#leona is a meanie here im sorry i love him but he’s a jerk and emotionally stunted

[yaksha-lover]

First Love/Late Spring

Summary: Having a gorgeous prince as a soulmate is practically a dream come true. Unfortunately for you, Leona doesn’t exactly care for things like fate and love.

Leona Kingscholar x Reader (Soulmate AU), background Malleus & Reader

CW: Leona is a jerk/toxic also possessive, mild discussion of class issues, unrequited love

His first words to you, written in beautiful script on your wrist, hadn’t made your mother excited at the prospects of your soulmate, but you hadn’t much cared about their brashness. Growing up, they were all you had to fantasize about as a distraction from your tedious life.

Meeting Leona had finally changed that, crumbling your hopes of his first words simply being a misunderstanding to dust.

You hadn’t grown up in the the Sunset Savanna, but you’d been able to catch glimpses of him here and there because of your place in Briar Valley’s court. The child of the Draconia’s head servant, you’d grown up in the halls of the castle, often attending to the royals while helping your mother. Despite your station, Malleus never treated you differently, often asking his grandmother to give you time off to play with him, for which she conceded with a smile and ruffle to her grandson’s head.

You remember the first time you’d seen Leona. He was merely a child of fourteen, a couple years older than yourself. Him and his brother had come for a diplomatic visit, the two princes strutting through the large halls. One brother warm and friendly, the other as icy as the snow that fell outside the castle that day.

Leona had caught your attention immediately. You watched him, transfixed as you hid behind the skirt of your mother. Your soulmate mark hadn’t even been at the front of your mind, but even then you’d felt an instinctual pull toward him. There was a sense of familiarity there, almost as though he was the prince you had grown up around and not Malleus, despite never having spoken to him.

Even as your mother forced you out from behind her to stand in a respectable line with the rest of the servants lowering themselves into a bow in front of the foreign princes, you couldn’t keep your eyes off of him.

Leona hadn’t glanced at you even once during that visit.

Years passed before you ever laid eyes on him again, but he would still grace your thoughts from time to time. Lord Malleus and the queen didn’t have guests very often, so his visit lingered.

You’d asked Malleus about him one day, wondering aloud about the second prince of the Sunset Savanna. The fae hadn’t known much. He’d also been strangely silent for the rest of the evening, so you wondered if perhaps you’d touched on a sore subject.

Those were the days when you were still a child and allowed to play alongside Briar Valley’s heir. Before your stations caught up with you. Back when you were allowed to be friends, instead of ruler and subject.

It was your own mother’s insistence, more than the queen’s, that forced you into days away from your childhood friend. Now that you were growing up, you had much to learn about how to run the domestic side of a kingdom, ensuring everything would be perfectly coordinated to keep the royals happy. After all, you were expected to replace your mother’s position and serve Lord Malleus after she passed.

Now, you rarely saw Malleus apart from when you were serving him his meals. When you’d bring him his breakfast in the morning, he’d try to chat with you, but you had to leave apologetically with all the chores you needed to do. You could tell by the softness of his voice, lacking in his usual amusement, that he was disappointed with your absence, but you hadn’t had much choice.

Once Malleus departed for NRC with Lilia, you saw him even less. Soon, Silver and Sebek followed, leaving the castle to have fewer familiar faces to liven your day. You weren’t a magic user, but you’d known that even if you were, you’d never have been allowed to leave the castle. No matter your circumstances, the one thing that kept you holding on was the fantasy of your soulmate coming to sweep you away from this life of simplicity.

-

When Malleus was in his last year of schooling, you turned eighteen and were permitted to temporarily visit Lilia and your prince.

Arriving at NRC, the two guided you to their dorm, where you would be staying for your visit. The other students had stared at you as you walked into Diasomnia; apparently it wasn’t common for anyone to have visitors, but the headmaster had made an exception for the Draconia’s.

All the other rooms were full for the school year, so Malleus agreed to let you stay with him, as he had his own single room.

As you unpacked your things, Malleus floated a second bed into the room. You thanked him softly, and he nodded in turn. It saddened you a bit, how things had become so distant between you and your childhood friend. You understood, of course, you were practically living in different worlds; his full of magic and royalty, yours of mundaneness and servitude. Despite the lack of time spent together, you hoped this visit would bring the two of you closer together again, dispelling some of the awkwardness you’d felt since returning to his presence.

After settling in, Lilia promised to take you on a tour of campus. Malleus had housewarden responsibilities to deal with, so he bid you a goodbye and left you alone in his room. Your eyes settled on the greyness of the walls; just like home. It seemed Malleus, too, found comfort in the familiar.

Lilia knocked on the door, smiling at you excitedly before pulling you into the hall, giggling all about the excitement to come. He showed you around the campus grounds, pointing out the different dorm uniforms and various areas he found interesting.

-

“Oh dear,” he suddenly remarked, “I’ve forgotten to remind Malleus of the housewarden meeting again.”

Lilia took your hand again, pulling you towards the other side of the school, despite your protests that Malleus had already known.

“Just one reminder isn’t typically enough for Malleus,” he said.

Soon enough, the two of you arrived in front of a small room. As Lilia tried to peek in the window to see if Malleus was already there, you approached the door, curious of this new place. Before you could look too closely at the name on the plaque, the door swung open, leading someone on the other side to crash into you.

The man managed to steady himself, but you fell backwards, landing painfully on your tailbone. You stared at the lion beastman, noting his strong build. His flowing brown locks fell across his shoulders, his cute ears perked on the top of his head. His piercing jade eyes were narrowed in judgement, but you found them beautiful all the same. He scoffed when he saw you sitting pathetically on the ground after your fall.

“Who the hell are you?” he glared.

The words rung in your ears, leaving you shell-shocked even as he awaited an answer. The words you’d dreamed of, over and over again, romanticizing every possibility and hoping they were different to what they sounded like. You couldn’t form a response, only staring up at your apparent soulmate, the prince from so many years ago, Leona Kingscholar.

“Whatever, I don’t care. Just get out of my way,” he huffed, leaving before you could even get a word in.

You’d heard rumours about Leona before, but it was hard to know which of them was true. People often said that Malleus would turn you to stone with one look, and that was the farthest thing from the truth.

Lilia, when you inquired briefly after Malleus’ silence on the topic, had informed you that Leona could supposedly be quite disagreeable. You hadn’t thought much of it then, let alone the words on your wrist.

Now, Lilia giggled for a moment, before helping you up. “That’s the Kingscholar fellow who visited Briar Valley when you were a child.”

“I know,” you replied, too lost in thought to realize your sleeve had slid up, allowing Lilia to catch a glimpse of the very words Leona had said a few moments ago.

He looked back at you, surprised. “Leona is-”

“So rude!” you interrupted him as Malleus exited the meeting with the rest of the housewardens. It seems Leona left as soon as he could, while the rest lingered behind for a moment. “Can you believe he knocked me over like that?”

“Kingscholar harmed you?” Malleus asked, approaching you. His eyes hardened as they scanned over your body, searching for injury. “I will take you to the infirmary.”

“No need,” you waved his concern off. “We just bumped into each other.”

Lilia watched the exchange between you two, and you held eye contact with him, imploring him not to share his discovery with the prince.

“You actually made it to the meeting, Malleus?” Lilia inquired, thankfully changing the topic.

“Yes. It seems having MC here reminded me.” Malleus smiled gently at you.

“I’m glad to be of service.” You smile back, happy a bit of the awkwardness built up from distance is going away.

“No,” Malleus said. “While you’re here, you’ll be under no one’s service. Certainly not my own.”

“Thank you. That means a lot, Mal,” you replied, using a nickname for him that you haven’t used since you were children.

The light dusting of pink that coloured his cheeks went unnoticed by you.

-

You stayed up that night, just thinking about your soulmate. All this time you’d wondered who it could be, only to find out you had already met him years ago. Not only that, you’d admired him. You wanted to deny it, but even back then you’d felt an intrinsic but inexplicable pull towards him.

You’d never considered it could be because he was your soulmate. After all, the two of you couldn’t be more different. Were you really destined to find him after being locked away in Briar Valley your entire life?

For better or for worse, Leona was yours. Even he couldn’t deny it with your first words to him presumably printed on his own forearm. Sure, your first encounter hadn’t been the best, but you’d probably just caught him at a bad time.

Despite your fears, you resigned yourself to try and talk to him at the next possible chance.

-

You’d thought about talking to Lilia about what to say to him, but you quickly dismissed the thought. As much as you loved him, you knew Lilia was hardly a romantic by anyone’s definition but his own.

Instead, you enlisted the help of Silver to point you towards the direction of Savanaclaw, Leona’s apparent dorm. Thankfully, he hadn’t asked too many questions and only wished you luck, dropping in a quick warning about avoiding angering anyone in the dorm. It seemed Savanaclaw had many strong fighters; it was no wonder someone like Leona was their leader.

Silver spotted a shorter boy as you approached the dorm, calling out to him. “Hello, Ruggie.”

The blond boy walked towards him, eyeing you by Silver’s side. “Silver. Who is this?”

“Malleus’ guest. They’ve come to see Leona.”

“Leona?” he questioned, turning to you. “Why do you want to see him?”

“I have my reasons,” you replied, not exactly wanting to tell this stranger about your relationship to his housewarden.

“No can do. Leona’s in a bad mood today. If you annoy him anymore, he’ll just take it out for me.”

“Thanks for taking me here, Silver. I’ll be okay on my own for now.”

Silver took the hint and stated that he’d see you back at Diasomnia, before heading off. You turned back to Ruggie.

“I’m his soulmate,” you revealed, pulling up your sleeve for him to examine Leona’s words. You hadn’t wanted to, but Ruggie looked awfully reluctant to take you before.

His eyes widened, suddenly much more aware of you. Ruggie’s eyes surveilled you top to bottom. “That does sound like him. Huh. I was beginning to think Leona didn’t have one.” He shook his head. “Okay, I’ll take you to his room. He would probably want me to. I think. But I’ve warned you, he’s not feeling good right now. You sure you still want to see him?”

You hesitated to reply for a moment. Your first interaction with him had gone terribly wrong. Your poor heart couldn’t risk another one, but you also knew if you waited even a day longer to speak to him you’d go stir-crazy.

“Take me,” you told him. You would need to face Leona sooner or later.

-

Leona’s room was huge in comparison to the others you’d passed by. Every surface seemed to be draped in luxury silks and handmade tapestries of only the finest quality. It’s high ceiling and fancy decor gave it an open feeling, but also one of impersonality. You couldn’t get a grasp on him at all.

He was sleeping when you entered, which should have been your first sign to turn and run. Warnings about ‘waking a sleeping beast’ and all. Ruggie had approached Leona, urging him quietly to wake up. Leona glared at him, until he turned and pointed at you, standing in the doorway.

“You again? Get out. Ruggie, what the hell? You just bringing anyone in here now?”

“I’m out of here,” Ruggie said, quickly leaving the room.

“What do you want?”

“My name is-”

He interrupted you, bored. “That’s not what I asked.”

“I’m your soulmate,” you blurted out. “Sorry, I know this isn’t the best way for us to officially meet but-”

Leona instinctively glanced down at his arm, furrowing his brow. Surely enough, the beginning on an introduction swiftly cut off was printed on forearm. He’d wondered about the abrupt end of the sentence back when he was younger. He took a few seconds to examine you as you stood rambling on.

“Do you really think I care? Being my soulmate doesn’t make you special. You’re just as pathetic as the rest of them.”

You hadn’t expected him to sweep you off your feet, but his cruel words cut deeper than you’d thought. You felt yourself tearing up, no matter how you tried to resist it.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. But I won’t stop trying, you know we’re meant to be toge-”

He glared, looking down on you. “You’re a pathetic little herbivore, through and through. Even if I cared about having a soulmate, do you really think I’d want you?”

It hurt, even though you think you’d known what was coming. To be rejected by one’s soulmate was unthinkable; did he truly find you that repulsive? You fled his room, not willing to hear anymore of his words.

Leona, exhausted from his day and only half-remembering this interaction, went back to sleep.

-

The next day, Ruggie found Leona napping in the garden.

“You know, that was harsh, even for you. Rejecting your soulmate? What were you thinking?”

“I know. Stop eavesdropping.”

“Whatever. I think Malleus is on warpath now that you’ve broken the heart of his guest.”

“Malleus’ guest, huh?”

“Yeah. Apparently they were raised as a servant in his castle.”

“That lizard has been ordering around my soulmate?”

“Now you care?” Ruggie asked, exasperated.

“Fine, I overreacted yesterday. You caught me at a bad time. It’s not a big deal.”

“I think Malleus would disagree.”

“Will you shut up about him?”

“I’m pretty sure your soulmate would too.”

“…”

“You fucked up, man.”

“Whatever. It’s either disappointing them now, or disappointing them later. They’ll get over it.”

“Why’d you even say that stuff about not wanting them as a soulmate? They’re certainly attractive, and seemed nice enough.”

“I needed to get rid of them and finish my nap.”

“Once again, you’ve fucked up.”

Leona glared at him. “I told you, I know. My soulmate was bound to hate me at some point or another. Why disappoint them by letting them get to know me and then finding out? Plus, I don’t need someone dragging me down with sappy shit and more responsibilities like dates and anniversaries.”

“Dude, soulmates are literally designed to love you. I know this is rich coming from me, but maybe don’t be such a jerk for once.”

With that, Ruggie left Leona behind to stew in his thoughts.

-

“Malleus,” you cried into his shoulder. “He doesn’t want me. My own soulmate!”

You’d been able to mostly hold it together when you returned to Diasomnia, but after Malleus had asked you what was wrong as you were about to sleep, all the pent up feelings burst through in waves of angst and regret.

“Kingscholar has always been a brute. You deserve far better.” Malleus stroked a hand gently over your head, moving to wiping away stray tears from your cheek.

“No, no, he’s right. Why would he want to be with me? I’m just a pathetic magicless human, there’s no reason-”

“Stop,” Malleus orders sharply. “I will not allow you to talk about yourself in this manner.” He leaned in to pull you into his arms, whispering gently into your ear. “Anyone, prince or not, would be the luckiest in the world to have you. I wish you might see yourself as I do, my dear.”

“Malleus,” you sighed, missing the true meaning of his words and instead plunging the knife deeper, “sometimes I wish you were my soulmate instead of him.”

He only dared to speak his response once you were well asleep, snoring from across the room.

“As do I.”

-

Over the last few days of your visit, you tried your best to avoid Leona, but it proved more difficult than one would think. No matter where you went, he seemed to appear, watching you from across the field or cafeteria or classroom. Thankfully, Malleus stayed by your side the entire time.

That was, until he was once again forced to attend to housewarden duties. Feeling the need for fresh air, you resigned yourself to taking a walk around campus.

Unfortunately, you managed to run into Leona again. Without Malleus by your side, he finally approached you. Knowing that you would be forced to face him eventually, you waited for him to speak.

“Where’s your guard dog?” he asked dryly.

“Busy. What do you want?” you echo his words back at him.

“The real question is what do you want? First you come around claiming to be my soulmate, now you’ve got the lizard’s scent all over you. What, you want him instead?”

You glared at him. How dare he act like you were in the wrong after what he’d said to you. “And if I do?”

Your words lit a fire in his eyes, replacing the tired apathy. “You want Malleus? Too bad. I’m the one the universe designed for you. You belong to me, and no one else.”

Taken aback by his response, you replied: “What’s your problem? You’re the one who rejected me.”

“Maybe I’ve changed my mind about you.”

“And if I have too?”

“Take it up with the universe, I guess.”

“Screw you.” You’d thought, hoped, that he might try for an apology. You suppose the words on your wrist had been a warning instead of an opportunity.

“MC.” He called your name as you started walking away. “I know you feel what’s between us. I never really believed in this ‘fate’ shit, but I even I can’t deny it. Why do you think I approached you? I guess I can’t help it. I don’t know a thing about you, and it pisses me off that I want to.”

You stand rooted in place by his confession. He’s been horrible to you, and yet his words ring true. You do feel it, no matter how much you don’t want to. You want to be near him, getting some kind of sick pleasure out of how he’s been hovering around you the past few days.

“You know we’ve met before. Back in Briar Valley.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“Obviously. You know, I never wanted to go on that dumb visit. Father insisted, but now I know, everything was done to put as together, MC. No matter how much we try to stay away from each other, no matter how angry we make each other, we’ll also belong to each other, and I think you know that.”

You are his and he is yours. Those green eyes look at you, and you know your decision has already been made.

“You have a lifetime of things to make up for, and we’ve only just met.”

“I know,” he smirks. “Good thing for you, soulmates are for life.”

#leona is a meanie here im sorry i love him but he’s a jerk and emotionally stunted #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #leona kingscholar x reader #malleus draconia x reader #leona x reader #malleus x reader #leona kingscholar #malleus draconia #lilia vanrouge #ruggie bucchi #silver vanrouge #twst #twisted wonderland