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zinfindoll · 7 months

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Swan Song | M. Draconia — 01. bleeding over

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Rating: T CW: use of [Y/n], she/her pronouns for reader, swearing

There was no way you or Yuna could go to sleep after that, leading to the two of you going to a 24-hour café that was by your dorms. Neither of you talked for a moment, and you were content with just sipping your favorite comfort drink as you waited for Yuna to snap out of whatever daze she was in.

It took a few minutes, but finally her eyes snapped to you as she took a sip of hot coffee. "Just... What the hell was that?"

"Huh?"

The question caught you off guard, and you waited for Yuna to elaborate. She didn't keep you waiting.

"Back at the dorm, it was like you knew what was going on with the mirror. So, what — are you in some kind of cult? What the hell did I see?"

"I have no clue because you haven't said anything. So what did you see?" More importantly — was it that creepy Mickey Mouse that you had once seen, or one of your friends? You paused, then tacked on: "And no, I was not in a cult."

Yuna exhaled through her nose. While you could understand that she was shaken up, a tired sort of impatience was welling up in your stomach. For six years had you tried to look for some proof that Twisted Wonderland had been real. It's not that you cared about proving to others that it was — you couldn't care less what they thought or believed. However, as much as you were glad to be in the comfort of your world... You missed Twisted Wonderland. You missed your friends, the crazy shenanigans you all got into, and even Grim. You had written off the possibility of going back years ago...

But what if it was still possible?

"I don't know," Yuna took another long sip from her cup. "It was some tall, dark, shadowy creature. I couldn't make out any features, except for red eyes, and horns that curled outwards." She shuddered. "It was only there for a second. When I turned the light on, it was gone, and the mirror was..."

That didn't sound familiar to you. Red eyes and horns? It didn't sound like anybody you had known. Hell, it might not even be from Twisted Wonderland. If two worlds already existed, what's to say that more alternate universes and worlds didn't exist? Not that you wanted to entertain that possibility. You did not have the mental energy to get involved with a third world. What was next? Pixar rip-offs instead? Some messed up Grimm Fairytales universe?

But then, how did that explain the blot? If the mirror really was leaking blot, that was...

". . . Well, anyways." Yuna cleared her throat. "Not to pry into personal stuff, but does this have to do with anything about you disappearing all those years ago?"

Your eyebrows shot up. "You knew about that?"

"You went through three roommates in one semester, so, yeah, I did some digging. Just never brought it up because, well, I figured it was traumatic. Or something."

"Well, thanks, then." Your tone was dry, and you pondered your next words. Again, you had no clue how to explain this, and there were no promises that Yuna would even believe you. The brunette wasn't going to let this go, though. Sigh. "Look... It's absolutely batshit insane. You wouldn't believe me."

Yuna was unimpressed with your feeble excuse. "I just saw a demon in our mirror which is now bleeding some kind of black substance. Try me."

Chewing on your lip, you debated your options. It would be easy to just lie and brush it off. It was certainly better than having your dormmate think your crazy or, even worse, file to move rooms and leave you stuck with somebody else. You had very little evidence of Twisted Wonderland outside of your hidden shoebox — just the few scars that littered your body, and the memories you retained.

At the same time, though... Wouldn't it be relieving to get this off your chest? Sure, you had your therapist, but she didn't believe you for a second, no matter how she worded it. While Yuna believing you was slim, there was still a chance...

And no matter how jaded you had become, you still craved for somebody to understand what all you had been through.

Ugh. Fuck it. Yuna's the one that's insisting.

"Alright, alright." You leaned back in your chair, crossing your arms and pursing your lips. "Not sure where to start, so bare with me..."

Where did you start? It was certainly too lengthy to start from the very beginning, but perhaps if you just condensed it a little bit it would suffice?

"I guess I'll start with nine years ago..."

══════════════════

Unsurprisingly, it was a lengthy story, even abridged — after all, you spent three years in that world. You didn't give Yuna a complete play-by-play, but you gave her the rundown. How you woke up in a coffin, made friends with an egotistical and pyromaniac cat, and proceeded to survive near-death experiences not once, not twice, but nine separate times. At least. You didn't tell Yuna about the friends you made, or about the clubs and the more fun experiences, but you told her about blot and overblot, and how it could affect others.

For Yuna's credit, she didn't interrupt you, even as her expression grew more and more incredulous. By the time you had finished with your "little" rundown, at least an hour and a half had gone by. You awaited her reaction with crossed arms — judging by her expression, she didn't believe you for a single second.

Honestly, you couldn't blame her. If the roles were reversed, you would have thought she was delusional as well, but it didn't make the scenario any less frustrating.

Yuna finally shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. "You have got to be kidding me..." It came out in a grumble. "Be for real right now. Are you fucking with me or something?"

The look you gave her spoke leagues without you needing to open your mouth, and she threw her hands up in the air, on the cusp of disbelief and exasperation.

"Everything you just told me is absolutely insane. You basically went to some — some Disneyworld-based alternate universe with magic? And — and — ugh." She was struggling with getting her thoughts together, and you allowed her a couple of moments, trying to debate on your next move.

Well, I'm already in this deep.

"I have proof. Back at the dorm. It's not much, but..."

Yuna scrutinized you for a moment, before relenting. "Jesus. Okay."

Your eyebrows raised. "You're not going to argue anymore???"

"As unbelievable this all is... I know I saw something in the mirror. And you saw that stuff dripping from the mirror, too... I don't fully believe your story, but something is going on." She took a deep breath, finishing her coffee. It was her third one.

"Gee. Thanks." With a roll of your eyes, you pulled some cash out and left it on the table, enough to cover your drinks and tip. You'd take her half-hearted belief, even with all the sarcasm you gave your roommate back. It was baby-steps.

The walk back to your dorm was thankfully quick, shortened by the quick steps you and Yuna took to try and get out of the night time air. During the middle of your walk, the ground seemed to rumble for a little bit, but it certainly wasn't as bad as the earthquake from earlier, and quite frankly, you and Yuna had bigger problems to deal with right now.

For better or worse, the mirror looked the same. You weren't a fan of it leaking blot into your dorm room of all places, but at least nothing was crawling out of it.

You did not voice your worries or thoughts to Yuna.

Checking over it one more time to confirm that the mirror looked okay, you went to grab the shoe box from underneath your bed while Yuna kept a watchful eye on it.

"Hey, does this look like it has more blot...?"

"Probably," you answered absentmindedly as you unlocked your phone. "Here. Feel free to go through the photo album." You shouldn't have anything weird on there, save for some of the memes you stole from your friends back in their world. Yuna fumbled with the device, and you tensed as she nearly dropped it before she managed to get a grip on it. Carefully, she started to go through the photo album, and you gauged her expressions.

"No way... These are all photoshopped, right?" she asked with furrowed eyebrows, although you could tell she hardly believed it herself that they were photoshopped. Most likely because she had seen your computer graphics skills and, well, they certainly could use work.

"They aren't, but I don't have any other way to prove it," you admitted with a frown. She seemed to have scrolled over a video; moments later, you heard the obnoxious voice of Ace speak up, yelling for your attention in the video.

Glancing over Yuna's shoulder, you saw how Ace was (poorly) filming it — he had stolen your phone for some reason or another, and had started to harass you, Deuce, Grim, and Jack as you all studied. It was a short-lived video before Jack had sighed and yanked your phone back, but the short video made your heart ache and yearn for something you knew you would never have again.

You weren't sure what expression was on your face. You didn't even know you were pulling a face until Yuna called out your name in concern, pursing her lips in thought. ". . . Look. I'm sorry," she sighed, scratching the back of her head. "This is all a lot to swallow. But whether it's real or not, it's clearly affected you. I wish... If all of this is truly real, I hope you can see them again."

The brunette didn't quite seem on board all the way, but she was trying, and you had to give her props for that.

Yuna glanced back over to the mirror, humming. "You think that could be the key to getting back?"

". . . I don't know," you sighed. "But honestly, I doubt it's anything good."

"What do we do, then?"

And that was the golden question — what did you guys do? Throwing it out might do more harm than good, but it's not like you could call the police, either. You and Yuna exchanged a glance that proved you were both on the same mindset that you didn't have many options right now, and she groaned, throwing her head back.

"This sucks."

And honestly? You agreed.

══════════════════

The next day, you and Yuna made a bit more of a solid game plan: since the two of you had alternating class schedules, you'd trade off. Today, she would watch the mirror and keep an eye on it, and you would go to class, and then vice versa. It was the best option you both had right now while you brainstormed how to deal with this. Yuna promised to try and do some research via good old Google, but considering you had been trying for years, you weren't too positive she'd get any results.

The first half of your day had been going relatively smooth. Blotted mirror and your growing anxieties aside, your classes passed by without a hitch, and you were able to swing by the campus store to pick up thick cleaning gloves in case you needed to handle the mirror. In the mean time, you warned Yuna to not touch the blot at all.

Around 4 in the afternoon during a lecture hall, your phone had started to go off. Thankfully it was on silent, but you could feel it vibrating insistently in your pocket. Not wanting to get in trouble, you ignored it — but then it started to ring again, and you quickly excused yourself to go out into the hallway, glancing at the caller I.D.

Yuna C.

. . .

"Hey. Is everything okay?" you picked it up, not getting a good feeling at her calling.

"Yeah. Sort of?" She sounded a bit frazzled. "The mirror looks the same...ish. But your phone has been going off like crazy here. It won't stop ringing."

"My — huh?"

"Your phone! The one you showed me with all the photos from Wonderland?"

"Oh shit. I'm on my way right now."

Hanging up on Yuna, you went back into the lecture hall and hastily apologized to the professor, spouting a half-assed lie about some emergency before grabbing your belongings and running out of there.

While the lecture hall wasn't super close to your dorm, you made it there within twenty minutes, something you were certain was a record for yourself if you weren't too preoccupied with what Yuna had told you.

Your phone has been going off like crazy here.

Maybe once upon a time, you would have been excited, but considering it was right by the mirror dripping with blot, you were more scared for Yuna than anything.

Busting into your dorm room, you expected the worst, afraid to see some blot monster in the room, or to see the mirror doused, but it more or less looked the same. Yuna didn't seem too concerned, instead holding your phone. When you came into the room, she readily handed it to you.

"Sorry... Wasn't sure if I should answer it. Your DMs on MagiGram? MagiCam? Have been blowing up. So have your texts."

She was right, and you noticed how it showed you had one bar of service. Somehow, you were getting service from Twisted Wonderland.

"Ugh... I don't have a good feeling about this," you murmured, unlocking the phone. Unsurprisingly, a majority of the texts and DMs were from Ace, Deuce, and Cater, and even a few from Kalim and surprisingly one from Idia. They had all apparently gotten the notification that you were online, and you hesitated, debating on who you should send a message to.

Well, you didn't know if anybody got new phone numbers, so you opened the group chat you had with a majority of your friends on MagiCam.

hey guys, i don't know how i'm getting service, but i am. i think something is wrong. i am still in my world, but blot is here and now i can get service again. if you guys get this, i'm afraid it's affecting your world too.

You hesitated, fingers hovering hesitantly before you sent it and added on one more message.

i miss you guys.

You waited impatiently for the messages to send, the shitty service taking forever to go through...

. . . Only for the "FAILED MESSAGE" to appear besides both messages, "NO SERVICE" once more at the top of your phone.

"Damn it!"

In anger, you chucked your phone at the wall, watching it bounce off the wall and onto your bed. Hot tears pricked your eyes.

You had been so close! So close, only to have it snatched away again! You could almost scream in frustration, and you buried your face in your hands, resisting the urge to just scream. Yuna hovered over you, unsure of what to do. She seemed awkward, clearly not good at comforting others. Even if she was, you weren't sure anything she could say would comfort you.

"What do you think it means?" she asked after a second. You glanced up at her, not quite understanding what she was getting at, and she gestured towards the mirror. "I mean, first the mirror, and then the phone. Clearly they're correlated. And you mentioned you traveled in that other world through a mirror, right? What if this mirror is like, I don't know... Some gateway?"

You glanced back at the mirror. With the amount of blot accumulating, you weren't sure you wanted to attempt stepping through it right now.

"Try bringing the phone over to it?"

Well, it was worth a shot. Grabbing the phone, you made about two steps before the dorm room started to shake. Unlike last night, this earthquake was much more sizable, sending you and Yuna toppling to the ground unceremoniously as the items and books off your shelves fell to the floor.

"The mirror!"

Yuna shrieked as the mirror fell off the wall, landing glass down on the wooden floor. Neither of you could get up for a few seconds, and only when the shaking stopped did the two of you scramble to a stand on shaky legs.

"Is it broken?"

She nudged it with her foot and flipped it over, careful to not touch the blot. It seemed unharmed, not even a crack on it, but you noticed how the blot was slowly eating away at the floorboards beneath it. In fact...

"Hey. Is it just me, or is that way more blot coming out of the mirror?"

It certainly was. At Yuna's words, you grabbed out the gloves you bought from campus store earlier, giving her a pair.

"We have to get this out of here," you demanded.

Yuna looked pointedly at the floor boards. "You don't think they'll charge us for that, do you...?"

"Now, Yuna!"

She slipped the gloves on, and the two of you quickly and carefully brought the mirror out of your apartment, blot dripping onto the floors in small droplets, leading a trail until the two of you got outside.

The earthquake had been one of the largest by far. Car alarms once more were blaring, and the damage of trees was easy to see. There was a huge crack in the sidewalk that made your heart clench, but you had not time to survey the aftermath. With the mirror dripping with blot, your first priority was to get it away from anybody else. The two of you made it to the lawn before dumping the mirror onto the grass, both of you panting.

"Shit. It's getting worse," Yuna pointed out, almost the entire mirror engulfed and overflowing with blot now. "What do we do?!"

"I don't know," you replied grimly. Who did you even call in such a situation? It's not like the police could do anything! At the same time, though, clearly you couldn't do nothing. The blot wasn't stopping any time soon, and your world didn't have magic to combat blot! You weren't equipped to deal with this!

"Well, we have to do something!" Yuna shouted, throwing her hands up in the air.

What to do, what to do...!

Your phone started to ring. In irritation, you pulled it out, ready to turn it off silent only to realize which phone it was that was going off. Without hesitation, you found your thumb pressing the 'answer' button, a familiar face popping up on the screen in terrible pixilation and glitchy quality.

"Ace?!"

#swan song #malleus draconia #malleus x reader #malleus draconia x reader #twisted wonderland #twst fic #twst #zinfic #twenty years later...

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