Chapter Text
In Quill's opinion, this wasn't their fault. Okay, maybe it was, but how In God's left tit was they meant to know that trying to.understand Witch Hat Atelier's magic system would somehow end up with them— here?
Here being some cave they woke up in.
Quill rubbed at their chin, frowning as they stared out at the forest beyond the cave.
"Fuck." Quill groaned, lying onto their back and swung a hand over their face.
Quill didn't even know what Witch Hat Atelier was about. Their friend, Iguin, had rambled on about the damn anime to them the moment it was announced to be made since he was a big fan of the manga. Quill could admit they watched like, one episode when Iguin was binging it, but other then that? Nothing else.
Well... except the magic system. That caught their attention.
Drawing spells? Now that was a unique magic system. The fact that anyone can use magic as long as you had the proper ink was basically crack cocaine to Quill. They adored simple but actually complex systems like that.
Quill had spent hours on the wiki just for the magic itself, making their own notes on the runes used. They also browsed the subreddit for it — and Quill loved that everyone else immediately started making warcrimes for spells.
Quill's favourite was the spell that someone made that was literally a nuclear bomb in spell form. Fucking cinema.
It got to the point that Quill willingly got a tattoo of one of the spells — a spell that Iguin picked and never told Quill because he found it funny — and then had Iguin tattoo it onto their back palm. In secret, of course, because neither wanted to be on the wrong end of Iguin's mother for getting tattoos underage. It also let Quill get better at using concealer.
Quill was pretty sure that tattoo was a spell that Iguin made up.
Anyways, how did Quill got here? They were making their own spells. They knew it wouldn't work, but Quill wanted to try and make as many versions of the canonical spells and fan made spells as possible.
Turns out, Quill must've done something when they were drawing out a spell that — theoretically — would've allowed dimension travel. Or something. It was a stupid thing, really, especially since Quill didn't even believe in that, but they were on a roll on possible combinations and just as they finished the last line— nothing.
Then they woke up here.
Again, Quill's want to know every possible combination fucked them over. Again.
Oh, and how did Quill even know this was the world of Witch Hat Atelier?
Quill glanced at their burnt as fuck leg, the to the remains of a fire spell that stuck to it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thankfully, the rest of their scraps of paper didn't go off, of Quill was pretty sure they'd be dead. Again, see war criminal spells. Honestly, they're a bit confused on why only that one went off, but it was whatever.
Quill didn't want to know.
Quill sighed as they sat up, gathering the piles of paper into one place and shoved it into their laptop bag that luckily came with. Thank god. They quickly checked everything else. Pencil case, sketch book, the most fucked up laptop in existence, phone charger, power bank, laptop charger, several packets of stickers and bandaids—
Quill grabbed their phone, swiping it open with a frown.
And a phone at 75% charge. Good enough.
They opened up the web tab, making sure to use their mobile data, before trying to see if there was connection. Nothing. It better be because they're in a cave. Did this world even have WiFi?
Quill groaned, pocketed their phone, then threw their laptop bag over the shoulder, the stood up. They grimaced at the pressure on their burnt leg, but it could be worse. So much worse. They didn't have bandages, only bandaids, so they couldn't wrap it.
At least they were wearing shorts, no need for fucking polyester getting stuck to their skin. Eugh.
So, better but worse option? Let the burn scab over. Terrible.
Quill had to admit, where ever they ended up had to have been pretty far. Because the forest outside of the cave? It was massive.
Quill was sure they had been walking for an hour, and it felt like they hadn't even moved. What is this. Quill was sure there was no cursed forests, right? Right?
Quill stared up at the sky. Still a deep blue, reminiscent of watercolours with clouds rolling over, bright and cheerful. The sun was straight up, so that was... midday? Quill wasn't sure.
".... is this how I die?" Quill mused, grimacing at how hoarse they sounded. They weren't the type to speak much, especially since they were alone. Iguin did the speaking for the two of them, anyway.
Quill walked kept walking, picking a random direction and just kept going for as long as they could. Either they'd find a road, civilisation, or die by wolves. Any option was good at this point, except wolves. Quill hates wolves.
Of course, not even that could go well for Quill. As they pushed their way through a particularly thorny bush, their coat caught on a branch causing them to stumble — right into a well hidden ditch.
"Fucking—" Quill swore loudly, teeth gritted as they curled up in the ditch they fell into. The burn on their leg throbbed and so did their ankle to the point it felt blinding. It was a short fall, but Quill was well aware of how the body worked.
And they witnessed Iguin once break his hand by catching a ball wrong. They knew how fucking weird the human body worked, so Quill was sure their ankle got messed up.
Quill swallowed, siting up and looked down at their ankle before wincing. Okay, yeah. Ankles shouldn't look like that. The bone looked... wrong, slightly protruding where it shouldn't and quickly going purple. Luckily, it didn't break through the skin, but that didn't help much.
Of course Quill would break their ankle. Of course.
Can't have shit here, can they?
"I'm gonna have to keep walking, don't I?" Quill spoke to the sky, not expecting an answer. Oh, they were so fucked.
Quill gripped the floor, shifting onto their knees and slowly stood on their good leg, one knee still on the ground. They breathed in sharply, then quickly stood up fully and nearly blacked out then and there as they grappled onto the nearby tree.
"Aushhhhhh—" Quill bit their tongue, gripping the bark of the tree harshly as they tried to stay upright. Oh god. Quill never wanted to break a bone ever again. Give them burns? They can handle that. Knife wounds? Been there, done that. Broken bones?
Fuck. That.
"Mmmm..." Quill closed their eyes, breathing out sharply before taking one step forward and held back a sob at the jolt of pain.
Oh, they were so fucked. But it was either walk on a broken ankle, or get eaten by wolves.
Quill limped through the forest, trying to ignore the pain. Their surroundings slowly grew darker as the sun set, and Quill hoped they were able to leave the forest before it got dark. That seemed unlikely however, as Quill found it harder to see in the darkening forest.
They fumbled for their phone light, switching it on as shadows casted from the trees, lighting up the trail in front of them. Quill squinted, frowning slightly. The forage was still dense, but was it them or did it seem a bit sparse to the right.
Quill shuffled forward, pushing their way through the sparse foliage and came upon a... pond? Quill shone the light around, glimsping a few bricks at the other side of the pond. Civilisation?
Quill breathed for a second, steadying themself before getting closer.
It was a pond, man-made if Quill was looking again it right. There was a stream going up right, stretching too far for them to make out where it was going, but all they could focus on was the stone brick. They could faintly make out a slight step formation.
A man-made pond meant there'd be people nearby, people nearby meant houses, and houses meant civilisation.
"Oh, thank god." Quill sighed in relief, already making their way around the pond to the other side awkwardly. There had to be a pathway on that side, and if there was, all Quill would have to do is follow the trail and they'd be saved. Though, they weren't sure what the medical care was like in Witch Hat's world, it was definitely pretty great. Iguin did like to ramble about healing magic and the sort.
Quill made it to the side and inwardly cheered at the sight of the pathway. Onward to civilisation. Yes.
The path was natural, one made by constant walking back and forth. Some parts of the path was lined with little white flowers, though Quill didn't focus on that. They just didn't want to knock their broken ankle into anything and eat shit.
They eased their way down, having to stop at every step a few times due to the pain. That was fine, because soon Quill would be on those sweet sweet magic painkillers.
Then, because God hated Quill, their foot caught on a stone.
Again, hasn't Quill mentioned how unlucky they were?
"N-no—!" Quill couldn't even stop themself from falling forward the steep incline they were on. They flailed their hands, one still gripping their phone tightly before realising they were going to roll down this hill. Hard.
The world turned upside down and Quill slammed forwards, elbow hitting the dirt, then their shoulder and before they knew it, they were tumbling down.
All Quill could do was hug their bag to their chest and phone tightly as they closed their eyes.
They could feel rocks hit their back, their arms and legs, and by the time they slowed to a stop, Quill just led there, limp as a damn noodle.
Their hair was in their mouth, their limbs ached and Quill was pretty sure they broke something else. Honestly, they couldn't really focus considering their head hurt like a bitch. They must've hit their head on a rock on the way down. Great.
Quill groaned, eyes flickering open before shutting because even opening their eyes hurt.
Then, footsteps. Heavy but slow, a soft voice ringing out that, for a second, Quill couldn't understand.
Quill glared through their eyelashes, taking in a woman above them. She held a candleholder, the flame allowing Quill to see her face. An older woman, black hair pulled into a kerchief and very worried golden eyes.
"Ara, daijōbudesuka?" Said the woman currently hovering over Quill. She frowned, looking vaguely horrified as she hovered a hand close to Quill's face. "Hidoi kega o sa rete imasuga, nani ga atta ndesu ka? Sono ashi... eh, mori kara kita no?"
Quill blinked slowly.
Was... was that Japanese?
Oh god, Quill was in the fucking Japanese dub of Witch Hat Atelier. You've got to be kidding them.
They didn't even speak Japanese! Or even understand it!
"Fuck." Quill groaned before passing out right then and there.