#the little fountain scene happened and I can’t help but make parallels

[sugaftrm]

is love all play going to give me what 2521 didn’t — closure?

#i just started OK #on episode 1! #the little fountain scene happened and I can’t help but make parallels #god please help me heal from the ending of 2521 #love all play #twenty five twenty one spoilers

[yunarim]

ಇ. broken melodies | chapter 3

⇢ ⁺ GENEALOGY OF RED, WHITE AND BLACK ˖ Neige reveals his true self.

— PREVIEW (read for tags and synopsis) — MASTERLIST (open to read previous chapters) — AO3

⁺ w.c : 19.5k+ this chapter contains major usage of obscene language ! also not proofread and might be edited later with an addition of some major details !

A light reflecting through the windows slid across Yuu’s converging features and prevented her from falling asleep, even taking into account the fact she wasn’t sleepy in the first place, but in all honesty, the slight blue glow was helpful and served as a desk lamp. 

She let out a small sigh followed by an almost transparent cloud of steam. Hm, is it getting colder these nights? She shrugged the feeling off, massaging her shoulders, and continued writing, a tight grip on the fountain pen. Yuu wasn’t sure what time it was, but judging by the way the air felt and how the temperature dropped, it might be right in the middle of the night. 

Neat notes done in a cursive small handwriting were flowing before her sight, indicating nothing by now, and Yuu sighed again, closing her eyes. 

“Why,” she whispered to herself. “Did I last meet Snow White so unacceptably long ago?..” 

A pink butterfly appeared without Yuu asking it to do that, but she didn’t seem to mind, waving her hand so the butterfly landed on her little finger. 

“Little one…” Yuu opened her leaded eyelids and lowered her gaze to the notes. “I can’t remember anything but the bright red apple filled with poison.”

Yuu thought of herself as an imprudent, unheeding person when a scene of Neige making a parallel between red apple and the color of her eyes replayed in her mind. She should have at least made an assumption back then, it was some sort of a loophole, and yet…She was so dumbfounded by the sudden correlation that there was no way of thinking about anything else but his creative mind.

“Snow White lived with seven dwarfs, like Neige does,” Yuu frowned. “And also… She was also poisoned… And that happened because she took a bite of a red apple. But what else? I’m missing something.”

The butterfly flew slowly, demonstrating its confused emotions, to which Yuu nodded. The only one who could remember something else was none other than she herself. And she already spent half of a night trying to fish out at least one more detail.

Yuu, of course, remembered her visits to Snow White’s realm, but her dimension was the very first one she ever entered after being officially appointed as Fairy Godmother’s apprentice. She couldn’t be trusted with major tasks, given she hadn’t even reached fae average children's age—was she 17 or 18 then?—so there was no way she would play a huge role in rescuing Snow White. The only things she did were to help with cleaning or cooking, sometimes Fairy Godmother could give her permission to protect dwarfs, but other than that… 

Was she really helpful? Snow White told her countless times she considered Yuu her dearest friend and put her on one line with the dwarfs, but was she ever genuine in that intention, or was she demonstrating deliberate politeness? 

Yuu shook her head. She has no right to doubt princesses’ decisions and judgements. And if she really was Snow White’s friend, then she also must help Neige and figure out how exactly he is connected with the princess. 

Yuu and Neige weren’t classmates, making it difficult for her to attend lessons diligently and look after Neige at the same time, preventing all potential threats. It was also unknown if she could ask for help from one of his classmates. Asking dwarfs could be useful, but Yuu wasn’t completely sure, maybe they already were playing the roles with which they’re conjoined. Was this all happening according to the original story she once encountered? It couldn’t be trusted, considering Neige isn’t Snow White herself.

The only option remaining was to try accompanying him everywhere. She, indeed, can’t enter his lessons, but there must be teachers, right? If they’re not the ones plotting something, then it should be the safest path to take. 

“Alright…” She exhaled. “Let’s try it this way then.”

She scribbled something on the paper and the pink butterfly followed her way of thinking, flying around gracefully, to which Yuu smiled, feeling slightly better that her idea was supported soundlessly.

“You most probably expected you’ll be introduced to magic studies only during your second year, right?” Emery glanced to the seat where Yuu was, noticing how her movements slowed down and how her eyes looked more glassy and empty than before, and then shifted his gaze to Luan, holding something in his hand under the desk and cheerfully grinning. “Let me assure you, no magic can be performed without thinking beforehand. Even if you first encountered spell casting ability in your childhood, you might have not realized your brain made some extraordinary calculations.”

Luan yawned, his eyes automatically glueling to Yuu’s downcast appearance. 

“Oi,” he whispered, poking her arm and managing to attract her attention. “Take this.”

Yuu tilted her head rather slowly, when Luan took her hand and made it rest laid open the inside of palm up, and put something resembling small jelly candy in her hand.

“Hm?..” She wondered what he gave to her, examining the jelly with lidded eyes.

“It’s a gummy bear, you dummy,” he smiled. “You look so down, cheer up or somethin’!”

“Oh,” Yuu realized his intentions and reciprocated the smile, putting the jelly in her mouth and meeting teacher Emery’s condemning eyes, immediately perceiving that she stopped listening to him. 

“... In any case,” Emery continued after a short pause. “Magic spells require incantations in cases they’re complicated, but if we’re speaking about elemental types, good old physics will help.”

“...Thank you,” Yuu whispered to Luan and earned a soft giggle in return. 

“Combining two or more elemental types together does wonders. We’re not going to discuss the specifics of every combination during your first year, but will dwell on more on the basics. Well then…”

Yuu frowned, thinking how far she could go. Truthfully speaking, she did enjoy the happiness of being able to study magic so freely, sometimes her curiosity overlapping Fairy Godmother’s reprimands for even trying to learn something that could have been considered harmful and ‘useless to such a young fae as her’, but still—was there the end, a not so imaginary edge of all those magic aspects she could internalize? In fact, it was, and the answer to the question was time. 

She still doubted if it was alright for her to devour new information with such eagerness. Yuu couldn’t lie, but she had one defense point in case Fairy Godmother asked her why Yuu crossed the boundary she drew, and that was to help Neige and to fulfill her duty. 

Yuu sighed. She needed to figure out how to cover her butterflies with the way everyone performed magic here. Would her desire to learn eagerly and quickly things that are taught during second and third years be encouraged or raise suspicions instead? Yuu didn’t know, letting another soft sigh escape her throat and causing Luan to tilt his head, questioning her sudden disarray. 

“Right,” Emery said, turning to the class and stopping writing as the bell rang, notifying students of the end of the lesson. “Don’t forget that for the next lesson you need to go to the classroom next to the one we’re currently in! You’ll meet another teacher, who is far stricter than me.”

Yuu gulped, while Luan casually giggled, meeting Emery’s scolding expression. She suddenly startled, realizing she has no time to sit here doing nothing, and after Emery gave hometasks to do, Yuu rushed to the cafeteria to try finding Neige. 

According to her plan, she would follow him everywhere she could during the day and activities happening on campus territory, except for the lessons. Thus, she hurried over, carrying a hope of meeting Neige.

The way her heels cluttered was heard in the whole hall, causing other students to stop and observe Yuu’s small figure almost levitating, due to how fast she ran, and look at her in confusion. Her usual firm and calm composure fell miserably, creating a peculiar sight to witness.

Yuu also mentally apologized to Luan for breaking the promise of eating together during the lunch and quickly opened cafeteria doors, nearly smashing down Lavont, who was about to serve the tea.

“I am extremely sorry!!” Yuu said, performing a 90 degree bow. 

“Be careful next time,” Lavont replied, wondering what was with a sudden change of acting Yuu usually demonstrated with her exceeding politeness. 

She scanned the place for Neige, concentrating her vision as much as possible, but failed to find him on the first floor. 

“Ugh, well then…”

She enhanced her hearing while making her way to the second floor and—finally!!—hearing a soft yet constrained giggle, resembling a nightingale’s song, and recognized its owner instantly. 

This time making her way rather carefully and not touching other students even the slightest, she stood up on toes, trying to peek out of the crowd of tall students and fish out Neige from them. And indeed, she succeeded in the way she didn’t want to.

The bright scarlet blaze in the light of the lamps grabbed all of her attention, as if depriving her of the ground under her feet, and knocked out her sense of control over the situation, forcing Yuu to scream in fear and start acting impulsively. 

An apple. A blindingly dazzling red color shone in Neige’s delicate fingers.

The blood pounded in her ears with booming beats, and she, now ignoring all the boundaries of decency, briskly slipped through the crowd, approaching Neige’s table.

He noticed her hurried coming, smiling to her out of the habit, almost robotically well-trained, and caught the glimpses of genuine worry on her face only the second after, but decided to not follow, continuing smiling, and nodded to her.

“Good morning, Yuu. Is something the matter— Huh?”

“DON’T!!”

She shouted, grabbing the apple he was holding, and almost crumpled it down, losing control of the perfectly balanced way of maintaining the power she possessed, and caused Neige and his, apparently, classmates to stare at her in shock.

“Y-yes?..”

She ignored them, observing an apple she was holding, and before she could scan it for the poison traces, someone randomly grabbed it, and Yuu turned in horror, recognizing Luan cheerfully grinning next to her.

“Woah, is this for me?!” He laughed, sneakily jumping and taking a seat next to Neige, raising his hand in a greeting gesture, and took a bite.

Yuu looked like the end of the world just upfolded before her very eyes, her knees going weak and eyelids leaded. Her fingers twitched, as she was ready to summon the magic wand and cast a spell—she didn’t even know which one exactly, just something that would help to save a dying person from poisoning—but Luan, on the other hand, didn’t look even slightly weakened and, well, dying.

He was quite the opposite of the person who would be suffering and dying, enjoying the freshness of the fruit and chewing it with the brightest expression Yuu ever saw humans demonstrating, Luan’s tail wagging joyfully. 

“I thought there was something strange!” He suddenly said, pointing at her with his tale, causing Yuu to question his action, staring at him blankly. “You hurried to the cafeteria so fast, even tho you said we promised to eat together from now on! I thought like damn, you’re so unfair.”

She continued staring at him with an absolutely blank, absent expression, mind full of void and emptiness, at the same time blinking and slowly parting her lips.

“But look at you, saving such a fresh apple for me! Thanks, Yuu!~”

“B-but…”

Neige was smiling graciously at them, instantly forgetting what was the deal in the first place, and was enjoying the scene looming before him. 

“Oi wait,” Luan said, licking the tips of his fingers as he finished eating, and looked at Neige. “Was it yours?..”

Neige closed his eyes for a mere second before raising his gaze and returning it to Yuu, then smiled at her conspiratorially, tilting his head and blinking away all the confusion from before, radiating glimmering shine instead.

“No, please don’t worry.”

Yuu wondered what he could have meant by his reaction but decided not to question, periodically glancing at Luan and subconsciously checking if he was okay, and, to her surprise, he couldn’t have been any better—his health was in the state it always was, perfectly normal and okay. 

Was she… exaggerating? Or did she hurry for nothing, and he wasn’t connected with Snow White at any rate possible? Yuu felt her muscles going tense, and at the moment all the sounds in the cafeteria—people talking and discussing her oddness, Neige having a light ordinary conversation with typically sunny and bright Luan, trays cluttering, humans consuming food—turned to an irritating tinkling sputter. 

Think, Yuu demanded to herself voicelessly, and frowned. Was there a breach in her way of thinking and analysis? But it couldn’t be, even considering all the loopholes and things she couldn’t register yet, Neige still resembled Snow White so much it was absurd to brush aside all the similarities and call it a day. His appearance and the way animals acted almost enchanted around him, and, most importantly, dwarfs — Yuu was sure enough to make assumptions she came up with.

“Oi,” Luan suddenly dragged her out of the marsh of her thoughts and hypotheses. “You ok?”

“Ah,” she shrugged. “I’m sorry. Yes, I am.”

“Alright,” Luan smiled at her, a scent of apple freshness lingered around him. “Relax, Yuu. You looked so tense a second ago. You worry about the teacher Emery mentioned?”

“Oh, right, the teacher…” 

The urge to say it wasn’t what kept her so alarmed arose within, but she barely managed to remain silent. She, indeed, couldn’t lie, and she was miserably bad in deceiving in other ways, like other faes could, according to Fairy Godmother’s words. 

Yuu returned a smile to Luan, knowing that even though she couldn’t lie, she knew the best when it was the time to keep her mouth shut. 

After having a lunch with Luan and Neige, Yuu bowed to the last one, promising to see him soon, to which Neige curved his lips in a soft reassuring smile, impressing Yuu with how easily he could put under a shell what was hidden underneath his own heart, creating a persona of absolutely unbothered individual. 

She then made her way back to the classroom with Luan, chuckling softly at him for almost forgetting that he went the wrong way and caught teacher Emery’s sigh.

“Geez, I forgot the classroom’s changed,” Luan yawned, following Yuu and entering another one auditorium, which looked pretty similar to the previous. “I forgot what we’re going to study rn.”

Yuu blinked at his wording—what does ‘rn’ mean in the first place?—and made her way to the seat.

“An introduction to the cultural foundations of Twisted Wonderland,” she answered, causing Luan to stare at her with a look she couldn’t yet decipher.

“I wonder what’s that even about,” he sighed in return. “Sounds so boring.”

Yuu, on the other hand, would love to dwell further, but with her mind being preoccupied with Neige and his rescue she couldn’t concentrate to the max. Something crawled under her skin, an unpleasant feeling of shame and blame conjoining altogether, caused her to bite her lip. 

Fairy Godmother would be so disappointed in her actions. Yuu could easily imagine the scoldings she would receive, head lowering more and more under the pressure of being reprimanded for such an ungraceful way of following her responsibilities. Fairy Godmother’s work was flawless to the bone—her way of speaking and an excellent, essential and indispensable ability to put one’s mind at ease, not mentioning her vast knowledge and ingenuity, impeccable mindset. 

Moreover, she never was harsh and rude. Her indignation was absolutely justified, and Yuu understood that she was not scolded — she was given instructions clearly and straight to the point, not hiding any empty flattery behind. Still, Yuu was ashamed and embarrassed due to her firstly being not so helpful in Snow White’s realm, then letting Sprites turn into Imps and cause an unimaginable damage to princesses. Even rescuing them after that and returning everything to how it was, she punished herself by taking extra work, by renovating the whole garden and studying (only materials she was allowed to use, naturally).  

And now, after so many years passing, has she changed after all? She was panicking for nothing, making misjudgments here and there, and not even making any progress in magic. She was different here, a foreign, alien variable and—

“Yuu,” Luan whispered, noticing how far her thoughts traveled, making Yuu fall silent to the point it was concerning. “The teacher’s came.”

“O-oh.”

She blinked away her thoughts, standing up with everyone, and finally taking a look at the teacher who just came, carrying a strong, luxurious, though not overly concentrated aroma of an expensive perfume around him. 

Yuu instantly pointed out his graceful stance and even posture. He seemed to have descended from the pages of a romantic saga of royal intrigues and grandiose balls. His hair fell in elegant waves over his right shoulder in a loose ponytail tied with a purple satin bow. A dark purple cardigan with fur inserts was thrown over a luxuriously expensive-looking blouse tucked into high dark trousers, and despite the obvious expensiveness of the image, it did not exude an aura of pomposity and eccentricity.

His chiseled, sharp-featured face wore a thin, unobtrusive layer of make-up, and if it weren't for Yuu's sensitive vision, she wouldn't have noticed the faint lines of wrinkles at the corners of his lips, which betrayed him as a man of advanced age or approaching it. A pair of obsidian eyes peered out from under long lush lashes. Wavy strands of hair, close to gray but still retaining the old wheaten hue of his youth, neatly framed his cheeks. A tired sigh escaped his cherry-colored lips, and he turned to the blackboard on his heels, picking up the chalk with a slight movement and writing his name on the blackboard, then turned back to the class. 

“Good afternoon, dear students,” he bowed slightly. “My name is Amédée Bonsagacité. I will be your teacher of art and ancient history. Very pleased to meet you.”

Yuu found herself spellbound with the purity and depth of his soft voice, flowing with a graceful stream of soulfulness, and suddenly caught someone's light line thrown from the back rows.

“It’s that Amédée?? My grandmother’s his absolute fan!!”

“Yeah same, my grandfather treasures his autograph till today.”

Luan turned to them, completely ignoring Amédée’s lingering stare. 

“What’s that about him?” He asked sneakily.

“He was a famous opera singer.”

Yuu nodded to herself, realizing his voice sounded well-trained and naturally pleasant to hear. 

“Dear students, we haven’t got all day,” he snapped his fingers, taking a pointer, and tapped on the blackboard, where Yuu noticed that the topic of today’s lesson appeared, written in chalk. “Since it’s our very first meeting, and the lesson itself is carrying more introductory purposes, you may think it’s easy to skip. But it doesn’t mean I allowed that in the first place. Now, let me get straight to the point.”

Despite how soft and weightless his voice was, teacher Amédée was indeed strict and quite outrite. In any case, Yuu followed his words, making notes and nodding eagerly, much to Luan’s bright giggles.

“You’re surely familiar with admirable figures in our history, am I being correct? The Venerable Seven, whose principles and personality traits are of great importance here in the RSA, as well as the Great Seven, whose life path is considered highly respected in the NRC.”

Yuu knitted her brows together, making sure she wrote it right. How very interesting, why Seven figures? Moreover, what was NRC? Apparently, another school, if teacher Amédée has compared RSA to another unknown to Yuu facility. 

“We must dwell on the respectable figures our academy follows,” he said, drawing with chalk a table of seven columns on the blackboard. “As for the Great Seven, we’ll start studying their traits after taking a test regarding the Venerable Seven.”

A few annoyed ‘tsk’ were heard among the class after one word ‘test’ escaped the teacher’s lips. 

“First, I believe the dorm leaders of each dorm based on a particular figure already introduced you to the basics. But knowing only one representative is not enough. Not to mention… You, miss.”

Yuu, who was writing after him, raised her gaze and met his, unreadable and showing an emotion Yuu couldn’t understand, but no hate was shown. 

“How very peculiar you have been sorted to Sidhery,” he chuckled. “Due to lack of any information regarding your dormitory, it will be fairly hard to explain, but I’ll try my best. We usually just don’t mention Sidhery when teaching this course.”

“Thank you and I’m sorry for causing trouble,” Yuu stood up and bowed, making Amédée widen his eyes in surprise and wave his hand, suggesting Yuu take her seat. 

“No need. Now, let’s continue. First, Pandora Charm dormitory, how many of you do we have here in the class?” Amédée glanced over the auditorium, nodding to a bunch of students raising their hands. “Quite a lot, I see. Well then, as many of you know, Pandora Charm is founded on Inquisitive Daydreamer’s curiosity.”

Yuu took a note of it, humming to herself with a slight nod. If students were sorted to the dorms, was it done according to the personality traits of the Venerable Seven, and did it mean Pandora Charm’s students possessed extra curiosity? Yuu was eager to know.

“We’ll dwell on the Venerable Seven’s figures further as we briefly discuss the basics. Now, to the Kifurijua dormitory. I see many of you are beastmen, correct?” Luan cheerfully waved his tail, making Yuu smile softly at his playfulness. “I see. Your dormitory’s founded on King of the Pride Lands’ Fearlessness.”

“Yep, I’ve been told that a lot before enrolling,” Luan nodded to himself, grinning proudly. 

“Are you happy being in this dorm?” Yuu whispered to him. 

“Very much! Would be fun if you were here,” his ears twitched. “Not sure tho if you’d be sorted here, it kinda doesn’t fit your vibe.”

“I see… I think,” Yuu tried to comprehend with his peculiar wordings and decided to politely agree.

“Speaking about non-human races,” Amédée took a look over the class. “Merheronelle dormitory’s student contingent mainly consists of merfolk. I see the tendency is as firm as ever.”

Some of the students nodded cheerfully, and Yuu silently gasped. So the boy she saw during the PE class belonged to merfolk as she thought, but the fact they were quite common here in this world was new to her. 

“Great then, your dormitory’s founded on Princess of the Atlantica Kingdom’s Vivacity.”

Yuu took a note, feeling a sudden urge to draw seashells and little sea waves doodles on the margins in her notebook.

“Not much to my surprise, the number of Huriirada dormitory’s students is quite low. Though as long as I remember, it was always like that.”

Before Yuu could wonder about his age and how long does he teach here in RSA, some students already whispered the same question she beared in her mind, gossiping and making assumptions, some of them Yuu found extremely ridiculous—how could such a beautiful young-looking individual work here for 50 years, after all? 

“Anyhow, Huriirada dormitory is based on The Rebellious Princess’ Strong Will.”

What a memorable title, Yuu thought. Previous dorms’ respectable figures created an impression of kind, gentle people—creatures?—while Huriirada’s one possessed such an unexpected name, carrying an image of someone seditious. 

“The next one dorm is quite popular, I presume, contradictory to Huriirada,” Amédée concluded. “Edelwiese dormitory is founded on The Fairest Princess’ Gentleness.”

The pen Yuu held in her fingers suddenly dropped with a slight thud on the desk before almost falling on the floor, which Luan prevented with his tail, grabbing it midair and passing to her. She thanked him absolutely absentmindedly, drowning in her thoughts.

The Fairest Princess. Was it a coincidence? No, it was absurd to deny it by now. She glanced at the color of the chalk the teacher used to depict dormitories’ colors, and the bright red was erasing any doubts and hesitance. Yuu added ‘Dorm leader — Neige’ to the dorm’s name written in pencil, and sighed, knitting her brows together. 

So Neige was connected to Snow White, after all. But still she couldn’t be any sure, considering no names were pronounced. Yuu knew her title, but as far as she remembered, people were referring to the princesses by their names preferably. However, could it be that those figures on which dorms are based weren’t the princesses and princes she knew? Yet still—

“Miss Yuu,” Amédée looked at her with a strict gaze, piercing through her and bringing Yuu’s mind back. “Is something the matter?”

“No, I am really sorry for the disturbance…”

“Hm,” the teacher said, relaxing just a little at her polite apology. “Alright, let’s continue. As for Dýnamieisos dormitory’s students, your dorm’s founded on the Prince of the Gods’ Valor.”

Yuu’s mind was still too preoccupied with the potential connection between Snow White, Neige and his dormitory to the point she was writing down the notes without giving any thought. 

“And last, but not least… Florevel dormitory is founded on Briar Rose’s Gracefulness.”

Yuu took a deep breath before trying to combine all the gathered information together and put it on the right shelves of her mind. Neige, Snow White, other dormitory figures… Oh, and the other school—was it NRC?—have got their own representatives, Yuu should have included them in her research and brainstorming, too. But how could she—

“And, as I’ve promised,” Amédée said, breaking a little silence lingered for a moment. “About Sidhery…”

Yuu raised her head, looking straight into his eyes.

“I believe the headmaster already explained to you that there’s no information regarding this dormitory. Moreover, the building itself isn’t being used for dormitory purposes, with a clock tower operating an only option remaining,” Yuu nodded to his words, confirming it. “Not to mention Sidhery building belongs to the type of non-pocket dimension one.”

Yuu wondered what ‘pocket dimension’ did mean and glanced at Luan, who only parted his lips slightly in surprise, then quickly erased the emotion and changed it into his signature cheeky grin, and wagged his tail.

“Although… During my academic years, when I was a student here myself, there were tittle-tattles emanating around saying that Sidhery was the very reason why RSA became so popular and earned its status as one of the best schools for young magicians,” Amédée said, going deeper into his thoughts. “Ah, I must also say that there were no dorms at first. Moreover, RSA was a co-ed school average to its max when it was established.”

“Co-ed?!” Someone gasped from the class. 

“Maybe that’s why Yuu-chan managed to enroll?” 

Yuu-chan?.. 

Yuu felt her cheeks growing redder, despite an obvious teasing way of saying, and lowered her gaze, feeling strange. Was it so simple for humans to call someone in an endearing manner? 

“But I’m afraid that is all I have to say,” Amédée turned to Yuu. “There might be some additional information in the library, though I am not sure if it’ll be much. Sidhery dormitory is a mystery shrouded in darkness, you may say.” 

“Thank you so much, professor,” Yuu stood up and bowed to Amédée, causing him to curve his lips in a weightless smile and nod to her. 

“Don’t mention it. Now, let us continue…”

Despite carrying a huge interest towards the dorm she was appointed to, Yuu’s very first task was to help Neige. Writing the notes down rather absentmindedly, she was focusing on her further plan regarding Neige, and decided to check him after the lessons.

Apparently, after school ends, Neige is no longer to be seen. 

Yuu made sure of that when she came to his class as fast as she could and stumbled upon his classmates who witnessed the embarrassing scene in the cafeteria earlier in the morning, and told her that he already left. They also mentioned he always leaves early, sometimes even when everyone in their classes, studying, but he’s got permission from the headmaster.

Having no idea where he went, Yuu felt uneasy, worrying probably for too much. Neige was a public figure, very much engaged with the media sphere. In spite of having no idea how it felt to be popular, Yuu still could understand that he was fairly used to all of the attention aimed at him, so she decided to do her own research. Remembering how Fairy Godmother told her to always remain calm and collected, Yuu took a deep breath and opened the doors to the library.

She was rather strong and composed when it came to battles or sudden situations, but as a substitute she turned into a ball of worries when the intuition was telling her that something would happen soon.

“Good evening, sir Aell… Huh?”

Yuu went to the counter where Aell could be found, but she witnessed only an empty place and dust particles flowing around the turned on lamp.

“Miss Yuu?”

She heard a voice coming from above, and raised her head, noticing Aell, standing on a stepladder and holding several books. 

“You’re quick to spot me,” he noticed. “Wait a moment, I shall come down.”

Yuu waited for him to get off the stepladder, and took some of the books he was carrying without asking.

“You don’t have to, miss Yuu,” he said as Yuu noticed a sweat drop rolling down his sharp cheekbone. 

“It is alright,” she declined. “Where should I put it?”

“Row seven, you’ll see empty shelves there.”

Yuu nodded and followed the direction he mentioned, then returned to the counter when she finished. 

“I presume you go here quite often, given how fast you orient yourself in here,” Aell said, snapping his fingers and magically cleaning off the dust on the counter. 

“You can say so,” she nodded. “I enjoy reading.”

“That’s nice to hear,” he replied. “So, how can I help you today?” 

“Professor Amédée mentioned I can find books about RSA dormitories here…”

“Oh, it’s rare for someone to dwell on it,” Aell noticed, nodding to himself. “Very well, you can find some in rows 19 and 20 on the second floor to your left.”

“Thank you so much!”

“Don’t mention it. Enjoy your time.”

Yuu went straight to the spot she grew familiar with, noticing she started occupying it quite often, to which she chuckled, placing books she took. 

Pretty colors of an upfolding evening radiated through the window near her, and after some time of reading and making notes she realized that it always was either Neige or that copper-haired boy, or even Che’nya wandering around here or studying. Or sleeping, in the case of Neige and another boy Yuu saw only once.

Even if Aell and Amédée both confirmed she can find some additional information in the library, nothing out of sorts was found. Amédée was fairly consistent in the way he explained things, hence Yuu could not really grasp something new from books. Although, symbolic features emphasizing Snow White’s aesthetics helped Yuu to make sure she was right in her judgment. Apparently, Edelwiese dormitory used a bright red apple as an unofficial yet incredibly recognizable symbol among students of RSA, distinguishing their dorm among others not only by its color choice. 

Then there were researches made for fun only, but appeared to be great material for Yuu. According to the school survey held several years ago, Edelwiese students attracted animals, were very kind to others, and were always compared to the students of NRC’s Pomefiore… 

“Pomefiore, huh?..” Yuu tilted her head, writing the name down in her notebook, and decided to put it aside for some time. 

After analyzing all the information she gathered before Aell went upstairs to tell her that the library was closing, she gasped, noticing how warm colors turned into dark cold ones, indicating that the night was close. 

She bid goodbye to Aell and summoned a butterfly on her way back to the dormitory.

“Good evening, little one,” she smiled, letting the butterfly land on her nose to tickle it with its wings. “Ha-ha, feeling playful today?”

Something tangled in her stomach at the very thought of falling asleep tonight. A malicious, viscous feeling covered her in its dark shades, but she shook her head when the butterfly danced around, as if asking what happened.

“Sorry for worrying you,” Yuu sighed. “I just… Do you think Fairy Godmother would be satisfied with my way of thinking if she was here? I think… I’m missing something.”

An image of the red apple Neige was holding suddenly appeared before her, making Yuu drown deep in worry.

“Though now I am certain I must help. I must finish my job and finally come back home, right?”

The butterfly made a graceful pirouette, approving Yuu’s words, and she smiled once again, though not very determined and sure if she really wanted to come back.

One day when the queen asked her mirror:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

Who in this land is fairest of all?

It answered:

You, my queen, are fair; it is true.

But Snow-White is a thousand times fairer than you.

Yuu shivered. It was excruciatingly cold, her bare legs were turning violet out of the blizzard she felt with her very skin. Fair, dispassionate woman’s gaze was piercing and sharp, to which Yuu jolted, not seeing her own reflection in the mirror. 

The queen took fright and turned yellow and green with envy. From that hour on whenever she looked at Snow-White her heart turned over inside her body, so great was her hatred for the girl. The envy and pride grew ever greater, like a weed in her heart, until she had no peace day and night.

Then she summoned a huntsman and said to him, "Take Snow-White out into the woods. I never want to see her again. Kill her, and as proof that she is dead bring her lungs and her liver back to me."

Yuu felt her heart clenching in her chest, a heartrending feeling gripped her heart, entwining it with tenacious thorny vines, and Yuu collapsed to her knees. Pierced by memories, she felt the events of past years rush through her vessels, causing her blood to freeze in her veins.

The huntsman obeyed and took Snow-White into the woods. He took out his hunting knife and was about to stab it into her innocent heart when she began to cry, saying, "Oh, dear huntsman, let me live. I will run into the wild woods and never come back."

Because she was so beautiful the huntsman took pity on her, and he said, "Run away, you poor child."

Yuu remembered that scene. She was helping dwarfs at the moment, when Fairy Godmother told her to not go anywhere without her asking, and the woeful look on her face indicated nothing good. 

She stared at the young beautiful girl who called Yuu her dearest friend, and wanted to help her get up, to envelop her in a warm comforting embrace, to tell her that everything will be alright, and even knowing it’ll really become fine — Yuu wasn’t fine at all.

"Child," said the old woman, "how you look! Come, let me lace you up properly."

The unsuspecting Snow-White stood before her and let her do up the new lace, but the old woman pulled so quickly and so hard that Snow-White could not breathe.

"You used to be the most beautiful one," said the old woman, and hurried away.

Yuu opened her eyes at once, desperately eagering for air to breathe in. She touched her neck, then embraced her own shoulders and stared at one spot before her, trembling miserably, and swallowed nervously.

“The red apple was just an omen,” Yuu said to herself, feeling how blood pounded in her head. “I must… I must protect Neige no matter what.”

The rest of the night went without any glimpse of sleep. Yuu put the memories she saw in her notebook, trying to make a timeline of events, presuming two more impingements will take place soon. 

In the morning she hurried straight to Neige’s classroom, not carrying any memory of how she changed the clothes. Nor did she possess any idea about how disheveled her hair looked, and how her face was swollen.

“Hm… Oi, Yuu!!”

She caught the voice owner rather quickly, turning around and seeing Luan waving at her. She stopped reluctantly, knowing that everything was probably fine, but she was too deep in her worries and concerns to let go of them so easily.

“G-good morning, Luan.”

“Huh?” He approached her, noticing how out of character she seemed. “You ok?”

A fae can’t lie, and Yuu really couldn’t. She gave him a small soft smile to lessen suspicions arising around her, and waited for Luan to speak.

“I guess it’s a yes?” He looked at her, approaching a little more and looking straight into her eyes. “Damn, never noticed they were so huge before.”

“Yes?..” She asked him in confusion.

“Yours eyes,” he explained. “They’re huge. I think they were brighter tho.”

“You’re very attentive to details, Luan,” she complimented him, seeing his tail wagging slightly. “Didn’t think I could see you so early in the morning, though.”

“Ugh,” he grimaced. “I just had to get up early today… Nevermind. Well, there's not much time left before the classes start. C’mon, don’t wanna hear you nagging at me for being late.”

He grabbed her hand, leading her to the classroom, much to Yuu’s concern. He was right, and it really was the only logical and rational thing to do, but the anxiety enveloping her made her heart twitch in worry.

Yuu tried to regain her composure. Luan’s presence caused a rather calming effect on her, making heart settle and mind put at peace at least slightly. During the lesson she diligently tried focusing on Emery’s words, even if still flowing somewhere in her thoughts about Neige. 

She nervously grabbed a strand of her hair, twisting it around her finger, and decided to braid her hair, realizing how disheveled and uncombed it was. 

I’m such a failure, Yuu thought silently, being exceedingly ashamed of her unkempt appearance, knowing exactly well that Fairy Godmother would be unsatisfied with her approach to herself. 

After the class ended, Yuu stood up at once, attracting Luan’s attention to her, and turned to him, meeting with his concerned gaze.

“You ok buddy?” He asked, confusing her again with that ‘buddy’ nickname, to which Yuu smiled gently.

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you for asking. I just… need to be somewhere right at the moment, please excuse me. I’ll join you for lunch.”

“No probs,” Luan’s bright smile managed to reassure Yuu that he was fine with her strange behavior. 

Despite him possessing a youthful, almost reckless appearance, he was no fool, giving her the space and time she needed, to which she was really grateful and hoped for the day she could repay him for his kindness.

Yuu rushed to Neige’s classroom, nimbly passing through students due to her tiny figure, and enhanced her hearing ability, concentrating on flowing around sounds and current of different voices combining all together. For a second stopping before the bulletin board, to which the curriculum was attached with a magical sticker, Yuu found the auditorium where Neige should be now, and hurried away in that direction.

Despite Neige’s voice being distinguishably sweet from others, she couldn’t grasp at least a glimpse of it, indicating he was silent right at the moment. When Yuu found his class, she jumped on the spot, fishing out Neige’s beret in the crowd of tall students, smiling to herself and rushing to him.

He was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the class, not noticing Yuu at all at first. Corners of his soft, bright red lips were curved upward, yet didn’t radiate a feeling of comfort and genuine warmth he usually seemed to possess, reminding Yuu more of a feigned consolation.

She approached him slowly, glimpses of voices reaching her ears, to which she turned her head to the classroom, where the origin of strange statements was found.

“He’s pissing me off.”

“Such a brat.”

“Have you heard rumors?”

“Which exactly? There's a lot floating around him.”

“That he’s probably sells his bod—”

“Good morning, Yuu.”

She turned, recognizing familiar sweetness, and noticed Neige waving at her. 

“It is quite unusual seeing you here. I thought first years don’t have practical magic lessons to be near these auditoriums…” He gave her a smile and then gasped suddenly. “Ah, forgive me if I sound as if I don’t want to see you! It is quite the opposite, I’m very happy I was able to see you early in the morning.”

“You are?..” Yuu asked in bewilderment. Why would he though?

“Of course,” his answer seemed lifeless, yet still genuine enough to believe he was saying the truth. 

“Thank you. I’m glad to see you too…”

“I’m flattered, but… Is everything alright, Yuu? You look a bit confused, if I dare to say. Can I help you?”

How funny is that I am the one who should be helping you, Yuu thought and realized she couldn’t really express why she rushed here. It was unwise to tell Neige about her dreams, her relation to princesses and such — she simply was no one to him. 

“I am fine, please don’t worry. I am just… observing the school.”

Which actually was a truth of sorts, and even if it may appear suspicious, she couldn’t come up with something more witty at the moment. And Neige, being either considerate of her or having no eagerness to interrogate her regarding this matter, only smiled, staring at her.

She looked at him with an uncovered concern splashing in her eyes, and felt something strange growing in her body.

Neige’s eyes were aimed right at her own, huge and filled with confusion. A weightless feeling blossomed in every cell of her body, filling it with unprecedented lightness. Warmth surrounded her heart, exuding gentle thrill, yet calmness prevailed. A mixture of different, but surely positive emotions combined into a holistic picture of serenity.

“H-huh?..”

“Yuu?”

She looked at Neige with more clearance in her gaze, blinking away all the confusion, and subconsciously drew a hand to where her heart was, not realizing what happened. 

“Ah,” she gasped when Neige approached her just ever so slightly, gazing straight at her, and noticed a shadow of something heavy and mournful in his eyes. “Neige?”

“Yes?”

He quickly regained composure, smiling at her in the way he always did, much to Yuu’s concern. Just what in the world happened?

“Are you perhaps feeling unwell?” She asked him, noticing how his delicate thin fingers trembled when he raised his hand to fix a strand of her hair. 

“Hm…” His eyes averted, and he blinked, spotting out the dwarfs, who came closer to him. “Probably. I’ll go visit a nurse. Thank you for expressing your genuine concern, yet also I’m deeply sorry for making you worry. See you later, Yuu.”

Absentmindedly greeting the dwarfs and bidding goodbye to the company, she watched Neige’s figure distancing from where she was, still not quite thinking straight, but a sudden malicious laugh reached her ears.

“HAHAH, it was SOOO pathetic. He really has no idea how to woo a girl.”

Yuu turned to Neige’s classmate, a peaceful and delightful feeling in her chest slowly disappearing, leaving a place for annoyance. 

“They say they’ll include more romance scenes in the movie,” someone said. “It’ll be so painful to watch.”

“For real, he’s so lame. Smiling here ‘n there won’t help. Can’t believe he’s starring in an R-rated movie.”

“Now now, don’t be so harsh,” someone added. “He’s just a child. He plays just fine in stuff for kids commercials!”

“Yeah, pathetic shit.”

“And you are?”

No one noticed when Yuu entered an unfamiliar auditorium, materializing before other students’ very eyes, making them stare at her in confusion. 

“Oho, isn’t it a lovely Yuu-chan?”

“Lovely?” She asked, a vague smile blossoming on her face, making it completely unreadable. 

“You must be dead tired after seeing that pathetic piece of shit.”

Yuu knew she had no authority in this school, being a small girl surrounded by tall and lean men wasn’t helpful at all, too, but she was pissed off enough to act harshly.

“Yuu-chan, if you’re hanging out with him because of his fame, forget it. With your looks you might as well seduce that Schoenheit guy. By the way, I know the guy who knows the guy who…”

“Ha…” She sighed, pressing her palm to her forehead and closing her eyes. 

“Come on, you’re scaring her,” another student said, standing up and getting closer to Yuu, placing his hand on her shoulder. “He’s right tho. Unless you prefer young innocent-looking boys over someone more manly?”

“You.”

She looked at the hand resting on top of her shoulder, and then shifted her gaze straight into the guy’s eyes, her heart possessing no warmth anymore. 

“I’m rather tired. Tired of hearing you spreading all this nonsense.”

“Huh?”

“Hanging out because of Neige’s fame?” She smiled slightly. “Seducing someone I don’t even know? You’re making me laugh! All of you… I despise people like you.”

“What did you just say?”

“Oh please, cute little girl playing protective? What are you, Neige’s mommy?”

The air turned cold and difficult to breathe when Yuu’s smile widened. 

“Dude,” someone whispered to the student who was arrogantly smiling at Yuu. “Don’t jinx it, she’s a fuckin’ fae!..”

But neither Yuu nor the student really cared.

“What can you possibly do?” The student came closer to her. “Tell the headmaster about us? Go on, it’s you, not us being in a predicament.”

“That is the only cover you could come up with? The headmaster? Dear little child,” she remained even, her back straight and the gaze certain and strict. “Next time you see Neige, thank him for not telling the headmaster about your behavior. Thanks to him, your dirty souls are being safe and not expelled. Have you ever thought about it?”

“Sweetie, we just genuinely don’t care whether he tells the headmaster about us or not.”

“Great then,” Yuu clapped her hands, and a little electricity spark flashed in front of everyone, making them flinch slightly. “Then if you don’t mind Neige, you won’t mind me as well, am I being correct? Wait a moment, I’ll go inform the headmaster about this issue real quick.”

“You little shit,” the student grabbed her hand, but Yuu glanced at him with malice spreading in her eyes. “Drop your act. Yeah, you’re a greater actor than him, we got it. Now stop pissing us off ‘till we get serious.”

“So you’re not being serious right now? How disappointing. I thought your act could serve as a comedy for me to keep myself entertained for some time, but now knowing that such people like you even dared to say something about Neige… A~ah, truly unfortunate.”

“Neige’s sure got some crazy bitches among his fans.”

Yuu was feeling strange. Unknown rage was filling her to the bone, making it difficult to remain calm and collected. It never happened before, not even once, she was strictly prohibited from performing acts like that. Fairy Godmother taught her that all the problems could be resolved with little verbal tricks and light magic if needed. 

But what was that malicious, dark and dirty sensation vibrating in her vessels?

She once more felt how her body trembled for a moment, and with a gentle feeling all the emotions disappeared, being replaced with happiness and joy that was quite out of blue.

“Ah, dear little children,” she murmured. “It seems the lesson starts soon. I have no time to continue playing kindergarten here.”

“Kinder— YOU!!—”

“Shh,” Yuu smiled, pressing her finger to the guy's cheek, feeling absolutely disgusted. “I’m genuinely warning you that you’re getting expelled if you don’t apologize to Neige. Well then, farewell. Hope we’ll never meet again.”

She went out of the auditorium, turning around at the exit for a moment, and casually dropped another smile.

“Ah, one more thing. Neige is the most kind, hard-working and genuine person that I’ve ever known in my whole life. It is quite disappointing to see that you’re not following none of your Venerable Seven’s behest.”

After that she ran away, clenching the shirt in her hand, breathing heavily and trying to realize what came into her, causing to say such cruel, unpleasant and absolutely not graceful things. 

It was as if another person shifted into her, changing her personality at once.

And what was that sudden feeling of happiness and joy filling her already twice this morning?

The classes ended, and Yuu realized it would be unwise to try finding Neige in the classroom, given how unpleasant the meeting with his classmates went. 

The day was bright and flourishing in all its glory, bestowing a gentle serenity with hot yet soft sun rays. Yuu closed her eyes for a mere moment, letting herself stop to appreciate the cordial tender feeling spreading in her chest. 

“Haah…”

With a snap of fingers she summoned a pink butterfly that greeted her in a playful dance around her head.

“I’m so immature,” Yuu mumbled to herself. “Mother… will be disappointed.”

The butterfly landed on her closed eyelid, fluttering its wing, to which Yuu chuckled.

“Thank you for your reassurance, little one. I—”

“Whatchnya doin’?”

“Ah!”

Yuu gasped, opening her eyes abruptly, and saw Che’nya’s face levitating in the air.

“Che’nya-san!”

“That’s mya,” The boy materialized with all his body, casually crossing his legs midair, and landed successfully, jumping on his foot and looking like he weighed nothing at all, demonstrating his graceful and flexible moves. “How’s your day?”

“Uhm, I am… a bit confused, so to say,” Yuu forced a smile, watching the butterfly fly around Che’nya, who seemed to be enjoying the moment and chuckling softly. 

“Little confusion won’t hurt one,” Che’nya replied vaguely. “On the contrary, wouldn’t our lives be fairly borin’ without any confusion put in them?”

“Yes?.. I believe you’re right…” Yuu tilted her head, questioning what exactly was that he meant by that, but shrugged it off, clapping her hands. “Ah, right! Have you seen Neige?”

“I may have,” Che’nya jumped on the spot, his body disappearing in the air, and only his upside-down head turned to Yuu, much to her growing bewilderment. “Or I may have not.”

“It seems I’m free to allegorize your words as I please?”

“Nya-uh,” he smiled at her, his face looking silly yet cute being turned upside-down. “I know a road which can take you to someone who definitely knows where Neige is~”

“You do?!” Yuu’s face glowed in joy. 

“Nyap,” Che’nya nodded… Or so it seemed? “The one who also helps Neige. You might find him somewhere or nowhere in that direction~”

“Somewhere or… I’m afraid I don’t follow?”

“You do~ Follow my directions. I’m the best at giving them.”

Che’nya’s arm appeared in the air, his index finger pointing on the road which led to the clocktower, and glanced back at the cat-looking boy, but he’s probably long gone by now.

“And remember,” his voice was heard. “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road can take you there.”

And with that Che’nya’s voice died out, leaving Yuu all alone with her grown confusion.

“Well…” She sighed, letting the butterfly, that also seemed flummoxed at Che’nya’s behavior, rest on her shoulder. “Let’s try following the direction he pointed.”

The one who also helps Neige, huh. 

Yuu swam deeper in her thoughts, trying to recollect the memories and rearrange the succession of events. Today’s not so pleasant meeting with Neige’s classmates almost overshadowed previous encounters of other people Yuu thought were at least neutral.

By the way, why would the road correlate with the clocktower? Was someone who could help her find Neige in the building right at the moment? Other than her, she could meet Prospero there. 

Ah, wait! Did Che’nya mean Emery who was following— Wait.

Yuu felt another presence nearby. Hiding behind the tree, she listened closely, hearing two people talking.

“Another shenanigans of yours…”

The peaceful, melodious voice bewitched Yuu. The words formed rather not into speech, but into a series of musical notes, charming with their tenderness.

“C’mon, no one will know!”

Another voice, the one that Yuu was able to recognize almost instantly due to the youthful, joyful sound vibrating in the air. 

That was him. The copper-haired boy she met on her first day here, and also the one who seemed to be genuinely worried about Neige.

Yuu peeked out from behind the tree, spotting two students standing with their backs to her, so she wasn’t able to see their faces. The boy she saw appeared to be smaller in height than his friend. Come to think of it, his blonde-haired friend was so tall and magnificent that Yuu gasped, parting her lips, realizing she has never seen people of such height. An extraterrestrial aura flew around him, radiating light and calming feeling.

He was the one sleeping in the library!

“Emery knows though, doesn’t he?” Taller boy replied, to which his friend jolted on the spot. 

“N-nah, what are you saying!~”

“You said that he followed you when you tried to flee miserably.”

“Ugh.”

“And that he lectured you for three hours straight.”

“Ouch.”

“And that you are also prohibited from entering the clocktower for a time being.”

“Argh, enough!! Besides, we’re not entering the building itself, okay?! Let’s hurry up! It’s not like you’re not going anyway, right?”

“Right,” the blond-haired boy answered. “It’s always you who gets scolded anyway.”

“That’s what friends are for. To always remind you that you’re saving their asses and they’re watching you getting scolded for lulz.”

“It’s me saving your restless ass though.”

“Ah shut up~”

“Cast your magic already.”

��Alright, two premium tickets coming right up!”

Yuu came out from behind the tree before the boy started whispering, and listened closely, focusing on the words he was pronouncing in an enchanting way.

“No matter which way I’m going, it gets curiouser and curiouser. Down the Rabbit Hole!”

The familiar hole appeared before two boys, and they, exchanging another joke or two, both jumped down there. 

Yuu, immediately running towards the hole, watched it closing with a rapid speed, and realized that it was now or never — there was no time to try guessing what could happen down there, she’ll definitely figure it out once she jumps. So she did, stepping into an unknown space, and letting the wind current take her somewhere.

She opened her eyes, which had been closed before the jump, and a blindingly bright light shone in front of her. A space that looked more like the Milky Way with glittering stars of cold colors unfolded in front of her. A scattering of sparkling stars decorated the walls of this “hole,” but Yuu’s gaze was riveted by something else.

Objects of various purposes danced freely in the air, as if they lived their own lives. A chair with gold-plated armrests flew past Yuu and moved behind her, forcing her to take a seat. She levitated in the air, sitting on a luxurious velvet chair!!

“W-what is happening?!”

Ignoring her question, the table with a patterned tablecloth joined the company, appearing in front of Yuu. The treats did not take long to arrive — a plate with buoyantly dancing cookies was jumping over the table. A teapot rushed past, drawing strange patterns with flowing tea in the air, and as soon as a cup with a fancy handle joined the feast, the teapot splashed hot tea into the cup.

“T-thank you?..” Yuu mumbled, when the cup drew closer to her, suggesting to grab it.

The aroma of melted chocolate and tea with bergamot filled the space. The tartness of the drink seemed quite interesting to Yuu, but the next sweets that arrived at the table overwhelmed the persistent smell of infused tea leaves, giving way to the aroma of cinnamon and powdered sugar.

“Thank you for the cordial welcome… whoever you are?”

The kitchen utensils danced approvingly around her, and only Yuu had time to finish her tea, when space turned everything upside down (if what was happening could even be interpreted in this way, given all its absurdity). Yuu screamed in surprise, mentally thanking herself for braiding her hair earlier in the morning, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to see anything.

She spotted a bright light at the end of the hole, and turned around to witness no utensils dancing here and there. She was left all alone, heading towards the light and worrying about the closing exit. 

“No no no, wait for me!!” She cried, trying to make a move similar to one when people swim in the water, but to no avail.

She managed to get closer to the exit in the last second, before the space basically spat her out of itself.

She landed successfully, rising from her knees, and turned around to take a look. 

And realized she had no idea where she was.

An unfamiliar infrastructure appeared before Yuu. The coldness of the stone walls around her made her feel slightly uncomfortable, and she hurried to get out of her current situation. Proceeding to the side where the passage stood out, she found herself in the middle of a narrow street where people were scurrying about.

She looked around in fascination, marveling at the local infrastructure and how different it was from RSA. Small houses with small courtyards, the stonework of this alley, fancy street lamps…

She was brought out of her thoughts by familiar voices heard somewhere very far away, and Yuu turned to the source of the sound. She found those same two students at the end of the alley, hurried after them, but at the turn she discovered that there was already no trace of them.

Meanwhile, she herself found herself on a wider and busier street, which completely confused her.

“W-woah…”

The number of people walking here and there scared her out. She never considered herself a person who could easily interact with people, and now, being left completely all alone in the—apparently—town of unfamiliar faces has helped her worries to grow.

“Uhm…”

She decided to start walking where there weren’t so many people, glancing at the store windows, at people taking a stroll, at a stray cat jumping on the rooftop, at the way gilded foliage indicated summer lost its rights, giving way to autumn, and the leaves slowly falling down. 

Get yourself together, Yuu commanded herself. 

First, the copper-haired boy probably took her here (even if he didn’t know it himself), hence Neige could be possibly found somewhere near this place. Second, was this ‘hole’ he created something that Emery explained as a unique magic? And was it not the hole, but the portal? Alright, then if anything, Yuu could possibly find a spot where no one would see her, and just fly into the sky to see where RSA is located.

And now, how could she possibly fish out Neige out of ALL those people?

Yuu possessed greater abilities than humans did. Enhanced hearing, vision, smelling and other perception options, she could have tried remembering Neige’s voice, or smell, or his appearance to detect his location. However, Fairy Godmother never told her how far she could go with her abilities, explaining only the simplest ways of their work. Due to that reason, Yuu is most likely to fail. 

She decided to give it a go even still, leaning on the tree in the park she went to look less suspicious, and looked around, concentrating her vision on certain spots, but all in vain. Trying to hear Neige’s voice also didn’t work, giving her a slight migraine instead.

“Should I just observe as far as I can now…”

With the confusion on her heart, Yuu slowly started walking around, deciding to at least observe the place she arrived at, so she wouldn’t get lost in the town in case there will be another chance to visit it. 

She was walking around the city in a casual manner, fascinated by absolutely everything around her. The flow of people amazed her with how harmoniously it moved, as if it were one integral organism. People were going in all directions: some were in a hurry somewhere, quickly avoiding obstacles, pressing a box to their ear, which Yuu could now identify as a mobile phone; someone, on the contrary, was walking very leisurely, just like her, enjoying the moment.

Small buildings were replaced by some much larger in height. Such buildings reflected light with their glass walls, forcing Yuu to stop in front of them, looking at her reflection in bewilderment.

The variety on the store windows was amazing in its assortment, and Yuu smiled sadly, examining a winter scarf with the predominant red yarn in it and running her fingers over the embroidered birds. For the second time during her stay here in this world made her heart sink with regret for not earning money or at least trying to find a job. First of all, she wanted to repay Ambrose for being so kind to her and providing accommodation. And the second time was right now.

“It would look so nice on him…”

“What a thoughtful girlfriend you are!”

Yuu raised her head, looking at the shopkeeper with incomprehension in her eyes.

“Girlfriend?”

“You’re choosing a gift for your boyfriend, no?”

“Oh, no, nothing of sorts! I just thought this would look good on someone I know.”

“Your friend then?”

“My friend…”

Was Neige really her friend?

None of their encounters resembled something that friends would do or discuss, and every meeting ended with Yuu blaming herself for being not so helpful, while Neige only tried to distance her off himself with a reassuring smile.

They weren’t friends, she was sure of it, and they most probably would not be ones ever. After she finds a way to finally release him from his worries, she’ll get back home, with all the students forgetting her very existence in a short period of time.

Yet, something tangled in her stomach at this thought, and she decided to shrug it off before she got too emotional and unstable of thinking straight.

“Oh, maybe I’m overstepping, but did you sew these clothes yourself?”

“My clothes?” Yuu echoed and gasped right when she realized.

She was still wearing her RSA uniform, while not even trying to cover the fact that she was a female.

Yuu laughed rather awkwardly, realizing she needs to rush over somewhere to cast a set of casual clothes to walk here without any worries, and waited for the shopkeeper to start making assumptions so to Yuu could confirm any guess and not to lie.

“No, it wasn’t me…”

“Aah, then have you perhaps taken it from your brother? My daughter likes to wear an RSA uniform, too. What’s so pretty about it, though? NRC’s dark colors are more stylish to me. Ah, forgive my nagging.”

“This is alright!” Yuu smiled. “I like light colors more… Come to think of it, you’re right. It’s about time I return them to their owner, ha-ha…”

“Okay, see you then!”

“Have a nice day!”

Yuu casually walked out of the shop and, before rushing to the corner where no one was found, took a look at girls outfits, choosing a combination of elements of the garments they were wearing, so as to be not so different from other people. Summoning her magic wand, she decided to go with a simple choice due to the lack of time.

“I hope this will do…”

A wave of sparkles surrounded her, and with a little flash her clothes changed into a black long straight dress and a gray top, the boots with satin ribbons she used to wear as a part of her RSA uniform being replaced with patent leather lace-up boots. 

She went out to the streets, noticing that the day was cooling from the midday heat, and grew colder, giving way to pinkish evening colors.

Yuu reached a large building right in the centre of the city, raising her head up and regretting she couldn’t fly over the top right at the moment to see the name of the, apparently, company that was located here. 

She wasn’t really familiar with modern concepts and settings, transmigrating to the worlds of medieval times. Being completely oblivious to the way strange-looking carriages were rushing on the streets, Yuu felt her head turning dizzy, and decided to take a moment to rest in the park and continue her observation.

Right when she sat, a sweet scent lingered in the air, making her shudder and focus on its origin. 

“Neige!” She exclaimed to herself, concentrating her ears and feeling them twitch slightly. 

She heard his voice somewhere far away, and not wasting any more time, rushed over there. Almost reaching his location, the sweet and gentle fragrance growing easier to feel, Yuu suddenly stopped, her heart piercing with a strange uncomfortable sensation.

A malicious aura was spreading nearby, and right when she noticed Neige in the distance with a dark hat and a mask on him, she was hit by someone. Yuu turned and saw a little figure of a girl watching Neige. 

“Excuse me!..” Yuu exclaimed, but the girl couldn’t care less, her eyes strongly fixated on Neige’s silhouette. 

That was her. The girl radiated that spiteful, ill-disposed manner around her, and Yuu decided to follow. The girl was basically running towards Neige, her eyes glowing with an obsessive, possessive light in them, scaring Yuu and making her realize that she needed to act fast.

A sudden appearance of a modern-looking carriage right before Yuu’s very eyes was an unplanned and rather disappointing event, the girl being long gone by now. 

“Little one,” Yuu said, standing near the road where a column of many carriages was, and summoned a pink butterfly. “Go after Neige.”

Right now she needed to act as a young normal woman possessing no magic powers. There was no way she could do something reckless such as to fly towards Neige or the girl. People were crowding around a pillar with three windows, one of them glowing with red light. They weren’t surprised at how the carriages were moving, and decided to join them. Right when she got closer, the light changed from red to yellow, then green, and people started crossing the road with Yuu following their example.

Fantastic system, she thought to herself, deciding to investigate it more when—or rather if—she’ll have the time to do so. 

Finally escaping the obstacle, she followed the butterfly’s direction, and almost stumbled upon Neige talking to the girl.

The last one being fairly noisy and annoying, so to say. Neige, who looked even more tired and exhausted than he did in the morning, much to Yuu’s concern, lowered the mask, so his lips could be seen, and forced an apologetic smile to the girl.

Yuu was approaching them with a rapid speed, trying to control her moves, so she won’t come off as an extraordinary creature with inhuman powers, and concentrated on their conversation, catching more and more glimpses of it.

“I’m sorry I’m not—”

“But I love you!!”

“As I’ve mentioned, I—”

“I’ll kill myself if you!—”

“Please calm down—”

Kill herself?! Yuu’s blood froze in her vessels, as she rushed without any thinking, but then a bright flash of something metallic cold flew before Neige. 

Yuu accumulated magic in her legs, ready to just jump into them, but then another flash of light sparkled before Neige, covering the space with fire spurts of flame. 

What just happened?..

“And what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Yuu recognized the voice, despite it losing its cheerful notes. The copper-haired boy’s eyes glew with an intense, almost malevolent blue fire of rage. 

Stationery knife the girl was about to use fell on the ground, ashes melting in the air. 

“You okay?” The boy asked Neige, who appeared to be in oppressive stupor. 

“Ah, yes, thank you…” Neige finally replied, clenching the shirt in his hand, and swallowed.

The girl fell on her knees, and Neige, enveloped in pure guilt, outstretched his hand to the girl, so she could stand up, but the boy quickly brushed it off.

“Dude, I understand, Edelwiese is founded on kindness and things, but you could have been, like… Killed. Or… I don’t know!!”

“He’s right,” a now familiar Yuu blonde boy also appeared, still standing with his back turned to Yuu. “We should report to the police.”

“Thank you for your concern,” Neige smiled at the boys. “But everything is okay.”

“Okay?! OKAY?!” The blue-eyed boy cried, grabbing Neige’s hands and looking at him with a genuine worry in his eyes, while the blonde one monitored the girl who was still sitting on the ground. 

“Yes,” Neige nodded, distancing himself from the boy and loosening the grip on his hands. “Everything’s alright, there’s nothing to worry about…”

He then whispered something with his lips only, and the boy who appeared to be extremely tense now became absolutely relaxed and slightly perplexed with his own feelings. 

“I…” Yuu whispered to the butterfly that returned to her. “Sense magic.”

“Alright…” The boy replied. “I believe you if you say so. But we should still report to the police!”

“We will,” Neige reassured, taking out a phone out of his pocket. “I’ll let my manager know about it. I also won’t tell anyone that you used magic in the town.”

“But—”

“Young lady,” Neige turned to the girl who was still looking at him adoringly, joyful due to him paying her attention she wanted. “Please promise me you… won’t ever… do something like that. Ever. This is my last warning.”

“If you desire so!!”

Neige blinked, forcing a smile so artificial it hurt. The police finally arrived, taking the girl with them and, after asking Neige some questions, let him be with the two students.

Yuu decided to follow them and make sure they’ll get home safe and sound.

“Dude, it’s not even funny. How are you so nice to her after THAT happened?!”

“I agree,” the blonde one said, shaking his head. “This is absolutely abnormal.”

“She was trying to KILL you, hello?!”

“Or herself,” the blonde added. “Both possibilities are NOT okay.”

“What he said,” the copper-haired boy sighed. “Neige, really, you need a guard or somethin’..”

“It’s not like I can afford—” Neige’s voice suddenly rose up, but then he cleared his throat and shook his head. “There’s no need. I can handle it.”

After twenty minutes of small arguing about Neige’s safety, the conversation changed into a more casual flow.

“By the way, what were you doing here in the first place? I always thought you’re getting a ride to the company.”

“It’s just… It was an unplanned meeting, so I was basically dragged out of the lesson today. We were discussing an upcoming project. Apparently… Now I have much more lines to play than expected.”

“Even more?! Hello, your eyebags will soon reach the point of that energy drink addict.”

“Oi,” the blonde answered with a clear annoyance in his voice. 

“Ha-ha,” Neige laughed gently. “I’m already considered a coffee addict though.”

“You two are complete fools… I can’t believe it.”

“I’m very sorry to disappoint you…” Neige mumbled.

“Oh please,” the blue-eyed boy sighed. “Don’t apologize. And disappoint? What again? Why would you disappoint me out of all people?”

“You’re right…” Neige nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Dude…”

Yuu followed them, noticing that the rest of the conversation was held by the two students, while Neige remained silent until they made it to the RSA entrance, much to Yuu’s surprise. 

After they bid goodbye to each other, Neige went to the main building, while the two boys followed an opposite direction, heading to somewhere unbeknown to Yuu. She waited for a moment until their silhouettes were gone, and headed to the clocktower. 

The pink butterfly that followed her till the end started flying in a strange way, its activity raising to the max, with the butterfly's wings fluttering very fast. 

“Is something the matter, little one?”

In spite of asking, she already knew that something was exceedingly wrong. The butterfly landed on her head, as if trying to grab her hair, then went to her clavicles, arching her waist, then flying off to the clocktower’s highest spot, finally making a comeback to Yuu after that.

“Little one, I’m afraid I don’t understand…”

The butterfly went to her ear, its wings tickling Yuu’s skin. She nodded to its movements, furrowing her brows and sighing heavily.

“I know he’s in danger!” Yuu cried, feeling totally exhausted and drenched out. “I know I must help!”

This is my duty, after all, she thought, falling on her knees before the entrance to the clocktower, expressing no desire to enter. 

“Fine,” she said, when the butterfly started acting slightly annoyingly, but Yuu didn’t want to blame it for the worries it possessed. Her own mental state reminded of a vase, starting to crumble with little cracks. 

“Give me some time. I’ll gather the information I have and try to arrange everything. We will rescue him.”

The butterfly seemed to calm down a little, and Yuu, still sitting on the grass, summoned her magic wand and changed the clothes back to the school uniform. 

“Á lelya,” the dilapidated notebook appeared in a wave of sparkles, landing right in her hands. 

Her fingers flipped the pages at a fast speed, and when Yuu found what she needed the most right now, she nodded to herself, opening a new page and writing down her thoughts.

Her thoughts and magic combinations, which she hoped she wouldn’t have an opportunity to use. She never tried those incantations she came up with just now, and was very afraid of it going the wrong way to the point of no return. 

An hour has passed since Yuu started practicing magic spells on her own. The deep evening had fallen on the streets, warm pinkish and orange colors changing into cold dark ones, and Yuu was ready to head back to the building, feeling absolutely exhausted.

“Let’s go, little one,” Yuu said, making the notebook disappear in the air, and grabbed her magic wand. “I hope I’ll settle everything tomorrow and—”

“Yuu.”

Yuu recognized Che’nya’s voice, but couldn’t really manage to find his mischievous figure. Looking around, she noticed him slowly appearing in the woods, and came closer to him, at the same time realizing she was still holding her magic wand. 

Withdrawing it now would only raise Che’nya’s suspicions, so she carefully tucked it in her sleeve and greeted him.

“Good evening, Che’nya-san.”

“Good evenyan~” How strange. Yuu thought he sounded quite concerned a little ago. 

“May I help you?”

“Not me,” Che’nya smiled at her, but something mysterious and unreadable slid down his iris. 

“Ah!” Yuu gasped. “Did perhaps something happen to Neige?!”

“Hmm,” Che’nya’s brows slightly twitched, an unfamiliar look appeared on his face. “Not at the moment.”

“I, uhm,” Yuu hesitated. She was fairly obvious with all those questions about Neige’s location and the cafeteria event. But if something could happen, she would like to prevent it as fast as possible. “I actually followed your advice and went after that boy you’ve mentioned. Even if I couldn’t help Neige in the town, he looked very… How should I put it…”

“Like the world is about to end, nya?”

“Oh,” Yuu cleared her throat. “In a way, yes…”

“Right, right, he’s a very hard-working boy, nya. Maybe too much…”

“Che’nya-san,” Yuu’s voice sounded strict and concerned. “I know it might be too much to ask, but you also came not just for a small talk like that, am I being correct?”

“Uh-nya,” he nodded.

“Do you by any chance know where Neige is right now?”

“Drama club building,” Che’nya answered immediately, showing a slight glimpse of relief that Yuu caught his way of thinking. 

“Show me the way.”

Che’nya, without further ado, went straight into the woods, and Yuu had nothing to do but follow him. 

Their path passed in absolute oppressive silence, due to the fact that everyone understood that something wrong could happen in the coming minutes. The butterfly next to Yuu was spinning in a frantic dance, as if reflecting a gloomy omen.

A small dome-shaped building appeared in front of them, resembling an indoor amphitheater.

“Normally the building is open at this hour for Neige only,” Che’nya commented. 

“What are we going to do then?..”

Neige smirked, making his body disappear, and reappeared on the opposite side of the wall, right in the building.

“Che’nya-san, is it okay for us to—”

“Don’t worry, nya. We’ve got other things to do.”

He was right. Yuu should have prioritize Neige’s safety first, so she nodded to Che’nya when he opened the window and gave his hand to Yuu to help her get inside.

The building seemed smaller inside than outside. Several rooms along the long corridor served as utility rooms and small auditoriums with technical equipment, the purpose of which Yuu could not determine at the moment.

When they reached the last door, Che’nya pressed a finger to his lips, followed by Yuu’s nod and confirmation to remain silent. Neige’s voice was heard ever so slightly.

He opened the door, and Yuu immediately bent down, glancing at Che’nya who followed her example and nodded to the side, silently whispering ‘this way’ with his lips only.

Indeed, the building turned out to be an amphitheater. An unsettling moonlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, illuminating the main stage at the very bottom. Yuu and Che’nya found themselves in the upper rows, hiding behind the raised seats, and walked closer to the middle.

Yuu's heart was pounding wildly in his chest. Everything that was happening seemed like some kind of feverish dream, a fictional delirium, moreover, absolutely unsightly and wrong. But all her regrets and fears disappeared once she heard Neige’s loud voice.

“Me? Oh I’m… Not scared of death.”

Neige was probably following the script, and Yuu peeped out to make sure she understood it right. 

He held a paper sheet with a text on it, a strong trembling ran through his tender, weakened hands. Yuu knitted her brows together, when Che’nya tagged her on the sleeve, reminding that they still needed some time to observe. 

“Argh!” Neige groaned. “That’s not it. Ahem… Me?! Oh I am!.. No, should I put more pressure? More sneer?”

He was pacing back and forth on the stage, loud thuds of his heels echoing in the building. 

“Me… Hahaha! I’m not scared of death,” Neige exclaimed after a long pause. “Urgh, no… This is all wrong.”

Yuu wasn’t sure how much more they should wait, and was about to peep out once more, but a sudden vibrating in the air caused her muscles to tense. Che’nya couldn’t resist his interest any longer, too, and looked where Yuu was staring at, noticing a giant hole opening in the floor.

“That is!..” Yuu whispered, feeling Che’nya nodding beside her.

“But why?..”

A familiar figure of the copper-haired boy appeared in the auditorium, and right when he was about to open his mouth to say something, he noticed Neige on the stage, looking mournful and gloomy.

“I am… I am not… scared of death.”

The blue-eyed boy gasped, drawing his hand to his mouth to cover it. 

“How exactly must I say that, given the character IS scared of death!?”

Neige tore the paper in his hands, collapsing on the stage, and right when Yuu and others were ready to act on their instincts, Neige laughed hysterically, standing up, tears running down his sunken cheeks.

“Haaa… I should have given this role to Vi-kun instead.”

Yuu felt a cold wave run through her body. Her heart felt like it was encased in icy, rusty chains, and she hugged herself tightly, trying to prevent herself from trembling. Che’nya turned to look at her, but Yuu only stared in fear in response. Neige went backstage. 

“Yuu?! Calm down, hey, look, Neige’s back—”

Yuu shook her head, afraid of looking at the stage. 

“It would be highly unwise of you.”

The voice, usually gentle and smooth, giving peace and tranquility, sounded sharp and blatantly insolent. Yuu sharply raised her head and felt something inside her break with a crash.

Neige stood on the stage, dressed in luxurious robes. A satin white blouse with wide sleeves and a wavy collar was neatly tucked into black leather trousers that hugged his thin legs. The knee-high boots were entwined with apple flowers. Behind him flowed a long cloak with gilded patterns, attached to the blouse with aiguillettes with bright scarlet stones, reflecting the moonlight so brightly that the blood-red hue hurt the eyes, light radiating through a porcelain mask on his face. On his slender, gloved fingers, were many massive rings.

However, the strangest detail was his hair. Half was the usual jet black, and the other was painted lifeless white.

“Neige?..” The copper-haired boy whispered.

“No…” Yuu mumbled, biting her lip. “It’s not him…”

“What do you mean?” Che’nya asked concerningly. 

“Look at his eyes.”

Che’nya did as she told, and gasped when he saw strange swirls in his eyes glowing bright crimson, pupils dissolving in the depth of its scarlet hue.

Time seemed to slow down, allowing everyone to clearly hear the creaking of floorboards and nervous chuckles.

“Huh?”

Neige’s voice was heard, and he turned around to witness someone looking exactly like him, but also different. Intimidating… creature stood in front of real Neige, smiling with his lips, but his eyes carried a horrendous consternation in them.

“Who are you?!” Neige screamed, summoning his magic pen immediately. 

“Now now,” the other Neige laughed, taking a step closer. “Do you really want to fight with me? With yourself?”

“... The fuck is happening,” the blue-eyed boy said, raising up. 

“With myself?.. What do you…”

The scarlet-Neige burst into laughter, grabbing a piece of the paper the original Neige tore, and snapped his fingers. Ashes accumulated in the air, making it hard to breathe, and the paper was restored.

“My script…” Neige mumbled, furrowing his brows. “What are you going to—”

“ME?...”

Yuu bit her lip to the point a few drops of blood were shed.

“Hahaha… I… To think that you would assume!! That I…” The counterpart bent down to Neige, grabbing his chin and staring at his eyes, smiling.

Until his body suddenly shuddered, and a loud cry was heard.

“Would be scared of death?!”

Neige gulped, falling down on his knees.

“... or this is how you should act.”

Everyone went silent when the scarlet-Neige took a chair and sat down gracefully, his whole figure radiating royal, expensive and elegant attitude. 

Unlike Neige, who was trembling, his huge eyes with dark eyebags staring in disbelief. 

“I can help you,” the counterpart whispered enchantingly. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

“W-what do you mean?..”

“You got used to the main roles,” the counterpart cupped Neige’s face, his thin fingers with protruding sharp nails slid down Neige’s cheeks, wiping away his tears. “Playing sweet, naive heroes. Always gifting everyone with those smiles of yours. I know you’re deadly tired of wearing them.”

“But I!”

“You thought you could reach Vil Schoenheit’s level,” the other Neige said, as if sentencing his origin to death. “You know yourself you’re not capable of playing villains.”

“I… that is…”

“Admit it yourself.”

“I… agree…”

Yuu stood up at once, releasing her magic wand and wanting to cast a spell, but she was abruptly interrupted.

“Great then!” The counterpart laughed hysterically, grabbing Neige’s hand and leading him into a waltz. “Let the rehearsal continue!”

“As if I’m allowing it!!”

Yuu ran through the rows, startling Neige and his replica on stage, the blue-eyed boy turning his head to the sound of Yuu’s heels echoing in the amphitheater, and Che’nya quickly reappearing near the stage to prevent Yuu from performing something reckless.

“Yuu?” Neige’s eyes followed her precipitous moves. “And everyone… Were you watching me all this time?”

Admitting such a nefarious act was fairly painful to Yuu, and she lowered her gaze, ashamed of her actions. Least she wanted him to feel as if he’s being offered unwanted help by someone he barely knew. 

She averted her eyes, glancing at Neige’s replica, studying his nature. Blood was running down in his vessels, indicating he was a living being—she wasn’t sure of his humanic entity though—which meant that he needed to be observed more for further actions.

“I presume some audience won’t hurt,” the counterpart concluded, performing hover corte while waltzing, and let Neige turn to the ‘public’. 

“What are they doing…” The copper-haired boy mumbled, trying to analyze their actions.

“I don’t knyaw as for Neige, but that one is preparing for somethin’.” Che’nya said, the usual mischievous sparkles in his eyes disappearing as he went to Yuu, covering her with his body. “This is dangerous.”

“With all my respect to you, Che’nya-san,” Yuu tapped on his shoulder, making him turn to her and look at the vermilion of her eyes with pupils trembling in a rising anxiety underneath. “I know! This is precisely why I’m going to fix this unfortunate state.”

“Girlie, I don’t believe this is the right time for your sophisticated speech patterns!” The blue-eyed boy blurted out, withdrawing his magic pen and fixing a stance, ready to fight.

“Wait!! Don’t fight him yet!”

“Huh?”

“This is the happiness you dream of?”

The replica made Neige enterwine in outside swivel, exposing him to everyone. 

Yuu didn’t know what to do. Blood was boiling in her vessels, fright accumulating within her heart. 

The counterpart wasn’t attacking them, much to Yuu’s surprise, but she was feeling with her whole body how a cold wind of worry chained Neige up, making him lose his calm. The replica was basically draining him out, hurting not physically, but verbally.

“What are you in the first place?” Che’nya asked, his magic pen appearing in the air. 

“I am Neige,” he answered with a grin on his face. “And Neige is me.”

“I’m tired of this shit,” the blue-eyed boy spitted. 

“As I’ve mentioned, don’t fight him yet—”

“And what? Are we going to simply watch Neige getting hurt mentally? He’s my friend, I can’t just let it be like that!”

“Friend?..” Neige’s eyes glowed in a soft light hue. 

“That’s right, you dummy, and I’m rescuing your ass right now, please bear with it!” He pointed the tip of his magic pen at the replica, ignoring his suspicious grin and Yuu’s scream.

The boy accumulated burning flames, and Yuu started panicking rather obviously.

Fairy Godmother, what do I do?! She questioned herself, knowing she was lacking the knowledge of performing battles. She didn’t need it in the first place, her main occupation was intelligence work of mind and brains, not attacking spells or whatsoever!!

Che’nya jumped in front of her, his moves resembling those of a cat, and grabbed the boy’s hand, but it was too late—a fire spell flew out of the tip of his magic pen, heading straight to the counterpart.

“STOP!!”

Yuu was ready to throw herself at the spell to prevent the scarlet-Neige from burning to ashes, but Neige himself interfered, casting a water shot, which led to flames die out and burst in a steam cloud.

“Don’t fight,” Neige said, realizing how weak his body turned, hands shuddering and head spinning. “Ugh… I hate to see people being so unhappy…”

“Dude, are you out of your mind?!” The boy threw out his pen, getting closer to Neige and grabbing his shoulders. “I could have burnt you!.. I!..”

“This is why,” Neige forced a smile. “I told you to not fight.”

“But that thing…”

“He’s not causing any harm, is he?”

Everyone remained silent, when Neige felt the boy’s grip on his shoulder loose, and raised up, turning to his replica.

“You too… Please calm down. I don’t want my friends to get hurt.”

“Friends?” The replica chuckled. “You know yourself you have no friends at all.”

Neige hissed at a pain blossoming in his chest due to the words he said so easily.

The words which appeared to be the bitter truth.

“You bastard! Neige is our friend!” The boy threw himself straight to the counterpart, grabbing his collar.

“Do you know his pain?” 

“Huh?” 

“Do you know his struggles? What he truly feels? What lies on the depths of his heart when he—”

“Enough!”

Neige gathered his last powers, drawing his magic pen right to where his heart was, and lowered his gaze. 

“I hate seeing you all screaming, shouting, assuming things about me!!” He blurted out, shutting his eyes closed. “Why would all of you know when I’m the one who doesn’t know a thing about myself!!”

“NEIGE!”

Yuu has had enough. The blood in her head was pounding with a force she wished to begone. Neige’s tears dropping on the wooden floor of the stage were startling, she couldn’t think straight, not knowing what to do.

The counterpart wasn’t fighting at all, watching all this exciting drama unfolding before him, yet something concerning flashed in his eyes whenever Neige was talking on the wedge of bursting into cries and screams. 

So he did care about his… origin vessel? 

But why would he tantalize him verbally, throwing right at the edge of his mental stability, and then drag him out of it just ever so slightly? 

“A-ah…” Neige looked up at everyone, staring at the pure fear and confusion on their faces, and a shadow of insanity covered his eyes. “I-I’m scaring you out… No… Please don’t be upset with me.”

“We won’t!!” The boy screamed. “Why would you even think like that?!”

“STOP SCREAMING!!” 

Everything turned into a mess. 

“Right…” Neige smiled. “If you’re unhappy, then I shall just bestow happiness for you.”

“You— What?”

“Don’t you dare!”

Neige laughed and parted his lips.

“Your sorrow is a crime, pay for it in the form I call salvation. With a smile and a song.”

The world has gone blank white. Yuu’s heart was bursting with strange sensations she had never experienced before, and when she finally dared to open her eyes, an indescribable picture upfolded before her.

The blue-eyed boy was giggling and crying out of joy, or so it seemed, and Che’nya was grinning cheerfully, while Neige’s counterpart stood with his mouth shut, but the mask on his face crumbled, revealing a soft gaze of his still swirled and pupils depraved eyes.

“W-what is that feeling?!”

“Neige, you…” Che’nya mumbled. 

“What happened?!”

“Ah,” Neige sighed. “Now you are all happy. I’m so glad no one is suffering… No one is upset…”

“Che’nya-san…” Yuu whispered, touching her chest and feeling unwell. “What is that?”

“His unique magic,” Che’nya explained. “Though I’m not entirely sure of how exactly it works.”

“What have you done? What for? Did you want to exhaust yourself to death? Do you want to die out of fear and misery they all have been carrying?!”

They all have been carrying?..

Yuu stood up, closing her eyes for a moment. Wait.

“Neige…” Yuu mumbled, getting slightly closer to Neige and his counterpart. “Don’t tell me you deprived us of our negative emotions and took them to yourself.”

A forced artificial smile served as his answer before he collapsed on the floor.

“You��”

“Are you disappointed too, Yuu?” He asked her, chuckling. “I knew it. It’s not enough to make you happy, I don’t know you enough… But my acting was flawless, yet you always looked at me with such a strong remorse in your eyes. I’m not good enough, I—”

“Ah really, in the name of Snow White, shut up!”

Yuu felt her emotions mixing altogether, happiness and woe submerging into one holistic entity, and couldn’t stand this drama any longer.

The slap that landed on Neige’s cheek rang like a tinkling whip throughout the entire amphitheater, forcing everyone into a frantic silence.

“Did you just…”

“Happy this, happy that!” Yuu exclaimed, rage burning in her eyes. “Can you please be a little more honest with yourself?!”

“You little…” His counterpart rose up, clapping his hands, and threads of fishing lines appeared behind Yuu's back.

“Yuu!!”

“Want me to be happy?” Yuu chuckled. “Great, then become happy yourself first! I don’t need your feigned trickery!”

The threads twitched behind her back, stretching and becoming noticeably sharper, glinting with a metallic sheen in the moonlight, and rushed straight to Yuu’s back.

“Yuu!” Che’nya shouted, throwing himself straight to her, but she outstretched her hand, signaling him to stop that instant. “You idiot, if you think first years magic is strong enough to stop him, then you’re—”

“I don’t know a thing about your magic. Á ettula, wilwarin.”

It was as if a storm had reigned in the amphitheater. A golden whirlwind swallowed Yuu, emitting a dazzlingly bright, somewhat painful light for the eyes. The voices were drowned in the flutter of the wings, and a moment later the whirlwind dissipated, revealing an unharmed Yuu.

“What the hell…” The blue-eyed boy muttered. 

“I don’t know either,” Che’nya added. “But it’s indeed not our magic at all.”

“What did you…”

“How peculiar,” Yuu said, the tip of her magic wand glowing in gold, butterflies glueling to her body. “Why all this one-man theatre when you had no intention of harming me in the first place?”

“What do you mean?!” Che’nya ran toward her, but she looked at him strictly, condescending with her look. 

“That.”

Yuu pointed to the stage decorations being cut in half, floating around with the butterflies’ help, preventing the stage from destroying completely.

“I wasn’t his target,” she concluded. “Neither of us were. He did it to scare us.”

“... Hahaha,” the counterpart laughed. “You little woman. How very interesting.”

“I don’t care if you won’t hurt us anymore. Doesn’t matter if you care about Neige or not, when you’re clearly not letting him go for some reason. And for that you’ll perish.”

“Perish?! Yuu, are you out of your mind?!”

“I might be with all that mess I’ve had enough witnessing for quite a time by now.”

“... She’s right,” the blue-eyed boy agreed, standing up and getting closer to her. “Let’s beat the shit out of this bastard!”

“You guys…” Che’nya sighed. “Alright, but I’m not covering your asses in case we’re doomed when the headmaster knows about this~”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Yuu said. “Please be careful. I don’t your spells, and you don’t mine. I’ll cover you in case you can’t dodge the attack.”

“Hmmm, is that so? Great then, amuse me.”

“Forest strike!” Che’nya shouted, a tangle of thorny vines formed at the tip of his magic pen, and he then shot it at the replica. 

The copper-haired boy nodded, accumulating flames and sending it straight to the tangle.

“Flame blast!” He exclaimed, and after the flames were released, he added a wind to accelerate the spell. “Wind shot!”

Yuu watched their work, and threw a quick glance at the scarlet-Neige, gasping at once. He was dragging Neige out of the spell range, and spread out his arms towards the spell, smiling maliciously. 

“WAIT, CANCEL IT!!”

“WE CAN’T?!”

Yuu shuddered, using her inhuman speed, and materialized before the spell, golden butterflies breaking in bright sparkling fragments.

“YUU?!”

“HAHAHA!”

She fell straight on the counterpart, jumping on her foot and witnessing blood on his chest and her shoulders. 

“Yuu?!” Che’nya shouted. “Why did you?!..”

“Are you freaking nuts?!” The boy blurted. “And what’s with those butterflies anyway?!”

“He wasn’t even protecting himself!!” Yuu screamed, twirling the magic wand between her fingers. “He’s only protecting Neige!”

“I don’t care about you all, pathetic humans,” he laughed. “You, on the other hand, are not even slightly concerned about your so-called friend.”

“What do you mean by that?!”

“S-stop… fighting…” Neige, who regained consciousness, coughed into his fist. 

“Neige!” Yuu exclaimed, raising her wand, but the counterpart casted a spell she never knew about before.

Myriads of puppets materialized in the air, and Neige, gasping, outstretched his hand to protect everyone, but the counterpart enveloped him in a tight embrace.

“I am thou,” he whispered, but Yuu managed to hear him. “Thou art I. I won’t allow anyone to hurt you.”

“By hurting us you’re hurting Neige himself!” 

After saying that, Yuu dodged some of the puppets' attacks and waved her magic wand, summoning swarms of ice blue butterflies surrounding her, and four walls of ice appeared, countering the attack and making puppets break.

“Ugh!..”

“Don’t. You even dare.” Yuu reappeared right before Neige and his counterpart, grabbing the last one’s collar and gazing straight in his eyes. “To ruin my rescue of Neige.”

“Rescuing?..”

“You said you’re Neige, and Neige is you.” Ice blue butterflies disappeared, leaving a blizzard after them. “Then how in the world didn’t you manage to reach consensus?” 

“She’s right, you little shit,” The blue-eyed boy went to them, welcoming Neige in his comforting embrace, to which the exhausted boy only released a sigh. “We don’t want to harm Neige, you don’t want to harm Neige. We consider us his friends, you consider yourself his friend. Now what the hell is happening now?”

“Do we really need to fight in the first place?” Che’nya added. “From what I see, emotions are what actually messed all this up.”

“I am…” The replica took a deep breath before speaking. “His other side. The side he desired the most, but what was actually sleeping underneath.”

“What…” Neige furrowed his brows. “But it can’t be… I’m Edelwiese’s dorm leader, following  The Fairest Princess’ Gentleness. No way you are being a part of me.”

“Think about the times where you were pissed off to the point you wouldn’t even remember the gentleness you’re so fond of. That crazy girl was following you for what, a year or two by now? You really think I wouldn’t form from those wicked feelings in your heart?”

“I…”

“Oh, and the times people always compare you to Vil Schoenheit.”

“But Vi-kun—”

“He’s amazing, cool, dignified, and blah-blah-blah, do you really think you can conceal all those from me?”

“Neige,” Yuu interfered. “You… should accept that all of those things he’s saying are a part of you. All of those—this replica, your feelings, your hidden thoughts and sorrows—are all you.”

“She’s right,” the counterpart nodded. “I took a physical form only because you went to the very edge.”

Yuu felt how her magic flow tingled, but decided to remain silent at the moment. 

“So you are really him,” the blue-eyed boy smiled.

“No,” Neige giggled softly. “He is really me.”

“Indeed,” the scarlet-Neige nodded. “Don’t forget about it ever again.”

A cluster of bright stars began to surround his silhouette, emitting a gentle, calm light. And right before Neige outstretched his hand to bid a farewell, Yuu’s scream cut through the idyll.

A whirlwind of pink butterflies glued to the replica’s body, consuming it, as if devouring a supper, and the next second Yuu widened her eyes, all trembling in Che’nya’s embrace.

“M-my butterflies,” she shuddered. “T-they are… T-they are scarlet!!”

The counterpart smiled at Neige, finally finding peace, and both Neige and Yuu fell unconscious, the screams of the boy and Che’nya distancing further and further with every second.

“I expect nothing else than perfect the next time. You have disappointed me.”

Yuu opened her eyes slowly, witnessing a boy with golden eyes sitting under a tree in the woods and crying.

“I’m scared.”

Yuu approached the boy, recognizing young Neige in him, and tried touching his shoulder, but her hand went through him.

“I don’t want to do anything.”

“I don’t want to act anymore.”

“Will people acknowledge me if I smile?”

“Or should I win an award?”

“But there are so many…”

“I don’t want to—...”

“I’m scared of death.”

“Why is there an aching hole in my chest? Why do I feel so lonely? I wanted nothing but everyone's happiness… Now why… Why do all the people demand impossible things from me?”

“And with everyone neglecting me… Did I not make them happy enough?”

“Tell me, please.”

“At least someone.”

“Is there a way to make

Everyone

Happy?”

Yuu closed her eyes, feeling how the brightness hurt, and slowly opened them to see Neige standing near the entrance to an auditorium, and almost rushed over to him, but then his classmates' words were heard.

“He’s pathetic.”

“Yeah, good for nothing.”

“Honestly, how are there so many girls stanning him?”

“For real, Vil’s more sexy and mature, he knows how fuckable he is.”

“Can’t believe there are people who like innocent naive guys lmao.”

“Right, did you hear that he got the exam answer sheets because he paid for them?!”

“NO WAY…”

“Actually I thought about it long ago, I know the guy who saw him bribing Aell.”

“THAT’S CRAZY”

“I know right??”

“He’s a total shit.”

Yuu approached Neige who apparently couldn’t see her, and a tear ran down his cheek.

“They’re unhappy,” he whispered to himself before pronouncing an incantation.

“Wait, I suddenly feel so light…”

“Me too… Damn I feel like I can do anything right now!!”

“Good morning, everyone.”

Neige entered the classroom, people quick to pull on smiles on their faces and greet him cheerfully.

“Good morning, buddy! How’s the movie? I heard you won another award!”

“Ha-ha, yes, but…”

“Dude you’re AMAZING!! Be proud of yourself!”

“T-thank you…”

His reply was a bitter smile.

…But I never wanted to win it in the first place.

I want to cry.

I want to run away.

I don’t want anything.

The world’s crumbling.

Then why am I… Myself not being happy at all?

“Ah, my little Sprites!!”

Neige slowly opened his eyes, finding himself on a… flower bed?

Many beautiful flowers he has never seen surrounded him, a bright and melodic voice was heard nearby.

He stood up, noticing a lady in a beautiful dress and a dark cape.

Anthracite dark starry sky upfolded above his head, and Neige gasped at the extraterrestrial beauty of the place.

“Yuu?!” 

He shouted her name, and the girl turned to where he was, but appeared to be completely confused.

“I think I heard someone,” she said, funny creatures following her. “Mother is back?! Mother!..”

Mother?..

Neige wondered what Yuu’s mother would look like, but the girl frowned.

“Fairy Godmother?..”

Fairy… Godmother? 

Neige noticed Yuu wasn’t a human in the first place, but he surely knew nothing about her in general, other than the fact that her eyes were insanely enchanting, and the shade of red glowed beautifully. 

“Well… It appears it’s not the right time!” She smiled to herself, grabbing her magic wand and casting a whirl of sapphire butterflies.

“Now, little ones, please help me water the flowers. Hm-hm-hmmm~ What a nice evening it is! Or is it morning? I do wonder…”

Nothing was happening after that. 

Yuu was watering the flowers, then gracefully dancing around, singing a little in her tender voice, or just staring at the night sky, which never really changed, even the way stars were glowing remained absolutely static.

“I wonder… I really do wonder when you will come back, Mother.”

Neige parted his lips to pronounce an incantation and let her be free out of her worries at least for a moment, but she suddenly outstretched her hand, a pink butterfly landing on it, and Yuu smiled so bright that Neige went aghast.

“And until then I promise to become a better version of myself. No… I’ll become perfect, Fairy Godmother.

I’ll be waiting for you.”

And then the world went dark.

The distant sound of familiar voices, the hasty clicking of heels and the blatant smell of alcohol forced Yuu to wince and slowly close her eyes.

“Ugh…”

“YOU’RE AWAKE!!”

Yuu blinked a few times before she saw Che’nya’s face bending over her, a familiar playful grin blossoming on it. 

“Huh?..”

“You idiot,” the copper-haired boy’s voice was heard on her left. “No, you’re insane. Absolutely crazy.” 

“Excuse me?..”

“Now now, don’t push it,” Che’nya giggled softly. 

“What happened? Where’s Neige?”

“In my arms.”

“Uh?”

Yuu turned her head, finding Neige cradled in the boy’s arms, though seeing something dark on his chest, while being held by Che’nya herself.

“U-uhm!!” She exclaimed. “I can walk!—”

“Hmm… Nyah,” he smiled. “Enjoy the moment. By the way, we’ve arrived.”

The boy knocked thrice before hearing an almost weightless ‘Come in’, and opened the door, letting Che’nya with Yuu in his hands enter first.

“Who even thought it would be a good idea to injure themselves at this hour— Oh.”

Yuu stood up slightly and gasped when she saw a man who appeared to be a nurse.

His frosty white hair was neatly tied up, and despite the short length, Yuu noticed how several strands of blue were woven into a braid that went behind his ear.

He calmly observed the company with his deep blue eyes, reminiscent of two ice floes, and the gaze from under his snow-white long eyelashes turned into a frosty, piercing, condemning and dissatisfied one.

“What happened? Those are not common injuries.” He put on a medical gown over his turquoise shirt and stood up from his chair.

“You are…” The nurse looked at Yuu, nodding to himself. “Yuu-san, right?”

“Y-yes,” she answered awkwardly, her throat aching as if after crying for some time. Why would it though? 

“Put her down here,” he commanded to Che’nya. “Oh, and you. Be extra careful with LeBlanche, his injuries look much worse.”

Yuu’s mind was covered with haze and incomprehension, so his words reached her ears with a slight delay.

“Injuries?!” She rose up on her elbows after Che’nya gently put her down. “But I made sure he—”

“Silence in the infirmary.”

“Yes sir.”

“Name’s Wyn,” the nurse replied before turning to Neige first. “Tell me what happened.”

Wyn started examining Neige’s body with torn pieces of his school jacket on it, putting it off and making Yuu turn away from the sight, even if the boy still was clothed enough to not reveal anything. 

The boys hesitated, making a summary of the events rather reluctantly, anticipating Wyn to scold them or even punish them for their reckless behavior—no one suggested calling for a teacher, after all. But to their surprise he was just nodding to all the things they said, and after completing the examination, he pulled the chair he was sitting on to Yuu’s side.

“Turn away, you two,” he demanded of Che’nya and the other boy. “Pull your shirt up to chest level.”

Yuu bit her lip in embarrassment, but followed his instructions. Wyn’s touches wasn’t uncomfortable, if Yuu could trust her own body, given she hadn’t an experience like this before.

“How are you feeling?” Wyn asked Yuu, starting to palpate her stomach after she lowered her shirt. The cold of his fingers sent shivers down her spine. “They say you’ve fainted.”

“I am alright,” Yuu said. “How’s Neige?”

“How should I put it…” He lowered his voice. “I haven’t seen it happening since…”

“Huh?”

“Nevermind, we’ll have a talk about this tomorrow,” he shook his head. “You said he was never injured in the first place, but…You see, his chest is burnt slightly. Could have been worse if Yuu-san didn’t throw herself under the attack.”

“Does it mean,” Che’nya assumed. “That he was connected with his counterpart in a physical way, too?”

“Correct,” Wyn nodded. “Any harm caused to the replica is transferred to LeBlanche himself, though only after the counterpart is gone.”

“S-so,” Yuu exhaled sharply. “When we threw a fire spell right into the replica…”

“Yes, Neige fainted because of the pain being delivered abruptly and at once. I’m not sure about mental damage, given he was mentally unstable before,” Wyn sighed. “I wonder if he visited Prospero at least once…”

“Will he be okay?” Yuu asked.

“Physically, yes, he’s under my watch now, after all. As for his mental state, it will be a long long process of making him at least more stable. But he will get better.”

“I’m so glad…”

“Listen, Yuu-san,” Wyn turned to her, placing pills in her hands and providing her with a cup of warm water. “Drink it. You will recover in no time, but as for Neige, I need to take some ingredients from storage in the alchemy room. I’ll go get the pills I need and come back shortly, understood?”

“Yes sir,” she nodded.

“You two,” he said to the copper-haired boy and Che’nya. “Stay here until I come back.”

“Okay, nya.”

Wyn went out of the infirmary, leaving the company. 

Yuu looked down, not knowing what to say. Her job was done, Neige was saved, and despite a ton of unresolved issues, she did feel some relief, and yet something pricked her heart.

“Uhm, so…” The blue-eyed boy cleared his throat and looked straight at Yuu.

She was finally able to get a closer look at him after only seeing him in the distance. A scattering of cinnamon freckles adorned his cheeks and his smooth, straight nose. Plump lips were bitten from worry and covered with cracks. His huge blue eyes looked into hers without any embarrassment, as if trying to absorb every detail of her face, and burned with undisguised interest.

“R-right!” She encouraged him to continue. “I’m really sorry I don’t know your name…”

“It’s Elias!” He announced cheerfully. “Second year student.”

“I’m Yuu,” she smiled at him. “Very pleased to meet you.”

“What a rhyme,” he giggled. “Thank you for rescuing Neige, Yuu!”

“You helped me a lot… Che’nya-san, too!”

“You’re my dear underclassmen, nya~ I did only what I should have.”

“Right,” Yuu said. “Che’nya-san showed me the way, but Elias, what were you doing there?”

“Ah, ahaha, well…” He smiled sheepishly. “I was busy rescuing myself from Emery~”

“H-how come?..”

“Y’know, I don’t like sitting around doing nothing,” he chirped. “I’m pretty restless, hence constant exploring. I thought that I’ve never really transported to the amphitheater before, so the thought randomly popped up in my mind, and I decided to give it a go. And you know what happened after.”

Yuu and the guys talked for a total of half an hour until Vin arrived and began preparing medicine for Neige. After all the treatment procedures were completed, he sent Che’nya and Elias to their dormitories, giving them official leave for the next day.

Yuu was asked to stay at the first aid station until the morning.

For a couple of hours she stared at the ceiling, listening to Neige’s steady breathing on the next bed, and tried to reconstruct the chain of events.

She was almost tuned in to the higher train of thought, but sudden rustles forced her to turn her head to the left, noticing how Neige sleepily rubbed his eyes.

“Good morning,” she greeted him.

“Uh?.. Uhm… Yuu?”

“Yes, this is me. Hello, Neige.”

“Yes, hello… Where are we?”

“In the infirmary,” Yuu tucked the blanket closer to her face. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired.” He concluded, chuckling. “Deadly tired. But also better than before.”

“Neige, I… I am very sorry I haven’t noticed anything before. I could have prevented all this…”

“Ha-ha,” he laughed and coughed out ashes, much to his surprise, but shrugged it off, despite Yuu’s concerned noise. “We’re quite alike.”

“Yes?..”

“Just as I’ve mentioned it before… You’re very kind, Yuu.”

“No, I was just doing my—”

“Yuu… thank you.”

Yuu went silent, waiting for Neige to continue.

“I don’t really like to talk about myself, but…”

“You don’t have to. It is okay.”

“No,I really want to do it now,” he smiled. “I should let people know how I feel at least once. I want to be egoistic at least for one minute.”

“Alright then,” Yuu turned to him slowly, feeling her damaged shoulder aching, which she ignored. “I’ll gladly listen.”

“I’m very grateful… Well… I’m not really fond of expressing my emotions in real life due to acting. I must maintain the theatrical character, the role of someone who’s never bothered, never angry. I must be perfect.”

Perfect.

Yuu was familiar with his words, knowing exactly how it felt when you wanted to be perfect, but was experiencing reversed emotions in your heart.

“But it all started way before I became an actor. In my childhood, people always craved for more. I was quite… convenient as a child.” 

“You’re saying that as if you weren’t a human being…”

He only smiled coldly at her statement.

“First it all started with little tasks in the village I grew up in. I was quite handy, always helping here and there. But then small tasks slowly grew into bigger ones, and in the end I was afraid of disappointing people with my immaturity. I thought, what if I don’t accomplish the task right in time? But I had ten other tasks like that. It was accumulating somewhere in my heart, but I still thought that maybe… It was my destiny — to make people happy with my achievements.”

“But Neige,” Yuu interrupted. “Why did you decide that they were happy with your deeds?”

“You know how my unique magic works by now, right? I can transfer joyful feelings in return for their sorrows. It awakened back then, when I realized that when people smile at me, they’re happy with me. And if they’re happy with me, then I’m valid. If they don’t smile, then I’m disappointing them.”

“I understand your point, but… How is that your fault? Moreover, you do realize people can’t always smile and be happy every second of their lives, right?”

Yuu found herself at awe about her own words. How funny it must be—for her to say that.

She never knew the feeling of realizing the purpose of her own life. Other than saving princesses—and now Neige, too—she had no other aim.

“Yuu…” Neige whispered after a short pause. “Do you think I can be a little more egoistic from now on?”

She looked at him straight into his eyes, a gentle smile forming on her face.

“Ah, what am I saying!!” He gasped suddenly. “I must follow The Fairest Princess’ Gentleness and—”

“Of course you can,” she interrupted. “You’re a human. And well, I’m not the one who can decide that anyway, right?”

“Ha-ha, I guess that is true… Thank you.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Mhm… Also, your magic is so cool!!” He tried leaning on his elbows and rising up a little, but the pain pierced him through, making him fall on the bed and Yuu gasp in fear. “I’m ok! But really, how did you do that?”

“That?..”

“Those butterflies were amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it! I mean, magic is all about visualization, but this is the first time I’m seeing someone operating their thoughts in such a creative way.”

“I think…” Yuu exhaled. “Since you’ve been honest to me, I must reciprocate. It’s because my magic isn’t like yours. In fact, I don’t know a thing about it.”

Neige remained silent for a moment before chuckling softly.

“Could you please summon a butterfly for me?”

“Oh, sure. Á ettula, wilwarin.”

A pink butterfly formed from sparkling light, and flew straight to Neige, fluttering its wings on his nose.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “Does it have a name?”

“Name?.. Not really…” Yuu replied, staring at the butterfly dancing around. “There are many of them. It was hundreds last time I checked, maybe there are thousands or so. To be honest… I don’t even know why I am summoning butterflies.”

“Summoning,” he echoed. “Not creating.”

“They are living beings. They’re my friends.”

“Friends…” Neige repeated with a slight sadness in his voice before gazing at Yuu. “Yuu. Please answer me.”

“Hm?”

“Are we… friends?”

Friends was a strange concept to Yuu, who heard this word not once, yet it felt so incredibly far away from where her mind could reach. 

Snow White also called Yuu her friend, but there was something natural, genuine and warm in the way that Neige asked.

“Yes, we’re friends.”

“Then I’m glad.”

His eyes gradually closed, and soon a soft sniffling sound was heard, signaling that he had fallen back into a restful sleep.

Friends…

Yuu watched the dawn penetrate through the windows with its caring, enveloping rays, healing wounds both physical and mental.

She rescued the ‘Princess’, made a friend…

And now it was time for her to turn back home.

★﹒﹒NOTES

✧˖ The Venerable Seven — an allusion to the Great Seven.

✧˖ Á ettula, wilwarin — 'Come forth, butterfly' in quenya language.

© yunarim 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲, 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐲, 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst x reader #rsa #rsa x reader #chenya #artemiy artemiyevich pinker #twst neige #neige leblanche #twst x yuu #royal sword academy

[rxyhiraeth]

SO PJO CAME OUT TODAY

and i have a lot of thoughts

this is just me screaming into the void about this show that i’ve been excited about since it’s been announced.

i haven’t personally really read the books in a bit, so if i am remembering things incorrectly or forgetting if something was in the books or not, forgive me (and correct me and my terrible memory)

OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS AHEAD

EPISODE 1: I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher

first off - chapter titles. i knew about this a while ago but im so happy we are doing this

getting the whole speech from percy in the beginning oh we are so back

blackjack??? that was blackjack right??

MYTHOMAGIC CARDS

if this gets us actual mythomagic cards we can buy, so help me god. i’m gonna spend all my money on them

i will never be able to speak highly enough about sally jackson. best fictional mom ever and i love her with all of my heart.

the “hold fast perseus. brave the storm” parallel at the beginning and end of the episode oh i’m sick to my stomach

the fountain scene felt a little… goofy? from what i remember percy just remembers her ending up in the fountain,like it sounds like he kinda blacks out. maybe that’s actually how it was in the books, but i did imagine it differently.

grover and brunner being the KINGS of gaslighting

percy is stronger than i could ever be if grover exposed me like that i couldn’t talk to him for like a year.

the biggest issue i’ve seen everyone talk about: gabe. i understand WHY they made him how he is in the tv show. it’s a disney show, they can’t have him be completely book accurate putting his hands on sally and threatening percy for money so he can play poker, but i feel like this doesn’t fit with how he ends up at the end of book 1. maybe we will see a more ‘evil’ side to him through the news interviews and stuff, or he will have a different ending, but i feel like the way he acts now doesn’t justify his end in book 1 that i expect to see in the tv show.

sally in the rain listening to olivia rodrigo i love her so much 😭😭😭

d’angelos??? it’s spelled differently but reference perhaps? i cannot WAIT to see nico i hope we get to see him in the casino

i didn’t get this until i saw someone point it out but the cuts to black were ends of chapters!! and it makes so much more sense. i will say it feels a bit odd?? but i honestly prefer it more as someone who has read the books.

i find the whole sally explaining the gods to percy interesting. it fits for the tv show more, but i love book percy just getting forced into camp half blood without any real knowledge just like “what the fuck is going on”

“Like… like Jesus?” PERCY PLS

i love this grover reveal, but the BEST will forever be the musical

“She was a fury!” “YOU’RE a furry, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR LEGS?!?”

grover dropping the fact he is 24 in a super intense scene is very grover

that first shot of thalia’s tree lit up by the LIGHTNING gave me CHILLS

the entire minotaur scene was incredible. sally’s speech to grover and percy. percy killing the minotaur. insane

not to mention sally taking percy’s jacket to throw off the minotaurs scent? such a cool choice

EPISODE 2: I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom

"you droll when you sleep" YUPPP MHMM YUP

ik that the whole 'Mr. D trying to use percy to get a drink' thing is supposed to be a little joke, but its also such a good way to explain the whole "gods can get their kids to steal shit for them because they can't do it themselves" without having a whole dramatic moment explaining it.

in my head I imagined the entire camp being very heavily wooded, maybe that's just the movies having some influence over me when it comes to visualization, but it was cool to see the camp in the actually valley in a very book accurate portrayal.

OH THE CABINS MY EYES WERE GLUED THE WHOLE TIME

THEY LOOK SO GOOD

this tv show has already captured the two personally traits of percy jackson: 1. he loves his mom 2. he hates the gods

the jelly beans

seeing Luke befriend percy and be his first friend at camp luke I am in your fucking walls

I personally feel like the way they have chosen to portray clarisse is quite different from the books, but I absolutely love it. i was not a fan of her for a while in the books, but I love her immediately in this version.

also did we get to 'see' the cloven council in tlt? I don't think we did, and I like seeing it in prep for sea of monsters.

the entire scene of percy praying to his mom breaks me. oh my god. favorite scene in the entire show so far. it breaks my heart he loves and misses her so much.

"I think I've made some friends here. like real friends" luke I have a gun

the whole bathroom scene. that's it.

ANNABETH

maybe its just different seeing all these characters portrayed well on the screen, but she feels super different than book annabeth but also exactly the same. im not 100% how to explain it but there is no one better to play annabeth than leah

I am so excited to see this slowburn all over again

"she my little sister" luke please

thalia name pronunciation how are we feeling team

i have 100% been pronouncing it the other way this whole time but oh well

"sunshine" hey! when we get the first "seaweed brain" I am going to go crazy

"percy's on it. when its time he's gonna be ready" are you sure about that luke

in the books the main 'introduction scene' we got with clarisse was the bathrooms, but this scene with her in the woods feel much more like an introduction scene and im not sure if this was done on purpose, but I love her and this scene.

annabeth. I cannot stress my love for her enough

annabeth pushing him into the water instead of him falling. love her

percy FINALLY finding a place he belongs only to be forced out on a quest for his dad that he fucking hates

"good kid" from tlt musical was so right

"I am Sally Jackson's son!" what if I just started eating glass rn

anyway I am absolutely obsessed with this show already. I am so sorry to anyone who doesn't want pjo on their feed you are getting it anyway.

if this show is your first introduction to the series. read the books! or at least the lightning thief. and for the love of god LISTEN TO THE MUSICAL. I cannot stress enough how good of a portrayal of the book it is and it is my all time favorite interpretation of the books (although this show may take that top spot soon).

#pjo fandom #pjo spoilers #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #percy pjo #annabeth chase #grover underwood #camp half blood #this is going to become my entire personality #percy and annabeth #percybeth #luke castellan #thalia grace #clarisse pjo #the lightning thief

[procrastinatorproject]

Fic writer review, thank you to @thelaithlyworm  for the tag <3

how many works do you have on AO3?

Ten? Oh no, it’s actualy 12 now!

what’s your total AO3 word count?

86,468

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Grand total of 1: Star Trek: Picard - although my latest offering might branch a bit into other Trek as well.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

“Passengers”

“And a Barrel of Gagh”

“CMO’s Log”

“Preparations”

“Game Night”

Which is actually kinda interesting. I wrote Passengers, Preparations, and Game Night while the fandom was still a lot more active (especially in the Aramis in Space corner), so that makes sense. The CMO’s log has had chapters added every few months, giving it probably the most exposure of any of my fics. Barrel of Gagh, though? I think I’m gonna attribute that to Thimblerig turning it into a truly, TRULY brilliant piece of podfic. Also the fact that it’s whump involving a character played by Santiago Cabrera. ‘tis A Thing..... :D

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I really try to! I love talking with people in the comments and just... thanking the people who found the time and energy to leave comments. But especially in the last few months I have gotten very bad at keeping up with the comments and now there’s about two dozen that I have neglected to reply to for a painfully long time 🙈

But I will get there! Because I love that kind of interaction!

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

So far, none of them have had angsty endings. Angsty middles, yes, but not endings. I’m just a sucker for everyone being happy in the end. Or at least on the way to being better, and supported and cared for on that way.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven’t yet, but I’m definitely not opposed. One of the threads of my 200k unpublishable whump scenes takes place in a continuity that has existed in my daydreams for... I wanna say six years at the very least, probably longer. It’s mostly straight-up Star Trek, but with the twist that it involves the Wraith, the telepathic, hive-minded alien race from Stargate: Atlantis that suck the life force out of you with their hands? Or, well, at least a variation thereof.

I once typed up the world building for that particular setting and it took me three hours to try and make it all make sense. So it’s... involved. But not necessarily “crazy”. And I’m not sure I’m ever actually going to publish any of the stories I have set in it (not least because that would envolve finishing any of them and bringing them into a form that is interesting to read for anyone but me...)

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Hm, not yet. I do enjoy reading smut, but only under very specific circumstances. I think I may eventually try my hand at smut, but the inner prude is still very strong. Writing about Rios and Xyr making out (which, honestly, was really tame, all things considered) made me melt in a puddle of blushing embarrassment, so full-on smut is probably beyond me at the moment. One day!

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Though litigating that in a fandom like ours would be... tricky. ST:Pic is way too small to steal stories outright. But similar or the same ideas pop up all the time. And it’s a complete coincidence. Reading the book that recently came out and that has a kinda similar setting to a lot of my stories (pre-season 1, early in Rios’s history as captain of Sirena, dealing with original characters, holo shenanigans, friendship with Raffi, etc.), I was struck by just how many elements, both scenes or story beats and little details, were similar to things that have cropped up in my writing. And it is entirely coincidental, because I am beyond certain that the author doesn’t read fanfic. Just... for legal reasons. Not to mention I wrote a bunch of the things I saw parallels to while the book was already in production, and some of them are only in my drafts.

So there is a ton of convergent evolution going on in this particular section of the fandom, and trying to litigate who came up with certain plot ideas or character beats when would be a sysiphean disaster. Some things are clear and whenever I use any of them I give credit where I can, but people will have very similar ideas. It just happens. So no, I haven’t had either a full-on story or “an idea” stolen, and I might change my tune if it ever does happen, but so far, I’m trying to practice equanimity, so I’ll be better at it should I ever need it.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Sadly no. My dad keeps complaining that all my fic is in English so he can’t read any of it, but honestly? I’m kinda glad for this very convenient excuse. Maybe if I ever feel like I want to practice my interpreting skills, I will give translating the stories into German a shot. We’ll see. Otherwise, if anyone feels inspired: Have at it! Just let me know, okay?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not quite. I have a draft of off-the-cuff worldbuilding that I wrote on Discord with @curator-on-ao3 and that I would love to turn into an actual short fic (letters from a conference on holo-ethics), but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

I don’t really do shipping.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT!!!! One day, I will write the next installment of Star Trek: La Sirena! I have so many ideas for that continuity and those characters. I’m not going to abandon them!

what are your writing strengths?

Hmmmmm. Probably detailed worldbuilding? Ask me something about, say, a technological or cultural aspect of Star Trek and chances are, I have thought about it in the past or will come up with three different sets of intricate lore within half an hour. (Things like... the architecture of San Francisco, or Will there still be taxi drivers? or the treaty between IKEA Intergalactic and the Borg Collective, or the Universal Translator, or Emergency Services or Why There Are Very Few Ambulances On Earth Anymore etceterah etceterah...)

I’m also good at slapping together off-the-cuff plot ideas (if, say, you need an explanation for how Seven and Agnes ended up stranded on a desert island, I could probably give you three different scenarios pretty quickly. Just don’t ask me to make them poignant or actually write them.

I’m also very, very good at beginnings.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Everything that isn’t a beginning. Especially endings, or rather: finishing something, but also just... keeping momentum.

I think my dialogue is somewhat samey and not distinct enough between characters. (Also my witty banter is... let’s just say it doesn’t come to me naturally...)

And I also struggle with keeping things brief and to the point. I can write you 30k of whump covering a span of three hours, but fitting a whole story in the same space? Much more difficult!

I have also avoided writing full-on action so far, but where it has crept in it has always been a struggle and been workshopped a lot with the indefatigable beta.

Otherwise, I don’t know. My self-perception is always a little warped, so I’m not sure what other people would say my weaknesses are.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Oof. Well. I have used Spanish sentences in my fic and done the thing where they’re translated in the end note, but I’ve mostly done it sparingly. I’ve also done the ‘“What do you want?” he said in Spanish.’ It’s tricky. But I will likely keep doing it in some instances, even if it’s a bit annoying.

(It also really helps to have a native speaker of Spanish as a beta, even if it’s Spanish from a different region than you’re character.)

Speaking of regional: I’m also torn about the whole “phonetically writing out accents” issue. Some people love it, some people hate it, I’m really unsure because I’m not a native speaker of English, so I’m not even sure I’m consistent in my narrative voice’s regional quirks. So far, I’ve mostly gone with describing that an accent is happening, and only writing out when phrasing actually differs from standard English. Like Ian (Scottish) saying “dinnae” but not writing “I” as “ah” as you’d see on, say, Scottish twitter.

Though it can be a very useful tool if, for instance, you want to indicate a characters accent getting stronger as they get tired or upset. 🧐

Anyway, I don’t think there is one right or wrong answer here and everyones milage will vary.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Published? ST:PIC

Actually first? Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Pretty much simultaneously, though I did write more for LotR. On graph paper, mind, with my fountain pen turned upside down so I could write smaller. I still have folders worth of those stories that I urgently need to digitize before they fade and I lose them forever...

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I’m going to quote @thelaithlyworm here: I Love All My Children Equally! I honestly couldn’t say. They are different and I love them for different reasons but I love them all.

Thank you for the tag! ❤ I’ve kinda lost track of who all has done this already or has already been tagged, so feel free to ignore me! But I tink I’m tagging @curator-on-ao3, @aini-nufire, @29-pieces, @flowers-creativity, @highfunctioningflailgirl, @cristobalrios and @the-goofball. And anyone else whom I forgot or who feels inspired to do this!

#ask meme #writing #lili's writing adventures #this was fun!

[meetmeatthecoda]

Coda, how are you doing?

If you have time, can I ask about Director’s Cut on “Epsy”?

Hello, my dear friend!! 😄 I'm doing well, thank you so much for asking!! 😍 I hope you are doing fabulous!! 🥰 I certainly have time for this (at least now I do - I'm sorry for the delay on this 😂) & I am flattered you want to hear more about Espy - I had fun with it! - so I'll put my notes under a read more for convenience!! ❤️

So, I basically wrote this fic around the idea of Liz having second thoughts about her revenge mission on Red, him getting hurt in the crossfire, Liz panicking about it & rethinking things, & - ultimately - Liz observing Red when he can't see her, like in the end of the Borne Supremacy where Jason Borne is looking at Pam Lundy (unbeknownst to her) & tells her to "get some rest, you look tired". Weird inspiration, I know, but I just loved that twist at this point in season 8 for Red & Liz. (That's also why I chose the title "espy" 😁)

I had specific settings in mind for both scenes in this fic & I loved the idea of Liz, Skip, & Agnes at a fountain for the first scene with Agnes having fun looking at the ducks 😊🦆

I remember having a hard time writing Liz's mental state in the beginning of this but, at this point, I find it kind of necessary to always define the current mentality of either Red or Liz, given that writing Lizzington always comes with a certain amount of mental gymnastics & AU 😒😒😒 But I think I established what I wanted to, which was Liz feeling confident but - overall - that the physical distance is giving her some mental clarity & making her question her motivations which imo it definitely should have.

I also really enjoyed putting Skip firmly in the role of bad guy/T*m replacement in terms of sliminess. He rubbed me the wrong way from the start, so it was super satisfying to draw parallels from him to T*m & establish Liz's mistrust of him which imo she should have had.

I also got tons of petty satisfaction from writing him completely horrible with Agnes & having Liz make the parenthetical observation that Red would never treat Agnes that way, tee hee.

I wrote Liz's scheme falling through mostly bc this was on the heels of the ep where she endangered a whole plane full of innocent passengers for her own stupid goals, while the only chance of saving them rested in the completely uninformed Task Force's hands, so it could have easily been a disaster. That was appalling to me at the time (way to go TPTB) so this scenario was meant to be a bit of a reality check for Liz while keeping innocent people out of the way & only banging up Red a bit, something which would serve as a wake-up call for her in more ways than one.

I loved writing the ultimate confrontation between Liz & Skip, occurring over her feelings about Red, & for some reason I adored the line about Liz feeling a bland satisfaction at being able to push around Skip & parenthetically wishing that "Tom and all the damage he did would stay dead where they belong." I thought that line hit different & I liked it.

(I had fun making Agnes understanding & agreeable & excited about playing princesses on the plane, cause we barely got any decent mommy!Liz moments in canon & it's really sad 🥲)

And the "she has someone she needs to see." line before the break was meant to be a nod to the title, as well as foreshadowing.

I remember having a little trouble writing Red's opening paragraphs, establishing his perspective on what happened & more so on his injuries, which is something - along with action - I'm not very good at writing LOL

But I liked the mental image of Red booking it out of an empty building while Aram is counting down on the phone stuck in his pocket. Poor thing.

(I also needed Dembe strictly in the role of caretaker while not being technically in the fic & I got a chuckle out of writing that he dropped Red off to investigate the empty building & peace-d out to go get a cheeseburger, cause he has such a canon love for food 😂)

I also liked the idea of Liz's apparent betrayal hurting Red more than any injury he sustained cause I love angstttttt 🥲

I loved the idea of Red being too tired & sore to even get a drink when alcohol was surely something he relied on in that time when Liz was out to get him, meanwhile him collapsing in the chair instead of a bed was more of a necessity plot-wise so Liz could see him through the window wall - which I also remember was hard to describe. I kept fiddling with the description.

The attempted verbal sparring & Red's befuddlement over Liz's unexpected concern was very fun to write.

I couldn't help but include that whiplash line, it made me snort 😏

I liked the lighter, softer conversation of Red asking where Liz is, Liz calmly declining to answer but bringing up Agnes, & Red asking how she is.

I almost didn't include Liz saying that Agnes asks about Red, that was a last minute addition, but I once I thought of it & realized it fit in pretty well, I liked the added emotional depth & it being the climax of the conversation with Red's desperate "it doesn't have to be this way -" followed by Liz just not being ready for the next part of the conversation & Red accepting that & letting her go with a wish for her to be safe.

And of course the little twist of the Jason Bourne-esque ending - I remember tweaking and re-tweaking that paragraph & the subsequent ending bc it's the real center of the fic & I wanted it to be good.

And the last line is a reference to the title as well 😊

Well, there you go, my friend, I hope this was interesting/entertaining for you to read!! 😅 Thank you so much again for asking about this fic, I really appreciate!! 🥰 Much love to you, my friend!! ❤️

#The Blacklist #Lizzington #fanfic #espy #ask games #fanfic writers: director's cut #mine #ask #sweetangelpalacebagel #here you go my friend #:D #i hope you like this #:) #much love to you!! #<3

[rhythmicpirate]

Prediction for Deltarune Chapters 2-7

 -Spoilers under the cut-

Chapter 2:A fourth player joins the team but it’s not Noelle, it’s Jockington (A Gunner) who only needed to get a pencil. There’s a second fountain in need of closing and Ralsei is concerned about the fourth member. Kris is still mostly sane at this point. Lancer returns but this time as a good guy and this time they fight in a town full of stuffed animals. They seal the fountain and the three return to the outside world. After defeating the boss of this world, Susie also shows Kris that she did her work some point in the chapter and Kris says that they’re starting theirs. Jockington makes a joke about how they might be a thing which Susie gets all angry at. Kris then goes home, learns omnisans secret, and works on the project for a little bit, tearing their soul out and mentioning that “you are not in control of me.” Chapter 3:Susie and Kris go to China town, literally, unaware that they’re getting followed by Catti (summoner). She was curious why Kris and Susie had been skipping class lately. She says she’s gonna tell Alphys about their behavior unless they tell the truth. When she tries activating her phone though, there’s no wi fi so she’s forced to play protagonist number 5 until the final boss. During their time Susie asks Catti if she and Jokcingotn are dating to which she replies,  with a maybe. Kris dosen’t like this and demands a yes or no answer. Ralsei reminds Kris that they are on borrowed time and that now isn’t the right place to fight. Upon returning to the light world, Susie notices a black spot on the wall but thinks nothing of it. Kris shows Susie the progress that they made in their project and as a reward Susie decides to award them by letting them see their home. During their trip to her house Asriel calls saying “Hey Kris! I’m gonna be coming home on Sunday!” Kris starts to cry at this statement.

Chapter 4:You want Noelle to be a protagonist now don’t you? Well here’s the Healer Noelle chapter you wanted. Alphys says that due to something happening the supplies cabinet is locked up. Susie is angry at this and demands Alphys opens it up but is persuaded other wise when Kris says “DO NOT OPEN IT, OR WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WILL BE UNLEASHED.” So Susie and Kris decide to just skip the darker world today until Noelle joins them and says that her dad needs help at the hospital. They fall down a medicine cabnet and find medicine monsters. Ralsei says that there’s no fountain here but understands that Neolle’s father is probably in need of the medicine so he helps. Through out the Chapter it’s obvious that Kris’ is acting...weird. Their soul isn’t there and you seem to lose control of them at times. While Ralsei finds this odd Susie is enjoying this and Noelle, being used to their bullcrap, ignores this. There’s also also a love confession scene with Noelle and Susie...which sadly does not go well, not matter what you do. After finding the medicine Noelle is depressed and decides that it would be best if she walked home alone. Susie thinks that she was kinda harsh and her and decides to make it up tomorrow. Kris is left alone to walk from home to here. It’s there they meet Sans, who has had his eye on them ever since they laid eyes. They talk about their natural distrust towards one another which is soon interrupted by Papyrus offering ravioli. DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN. Also there’s a black puddle on the way back home and Toriel seems to be a bit unwell, BUT RAVIOLI INSTEAD OF SPAGETHI IS THE MAIN THING

Chapter 5:Berdly (inventor) is the last one to join team KSR. Ralsei, being Ralsei, tries to tolerate him but it’s very hard to when he keeps brining up science stuff. What makes matters worse is that they’re in the science lab. Susie thinks about how she’ll make things up with Noelle and she’s a lot more nervous then usual. Kris is still like they are in Chapter 4. Ralsei says that there’s one more fountain to be closed but up next is the strongest enemy they’ve faced so far so he’s glad that he brought Lancer along for the ride. Oh Lancer is there as well BTW, it’s 5 vs ? during most of the battles, except the ones in a specific part which is only Susie and Kris. After defeating the boss Ralsei warns Kris that even though all the fountains are sealed, there’s still danger. For the knight still walks alone and the angel is yet to be seen. Upon returning to the light world Berldy realizes how much of class he misses and hopes he can make it up. Susie talks to Noelle about what happened last night in the dark world and you don’t get to see if they make up or not. Upon the walk home, there’s a lot of worry and panic throughout the town. More and more people start talking about a mysterious dark spots in the town. Alphys reports to a local police lady that the world as we know it is going to end and Undyne gives her a big hug. Napstablook, chief police, says he’ll do investigating but when he steps over the puddle something interesting happens. The police hat he’s wearing turns into headphones. And when Kris steps over it they turn into their darkener self. The chapter ends with Kris threatening to stab the soul... Chapter 6:...But that doesn’t happen thanks to a restraint from Toriel. The town is in a panic. There are no visits to the dark world today. Kris calls Asriel who still says that he's coming over which is the only good news Kris head. No one is happy, well except Susie, who for once in her life time feels as though there’s nothing to worry about she’s got her side of the project done and Kris is almost done with theirs so they should be good. It’s at this moment the other classmates appear and talk to Susie and Kris about their adventures in the dark world and explain that Ralsei might have been twisting the truth a little bit in his prophecy. Berdly states that, upon doing some research, there was only supposed to be two heroes, a human and a monster and that if they were to seal these fountains the sky would turn black. Susie gets angry all of the sudden and demands that they find Ralsei and have him explain his actions at once. Kris though pulls the dagger out of their pocket and says otherwise and “you’ll have to get through me first, Suzy.” You play as the five other students in their regular forms and although they don’t have Kris’ dagger or abilities they had in the dark they do have their natural abilities. Susie asks what they hell that was about and Kris explains that they are not who is in control at all times sometimes -your vessel name here- takes over. It’s then your vessels pops out of your soul and reveals it’s form that you did. It doesn’t say anything and simply disappears. Suddenly Kris feels in control of their body again and lets go of the knife. Right now they’ve got one more thing to do, find Ralsei and the knight. First things first, Ralsei. After fighting tons and tons of bad guys, the six eventually find him near a forest and they ask him what Ralsei really wanted. “It’s quite simple really,” says the dark prince “I wanted you to be fooled by an innocent look.” In reality he was the angel that was to bring chaos to this land and before you know it, new home is covered in darkness. Everyone is scared now. People don’t know what to do and thus the gang has to fight him. Thankfully, he gave them their powers back. But first, the monsters must find the knight. Chapter 7:Leaving Kris behind they reunite with Lancer and decide to add him to the party one last time meaning it’s basically 6 against 1 and 8 if they can get the knight to side with them. It takes a little why but they do find out who created the Dark World at least “Dr.Gaster” whose from a parralel universe known as Undertale, which he can no longer return too. So he created this universe in his image with a few familiar faces and some new. However it seems that there was an error in his makings or something. The knight appears and fights Dr.Gaster, no matter how good of a fighter you are the knight will grab his soul and run off with it. However don’t lose hope. For with his soul came a hint to the knight’s location. Once they find the knight he asks “where is Kris?” they refuse to tell them their location and get into a fight. The fight is rigged for him to lose no matter what you do. He surrenders but still wants to know where Kris is, for only he and Kris can stop Ralsei. Ultimately they cooperate and each one goes and fights a boss from the world they appeared in but not by themselves. Susie gets help from MK, Temmie Alphys, and Snowy. Jockington gets help from Alvin, Mettaton, Napstablook & Undyne. Catty, Bratty, the blue bunny and Burgerpants help out Catti. Sans, Papyrus, and Rudolph help Noelle and Berdly. Finally Susie and Lancer get help from the Dreemurs and Gaster. Kris and the Knight have to fight the second boss before Ralsei before they can reach him. After that they reach Ralsei once and fight him in his new found angelic form. ZUN helps compose the music for the final boss themes and in order to defeat him you’re gonna need a lot of time to get him. There’s 3 phases, one of him saying that balance needs not be restored and that your’e the ones restoring the balance. The second is of him showing him the true demon behind the angel wings and with wings of familiar colors appear. Scars, injuries and a destroyed kingdom are all explained through this phase. Eventually it seems like the Kris is about to give up but then phase 3 happens with the most unexpected twist. “...No you can’t die now Kris.” he says “And why not?” they ask.

“...Because I haven’t even got you hot choclate yet.” After defeating the demon Ralsei once and for all the truth is explained to Kris. Asriel’s college is were he studies parallel worlds or something like that and the dark world here was a parallel version fo the light world. However Ralsei was sick and tired of balance all the time, he wanted chaos and disorder so he went and did just that. He eventually gets arrested and light and dark is restored again with hometown being a mix of light and dark. Ralsei is jail mates with King Chaos and Lancer transfers schools to go with Susie. She doesn’t get together with Noelle, but she’s moved on to a girl that she meet in the darker world. Undyne and Alphys get together. Omnisan finally tells us their secret. The dog finishes his game. Kris and Asriel go get that hot choclate and life returns  to usual. With Kris pulling out the soul again, but more gently...and setting it down in the cage saying “thank you.”

#deltarune #this is long #like really long #kris #susie #jockington #catti #noelle #berdly #ralsei

[allywrites360]

Fanfiction Commentary

I’ve seen some people do this is the past, and I thought I’d give it a shot!! So here’s some context/backstory/analyses of my writing! I’ll only be including pieces written over quarantine; starting on march 29th. A lot of these talk about more ideas to expand one shots, so you can always send me an ask if you wanna hear more!!

Calm in the Storm - Inspired by this beautiful piece of fan art by one of my friends. I wrote it as a surprise while we were talking.

Reunited - This was a piece that was originally intended to be the ending of an entire work made up of letter between Cass and Varian. I’d been wanting to write it since the show’s finale, but since I’ve never done a story outside of the more traditional style, I just stuck with this one shot.

City Sounds - Written just after a thunder storm near where I live; and mostly inspired by that.

In this passage, “His vision finally coming into focus, Race was facing the freshly burnt out candle from the night before, topped by a trail of smoke curling up into the early morning air of the lodgehouse until it disappeared. Laying there in the sky’s soft light, Race couldn't help but smile, despite the lack of sleep from the night before. It wasn't often the newsies talked about nights like those, but he knew they meant as much to him as they did his brothers,” the candle is meant to be a metaphor for these brothers creating light for one another, hope, when there seems to be none.

Weightless - Written when I was in the car outside the grocery store. Proof that writing can take place anywhere, if you’re dedicated to making time for it.

Painted Skies - I let this piece be led entirely by emotion rather than a set outcome. I always compared Sokka and Suki’s relationship to the sun; passionate and filled with light, and this was my representation of that.

There was a cut piece of dialogue from this, which I really loved: “Kyoshi Island is my home,” Suki said softly, “And the South Pole is yours. It isn’t fair for either of us to give that up.” -- Sokka smiled softly in response, “But you’re my home too.”

The Game Begins - One of my friends requested I write Zuko, and another mentioned laser tag, and thus, this fic was born. I typed out most of the outline for this fic on a walk to my friend’s house (and yes, I was late, haha). The end is also inspired by conversations my friends and I have had at arcades in the past; 

Hold Me Too Tight - Not really ‘behind the scenes’ per se, but the title is taken from ‘As Long As You’re Mine’ from Wicked. One of the most endearing things in a relationship for me is when one person knows there’s nothing they can say to make the other person feel better, but they support them anyway. And that’s especially reminded me of Sukka; just look at The Boiling Rock.

Fountains - I’d never written for Jin before, nor do I really ship her with Zuko (they were cute, but honestly, single dad Zuko for the win), but my friend really wanted some content of them, so I obliged. Which meant rewatching Tales of Ba Sing Se, and making a list of Jin’s character traits. It was actually kinda fun.

A Million Miles Away - This is definitely part of a longer fic. I have a whole notebook filled, just with rough outlines and details. I was watching another cheesy royalty movie, and while I love royalty stories, I always hated the conventional ending. Royal doesn't want to be a royal, has an arc, then takes the throne. And I wanted a different ending. What if they’re not right for the throne? What if they just can’t take the pressure? What if they run and never look back? And thus, this fic was born. Super passionate about this one.

Summer Nights - This is the longest fic I’ve written so far!! And wow, was it fun. This started out as an idea for a screenplay, but after a day at the lake with my friends, I couldn’t resist writing it out in full, specifically the opening scene with Suki by the ocean. There were a few things I liked/challenged myself with in this fic; the first being ample foreshadowing for Suki’s big reveal at the end, hopefully without making it too obvious. The other was using less page breaks and adding transitions!! I had a lot of fun with the fluff here.

Quiet Nights - Character studying as a fic. And a bit of angst. After so long spent together, I always imagined it’d be hard for the gaang to be alone again. I really loved delving into Sokka’s emotions here. Also, the writing advice to only put in to the frame of your story what tells us something about a character was actually used here!!

“He looked around the room that he had spent so long away from, every detail of it committed to memory. There was the dresser, crafted from long worn wood, that he had carved Water Tribe symbols into years ago that he could trace easily in his mind. The facepaints his dad had made him lay on top of it, and he could tell without walking over there which container held which colour. There was the place he always threw his coat into the corner, never really bothering to hang it up. So why did it feel so strange… unfamiliar now?” The carving shows Sokka’s creative side (as well as more Indigenous crafts), the face paint is symbolic of Sokka trying to live up to the other warriors, and the thrown aside coat shows his more carefree side.

Secret Moments - Another Jin and Zuko fic. My friend asked for a sequel to Fountains, and she had a bad day, so I typed this out really quickly.

Walking in the Rain - I was listening to ‘Walking in the Rain’ from Beautiful: the Carole King Musical, and I got really inspired to write this. I’ve always loved rain; it’s my favourite weather, and I thought it’d be nice to see more positive descriptions of it in fanfics.

Grounded - Rather than the long, flowery prose I usually prefer, I intentionally used short, choppy sentences to convey the spiralling emotion they were feeling. I also used repetition to hammer home the tension, as that’s something that happens when you’re panicking. The emotions here were amazing to write, though. And I was really proud of the ending.

Falling Snow - I’ve been planning this fic since Christmas, yet I finally decided to write it in August. One thing that I purposely did in this fic was juxtapose Suki’s description of the cafe. at first, it’s too hot, and crowded, but after she settles in a bit, and meets everyone’s favourite sword bender, it’s more cozy.

Unfamiliar - This was my first time doing a character study of Suki, and let me tell you, I love her so much more now. I loved exploring her emotions outside of her relationship as well. And I always imagined her as the type to not ‘waste her time’ on someone who wasn’t her soulmate, hence the sentiment ending the first half of the story.

As for the latter half, entering around Sokka, I had always had the head canon that he kept the Kyoshi Warrior face paint on until sundown, holding on to the last fragment of that place as long as he could. Just added a little soulmate flair to it. And also, the parallel of him and Suki both knowing the pressure of being a leader is always amazing.

I’ll See You Around - I’ve always said Hugo is (one of) my favourite characters of all time, but I only now got around to writing him. And let me tell you, it was a blast. Normally it takes me a while to jump into a character’s body language, but for Hugo, it just flowed naturally. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent so much time reading him.

I’d also listened to ‘My Petersburg’ from Anastasia, which is such a Hugo song, by the way, and I think I was subconsciously inspired by the lyric, “Funny when a city is all you know, how even when you hate it, something in you loves it so.”

Home is Where the Heart Is - I wanted to try a different proposal for Sukka Week 2020, and I always imagined them to get married (or at least engaged) soon after the show, so I typed this up. Their relationship is what true love looks like, and I think they both know that the other is it for them. Why wait? Plus, getting married is one of the only ways for them to be together (paraphrased from an interview with Kara Lindsay).

Partners - I was watching Brooklyn Nine Nine, and made a comment about Sukka being pretty similar to Amy and Jake, and decided to type up a rendition of the ending scene from The Bet, but with these two. The ending doesn’t make total sense logically, but it was exciting/interesting to me, so I decided to just go with it.

Closed Distance - Rather than a serious piece for the prompt, ‘Letters’, I opted for the more comedic route. With an angsty characters study of Suki at the beginning, because I’ve fallen in love with her character all over again.

Always Come Back - (Sorry guys, no link yet. It’ll be up September 3rd for Water Sibling Week!!). After a post talking about the symbolism of Sokka’s weapon being a boomerang; something that always came back, when he was left behind more than once, I decided to set this whole fic around that metaphor, including these passages; 

“The weapon came back, but this time Sokka didn’t catch it. It slammed against the tips of his fingers before slipping through, landing beside him on the small cliff. He drew his wrist back, hissing slightly as he shook it out, impact echoing through his arm.”

“He put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to his side. Katara moved her head to rest against his shoulder. Without saying a word, she picked up his boomerang, setting it back into his hand.”

Symbolic of Sokka allowing someone else to take on the role of ‘protector’, if only for a moment. And someone helping by ‘coming back’, when maybe he couldn't make it all the way himself. (Would’ve loved the ending to involve Suki, but I was writing for the water sibling event week, so this ending’ll do).

#This is more for me than anyone else #but if you've read this far thanks!! #Feel free to ask me about any of these you wanna hear more about!!

[minijenn]

 I’ve been thinking a lot about a certain much spoken of arc ender lately, and so I decided to tell ya’ll a little more about this trio of chapters I like to call.... Rifts/Memories/Dimensions.... Under the cut however, if you wanna go into them totally blind (which I recommend but whatever, you guys won’t fucking listen to me so let me just say you have been fucking warned):

So I dunno this is gonna be a random dump of info that I just felt like sharing right now. Some of this is stuff you guys already knew but some of it is totally new so here we go: 

Rifts/Memories/Dimensions will be completely and totally original, borrowing from basically no preexisting GF or SU episode. It will borrow information for lore and such from journal 3, but that’s honestly about it. 

All three of these chapters are hugely important for both Dipper and Steven’s character development in UF, which is important because I personally consider those two to be the two main characters of the fictional tbh

Yes, these three chapters will be the catalyst event that will give way to the UF AUs appearing after them. As for what that catalyst is and who’s involved in causing it... I’ll just say that Stepper (more specifically though, Dipper) is gonna shoulder the guilt for that.

More than half of Rifts is going to be a fairly climactic battle between Stepper and Bill (and yeah, as you would expect, Stepper is gonna get fucking banged up to no one’s business) 

Said battle will likely take place in... the Nightmare Realm (ain’t gonna give away how or why yet tho) 

The framing device for Rifts (hell, most of the arc ender in general) will be a rather severe falling out between Dipper and Steven (that will have been sort of built up for a while in previous chapters, but will reach its height in Rifts)

Rifts could very much be described as a “kick the dog” chapter, with the metaphorical dog being Stepper in this instance and the metaphorical kicker being Bill

 Stepper will have pretty much a total breakdown in Rifts (can’t blame the poor things tbh) 

Rifts is gonna be filled with some high quality nightmare fuel (probably some of the darkest in UF up until that point)

Rifts as a chapter may or may not conclude with Stepper being forced into making a deal with Bill (despite really not wanting to)

Rifts will end with on a cliffhanger

Memories is gonna have a bunch of characters in it and will likely serve as the lull point in the arc ender (fueled more by emotions than plot)

Rose’s fountain will make a reappearance in Memories

Memories primarily deals with the revelation that by making whatever deal with Bill, Stepper lost something (and based on the chapter title you can probably guess what that something is, but I will say there’s a lot more to it than that)

For that reason, Stepper will be hindered incapable of infusing until a solution can be found

Despite the Gems and Ford fearing the worst, Mabel is going to try her best to remain optimistic in this terrible situation, and will do everything in her power to help Stepper

Cue a bunch of bittersweet moments between Mabel and Stepper, as well as Stepper interacting with characters that he hasn’t yet, including Lapis and Pacifica and so on

Lapis is going to be a rather prevalent supporting character in Memories/Dimensions, though Peridot will only make a somewhat short appearance in Memories, due to some... other spoilers things... 

Connie will be absent for the duration of Rifts/Memories/Dimensions, due to her family being away on vacation (don’t worry though, she’ll have her time to shine in the chapter after all this (which I’ll also talk a little about near the end of this post)

Memories will draw some parallels between Stepper and Maven (specifically how Maven was in their debut chapter)

Stan and Ford will likely have a pretty big argument over what’s going down because they are both seriously at the risk of losing their nephew forever so, yeah

Basically Memories will be one big ball of tension, drama, and angst

There’s gonna be a really sad but also really sweet scene between Mabel and Stepper towards the end of the chapter

Memories will also end on a cliffhanger

Dimensions will be excessively climatic and very significant

Basically its just a huge confrontational chapter against Bill

The characters involved in said confrontation will include Stepper, Mabel, Ford, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Lapis, and Stan (and yes, we will get to have some interactions in here between Bill and Lapis and Stan)

Alexandrite will likely appear in Dimensions, so will Dipevebel and Maven 

Steven’s “dream invasion” powers will play a very significant role in this chapter

Dimensions may or may not feature what’s known as a “Disney death” scene

There will be a pretty horrific callback to Sock Opera in Dimensions (like there will be in Rifts too, but especially in Dimensions)

Stepper will be forcibly unfused at one point in the chapter, but will reform before the climactic battle stuff is all said and done (mostly so he can have a role in setting off whatever goes down to get the AU stuff rolling)

Even after the danger has passed (not saying if it will be in the form of a victory or a loss because its honestly kind of both), Stepper will remain fused, mostly out of Steven wanting to ensure that Dipper will be... ok after everything that’s happened

The “resolution” section of Dimensions will indeed Stepper having a full on fusion hallucination

The feelings Stepper (both of his halves really) are going to be dealing with in the aftermath of all this are huge and painful

Dimensions will make you fucking cry (I know because I’ll be crying writing it)

Garnet is gonna provide her wisdom/comfort to Stepper in his initial “recovery” period

Yes, the boys will unfuse by the end of the chapter (but they’ll both still be emotional messes)

The chapter immediately following all this (the first one of arc 9) is entitled Theory of Weirdness, and will feature two plots

The A plot will focus more on Dipper trying to cope with everything that just happened with Ford’s help (and this will come in the form of that scene in journal 3 where Dipper tells Ford his real name because its beautiful and pure and deserves a place in UF and there’s no place more fitting for it than here)

The B plot will follow the plot of Gem Hunt more or less, but will also focus not only on how Steven’s recovering from what happened, but also Mabel’s guilt over not being able to do much about it and Connie’s guilt over not even being around to help at all 

We will probably get to see Mabonnven in that chapter (they won’t fight Jasper or anything but still)

Basically its all gonna be fucking angst for the duration

All of it all four of these chapters are gonna break me

The after effects of these chapters are going to be felt pretty much throughout the rest of UF, for everyone involved, and will be brought up time and time again

Hell even by the time the sequel rolls around it’ll all still be significant

Rest in pieces kids because ya’ll gonna die from feels when you read them

Hahahahahah afuck I’m so far away from these chapters but whatever there’s some speculation for ya. Bye!

#woooo #things I do at work that I really shouldn't be doing at work #whatever editing is hard #bleh #jen writes #universe falls #ideas #rifts/memories/dimensions #spoilers

[swearronchanel]

Kicking off the hiatus with 5.04

A few people have requested that I continue my commentaries™ during the hiatus & after all the positive feedback, I couldn’t say no! But I expected to have an awful day & it actually went well so I thought I’d go ahead and do it now. You know since I’m going to avoid all my responsibilities anyway it might as well be for a good cause🙃

I watched a lot of shameless on Netflix today so it’s nice to watch something wholesome for a change of pace 😂

“The world was shifting on its axis in 1961, strides were being made, decisions taken, questions asked..” Vanessa’s narration is always on point like I wish I had the patience to post all her quotes 😭😂

Aw sister Mary Cynthia! I hope she’s in the Christmas special

My bby trixie looking flawless while riding a bike, goals

But who is this nun they’re having a service for lol ??

Like it’s kinda irrelevant oops,  r i p & dios te bendiga but why do we care? at least I don’t

Isn’t this girl from something? She looks so familiar

i remember saying this before .. oh yea she’s from game of thrones I think. I don’t watch it though haha

“Angel? I could get used to that!” Aw my bby is so cute like yes trix ur an angel

yikes that cough lady, I have a stuffy nose rn and I’m hoping I don’t start coughing 😭cause then I wanna be in a coma cause I hate being sick

Aw he'a so excited! He got into university👏🏼 that was legit me though 😂 I’m so irrational and literally only applied to one university (well I filled out many applications but didn’t submit any others because you gotta pay so I tried to wait and see if I got accepted to where I wanted first😂) I found out in English while on my phone instead of doing work & I screamed and just ran out the classroom 😂 I went to my guidance councilor and told everyone in the main office and then called my parents who *were nervous I wouldn’t get in* but also were literally going through security in the airport on their way to Dominican Republic .. ah, I was full of excitement and hope. Look at me now 3 semesters in &I’m over it 😂😂 it’s so stressful and mentally/emotionally draining and sometimes I’m just like how do I become a trophy wife asap?

BACK TO THE SHOW THOUGH

My bby SHELAGH! 😍 she is so precious in her suit aww, but lets be real the navy suit is the best™ one she owns. But I still like her best in uniform at the clinic though 💁🏼

she’s over here giving a talk on giving birth at home & Im just like holy shit SHE JUST HAD A BABY IN THEIR NEW HOME, I STILL CANT BELIEVE IT😭!!!!

Tom’s so excited for Ian it’s so cute and sweet

And Tom is so cute and attractive ugh, he could get it

oh damn wait Mrs Cottingham has the baby with no limbs

aw yea and she wanted a girl

I agree though little boys are gremlins 😂😂 from ages like 7-14, get them away from me 😂

Ian all hopeful for their future and then boom he’s a dad. That went from 0 to 💯 real quick

Phyllis!! & lol sister W giggling

But damn why they all acting like Sister J is too old and incapable 😂 she wants to go to St Cuthberts, let her

Sister Monica Joan upset aw😭 don’t worry sister you’re Help is needed

Pats and Deels look cute “tanning” outside

“You want to see Anita Ekberg in that fountain just as much as I do”  Lmaoo 😂😂 for real though have u ever seen La Dolce Vita? Like Anita Ekberg was too hot to handle. I wish I looked that good damn

Trixie came to thirdwheel even though she isn’t unaware she is lol

But Trixie is serving summer looks™ I love it 😍

Damn though Patsy’s legs are pretty pasty 😂😂

Trixie wondering what the hell kinda magic bra Anita had on, literally same cause I want it. Always need good quality strapless bras for summer👍🏻

Patsy inviting Trixie and Delia gave the side eye omg 😂

Here comes Babs lmao

LOL DEELS IS SALTY OMG

ugh this is when Babs first got with Tom and they were annoying lmao, I got over it though

If I was Trixie I’d be lowkey mad too like that was her ex-fiancé but I’m glad they got over it and are friends despite that 💕 cause I know petty girls that would just cut the other off

WHY DO THEY PRONOUNCED SCHEDULE LIKE THAT? And honestly How?? Like I can’t even lol it’s hard. Oops is my American showing

Sister J out here

Ohh yea this matron is a bitch lmao, vete ya

What is the correlation between going to grammar school and getting pregnant ?? @ Ian’s mom

Lol Trixie’s just like pls don’t ask me

ugh get this nurse/matron or what ever tf she is off my screen before I smack her

I swear Jenny Agutter has such a relaxing voice, like she really can calm you down & tell you all will be well & you’ll just be like “yea you right”😭

Tom is so rational and sensible because if I walked in I’d immediately start screaming and all that like “calm tf down people" 

Pats and Deels sneaking around in a convent lol it gives me anxiety always thinking “oh shit u think someone will walk in?”

LOL OKAY TOM YOU TELL YOURSELF TRIXIE IS MAD ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE

Damn Tom you just made Babs feel like a rebound™

“Who’s to say we won’t carry on” ya will be fine & get married next year chill out

So Babs is only 23, how old are the other nurses *well how old do you think*??

WHEN WILL WE SEE A NONNATUN BIRTHDAY?? *I preferably want to see Trixie or Shelagh have one* but I’d take anyone really, like these people literally celebrate every other damn holiday/event but no one has had a birthday?? Except for Jenny and Chummy but they’re both gone lol

yikes emphysema, one of my grandfathers died from that. 70 odd years of tobacco smoking 😬 he did someone love to be 85 yrs old though. Idk how, he couldn’t breathe for so long

I love Phyllis just saying again for the millionth time

Aw Trix 💔 you will be happy soon💕😭

See! She said w/o Sister J she’d be screaming! Her presence is calming

Emergency c-section aye dios

Turn up at the pub

Lol funny how the dad gave Tom orange juice bc he’s a vicar but he was drunk af the night before his wedding 😂 drunk enough to have little memory and to be hungover the next day

we’ve all been there tho I don’t judge

Is it really CtM if there’s not at least one mention of babycham a series?

c-sections are wild omg

also I’ve never been under anesthesia so I’d be scared af

LOL & also I’ve never had a kid so that’s scary too duh

“Oh God another one” ahh omg

Do you think that was a doll ??

Again this show makes everything look real af so I never know

Is the doctor here the Mr Kenely that I hate??

They really left that baby there to die like o m g

Sister J praying/blessing the baby 💔💔 my freaking heart omg

again this nurse is on my screen and I need her to go, preferably to carajoland

“may the lord bless you and keep you”!! 💔😭

the third deformed baby and they didn’t report it??

“I’m not drunk” I mean you’re sitting on the floor in the bathroom so I’d think you were too 😂

Lol remember.. *cringes* no wait lets not

Tom worked in a record shop that’s cute

damn Tom do you really think telling them to just settle is the best way to comfort him

Aw sister J needs a hug😭😢💕

and yes prayer you’re right sister MJ

Sister MJ, Sister MC & Sister J comforting each other is so pure, all the they have scenes together wash my sins away for a second

wait where tf is sister Winifred lmao, did she just scadaddle after compline? snuck out to see a heathen movie i bet  jk jk I’m sure she only sneaks to quality films

but then I say dumb shit like that ^ or even worse/more inappropriate & the sins return😂😂

There’s my bby Shelagh! And in uniform, love it. 😭😍

Whenever Shelagh goes back to work next series I hope we see more of her being a nurse cause I love it

Wild that the hospital was just not saying anything about the deformed babies

Sister J coming to the best detective in Poplar, Dr Watson aka Shelagh Turner aka secret agent Shealgh Turnova™ 😂😂 *forever one of my fave lines of hers*

Lmao Tim helping out old ladies, being a good seed & too perfect of a teen

But damn boy comb your hair!

“I haven’t boiled any urine today, nice to have a change of pace” Lol Babs😂😂

oh no she’s bleeding 😢

I’m having flashbacks to Shelagh’s threatened miscarriage like lets not go down that painful memory lane  

Sister J told Ruby it was a girl bc she knew she wanted a girl ughhh 😢

Ruby thinks it was a punishment 💔 ugh my heart & ugh again makes me think of when Shelagh thought she was being punished/greedy when they told her she couldn’t have a baby 💔

Stop the sadness I say, stop it now

“We haven’t got a fairy godmother between us” WHERE IS PHYLLIS WHEN SHE IS NEEDED?

And Poor what’s her name 💔💔

oh yea it’s Linda omg how could I forget that’s my Gram’s name

But Shelagh and Trixie are interacting!!

It’s about a patient but at least they’re speaking right .. LMAO BUT WAIT ILL NEVER BE OVER HORMONAL SHELGH YELLING AT TRIXIE ABOUT THE FAMILY PLANING CLINIC ENTRANCE

ALSO: I’LL KEEP SAYING IT TILL I DIE, ALL I WANT IS A TRIXIE & SHELAGH FRIENDSHIP! 😭😭💕💖💖 they’re my bbys and I’ve been asking nicely

shit ¡¡ @beatrix-franklin wrote a damn essay as to why we need/want it !!

PLS LET IT HAPPEN @ HEIDI & OTHER WRITERS😭💔

Shelagh’s grey cardigan is actually cute *she just doesn’t need anymore lol*

“What the poor pet really needs is a good cry, a bottle of aspirin and a hug in no particular order..but the hug is of prime importance”  you see. We could’ve have a cute scene of Trixie visiting Shelagh in the hospital & a little parallel of when she visited her in the sanatorium

or Just give me Trixie hugging Shelagh and I’ll cry of joy 😭💕

omg wait

shit I forgot Ian put his head in the oven

Angela playing on the floor !! So precious 💖

“..Don’t think they’d thank you for that Patrick, they’re both younger than me”  Lol I always laugh at that, it’s kinda cute. I like when Shelagh has funny lines , why didn’t Patrick say anything back 😂 there could’ve been cute playful banter. Even this series we could’ve heard him call her an elderly primigravida is a joking/playful banter context ..BUT at least we know now Shelagh is 36!

Yea man those bombs impacted multiple generations

“So World War II is history now is it?” I seriously love these little lines of Shelagh’s lol. Also funny how she prob sees her self as old, and she was what, like my age, when the war needed?? 18 or 19 depending on her birthday (We’d know but nonnatuns apparently don’t ever have birthdays)

Shit. Wait..I feel. Kinda strange and scary to think my future children will learn in school the events I’ve lived through so far ??

okay lets not think about that

what’s the sluice? I know he washes instruments but what exactly is the sluice? The room ? Idk

Aw Angela crying, one of the the only times we’ve heard her make a sound lol

WAIT HE COULD BE SUED FOR BREAKING THE ENGAGEMENT WHAT??

“How long have we been broken off?” “A year. To be precise a year and ten days”  I know they weren’t really a good match but aw 😭 it was nice while it lasted

Trixie Bby 💔💔 happiness is coming your way I promise

“I never know when I love you the most. But I sometimes think these are the times I love you best..”😭😭 BYE IM DEAD AGAIN & MY HEART EXPLODED AGAIN😭💔💕💕

thinking about it though, they’ve never actually said I love you properly, have they??

See Patrick’s little med school anecdote, can Shelagh share one anytime soon? About anything from her past, I’m just curious.

Was that just a piece of “in the mirror” or is it playing in my head? Honestly it happens quite often, I’ll swear I hear a song and it’s actually in my head

alright Ian so why were you marrying her? you switching it up kid

I’m calling him kid like he’s not probably older than me lmao

Phyllis in her robe I love it

Trixie serving yet another look™😍

I’m so glad Trixie gave Babs her “blessing” & became good friends. So pure, we don’t need any more women being put against each other

“Fuzzy felt apostles” WHY AM I LAUGHING AT THAT? It’s not even funny?

Now the service for a nun we never knew, filled with extra nuns we will never know or care about.

I love that the nurses are at the service lol, like they probably don’t have to be but still there for fam

& Shelagh there wearin a mantilla, so sweet😭💕

“God hugs you” aw sister MC 😭❤️

You gotta admit even if you aren’t religious this show does make you feel some type of faith

“We knew so little then, in a world that seems so filled of opening doors and bright horizons. We thought only of what was new and better because it was new and better. And it would take us to places we had never been before.” VANESSA😭 she never fails with the narration, never.

Trixie helping Babs fix her bracelet bc there’s no hard feelings and she’s happy for them aw

“..We couldn’t see what was coming or understand yet what had already come to pass, yet so much still to learn”

Oh shit that foreshadow was heavy, especially because it ends with a shot of baby cottinghams body in the box.

I don’t think I picked up on that the first time ..                                     Anyway it’s 1:15am I should go to bed I have class in the morning 😭😂

The End.🙃

#my commentaries™ #call the midwife #who lets me do these lol #sorry it's long #oops #ya know I'm so extra™