When Cassandra woke up, she awoke covered in grime and ink, holding something small and warm, as well as with a pounding headache. Groaning a bit, she covered her eyes with her hand as she sat up, shielding them from the light of day. Looking around, she saw the utter hellscape the Heartslabyul gardens had become; rose bushes had been ripped out of the earth, the metal platform the duel had occurred on was flipped over and about a quarter of a mile from where it once was, and everything was covered in debris and dirt. Her attention was dragged away from her surroundings, however, when she heard another groan from beside her.
"Riddle!", she called out, concerned. The boy in question was a bit worse for wear in his ink-stained formal uniform and dented crown, covered in cuts and scrapes and bruises- but he was alive, and that was what mattered. The redheaded boy blearily blinked his eyes open, and he awoke to what was possibly the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his life.
Cassandra sat looking over him, concern glowing in her cat-like golden eyes. Her hair framed her face perfectly, still shiny and beautiful as ever in spite of her most recent adventure. The clouds were parting right over her head as the storm dissipated, so the bright light of the sun shined down her like a spotlight, giving her hair a natural halo. A smile graced her face when she realized he was awake; and Riddle swore, in that moment, he saw an angel. Riddle, slightly delirious from exhaustion, pain, and the emotional rollercoaster he had just been on, smiled softly.
"You.", was all he said, his voice coming off a bit hoarse. Cassandra laughed, happy he was well enough to speak and amused by his reference to their first real conversation.
"Me.", she laughed breathlessly, tucking a strand of blood red hair behind her ear. The two looked into each other's eyes, smiling serenely despite the carnage around them. After a few moments, Riddle tried to sit up, clutching his head with one hand and groaning in pain as he did so. Cassandra put an arm around his back and looked at him with concern.
"Careful!", she urged, and Riddle smiled at her for her concern before he looked back down and frowned guiltily.
"I'm sorry.", he said, though with so many things to apologize for, he wasn't sure what exactly he was sorry for. Cassandra looked at him with a soft expression.
"You don't have to apologize.", she told him sternly, but Riddle only shook his head as tears began to leak from his eyes once more.
"No, I do. I-I said all those awful things to you and the others, and-and I tried to hurt you. Cassandra, I am so, so sorry! I never should have- !", Riddle choked out between sobs, only to be cut off by Cassandra abruptly kissing him.
While Riddle had been frantically apologizing, he hadn't noticed that his right glove, along with the bandages under it, had been ripped off in the chaos. When he had raised a hand to clutch his head, Cassandra had not failed to take notice of the mark on the back of it.
Cassandra liked Riddle; she thought he was cute and a good guy despite everything, so when she realized the mark on his hand matched her's, she decided to ride the adrenaline high from the fight as far as it would take her and throw caution to the wind.
Riddle was shocked; he liked Cassandra, as much as he had hated to admit it before. She was everything he wasn't in all the best ways. He had only denied it before because of his desire to uphold the rules, but since he wasn't going to bother with that anymore...
Fuck it.
Riddle closed his eyes and began to kiss back, clutching tightly onto the front of Cassandra's shirt. Cassandra was a full head taller than him, so she had to lean down and angle her head to kiss him. After a few moments of this (though it felt like an eternity), the two broke away for air, cheeks flushed and lips swollen. Cassandra smirked down at Riddle and raised an eyebrow.
"What did I say about apologizing?", she asked cheekily, and Riddle could only look away from her and blush furiously. He couldn't believe what he had just done! The redheaded girl laughed boisterously at his reaction, and Riddle found himself smiling, and soon laughing loudly as well for no particular reason. The two ended up laughing so hard that they had to cling to each other to stay upright. When they eventually calmed down, the two were left gazing into each other's eyes once more, expressions alight with happiness.
"So... did you mean what you said earlier? About being there for me?", Riddle asked softly, looking down shyly. Cassandra grinned wolfishly at him, and swiftly pinned him to the ground. Riddle yelped, and his face burned red at the look in Cassandra's eyes.
"Always and forever, little Queen.", she whispered huskily in his ear, and after leaning up to place a chaste kiss on her lips, Riddle smiled softly.
"Call me Riddle.", he asked softly, and Cassandra's grin softened into a small smile.
"Riddle... ", she purred, testing the name on her tongue, before leaning down to kiss the gray eyed boy passionately. The two laid there, making out in the wake of disaster, tongues intertwined and hands in each other's hair. Because of this, they failed to notice the rapidly approaching figures in the distance.
"They're over here, professors!", Trey yelled out, pointing to the small dirt crater in the ground that had been created by the forceful removal of several rose bushes. Crewel and Trein were following close behind, shocked looks on their faces as they came to a stop and observed the damage.
"My word!", Trein yelled with wide eyes. He had never seen a place in such a state of disarray. Cater stood a bit behind him, phone out and eyes just as wide.
"I'll say.", he agreed, his phone's flash going off as he took a picture of the garden. Trein glared at him.
"What?", Cater asked, confused. Trein grumbled under his breath and shook his head.
"Kids these days... ", the aging professor mumbled. While they had been talking, Trey had finally looked down into the crater and was now staring down at it with a red face and a thousand yard stare. Cater noticed this and walked over to him.
"Hey, what are you... oh.", the orange haired boy started, before he noticed that his dorm head and girlfriend lay in a liplock within the ditch. He raised his phone to take a picture again, and Trey pushed his phone down, not even bothering to look at his friend. Cater didn't protest, too shocked by the scene before him to bother.
Riddle and Cassandra broke away from each other, both smiling at the other lovingly, but were soon shocked into sitting back up with the call of a mischievous voice.
"Hey lovebirds, you two doing okay down there?!", the familiar, purr-like voice of Che'nya called out. Cater and Trey jumped away from him, startled by his abrupt appearance. Riddle scrambled to sit upright, blushing furiously; Cassandra, however, was already sitting Indian style and smiling up at her other boyfriend smugly.
"Never better!", Cassandra responded sarcastically with an eyeroll. After standing up, she turned back to Riddle and held a hand out to him.
"Can you stand?", she asked kindly. Riddle took her hand and began to push himself up.
"I think so- ahh!", he started to say uncertainly, only to have his doubt proven not to be displaced when his legs gave out and he began to fall forward.
"Easy!", Cassandra yelled, letting Riddle brace himself against her. The two looked at each other with loving expressions.
"Let's get out of here and try not to fall on our faces, shall we?", the golden eyed girl said, and Riddle nodded before he squealed cutely and was hoisted up into Cassandra's arms bridal style.
"H-hold on! Wha-What're you doing?!", Riddle stuttered, blushing red with embarrassment. Cassandra gave him a fang-filled smile and a raised eyebrow.
"What is it, little red? I thought you couldn't walk?", she asked slyly. Riddle's blush intensified.
"Y-yes, but why are you carrying me?!", the redhead boy asked in a high, flustered voice. Cassandra laughed as she continued to hike out of the ditch.
"Isn't it obvious? This is the best way to carry someone who's injured, besides... ", the tanned girl explained, leaning down a bit to whisper mischievously in his ear.
"It tells everyone exactly who you belong to.", she purred. Riddle looked close to passing out; steam would be coming out of his ears if it could. As this occurred, Cassandra made it out of the ditch and walked over to Trey, Cater.
"We need to pay a visit to the infirmary, so Riddle can get... specialized medical treatment.", the girl said, narrowing her eyes so the three would catch onto her insinuation. The trio nodded, and Riddle, who partially caught on as well, looked between four in confusion. Before he could ask what they meant, however, a certain crow came marching over.
"Mrs. Mikaelson, what in the world happened here?! What have you done now?!", the frazzled headmaster asked angrily. Cassandra gave him a glare.
"I have not done anything; and I think you already know what happened, headmaster; there was an overblot.", the redheaded girl informed bluntly. Crowley looked shocked and was looking between her and Riddle in bafflement.
"I-I can't believe it! I refuse to! There hasn't been a confirmed overblot in decades! Not since magic pens became easily accessible! How is this possible?!", he slightly stuttered, losing his composure. Cassandra looked at him sternly.
"Believe it, headmaster. Do you think any normal teenage magic user could cause this much damage and not be in such a state? It was an overblot, and I have an entire dorm that can corroborate my story, as well as the victim himself.", the girl elaborated seriously. Crowley was taken aback by her seriousness, before he was left stammering once more as Cassandra abruptly turned around and left.
"N-now wait just a moment, where do you think you're going?! And where are you taking Mr. Rosehearts?!", the headmaster demanded, glaring at Cassandra's back as she walked away. The girl the barely glanced back at him, and with the most bored, annoyed expression Crowley had ever seen, she responded with;
"To the infirmary. Both me and Riddle are extremely tired and have suffered several injuries. We need rest and medical treatment. If you have questions, you can wait, or better yet, ask one of the countless people who saw what happened; because considering you were the literal last person to show up to help, despite the fact you are the goddamned headmaster and should have been the first one on the scene, I'm not too keen on talking to you at all. Trey! Cater! Che'nya! We're leaving!", Cassandra hissed angrily, eyes glowing with rage as she sharply faced forward and continued walking back to the mirror gate. Trey and Cater followed after her without a word, and Che'nya followed after them with hands behind his head and a cheeky grin. Crowley, ever the fool, was left blinking in confusion as to why the girl was so angry with him, despite the fact that she had explicitly explained why this was.
"What did I do?", he asked himself. His question was heard by his employees, who stood behind him. Both men glared at his back.
"Is there any legal way to usurp your boss?", Crewel asked his coworker. Trein gave him a long suffering sigh.
"No; believe me, I've checked.", the older man answered. The two of them stood there for a moment, before they both realized something and looked at each other in confusion.
"Does that boy with the purple hair even go here?", Crewel asked Trein. Both of them recalled the grinning boy with the pierced cat ears, and neither could recall him in any of their classes. Neither said anything, they simply stared at one another, looking for an answer neither could give.
—---------------------------------------------------------
Trey, Che'nya and Cater had gone to find the others and get cleaned up, while Cassandra went off to take Riddle to the medical wing. The infirmary was deathly quiet when they arrived. There didn't seem to be any staff, and while it was clean and well maintained, the lights were off and the whole place was empty. Turning on the lights, Cassandra walked over to a bed and gently sat Riddle down on it.
"Wait here, I'll go find a first aid kit.", she said. Riddle frowned.
"You should sit down, you're injured too- AH!", the boy started, cutting himself off with a scream. Cassandra smiled when she felt a familiar spiritual chill go up her spine, before turning around to face their spectral visitor.
"Oh, hello.", the golden eyed girl said pleasantly. The thin ghost in the nurses uniform smiled warmly at her.
"Hello dear, what happened here, if I may ask?", the nurse ghost asked, looking at her and Riddle curiously, likely not used to seeing such battered patients. Cassandra smiled charmingly at her and looked her in the eyes.
"We had just a little tussle earlier over something silly, it's nothing to worry about, now... ", Cassandra began, and her voice took a low, commanding turn as her pupils began to dilate and undilate.
"We need gauze, medical tape, disinfectant, painkillers, cotton balls and a cup. Once you have those things, bring them to us and lock up the infirmary; only let in the people I tell you to, and forget our conversations that do not involve you. As far as you are aware, we're simply two injured students who value their privacy, and anyone you let in is just a worried friend paying us a visit. Do you understand?", Cassandra instructed in a level tone. Riddle watched in confused fascination as the medic ghost slowly nodded with that same warm smile on her face.
"Yes, I understand dearie.", the specter said in a dreamy tone, floating off to do as she was told. Riddle looked at Cassandra in bewilderment as she turned back to him with a smile.
"Almost didn't expect that to work; never does on the supernaturals back home.", she noted pleasantly.
"What did you do?", he asked, and Cassandra's smile widened.
"Just a little trick of mine, now... ", the girl explained vaguely, and Riddle was left shocked and a bit scared as the whites of her eyes turned black and her once softly glowing golden eyes became more like beacons. Dark veins appeared around her eyes.
"There is much you need to know, little Queen.", the redhead said with a wolfish grin.
—----------------------------------------------------
Riddle sat in bed, a shell-shocked look on his face as Cassandra cleaned and wrapped his wounds, smiling and humming a happy tune all the while.
"So let me get this straight; you're a vampire, but you're also a werewolf, and you're also a mage?", Riddle stated in a confused voice, trying to comprehend the utterly insane story he had just been told. Cassandra nodded as she finished taping gauze to a cut on his left cheek.
"The term is witch where I'm from, but yes. I am the Original Tribrid, the first and only of my kind.", the girl confirmed, and Riddle winced as Cassandra dabbed a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant on a cut on his right hand.
"Sorry.", she winced apologetically. Riddle looked at her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"How does a tribrid even come to be in the first place?", he asked. Cassandra shrugged and continued to tape gauze to his cut.
"Well, when my psychotic witch grandmother got busy with my grandfather, cheating on her equally psychotic viking husband in the process, my father, Klaus Mikaelson, came to be. Then, when psycho grandma lost her youngest son, my uncle Henrik, may he rest in peace, to a werewolf; not my father or grandfather, by the way, her crazy started to show as she somehow found a way to make people immortal with dark magic, which is how vampires came to be, and so my family became the first vampires to walk the earth, making my father the Original Hybrid. Hence our most famous moniker, the Originals. Fast forward a few years and several homicides later, psycho granny starts thinking that maybe creating vampirism was a bad idea and decides murdering all her children is the best way to fix things, and psycho step-grandpa is all for it. Fast forward again by several centuries worth of white-oak stake tag to the death, fratricide as well as matricide, and Original family drama, I am born via wacky ancient ritual to a vampire-werewolf hybrid with witch blood and a perky blonde vampire, both of whom are the greatest parents I could ever ask for.", Cassandra explained casually, ending her story with a hint of pride as she finished her statement. Riddle looked at her in shock and horror.
"How are you still sane?!", he wheezed, the many questions he now had merging into the one. Cassandra smiled at him and gently cradled his face.
"It's all in the wrist, love~", she said in a fond, sing-song voice as she kissed Riddle on the forehead. The boy frowned.
"That doesn't make any sense.", he said stubbornly. Cassandra smiled cheekily at him.
"Hmmm, yes it does.", she retorted. Riddle glared at her with crossed arms.
"No, it doesn't.", he reaffirmed. The girl shrugged and walked over to the nearby bedside table where a small plastic cup sat. Picking it up, Cassandra brought it back to the bed and sat down.
"Another thing vampires can do, aside from that nifty little compulsion trick, is heal people. Now, be warned, the method is a bit... draconian, no offense to Malleus, so don't freak out over what I'm about to do.", the tanned girl warned as she brought her left wrist up to her mouth. Riddle watched in confusion.
"What do you mean by- oh my seven! Cassandra! Cassandra stop!", the short boy screamed in protest and horror as he watched his presumed girlfriend bite her wrist so hard it dripped blood like a faucet into the cup she held in her other hand. The cup was almost full when Riddle shook Cassandra a bit so she would release her wrist. The girl looked at him in confusion, mouth covered in blood.
"Why did you do that?!", he asked, voice high with worry, tears welling slightly in his eyes
"I told you it wouldn't be pretty. To heal you, I have to have you drink my blood.", the girl explained, and Riddle looked at her like she was crazy.
"I don't care if that's what you have to do, you shouldn't hurt yourself like this for my sake! Or anyone's sake, for that matter! You can't tell me that doesn't hurt!", the boy screamed as he pointed to her wrist, and Cassandra blinked at him.
"Well, yeah, but it looks worse than it actually is. Plus, I've had worse injuries, so this is more of a papercut by comparison.", the girl shrugged. Riddle looked at her, appalled.
"What do you mean 'by comparison'?! What injuries are you comparing this to?! Just what the hell kind of life were you living back in your world?! AND WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!", Riddle yelled, red in the face from righteous anger; Cassandra, meanwhile, was cackling like a hyena. After taking a few moments to gather herself, the girl wiped mirthful tears from her eyes.
"Y-you're face- HA! I didn't notice it earlier, because we were too busy trying to kill each other, b-but you turn into a goddamn tomato when you're angry!", the redheaded girl laughed. Riddle's angry red face slowly dulled into an embarrassed blush. After her breathing slowed, Cassandra gave him a wolfish grin and slid closer to him, their faces becoming dangerously close.
"Besides, who gave you permission to curse?", she purred seductively, and Riddle became even more flustered before he realized she was trying to make him forget about his earlier questions and glared at her with crossed arms.
"I can curse if I want to, and don't change the subject! You're injured too Cassandra; I don't want you to get even more injuries, especially not on my behalf.", Riddle said sincerely, looking as if he was about to start crying again. Cassandra smirked and held up her bitten arm.
"What injuries?", she asked, and Riddle looked at her in confusion and then in shock when he noticed that the gaping bite wound she had, as well as all of her bruises and cuts were gone, leaving only dried blood in their wake.
"What-how?", Riddle stammered out before a look of realization overtook his features and his expression returned to normal.
"Vampire powers?", he asked. Cassandra nodded in confirmation.
"Vampire powers.", she echoed, before handing Riddle the cup she had been holding.
"Now please drink, I'll feel bad if I'm the only one with no battle scars.", the girl pleaded with a smile, and Riddle sighed, frowning at her as he took the cup.
"This doesn't change what I said. I still mean it.", he responded. Cassandra only gave him a comforting smile.
"I know.", she said understandingly. Riddle grumbled.
"How are you so... ?", he started to ask himself as he began to drink the blood.
"Frustrating? Insolent? Bipolar? Slightly insane?", Cassandra tried to finish, listing off some of the nicer word people who didn't like her liked to call her. Riddle sat the cup down on the nearby bedside table and looked at her with big eyes.
"... You.", he finished, and Cassandra didn't have an answer for him. The two stared at each other for a while, before they began to lean into each other. Their lips were mere centimeters apart, when the door to the infirmary slammed open (despite being locked).
There stood the entirety of the Court, all of them carrying clothes and essential items, as well as several varieties of roses and other flowers. Shorter, who stood at the forefront of the group, smiled mischievously.
"Damn. If we knew you two were just coming up here to get busy, we wouldn't have bothered bringing all of this stuff-GAH!", the sunglasses clad man started to tease, only to be promptly shut up by a pillow to the face via Cassandra.
"Nice to see that you're not so injured you can't make crude jokes, Shorter.", the girl deadpanned. Shorter pouted, and everyone laughed, including Riddle. Cassandra watched this with a smile, happy that the boy could be so gleeful after the shit show he had just been through. Once the laughter calmed down, however, Cassandra noticed she had miscalculated. There was one Court member missing.
"Has anyone seen Skipper?", she asked. Everyone looked around, wondering where the boy had gone, when Kalim seemed to remember something and spoke up.
"Oh, he went to find-AH!", he started, but was cut off when Skipper came bolting through his fellow Court members, knocking a few of them around in the process, with a very large and very familiar sword in both his hands.
"Cass, I found Excalibur for you! Oh, and Lord Hades sent your servants to help clean up Heartslabyul!", the excited child yelled out, holding out Excalibur to the girl in front of him. The air in the hall suddenly felt colder, and everyone shivered as they turned around and looked at the three, suit-clad specters. Cater, Trey, Che'nya, Ace, Deuce, and Kalim all jumped, but everyone else looked fine. Cassandra smiled nervously at the child and took the sword, sensing the anger of the boy sitting behind her.
"Ah, thank you Skipper. Tell Aetes and the others to wait until nightfall to get to work. We don't want people asking unwanted questions.", the golden eyed girl ordered. Skipper nodded and ran back over to the three ghost kings.
"You heard the lady!", he yelled, trying to sound like he had more authority than he really did. The three ghosts bowed to her with an arm across their chests and vanished in wisps of gray smoke, similar to that of their master. With them gone, Cassandra decided it was time to face the music and turned back to face an eerily smiling Riddle.
"Cassandra, love, darling, my sweet King of my Heart... why in the name of the bloody red queen are you holding the legendary sword Excalibur and why do you seem to know the King of the Underworld?", the redheaded boy said in a calm, controlled voice. Cassandra winced.
She was in for it now.
This should wrap up the majority of the Heartslabyul arc, minus the second unbirthday (which will come later). Now, I'm sure you all are excited for strippers in cat ears- I mean Savanaclaw, but here's the thing; I have a lot of plot points I need to cover before we move on. I can't do them in any of the cannon arcs, because that would be too much to do in one arc. So we are going to have- god help me for using the forbidden word- a filler arc. God, it hurts just typing it! (Proceeds to have war flashbacks of the Naruto fandom) Now, it won't just be a bunch of insignificant events. Everything that will happen will be necessary for the plot, including, but limited to; Cassandra getting together with Divus and Sam, meeting Idia in person, Diasomnia dinner, a possible meeting with another RSA character (it's a very small possibility, though), and tons of bonding. It will last for anywhere from half a month to a whole month in the story timeline, and it will be anywhere from six to over a dozen chapters long. After this, then we will move onto Savannaclaw. I hope all of this makes it at least a bit enjoyable. Next time, more talking and some other things!
So long and Goodnight, Thackery Binx