Chapter Text
Looking for a quiet place to finish their homework after school, Yuu stumbles upon the mirror chamber, and finds themselves strolling inside, as if lured into the chamber. They make themselves comfortable on a spot on the floor, Grim sitting next to them. They quickly get to work, glad they found a nice place to work without distractions. Either way, they quickly remembered that Crowley had… SOME sort of work for Yuu to do in the mirror chamber, like always.
Watching as Grim fell asleep, like usual, Yuu found themselves growing drowsy quite quickly. It was unusual for them, but not like they got a maximum of 5 hours of sleep daily since they’re usually working all day and only have enough time to do homework at night.
…Maybe they should negotiate their working hours with Crowley.
But before Yuu could get another thought, they found themselves lying on the ground, snoozing away.
——
“I really can’t wait to start implementing the new system for the VK-HK program,” Evie looks at her best friend through the mirror, admiring the dress she made and how it looks on her gorgeous best friend.
“Me too,” she replied, letting her arms wrap around, pulling her into a hug. “I kind of… feel so proud.”
“You should,” Evie smiles, as their favorite immature boys make their way to their shared room.
“You know, I wanted to know when and where you got this mirror,” Carlos addresses, making his way into their line of sight through the mirror.
“I thought it was a gift from one of you guys?” Evie questions. They all share a confused look, as none of them ever ordered the mirror in the few years they were here.
“So this has just… been here?” Jay asks, looking at the mirror carefully.
“I guess it’s just something that’s been moved here since we moved to Auradon…” Mal mutters, thinking it was probably a gift from the HKs when they moved here.
They all just stared into the mirror, pondering upon it. . .
Mal blinks, before realizing she’s in a dark area, the presence of her friends gone. She feels her way around, before realizing… she’s in a tight space. A box, no. …A coffin?
She tries to find an exit, before pushing the coffin open, and—
“Ouuf!” Yeowch. That looks like it hurts. Mal just kind of ate pavement.
“Mal! So you’re here, too.” Evie helps her up, seemingly having been the first to get out.
Carlos and Jay stand next to her, looking a bit tired and confused.
“Do you guys know where we are?” To which they all shake their heads. Ugh.
“There’s the door, but it won’t open.” Jay starts, “And then there’s that person there,” to which Carlos points at, “But I have a feeling we shouldn’t be talking to them. I don’t want to wake them, anyway.”
Mal studies her surroundings. Coffins, coffins, more coffins.. a mirror. One that looks unfortunately similar to the one in her and Evie’s room.
“Do you guys know anything about that mirror?” To which they all shake their heads again.
“We checked it out, but there’s nothing much we saw about it. It’s just… similar to Evie’s.” Carlos explains, nervously looking over at the mysterious stranger again.
——
Yuu’s finger twitches, before realization hits. Consciousness comes back, and they groan.
“Mmgh.. I fell asleep?” They reach for their phone to look for the time. 20:34 (8:34) it read. “Uhg,” they sit up. “I’m gonna miss curfew… mm, then Crewel’s gonna do his rounds and I’m gonna get yelled at…” they rub their eyes, quickly putting their work in their bag. “Not like I have the whole weekend… at least it’s Friday. Maybe Crowley would give me a break tomorrow… if I ask kindly enough. I really hope he doesn’t drop my paycheck for a weekend leave…” Yuu rambles to themselves, believing they were on their own.
They hear a whisper? They looked up, but no one was there. Probably hallucinations. That’s what happens when you sleep for only a few hours at night for a week. Bet their dark circles are worse than ever.
Getting up and slinging their bag over them, they pick up Grim in their arms. Not like waking Grim up at this time would do anything except make Yuu’s work harder.
Making their way to the door, they pull on the handle. It does not budge.
“Hmmn..? Locked? Did Crewel do his rounds already?” They mutter to themselves, before pulling out their key and unlocking the door, pulling it open.*
Making their way out, they have a sort of bad feeling… like something was watching. Maybe it was paranoia. All these overblots have done something to Yuu’s mind.
Waking Grim (thankfully, he wasn’t too whiny this time around) and telling him to go back to Ramshackle by himself, they turn as Grim scampers off into the darkness.
Walking back into the mirror chamber, they feel a strange sense… like someone except for Yuu was there. Walking around, they feel that it was Ace or someone playing yet another prank on this poor, sleep-deprived prefect.
Like a sixth sense, they spot the location… behind one of the coffins, they believe. They silently make their way over, and when they step over…
“Aha!”
There were four people.
“I knew I wasn’t paranoid…!” The four freeze in their hiding spot. “Who are you… why are you here..?!”
Yuu starts with the questions, and the VKs feel like they’re… not supposed to be here.
“Er, uh, slow down!” Evie is the first to speak up, making sure her voice is a little louder than the prefect in front of them. “We’re… a dream of yours! You’re so sleep deprived that you think we’re real! We wish we were, but those three hours of sleep you got are really taking a toll on you!” Came in clutch!
“…Huh?” Yuu questions their perception of reality, and lowers the fighting stance they were just in. The VKs (Evie, especially) pray that it works. “Am I really dreaming…? Maybe it is the three hours… I should lay off studying…” Yuu rambles away to themselves yet again, taking a step back. “No, no! The only hallucinations I have are overblots… and those are actually in my dreams! You’re gaslighting me?! I’m half-asleep and you’re gaslighting me!”
…it almost worked?
“Prefect?” A voice calls behind them, causing Yuu to turn around. They recognize that annoyingly “kind” voice, the stupidly gentle tone that this damn birdman always carried with him.
“Crowley! Weird to see you awake at this time, but there’s—“ Yuu looks back to where the intruders were, and—
“They’re gone!”
“What’s gone?”
“There- there were people there! People that don’t go here! They tried to convince me I was dreaming, but… I know they were real! You have to trust me!” Yuu attempts to explain to Crowley, to which he shakes his head.
“Oh dear… have you been sleeping well? No one comes in here except for you. Plus, if there was an intruder, then the Shrouds would have said something by now, right? They’re basically our security!”
“I swear! You have to believe me!” They try to explain, to which Crowley tuts.
“I think it’s about time you went back to Ramshackle,” Crowley walks over to Yuu, taking their arm. “You should go to sleep now,” Crowley picks up the shorter prefect with ease, holding them in one arm. “I don’t think you’re in a state to even be up at this time! You know, maybe you should sleep in tonight… I’ll make sure to tell the ghosts.”
“No, no… I’m not lying….” Yuu tried to protest, but Crowley simply started scratching at Yuu’s scalp, luring them into a drowsy state and…
…
——
“Shh, shh..,” Crowley shushes the prefect, scratching their head as to lull them into sleep. “Your sleeping habits must be terrible if you’ve gotten this bad. Maybe I should talk with Crewel… and the ghosts. I’ll tell them to let you sleep in tomorrow morning,” he says to Yuu, although knows they’re already asleep.
Crowley ponders to himself, walking out and making sure to close the door on his way out.
——
…
“That was close. Far too close.” Mal is the first to speak up after the silence, making her way to the door and making sure it won’t lock them in again.
“I’m surprised what Evie did even worked,” Carlos replies, still processing the whole situation.
“How’d you even know they had three hours of sleep, anyway? Lucky guess?” Jay asks, now taking the time to look at their surroundings as Mal leads them out.
“I saw the bags under their eyes and assumed they were running on a little bit of sleep. Also, considering the fact that they were asleep when we got here, it was more likely they were still tired.” Evie explains, kind of like a detective.
“I think… our only choice right now would be to find a way out,” Mal leads the others, searching for an exit. Finding a really big door, they all assume this would be the entrance… or exit.
Pushing it open, they look outside. Wow, fresh air. It smells faint of seawater and… magic?
“Well, this is a weird place,” Jay said what they were all thinking. “It's… kinda big.”
“Well, we just have to find our way back home,” Evie’s optimistic self speaks up again.
Already down the steps, Carlos looks back to the group. “Um, guys…?”
“There's a gate over there. I think that's our exit.” Mal explains the plan, having not heard Carlos's timid voice.
“Guys…!”
“It looks locked, though. We'd need a key to get out, but can I try to lockpick it?”
“Guys!”
“What, Carlos?” Mal addresses.
“I… don't think this is Auradon.” He finally addresses the elephant. “Look at the stars. They're much different from Auradon. The stars here are aligned differently, and they're shining differently.” He points at the stars, to which he's right.
“Also, I think… We're on an island. Like the Isle of the Lost, but… different.” Carlos's high sense of smell saving them again.
“So… we're stuck here?” Jay asks.
“My first thought is that we're in a different world, but that's almost impossible.” Mal replies, walking down the main street that led to the entrance gate.
“But we went through the mirror, so maybe it is!” Carlos's nervous voice speaks up again, the three following behind Mal.
Making it to the gate, they all look at the tall gates. Jay is the first to step up and pull at the gate.
“Hnngh–” Jay pulls, but it doesn't budge. Maybe it's a push.
It still does not budge.
“Um. Could I get some help here?”
The others come over to help pull the gates open, and they realize it's locked.
“No way,” Mal mutters. “We're not gonna be able to get out like this.”
Hearing footsteps, they all skedaddle to a nearby hiding spot.
They decide to take a different route, maybe a back exit. “This way,” Mal once again leads the way.
They make their way to the back, and find an abandoned building.
“Do you think we could stay here until we can find a way out? It looks abandoned, so I would assume no one comes here.” Evie points it out, considering the fact that it's late night and they can barely see in this darkness.
“Right… we'll stay here tonight, and we'll try to sneak out when the sun comes up.” Mal explains the plan, and they make their way to the abandoned house.
“Let's go in through the back. Strolling into an abandoned place through the front door feels kind of… weird.” Jay proposes, to which they all don't see the problem to.
Sneaking in through one of the windows in the back, they make it inside the abandoned building.
“It's… not that dusty here. It's like a house on the Isle.” Mal points out, looking around the room they're in.
“Let's just stay here for now,” Carlos says, everyone agreeing.
Except for Jay.
“Hey, but it'd be cool to look around! This place is so big anyway!” He exclaims.
“There's not much to see around here, anyway.”
“ACK–A GHOST!!!” Carlos yells, his unfortunately anxious self being the first to react.
“Carlos, wait! I don't think they can hurt us.” Jay steps in front of Carlos, sort of protecting him.
“We can't hurt you but we can haunt you~!!!”
——
. . .
“ACK—”
A voice?
“...nt you~!!!”
The ghosts? They should be sleeping at this time.
Yuu sits up, rubbing one eye. They're far too tired to get up, but if the noises don't stop they're not gonna fall back asleep anyway..
Slipping on their pair of slippers, Yuu starts making their way to the source of the noise.
“Hirumi…?” Yuu pushes the door open, a
having connected the voice to the ghost. Vision too blurry to look, they see the silhouette. Silhouette..? Silhouettes…?
Those are… the people Yuu saw earlier. The group of four…
. . .
“That's..!” Carlos is cut off by Jay slapping his hand over his mouth.
“Urgh… my head hurts too much for this. Hirumi, leave them alone. We're talking about this in the morning.” Yuu turns on their heel, their only concern being the fact that if they don't get to bed soon, they're passing out on the ground.
———
Morning…
“Alright, let me get this straight,” Yuu rubs their temple, far too exhausted to bother. “So you’re all at home, you find that mirror, you blink and poof! You’re in a coffin. Transfer students halfway through the school year, nice. You find me, sleeping; which you could’ve woken up, by the way, and try to open the doors. They’re locked, I wake up, I leave because I actually have the keys. I get suspicious, I find you, you try to convince me I’m a figment of my imagination, I almost believe you but get interrupted, so I go back home. You all, hiding behind a different coffin, try to find your way out, but these gates won’t open since it’s past curfew and the gates only open to those who have the key, which are just teachers. Which, by the way, wouldn’t have worked since we’re on a goddamn island. So you somehow manage to find your way here, break in since you assume this is an abandoned building—which, I don’t blame, I would choose anywhere else to live except for this not-so-humble abode—and… now we’re here?”
“I would say that we pretty much convinced you that you were dreaming, but the rest sounds pretty accurate to me.” Jay smiled.
“Shut up,” which earns a snicker from Jay.
Yuu leans on the couch they're sitting on. “I'm far too sleep deprived for this.”
“Alright, well… let's start simple,” Yuu picks up their phone and sends a text.
———
“underpaid (and yuu)” groupchat
yuu: heyyy good morning everyone
so we know I've been going kinda wild
since i haven't been sleeping well.
um so
?can like. anyone and/or everyone come by today
.just um
need a little help
train: ???
What's up with you?
crewel: are you dying???
If you're not dying I don't care
crow: If it's about last night I don't want to hear it.
VAR: what happened last night???
yuu: ITS ABOUT LAST NIGHT
they're uh
in rmsk right now 🥹
YOU HAVE TO TRUST ME THIS TIME
we're doing icebreakers
i have no idea what to do
crewel: why is your first instinct to do an icebreaker?? 😭😭
yuu: uh oh they caught me on my phone
!!!come by within the next 20 or im sending grim to you
———
“Tell me about yourselves,” Yuu puts the phone down. “What are your names? Where do you come from? And, umm… I guess… a fun fact about yourself?”
The four look at each other, skeptical. They decide to comply, anyway. They're pretty popular back at home, anyway.
“I'm Mal. Um.. we're all from Auradon, not sure if you know it, though.”
“Mal, huh? Sounds like Maleficent, hah! Ahem—... sorry. I sound dumb right now.” Yuu fidgets with their fingers, and they all share a look. “How about you?”
“Oh, um, I'm Evie! Uhh… my mother is the Evil Queen!”
“The… Evil Queen?” As in, the one in the legend of the Sevens? No, no. Yuu probably heard that wrong.
“Yep!”
“..wow.”
“Anyway, I'm Jay! Uh, I guess I'll go by saying my father is Jafar!”
Okay, these kids are weird. They're the kids of the Seven? The Great Seven?
“Right… awesome!” Wow, Yuu, you are so bad at hiding your tone.
“And, um.. I'm Carlos..! Uhh… my mother is Cruella De Vil!”
‘Sounds suspiciously like Crewel', Yuu thought. Maybe they're distant relatives.
“How about you, Mal? Who're your parents? If you have both, anyway.” Yuu asks, getting comfortable in their seat.
“Well, my mother is Maleficent—” oh my sevens Yuu made a joke about her mother, “—and my father is Hades.”
“A Diasomnia-Ignihyde mix, huh?”
“I’m sorry?”
They said that out loud.
“Ahem—nothing! Sorry, again.”
“Uh.. anyway… tell us about you now. We told you who we are, now tell us who you are.”
“Okay.. very demanding for someone who broke into my home, but I'll comply. I'm Yuu. I'm not from this world, much like you..? Uh, I'm trying to find a way home, but there's no way for me home… yet. Uhh, let's see, a fun fact about me…? Umm.. I've been through multiple life-or-death situations, but I somehow managed to live through them without magic. Which—do you guys have magic?”
Mal nods, “I do. But I need my spellbook for it, and I don't have it here.”
“Alllright… good to know!” Yuu exclaims, before the doorbell rings. The four almost jump out of their seats, and Yuu gets up, hoping it's Crowley.
“Good morning, Prefect!” Okay, good. At least he knows how to listen when Yuu needs it.
“Hi. G'morning,” Yuu simply replied. Crowley let himself in, and made his way to the common room.
“And who is this?” Mal asks, crossing her arms.
“My boss!— Er, I mean. Headmage!” Yuu avoids eye contact with Crowley.
“Hello, all of you. My name is Crowley, and I am the headmage of Night Raven College, the school you’re at right now.” Crowley explains his role. “We don’t usually get visitors, or transfer students. What brings you all here?” Yuu tugs at Crowley’s arm, to which he turns. Yuu whispers in his ear. “Oh.. oh! That’s… interesting.” Yuu nods and Crowley turns back to the four.
“Um, anyway! I believe you’re all descendants of the Great Seven?”
. . .
“The… what?” Carlos is the one to ask.
“Crowley! They don’t know who they are! They’re like me!” Yuu reminds Crowley.
“Ah, like you…” Crowley ponders, making his way to the entrance. “Right, well a student is still a student! We must enroll you soon, although you all might be behind with studies… Prefect, make sure to teach them!”
“Ah, no, wait—! Headma—“ click!
“Ugh, it feels like he never listens,” Yuu mutters as they stare at the now-closed door.
“Well, um…” Yuu turns to the four. “I guess today you all shall enroll in NRC. Guess I have to do this.”
Yuu stands in front of the four. “Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos—Welcome to Night Raven College, where all the greatest mages are taught… and where I, magicless Yuu, live.”