Riddle sighed as he closed the door to his dorm room after giving a brief explanation of the events of the ceremony to a semi concerned Trey, who had asked permission to spend the ceremony shopping for ingredients for desserts for the unbirthday party in a few days. A request he had reluctantly granted due to the practicality of it. He began to strip off his ceremonial robes. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about that girl. She had commanded those students who were with her like she was born to, and Crowley didn't seem to be willing to go against her. She even made that monster stop attacking without using force! And the way she fought Crowley on her familiar's behalf... it was breathtaking. He sighed, she carried herself like a true queen. Graceful, commanding, ... beautiful.
He shook his head violently. No, he did not have time for... whatever this was! The unbirthday party was in less than a week! Of course every student had to have a birthday on every other day that would have worked for every one. He had work to do, couldn't afford to be distracted by beautiful women with kind voices- wait, no!
He finished changing out of his robes into a pair of pajamas and sighed. This girl felt... different somehow. He felt like he had known her his whole life, as utterly cliche as that sounds.
Riddle turned out the lights and crawled into bed, hoping the beautiful red head wouldn't haunt unconscious thoughts as well.
He was wrong, of course, as his mind filled with images of her in a beautiful red dress, with him chasing her through the rose maze with them both laughing like mad all the way.
—---------------------------
Leona leaned against his dorm room balcony, still in his robes after rushing past Ruggie and the other students, completely ignoring them, slamming the door in his slightly concerned face. Him having no idea what had gone on at the ceremony, having stayed behind to do one of his many part time jobs of hauling the student luggage to the dorms. He stared up at the moon. It was full tonight, he sighed. A girl was going here now, great. That meant he might have to make adjustments to his plan if she went snooping, which she probably would. She seemed intelligent, and strong, too. She reminded him of the woman back home, and had the same unwavering vitality his sister-in-law always seemed to have. And since she was a lady, he wouldn't be able to hurt or threaten her even if he wanted to.
He put his face into his hands, but that wasn't the only reason, was it? No, there was another reason that made him respect her more than most. She was a leader, yes, but she was a good leader. She had her guys doing tasks with pointed looks and nods of the head, and while they never jumped in to help her with anything during the ceremony, he would bet his title as a prince that they did that because they knew damn well that her familiar's little incident would be a cake walk for her.
Which meant she was decently powerful, and that in turn meant if she went against him he would be put through hell. He might have tried to get her on his side, if it wasn't for her being very eager to make friends with Draconia for very transparent reasons. He huffed, he was caught between a rock and a hard place.
Frustrated, he made his way over to his bed and flopped down. Normally he would have been asleep within three seconds, but that girl was keeping him awake.
Cassandra
Her name rang in his ears, and he groaned, trying to will his mind to be quiet. To ignore his few memories of the beautiful woman and- seven damn it why was he so fixated on her?! He glared up at the ceiling, as if trying to force answers out of it. He laid his arm over his eyes and sighed.
'What a pain', he thought.
The king of Savannahclaw did not fall asleep for a long time, and when he did, his dreams were filled with red hair and mirthful laughter as the two of them sat among the rocks of his homeland, chatting.
—------------------------------
Azul sat in his office in a dress shirt and slacks, he couldn't sleep. He had tried, of course, but he just couldn't find a moment's peace, and he knew exactly why. He ran his fingers through his hair, by seven that girl was going to be the death of him. He had to take a cold shower immediately after the ceremony due to how flustered he was, confusing the hell out of Jade and Floyd, who had stayed behind during the ceremony to get things ready for the first years.
He sighed as he signed another piece of paperwork for the Monstro Lounge. If he couldn't sleep, he might as well work. Not like that did much to take his mind off of her.
Cassandra Mikaelson. The name wasn't one he was familiar with, which was odd, because he tried to familiarize himself with prominent magical families. Something he assumed she was from, given the crest on her stationary set and her high magical aptitude. But even if he did know what family she was from, that wouldn't explain how she was able to cast spells without a magic pen.
She just snapped her fingers and performed a high level extinguisher spell on the entire chamber without breaking a sweat. Most of the students in his class would have passed out from doing something like that! And yet, she was fine. It was fascinating, and it added a mysterious air to her. She was beginning to seem like a puzzle, and Azul had always had a certain fondness for puzzles.
He let a small smirk grace his features, it helped that she was a beautiful puzzle, too. He felt a measure of joy at the idea of obtaining that magic of hers, or perhaps just her as a person. He hoped he could get to know her better throughout the year, and who knows, maybe something useful might come from it. Whether that thing was a contract or... something more intimate, only time would tell.
The contract holder took off his glasses and laid his head down on his arms, deciding to take a moment to rest his eyes. He recalled Cassandra's beautiful voice, and eventually slipped into sleep, replaying the melodies of her voice in his head as if she was singing him to sleep.
His dreams were filled with the phantom feelings of her hands in his hair and the humming of tunes he would not be able to recall when he woke.
—--------------------------------
"You should have seen her, Jamil! She was super cool when she put those flames out, and she looked really pretty! Her hair looked like rubies and her eyes looked like gold!", said Kalim excitedly as he ragailed his then-absent vice dorm leader with the tale of that night's ceremony, embellishing a certain someone's feats and appearance as he did.
Jamil sighed as he walked over from the stove to his dorm leader's place at the island bar and placed a plate of food in front of him. "I'm sure she was, Kalim.", he said with a sigh. Everyone from the ceremony came back dead tired, so the welcome dinner was postponed until tomorrow night, much to the annoyance of the boy who had cooked it.
Kalim pouted, "I'm serious, Jamil! She was like a desert lily, or a beautiful jewel, only better! She was... too wonderful to describe.", he whispered breathlessly as he laid his head on his hand and stared off into space wistfully.
Jamil blinked, oh by the seven, he left Kalim alone for two hours and he had somehow managed to fall head over heels for a girl he had just met. 'Well', Jamil thought, 'maybe this is a good thing. This girl sounds at least semi-responsible. If she starts going out with him, he might start acting less childish."
Jamil sat down opposite of him at the bar, "Well, if you like her so much, why don't you ask her out?", he said.
Kalim's face lit up with realization, "You're right! I should ask her out!", he then shot up out of his seat and ran out of the kitchen, completely forgetting about his meal, and towards the Scarabia dormitory.
Jamil ran up to the doorway, "Wait, where are you going?!", he yelled out as he tried to catch up with the white haired boy.
Kalim stopped for a moment and turned back to face him, "To the dorm! I need to get some things from the treasury to give to Cassandra as courting gifts!", he then turned back around and began sprinting again without waiting for a response.
Jamil's eyes widened, oh seven, he was going to scare the poor girl off by giving her her weight in gold and jewels. Girls got those as sentimental presents, not 'please date me' gifts. He was going to come off way too strong, and then he was going to have to apologize on his behalf.
'If her first impression of him didn't scare her off, his forwardness will definitely will.', he thought. With that, Jamil began sprinting down the hall so he could attempt to reason with his dorm leader. He huffed, could never catch a break, could he?
—-----------------------------
Vil sighed dramatically as he laid back on a chaise at the foot of his bed with a flourish, still clad in his robes. His vice dorm leader, Rook, sat upon a plush stool at the chaise's side looking over his dorm leader with concern. Vil had requested his presence the moment he arrived at the dorm. It would have been sooner, but Rook had missed the ceremony due to being on a brief hunting excursion with permission from Vil, so he had come back a bit after Vil did. Rook leaned forward in his seat, trying to get as close to Vil as possible.
"What troubles you, Roi du Poison?", Rook asked in a quiet voice.
Vil sat up a bit and looked him in the eye, "Oh Rook, it's awful.", he moaned as he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. After a minute of leaving Rook in suspense, Vil sighed and began to speak.
"At the ceremony, there was this... girl. She and a few other students destroyed their gates and went missing before the ceremony. They came back around the end with some sort of cat-like creature. Their leader, the girl, went to be sorted and talked to the dark mirror like an old friend, she even called him Henrik, for some reason. She asked if he would sort the creature, and he agreed. The headmaster opposed this, however, and made the creature so mad he started throwing fire. Riddle and Azul were about to put a stop to it, when the girl just snapped her fingers and put out all the flames. Then she somehow managed to verbally beat down the headmaster so badly I don't think he'll ever be able to look her in the eye, and made the creature and him apologize to each other. After that, when they were finally sorted, the dark mirror put them in a dorm that doesn't even exist! He said they would have to found it on their own, and then she invited Malleus Draconia to dinner! It was a nightmare, but the worst part... the worst part...", he trailed off as words seemed to fail him.
Rook broke out of his slight stupor at the shocking news, came closer and placed his hand on Vil's shoulder, "What was it, Roi du Poison?", he asked concerned.
Vil inhaled sharply, "The worst part was that the girl, Cassandra, was... she was more beautiful than I am.", he spoke quickly as he exhaled,
Rook looked at him with sad eyes, "Oh, Roi du Poison...", he said as he watched Vil frown in frustration, restraining himself from remarking about how he shouldn't do that so he wouldn't get frown lines.
"But that's not what upsets me! In fact, it's the opposite!", he groaned as he buried his face in his hands.
Rook furrowed his brow, "What do you mean?", he asked.
Vil's lip quivered, "I'm... not jealous! I don't know why, but all I want to do is look at her and see her smile and laugh and be happy and- AUGH, WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!", he yelled as he took a pillow off the chaise and screamed into it for a solid thirty seconds.
Rook looked on with wide eyes, had Roi du Poison...? No, he couldn't have... could he? He didn't seem like the type to fall so quickly, but then again almost no one did. Rook continued to stare at his poison king with mirth filled eyes when he came to realize that Vil wasn't necessarily upset, he was just frustrated that he had no idea what he was feeling. Rook began to chuckle and then full on laugh out loud, which caused Vil to look up.
"What's so funny?", he asked annoyed.
Rook grabbed Vil by the shoulders, still chuckling a bit, and got him to look him in the eye. "Roi du Poison, there is a reason you are not jealous.", he said.
There was silence for a moment.
"Well, spit it out!", huffed Vil as he grew more annoyed.
Rook smiled at him, "You're in love, Roi du Poison.", he said at last.
Vil blinked, "What?!", he exclaimed.
Rook chuckled, "Well, you are at least about to be.", he said.
Vil shot up off the chaise, "What-but-how.", he ran his fingers through his hair, paced the room a bit, sighed, and then went to sit back down on his original seat. All under Rook's watchful and amused gaze.
Vil narrowed his eyes at Rook, "How can you be so sure?", he asked.
Rook smiled knowingly, "I may not have ever fallen in love myself, Roi du Poison, but I am not blind. I have seen enough of other people to know when someone is in love."
Vil exhaled as he laid back on his chaise, "But... Why her?", he asked.
Rook looked at him meaningfully, "Only you can answer that question."
Rook then got up from his seat on the stool and left, giving one last meaningful smile in Vil's direction before he closed the door.
Now alone in his room, Vil got up from the chaise and rather ungracefully fell back onto his bed, sighing. Was Rook right? Did he really have feelings for Cassandra? How, why so quickly? Weren't these things supposed to take time? He had never experienced anything like this, and the lack of a precedent to help him make sense of it all made him want to scream again. He got up, changed into his night clothes, pulled back the covers and clapped twice, turning out the lights. Even with everything that was going on, he still needed his beauty sleep. He closed his eyes and attempted to clear his mind, only to end up failing.
He wouldn't fall asleep for another hour, and when he did, his dreams were plagued with the golden eyed girl. They laid in a meadow side by side, simply staring into each other's eyes in a way that everyone wanted to be stared at during some point in their life; with unconditional love and adoration.
—-----------------------------
Ortho was starting to get concerned for his brother. He was closing himself off from even him and muttering more than usual. The young robot looked on as his brother sat on his bed and searched for some bit of information relentlessly on his laptop through his shady dark web search engines.
"Brother, why are you so fixated on Miss Cassandra? She seemed nice!", Ortho exclaimed, and she really did from the few glimpses he got of her through the camera of his brother's tablet.
Idia turned to him, eyes wide and slightly bloodshot, "That's how they get you, Ortho. They act all nice and then BAM! Suddenly you're a piece on their chess board, and you're about to die for plot convenience because you weren't good looking enough to be a love interest!", he exclaimed loudly and immediately went back to his searching afterwards.
Ortho blinked, "Brother, what do you mean by that?", he asked curiously.
Idia sighed, slammed his laptop shut, and looked Ortho directly in the eye, "What I mean by that Ortho, is that she is Mary Sue. Overpowered, unrealistic, too perfect. No one just randomly gets accepted here while being a girl with immense magical power, having an entourage, a familiar, the ability to get the headmaster to shut his mouth, and being really...", he trailed off as his hair and face both burned red and he made a high squeaking noise.
Ortho blinked and put his hand on his brother's shoulder, "Brother, are you alright?", he asked, still concerned.
Idia shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, warding off the blush, "My point is, she is a Mary Sue, and Mary Sue's are always the protagonists. Which is bad for me, because protagonists drag people into their problems and then they either become side characters, sidekicks, die, or become... love interests, which leads to... feelings and then... hOldInG hAnDs!", he squeaked out as his hair and face burned an even brighter red than before, his flaming locks shooting up into the air.
Ortho shook his brother by the shoulders, "Brother, snap out of it! You're going to set the ceiling on fire!", he exclaimed as he looked up to check that Idia hadn't scorched the ceiling.
Idia shook his head again, "This is bad, oh this is really bad. I need to do more research so I can find a way to combat her Sue-ness. Leave me, Ortho. I can't burden you with this knowledge.", he said as he got up and nudged his brother in the direction of his dorm room door.
Ortho turned around to look at him, "But brother-"
Idia looked at him seriously, "No buts Ortho! This is serious!", he then gently pushed Ortho out the door and closed it before he could say another word.
Idia sighed and went back to his spot on his bed, opening his laptop once more. As he booted it back up, he looked around the room, as if checking to see if he was being watched, before he pulled up the picture of Cassandra he had taken earlier. He let his expression soften as he looked at it, a longing look in his eye. She really was beautiful, he thought. This went on for a few minutes, before he realized what he was doing, causing him to shake his head, and go back to his searching in a flustered panic. Dear seven, he was already getting sucked in, he needed to find a way to combat this, and fast.
Idia fell asleep on his laptop that night, having spent his last few minutes of consciousness staring at Cassandra's picture. He had told himself it was so he would know what the enemy looked like, but his dreams were not filled with terrifying thoughts of being turned into her puppet. Instead, they were filled with oddly comforting ones of spending an evening curled up in bed with the red head, chatting about video games. It was odd, though not unwelcome, and the young master of the House of Shroud slept soundly that night.
—----------------------------
"Lilia, what is this?", asked Malleus, confused as to why his retainer seemed so giddy and why he was holding a black envelope out to him.
Lilia smiled widely at him, flashing his fangs, "It is a dinner invitation, Malleus!", he said excitedly.
Malleus blinked, his eyes wide from shock, "Oh? From who?", he asked as he took the envelope from Lilia's hands.
Lilia continued to grin up at him, "A kind young lady by the name of Cassandra Mikealson. She's one of the new first years, and, if I'm being honest, rather beautiful.", he said, trying to slip the last part in slyly.
Malleus rolled his eyes, "Dispose of any ideas you have of setting me up for romance, Lilia. This girl most likely knows nothing about me. She will take one look at me when I arrive and fear me as all other humans have before.", he said as he opened the letter, using one of his sharp nails as a letter opener.
Malleus read over it, committing the possible dates of the dinner to memory and placing the folded letter in the first drawer of his dorm room desk. He would attend the dinner so as to not offend Lilia or the hostess, but nothing more. It would be the same as it always was, and no amount of looks Lilia assumed were knowing would change that.
Lilia quirked an eyebrow, smirking with his arms crossed as he leaned back against the brick wall, "I wouldn't be so sure about that. She was rather insistent on getting to know you when she discovered that you not receiving invitations to events was commonplace. She stated, and I quote 'I just can't stand it when people are excluded for reasons that are out of their control'. She seemed to be speaking from experience, as well.", he said as he left his place on the wall and made his way over to his charge.
"And it will not be an event you will have to attend alone. She said that you were welcome to bring me as well as anyone else you wished to invite, so we can bring Silver and Sebek with us.", he said as he put a hand on Malleus's shoulder and gave him a comforting smile.
"Attend, and not just for the sake of being polite. Try to have a conversation with her. Who knows, you and her may hit it off.", Lilia said in a soft voice.
Malleus looked down at the stone floor in contemplation, before looking up at Lilia with determined eyes.
"Very well. I will attempt to befriend this 'Cassandra Mikealson', but only at your insistence. Until this event comes to pass, however, I would like Sebek to help her with anything she may need as a thanks. She is new here and, while I don't doubt her abilities if the tale of the ceremony you told me was true, I would still like to return her kindness and gain a second opinion on her as a person. Sebek is brutally honest, so he will hold nothing back.", he said as he pulled out his phone and sent the green haired knight a text, requesting that he join them in his dorm room.
Not even a minute later the door slammed open, "You called, young master?!", he said in a loud, formal tone.
Malleus nodded, "Yes, Sebek. I have a request to make of you.", he stated as he stared at the first year from across the room.
Sebek nodded furiously, "Anything, young master.", he said reverently.
Malleus walked closer to him, "I need you to serve the girl Cassandra Mikaelson until we are to meet for dinner in a few weeks time."
Sebek blinked, "The redhead from the ceremony? You are accepting her invitation?!", he asked ecstatically. Finally, some one had recognized his master's greatness!
Malleus nodded, "Yes, and as a thanks I want you to help her and her Court with whatever they may need. They are new to this place and still have much to learn. Help guide them, and give Miss Cassandra the same level of respect you give to me. Am I understood?", he asked.
Sebek stared at his master, internally monologuing about his master's infinite kindness before he nodded his head resolutely, "Of course, master! I will ensure your honorable friend is taken care of most well!", and with that, he bowed at the waist and ran out the door.
Malleus and Lilia blinked, unsure if his reaction was a good thing or not. Ah, well, no changing his mind now. The two shook their heads, and Lilia bid Malleus goodnight, closing the door behind him.
Malleus sighed as he prepared for bed. What had he just agreed to? Nothing ever went well when he was there, but he was finally being included, very insistently at that. It made him curious. Just who was this brave child of man, this Cassandra Mikaelson? The Fae were rather curious creatures, and he was no exception. This girl had piqued his interest, and he smiled a bit to himself at the thought of meeting this odd individual.
The prince's dreams were filled with the image of a redheaded girl that night. Her face was not visible, but he knew she was beautiful. She danced with him in the palace courtyard of his home to a tune that he would not recall when he awoke, laughing and joking with him all the while.
Sorry if the reasons for the vice dorm leaders not being at the ceremony sounded flimsy, but I want to milk the meet cutes for all their worth. Also, Idia's reaction to Cassandra is not him breaking the fourth wall, though it is true. This fic is so unrealistic and I am very much aware of this fact. I mean, it's a polyamorous romance between one girl and what could turn out to be over thirty different men. I know Cassandra is an OP Mary Sue, but that was what I was unironically going for. I like reading those kinds of fic's (granted that they have correct grammar and spelling, among other things). Call me basic, because I am. This is pure wish fulfillment here, folks. It has a plot, sure, and I am trying to make it interesting, but at it's core it will always be me writing about things that would never actually happen. We go back to Cassandra next chapter, so don't worry about that. I hope you enjoy this chapter. So long and goodnight, Thackery Binx.