Archive of Our Own

The botanical garden has become your sanctuary ever since you’ve begun dating Leona. The garden remains untouched by weather, maintaining its comfortable temperature year round. While Leona takes it as a perfect place to nap, you took it as a perfect place to find the lion-eared housewarden, finding yourself wandering inside the garden to look for the prefect of Savanaclaw whenever time permits.

Today, the two of you decide to spend your spare class (emphasis on your spare class… Leona was skipping, again) in the garden, recalling the frenzy of a time during the Fairy Gala. “I still don’t get why you couldn’t just follow Vil’s orders,” You told him, “You’ve always proved us wrong whenever we gauge your capabilities. The moment someone thinks of you as lowly, you always seem to prove them wrong out of spite…”

He chuckles, lion ears flicking in amusement at your suggestion. “Perhaps that’s what I like to do. Get you thinking you have the upper hand, only to show how much better I really am,” He grins, baring his fanged teeth in a smirk. Turning to you, he leans down, breath fanning across your cheek as a braid comes to tap at your shoulder, swinging from his head’s movement. “Wouldn’t you say you know that by now, little mouse?”

You blush. ‘Little mouse’ had become your nickname, Leona using it to refer to your height and supposedly mouse-like nature. Despite your protests and your whines, the name stuck, Leona continuing to call you it even after you began dating. Now, it’s a term of endearment that only he could call you, your heart stuttering as he says it amicably…

You kiss his cheek as a distraction. “ ‘course I know that by now,” You say, looking away from Leona’s face as your face heats up. “I’m just wondering why you do it all the time. I mean, our campus was in danger— couldn’t you have tried just a little bit?” You hold up your hand to him and pinch your fingers almost fully together, demonstrating the amount of effort Leona could have used. 

The lion laughs, finding your reaction amusing to him. No matter how much time passed, he’d always manage to catch you off guard, finding joy in the way you try to hide how much he affected your little heart. 

A kiss on your fingers, and he responds, “Crowley coulda tried more instead of shoving this responsibility into your hands,” He says, reminding you of the headmages constant push of his agenda onto yours. “I just had to try teachin’ him a lesson.”

You frown, knowing that his answer wasn’t true. Leona could care less of what Crowley did, just as long as it didn’t bother him. “You just wanted to bother Vil, didn’t you?” You ask, remembering the shit-eating grin on his face after he began performing his part of the routine without any problems, Vil’s flabbergasted face deemed priceless in Leonas eyes.

Leona offers a toothy grin. “You know me so well.” 

As your conversation sparks into recalling past adventures with Leona, about your recent endeavour with Vargas’ camp, you hear and feel the thudding of footsteps close to you. Leona catches onto it moments before you do, already instinctively pulling you behind him, his magic pen in one hand as he shields you with the other…

When you see familiar heart and spade-eyed friends, you push in front of Leona, mouth opening to form a taut frown. “Ace? Deuce?” You say, wondering why they were here. As far as you knew, they had class right now. “Why are you here? Are you skipping class? You know Riddle will come for my head if he finds out that you followed me—”

“Prefect, it’s important,” Ace and Deuce’s breath is frantic, heaving as they grasp at their knees to stabilise themselves. Leona’s tail brushes against your foot, wordless amusement about his thought that it would be another problem that wasn’t yours, a testament to your earlier conversation speaking of the constant harassment of things that weren’t your business.

You then notice Grim pawing at Deuce’s jacket, “It’s… it’s Crowley.” Grim says, quietly. He hadn’t run unlike the two heartslabyul students, having hitchhiked in Deuce’s arms. He springs from them, landing on the floor with feline grace, creeping up to tug on your shoes.

The three of them are uncharacteristically reticent to express their emotions, often babbling about the stupidity of the headmage or about how the three of them would be dragged into helping you out. While you can excuse one of them being quiet, all three of them are weirdly silent. You should’ve caught on to their hushed tones, the grim atmosphere, as signs to the unkind coming future. Instead, you laugh, wondering what Crowley would have possibly done, what problem he was thrusting into your care once more—

“He’s found a way to get you home.”

Your heart stills, and Leona, who had been quiet until this moment, freezes in unison. His tail stops flicking against your ankle, and it seems as if his breath stops as well. You hadn’t realised you’ve grown familiar with his habits, the white noise of his breath, but now you’re hyper aware of everything that is lacking in this situation— of what is coming, where you’d lack everything you’ve grown to know.

At first, you feel a sense of coolness descend upon your body, an innate happiness that you would finally go to your home. But, then, that coolness hardens, drowning you under the startling realisation that you’d go home. Not Ramshackle, not Leona’s arms, not the comforting laughter of your newfound friends around you… your homeworld, away from the life you’ve built in this world of magic.

You shut down those thoughts immediately, steeling yourself to the two Heartslabyul students. Before you can say it, though, Leona steps in front of you, his tousled mane bouncing on his back, “Take us to Crowley.” He says, speaking for you.

Leona is quiet on the walk there. Ace and Deuce crack jokes, congratulating you– but the news looms over all of you like how a wave begins to form against a sandcastle. Months of memories, of life, of growing beside each other, would soon be washed away by the impending crash of Crowley’s newfound spell. In the small bouts of silence, where Deuce doesn’t mutter something absurd, where Ace doesn’t rebuke the other for his stupidity, where Grim doesn’t add in his two cents about losing his henchmen, the silence between you all grows to fester the sadness in losing a friend.

The prince drops to pace behind you, and you realise now how much this news must affect him… Leona often leads the way, putting himself before you to shield you with his magic against any new roughhousing that Night Raven College students were prone to. You’ve learnt to seek safety at the sight of Leona’s back— his broad shoulders and windswept hair; often observing his mood and the way his ear twitches in irritation or intrigue, how his tail often tapped against your legs, an unconscious trail for you to follow when you blanked out on your walks.

Now, his pace is slower. Dragging along behind you, as if you were the shield, despite being the very sword that threatened him, your presence both hurting and comforting him. You know Leona, know him as the steely quiet and witty prince that managed to smart-mouth his way into your heart… yet, you know that despite the quietness that shows no sense of emotion or reaction to the news you’d be going back home, that it was a sign that Leona was hurt.

It’s a comforting thought. To know that he really cared about you in the way he’d be sad about your absence… but it's less comforting to you, to know that an approaching date was coming where you’d feel his warmth against yours for the last time, returning to your home without the hospitality you’ve found within a lover. It was funny, how months ago, you would have done anything to be rid of this world and Leona would do anything to get rid of you; yet now, the two of you would do anything to be with each other for more time.

The five of you enter Crowley’s office, with only one of the people in the room seeming genuinely excited about Crowley’s research. The headmage greets you all joyously, and all except Leona fake an enthusiastic greeting, the prince instead choosing to stay uncharacteristically silent, lacking the snarky remarks that would flow past his lips easily.

“Ace and Deuce informed me of…” you trail off, gulping down the next words. Despite feeling a semblance of excitement at the prospect of home– of your family, of your friends, of music you missed dearly– you can’t help but wish Crowley was lying, that there was a fault in his research. That you’d return to living inside a world that wasn’t yours, blissfully ignorant of the fact that you didn’t belong.

“Is it true?” You ask after a heartbeat. It drops in the next moment, Crowley nodding enthusiastically.

You blank out, dread beginning to wash over your body in licks of frightening waves. It seeps like TV static, you as an unwilling sponge as the realisation of just a few hours being left for time in this world washes over your bones, settling tremors that rack your hands in shaking bouts of sorrow. Where joy should leap from, an alarming despair pools, dragging your heart down to your feet and to the ground that isn’t yours, reminding you that this world wasn’t to be. Like magic, it was fantasy— but unlike stories, it existed, this reality growing on your heart in ways that words couldn’t convince you otherwise. 

A twisted wonderland, truly. Giving you the image and impression of fun and joyous magic, only to remind you that this world wasn’t yours– pulling you back to your rightful place.

Leona utters something, his hand brushing against yours, an attempt at soothing your fraying nerves, and it succeeds in snapping you out of your spiralling inertia. “When will this process happen, Crowley?” he asks. Had it not been for you seeing his lips moving, or hearing the familiar timbres of his voice, you would not have thought it was Leona speaking. His words are clipped, precise, and firm. Often, you hear him talk with an ulterior motive– teasing quips that ended in your fiery retort back to him, or affectionate mumbles that left you careening for his warmth… but this is different. He speaks regally, like the royalty he is, and it frightens you to know that this was real, that the sorrow that lodged itself in the emotionless tone of Leona’s voice wasn’t something he was acting out, a ploy he could play to get the outcome he wanted.

You only heard about how the way to get you home had an extensive process that included multiple rare events lining up together. As Leona’s tail flickers against your ankle, gloved fingers grazing against yours, you realise both you and Leona were hoping for the events rarity to play into the time you had left. That was so typical of Leona, so much so, that despite the future of you parting was set in stone, you can’t help the small glimmer of a smile play on your lips, arising from the glimmer of hope both you and Leona shared.

Unfortunately for you, Crowley's next words only further the wedge that cracks your heart. “Tomorrow, the summer solstice will occur as well as the appearance of…”

You can feel Leona stiffen, and it reminds you to breathe, a realisation that Crowley's words had forced your breath to stop. You squeeze his hand, though, you suddenly feel a bit weaker. What was meant to be a meaningful squeeze turns into a feeble grasp of your fingers against his.

Despite Crowley's sense of happiness this entire conversation, it seems as if he finally catches onto the tension in the room, and his eyes dip down as he does a small bow of respect. “...Of course, with the… relations you’ve formed, it’s only reasonable to conclude you’d want some time to say your goodbyes. I’ll dismiss you and all your friends' absences.” 

The headmage dismisses you all afterwards, not a word spoken between the five of you as you exit Crowley's office.

“Well…” Ace begins, trying to break the silence with his usual eccentricity. “You heard the man. Looks like we have today to throw a goodbye party, no..?” He says, turning to force a grin that doesn’t quite reach his heart-marked cheek. 

You crack a smile, Deuce nodding as he claps his hands together. The three of them– Ace, Deuce, and Grim begin to plan out your goodbye party together, but your attention is on your lion-eared lover, who has remained silent this whole endeavour. You turn to him, expecting at least a frown on his face, but Leona looks the same as ever– his usual scowl twisted on his features, but a bleak emotion feigning his eyes…

He catches your gaze. “Don’t begin worrying about me all of a sudden,” He says, baring his teeth for you to catch onto the glint of his fangs, a failed attempt at making you think he was indifferent to the whole situation. You realise that, similar to you, he hadn’t processed the fact you’d be gone tomorrow. “Today is a day for you to celebrate. You’ll be going home… that’s something everyone feels excited about.”

It’s a sentence that Leona tries his usual sarcasm at, but you both know the emptiness that lies within that statement. Neither of you felt excited. Perhaps you could relate to the dread that hung around Leona when he was forced to go back to Sunset Savana, now finding out how hard it would be to part with the refuge you’ve found.

“C’mon,” you muster out, trying to feign the fiery prefect that Leona grew accustomed to. But your voice comes out feeble, bittersweet, “I'm guessing we have a couple hours– at least an hour or two before Ace, Deuce and Grim manage to scrounge up what they can call a party.”

You take his hand, your wrist adorned by his gifted bracelet, to which he glances down at. Leona grins, a genuine one, but it's tainted by the haunting thought that this would just be a few hours you’d have with each other. 

“Remember when we met here?”

“How could I forget? You stomped on my tail. It still throbs to this day.”

“I stepped on your tail. And it was an accident.”

The two of you opted to simply talk and walk among the campus, recalling memories in the locations you saunter past. It was an uncommon occurrence, but on days where you didn’t feel particularly strongly about your attendance, you found yourself hanging out with Leona, mindlessly wandering past the school hallways.

Today’s session is different. You wouldn’t deal with lectures from teachers for missing your class, or glares from Ace and Deuce for not taking notes for them. Despite you not telling anyone, and you hope the chaos trio didn’t say anything, it seems as if the teachers were caught up in the situation, quietly looking the other way when they see you and Leona stroll past classes the two of you  were supposed to be in.

Past memories haunt you everywhere you turn, but here is the first memory you had of Leona, sprawled out across the botanical garden floor to avoid classes. He stands beside you today, glancing at the spot where it all began with an amused flick of his ear. “Admit it, you musta felt scared when I threatened you here, right?”

“I felt confused,” You replied. “I thought about what type of idiot sleeps sprawled half-across the walkway of a garden.”

You don’t mention to him how beautiful you thought he was, even at first glance. Despite the fear that you just denied you felt, Leona was striking– whether that be his striking looks, or his talent in striking fear. A beautiful stranger, who had become a beautiful lover. You wonder, mind trailing off, if he would become a stranger in your memory once again, if his verdant green eyes would haunt you when you close your eyes, if you’d be plagued by the twitch of his ears on the scar on his eye when your mind would forget him...

Leona sniffs, snapping you out of your thoughts. “It was a particularly good nap.”

“Well, I’m sure it was a particularly good occurrence for us to meet.” You mock, rolling your eyes at his excuse.

He laughs, breathy and airy, and it comes as a welcome surprise when his response is to brush the back of his knuckles against your cheek. “If it was that action that led us here today, I don’t regret it happening.” It’s uncharacteristic of him to show affection, but given the circumstances, it's not completely farfetched. You expected his usual smart mouth to utter something feisty, completely ruining the romance you'd often set up as a joke between you two, but an inexplicable heat rises through your body at the genuinity of his words.

You stumble on making a witty retort, half focused on wanting to be funny, the other half on wanting to be considerate. You’re not so above the feeling that Leona wouldn’t mourn you, and you’re sure he’d feel insulted if you felt as if he was indifferent. You decide on a mix of both, but it trails into something more bitter than sweet. “Yeah, well, now I’m stuck with an annoying prince, who I fell in love with, his stupid smart mouth making me swoon…”

It’s common ground for the two of you to hide your flirting behind insults. Your strong personalities made you seek attention from the other through sharp scornful exchanges of wit, not realising the entertainment and fun you had with each other rivalled the same feeling that lovers felt when together. Though now, you suppose you both know the feeling, a sense of amiability lying between your stuttering hearts whenever you bickered with each other.

Leona grins at your retort, pulling you into his chest as he pulls you into a hug. Unbeknownst to others, the lion tended to be touchy feely– just not in public. When you walk beside him inside the campus of Night Raven College, it’s unusual for either of you to opt to hold hands, instead finding the twist and turn of his tail against your feet as the most physical affection he could take outside of private spaces. But you can feel the shudder of his breath, the slight shake of his hand as it comes to rest on the inbetween of your back and hip, signs of not the uncomfortability of his public display of how his heart belonged to you, but signs of his fear of being stripped apart from you.

It was common knowledge that you were entrusted with Leona’s heart. The students enjoyed calling the two of you the moon and the sun. With your exuberant energy, you’ve been told several times about the unusual smile that lingers on Leona’s face whenever he’s around you, reflecting the same one you usually bore; much similar to how the moon would reflect the sun's brilliance. 

Long before the two of you even dated, the students around the two of you often whispered about Leona’s constant presence around you— a rare occurrence that was only preserved for people Leona deemed tolerable. It’s only when people spot the familiar beaded bracelet on your wrist and realise Leona only had his golden one, that people begin to connect the dots of the true nature of your relationship.

Squished against his chest, you listen to his heart beat– when you had just begun dating, you remember how the little organ thrummed like a hummingbird when you hugged him. As time passed, it still had a familiar jolt in each beat, but it had simmered down to a slower throb, a calm familiarity and affection from your touch.

You don’t realise you’re being called, Leona’s arms muffling outside noises. “There you are!” A familiar voice calls. Curious, you tap Leona’s back, a sign for him to let go. He separates from you after a moment, albeit a bit unwillingly. You can recognize the voice as the substitute of a vice-housewarden in Savanaclaw. Ruggie waves to you, his back turning to yell at whoever was following him.

His downward pointing eyes squint a bit as he makes out you and Leonas figures. “I told you she’d be with Leona! I knew the two of ‘em would be here…” Ruggie’s familiar little giggle follows after his words, and he approaches the two of you. A silver-headed beastman follows suit, who you quickly recognize as Jack. 

“Prefect!” Jack grins as he greets you, nodding in respect to his housewarden who trodded behind you. “Ace and Deuce told us to round up other friends of yours, and to find you and bring you back to Ramshackle. They didn’t tell us why, though… only that Crowley was allowing us to miss school.”

“The moment Crowley mentioned our grades and attendance not tanking, a lot of students were eager to come to whatever they planned out…” Ruggie recalls, planting a hand on his hip as his other comes to splay his palm out in a motion that mimicked suspicion of you. “D’you know what's going on, pref’?” he asks, blue eyes narrowed at you.

Inwardly, you thank Ace and Deuce for keeping tomorrow's departure privy only to the five present in Crowley’s office. “I’ll explain when we get there.” You decide as your reply, beginning to lead the Savanaclaw students to Ramshackle. You’d rather save yourself the pain of explaining the situation to everyone individually, wanting to say it one time. You treated the situation like a curse— that, despite knowing your fate was inevitable, maybe if you avoided talking about it, it’d never bear its bittersweet fruit.

Considering it had only been about two hours since receiving the news, the chaos trio managed to round up quite a few people and build up quite the party. Friends flank your side, greeting you in a mix of nods and ‘hello’s, smirks and grins shared across the mix of first to third years that came. Past ‘enemies’ and friends alike swarm you, and you find it a bit weird that some sort of fight hasn’t started out yet... You realise that they must all respect you enough to not cause a ruckus, their usual grudges and bickering put on halt for this one party.

It’s quite crowded inside, crammed with balloons and streamers, only adding on to the clutter of how many people showed up to your little party. As you make your way through the crowd to find Ace, Deuce, and Grim, Leona struggles to follow you, surprising you with the way his hand clutches at yours in an attempt to not lose sight of you. You halt, turning back to Leona to see what his face looked like. Leona only grins down at you, tilting his head innocently, and you can practically hear him saying ‘surprised?’ with a shit eating grin.

Your attention is pulled elsewhere. “Is it your birthday, housewarden?” Jamil asks you, arms folded as he tilts his head curiously. “You should’ve told us. We would’ve brought up some scarabian snacks.”

Others nod, agreeing with Jamil. “If I had known, I would have made some better treats for you— at least as thanks for all you’ve done for us. It was a good thing I had some tarts on hand, even if they were for Riddle...” Trey adds in, and you curse yourself for not realising he must have made and brought the tarts that lined what would usually be the counters in your kitchen.

You shake your head. “It’s not my birthday.” you confirm. You didn’t want to announce your departure like this, you wanted to find Ace and Deuce first— just where the hell were they?

“Speak of the devil,” Leona rumbles behind you, squeezing your hand as he spots who you were looking for. “Behind you, mousey.”

You recognize the red and dark haired students immediately. “Prefect!” Ace and Deuce shoulder their way past the crowd, with Grim balancing on top of Ace’s head. 

“Did we do well?” Grim asks, before answering his own question. “I think we did pretty well. I mean, we had two hours…”

You snort. “I mean… this is certainly not how I expected to go, but, hey! I guess this is better than what I had in mind.”

The people around you look at you with furrowed eyes, wondering what you meant by ‘go’. Catching on to what you wanted to say, or rather, announce, Ace turns around and produces a cup and a spoon seemingly out of thin air, handing it to you with a wink. You thank him silently, you and the chaos trio along with Leona following you to the stairs. Standing on top of a couple of steps, you tap the spoon against the cup. A couple of beastman— most notably, Leona— give a slight flinch at the noise, to which you offer an apologetic tilt of your lips.

As the room silences, you can recognize Floyd as he calls out: “Is it time to sing happy birthday to shrimpy?” he grins, to which many people chortle at before starting a broken melody of the tune of happy birthday.

“No, no, it’s not my birthday,” you quickly pull your hands out in front of you, waving them as you shake your head as well. There’s still quite a fair bit of chatter, but you press on, projecting your voice and keeping it steady. “It’s… my farewell party.”

The room silences, completely devoid of noise as they listen carefully. “As you may know, I woke up in this world, having originated from elsewhere. Crowley’s delivered the news that I’d be going home—”

“When?” Someone from the crowd clamours out. You recognize the voice as Ortho, the free spirited and kind mecha floating above everyone else, looking at you directly.

“ —tomorrow.” You finish, to which your friends all explode at. They’re visceral in the way they express their ebullience; surprise, sadness, anger. They all share a common thought, along with you: they didn’t want you to leave tomorrow.

You step down from the stairs, people swarming you at once. Like dolphins zeroing in on prey and isolating their game from the rest of the ocean, the Octavinelle students reach you first. The two heartslabyul first years begin to shield you, but Leona is two steps ahead— pulling you behind him as he glares at the three.

You already know of Leona’s distaste of the Octavinelle housewarden. After all, he was one of the people to threaten you directly. Reminding him that it was during Azul’s overblot was something you had to constantly do when discussing the “octopunk”, and you often had to also remind him how he, as well as almost every other housewarden, had done the same to you. Pushing Leona aside, you greet the three of them.

“Prefect,” Azul greets, pearly white hair bouncing as he bows slightly. “Did you find out only today? This party is… unlike you.” he says, after taking  a pointed moment to push up his glasses and glance around the decorated Ramshackle.

“Oh, that?” You reply, mimicking Azul as you glance around at the decorated Ramshackle. “It wasn’t me who decided on a party. Ace, Deuce, and Grim did all of this.” It felt as if only yesterday that this place was announced to be your dormitory, the process of decorating and strengthening the falling-out structure of Ramshackle taking months to deem worthy of livable. You don’t have a picture of the old Ramshackle, but you have your memory, and if it served you correctly then the place has changed quite a bit for the better.

“Ah, that makes sense,” Jade nods, pointed teeth displayed as he smiles. “I knew you were better than this.”

Before Ace can furrow his eyebrows and argue with Jade about his idea of a party, Floyd slings an arm around you, cheek pressing into the side of your forehead as you stumble under his weight. Being crazy tall, even as he bends over you, he towers above. “It’s a lie, right? Shrimpy isn’t leaving…!” He whines. “Who am I going to hang out with once you’re gone…?” He cries. Leona pulls him off you with a slight scowl, Floyd only grinning— albeit, it doesn’t seem as wide as his other ones…

Several rounds of a pretty similar situation happen again, the different housewardens and students alike approaching to say their thanks and advanced goodbye to you. On the more notable of the interactions, Kalim starts crying when recalling the memories the two of you shared, Jamil pulling him away with an apology. Despite it being corny, you swear you see a couple of heads turn away and a couple of shoulders shake as their hands wipe their tears quickly…

You don’t miss how Rook doesn’t hide it though, instead approaching you and giving you a slight bow as he produces a handkerchief from his hand and wipes his tear, telling you about how he’d miss having your ‘beauty’ around. As weird as it was, when it was coming from Rook, it doesn’t fail to make you a bit sad. As eccentric as some of the students were, you’d miss their strong personalities and their troubles— even if they were usually thrust upon you unfairly.

Even Vil comes by, claiming that he had cancelled an appointment he had when he heard that you of all people was throwing a party. He tells you to continue to use the multistep skincare routine that he had taught you during the Song and Dance Championship, wagging his finger at you in a scolding manner. “No excuses! I know skincare exists back in your world, too.” He says, before turning away with Rook on his heels.

As you wave the Pomefiore housewarden and vice-housewarden goodbye, a presence slips beside you without you realising. “Prefect,'' a smooth voice says, and you immediately recognize it.

“Hornton— I mean,” you clear your throat as you turn to greet the Diasomnia prefect. “Malleus.” You correct, reminding yourself that this was the king of the fae, not just the student who happened to like walking around Ramshackle’s quiet exterior.

He laughs, a clear sound despite the racket around you. “As I’ve told you already, you can call me that. I don’t mind.” He says, grinning at you.

You bow your head, unsure of what to say, but you suppose it isn’t a bad silence. Similar to the octavinelle trio, Malleus glances around, but he doesn’t comment on the unusual decorations. “This place will be quiet with you gone,” Malleus muses, more to himself than to you. “It was always quiet, but I realise I much enjoyed when you and that feline-beast ran this place. You’ve done quite the work around here, patching up the holes and repairing the gargoyles. I’ll miss it— how Ramshackle felt when it was occupied with life.”

You can’t help but giggle at his mention of the gargoyles, recounting the several times Malleus had dumped information about the statue that surrounds Ramshackle and Night Raven College. And you agree with him— you’d miss Ramshackle. This grew to be your home; nights spent in isolation, cramming courses during exam season, sleepovers with Ace and Deuce, or finding Leona on your couch on the excuse that Ramshackle was the ‘perfect hiding place’. You built quite the life in this place, you can admit. 

Leona, disliking the way Malleus looked at you, pulls you away from the dragon all too willingly. “You haven’t eaten since this morning.” Leona states, which is true, but you can recognize jealousy when it rears its ugly head. He drags you off to what would usually be your kitchen, the open expanse of counter covered in food. You notice, after a short moment, that it’s food that you said you enjoyed… As you glance tentatively at the selection, unsure of where to begin, a mix of first years approach you.

“Oh! I had to trade Azul a song for those drinks,” You hear Epel beside you, pointing at the assortment of drinks, what you now know is courtesy of Mostro Lounge. “He wanted me to pay with money and my voice, but after Ace and Deuce told them it was for a party thrown in your name, they lowered the price.”

Deuce nods, coming to look at the assortment of food before picking up a chocolate tart. “You have no idea the amount of favours we owe to people,” he sighs, taking a bite out of his hard work. You can see his shoulders intense slightly, a testimony to Trey’s own skill. “It’s only ‘cause of you, prefect.” He says after swallowing, sending you a small smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Looks like you’ve built up quite the fanbase, huh?” Jack says, bumping your shoulder playfully as he comes to flank your other side. “We’ll miss you, housewarden. It never really occurred to me that you’d ever leave.”

You nod, agreeing silently as you sip a silvery purple drink. Perhaps, within the first month of your time in Twisted Wonderland, it was a fact that you’d be back in your homeworld one day. But as weeks passed, that fact was buried into your mind, your lifestyle growing around the students of NRC. You’d miss them, too. You were about to voice it out, but Sebek is quick to agree with him, loud and direct as he somehow manages to raise his voice in a volume higher than the already loud party.

Lucky for you, before he gets far in addressing you as an ‘incessant human’, Silver hits his back and forces him to choke before pulling him away, uttering you an apology and a goodbye, soft grin on his features while you wave a farewell to him.

“Real piece of work he is, that guy…” There's a flicker of light, and as you turn to see the voice, you quickly recognize Cater and his diamond-lidded eye. He drops his cheery mask for a second, lips twisting into a frown as he glances in Sebek’s direction, but he quickly covers it up as he puts his phone away. You realise he was probably taking a picture for Magicam.

“Enough about him, though. Prefect, I can’t believe you’re really leaving already…!” Cater says, a repeat of what many of the students said as well. 

You laugh, already preparing you to say the same words you’ve said to countless similar conversations, but Cater asks you: “Are you excited to go?”

You pause, blinking. You were about to say about how you’d miss him too, expecting him to say how he’d miss you being around. “What makes you ask that?” You ask, putting down your drink to a bite out of a strawberry tart from Trey. 

Cater shrugs. “I dunno. I could sense it, you don’t seem too excited. And I mean, I get it— you already know all about my sisters, so I’m happier staying in NRC than in my tiny house, but…”  He trails off. “Figured it would make you feel better to at least hear some concern about it. I know you were eager to get out when we first met, but… with that little boyfriend of yours, I imagine the news is hard to wrap your head around.”

You blush at the mention of Leona. As you raise a fork to eat more of the tart, your eyes catch onto the bracelet he gifted you. Yes… he was right. If you hadn’t been tangled up with Leona, you suppose this whole ordeal could be treated with a lot more happiness.

But with all that's happened between the two of you, could you really say you’d rather never met him?

The questions left unanswered, Cater pulling out his phone. “Oh, we should totally take a picture! It’s your last day, and your party, so I wanna remember this…” He says. You pose with him, a simple peace sign as you grin up at his phone.

“Hm…” Cater looks a little amused at the photo. “It’ll do,” he says, but before you can look, he steals his phone away, not allowing you to see. He gives a little wink, “You can see it when I post it on magicam tonight.” He promises, “But you should go to the photobooth… I dunno what strings Ace and Deuce pulled, but they managed to steal a photobooth, probably from Pomefiore.”

With the promise of physical pictures, you quickly swallow down the rest of the strawberry dessert. Riddle passes by you, presumably for the promise of his favourite treats, and spots you shoving your face full.

“I’d tell you to slow down, but I think I can relate,” Riddle says after a careful bite of his tart. “You mentioned these treats existed in your world too, but I’d argue that they’d never be as good as Trey’s. You should memorise the taste while you still can.”

You take his words to heart, savouring the last bite before disposing of your plate and fork, turning around to hit Leona square in the chest. Had he been standing beside you this entire time? You thought he stalked off elsewhere, but as it turns out, he had been silently observing you as you interacted with everyone else. 

A hesitant smile plays on your lips. “Wanna help me find the photo booth? It couldn’t hurt to have a keepsake…”

Leona smirks at you, “Already found it.” he says simply, reaching out for your hand before tugging you to it.

It’s not a booth, rather what you think is a ghost-camera and a decorated backdrop. Though it could’ve been from Pomefiore, courtesy of Vil— you wouldn’t put it past him to own one of these for his photoshoots— you recognize the technology symbol as something from the Ignihyde housewarden. You suppose even your parting wouldn’t bring the introverted housewarden here, but his gift of lending some photo-taking supplies was well-appreciated. 

When people see you approaching the photo section, someone calls out— “Oi! Picture time!” And what was meant to be a silly series of photos with Leona turns into multiple of your friends cramming in at once. Like usual photo booths, a robotic voice announces that there’ll be four trials of photos. In some miracle, your friends arrange themselves to take turns, somehow managing to cram everyone in at least one shot of each frame in the printed photo.

Just as you begin to admire the keepsake with some blurred vision— were you crying?— several more rounds of photo taking occur. You’d usually be annoyed, but you get to keep a copy of all of them, the rest of them being given out to keep with your friends. You suppose being blinded temporarily is a fair trade for the memories you hold in your hand. If you brought this back to your homeworld, you pray the magic will stay, each photo moving as your friends squabble to fit in the frame around you.

It’s only when the partygoers begin to clean up that you manage to catch Leona alone. He stood by the side, waiting patiently for you to finish up your photos, but you swear you see a tuft of sandy ears or a dark brown braid in some of your photos, a welcome photobomb.

“Sorry,” You apologise, to which Leona’s ear flicks in amusement.

“ ‘s fine,” He says, pulling you to the camera. “It means I can do this alone with you, so…” he pulls you into a kiss— surprising, but not unwelcome, and you stare up at him wide eyed at the sudden display of affection. After another flash, you realise Leona must have done that to catch you off guard.

“Leona…!” You squeal, hitting his chest. He grins widely, a genuine smile of mirth from your reaction, and another flash goes off. “Let’s do another. I wanted it to be cute…” 

Leona kisses your forehead in apology, and the final flash of the ghost-camera goes off. He receives the strip of photos, handing a copy to you. “I dunno, prefect. Don’t these seem pretty cute to you?”

As you glance down at the photos, you realise that these ones are much more alive than the other ones. You’ve heard that as the owner of ghost cameras bond to the photos taken, that the photos come to life more and more— but in comparison to your other photos, which only waved in slow motion of actions your friends did as they pushed each other, these ones play like a film. You blush as you realise one of them caught your initial kiss with Leona, the next catching your bewildered and flushed out face looking up at him. It must be the strong feelings you harbour for Leona that makes them more alive than the other photos.

“One more,” you say, looking away as you pout. “I wanna take one more,” you say. When he doesn’t respond right away, you give him a threat. “If you don’t, I’ll convince Ruggie to use Laugh With Me on you so we have some cute photos…” you say, mentioning the spell that would force Leona to smile and grin if Ruggie so wanted…

Leona laughs, before agreeing to your request. “I’m not so mean as to deny you, princess.” He says, before agreeing and turning on the camera for one last series of photos. The moment doesn’t even occur to you— the nickname ‘princess’ only being something you both suggested to each other as a joke to his lineage as a prince. It distracts you heavily as you pose for the photos, likely Leona’s intent since there’s a knowing smirk plastered on his lips as the two of you begin posing.

(you can’t deny the lingering thought in your mind… perhaps, if time had been kinder, if Crowley had been a little slower, you could’ve been a princess with Leona.)

Dumbfounded, a blush spreads across your face, and while you’re more planned out for this series of photos, your mind zeroes in on the word princess as you do manicured poses with Leona. Lucky for you, he seems to catch on to each pose pretty fast. When you offer half of a heart, Leona offers his hand in the same half heart, completing each other. It’s a bit unusual, and some of the students— mostly the heartslabyul first years and Ruggie— laugh a bit, but it doesn’t seem like he cares… that, or he’d take care of their teasing jabs later.

“These are cute,” you say, holding up all the photos you have in your hands, but your eyes zero in on the photos of Leona and you. A small grin plasters across your face, stupid and childish, as if you were a highschool girl squealing over her crush…

“Mine are better.” Leona says, and you shove your shoulder against him. He doesn’t budge at all, only chuckling as a response.

“We have the same ones.” You say pointedly, to which Leona shrugs at, still standing by his words.

By the time you and Leona were able to get your solo photos together, the party had dwindled to only a handful of friends. While most of them opted to go back to their dorm, Ace and Deuce have declared a slumber party, with some of your friends staying behind to hang out into the late hours of night, and some others being more considerate and cleaning up before leaving.

Even Leona offers a helping hand, dismantling some of the heavier technology with the help of Jack. The click of a door opening, and you think it’s another one of your friends turning in for the night, but a surprised ‘eep!’  Makes you realise it's someone else.

“Idia!” You turn around with a surprised grin. You didn’t think he’d show up, but you welcome his fluffy blue hair with open arms.

“I’m here with my brother to pick up my software,” He says with wide eyes, hair seemingly standing on end that rivalled a surprised cat. “I came later because I thought you’d all be gone by now…”

“Nah, I’m leaving soon,” Ruggie says, dusting off his hands, He elbows you, grinning; “Hey, you’re fine with me taking some food, right?”

You open your mouth to argue, an instinctual ‘no’ on your lips. The amount of food leftover could last you until the end of school if you and Grim rationed it right, but you remember… you wouldn’t be here until the end of the school year. So instead, you nod, trying to hide the funny pang in your heart. “Go for it.”

Ruggie cheers, getting to work immediately. You let him take the containers you bought from Sam’s as well, figuring that you wouldn’t need them anymore.

“It’s all in good shape,” Idia says, inspecting all the hardware he lent. “Thanks.” he says simply.

You nod in reply, but Ortho comes to tug at your shirt. “He won’t say it, but he’s really bummed out that you’re leaving… Especially before the release of that comic you and him like.”

“H-hey…!” Idia turns pink at the mention of the next book that he had introduced you to. You had been following it eagerly, and it comes as an unexpected hurt when you realise you’d probably never get to the ending. “I’ll… I’ll make sure to keep up with it. In honour of you… but it’s not like I don’t enjoy it!” He says quickly.

You crack a smile, pulling his neck into a half hug. He runs warmer than others, courtesy of his magical hair, but you’re sure that the blush that coats his cheeks has something to do with his heat as well. He yelps in response, being pulled down to your height making him keen at the momentum. “I’ll miss you too, you guys. Thanks for the ghost camera, by the way. I made a lot of memories with it…”

Idia grimaces. “That’s the point, isn’t it?” he says, before leaving with Ortho, his robots carrying his equipment out with him.

“Are you really not staying, Ruggie?” you can hear Kalim ask. You figure he must be staying to sleepover, and that must mean Jamil would be there too.  “It’ll be boring without you…”

“I gotta put all this food in my dorm.” The hyena replies. Before he can add in more, you interrupt.

“I have a fridge, y’know. It’s not like I’m gone yet though, so you can just store them in the fridge and transfer them in the morning.” You offer, convincing him to stay.

Ruggie seems surprised that you were on Kalim’s side— you often kicked people out of Ramshackle without a second thought, taking a liking to your privacy, but he sighs. “Fine. I’ll stay.” He agrees. Whether or not it was out of respect as it would be one of your final wishes, you’re happy you managed to convince him.

You’re not one to be all sweet and sappy, but you can’t deny that you want to spend a little more time with the people who are willing to. You spot Epel, on the stairs and hauling down some bedding that can be placed on the living room floor, with Jack sweeping up some of the confetti to make room for mattresses. Cater forces a headband on Ace, beginning to laugh wildly at his forehead reveal, to which Ace quickly throws down the headband and threatens Cater with a wound-up fist.

You laugh, observing the moment around you. It hadn’t quite hit you that you’d come to leave all this behind, maybe eventually even forget about your endeavours here in Twisted Wonderland, but it slaps you in all its full force that this really was the last night you had here. It’s hard to believe you were so eager to return to your world with how desperately you want to stay now. You drink up the moment, observing more of what's left of your friends around you, forcing the memory into your mind… how you wish you had more time. To pose and post selfies with Cater, to experience spelldrive practice again with Jack…

Leona, who had just finished up pushing aside the couches he loved to nap on, makes eye contact with you. A surprised expression flashes across his face, and he approaches you with a handkerchief, offering it up to you. You realise your eyes were watering. Wordlessly, Leona shields you from everyone as you quickly wipe away what could’ve been your tears.

“Thank you,” you say after a moment, your breath a bit shaky.

He’s stiff, but he gives you a nod, before tentatively reaching out to place a kiss on your forehead. You realise he must be holding back from keeping you all to himself, knowing that you cared about everyone here and wished to spend time with each person… Leona tends to be territorial, as shown by pulling you away from Malleus earlier, but he knows how much you care about everyone as well.

Pushing aside what he wants, for what you wanted. Leona seems to always sacrifice something for you, and a frown twists on your lips. You want to make it up to him somehow…

Eventually, after a few squabbles and you yelling at everyone to quiet down, the night settles and your friends huddle around each other, illuminated by only the lit fireplace.

“Okay, I’ll be the first to say it,” Ruggie sighs, “but, like, how have none of you cried…?”

Ace snorts. “Oh, you should have seen Deuce earlier. We saw an ad for an upcoming movie while getting materials, and he started bawling, crying about how the prefect would love watching it…”

A harsh slap, and you can tell Deuce hit Ace, a pained groan escaping from the redhead. “Sh-she would, though…!” He quickly says, before adding on: “Ace refused to let me see after I asked him, but after Leona and her left us to go take care of the party, his eyes got all watery…!”

A softer thud, and you recognize it as Ace swinging a pillow at his fellow heartslabyul first-year.

“Uh… I won’t lie, I cried a bit,” Epel admits from across the multiple mattresses and blankets. “I can’t wrap my head around it fully… It's only now I realise how much the prefect does for NRC. I mean, she cured all the overblots, didn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Jack agrees. “I’m almost surprised that Crowley told her there’s a way home. I thought he found it long ago, and he was just keeping her from leaving to continue fixing up his mess…”

A hearty laugh laces your lips as you nod, head bobbing against the red illumination of the fireplace. “Yeah, I thought that for some time too.”

Grim mewls from beside you, and you can feel the rumble of his voice through the hands that stroke his fur. “That aside, has Leona not cried at all…? He’s dating the prefect, right? Even if he’s emo or whatever, I thought he’d cry at least once…”

Even if you can barely make out everyone's figure, you can tell they’re all looking at the lion-eared prince. “Well? Leona?” Jamil calls, and you can hear the curiosity in his voice.

Leona, who had opted to lay down beside you, stirs at the mention, head brushing against your thigh where it laid. “Hell if I know,” He says in response, voice low and hazy, as if he was half asleep.

“That’s a yes,” Ruggie muses. “He won’t admit it.”

After a moment of laughter, you add in, tentatively. “He’s been around me all day, and, no, he hasn’t cried. Not at all.” You say, recounting the minutes you had with him… He displayed sadness, but he hadn’t cried. If he did, he was good at hiding it.

“Really?” Jack asks.

“Maybe he doesn’t care about you as much as we thought,” you can hear the grin in Ace’s voice as he instigates a fight with you two.

Amused, you caress the crown of your boyfriend's head. “Is that true, Leona?” You ask, teasing him.

“Yeah, I’m actually super glad she’s leaving. I had no idea how to break up with her, so Crowley is doing me a favour.” He says, sarcasm clear in the way he drawls his words.

“Whatever. He loves me, guys.” You roll your eyes, pulling your hand away from his hair to lean back on it— but Leona catches it, pressing his mouth against your palm, a soft kiss.

A pause, before you feel Leona’s lips move against your skin, “Yeah.” He agrees, to which everyone gags at. 

You didn’t expect that proclamation, blush coating your features as you swallow thickly. “Eeewww.” Everyone else says, multiple of your friends fake barfing and retching, the sounds of fabric moving indicating the toss and turn of their disgust. 

“Yo, Deuce, recreate this with me,” Ace calls out for his friend, clearing his throat and heightening his pitch. “You know you love me!” Ace says, his voice high as he mimics you. 

“That is not what I sound like…!”

To your surprise, Deuce joins in. He lowers his voice, trying to imitate Leona’s low and gravelly one. “Yeah, I love you….”

You fling a pillow at them, with Leona helping you aim it towards their direction by flicking his tail in their general direction. You can barely make out everyone’s figure, the fire light only dim enough to show a rough outline of their bodies, but with Leona’s heightened eyesight you manage to hit your target with his assistance. You know it hits your target by the muffled cry of the two heartslabyul students, and you give Leona a small high-five as thanks.

The conversation stretches late into night, with each of your friends turning in slowly, one by one. Epel is the first to fall asleep, a habit that Vil taught him that he tried desperately to avoid. His punishment is a black permanent marker and Grim’s creativity, to which he’d find out about in the morning…

Eventually, everyone falls asleep, a goodnight uttered from each one… Except you. It feels like hours since you last heard words from you friends, their snores the only sign of their presence here, but sleep was evading you tonight. When no one else speaks, when there is nothing else to distract you, your mind begins to whirl, spiralling as you process that you’d never experience falling asleep with your friends surrounding you like this… Leona stirs, rearranging his hold on you, and it is a hurtful reminder that this would be the final night you’d remember what falling asleep in a lover's arms is like.

Carefully, you remove Leona’s arms from around you, throwing on a jacket before stepping outside of Ramshackle. The night air is cool around your clammy skin, the wind licking the flush off you  as well as helping to clear your mind. It’s just like that night, all those months ago, when you first came to Ramshackle. Except today, the dorm is filled with friends instead of ghosts.

Realising you had worn your blazer outside, you search your pockets until you find the stack of photostrips from earlier. Resting your elbows on the fence of the porch, you lean on your arms as your fingers work through each photo. You had at least one photo with each group dorm, as well as friend group photos, and then a strip with everyone in it. You take your time in inspecting each one thoroughly, finding that the images move with a lot more precision. The magic must have bonded with you more…

You remember suddenly, Caters promised Magicam post. You check your pockets again, relieved to find your phone stored in its usual spot. As you tap your password and enter Caters username, your eyes hone in on his recent post. A simple photo of you and Cater, the background blurred out due to the onslaught of people taking up the free food that was catered. But as you observe it longer, you spot a tuft of lion ears— had this been what Cater was laughing at earlier? 

In the corner of the photo, Leona looks at you, his lines crisp against the blur of movement around him, indicating he was gazing at you with that stupid grin plastered on his lips long before Cater probably snapped that photo… you can’t help but wonder, even though you know the answer: would this be the last time you’d see Leona gaze at you like that?

A bittersweet smile twitches against your lips. You’ve done a good job at keeping your emotions at bay, but it’s really only because you weren’t sure how to process the fact you were leaving. Ace and Deuce’s party, despite being one thrown in the name of your farewell, had helped distract you from acknowledging it really was goodbye… but now that it was hours past, you were forced to really admit that this was your final night.

Just as you feel a tear well up in your eye, a hand ghosts along your spine. You jump, whirling around to confront whoever it was, your fist tightening as you ready an attack—

Oh. You freeze as soon as your eyes meet familiar verdant green ones.

“Relax, little mouse.” Leona says in amusement. He hadn’t even flinched when he saw your fist flying towards him, instead only glancing at your tightened hand with an intrigued simper. “ ‘s just me.” He says, and he raises his hands in sign to show he didn’t mean any harm, an ear flicking as he watches you unclench your fist.

“I thought you were a deep sleeper.” You murmur to him, turning back to the open expanse of Ramshackles front yard before realising you were looking at you and Leona’s photos before you came. Almost embarrassedly, you make a movement to hide them, but Leona’s eyes have already caught on to them long before you knew he was there.

An unreadable expression passes Leona’s face as he looks back into your eyes.“Even my unconscious can catch on to you when you leave,” he says simply, coming to rest his back on the front perches fence, where you leant on your arms. He was referring to realising you had left him while he was sleeping, but you can’t help but think he was also talking about tomorrow— when he’d leave.

A moment of silence passes between the two of you, the rustle of the trees the only conversation as the wind bellows the two of you.

You huff, “Alright, level with me here… It’s almost insulting, you know. You haven’t cried at all.” You say, in an attempt to be funny with Leona.

Instead, his response only furthers that dreadful feeling in your gut that you desperately tried to ignore. “I just… I didn’t wanna hold you back.”

You turn to him, wind tousling his hair as he refuses to meet your eyes. A solemn expression presses against his features, his usual scowl not so angry, but rather, sombre.

“Do you want me to stay?” You ask, testing him.

He doesn’t say a yes or no. “If I asked, would you?” he replies instead.

You almost glare at him for that question. He knew the answer. 

“I’d do anything if you asked me.”

Those are the words that play on your lips, but you stay silent, instead choosing to let that be his unspoken answer. If Leona would just say the word, order you to stay, you would. Perhaps, knowing that information, he chooses not to say so. He’s heard enough of your longing to know how you missed home.

“You’ll learn to live without me,” He says, as if it was as simple as breathing. “You’ve done it before. You can do it again.”

You can’t fathom how that could happen. For the past few weeks, you’ve woken up and looked forward to hanging out with Leona. Not just him, but you’ve learnt to look forward to seeing Ace and Deuce in your classes, to running into the older students in the cafeteria during lunch… You wonder, how you could learn to live without all of that— without him.

“You put too much faith in me.” You say.

Leona hums, disagreeing, before touching your arm, elbowing you.

“C’mon,” is all he says, pushing himself off the railing as he leads you elsewhere.

“Where are we going?” You ask, trailing after him immediately.

“My dorm. I doubt you wanna go back to Ramshackle right now… knowing Ruggie, he probably woke up and listened in on us, maybe even woke everyone else up.”

You groan at the thought. “Let them. It’s my final night, I can cut them some slack…” you say, before trailing after Leona, reaching for his hand. He accepts it happily, fingers wrapping around the back of your palm as the two of you head for the hall of mirrors.

It’s not the first time you’ve gone to Leona’s room, but it’s an intimate thing nonetheless. Leona refuses to flick on any lights, his excuse being that it might wake up some of the other Savanaclaw students, but that excuse wears off when you flop onto his bed in the dark. Leona’s magic pen is present in his hands, lighting a couple of candles. You recognize them as ones you gifted, a lavender scent that was supposedly relaxing… only for him not to use it.

“Don’t the scent of candles irritate you?” You ask, recalling the time Leona mentioned his heightened senses due to being a beastman. He mentioned how he hated being around Pomefiore students, the scent of their potions lingering too strongly on them. ‘You can never tell if it was their perfume or their alchemy, they all smell bad.’ He had told you, a familiar scowl on his face as he complains about Vil’s perfume.

He shrugs, snapping you out of your memory as he puts away his wand on the nightstand before flopping on top of you, your surprised protest muffled by his weight. He squishes you under him, smothering you beneath the familiar scent of the spices and sun that you’ve grown to recognize as his. “ ‘s not for me,” He says, replying to your question of the candle. Before you can stop it, your heart pangs painfully, the realisation of him putting aside his own irritation in hopes of you having a better night with him hitting you like a truck.

You manage to escape the entanglement of his limbs. “Hey,” you say slowly, tentatively. Leona catches on to the delicate tone of your voice all too easily, and he latches onto you a bit tighter, as if warning you not to say your next words. “I know you’re being considerate and all, but I’d rather we both be happy tonight. If the candle’s gonna irritate you, then let's blow it out.”

Leona nuzzles into the in between of your neck and shoulder. “I can put up with it.” He says, lacking his usual spunk of a response. You frown, lips twisting downwards as you free your left hand from Leona’s weight to wrap beneath his chest and over his shoulder, stroking his hair in a comforting manner that you know he likes. His chest rumbles, a soft reverb of what you’ve grown to know is the closest Leona will allow you to hear of a purr.

He sighs contentedly, but it’s laced with a longing undertone– as if he was mourning your loss before it had come. “Can’t you be more selfish, prefect? You’re makin’ me feel bad.”

You laugh. “It’s fine. I think it would be better for you, too. This isn’t just my loss…” You trail off. While your friends would only lose the friend they made, you would lose everything… Knowledge that only existed here, habits that could only be applied within this realm of magic, family you’ve found within friends. You know your friends would be sad, too; but it’s shared knowledge that you were undeniably losing more than them.

But could this all be applied to Leona? As he sits within your arms, quietly breathing against the triangle of your neck, you realise this loss would affect him just as much as you. You were one of the only people— if not the only person— that Leona would show a much more open side to. You’d lose the comfort of a lover, as well as Leona. His strained relations with his family left him with only you to talk to about problems he felt, and even if you know of the brotherhood he shared between Ruggie and Jack, there's only so much they’d know of.

You’re a mirror of each other, you realise. But in the way that when you reached for Leona with your right, he’d reach for you with his left, and when you turn away, he would have to as well. You had once echoed the absence of family to Leona, to which he replied in earnest of his similar situation. Comforting each other, finding that sense of comfortability you both lacked in this world. An endless game of chase, which would finally come to an end tomorrow.

You thought you could play this little game of sun and moon forever, basking in Leona’s moon-like resolve when you wove him energy as gifts as the sun he thought you were. Mindlessly pursuing the other as Leona reflected the energy you gave him, the two of you more similar than you thought. But just like tomorrow, the moon would only eclipse the sun for a short time, and just like the two of you: your time here would end, leaving you to mirror the star and its moon; separated, only to look where traces of warmth of the other was.

“I’m tellin’ you, it’s fine,” he says, indignant. “I’ve… I dunno. The scent is kinda nice, I guess.”

“Is it?”

“Smells a bit like you,” Leona says, and he leans up a bit to squint in the darkness, presumably glancing at the brand name of the candles. He's oh so pretty, features highlighted and illuminated by the candlelight as he turns away.

You laugh, “Ace and Deuce entered me into this weird raffle in Sam’s shop a while back for a ton of candles. I won, so that's why I gifted some of them to you.” you pull him back into you, sighing against the crown of his head. “I must smell a bit like it cause I was trying to use them all up whenever I was in Ramshackle.”

He rumbles against your chest. “Maybe I’ll go buy some later.”

You hum. You wonder, what else would Leona do to preserve your memory? Would he look for your favourite meals whenever the cafeteria ghosts served them? Perhaps instinctually buy your favourite drink as a surprise gift, only to realise your absence?

You’d never get to know what he’d do when you're gone. You could not promise him you’d be back— you didn’t know if you could ever come back.

But would you, given the chance?

Yes, you say to yourself. Yes, a million times over.

“Oh, I gave some to Malleus too,” you say after a moment, recalling how he knocked on your door to question the smell that hung around Ramshackle. “Still wanna buy some?” 

Your boyfriend groans in distaste at the mention of the dragon fae. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like he’s your boyfriend, is it?” He says, a threatening growl lacing his tone.

“He’ll miss me the same, you know. He was my friend, too—”

“Whatever that horned bastard feels, I feel tenfold.” Leona snarls, rubbing his head against you in a manner that mimicked a cat rubbing its scent on objects to mark their territory… the thought makes you giggle a bit.

“That horned bastard has it better. He doesn’t feel as heavily, didn’t know you like I did… he’ll never experience the loss I feel.”

You sigh, “Must you fight even when you both mourn my leave?” You tease, but you know Leona’s words are right. While Mallues cherished you as a friend— god forbid, a crush— it was undeniable that Leona would feel more hurt than he did. 

A moment of comfortable silence ensues, and you realise you forgot to change out of your blazer and school clothes. You forgot if you offered the students in Ramshackle any spare clothes, wondering if they also fell asleep in their uniforms. 

You voice it out to Leona, “I forgot to grab some clothes from my house—” you cut off, feeling the need to correct yourself. “ —well, uh. Not my—”

He interrupts you. “Don’t say this isn’t your home,” Leona says into your neck, ears furrowed back. “Don’t lie. You and I both know where ‘home’ is now.”

“I was gonna say how it wasn’t much of a problem, but if you could, could you pass me a shirt? This outfit isn’t exactly comfortable.”

Leona groans, having to move up and off you, stalking off to his closet to grab a spare shirt before throwing it back to you. He waits for you to change out of it patiently, glancing at your bare skin for a moment before turning away, giving you some privacy, even if you’ve already seen eachother bare.

Leona’s words echo in your mind as you throw off the restricting blazer, although you’re careful to keep the stack of photostrips inside the pocket. Your rightful place was back in your homeworld. But the way your skin alights in flame when Leona touches you, the way your heart churns as he cradles you closer to him and kisses the top of your head, you can’t help but think— was this not your rightful place? Was this not where you belonged? What if the dark mirror hadn’t mistaken you, what if you were meant to be here?

You knew not to place your hopes within those thoughts, for the memory of your original world was enough to remind you of the harsh reality. 

Before you realise it, tears drip down from your cheeks and onto the new shirt Leona just gave you. You apologise quickly, wrists pushing into your eyes as you try to wipe them away, but Leona reaches over to you, his thumb swiping over the corner of your eyes. Your hands come to grip at his wrists, shaking, as you finally allow yourself to cry the tears you’ve forced away the entire day.

“I was wondering when this’d happen,” Leona murmurs, placing a kiss onto your forehead. “ ‘s fine, mouse. I mean, it’s understandable— I'd cry if I had to be apart from myself, too.” He tries to say, an attempt at cheering you up. Instead, you sob a little harsher… how cruel it was, for the dark mirror to displace you, showing you happiness, only to rip it from you and remind you of how this world was never yours to begin with.

You twist away, tears spilling from your eyes in crystalline rivers that reflect the moon's light from Leona’s open windows. Even now, your prince can’t help but think of how beautiful you are, he can’t help but force every moment into his mind, memorise and capture you, burning what little time of your presence he had of you into his mind as he presses his lips to yours, guiding you to lay on his pillows as he kisses you.

Leona’s never been one for words. But with the way he pulls you into his warmth, how he breathes your scent and sighs against your skin, inhaling the scent of you while you caught your breath after one breathtaking kiss after the other; the message is clear: he was trying to bury you in his mind, saving this memory for the eternity he’d be apart from you.

And you can’t deny that you’re doing the same. Your hands come to his scalp, grasping at your opposite wrist in a motion you’ve grown accustomed to doing whenever you kiss Leona, but then they begin to traverse the rest of his face. His angled jaw and high cheekbones, the thin ridge of scar on his right eye, velvety ears that flick when you brush against them. Perhaps, when you return to your world, you’d attend those clay classes your mother seemed so fond of and sculpt what you could remember, recalling the memory of warm skin beneath yours into cold lifeless clay to recreate a piece of the life you loved. You would carry these memories inside your heart, where when memory would falter, heartache would remind you; a testimony of simpler times where you had to worry about passing magic school as a magicless human…

A displeased sound escapes your lips as you realise something. Leona immediately freezes, pulling himself off you, brows knitted together as he inspects you closely. “Are you okay?” he asks— he probably thought he put too much of his weight on you, something that happened often when the two of you decided to lay on top of eachother, but it was far from what you were thinking of.

“How am I going to explain to my friends that I fell in love with a furry…?” You say, sighing as you squeeze your eyes shut, faking resentment towards your lion-eared lover. “Beastmen don’t exist in my world. They’ll look at me like I'm crazy.” 

Leona sighs, the hoarse tone indicating his irritation from your words, but it's laced with the relief that your problem wasn’t anything actually serious. He reaches over his head, hand intertwining with the one that had stroked his hair comfortingly, and he brings your open palm to his lips, a soft kiss placed on your palm.

“I’m sure they can live without a couple of facts about me,” Leona murmurs into your hand, his signature smirk playing on his lips.

You hum, hand reaching up to brush the hair away from his face. It falls to caress his neck, and you can feel his pulse– had it quickened in thought of you telling your family about him? You know that yours certainly pulsed when he told you that his nephew Cheka knew of him…

“I wish Falena and his wife could meet my parents.” you say absentmindedly, before quickly pursing your lips. The strained relation between Leona and his brother was something the two of you avoided speaking of, out of respect for the healing wound his brother had on him, and out of fear of your lover’s reaction to anything concerning his brother. You knew he hated being compared to him.

Luckily for you, Leona looks to be amused by the thought. “What, so I could get their approval?” Leona says, flopping down on you again, this time laying on your chest as your hands reach out to caress him softly. One hand on the crown of his head, the other on his back, mindlessly drawing shapes into his skin.

“You should know I’m not one to wait on things like that. But…” he trails off, and you hear a yawn. “I guess it isn’t a horrible thought.” he says after a moment, and his ear twitches.

You grin, quickly catching on to the tell tale sign that the thought made him nervous. “Are you scared of being told ‘no’?” You tease, voice singsong as you tease your prince. “I’m sure we’d figure something out. I’d pick you regardless of what my parents said, as well. Even if they’d be repulsed at the fact you’re a furry.”

Your lover groans, stirring on top of you. Before you realise it, he’s flipped your positions over, placing his back on the bed while moving you to rest on his chest. “You’re the one that fell for me, herbivore. It’s a problem you’ll have to deal with, or leave.”

“Like you’d let me escape your grasp.” You say, gesturing at the hold Leona has on you, both relationship-wise and how Leona was holding you against him right now.

He grins, familiar and smug. “I wouldn’t.” he says, claiming you like the territorial animal he was.

Something on your wrist clicks, and your eyes come to rest on the bracelet Leona gave you. It used to be his own, something that you came to admire whenever Leona was around, eyes transfixed on the colourful band. After you started dating and he caught your gaze, eyeing the bracelet wound upon his wrist— he quickly offered it to you, leaving his own wrist bare with only his golden one.

“I should give this back,” you say, half a murmur to yourself, half a suggestion to Leona. He glances at it, before glaring at you, turning to nestle himself in your shirt— which was really just a shirt that you stole from him too.

You reach out for him, cradle his face to yours, forcing him to look at you. He looks at the beaded bracelet on your wrist, a one-way exchange from him. “Keep it. You might…” He trails off, and even without him saying it, you can catch on to what he’s thinking of. Understanding swells in your chest as you come to terms with Leona’s own sorrow, but before you can tell him to quiet down because you understood, he says it with his voice.

“I’m afraid of you forgetting me. Here, your memory will live on in the friends you’ve made— I'll be reminded of you within every person you’ve interacted with, even if it’s just your weird lingo you’ve managed to teach the first years,” Leona pauses, casting a meaningful glance at you. “No matter what, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to escape you, even when you’re taken worlds beyond mine…” 

Leona wouldn’t ever admit he was afraid. Up until now, you didn’t think that word existed in his dictionary, often using tactics and words to hide what truly affected him and what didn’t. To have Leona admit his fear vocally, was an honour that was sadly bestowed to you through the loss the both of you faced.

You reach up to him, pulling him into your warmth, coddling him into your embrace. At first, he takes it happily, kissing along your lips, but he soon realises that you’re smothering him in yourself. He tries to push you off, a frown already playing on his lips, but you interrupt him before he can bare his fangs.

“Are you so certain you haven’t rubbed off on me in ways you don’t think of?” You murmur, dipping your head to rest on Leona’s collarbone, a blush heeding at your skin. “Even when I’m gone, I think I’ll always echo you. I’ll always wonder where your annoying tail is whenever I walk, tapping against my legs to guide me to our destination. I’ll braid my hair in memory of times you’ve let me braid yours. When I study, I’ll look for you, your guidance and your smart mouth that somehow manages to insult and teach me at the same time…” you trail off, listing off the countless habits that Leona’s managed to rub off on you. They were mindless things that Leona must’ve done without a thought, but they were things you’ve grown to love.

“Please don’t insult me in such a way that you think I’d forget about you, just like that. It hurts me just as much as it hurts you.”

A shaky breath lines Leona’s lips, and you realise he must be crying. You straighten immediately, searching Leona’s face for signs of tears, but he turns away quickly, gathering himself and forcing you not to worry about him. “Sorry, princess,” Leona says after a moment. His apology isn’t like him, neither is the corny nickname, but you can’t help but be incremented in fluster at the genuinity behind those two words.

“Could I have been a princess?” You don’t dare ask him the question. Both out of embarrassment, and the fact that the two of you were still young, both of you with your years laid out in front of you… you’re sure that you can’t forget about Leona even if you tried, but similar to how he refused to ask you to stay in twisted wonderland, you didn’t want to hold him back.

He touched the thought of your absence like a wound, and it responds in aching throbs that can only assure that he’d have a hard time forgetting. He hadn’t even realised it, but he had fantasised of a future where you’d be beside him, bringing your commoner status to royalty. “Us lions are known to be loyal,” Leona muses against your skin, seemingly reading your mind. “Whatever thoughts you may have against me, I can tell you right now, won’t happen. I swear by it.”

He’s scared of your light leaving him, of his sun returning back to its duties. He could only reflect so much of the light you shone on him; he could only be so much of you. He’d find the rest of the pieces he lacked to show in others, whether that be the unsure grin that you mimicked from Ace, or the constant pestering about the ‘pretty prefect’ from his nephew Cheka, or the comics you enjoyed reading with Idia…

A sun, a fading star, which would leave its dying light wherever Leona gazed. He can only pray that he’d never forget, that time would be kind to his memory.

Leona isn’t a creature made to love. He ditched that thought long ago, only giving it a chance when you came along. Now, he remembers– he’s a creature incapable of handling sorrow. After his parents died, after he left for Night Raven College to escape his brother and his new family, he sealed his heart away, protecting it with hissed threats that kept others away and bared teeth that frightened others off. He knew he couldn’t handle it again, couldn’t handle losing the people he loved… but that was all seemingly forgotten when he met you. He’s fearful of what’s to become of him. The type of person he’d be once he once again lost someone important. He gave love a chance again, and had you just been from this world— he would’ve been able to believe.

But then he realises— he does believe in love. But that belief would lie with you and you only, and perhaps, die alongside you. Now that you were going, he’d only know the memory of loving you, a memory slotting beside loving the family he only knew as a past.

He guesses it would take him a lifetime to forget about you, if he never saw you again. Inwardly, he thinks to himself— what type of magic was needed to open another portal? How powerful did he have to be to see you again? If he so needed to, the irritating king of the fae could provide some assistance, and Leona could take advantage of both of their soft spots to you. His ears flicker as he thinks… if the dark mirror was strong enough to pull you from worlds away from this one, then it’s a possibility that he…

“You’re blanking out again.” You say, shaking him out of his stupor as you trace your hand across his face. He pushes his face to yours, pressing his lips to yours again. Another kiss, if he can’t get anymore, if he would be unable to one day reverse the magic Crowley would do tomorrow. 

You’re all too happy to comply, your flesh moulding to his, “Leona.” you call, a small little plea. You wanted to stay, wanted so desperately to hear Leona ask you to, but you both know better than that. He’d express his longing, but that was the farthest he’d go— because he knows you have things other than him. Your eyes glitter with the might of the universe, a galaxy and all its stars within your sparkling orbs as tears threaten to spill once more.

He shushes you, pushing another kiss to your lips. Tomorrow's troubles were nothing but a night away, and the two of you would spend the rest of time until then with what little moments you had left with each other.

Eventually, when your lips get too tired to kiss, and the two of you manage to get some sleep. As your fatigue finally catches up to you, a thought flits by your mind. Your first night, alone in a world you knew nothing of with only yourself who could comfort you; and your last night in the arms of a lover, in a reality you’ve grown to love. It was weird to think that tomorrow, you’d be back to square one, with the full expanse of a bed that lacked the lion you were so used to sleeping beside. But for now, you’d worry about the uncomfortable heat that Leona emanates, sleepily trying to push him off from you, to which he only unconsciously holds you tighter.

You came with nothing, and now, you’d leave with everything in your chest yet nothing in your arms.