#davinci

nervous con attendee

Chapter One: The Variable Returns

The gates of Nevermore Academy creaked open like they were reluctant to welcome anyone back.

Lenore Ravenscroft stepped through them without hesitation.

Fog curled around the stone pathways, wrapping the towers in a familiar gloom. Students filtered into the courtyard — claws, fangs, whispers. Lenore adjusted the strap of her bag, heavier than most, filled with notebooks and carefully packed inventions she preferred not to explain.

She didn’t feel nervous.

She felt observant.

Security had increased.

New iron reinforcements lined the outer walls. Faculty members lingered longer than necessary near the entrance hall. Even the gargoyles seemed to glare more sharply from their stone perches.

Lenore noticed all of it.

She always did.

While others reunited with dramatic embraces or whispered rumors about what had happened over the summer, Lenore observed patterns — who avoided certain topics, who scanned the treeline, who lowered their voice at the name “Tyler.”

The academy pretended it was a new beginning.

But Nevermore did not reset.

It remembered.

And as the first bell of the year echoed through the courtyard, sharp and hollow, Lenore Ravenscroft felt it with certainty:

This year would not be quieter.

It would be calculated.

—————————————————————————

You knew something was wrong the moment she noticed Pugsley and Eugene avoiding eye contact.

They were terrible at subtlety.

You followed them across the courtyard, past the greenhouse, toward the old wooden shed near the treeline. The door was slightly ajar.

And something inside groaned.

You crossed your arms. “I assume that sound is either illegal or decomposing.”The door flew open.

Pugsley stepped out, trying to block the entrance. “It’s not what it looks like.”

Eugene nodded far too quickly. “We have it mostly under control.”

A muffled thud came from inside the shed.

You raised an eyebrow. “Define ‘mostly.’” And pulled the shed door open.

The hinges screeched, and the smell hit immediately — the stench was so nauseaating that you started to gag before even entering the shed. The notes of rotten flesh and damp old rags were a disgusting mix.  Before you could even think of something else than the foul smell you got interrupted by the sound of chains rattling as a tall body launched towards you. Trying to take a bite of you.

Eugene winced. “We were going to tell you.”

You stepped inside calmly, surveying the scene like a failed science project. “You hid a zombie,” you said evenly. “Are you both insane?"

Pugsley shrugs. "Technically, he found us.... We just didn't tell anyone." The tall silhouette uncoils from the shadows. Hunched over. His dark sunken eyes analyzing the atmosphere before his gaze lands on you.

"Meet Slurp" Pugsley smiles with a lighter tone.

The zombie groaned and tugged at the rope. You crouched slightly, examining the knots. “Your restraint technique is inefficient.”

Pugsley blinked. “You’re not mad?”

You stood, brushing dust from your sleeve.

“I’m annoyed,” you replied evenly. “If you’re going to conceal a reanimated corpse on academy grounds, you should at least consult someone competent.”

Pugsley’s eyes lit up. “So you’ll help?”

You adjusted the rope with precise movements, tightening and reinforcing the structure.

“For now,” you said coolly. “It remains contained. That makes this an experiment, not a disaster.”

The zombie twitched.

You didn’t flinch.

Fandom: Wednesday

CW: Parental neglect, blood, physical altercation, werewolf reader, self-harm, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, abandonment, feelings of betrayal, medical jargon(lupus, cardiomyopathy, hemophilia), medications, bad friends, character death(you gonna die), angst, no happy ending  Isaac Night was never the cold, cruel boy the other students made him out to be, in reality, his heart replacement meant he had to take immunosuppressants to ensure his body did not reject the machine; being left with constant chronic pain that caused him great fatigue and agitation:

3.5k

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅⋅•⋅∙

Embarrassed by his ailments and afraid since he's more susceptible to illnesses, he chooses a harsh facade, wary of letting anyone too close. But you? A childhood friend from the hospital that stuck around despite his aloof exterior... You earned your way into his metal heart, and that means he has to deal with the fact that you care about him, a lot; but he must admit that his care for you is equally as immense.

A story in which you are Isaac's best friend from all the way back when you were both hospitalized

Isaac had developed cardiomyopathy, the cause being lupus

You are an outcast as well, a werewolf. You were in the hospital as you suffer from HEMOPHILIA type A, having a moderate version of the disease. This means that your blood doesn't clot very fast, often resulting in wounds bleeding for many minutes to even hours before finally stopping.

As a child you often awoke with severe nose bleeds, causing many early morning and late night emergency room visits before finally being diagnosed.

Your latest incident of epistaxis resulted in major blood loss, causing an ambulance to be necessary as your parents had been unable to rouse you.

It was common that you'd get a little lightheaded with these nosebleeds, but in this case, the blood had not only coated your skin, but pooled around you as you lay in bed. A horrifying sight for your parents to be met with when checking if you were asleep.

Your parents have since gone home, leaving you alone in that dark hospital room. You never did well alone, so you snuck out of the room, pulling along your IV pole as quietly as possible. Your parents instilled a lot of fear in you since being diagnosed that being alone could mean you die alone, as you almost did last night... Yet, despite their words, they scold you when you cry in fear, begging to sleep in their room.

It's not an irrational fear, but it has been blown out of proportion to the point you've begun to have panic attacks.

As you creep down the hall you come across a room with a dim light shining on the bed, peaking around the door, you see the light faintly illuminating the frail body of a boy, pencil desperately scribbling in a notebook he's levitating.

You are hesitant to approach him, what if he gets mad and hurts you? Would you run and hide, slowly bleeding until you fall into an endless sleep? Or would he let you stay, talk to you even?

"I know you're there." He mutters sluggishly, voice faint, as though speaking any louder would be too much exertion.

You want to shrink away, but force yourself to be still. His words weren't cruel or accusing; instead simply being a statement of fact, neutral.

"Hello." You greet, bringing your shivering form fully into view. The scribbling slows to a halt, his eyes flickering toward you, tracing over you as though trying to analyze your every feature.

The seconds tick by as he watches you, a thought rushing through your mind telling you to leave before he gets mad. Cowering as you take a step back, apologies dancing up your throat, unable to escape as his voice rings through the silence.

"Hello... I haven't seen you here before." He replies, another statement of observation, leaving your options open on how to respond.

"They don't usually make me stay the night." You respond, sheepishly looking away.

He huffs in amusement at your embarrassment, deciding that perhaps it's not a terrible thing to have someone to talk to.

"I'm Isaac, you can come in if you want." He introduces, offering you entrance after noticing that you remained on the border between his room and the hall.

"I'm y/n. I don't mean to bother you, I can leave if you want." You state, a wave of shame clouding your mind, what would your parents think? If they knew you'd left your room and were annoying another patient they would blow a fuse for sure.

"I invited you in, didn't I?" Isaac responds, head dropping against his pillow weakly, breathing a bit harder from having been sitting up for too long.

You are still hesitant, but who are you to decline such an invitation? Especially when your whole reason for wandering was because of your fear of being alone.

Stumbling as you walk in, leaning heavily on the IV pole before slowly lowering to the ground as dizziness overtakes you. Gasping for air, try to stave off a fainting spell that so desperately wants to occur.

"Are you okay?" Your new acquaintances voice calls, worry and confusion evident in his tone.

You can't respond immediately, having to get your breathing under control before managing to push up from your crouch so you are in a hunched standing position.

"Yes... I'm fine." Whispered assurances that neither of you believe,.

"You don't look well enough to be out of bed." He remarks, brows furrowing, contemplating what could've happened to leave you in this condition.

"No, no, I'm good." Another lie neither of you believe.

"Why are you lying? We're in a hospital, something is wrong with everyone here." Baffled at the way you brush off your faint state so lightly. He may only know your name, but you remind him of his sister too much for him to remain neutral.

"I...I just didn't want to be alone." Ashamed of your reasoning, eyes focusing on the ground, missing the flicker of understanding that rushes through Isaac's eyes.

"Oh." Is all he can manage, a sharp pain stabbing his chest at how small you make yourself, are you afraid he'll be mad?

"I don't like being alone either." An unexpected warmth echoing through his tone, gazing upon you fondly when your eyes raise to meet his. He motions with his head for you to move closer, hand ready to catch you should you stumble.

You make it to the side of his bed, barely able to peak over the edge, a laugh escaping him as you scoff in displeasure at your apparent lack of height.

"Stop laughing before I make you!" You grumble, hands raising to rest against the mattress, sending him a weak glare you both know holds no bite.

"Oh? Just how do you plan to do that?" Isaac remarks, feeling sufficiently entertained for the first time in weeks, a genuine smile inching onto his face, widening more-so when you try in vain to get onto the bed. You give up, head facedown against the mattress as you accept you simply aren't as tall as you'd like to be.

So caught up amidst self-pity, you fail to realize the sense of weightlessness, nor how your body has now risen from the ground until your head is no longer resting on the mattress.

Eyes snapping open in alarm, hands flying out to catch yourself despite the fact you aren't exactly falling.

"Easy, I've got you." Isaac murmurs comfortingly, his hand contorting as he lowers you carefully onto the mattress beside him.

"Woah." Is all you can say, not only caught off guard by his ability, but also by how much of him you can now see. His eyes are a brown so dark the lights don't seem to reflect, hair a bunch of messy curls falling partially unto his vision; but most notable was his paleness, how his intercostals sunk inwards with each breath, the shallow features of his face and body that should never be so thin.

"Woah?" He remarks, an eyebrow raised as he awaits your response. Shuffling lightly on the bed, ensuring you won't fall off before meeting his eyes once more.

"I just... I often forget that DaVinci's are so powerful." A true statement, but not the complete truth of your thoughts.

"I suppose... You don't seem disgusted, so I can only assume you're an outcast as well?" He questions, a pinch of curiosity in his tone.

"Yes, my family are werewolves, a few DaVinci's sprinkled in too." You remark, smiling at him as he returns it lightly.

"Hoping for either? Or are you fine with luck of the draw?" A serenity overtaking him as he sinks into the stiff mattress, a feeling of peace entering the room that's never been there before.

The conversation carries on through the night, discussing things like your outcast abilities, where you want to study, why you're both in the hospital. Joking even about such a serious topic, Isaac muttering about how ironic it would've been had you, the possible werewolf resident, had lupus instead of him.

The more he speaks to you, the quicker the tension leaves your shoulders, that fearful spike of dread in your gut dimming until it's all but disappeared.

The longer he observes you, the greater this protective need takes over, you remind him so much of Francoise that he is having trouble trying to remember that he isn't your older brother. He stops trying after awhile, watching as your blinking slows with a heavy fatigue, head drooping downwards before you force yourself back up.

"You're tired." He remarks, finally feeling his own fatigue for the first time in a week.

"Yeah... I should go." A hesitant whisper, that fear making you rigid once more.

Isaac frowns, hating the thought that you were so at ease until realizing you had to go back to your room.

"Y'know, you can stay here for tonight. Only if you want to, of course." Isaac offers, hoping you will accept as he too is experiencing your fear of loneliness.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." He states, the certainty in his tone leaving no doubts.

A grateful smile gracing your lips before you all but collapse against the mattress in exhaustion. Not caring for the fact that your aren't even under the blankets, your mind already teetering on your first peaceful sleep in months.

A faint smile forming as Isaac uses his ability to maneuver you under the covers, hand reaching over to straighten out your IV before you end up decannulating yourself.

You move closer, curling up a bit as you rest your forehead against his arm... Safe, that's the only word you can use to describe how you're feeling. Both drifting into a calm sleep, your first in weeks, basking in the comfort of each others presence.

The only meds he takes religiously are his immunosuppressants, usually remembering to take his other meds because you practically force them down his throat every morning; but on the occasions where you don't, he'll often forget about them

When he forgot about his lupus medication, he'd experience fatigue, his joints would begin to ache, and lights of any sort left him wincing away, sometimes even experiencing chest pain that could often trigger a panic attack.

You try to make him take them as they are prescribed, but it's hard when you technically aren't allowed to be inside his dorm - stupid no girls allowed rule, not that it usually stops you.

As a hemophiliac, being a werewolf is exceptionally dangerous, your own claws often leaving cuts marring your arms. Isaac tries to care for you as best he can, but your wounds always leave him with so many questions.

When he learns that your injuries from wolfing out are intentional, he gets mad, seeing it as you trying to kill yourself, perceiving it as you being willing to leave him behind without a second glance.

In reality, he couldn't be further from the truth. You self harm as a way to control your suicidal tendencies, intense guilt overflowing your body at the thought of ever leaving Isaac alone.

He refuses to speak to you after finding out, barring you from his room and his lab, not having to worry about classes as you don't have any common periods.

Gomez and Morticia having been ordered to slam the door in your face should you come around, something they ended up having to do rather often as you would not quit.

"Please, I just need–" Is all you ever manage to get out before the door slams shut. You are more than willing to respect the fact that Isaac needs space, but the fact he won't even listen to your pleading is a humiliating circumstance that unintentionally feeds into your own self-disgust.

What he doesn't realize however, is the fact that he still has your bottle of medication since you'd stayed over the night before he found out.

Those pills are the only reason you are able to survive wolfing out, containing the necessary factors for your blood to be able to clot. You aren't in control on those nights, the wolf being run purely by emotion, and if you are feeling self-hatred, your claws would mar your own skin - even though you wish for it to stop.

Isaac avoided returning to the dorm, his nights having been restless since his outburst. His anger often gets the best of him, every selfish thought being released despite the fact he knows what he is saying is unreasonable and unfounded.

He keeps replaying that night, how he tore your jacket off so the scars and healing wounds you tried to hide were now out in the open. His anger wasn't for you, it was for him. Despising the fact that someone he swore to care for was in such a painful headspace for so long, and he never knew...

Of course, in true Night fashion, he lashed out at vulnerability, just how his father did so many times to him and Francoise.

He was scathing and cruel, dehumanizing you in every way he knew possible; all the while, his own self-hatred grew, hoping to choke on his false self-righteousness as the tears streamed from your eyes.

You cowered away from him, like how you did that first night so many years ago, like how Francoise did when their father smacked her. He emptily watched you sprint away, the vile words setting off a nauseous flare in his gut.

Was he to become like his father? A terrifying thought that would haunt him until the worst night of his life.

Isaac finally returned to his dorm after spending two weeks tossing restlessly in the bunk at his lab. Mind replaying his cruelty in 4K, every time you flinched away was a stab to his chest. 

It was the full moon, and though he knew you probably wouldn't want to see him, he was still going to mend your wounds in the morning. It's well past midnight when he begins gathering his medical supplies, working on autopilot before realizing that something is out of place.

A pill bottle? None that he took, he didn't have any with the name Hemlibra/emicizumab-kxw, his confusion halts, however, when he reads the name on the bottle.

No... No! Surely this can't be your only bottle?

"Gomez... Gomez!" The boy in question startling awake with a shock, Isaac jolting away momentarily before moving closer again.

"Y/n, did she stop by at all while I was gone?" His voice is rushed, feeling like he's staring over a cliff, hoping only to see the waves.

"Huh? Wha... Yeah, she came by almost every day, but don't worry, the door was slammed promptly each time." Gomez states, closing his eyes to sleep, thinking the interrogation was over.

"Did she say anything when she was here? Did she ask for anything?" Isaac exclaims, heart ticking fast enough someone would think he'd just run a marathon.

"Most she got out was 'Please, I need-' but, then the door. She was probably just pleading to see you." Gomez grumbles, faceplanting into his pillow.

Isaac is officially going to lose his mind, his best friend, no, his fucking sister, his family... Could die tonight. He grabs the medicine and his healing supplies before sprinting out of the dorm, door slamming loudly behind him.

He quietly enters the area where the lupin cages are hidden, ignoring the sign warning that non-werewolves entering risk severe injury and death.

His wish that you would still be in your human form were dismal, but he had to hope. Which was quickly dashed as he comes face to face with you through the cages bars.

The other werewolves snarl and snap their teeth at Isaac, but he pays them no mind, focusing solely on you, gaze as calming as he can manage - begging to any deity that he may be able to keep your self-harm at a minimum.

"Hello, I thought I'd... stop by." He hesitates, feeling so lost and alone. Hands resting heavily against the cage, head bowed, as though you were a god he could repent to.

"I'm so sorry... I was... awful. You are my sister, and you needed my help, no, my understanding. Yet, all I could think about was how scared I was to lose you, and I-I... I lashed out from an anger that was meant for me, and now your life is in danger because of it." He whispers, tears dripping from his face to dot the ground.

He lifts his eyes, blearily watching as you stepped closer to the bars. He knew he should step back, but he couldn't, not when it was you who he longed to be near.

You reach his arm on the bar, he closes his eyes, prepared for the awaiting pain, but is only met by a comforting warmth. Eyes snapping open, widening in astonishment as your werewolf form rests their head against him.

A tightness clawing in his chest as another memory from that first night enters his mind. He'd just tucked you under the duvet, expecting you to already be asleep, but being surprised as he felt a hold on his hands and a gentle pressure against his chest. Looking down, he realized you placed your forehead against him, so innocent, the delicate pressure slowly lulling him to sleep as a protective arm wrapped around you.

He's drawn from the memory by you pulling back suddenly, a growl building up in the back of your throat. He went to pull away before realizing your actions are directed at someone else.

Following your gaze, he's met by the sight of a ghastly werewolf, locked up in the end cell, its predatory gaze never moving off of Isaac, even as you snarl at them. Motioning towards the exit, a clear instruction that he is not safe and should leave.

"I'll be back by morning, okay? Please...please, don't hurt yourself." He whispers, fingers barely brushing your fur before a loud crash is heard behind.

The sound of metal breaking rings through the busy atmosphere, the sickly metallic clang immediately drawing Isaac's attention; barely having enough time to throw up his arms, abilities shoving back the approaching attacker.

Isaac manages holds his own for the first few minutes, using his telekinesis to hold the beast; but the mental strain ends up being too much. The lightheadedness causing him to lose his balance, desperately inhaling for oxygen that never seems to reach his head.

Collapsing to his knee in exhaustion as sweat dots his skin, vision blurry as he prepares for the worst. Another crash is heard, followed by more snarling, but no pain?

Opening his eyes, shock and fear zapping painfully up his spine at the realization that you'd broken free and are now stood between him and that two ton beast.

The fight is mostly power plays at first, trying to see if you can get the other to back 0ff through acts of dominance; it doesn't work, the true fight begins. 

You are smaller, not as bulky from enlarged musculature. This meant you were swifter, being able to evade the powerful swipes and clumsy bites; all the while being able to score your claws into his flesh more than once.

It's only when school faculty arrives, shocked at the scene before bringing out the tranquilizers, the distraction allowing your opponent to land a solid hit to your neck. The tranquilizers quickly down the large beast, you following suit, changing back into your human form.

Isaac races over, quickly scanning for any injuries he might've missed before draping his coat over your shivering body.

The claw marks travel from your neck up, cutting into the bridge of your nose, before ending an inch from your hairline.

Head injuries alway bleed as it's a vascular area, quite easily spelling out trouble for you, but that's not what had him worried. Hot blood was spurring from your neck, the color a frank red that put him into panic mode.

Isaac gathers his materials with shaky hands, gauze laced with a clotting factor immediately packing your wounds, but you just continue to bleed and soak through the material.

The professors and medical team attempt to save you, but Isaac already knows the truth. Your carotid was severed, you're dying, and there's nothing he can do about it.

After 10 minutes of rushing, CPR, and emergency fluid therapy, the pace slows to a halt. They move back, allowing his eyes to finally rest on you one last time.

You look calm, as though sleeping peacefully while a storm rages around you. The coat he'd draped over you is stained, your blood darkening the fabric.

😱😱😱 think about it you guys this is incredible!!!