Chapter Text
Oh My Dearest Benefactor,
My Proud and Lovely Flower of Evil,
You Truly Are The Fairest One of All,
Oh Magic Mirror On The Wall,
Reveal To Me The Face I Seek,
( Who is the most...)
To You, Whose Image The Dark Mirror Did Bekon Forth,
If Your Gentle Heart Bids It,
Take The Hand of The One Whose Image Appears on the Surface,
As Flames Burn Even The Stars,
As Ice Freezes Even Time,
As Great Trees Swallow Even The Sky,
Do Not Fear The Call of Darkness,
Now, Present Your Power,
To Me, To Them, For You,
The Hour Grows Long, and We Must Make Haste,
Take My Hand, Hold It Tight,
And Not Matter What May Come, Never Let Go...
°~Welcome To The Villain's World~°
°~Lovely Flower~°
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Dire Crowley was unsettled.
Now, they were many things wrong in that simple sentence, most of them residing in the fact that Dire had lived long enough to laugh through most situations.
Some of them in the fact that tonight was the night of the Entrance Ceremony of the prestigious Night Raven College, of whom he was currently the Headmage. As such, everything was required to be perfect, and surely nothing should be giving him the feeling of watching a trainwreck in slow motion.
Dire released a quiet sigh as he made his way towards the Mirror Chamber, the current Housewardens following behind him. The only sound in the half-lit corridors appart from footsteps was Rosehearts scolding Shroud for his lack of physical presence, the latter keeping silent in order not to anger the red haired sophomore more than he already was. Dire was a bit ashamed to admit he had gotten better at tuning out Heartslabyul's Housewarden ramblings about rules and whatnots.
Logically, he knew there was a lot to unpack in that whole "Rules are absolute" philosophy, but he was severely unprepared to handle that can of worms and Sevens forbid his endlessly prideful students accept the help of any therapist he might hire.
Their steps came to a halt infront of the imposing double doors of the Mirror Chamber. Rosehearts' scolding came to an expected end when Dire took out one of his countless keys to open the doors.
The sight that greeted him was one he witnessed countless times before: the Mirror Chamber dimly lit by green floating lanterns, the polished floor reflecting the moonlight from the majestic arched windows half hidden behind silk curtains. The main piece of the room was floating over an eerie fountain of green water, a mirror with an intricate golden frame and pitch black glass.
Today, however, there was a yearly addition to the room: hundreds of floating coffin-like Gates hovering behind the Mirror of Darkness, bobbing in opposing rhythms.
There was still time before the beginning of the ceremony so Dire turned around to make a short recap of how things were supposed to go, mostly for the sake of Rosehearts, Ashengrotto, and Al-Asim, who were going through the Entrance Ceremony as Housewardens for the first time.
He was so engrossed with explaining things to a forgetful Al-Asim that he was taken of guard by the small knock that rang through the room like hammer. Seven heard plus a floating tablet turned towards the source of the sound, one of the coffin furthest from the Mirror in the front row. A small and muffled yet somehow loud voice came from it.
"I no longer hear voices, so I will assume I managed to catch your attention. Can one of you kindly get me out off this coffin ? Despite it being surprisingly comfortable, I harbor negative feelings towards enclosed spaces."
The voice, bell-like, soft and delicate, was nothing short of polite, and despite his bewilderment, Dire found himself compelled to listen to its mysterious owner. He snuffed out that thought immediately, recognizing the feeling of an obedience charm.
"What the fuck..?", came the ever eloquent response of Kingscholar at the stranger's request, giving away the fact that the charm was only intended for Dire himself.
With no insignificant amount of curiosity, Dire raised his key staff, silently commanding the Gate to come forward and land a respectable distance from them, finally opening it to let out whatever suprise it brought to Night Raven College.
The person within the Gate slowly stepped out, and their appearance made Dire a little speechless. They had shoulder-lenght black hair. Soft curls framed thier face, falling into bouncy bangs above warm brown doe eyes.
Now, that would be enough to get some heads to turn, since those were very rare features in Twisted Wonderland, but there was more to that individual.
They were short, shorter than Rosehearts who stood at an already impressive 160cm for a boy his age. Their skin was the palest shade he had seen in a while, and that was taking the Fae, with most a pale as shalk; Schoenheit, who handled his skin with utmost care; and the elder Shroud, who avoided the sun like the plague, into consideration. Dire wasn't sure if it was the work of the ray of moonlight they had just stepped into but their skin seemed to glow a dim white that gave them and otherworldly feel. Their face was heart shaped and they had a delicate and rather waifish figure from what little he could make out. The ceremonial robes hid most of their form, with its hood resting over their head.
From an objective point of view, Dire could easily admit that this new student was pretty, increadibly so, and while it wasn't the reason why he assigned them their pronouns, he just couldn't, for the Seven's sake, figure out their gender. And that was saying a lot considering the amount of effeminate boys going to Night Raven College, as well as it being an all boy academy. Plus, they carried themself with a sort of ethereal grace, silent and deadly like a certain war hero used to act before attending his school. The fact that their hand were folded in front of them and they wore a small, polite little smile further gave them the air of a particularly beautiful painting.
All of those observations were of course made in mere seconds, after all, he, as the Headmage, could not just go around staring at his students. He was a model for all educators after all!
"Sevens, this must be the first time a student managed to wake up inside their closed Gate, and to somehow undo the silencing spell inside it, just so you could ask to get out...Tell me, were you that impatient to start your school year ?", he wouldn't mention the obedience charm until he got a read of this student.
They slightly tilted their head to the side, much like a confused cat before slowly speaking, that polite expression ever present on their face, "My apologies, but I fail to understand what you mean by student. May I bother you with the task of explaining yourself ?"
Ah, he expected at least that much. Getting out of the Gate prematurely would no doubt cause some sort of disorientation, perphaps even slight memory loss. But because he is such a gracious Headmage he will take upon himself the burden of informing this poor student of their whereabouts.
"You currently are at Night Raven College, a prestigious all boy academy situated on Sage Isle. I, Dire Crowley, am the Headmage of this institution and the young men behind me are the Heads of the school Dormitories.", and because he was just that kind, "The Ebony Carriage, which is in charge of bringing students to the campus, should have brought you here for the Entrance Ceremony."
The student seemed to be reflecting on that as they tilted their head from side to side.
"I do recall a black carriage driven by scary looking horses..."
"Perfect ! Then if everything is in order, please go take a sit and wait for the other students to come in.", Dire shooed them towards the rows of chair in a corner.
They lingered just a bit with an interested look towards the Housewardens before obediently making their way to the rows of seats and taking one at the front.
Dire sighed once again before lowering all the Gates to the floor with a wave of this staff. A loud click rang across the room as they all unlocked and the Housewardens, silent and observant until then, went to welcome the new students and direct them to the seats under his lead. Only when all the students were out of their Gates, did Dire step to the front to make the traditional Opening Speech to this year's promotion.
"Dear students, I, the Headmage of this prestigious institution, am honored to welcome you all to Night Raven College..."
The speech was more instinct than memory and he allowed his eyes to wander on the new freshmen. Two of them, a lilac haired boy and a ginger, were quietly making their way out of the room.
'Hmm ? Troublemakers this early in the year? Oh well, Rosehearts seems to have noticed them already...', he saw the frowning red head discreetly following the two freshmen.
Dire resumed his scanning of the new batch of students when his golden orbs met hazelnuts eyes. The mysterious student from earlier was looking at him with half-lided eyes and their smile had taken an indulgent edge as they met his gaze. Only now did Dire realise that the magical presence of this particular student was...off.
He didn't take notice of it immediately when they met and it was way more difficult with so many people in the room but now, with his eyes focusing on the brown pools that shone almost golden in the right light, opposed to the chaotic mix of magical presence of their fellow students, each more eager than the other to be felt, their magic almost seemed to blend into the ambient magical energy of the room. Almost like a chameleon, adapting to its surrounding to not be noticed.
Dire was hit with the awareness of how dangerous that ability to blend into their environment was, for he wasn't sure even him, a seasoned and experienced mage having lived through his share of battles, would have been able to tell they were in the room had his attention not been on them. That fact made him extremely wary of that student and more than a little curious on which dorm they would land in.
Of course, none of that wariness showed on his face and Dire soon began leading the students to a line in front of the Mirror of Darkness for their sorting, giving extra care in keeping the brown eyed student in his field of view. He distantly noted they were the last in the line.
Many students were sorted, the majority going in Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw and Octavinelle. He made a mental note that less and less student got sorted into Scarabia. Perphaps the Sorcerer of the Sands Mindfulness was a bit unreachable for Night Raven's peculiar brand of students. It also seemed like Rosehearts brought back the two missing boys during his speech; they were sorted in Pomefiore for the petite boy and in Heartslabyul for the ginger.
'Its seems like Rosehearts and Schoenheit will have resident headaches this year.', Dire thought, a bit amused.
Before long, there was only one individual left to be sorted, the pretty mystery who got Dire hackles raised. He leaned in just slightly from his place at the foot of the small set of steps leading to the Mirror.
"State thy Name.", announced the Mirror of Darkness.
There was a small silence from the student, as if they were taking in the sight of the Mirror. Dire could only guess at their expression as he was behind them and couldn't see their face.
"I am called Yuu Kaena'ara.", they said, and something heavy settled over the room.
Dire Crowley released another sigh. He got the feeling that he, too, will get a resident headache this year.