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— Central Info

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— Prologue

— Prologue 2

— Central Info

Valkyrie AU

— Prologue

Janitor AU

Night Raven College Staff

Headmaster: Dire Crowley

Dark Mirror

Divus Crewel

Mozus Trein

Sam

Ashton Vargas

Ramshackle

Grim

Yuuken Enma

Heartslabyul Dorm

Housewarden: Riddle Rosehearts

Vice Housewarden: Trey Clover

Cater Diamond

Ace Trappola

Deuce Spade

Savanaclaw Dorm

Housewarden: Leona Kingscholar

Ruggie Bucchi

Jack Howl

Octavinelle Dorm

Housewarden: Azul Ashengrotto

Vice Housewarden: Jade Leech

Floyd Leech

Scarabia Dorm

Housewarden: Kalim Al-Asim

Vice Housewarden: Jamil Viper

Pomefiore Dorm

Housewarden: Vil Schoenheit

Vice Housewarden: Rook Hunt

Epel Felmier

Ignihyde Dorm

Housewarden: Idia Shroud

Ortho Shroud

Diasomnia Dorm

Housewarden: Malleus Draconia

Vice Housewarden: Lilia Vanrouge

Silver

Sebek Zigvolt

Royal Sword Academy

Neige LeBlanche

Che’nya

Noble Bell College

You… have your own opinions about fashion and how it exists in your life. In a nutshell, it’s not really a thing that pings on your radar. It comes in fast and leaves just as quickly, like a breeze passing by the open automatic doors of a high-end mall. You know it’s there, and sometimes it makes you raise your eyebrows with what it carries, but other than that, it’s not taking up much of your time.

Or any of your time, really. Back at home, you were the local jack of all trades. If someone wanted to get a cleaning or a repair done but didn’t want to go through the slog of having to navigate a basically redundant call system, they’d go to you. And you’d get paid a pretty coin.

Point being, you get dirty, stuff rips and gets worn out. When you get up, you don’t want to think about what shirt matches with what scarf, or what perfume matches the season. You don’t go to fashion venues, you’re the person that cleans them up afterwards.

But, you have been in a position where you had to help set things up. Parties, weddings, quinceañeras, and theater play setups, among other things. You’ve been around, and you’ve picked up a little bit on the particulars.

Those being colors. Nothing on any academic scale, but the instinct lingers in your mind nonetheless when something doesn’t go with another thing.

And there’s something tingling in the back of your brain as you gazed at this large, white oval gem place smack dab in the middle of your chest, right before the end of your sternum. Your clothes looked like the rest of the students here. Beige.

“Hmm? Is something wrong? You’ve been fiddling with that for five minutes,” Jamil asked and it took you a second to register that he’s talking to you and not just chatting about.

“This thing.” You pulled at the gem on your coat, tapping a gloved finger on it. “It’s just off.”

White does go with a lot of things, as well as silver, gold and black, but that’s not the point here. You didn’t think much of it when you put those clothing on, but when you compared yourself to Azul, Jamil and Ace… yeah it just sticks out.

“Huh. You’re right.” Azul nudged his glasses higher up his nose before taking a closer look. “The rest of our decorations adhere to a more warm palette, but that gem is too sharp.”

“It’s weird,” you said, agreeing. None of the others had any one color that stood out, it all some kind of beige or warmer color. Yeah, Jamil and Ace had gems that were closer to white, but they lean more towards cream than anything. These outfits are clearly made to blend with one another, create a sense of unity, sorta…

And then there this big ol’ white gem on you that would blind your eyes if it caught the rays of the sun. A purple gem would’ve made more sense than this one. You don’t mind ignoring it, but you’re in the the company of Schoenheit and going to a location that’s probably gonna piss you off with all of it’s unspoken social and color clothing rules.

Well, at least you can trust he won’t have a complete meltdown.

“Maybe they just made a mistake. Too bad none of you are as skilled as me.” You could tell Grim does not care whatsoever. Just mindlessly playing with his new ribbon that he’s probably going to stash away and forget about. And then yowl at you to find it because he somehow put it in a place too high for him to reach.

“Well, yeah, weren’t these clothes made in like a few weeks? Someone probably messed up.” Ace had that grin on his face, vicious and itching to see some violence. “Vil’s going to be so angry.”

“Hmm. Doubt it.” The workers here seem to both worship and fear Schoenheit and would do anything to keep his favor. Besides, said workers are just standing there, smiling at each other like they’re sharing an inside joke.

Suspiciously quiet and composed.

Yup. They know something and that’s just making you more tired. You want to go back to bed, go back to your routine of cleaning and studying. Getting more of that good cash to spend. Not here though, you kinda don’t care for the stuff here.

Too bad Schoenheit bribed you to be here. He kept adding more and more zeroes until you finally took back your rejection. And then bribed you again to keep quiet about him bribing you. Guess he wanted really wanted someone that can wrangle these people in case something goes wrong.

You can probably afford a mansion at this point, but you can’t do that. Not when you have every intention on going back home, and you’re not about to lighten up on the pressure you’re adding to your boss.

Hmm. You can probably mess with Dire later. As a treat for yourself.

“Sorry for the wait.”

Ah, the man responsible for your extra fat wallet has come into the room, wearing a nice shade of purple and the deepest of blacks.

With an oval gem in the middle of it all, as white as the one that stood out in your outfit, glinting and nearly blinding you.

Huh.

Designers one after another fanning themselves, eyes ready to pop out of their skull like this was the first time they’re seeing him in their designs all over again. You shot an arm out just as one of them blacked out, catching them by the waist before they could crack their skull on the ground.

Ace, Jamil and Azul all panicked, but the designer’s coworkers either sighed or didn’t notice.

“This happens a lot huh.” You placed the worker in the nearest chair.

“I’m afraid it does. Thank you for that skillful capture.”

You gave a thumbs up. “You’re welcome.”

“Prefect,” Schoenheit called out from behind you, always ‘Prefect’ when in public and ‘Janitor’ when not. “Turn around for me. Slowly, if you will.”

Hmm. Don’t like that tone. It had a certain kind of tension to it, like his tongue was ready to lash out at someone, ready to be judge, jury and executioner, but with words.

But, he did give you a stupid amount of money.

You sighed out, “Fine, fine,” and turned towards him.

His eyes scanned your face, probably looking for any smudges, went down on your shoulders, over your coat, and then finally settled on the white gem right in the middle of it all. The gem that matched his exactly.

Stared at it in silence for just the slightest bit too long.

And then he smiled. Perfect and absolutely dripping with poisonous smugness. Looking the same as he always does, but now you know.

“Not a detail out of place,” he said with a little lilt to his voice, as if savoring a quiet victory.

Oh you’re going to be the subject of forum speculation theories, aren’t you?

Leona is, unfortunately, one of those lazy fucks that looks at the red dot and doesn't give two darns. He used to, but Cheka overdid it and now he doesn't care anymore. However! You can pester him via getting Ruggie to chase the light, and then having him pounce on Leona with it. They will tussle and it's always a fun time to watch. Jack mostly stares at it, tilting his head here and there. Thinks it's a bug and he doesn't care much for them, unless they're swarming his cacti, then he gets mean.

Riddle gets more annoyed with the dot than anything. Bright, garish little thing that moves and doesn't belong. But that's not for him to deal with, so it ends up being Ace's and Deuce's job to chase after that light. And if they don't get rid of it, they get punished. So Ace and Deuce hate that light every time it shows up. Trey and Cater are emulating movie night behavior by pretending to eat snack while Ace and Deuce stumble over each other trying to get rid of the ding dang dot.

Idia and Ortho follow the dot, but don't try and touch it. Nor are they... really chasing the dot. It's the same cautious behavior you'd see in cats seeing a new kitten in the house. Real curious, trying to see if it's a danger or not. But also scatter the minutes the dot approaches them. Yeah I'm implying that Idia and Ortho think it's a new will-o'-the-wisp that hasn't quite developed their physical form yet. Just an itty bitty little flame with something very clearly wrong with it, because where is it's little gem eyes?

It's a game for Epel. Knows the dot isn't a danger, nor is really something all that interesting, but he does love any excuse he can get to move his body. So he chases. Slides on his belly to grasp at that dot like a baseball player. Basically treating the current area as an obstacle course and the dot is the goal. Vil, on the other hand, glares at you because he knows you have something to do with the dot, but he can't figure it out. But also the dot is really annoying and clashing with his delicate color arrangement of his area, so he wants that thing gone. Mess around with him with the dot for too long and he is going to pounce on you. And bat his wings on your face to get you to stop.

Jamil ignores it. Kalim has done it before and all that got him was embarrassment. So! Because it embarrasses him, Jamil will try and get the laser pointer to use on the others. Because why would he miss an opportunity to do that? Has used it to annoy Vil and have him get angry at you. Because, so far, only Jamil knows the secret behind the dreaded dot. Which makes him a menace with the laser pointer when he can get his hands on it.

Ace did a stupid little thing and tried to get you angry. Tried to egg you, tried to get a challenging rise out of you, but all of those usual tools that would get Grim going and running after Ace, didn’t really do anything for you.

Ace thought you were doing this on purpose. Thought you were angry at him for something—or many somethings—that he did.

And then you’d bounced back. Well, not bounce so much as you’d just go right back to normal, if a little diminished but nothing a good meal can’t solve.

It was a pattern. You’d show up, stay, then vanish for days with barely a few texts, if any, that you were alive at all. At least Grim learned how to send messages on your phone.

Ace doesn’t understand it. Still doesn’t actually, but he knows he can’t leave you alone.

So, here he is. Crouched by your bedside because it somehow felt wrong to sit on a chair way away from you. Not like you have the plague or something, right? You’d probably tell him if you did.

“…you’re just gonna crouch there?” An hour after you’ve checked out and after Ace failed to get a rise out of you just to get you moving, you turned your head.

…you don’t look tired. Really, it feels like you’ll prop up at any moment and go about your prefect day in your prefect clothes with your prefect mannerisms. Ace had to bite back that urge to spit out his frustrations at you because he knows he doesn’t understand. He knows the feeling of being stuck, of being stuffed into a box that doesn’t fit and dealing with people that think they’re better than him just because they’re older.

All this though? Not showering for weeks, or barely half a meal a day, the constant sleeping through it all. Kiddo him would’ve been over the moon to have days like these, but Ace is an adult and gets itchy when he’s still for too long.

And you’ve been in this bed for a while.

So Ace scratches the back of his head, glared at the floor, and tried to get comfortable on the carpet. He still can’t get used to your eyes on him. Makes his entire being feel weird in a way that makes him want to be a brat. “Yeah, and? I’m not doing anything wrong.”

Great job sounding like an adult, Ace!

You breathed in, and for a second Ace thought you were going to yell. Or hiccup, like he’s heard weepy people do. Instead, you sighed out, “Hmm, mm, alright,” as if it took every single cell in your body to do so.

Your gaze was as vacant as ever, and before you could check out for the second time, Ace patted down his pockets and brought out a crinkled packet.

“Got a little snack. Want it? Cause I’m gonna eat it if you don’t.” Ace won’t but it felt too mushy to be a hundred percent nice, you know?

You flopped your hand over the bed. “Give it.”

And Ace slapped it into your palm without hesitation. Something is better than nothing. Next on the agenda, actually getting you to see some sun!

When the topic turned from studying to bragging about injuries, you have no clue, but here you are nonetheless.

Well, not bragging about injuries so much as bragging about how much pain one can take.

“So yeah, I cracked a rib. It hurt to breath but hey, I could handle it.” Ace’s face was going to split in half if he continued to grin that hard.

You flipped a page through your book, though you’re not really paying attention to it. Didn't want to come off as interested since the topic is kinda… stupid, and you don’t want to imply they should continue doing more shit, but also… it’s sorta funny? You know that Night Raven College students are all egotistical sons of bitches, but you didn't think that would make their sense of self-preservation wither and die.

“Mm, I did have a concussion back to back once.” Deuce was trying so hard to appear humble, but you can see his smarmy smile behind his fist. “I was riding a bike I made myself, and crashed right into a bus. Made me see stars for days, and I didn't tell anyone about it.”

In a weird way, it is comforting, that as far away as you are from your world, some things just stay the same with people. College students continue to be some of the wildest people you've ever come to know.

…it does annoy you though. It shouldn't be that big a deal of to you, and it isn't, but it needles at you nonetheless. Toughness, getting hurt, grinning and bearing it, bragging about it because that’s just a thing you do. It’s funny, yeah, but something bitter stubbornly sits in the back of your mouth.

Can’t really tell why, though, so you don’t say anything about it. Don’t try to think about it. Let these two have their fun. Boredom brings out the weirdest in people and studying has a way of doing that to Ace and Deuce.

“What about you, Janitor? Got anything? Or is that too much for you?” Ace turned to you, tried to catch your eye, then frowned when you didn't so much as twitch at attention. You are stubborn. You’re not turning around. You did smile, if only to make it seem like you’re not quickly souring. “Hey. Pay attention to me.”

“You’re from a different world, so you have to have some interesting stories, right?” Deuce encouraged, even though you knew he was hoping for your answer to be dull or just be nothing at all to keep his story high in the toughness bracket.

They can't help but crave to know where they stand in the hierarchy. This weird, friend hierarchy.

"Yeah yeah, come on, tell it to us straight!" Clearly riding on this bragging high, Ace slid right up and nudged his elbow right in your side.

"It's fine if you don't have anything," Deuce took Ace's seat, slowly crowding you while also nudging a snoring Grim away from all of you. "Though I doubt it. I've seen you duke it out before."

Finally, you put down your book. You weren't smiling, and that had Ace and Deuce's eyebrows rising.

You took off your gloves first. The skin of your hands has long since grown tough with scratchy callouses, but recently, they've started looking… lumpy, almost. Discolored skin from the scars, fat ripped from your fingers, leaving odd dips and curves. Two of your fingernails no longer grow in right. And your palm jutted a bit with the bones and veins underneath.

"Woah, that's nasty!" Ace poked at your hands and shivered at the overly smooth and shiny scar tissue. It all felt muted.

"Yeah, no kidding. That must've hurt." Deuce lightly pinched your fingers, equally mystified.

The bitterness is crawling down your throat.

You slowly breathed in, then out.

You pushed up your sleeves. Pointed to the deep pockmarks, the twisting tissue that doesn't quite fold in right wrapping around your elbow, the paper-thin skin that highlighted your every muscle fiber. And your veins, painfully clear, pulsing like a moving parasite.

"W-woah…" Slowly, the duo's enthusiasm was dying.

Ace lifted his hands. "Uh, you can stop. Now. If you want."

Funny. The words you wanted to hear only made your eyebrow twitch.

You lifted your shirt last, right up over your ribs. Ace and Deuce's eyes bulged out of their heads, and finally their voices went silent.

They also didn't heal right. Your ribs. Well, they've healed well enough but one rib stuck out more than the others, only slightly though. It looked as if a creature has made itself resident on you. Like a hive-mind fungus was eating away at you, replacing what it ate with something similar to skin. Has completely taken over the left side of you, traveled over and touched at your spine. Made stretching uncomfortable. You pulled something once and had to wear a back brace for a bit.

Ace and Deuce blinked, then looked away in sync.

"What? Suddenly not cool anymore?" Well now you've gone and did it. Ruined their little bought of fun, showed more than what's needed. Got too personal, and you know Ace and Deuce are allergic to that topic. "I still have more."

A lot more. Too much, probably.

"…sorry." Ace scratched the back of his head, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"…me too. I'm sorry. I… forgot." Deuce clenched his fist and slightly bowed his head.

Yeah, sometimes you wish you could forget. Lucky Deuce. Lucky Ace.

You sighed, then dropped your shirt. "Just, keep all that in mind, will ya? Not exactly something I like bragging. Or being reminded about."

When Idia saw you, casually talking to Ace and Deuce decked out in the full Ignihyde uniform, some small part of him wanted to curl up and die right there. Too bad he can’t die on command. All he can do is shove himself in the nearest dark corner, yank his hoodie over his face and scream into his hands.

The one time he comes here, the one time he has to get out of his room to walk and attend class, you’re here wearing the wrong uniform! Literally everyone else is wearing the standard! How are you not shriveling up?! How are you not embarrassed?! You’re just asking to be mocked by the entire student body!

See, this is why he can’t stand being around you. You don’t think how this will affect the little guys like him who have no choice but to scuttle in the shadows. If Idia’s seen around you, he knows people are gonna talk. In fact, they’re doing it right now! He just knows it! Those NPCs with their exhausting, repeatable and predictable dialogue that should mean nothing is never nothing!

It’s annoying. And scary, that mob mentality. But that’s the way he it goes, and the lives of normies don’t concern him.

…though you do look good in it… And besides, of all uniforms to wear, you chose the one he belongs to, so that’s gotta mean something, right? He’s made the calculations and, so far, the Ignihyde uniform was the one you tend to wear the most. This is some masterclass ragebait just waiting to be used on someone.

Probably Azul but then wouldn’t that make Idia look like a simp? Ugh… he doesn’t want that.

Haa, why did the Headmage decide you needed those uniforms anyway? Not like you actually belong to any dorm. Fitted perfectly to you too. If he put on his uniform, he’d probably look like your vice housewarden. Nah, probably less than that. He’d probably look like your wannabe cosplayer.

…he’s really gotta stop thinking when he doesn’t have fuel in him.

Idia pursed his lips, hunched himself over and prepared to scuttle to the cafeteria. You glanced towards to the window and something outside made you pause, which made Idia pause. Which made his feet get caught on one another. Luckily he grabbed pillar he was hiding behind before he could crack his nose.

“There you are,” you practically growled.

A sharp, distinct zip made all the saliva in Idia’s mouth vanish. He’s not ready. Oh he’s not ready for this flag! He wasn’t even wearing his good underwear! How did you see him?! Well, he wasn’t hiding all that good in the first place but still! He wasn’t making noise, he thinks!

Wait.

Pause. Rewind a little. What was that, just now?

You shoved your arms—your bare, scarred arms—out of your jacket and shoved it to your closest goon, who happened to be Ace. “Hold this. I got a cat to catch.”

And you, in all your tight, sleeveless, and undershirt-ed glory, vaulted yourself over the railing with ease. You kicked up dust as you dashed after a gray little speck in the distance.

Idia didn’t even notice that he was sitting on the floor. Huh.

…nope, nope, nope. Not worth it. Not gonna dig deeper into it. Into the archives it goes to dwell and rot. He’s hungry is all. Don’t think about the Janitor. Don’t think about the way you intimately cleaned every little piece of his custom PC in that same undershirt.

Just, don’t.

“Oh hey, it’s Idia. What are you doing over there? Did you need something?” said Deuce, but Idia’s brain was lagging something fierce. Can’t take his eyes off of Ace when he’s playing around with the material of your jacket.

Let's seeeee, in that little reversal, I would imagine that Malleus and Lilia would have that same reputation of "weirdos living in their weirdo castle/mansion but, like, they haven't done anything sooooo," that Crowley does. Been here for a while, knows lots of stuff and out of touch and very good with magic. But they're obviously a different kind of weird because they talk and carry themselves like royalty/nobility, even though most of said royalty/nobility are dying a very slow, and shockingly quiet death. Cause the thing with these people is that they make up a very veeeery small portion of the population, and they refuse to marry anyone that isn't of their station, and now that magic is involved, they now refuse to marry anyone that doesn't show magical potential, further shrinking their marriage pool.

It also doesn't help that Lilia Vanrouge is a name you hear in history class when you're being taught about the first usage of magic in warfare, and Malleus Draconia is a name that sticks with you because you realize that the Draconia family assassination didn't spare the named infant.

Names associated with brutality and horror, and they live right in your neighborhood. It's weird. Can't be the same people, right?

And, huh, the unicorn that Lilia and Malleus take care of suspiciously looks like the famed unicorn that was supposedly stolen from that royal family that slaughtered the Draconia family. Huh. What a neat coincidence.

Yeah, Lilia stole a royal family unicorn who was born on the day the Draconia family was slaughtered, so Silver's this symbol of victory that you'd find printed on coins in that specific place. Been taking care of him since and is worried over him because Silver's still narcoleptic. Malleus was pretty little when Silver first came in, and was absolutely annoyed with him, because Silver would constantly trail after him. Even when Malleus didn't want to be found by Lilia, Silver would always manage to find him. Also doesn't help that he falls asleep without warning, so that gets Malleus real worried and annoyed and worried, and you get the gist.

Silver initially followed him around because Malleus makes the best magically imbued silver metals. As in, Malleus was decked out in silver accessories initially and Silver kept wanting to munch on them, which further annoyed the little Malleus. So all silver accessories had to be put in the special cabinet to keep him from eating them.

But then Malleus discovered that he can use Silver as excuse to do shit, like run around in the woods unsupervised, talk with the locals via letting them see Silver first before popping in. It also doesn't help that Silver is drawn to abandoned places because they often have silver jewelry or other things hidden in them. Silver doesn't have a concept of laws, but then again, pets don't really have that.

Oh yeah, Sebek is here too. Attending the magical university that's near the neighborhood, moved out from his parents house and is staying with his grandfather at the moment. Malleus doesn't attend the university, but he has been invited to teach a couple of free classes there, because he still is one of the most powerful mages to exist. And, as you can expect, Sebek worships Malleus because of that. Attends every class whenever possible even though he already knows most of the material and is just getting a repeat.

Silver likes to scare Sebek. Because Sebek sparks up as a defense mechanism and he likes how the lightening sparks his horn. Feels nice. He just stands there, looming over Sebek until he notices. It's been working less and it makes Silver sad sometimes.

Sebek is as Sebek does, competing with the unicorn. Brings out the brat in Sebek. It's funny.

I would imagine the reason why the Caretaker started taking care of Silver was because Lilia decided to travel the world again, but Malleus had his schedule filled up with teaching magical classes and imparting his knowledge on those that want to know. And, well Sebek is a full-time student and his grandfather doesn't have the space to accommodate Silver. Soooooo, he was supposed to go to Crowley, but then it eventually bounced off to you.

He speaks words of love and the ache in his heart that supposedly renders him paralyzed when having to split his attention from you to another—a mister Schoenheit—but how are you expected to take any of that seriously? He gives his love as freely as he does his attention. And if you give the world everything that you have, then there’s nothing really notable about it. The way he is today is the way he will be tomorrow, so pardon your lack of interest.

That and you hardly knew anything about him. Not for a lack of interactions but more that you don’t listen. He starts speaking and you just tune him out until right at then end when he has actual important shit to say.

A mistake on your part, truly. You never really were the best judge of character. Shame on you for thinking you were immune to being stalked by Rook Hunt, though can you be blamed? You may be the only non-magical student in this entire college, but as far as you knew, so was the rest of the world outside of this little bubble.

Perhaps, initially, Rook was watching you out of curiosity. Well, who wouldn’t want to see how people like you thrive in a place where you have nothing and no one to your name. No allies, no finances to fall back upon, and surrounded by egos that butt heads with one another just so they can recapture their days as top dog. Props to Rook, making you feel like an ant in an ant farm.

Was he being creepy? Yes and that pretty much falls in line with what you know about him. Was it anything to be afraid of? Not really. He’s not the first person to watch you from the trees and bushes, and probably won’t be the last.

…mm-hmm, definitely won’t be be the last.

Whenever you’re in the need to be away from it all, from your little “friend group” that just decided to gather around you because you happened to be there or Crowley simply won’t let you be, you like to go to the cliffs.

And you know what’s neat about this college? It has plenty of cliffs. So many to pick and choose from. A stray brat decides to take his pals to this “cool spot” and all you have to do is prance away to the next place. There’s always a spot open, because for all the bragging mouths that exist here, only a small handful of them are willing to practice what they preach.

The fear of heights is a very real thing.

Today, though, just so happens to be a very special day for you: you’re exhausted.

See, you didn’t get the best sleep last night on the account of Grim’s sleep talk—well, more sleep bragging but that’s not the point—and the neighborly ghosts deciding to host a comedy night in the living room.

The thing about ghosts is that they all still follow the rules of hospitality, so there wasn’t a single empty room available for you to use. You’d think having no body to speak of would render those social rules useless, but here you are, playing the fool because you thought there would be any logic to follow.

So this little nook you’re in, windy as a free hill with a built in stone bench that has certainly seen better days, you’re keeping it. It’s practically made to hold your figure, after all. When you lay on the bench just right, it never fails to undo any and all knots in your spine. Your little miracle spot for when everyone around you decides to be idiots.

But not all good things last. Because you heard a familiar noise. Not chatting, because there’s only one voice, but there are words. Cooing words, a saccharine comfort through the phone. The kind of voice you hear people put on when trying to calm down a situation that’s entirely their own fault.

“No honey, he’s lying to you. You know better than to believe every word he says. He’s always been jealous of you, hasn’t he?” A pause, then a sparkling wink of magic. Not long afterwards, cologne washed over you. Almost made you gag. “Mm-hmm. Yeah see, he just wants to make you sad ‘cause he can’t get over that you broke up with him for me. Makes sense, hmm?”

The student finally broke past the bush that kept this place hidden and you had to keep your sigh from turning into an annoyed growl.

Because you know this student. Shared a couple of classes with him. Insisted on getting buddy-buddy with you on your first days back when you were the “hot new thing.” But that phase is over and you doubt he even remembers your name. Not like you remember his. You just know him as a cassanova-wannabe. Because people like him will just die if they don’t have an ever increasing rotation of lovers.

“Oh hey, I haven’t seen you around here. Are you new?” Yup, not a spark of recognition in those empty-headed eyes. His body was relaxed under that uniform but there’s a tightness in his voice, as if he really doesn’t want to deal with anyone else right about you.

What a beautiful coincidence, huh?

So, you did the mature thing and turned your back.

Then there was a sigh. Rushed and horribly impatient.

“Look, I’ve been having a shitty day, so if you could just get your ass of the bench and go away, that would be ne—”

“Well that isn’t fair at all, now is it?”

Ah, and your stalker arrives. Does he fancy himself a knight in armor? Or, well, hunting gear. You figured he was around here somewhere, though you didn’t think he was so close. Was it magic again or were your sense just getting rusty?

“Look pal, I don’t care about fairness, I just want this spot. So take your little lazy friend over there and boot it on out of here. Plenty of other spaces to take up anyways.” A series of beeps awakened a headache you thought dull. The bench was no longer comfortable, so you got up just as the no-name student whipped out his phone. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me…”

Rook, in the cosplay-worthy uniform of Pomefiore, tilted his hat at you, smiling ever so wide as if he was anything but a creep. “While I’m not one to concede if I can’t help it, it’s simply not worth the battle. I do know of plenty of other windy places with better accommodations, just for you, dear Trickster.”

Sure, sure, let this little brat have this one. Let him have this bench and this wind and this view and this cliff. Let him have it all, because he threw tantrum about it. Let him have his bad day while you had to pack up, shut up and go away. Not worth the battle, he says. You are arguing with a college student.

“Oh? Trickster?”

…you’ve learned a trick the other day. By accident, really, and it wasn’t actually your fault by the end of it. Though you suppose it was on you that got Ace, Deuce and Grim in the same room.

Did you know that magestones flash brightly when they’re broken?

The student already had his pen out. Perhaps he was planning on using it on you, or perhaps it was just coincidence, but it didn’t matter. You ripped it out of his grip, threw it on the floor and slammed your heel onto it just as you closed your eyes.

It was instant flash, barely lasted more than a few seconds, but it was plenty. There was noise. Rook yelled but the student yelled even louder. Made it easy to figure out where he was. And, luckily, the student was already off balance.

Didn’t take more than a simple push of whatever body part you could find to have him soaring through the skies. Body hitting and rolling down little shelves and flats. He probably tried to save himself, tried to grab onto something but found that his fingers were broken long before his instincts pushed through his sheer terror. But he tried, likely. That’s the fun thing about people, they always try, even when there’s no conceivable way to make it out alive.

They hold out for a miracle, because everyone gets one in their life eventually, but then it’ll click. Their luck, their patience, their “playing of the game of life,” just didn’t matter. The end will come anyway.

You didn’t hear the body hit the ground, if there was any.

The light died down but it took you a few minutes of rubbing your eyes to get the stars out. Even with your lids closed, it still caught you a bit off guard.

The wind was pleasant once more, comforting white noise in the cramping folds of your brain.

Rook, however, was still here. Back ramrod straight, eyes locked onto the spot the student once was and slowly, ever so slowly, he trailed back to you.

“What happened?”

What happened indeed. You know he’s not stupid.

But you also know he didn’t see anything.