically the students have restraint enough to wait until I open them before waking up."
"My apologies for that." Yuuwyn seamlessly apologized. "However, it was far from my fault." Yuuwyn eyed Grim, who groaned in defeat. "A certain someone blew the lid off mine." Yuu explained, focusing his eyes back on the older man, holding respectful eye contact. "The culprit appears to be that familiar of yours." "I—" Yuuwyn was abruptly cut off— which infuriated him greatly. Whilst he was great at internalising it and keeping calm, he was very hot-headed. "You're the one who insisted on bringing it, so curtailing its behavior is your responsibility!" Yuuwyn hated how condescending this man sounded.
Yuuwyn didn't continue arguing and just kept quiet. "But now is not the time for such prattle. You've a student orientation to attend! Go on, now. Make haste." The man ushered Yuuwyn out of the library before he could ask any more questions. "Now, hold on, sir—" Yuuwyn stopped him. "I have two more questions. First, where am I?" The man put a hand on his chin, slightly confused. "Hm? Have you not fully regained consciousness?" That was the so-called logical explanation the man had. "The timespace teleportation must have addled your memories.." Time..space..what? Such things are not real.
...are they? No, can't be. It'd be illogical. "Well, these things happen, I suppose. I shall explain it to you while we walk. Truly, my magnanimity is boundless." The man walked out. Yuu simply followed him. They walked across the courtyard side-by-side. The man let out a loud ahem. "This is Night Raven College. It is an institution for students the world over who demonstrate a rare aptitude for magic. It is the most prestigious academy of its sort in all of Twisted Wonderland." Yuuwyn listened without once interrupting, but he couldn't help but catch himself thinking — Magic? Ridiculous. These guys most be thoroughly delusional. Yuuwyn did not believe in magic, not anything of the sort. It was an abstract idea, and honestly? Childish to him.
"And I am Dire Crowley. Having been entrusted with its care by the chairman, I serve as headmage." Ah, so Yuuwyn hit the nail on the head. Crowley was a staff member. Not that it was a genius Idea. "May I ask, what do you mean by 'Magic'? As far as I understand, such a thing does not exist." Crowley let out an confused noise, "Oh, dear," Crowley murmured. "You must have gotten hit with a terrible case of spacetime teleportation amnesia. Did it scramble your common sense?" Yuuwyn raised an eyebrow, glancing up at him.
"I can assure you, Sir, I am fine." Crowley didn't buy it. "Your homepage must have been dreadfully mundane. To be so ignorant toward Magic's existence... For the Dark mirror to have picked you, you must have alot of bottled up potential!" To Yuuwyn, this just sounded like crazy babbling. However, he had no energy to start an argument over whether magic exists or not. He simply uttered a quiet, "Right.."
"As I was saying.." Crowley continued where he left off. "Only those who the Dark Mirror perceives as having a talent for magic are admitted to the college. Those who are selected are summoned to the campus through those 'gates', which can appear anywhere. A black carriage bearing one such gate should have come to meet you." Yuuwyn remembered that. A black carriage with two horses that trampled him. "Yes, I... do remember that."
"That black carriage serves to receive a student chosen by the Dark Mirror. It too bears a gate that connects to this campus. And as you know, sending a carriage to meet someone on a special day is a time-honored tradition." Yuuwyn has heard of no such thing. People had used carriage tons in the past, but nowadays people had no use for squeaky wooden vehicles run by horses. "Where, exactly, is this a time-honored tradition?" Yuu asked.
Grim groaned and squirmed against Crowley's hand. Whatever answer he wanted to give was muffled. Yuuwyn's question was also completely ignored. "Now, let us attend to your orientation." Yuuwyn sighed heavily, but silently followed Crowley back to the Mirror Chamber without a complaint. seemed a little irresponsible for someone in such high power. Other students seemed to agree, as the tall male with lion ears sighed and drawled; "Pretty sure you can handle catching one mangy weasel all on your lonesome there, headmage." Grim suddenly stopped, enraged, once again due to being called a weasel. "How many times do I gotta say it!?"
Grim spoke in an all-mighty tone, introducing himself all over again. "I'm Grim, spellcaster extraordinaire! I am NOT a weasel!" The boy with glasses remarked he is a rather spunky little fellow and asked the red-haired one to help him catch the creature. Yuuwyn couldn't help but mutter to himself quietly, "For a spellcaster extraordinaire, he sure seems to overuse one spell.."
Finally, action was taken and the short, red-haired boy aimed something akin to a pen with a red crystal at Grim, shooting something like..sparkles, or something of a kind out of it? Which caught Grim off-guard. "You will be judged by my hand." The boy remarked. "I will not let this stand!"
The boy with glasses asked to get on with it and Grim sprinted off as they chased after him. Yuuwyn watched silently. The chase went on for some time, with the two boys occasionally throwing remarks at eachother. Eventually, whilst Grim was looking over his shoulder trying not to be caught, he bumped into Yuuwyn's legs and stumbled over before being caught up in his cardigan. Yuuwyn held it closed like a sack as Grim squirmed helplessly.
The two boys stopped in their tracks. The shorter boy's nose scrunched up, but kept his obvious anger restrained. "You have no business getting Involved. This is a magic mishap, you could have been hurt!" He scolded, raising his voice slightly. "We were handling it quite perfectly. We were about to catch him!"
"I don't quite think chasing qualifies as catching." Yuuwyn quipped, further adding onto the boy's anger. "You—!" The boy started, but was cut short by an interruption by the boy with glasses. "Now, no need to argue, Riddle," he started. "We've caught him. That is all that matters."
The short boy — Riddle — huffed. "Show him to me." Yuuwyn raised an eyebrow, but relented. He let Grim tumble out of the cardigan, with the cat-weasel-looking creature petting out a loud 'oof'. Grim was about to complain when a sharp "Off with your head!" Interrupted him. There was a flash of light— then, suddenly, a collar was placed onto Grim's neck. "MYAH?! What are you doing?!" He shrieked.
"The Queen Of Heart's Rule 23: One must never bring a cat to a formal affair." Riddle remarked, placing a hand on his hip. "Your very presence here is a violation of order. You will vacate these premises immediately." For a boy that seemed to be enraged a few minutes ago, Riddle was handling this quite calmly. "But I ain't a cat either!" Grim stated, throwing his hands up in anger. "Don't you trying collar me! I'll burn it right off! Huh...? Wh-what gives? My fire ain't workin'!" Grim tried to spit out fire again unsuccessfully.
He seemed shocked, rightfully so. The collar must've been cancelling out his own magic, Yuuwyn thought. Yuuwyn seemed to be adapting to this Magic schema fairly quickly; He was quite adaptable to whatever was happening, even if it shocked him internally. Riddle smirked, putting both his hands on his hips, looking down at Grim rather condescendingly. "Until I deign to remove that collar, you won't be using any magic. You're naught but a pet cat now." Seems Yuuwyn was right.
Grim yelped, "M—meoWHAT!? I ain't nobody's pet-NOTHING!" He announced stubbornly. Riddle and Grim had a little back and forth for a while, until the boy with glasses loudly chuckled. "Good show as always, Riddle. Your signature spell locks down any magic. It's quite handy." The male crossed his arms, grinning. "I've just GOT to have it—ah, I mean, I've just got to have respect for it." He corrected himself quickly, but Yuuwyn quickly took a mental note of how suspicious this man seemed. Definitely don't trust him.
"Yuuwyn! Was I not clear that you are expected to take responsibility for your familiar?" Crowley suddenly cut in and Yuuwyn could already feel a headache coming in. He already felt weary and exhausted from this entire day, he was not making it better. "Now discipline your—"
"It is not mine," Yuuwyn cut in. "It never was and it never will be." He snapped, exhaustion catching up to him, he crossed his arms stubbornly and glared at the Headmage sharply. "It's not yours?" He asked, dumbfounded. Yuuwyn's eyebrows shot up, it irritated him how idiotic this man was— why would someone magicless have a familiar, anyways? Yuuwyn had always been easy to irritate and this Headmage seemed to be pressing all the wrong buttons. "I have never, not once, seen this creature before."
"Oh..is that so?" He responded wistfully, putting a hand on his chin. He cleared his throat, then smiled again, "Then I shall have it expelled from campus. I shall even spare it from being served as dinner." Yuu sighed exasperated. Crowley continued, though Yuu gave up on listening to this madman. "My, but I am kind...Someone take this away, please."
Grim was dragged out, and as he was, he yelped and cried out "No! Let me go!" He drew out the 'o' In no. "You fools better remember my name!" That wasn't the last of his blatant idiotic yelling. "Cause I'm gonna go down in the annals of magic history! Just you wait!" Then, he was gone. Finally.
Yuuwyn stared at where Grim was dragged to for a second, before mumbling to himself; "I wonder why he was so desperate to stay here..."
"Well, that was quite the unexpected fracas. I hereby declare that orientation has concluded." He turned to the seemingly oldest students. "Housewardens, please escort your students back to the dorms." He suddenly stopped, letting out a confused hum. "Come to think of it, I don't see Housewarden Draconia of House Diasomnia anywhere." The male with lion ears threw out a lazy quip, "And that surprises you? Dude's a total recluse." Another boy asked, "Wait a sec...Did anyone even invite him?" The handsome boy put a hand on his hip and casually remarked; "If you're that worried about him missing out, maybe you should have told him yourself." "Maybe, but I don't know him too well either..." The boy responded, crossing his arms with a sad expression on his face.
Students hushed and whispered amongst themselves. "Draconia..Like, Malleus Draconia? THAT Draconia?" One whispered. "So it's true? He really does go to school here?" Another responded. "Yikes." One remarked, displeased. Suddenly, a boy with a rather deep voice spoke up; He had a rather..
horrendous and uneven haircut. "Ah. Just as I'd expected. I figured I'd come down and see for myself whether Malleus had made an appearance." He seemed rather caught off-guard? By the way the others were speaking, Yuuwyn assumed this was a common occurrence with this Malleus-person. "But once again, he was evidently not informed that his presence was required at an official ceremony."
The boy with glasses spoke, tone laced with seemingly fake pity. Yuuwyn could practically smell the deceit coming from this guy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "You have my sincerest apologies. I assure you, this oversight was in no way intended as a snub." Riddle joined in on the conversation, continuing what the other boy had said. "I mean, you must admit, he's not exactly the easiest person to strike up a conversation with." The boy with a deep voice shook his head slightly. "No matter. All who were assigned to House Diasomnia, follow me. I just hope he doesn't sulk about this..."
Whilst the others left, Yuuwyn stood there aimlessly. He had nowhere to go. Crowley suddenly spoke up. "Well, Yuuwyn. This is a most unfortunate turn of events. I'm afraid that you will not be attending Night Raven College after all. Surely you realize that i cannot very well admit a student with no magical ability to my academy." Yuuwyn nodded. "But worry not. The Dark Mirror will see you safely home."
Crowley ushered Yuuwyn to a gate. "Now, step into a gate, and visualize the place from whence you came." Yuuwyn hesitantly did so. It still seemed entirely odd, ridiculous and frankly delusional to him. He did not, again, believe in any sort of magic. That was madness. But then how come this was clearly not dream?
Crowley chanted; "O Dark Mirror! Return this soul to where it belongs!" The Dark Mirror stayed silent. Crowley coughed awkwardly, stumbling over his words "Let us, er...try this again. O Dark Mirror! Return this soul—" He was promptly cut off. "There is no such place. There is no place in this world where this soul belongs. None." Crowley stepped back slightly, utterly bewildered at that. Yuuwyn kept quiet. "How can that be? My, but today is a veritable cavalcade of impossible phenomena!" Crowley crossed his arms, shock evident in his body language and expression. "This has never happened throughout my long tenure. I must confess that I am at something of a loss."
"This is impossible.." Yuuwyn mumbled, which Crowley picked up on. "Yes, yes it should be. Tell me: From what land do you hail?" Yuuwyn stepped out of the gate carefully, grunting softly. "Germany. North of Hesse." He explained. Crowley stared. "I'm afraid I am not familiar with such a place. I am intimately acquaintanced with the origins of every student who had ever come here, and yet... This mysterious homeland of yours eludes me." He uttered, thoroughly puzzled.
Crowley patted Yuu's back. "Let us go to the library and look it up, shall we?" As such, he escorted Yuu to the library. Crowley walked past a few shelves before stopping at one, scanning the books' spines before pulling one out. Then, he opened it and flipped through a few pages. "Just as I'd suspected. Nothing. Not only is your homeland not listed on any map from any point in history. Now. Are you QUITE sure that you come from such a place? That wasn't some sort of lie, or jape? Because if so, the only explanation is that you've come from another planet. Or perhaps you were summoned here from another dimension?"
Yuu stared at the book in Crowley's hands, trying to determine what the fuck was going on. He's read a few fairytales and books about Alternate Dimensions and the theory of the Multiverse, but he'd not believed it to he reality. "I can assure you, I am not an alien from another planet." Yuuwyn drawled out sarcastically. "Alternate Dimension is possible if the concept wasn't redundant. It's purely impossible." Yuu stated plainly.
"Show me everything that you brought here with you. Do you have some form of identification, a driver's license perhaps? Ot even a...shoe? You do seem a tad bit...empty-handed." Yuuwyn looked down at his feet. Shit, he didn't put on shoes at all when he went off running into the forest... solely just socks. He then tested his pockets, recognising them as empty. "Yes..." He mumbles. "...It does seem like I am rather empty-handed." He looked back up at him.
"Well, this is quite the predicament. I cannot have someone with no aptitude for magic bumbling about my magic academy. And yet, as an educator, I am loath to expel a young person without a cent to their name, or any ability to contact their guardian..." Crowley said, thinking out loud. He hummed, thinking about what to do for a second, before letting out a loud 'Ah!'. "There is a vacant building on this campus. It was, in fact, used as a dorm a long time ago. With a proper cleaning, it shoukd be habitable enough. Out of the profound kindness of my heart, I will allow you to live there for the time being." Crowley boasted loudly.
"In the meantime, we will investigate other ways to send you home. Dear me, but I am a gracious man indeed! A model educator, one might say. Well then, I shall take you to your dorm straight away. It is an older building, but it has plenty of...character, one might say." Yuuwyn was just glad the older male stopped boasting and talking about how so-calledly gracious and kind he was.
Yuuwyn let Crowley walk before him, wordlessly following him. Thoughts swirled endlessly in Yuuwyn's head, tormenting him. This whole ordeal had terribly distracted him from the fact he might not get to go home again or see his sister again. Matter of fact, he has no knowledge of whether or not she is even still alive.
They'd walked for a while before arriving at a rusty metal fence and small gate. Yuuwyn looked up from his feet, which he'd been staring at as he drowned in his contemplative thoughts. The house was run-down, clearly very old. It looked like it hadn't been used for near eons. A few windows were broken, others boarded up, whilst others were merely a little dusty. The roof was in tact, but still a little damaged... just great, Yuuwyn thought.
"This..." Yuuwyn trailed off, hesitating. "...Is where you want me to stay?" His nose scrunched up, glancing at the taller male. "Isn't it delightful? Right, scoot inside now. There you go." Crowley completely ignored Yuu's rather unpleasant expression. The inside wasnt any better. Just as rundown and messy as you'd expect.
Fallen off pictures, some pictures still hanging just barely, a flipped over table and a flipped over chair. Spider webs decorated corners and dust was clinging everywhere. "This should keep the elements at bay for the time being. Now, I should return to my research. Do try to find some way to busy yourself. But don't let me catch you wandering the campus! Ta!" Yuuwyn didn't bother to reply. He was too tired. He muttered curses under his breath, irritated.
"Disgusting.." Yuuwyn looked around the place. "Covered with dust as far as the eye can see." Yuu crossed his arms and wordlessly stared at the floor. He felt utterly bewildered, tired, weary and depressed. He doesn't even get to process the thought of his sisters possible death before getting thrown into whatever chaos this was.
Yuu walked over to the window, looking out. It started pouring. The sound of rain hitting the roof and windows was slightly comforting to hear, causing his eyes to slowly close. However, he flinched when he suddenly heared a strangely familiar voice shriek. "GWAH! It's pouring out here!" Yuu turned around on high alert. It was Grim— that little weasel that destroyed that fairly odd college ceremony-thing. He laughed, unashamed, pointing at Yuu's face with his paw. "That look on your face is priceless! As if i wouldn't just sneak back onto campus the second i escaped pryin' eyes. You all got no idea what I'm capable of!" Yuu simply stared at the short creature.
"Great." He mumbled, the corner of his mouth twitching in annoyance. Grim completely ignored his answer and continued with his babbling. "I ain't givin' up on goin' here just 'cause I got kicked out one measly ol' time. And if you think otherwise, you don't know Grim!" Yuuwyn grabbed the creature by his collar and effortlessly yanked him up to glare at him.
"You have guts." Yuuwyn started, "I could easily throw you before that Headmage again. See what happens then, you annoying little thing." He murmured, irritated and thoroughly frustrated at the circumstances — he had no patience left for today anymore. Grim squirmed in panic, "Hey! No! Bad human!" He kicked his four legs wildly, trying to get Yuu to let go off him.
"Ain't you gonna ask what I'm doin' here? That's what you people do, right? Talk about feelings and stuff? Just what kinda human are ya, anyway?" He blurted out, panic evident in his voice...and the way he aimlessly squirmed in Yuu's grip. "It wouldn't kill ya to listen to me! Right?!" Yuu scowled. At this point, all he wanted was to go to sleep and go right back home in the morning. However, he then sighed and let go of him, letting Grim fall onto his four paws.
"Why are you so determined to go to this school?" Yuuwyn asked, crouching down to the creature's size. Grim looked confused. "Isn't it obvious?" He asked, Yuuwyn simply raised a brow. "Explain." Grim smiled widely and threw his hands up cheerfully, "I was born to do this! I'm a magical prodigy who's got the makin's to become one of the greatest mages who ever lived!"
"That's a little too enthusiastic, no?" Yuuwyn remarked casually. "You did just get thrown out by your first attempt. I doubt they'd relentat a second attempt." Grim pouted, "Don't interrupt my story!" He stated defensively, then mumbled, "Maybe you're right, but...I've been waitin' far too long for that black carriage to come for me! And yet..." He paused, his facial expressions turning rather sour. His brows furrowed and he frowned, looking more like a sad kitty now. Then he groaned, "That Dark Mirror's got no eye for talent! That's why i took the initiative and came here myself."
"That's...also rather foolish." Yuu mumbled. Grim continued speaking, anyway; "You humans don't understand what a mistake you're makin'! Not lettin' me in is a great loss to the world!"
Drip, drip. Ah, so the roof WAS faulty after all. Yuuwyn didn't know what to expect. Yuu looked up as Grim scooted over slightly, just to get dripped on once again. "Bwah! Another hole in the roof! These flamin' ears are like my trademark, y'know? I cant let 'em get doused!" Yuu hummed, contemplating. "The ceiling is riddled with holes..." He mumbled to himself.
Grim put his paws on his hips and quipped; "I dunno why ya don't just magic those holes away. You could have it fixed in half a jiff." Yuuwyn looked back down at him, unimpressed with one brow raised. "Ahh, right. You can't use magic at all." Grim smirked. "Pffft. Man, you're useless."
"Then why don't you go ahead and do it, my dearest oh-so-wise sorcerer?" Yuu commented sassily. Grim shifted slightly, "Heh? You want ME to help YOU?" He huffed arrogantly, puffing out his chest and putting his paws back on his hips to seem superior. "Ha! You've got the wrong idea. I'm just a stranger takin' shelter from the rain. You ain't the boss of me." Grim shot back. "If ya had some cans of tuna to trade, well, that'd be another story. But I don't work for free." Yuuwyn had the suspicion that Grim simply couldn't do that sort of magic, but he wasn't bothered enough to vocalise it. For all he knew, he could've been wrong.
However, those leaks were getting increasingly worse as they spoke. Yuu sighed. "I'll go find buckets.." He stood up from his agonising crouching position he'd had to take to speak to the tiny fellow and went off to search for a bucket. The hall was just as rundown as the rest of the house. Spider webs decorated the ceiling greatly, there were two pictures that seemingly fell down from the wall and a faulty lantern.
It reminded Yuuwyn a great ton of those stereotypical haunted houses they'd put up during Halloween. However, as reserved ad he was externally, he was a little freaked out, as anyone would he. He wasn't much of a fan of living inside of abandoned, dark, dusty houses. Suddenly, three ghosts popped up out of nowhere and Yuu shrieked at the sudden randomness.
The ghosts laughed at him, floating about. One said, "We haven't had visitors in ages!" Another responded with, "Oh, I'm just itchin' for new friends!" Yuu raised an unimpressed brow. The ghosts eventually reappeared before him laughing. One was rather skinny, another was fat, whilst the last was comfortably in the middle. Then, Grim came over, wanting to check out why Yuu was so freaked out. "Hey, keep it down over—" Grim cut himself off by letting out a loud scream. "GHOSTS! GHOOOOSTS!!" Grim was tenfold more scared than Yuu was— which gave him a tiny ego boost.
"All the people who used ta live here got scared of us and ran away." The comfortably—middle one said. "We just want a new ghost to play with! What do you say, buddy?" The fat one said. Yuu looked between them both. He did not have enough energy left to deal with this. "I would prefer to stay alive, Sir." Yuu said with a strained tone, trying to restrain himself from blowing up from sheer exhaustion.
"I'm a master sorcerer! I ain't afraid of any dumb ghosts!" Grim suddenly yelled out, a fierce expression decorating his face. He suddenly spat fire onto one of the ghosts. "Grim! Mind your aim, this is a wooden house!" Yuu scolded him, whilst the skinnier ghost chuckled. "Nuh-uh. Not even close." They dodged fairly easily. The other laughed at Grim's slightly amusing attempts of banishing them, reappearing and disappearing in random places. "Over here! Over here!" Grim groaned in annoyance, "They keep disappearing and reappearing!" He spat out more fire. Yuu grew more agitated, snapping at him; "You'll set the entire dorm ablaze, you fool! Don't aim with your eyes closed!"
"Shuddup! I don't need any lip from you, human!" Grim shot Yuu down, causing Yuu to groan in annoyance, running a hand down his face and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Pesky little..." An Idea sprung into Yuu's head. This was moreso for his own benefit rather than Grim's, but he saw no other way than to lie to him. "...Maybe the headmage will let you enroll if you get rid of them?" Yuu said, subtly encouraging — and feeding him lies — Grim.
Grim perked up, before exclaiming in frustration, letting out a 'hmph'. "I'm Grim, Master Sorcerer! How come I can't even hit one of these little—" The ghosts only laughed at Grim's attempts. Grim grew annoyed. "Ganging up on us...Yer a buncha cowards!" Yuu sighed at Grim's lack of cognitive abilities. "Let's work together. How 'bout that? I'll tell you which way the ghosts are." Grim nods, agreeing to Yuu's plan.
"To your left," Yuu said quickly. The ghost exclaimed In pain of how hot the fire burnt. "Ha, got one! Keep it up, just like that... And let's clear out the whole lot of 'em!" It went on for that for a while, with Yuu giving directions of left, right, up, down and etcetera — Some failed, some hit them right in the spot. It continued on like such until they were gone.
"Huh? Did we...win?" Grim asked, confused. Yuu nodded. "Seems so." Grim shivered all of a sudden, but he still seemed triumphant. "Aw, geez, I was scared outta my—" He cut himself off. "I mean, they didn't faze me at all!" Yuu smirked and chuckles at the amusing sight. Grim was horrible at denying things. "Just a walk in the park for a mage od my caliber! Whaddaya got to say now, ghosties? That's right!" Grim smirked and yelled out arrogantly.
Suddenly, Yuu heard the front door open with a familiar voice booming through the place. "Good evening. In another gesture of my immense kindness, I have brought you dinner." Crowley walked in without a care in the world— not even a knock or a warning. He then set his gaze on Grim. "Wait. That's the creature we ejected for causing trouble at orientation! What is it doing here?!" He noted sternly. Grim only crossed his arms and his smirk grew into a wide grin. "Takin' care of yer ghost problem, that's what. You're welcome, by the way!"
Crowley looked over at Yuuwyn. "What Is the meaning of this?" Yuu took in a deep breath before explaining. "Grim broke in, complained about the horribly damaged roof, I went off to find a bucket and then these ghosts popped up. Grim got rid of 'em." Yuu pointed at Grim chiefly. Crowley hummed at the explanation. "On that topic, I do seem to recall that this dorm had a mischievous ghost problem. Ah, yes...that was why it was abandoned. And you're saying that you two joined forces to drive them away?"
Grim crossed his arms stubbornly. "Joined forces ain't exactly how I'd describe it. More like i drove 'em away, and the human watched. I only did it 'cause i wanted a can of tuna!" He explained. "Would I be right to assume you used your flames to get rid of them?" Grim nodded, proud in himself. "That would explain the slight burn markings. However.." Crowley focused on Yuu all of a sudden. "I've never seen anyone bend a monster to their will quote the way you have." Yuu raised a shocked brow glancing from Grim to Crowley. "I must confess, my educators intuition did sense something about you after that brouhaha at orientation, Yuuwyn. I could rell you had a certain animal trainer-y, beast master-ish quality to you. Oh, yes." Grim seemed a little bewildered at that, too. Yuu wasn't alone. Both of them looked at the Headmage as if he'd grown two heads.
"Would it be possible for Grim to stay here?" Yuu asked calmly. Crowley answered with no hesitation, with a loud, booming "WHAT? A monster, stay HERE?" Yuu stubbornly — with determination — crossed his arms. "I am but completely helpless, Headmage. What if there are more ghosts around?"
Crowley seemed stumped. He could not argue with that crushing logic. Why did Yuuwyn always have to be so...correct? "I...suppose I cannot deny your plea." Crowley mumbled. "Very well." He decided, though he seems like he did not wanna give in at all. Grim beamed at the acceptance. "Myah!? Really?" "Let me be clear!" Grim's smile faded again. "Under no circumstances would I admit anyone to Night Raven College who has not been selected by the Dark Mirror— especially not a monster! Nor do i intend to allow you, Yuuwyn, to freeload until you're able to return home." Grim had a defeated expression. "Hrmph. Never shoulda got my hopes up..."
"Now, allow me to explain. It was the Dark Mirror that transported you here, Therefore the school does bear some responsibility for your well-being. So I will allow you to remain in this dorm, free of charge. However, you will need to pay for your own food, clothing and incidentals." Yuu uncrossed his arms as he listened. "How am I supposed to get the money?" Yuu commented, skeptical of whatever that man was about to ask. "You needn't seem so alarmed. I'm simply going to ask you to do a few odd jobs around campus."
That did not comfort him in the slightest. "From what you've done here, Yuu, I can tell you know your way around a broom." ...What does THAT mean? Yuuwyn thought to himself. Know his way around a broom? Sure, he'd done chores before, but that sounded a little...offensive. He did not demonstrate any particularly outstanding cleaning abilities yet. "So what do you say to you two working together as a janitorial team? If you agree to that, I will make a special exception and allow you to remain on campus."
Grim immediately jumped to complain, lazily drawing out a "Whaaat?" Before continuing. "What kinda deal is that?! I wanna put on one of those sweet uniforms and be a student, not sweep up people's junk!" Crowley's face kept solemn. He answered straightforward; "If you are not satisfied with my offer, I can arrange to have you thrown out again."
Grim shrieked before giving in, utterly defeated. "...All right, fine! Let's do it." Yuuwyn took a breather before answering. "Agreed. I'm okay with that arrangement." Crowley smile. "Wonderful!" He put a hand on his hip. "Then I beseech you both to work hard as the newest members of Night Raven College's janitorial staff!"
With that, Crowley took his leave after handing Yuuwyn his dinner. Yuu stared down at the food as he heard the loud closing of the front door. Grim grumbled silently, mumbling something about stupid and humans under his breath. Yuu moved over to the flipped-over table and placed it upright onto its four wooden legs before placing the food on the table. He stared at the food before side-eyeing Grim.
"You can have the food for all I care." He mumbled to Grim. Grim simply watched the teen walk upstairs, all defeated and exhausted. He huffed, walking over and jumping up onto the table. "Have it your way!" He announced, digging into the food.
The upstairs hall was exactly as rundown as downstairs was. Yuu looked through a few rooms before discovering a bedroom. This would have to do— He closed the door behind him slowly, looking around the room before his gaze returned to the floor. Yuuwyn's lips parted slightly, but no sound came out.
Before he knew it, uncontrollable tears came rushing down his face before he even realized he was feeling downright horribly sad. He wiped his eyes with his sleeves, before he sank down to the floor, curling forward until his forehead hit his knees.
He sobbed into his trousers, yet keeping all the loud sobs restrained— which causes a uncomfortable, tight feeling in his throat. His shoulders bounced up and down and his chest heaved as he sobbed into the night. He was such a fool, wasn't he? Yuuwyn didn't have the energy to care about the fact he was possibly trapped in another dimension.
His sister was most likely dead. And the last thing he said to her was utterly degrading and so..unlike him. No brother should ever say that to their sister when they swore to protect and cherish them. He would never see her corpse. He wouldn't even be able to attend her funeral. He was trapped here in this wretched dimension.
He sniffled, letting out shuddering gasps and wracked sobs. It was a harsh rhythm of inhale, hitch and release. Yuuwyn had so many emotions he couldn't at all name. He never was able to. Emotions eluded him; So he ignored them. If he didn't understand them, why bother? That's what he'd always told himself.
That thought was futile when he was sobbing, nearly on the floor. Yuuwyn gripped his hair and harshly undid his braid. He was so angry at himself and he had no idea what to do with all this suppressed anger, hatred, guilt and sadness. Eventually, he sat down on the floor and leaned his back against the door.
He didn't sleep that night.
Not one second.