Chapter Text
Darkness. That was the first thing Yuu woke up to. Darkness, a pounding headache, and a piercing sense of dread. This isn't right. I shouldn't be here! I need to go home! Yuu thought as she frantically felt the space around her. The space was small and cramped, and no matter where Yuu felt around she couldn’t find a way out. Not in front of her, not behind, not even at her feet or above her. Everything was covered with the same soft material that made Yuu’s skin scrawl. Trapped. She was completely trapped! Yuu’s heart hammered in her chest. Am I dead? Is this what death is like? I can’t be. I can’t! Okasan still needs me!
Time seemed to stretch on forever as she scratched and kicked at the walls. She needed to get out. Desperately, Yuu began throwing herself at one of the walls. It rocked the container back and forth, but the walls remained intact. “Hey!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. Her head felt like it was being split in half at how loud she was, but she didn’t dare dial it back at all. “Is anyone there? I need help!”
Yuu was answered by one of the sides being blown off in an explosion of blue flames. She shrieked and threw herself against the far wall, trying to avoid the searing heat. She covered her mouth and nose with the cloth from her sleeves to keep herself from breathing in the smoke, nearly knocking her glasses off her face.
“Now to grab the goods.” A mischievous voice snickered as the smoke cleared.
“What was that for? I didn’t ask to be burned alive!” Yuu snapped. She glared in the direction the voice had come from, but she didn’t see anyone. In fact, the only thing she saw was an ominous looking darkened mirror in the center of an ornate chamber surrounded by rows of… were those floating coffins?
"What?!” The mischievous voice came again, this time sounding distressed. “You ain’t supposed to be awake!"
Yuu's eyes snapped down to see a small black… cat? Weasel? Tanuki? Whatever it was in front of her. She adjusted her glasses to get a better look at it, but she was quickly distracted by the outside room again. She couldn’t help but stare as her mind raced in circles trying to understand what she was looking at. "Are those… floating coffins? Am I in a coffin?! Is this a cult!?"
"Oh-ho! You’ve got a lotta nerve ignoring me, human!" Yuu looked down at the cat again. His ears flicked in annoyance and small blue embers fell to the ground. Wait, embers? That can't be right. But his ears looked like they were on fire . Blue fire. Was Yuu hallucinating? It felt like she was hallucinating right now. Especially with the throbbing pain in the back of her head. The cat puffed out his white chest and smirked. "The name’s Grim. Believe me, you won’t forget it! Now gimme your uniform, and be quick about it! ‘Cause if you don’t…you’re gonna regret it!" With a flick of his tail, Grim summoned another wave of blue flames around them.
“Uniform?” Yuu echoed, not really following what was happening. She was still too busy trying to figure out if she was dead or hallucinating or both.
Grim narrowed his eyes and looked her over. “The thing you’re wearing?” He stated as though it was the most obvious thing ever. “Gimme it. I need that.”
Yuu glanced down at herself and, sure enough, she wasn’t wearing her hoodie anymore. In fact, she wasn’t wearing anything she actually owned or even recognized. Instead, she wore a strange, multilayered, black robe with ornate golden embroidery. She had never seen it before but she could tell that this outfit was important, or at least expensive. Yuu slowly looked between herself and Grim, who had crossed his arms with an expectant look on his face. Could cats stand on their back legs or was that just something happening in this dream/hallucination/death sequence? Yuu wasn’t sure anymore.
Grim stamped his foot and growled. “Come on. I’m running out of time here! Give me those robes!”
“Nope.” That was all Yuu said as she leapt out of the coffin. She wasn’t sure if she was saying no to the cat or the dream or herself but she wasn’t going to stick around to clarify. She spotted a door across the room and sprinted towards it.
“Hey! Get back here!” Grim yowled in protest.
Yuu didn’t go back. Instead she sprinted as fast as she could down the hallway. Grim obviously didn’t like that, as he started shooting fire at her again. If he was trying to get the clothes off her back, fire was probably the worst way to go about it. Then again, Yuu shouldn’t be arguing dream logic where coffins floated and cats breathed fire.
Yuu sprinted down twisting hallways and around corners in an attempt to lose Grim, but he managed to keep up with her pace. Yuu would like to think she was relatively athletic, but this outfit was obviously not meant for exercise and the dizziness from her headache was not helping at all. She kept tripping up on the heavy but loose fabric of the robe. Yuu hissed in frustration every time she got caught. She honestly thought about ditching the top couple layers of the outfit in hopes that would be enough for this Grim thing to leave her alone, but she didn’t dare slow down as fire flew by her.
As another fireball passed uncomfortably close to Yuu, she decided to try her luck at hiding in one of the rooms she was running past. She barged into the first room she could and slammed the door behind her. Yuu glanced around and realized she had ended up in a library of some sort with books just floating through the air somehow. She cursed her luck. Of course she’d end up in a flammable place with a fire breathing monster cat thing following her. Yuu didn’t have time to complain about that though. She could hear Grim scratching at the door. She’d have to hide. Yuu quickly dove around a bookshelf and pressed herself into the shadows. She prayed that the gold embroidery wouldn’t catch the light and give away her location.
Grim barged into the library only a second later. "Mya! Where'd you go? You can't hide from me forever!"
Watch me. Yuu shrunk back as Grim passed her hiding spot. Surprisingly he didn't see her. Yuu let out a silent breath. She waited a couple extra heartbeats before she started creeping towards the door. Just a little more . Yuu thought to herself as she glanced between the door and where Grim had disappeared around a bookcase. Yuu straightened her posture a bit, only to hit her head on something. The pain made Yuu yelp and curled up on herself. She grabbed the back of her head as a book tumbled to the ground next to her. "What the-?"
"There you are!"
That was all the warning Yuu for before another blast of fire nearly hit her. Yuu tried to spin out of the way, but tripped over the book she had just hit her head on. The fire singed the hem of her robes as she fell out of the way. She tried to flail her arms out to catch her balance, but her attempts were futile. Her fall to the ground was as inevitable as it was ungraceful. "Crap." Yuu hissed, finding herself tangled in the long robe. Before she could sort herself out, Grim was right in front of her.
"Foolish human! Did you really think you could slip away from me ?" Grim boasted as he summoned another wave of blue fire around himself. Somehow he didn’t instantly set the whole library on fire. Yuu was thankful for that at least.
Yuu looked frantically for an escape route. Getting past that pyromaniac Grim was a no go unless she wanted to get burned. She could try climbing the bookshelves—she was really good at climbing from all the parkour she did—but climbing what was essentially a glorified tinder box to escape a fire monster was a dumb idea. Not to mention how difficult it would be in this cumbersome outfit. Those shoes were not meant for climbing. She could throw books at Grim, but again, fire hazard. Plus, since the books could apparently fly , yuu had no idea if the books she threw would even go where she wanted them to. That's probably what she had hit her head on earlier, Yuu realized. A flying book. Because of course she would.
Yep. Definitely a dream . Yuu noted in her mind as she glared at Grim, though the pain in the back of her head felt all too real.
Grim smirked as he realized that he had Yuu backed into a corner. "Hehehe! Looks like you’ve got nowhere to go! Now, unless you wanna get burned to a crisp, take off that—" A flash of light suddenly shot out from behind a bookshelf and struck Grim's side with a painful sounding snap. "Me-YEOW! That hurt!" Grim growled and struggled in place, but he didn't move. It was almost like he was stuck in place. "What gives?"
"Consider it tough love." A man said as he stepped around one of the bookshelves. Yuu silently gasped at his ominous presence. He wore a strange black mask that reminded Yuu of a crow and an outfit that Yuu didn't recognize. His piercing golden eyes met Yuu’s, and her heart instantly stopped mid beat. "Ah, I've found you at last. Splendid."
“You… were looking for me?” Yuu tried to swallow a lump in her throat as the man approached her and Grim.
"I have been. I trust you’re one of this year’s new students? My, were you ever eager to make your debut." The man glared at Grim harshly. "And bringing a poorly trained familiar with you? That is a clear violation of the school’s rules."
Yuu opened her mouth to respond, but Grim cut her off by yowling. "As if I'd serve some lowly human! Now lemme go!"
The man shook his head dismissively. “Yes, yes. Rebellious familiars always say that. Do be quiet for a bit, won’t you?” The man picked up Grim by his scruff and did… something to him. Yuu wasn’t sure what he had done, but suddenly Grim couldn’t talk anymore. He tried to thrash around in the man’s hands with stiff unnatural movements, but he couldn’t escape. Yuu looked in shock between Grim and the man. Once he was done with Grim, he turned his attention to Yuu. “Dear me. Of all the students I've dealt with, you’re the first with temerity enough to open their own gate and step out of it. Does the very notion of patience elude you?”
"N-no sir." Yuu shook her head as she quickly stood up. "It's just… that cat… he…" Any words Yuu could think of died on her tongue. After several failed attempts to explain herself, she just lowered her head and mumbled, “I’m sorry.”
"No matter.” The man shook his head and turned towards the door again. “Your orientation has already begun. Let us return to the Mirror Chamber." The man gestured for Yuu to follow him out of the room.
"Yeah. Right." Yuu nodded and took a few steps towards the man before stopping in her tracks. "Wait, orientation?"
The man stopped in the doorway and glanced back at Yuu. She wasn’t sure since he had the mask on, but he looked kind of… baffled. "You awakened in a room full of gates, did you not?" The man asked, turning back to face her. "All of the students here at the campus arrived by passing through such gates. Although typically the students have restraint enough to wait until I open them before waking up."
Yuu furrowed her eyebrows, trying to make sense of the nonsense she was hearing. "Gates…? Wait, you mean those coffins? Those were gateways?"
"The design is intended to symbolize a parting with your former world, and rebirth into a new one." The man helpfully explained, though Yuu just felt more confused by the answer.
"W-well, I think something blew the lid off mine…" Yuu rubbed the back of her neck nervously. She was pretty sure she knew who the culprit was, but she didn't want to point fingers if she could help it. This man however didn’t seem so reserved.
"The culprit appears to be that familiar of yours." The man gestured to Grim, who was still struggling in the man's grip.
Yuu grimaced and nodded slowly. “But, uh, that’s not mine. He just…”
"You’re the one who insisted on bringing it, so curtailing its behavior is your responsibility!" The man continued without listening to Yuu. The man handed Grim to Yuu. She awkwardly took the dangling cat thing and held it away from herself.
Dream logic. Yuu hesitantly thought. Just roll with it. "Um, yes sir?"
"But now is not the time for such prattle. You’ve a student orientation to attend!" The man urged Yuu towards the door. "Go on, now. Make haste."
“Okay, okay. I’m going. But, uh, first, where are we? I don’t recognize this place at all.” Yuu glanced around, still trying to make sense of where she was. The hallway had kind of reminded Yuu of the convention center a few towns over from where she lived, so she asked, "Is this a convention? And who are you cosplaying as?"
The man looked confused at Yuu again and hummed. "Have you not fully regained consciousness? The timespace teleportation must have addled your memories…" He held his chin as his voice trailed off.
Yuu awkwardly followed him down the dark hallway in silence. Sure. Just add timespace teleportation stuff to this. No big deal. Not like we're losing the plot here or anything. Yuu shook her head and silently sighed. Geez, how long is this dream going to last? I feel exhausted. Yuu glanced out one of the windows as they passed. The sky was dark, so she couldn't make out many details of the buildings outside. Actually, when did I fall asleep? I remember heading to the arcade after work to play games with my friends. I won some prizes, but then… then… Yuu’s thoughts trailed off as the pain on the back of her head increased. Yuu quickly grabbed her head. Red . All she could remember was something red. Red, and dark, and dangerous.
The man’s voice dragged Yuu’s mind back into reality. "Well, these things happen, I suppose. I shall explain it to you while we walk." The man's face twisted into a smile as he beamed brightly. "Truly, my magnanimity is boundless."
"Right." Yuu hesitantly nodded, letting her arm fall to her side again. "Thank you sir."
They turned the corner into a courtyard as the man cleared his throat. "This is Night Raven College." He gestured to the buildings around them. Yuu squinted at the school as they passed. "It is an institution for students the world over who demonstrate a rare aptitude for magic. It is the most prestigious academy of its sort in all of Twisted Wonderland. And I am Dire Crowley. Having been entrusted with its care by the chairman, I serve as headmage."
"You study magic here?!"
"Indeed!" Crowley proudly smiled, like a parent finding out his child had just earned some super fancy award in school. "Only those who the Dark Mirror perceives as having a talent for magic are admitted to this college. Those who are selected are summoned to the campus through those “gates”, which can appear anywhere. A black carriage bearing one such gate should have come to meet you."
Yuu hummed for a second, trying to sort through her scattered thoughts. She didn’t remember a carriage, but she did remember something. "I… kinda remember crossing a dark forest of some kind…"
"That black carriage serves to receive a student chosen by the Dark Mirror. It too bears a gate that connects to this campus. And as you know, sending a carriage to meet someone on a special day is a time-honored tradition."
Yuu didn't know. In fact she had to hold herself back from laughing. "If you say so." Without warning, Grim started thrashing around wildly. Yuu jerked him away from her so that his claws wouldn't scratch her. "Oh, come on! Really?!"
Grim tried to yell something at her, but all that came out was a strangled "Mmfff! Mmmmmmmfff!"
Yuu managed to get a hold of his paws with a hand. With the other, she tucked Grim under her arm and wrapped him in the excess fabric of her robes. "There! Stay like that until we get this sorted out." Grim glared up at her, but at least he stopped struggling.
Crowley nodded in approval. Once he was sure that Yuu had Grim under control, he led her towards what looked to be the main building on campus. "Now, let us attend to your orientation."
"Yes sir." Yuu huffed. As she followed the Headmage into the building, she couldn't help but notice how long this dream was, and how real it felt to her. How much longer is this dream going to go on?