CHARRED POMEGRANATES AND RAMSHACKLE KISSES
A/N: I'm finally back, my sweet Sundews! It's been a while and I'm hoping you all are still interested. I think chapter 2 is pretty good. Please feel free to comment what direction you'd like the story to go in!
CHAPTER TWO: Befriending a Monster
You turned in curiosity to see who screamed about taking someone's head, only to see the redhead from earlier standing over Grim, pointing the odd pen you took note of before directly at him. What was a pen even supposed to do in this situation?
Before you could ponder for too long, a red light began to encase the pen with its overwhelming shimmer.
"Your transgressions are paramount to insulting the Queen of Hearts herself! You are not only guilty of breaking rule 23, "Never bring a cat to a formal affair", You are a rotten nuisance who has ruined our entetence ceremony!"
His face was almost entirely red now, making his crimson eyeshadow hard to see and causing his eye to pop out comically, both in the way his lovely icy blue eyes stood out more in the bed of flaming roses laid on soft features, and also in the way the rage meant that he straining (evidence of which was his tightly gritted teeth, nerves popping out on his neck and eyes almost trying to fly out their sockets.)
It was odd to think about the amount of rage and regulations drilled into such a small man.
As he stared down at the beast, you thought he might kill it, instead a collar was placdd around his neck. Grim attempted to set a blazr again, but was only met with a pathetically tiny trail of smoke.
With the beast successfully detained, many students many students rushed to extinguish the flames still raging. Many students began to use water spells to quell them. The boy who's behind was on fire previously did the most heavy lifting, smiling and humming an oddly positive tune as he did.
When the fire was out, Crowleu applauded and grinned.
"Wonderful job, Housewarden Rosehearts! Wonderful job, everyone!"
At the praise, the boy addressed as Rosehearts smirked and the students cheered for a crisis averted. And then there was you. Soaked with a few burns on your arms, and the reality starting sink in. This wasn't a dream, or some weird kidnapping, or a game, it was entirely real. It just wasn't your world.
Crowley led you to your new home for the forseeable future, Ramshackle Dorm. It was run-down, and almost completely dilapidated, falling apart, and, possibly worst of all, haunted by some unwanted roommates. They jumped out at you and Crowley every chance they got, attempring to drive you both out of their turf.
"I dare say these ghosts are quite aggressive." Captain obvious stated with his hand on his chin. However, it was hard to concentrate on his words when a ghost was hurling magic fireballs at you. All of a sudden, just like in the entrance ceremony, Grim rushed in clumsily, free of the chunky collar the Rosehearts boy placed on him. One of the ghosts made the wrong decision to try to spook the already terrified beast and was met with a firey blast to the face.
"Jolly good show, beast! But aren't you supposed to be banned from the premises?"
"Nyeh! No human can keep the Great and Powerful Grim out!
There was a beat of silence as Crowley placed a sharp-tipped finger upon his chin before he suddenly exclaimed.
"Well, I belive I have conjured two fabulous schemes!"
Crowley paused for dramatic effect, then threw up his arms and smirked as he proclaimed.
"You and this monster shall work as cleaners to earn your board and keep! And for my second plan, you shall be given access to the school library to aid your journey home. How kind and generous I am!"
You gave him a grateful smile, if not a little weirded out by his constant self-praise.
The following day, you found yourself scrubbing these old statues of the 'Great Seven' as the boy you had just met called them. He had wild orange hair and a red heart painted over his left eye. Beside him was another boy with short navy blue hair and a black spade painted over his right eye, wearing a stone-faced expression. As the hot headed one (Ace, as he introduced himself) began to have a scuffle with Grim, you had your first taste of a magic battle, and your first taste of trouble. During the kerfuffle, one of Ace's wind blasts accidentally collided with Grim's fire, sending the shot right into the statue of a woman with a tangible aura of power and strictness, even in the stone. Just as it couldn't get any worse, Crowley showed up to investigate the noise.
To say he was furious would've been an understatement, he immediately labelled Ace and Deuce expelled and you and Grim kicked out, but (thanks to Deuce's grovelling and begging) you were granted another chance at redemption. It wasnt going to be easy, though.
"Since I am a well of generosity and charity, I shall allow you to choose one of our Housewardens to accompany you on this perilous quest! Now, who do you choose?"
Ace pursed his lips to say "Riddle", but your brain blurted out a name before him.
All three turned to look at you. It seemed that, despite being at Night Raven College for such a short time, the two boys had already heard of the infamous introvert of Ignihyde. Crowley composed himself and let out a suprised but amused chuckle.
"Oh my, where on Earth did you meet him? Now that I think of it, I recall you having quite an interest in the tablet he uses to communicate during the entrance ceremony..."
"Are you serious!? Him!? He's a total recluse! And you think he's just gonna come help us at the flick of a wrist!?" Ace interjected in a bewildered tone.
Despite the shock of the others, and their belief he would entirely deny participation, Idia half showed up, only using his tablet to communicate and follow along.
"This is like the weirdest assist quest I've ever had to do. Why'd you even pick me!?"
His slightly whiny voice rang out though the speakers rushed and nervous, he obviously seemed to not get out much. There was a stammer and shake to his voice, but also a twinge of excitement to be even considered for this job.
While Grim just glared at the device, obviously judging Idia from being safe and sound away from all of the danger, you pondered what the reason was that he hid away from the world, it seemed to go past simple introversy, there had to be a reason but you decided it was probably personal, so you resisted prying.
Ace and Deuce speed walked into the cave ahead of you, while Grim clung to your leg. The air was thick was awkward tension, so you turned your head to the floating tablet beside you.
"So..." You began. "How does it feel to be Housewarden? Sounds pretty...important?"
"Wouldn't know, tbh. Never attend Housewarden meetings besides than with my tablet, and my dorm members never talk irl, only in groupchats when the internet is down. Basically introvert heaven. It's p. cool..."
The voice besides you rambled on, seemingly proud of the fact everyone in his dorm was almost as anti-social as him.
As you advanced into the cave, it became darker and darker, causing it to be harder and harder to see, thankfully you had your three sources of illumination: Idia's tablet, Grim's ears, and the lantern that Ace found clutched in the hands of a, totally not worrying, skeleton closer to the entrance of the cave. You all stopped at a clearing and looked around at the abandoned tools scattered around you.
"It looks like they were dropped in a rush..." Deuce muttered to no one in particular.
As Ace and Grim began to get in another scuffle, you stole a look at Idia's tablet and wondered what he may look like behind his technological shield, maybe lean, dark, tall and gloomy. Maybe he'd look nothing like that. Your cheeks flushed lightly at the thought of him secretly being a cute geek behind the screen, but quickly adverted your eyes when he made a slight "hm?" sound.
A moment of silence passed, twinged with awkwardness, before you opened your mouth to ask a question, but were cut of by a splintering roar. Ace and Deuce were knocked out of whatever disagreement had started and rushed to duck behind a nearby rock, pulling Grim with them. You rushed over as well, Idia's tablet following suit, dimming his screen as to not give you all away.
"What in the Seven is that!?" Ace gawked as a hulking shadow slumped into the lighter part of the cave.
The creature was almost shaped like a human, donning a red miner's tunic on it's torso. The legs, however, were nowhere to be seen, you couldn't help but wonder if there really was anything there or if it was just covered in shroud. Its head was a potion bottle full of an odd black substance, that specific detail made Idia begin to mutter under his breath. You covered your mouth with your hands to minimise the sound of your breathing.
"T-There's no freakin' way we're beating that thing, we should just make a break for it while we still have legs!" Ace whisper-yelled to you all. You and Grim were in agreement, and braced yourself to tuck tail and run, but Deuce's voice cut through silence, as hard and sharp as flint.
"Are you crazy!? We have to leave before were monster food!" Grim squeaked out, his little paw grasping to pull him towards the exit, but Deuce harshly pulled away.
His yell rang throughout the cave, alerting the monster, who let out a piercing roar in return.
"I've worked too hard for this! I can't let her down!" Deuce rushed towards the glass-headed beast with his magic pen in hand.
"What is that idiot doing!?" Ace stood up in a flash and dashed towards it as well, briefly putting up a defensive spell in front of Deuce. Leaving you, Grim, and Idia's tablet. Admist the scuffle, and chaos, your eyes caught a shiny glimmer on the rock wall.
"A magicstone!" You yelled to the others, however they were quite preoccupied. When you turned to them, you expected to see them in the middle of battle, however, Deuce had slung Ace's unconscious body over his shoulder (supporting his waist with his hand).
As the four of you retreated to the outside of the mine, you saw the faint pale blue glow of Idia's tablet following close behind. Deuce laid Ace across many of the small beds sideways in the nearby cottage you had explored earlier and pulled up a seat to watch over him. As he did, Grim raided the cupboards for any scrap of food still edible, leaving you alone with the floating tablet.
"So..." You began, idly drumming your hands on your knee that was tucked to your chest. "What do you look like?" You finally decided on, which elicited a small squeak from Idia.
"Why do you want to know!? I just got the avatar customisation of your average otaku loser." There was an underlying pout to his voice, but also a tinge of apprehensiveness, trying to figure out what your motive was.
"Gonna mouth off to your extrovert chums later? 'Oh! I met such a level 1,000 loser freak who actually was stupid enough to show me what he looks like! Lawl!'"
You went silent as you let him indulge in his self-deprecation tangent, disagreeing though passive.
"You'd probably go around telling everyone about the fire haired freak!"
"Fire hair?" It was his turn to shut up. "Like in an 'it's amazing!' way or literal?" The mute sign appeared on the screen and you reckoned that was all the info you would get from him today. Instead, you turned your attention towards what the others were doing. Grim was digging in to an old can of tuna, his three-pronged tail dancing around happily as he devoured. It was amusing to see someone so immursed in smelling fish, but Grim did not seem to find it as funny.
"Hey human! What are you staring at!? Don't just chuckle!"
"Sorry, you just...really act like a cat." With that statement, Grim flew into a fluffy rage and began punching your legs. I say "punch" quite loosely, as his paws felt like little cotton gloves. Maybe he was going easy on you, maybe he felt bad because of your lack of magic, maybe there was kinship. Grim seemed to be a pretty good companion, maybe you could make more friends. Idia didn't seem too bad...
"Hey! Stop it with the spacing out!" A nasaly voice yelled at you, as he very gently bit your leg. "And, anyways, you haven't even apologised for calling me a cat!"
As you and Grim playfully bickered, the tablet idly, and little did you know, there was a crisis happening behind it.
Blue light coming from his monitor illuminated Idia as his head rested squarely in his palms.
"No way...they actually...seem nice? No! It's got to be a trap! They're definitely the secret boss for sure! Or are they...? Their disguise is too OP!" He groaned dramatically and flopped onto his bed. The tips of his hair turned an ever so slight pink as he observed yours and Grim's interaction, you seemed playful and pretty happy, despite only knowing eachother for about a day. That's when he decided it.
You were definitely the secret boss! Jealousy and envy began to take root in his mind, creeping down to his heart, threatening to spread throughout his whole being. This wasn't the first time, and it definitely wouldn't be the last. It didn't take much. It didn't take much to set his envy off, seeing people happy with friends, enjoyimg the outdoors, getting the game or figure he wanted.
Spending time with siblings.
His usually sharp eyes were almost immediately dulled by shifting to the figure in the corner, like an axe dragging across sandpaper. The silhouette was hooked up to a series of wires, some sort of charging station. Despite the intense jealously and envy already taking root, another force had ambushed to grasp his heart and squeeze it til he could do naught but ache.
Guilt. Sometimes its grip made him feel as if the blood would burst out of him, he belived he may well deserve it. It wouldn't be his first time seeing that much blood anyways.
Blood. He hated it. Before the incident, it didn't bother him much, but now he could barely handle the sight of it. He hated everything about it, the warm feeling when freshly spilt, tangling its crimson tendrils around his fingers and poisoning him with its sweet promises of release from the suffering in its sweet caress. The sickening coppery taste spreading throughout his mouth, trickling past his sharp teeth. The overwhelming scent as the ringing in his ears subsided. The light reflection of his face, a sight he despised for years to come, fear sticken and pooling with regret. The sight of two people's blood mixing in a final act of brotherly love. He hated it so much infact that, when he realised he had gotten so pale he looked like he didn't have any blood, he smiled. Not a happy smile, but satisfied. His parents were worried that he looked like a corpse.
But he always loved matching with Ortho.
By the time you got Grim off you, Ace had came to and was getting a firm talking to from Deuce, (despite him being the first to rush in). As you surveyed the cabin, a lightbulb lit up in your head. A plan. A plan to aquire the magic stone and defeat the that thing.
You heard nothing but a sigh from Idia's tablet as he drew the shortest stick, meaning he had to be bait. You, Deuce, Ace and Grim all got into position as he flashed a bright light at the monster, before swiftly exiting. The beast rushing close behind, his tablet froze at the side of the canyon as you all jumped out. Grim exhaled a plume of blue flames as Ace cast his wind spell, causing the fire to swirl and bite at the creature from all angles, twirling towards the sky in a stunning crescendo. The thing stumbled backwards towards the cliffs edge, but it was Deuce's turn to go.
"Alright..." He took a deep breath. "This is it...I summon thee, CAULDRON!" With this cry, a cauldron materialised above the glass bottle acting as its head for the creature and descended upon it, causing a crack to form. Deuce gritted his teeth when it didn't stumble back far enough, raising his pen again.
"CAULDRON! CAULDRON! CAULDRON!" He repeatedly yelled, ending in the creature falling off the cliff into the canyon.
"Alright! We did it!" Grim cheered as he went to high five Ace and Deuce.
"You guys have really changed your tune about eachother." You teased, laughing as they immediately pulled away and became bashful.
But the celebration wasn't long lived as an earth shaking roar thundered from the canyon and shook you to your bones. One massive glove smacked against the earth as it pulled itself back up, stalking toaards you all. Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the creature was naught but a puddle of ink black liquid and glass. A few flames still lapped at the remains but then died out.
The click of heels approached as the the short redhead from earlier came into view, looking pissed as he held a regal staff. However, he wasn't alone. To his right was a boy in a fedora themed to the dorm's colours, he also had a clover painted on his face and moss green hair. To his left was a ginger boy with his hair half tied back, he had a diamond painted on his face and held a phone with an extremely ugly case on.
Eventually, Ace and Deuce were dragged away because they apparently didn't sing when a hedgehog sneezed(?). You decided not to question it, but you did stop the Housewarden to thank him for saving you.
"Excuse me!? Why would I save rule breakers?" Only an appualed face greeted you. He turned away dramatically and marched of, leaving you with Grim sniffing around. You were almost too busy being confused to be disgusted at Grim devouring a black stone from the remains of the monster. When you were about to go back into the mine, you caught a glimpse of a blue flame and an odd robe, but it fled as quickly as you could see it, so you brushed it off and went to go get that magic stone.
When you returned with dirty hands, cuts, scrapes and a magic stone, Crowley clapped his gloved hands in delight.
"How wonderful! Mr. Spade and Mr. Trappola are completely bailed out now. Not jBfrom Mr. Rosehearts wrath, however." You smiled, proud and tired.
"How about this: you've shown excellent promise as a beast tamer, so I shall extend an invitation to join Night Raven College to you and the beast, Geim and you shall study as one." Crowley smirked as if he had come up with the best idea ever.
You weren't sure if you wanted to stay or not but it wasn't like there was anywhere else to go, so you shook on it.
"Yes!" Grim exclaimed "The Great Grim is finally gonna show this school some real magic!" He pounced onto the headmage's desk and began to dance, causing you two to be sent back to Ramshackle for the night.
As you laid in bed, holding Grim's shivering form to shield him from the biting cold of the dilapidated dorm, you thought back on the day, especially Idia. Maybe you could be friends, he seemed to like you. Despite that, you wondered if there was really somethijg there, or if it was just covered in shroud.
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