You have never been one to remember your dreams. Sometimes, you'll awake with a gut-wrenching sense of urgency, only to find the feeling dissipating within moments--the realization that it was never important to begin with working to settle you back in bed. Other times, you swear a deep connection was made within the dream and are left with a bitter hole in your chest. Vivid, faceless or otherwise--it doesn't matter--but they are always, always fleeting.
This one somehow feels differnt already.
As your eyes roam over the quiet room before you, a jolt of familiarity has you sucking in a deep breath. You've seen this room before. Certainly not at the same angle, but still. You remember this.
And right on cue, a little gray cat paws its way inside, grumbling in a surprisingly human voice, ignorant to the invested way you're watching. It--or rather, he--trudges up to one of several decorated coffins around the room, which are floating in place without interference, and smirks determinedly.
You barely notice how shallow your breaths are, staring with everything you have as if trying to use your mind to capture the moment on video.
The electric blue fire pluming from his ears seems to flash. He sets a paw on the coffin. "MRAAAAHH!"
And just like that, the cover is blown open. More blue flames are scattered around on the debris, and although it takes you a moment to get a good look at them from your corner, you hear perfectly well a muffled cry from inside.
"F-fire!?"
Yuu whimpers.
"Hey, human!" Grim, the cat, demands. What started out as a smirk turns almost murderous, "Gimme your uniform, and be quick about it--or else you're gonna regret it!"
It's exactly as you recall--Grim's antics, Yuu's terrified and confused reactions, the floating coffins themselves, even! Damn. Your dreams really need to get more creative; at this point, Disney could probably come sue your brain if they wanted.
Yuu doesn't wait for very long to make a break for it. The shock on Grim's face is even funnier in 3D, and you find yourself stifling giggles as he finally gets over the surprise and gives chase.
It doesn't seem like he can hear you from the way he bolts out of sight without so much as a second thought. This must be one of those out-of-body third-person types of dreams. Frankly, you're quite enjoying the scene. And it's even better once you realize you can move around normally. Sure, getting teleported to places in dreamland is efficient, but you're not always sure where you'll end up. This gives you much more freedom.
That said... you should probably catch up with Yuu. This feels like an opportunity--seeing the game like this is so cool!--and you like to think yourself something of an opportunist. Besides, where else would you go?
You set off down the hall, following close behind the fire-breathing grey weasel. Grim is fast, but he's not trying to stay hidden and it shows. Even as he dissapears behind more corridors and bends you can hear his frantic scrambling just fine.
Finally, he corners Yuu, visibly shaken, against a wall. It seems a little dramatic to you considering how harmless Grim is in this state. Maybe if you didn't know any of that and were being chased by a creature threatening to char you with the fire it wielded--which is still pretty much impossible from Yuu's standpoint--you would be a little nervous, too. Grim launches into his annoyed grumbling about how inconvenient Yuu is, demanding they offer "the Great Grim" their uniform. Out of nowhere, the cat cries out as he's whacked by a certain bird-brained character: Dire Crowley.
In his self-proclaimed boundless magnamity, he proceeds to berate Yuu with Grim still squirming in his hand. "The new students this year are a rowdy bunch, to be sure. Why would you bring along such an unruly familiar? This is a clear violation of the school's rules."
Yuu's eyes are blown so wide you feel a little bad just watching them get blamed. You can practically see the questions popping up in their head, "This is a school? It doesn't look like any I've seen before, not with all the coffins... Familiar? What's that?" The fact Crowley doesn't realize they know nothing of what he's talking about right away is a true testament to his general ignorance.
It takes a little back-and-forth of Crowley speaking nonsense and Yuu responding blankly, Grim growling and clawing in the background, for the headmage to flip back into unshakable-ego mode, finally offering to give Yuu the basic imformation about their situation while they walk to the Mirror Ceremony.
Yuu stumbles about, taking in the enourmous building and every once in a while sending a cautious glance to Grim. Just to make sure he hasn't run off. Crowley continues to explain their whereabouts, though as the questions become more and more shocking--Yuu doesn't even know magic exists in this world, much less about a school for training mages--you can see his brows begin to furrow. The oddities are adding up.
It vanishes the moment he speaks to her again, unwilling to show his worry. They're a new student, after all, and Crowley can't paint himself a fool on the first day, can he?
Even though they're not exactly sure how far Crowley is leading them, Yuu tenses up the closer they get. "At this... Mirror Ceremony," they perk up curiously, "What am I supposed to do? It sounds kind of important."
Crowley huffs. "It is kind of important. The Mirror Ceremony determines your dorm assignments for the rest of your time at Night Raven College. All new students must approach the Dark Mirror and, when prompted, calmly speak their name. Then, they should join the rest of their dorm at the tables." Seeing Yuu gulp nervously, he tacks "It is not difficult; the instructions are called out to you in case you forget," on the end.
"Ah. Alright." Yuu nods as they follow the Headmage through the courtyard.
This dream has been both surprisingly coherent and accurate to what happened in the game so far. It really does feel like you're watching a movie. You drift just slightly ahead of them, memorizing every turn and bend and carving. Malleus was right: even the gargoyles are interesting.
Dire Crowley reaches a hand out that Yuu narrowly avoids bumping into, halting both of them outside the Mirror Chamber doors.
But now that you've been led straight into all the action, you could just... walk in without them, right? Theoretically.
And so you do.
Inside, the bright-green haired fae, Sebek Zigvolt, is all but crying happy tears to have been sorted into Diasomnia. Lilia laughs good-naturedly and Silver gives him a funny look, but it could also just be his usual exhausted face. It's hard to tell.
Across the room, Jack Howl is failing to start up conversation with his dormmates, and worst of all, Leona, who rudely buts in and dismisses his efforts entirely. You can practically see the excitement leave his eyes. Yikes. Jack is one of the good ones, too.
The housewardens have started talking amongst each other as well. And it's this chatter that you recall exactly.
"Does anyone know where the headmage went? He disappeared midway through the ceremony."
Damn. You must've really memorized this at some point for it all to be recreated so well.
A floating tablet sarcastically adds, "Some headmage he is."
Well. That's Idia for you.
"Maybe he had a tummyache?" Kalim vocalizes.
And, prideful as ever, Crowley interrupts them indignantly. "I most certainly did not!" He exclaims, quickly going on to recite his journey in finding Yuu.
Yuu, who is still hiding behind the entrance. "Go on." Crowley says, "Step up to the Dark Mirror and be quick about it. I'll watch your weasel."
Yuu doesn't have to be told twice; they eye the Dark Mirror hesitantly as they approach but they do not falter nonetheless.
The mirror watches them all the while, "State thy name."
Its voice booms loud around the chamber, echoing and creaky and wise, and if you weren't watching its mouth move in real time, you would have no idea where it was coming from. It sounds both authoritative and utterly inhuman.
You're not exactly sure how you expected the exceedingly old mirror to sound, but... this is fitting.
"I'm Yuu." They suck in a shuddering breath, await patiently their fate.
The mirror asks no further questions and, in turn, recieves no answers. "The nature of your soul is..."
Yuu holds the Dark Mirror's gaze for just a few moments, but already students have begun to share confused glances. They lean forward, a wordless hope in Yuu's eyes. Is...?
"..." The Mirror's brows furrow as whispered questioning ensues.
"Do you think it's broken?"
"Nah, man. It was working just fine a minute ago."
"What an orientation that would be..."
Frowning deeply, the mirror gives a sigh. "...unclear to me." Yuu flinches back, as if physically slapped. They blink once, twice--rapidly, as they turn around, helpless, to catch sight of the headmage.
"How can this be?" Crowley blubbers. Completely useless. "The student selection process has not erred once in its century of existence!" The grey-haired cat is left forgotten in his grasp, where unsurprisingly, Grim breaks out, gasping for air.
"Me!" Grim cries, fire already escaping his tongue. "Let me have this student's seat!"
Crowley's weapon, the "Lash of Love" is brandished within moments. That might be helpful, if only he didn't immediately miss the target.
"That human can't even use magic!" Grim tries desperately to persuade them--any of them. Once again, you feel kind of bad for him; nearly having his dreams crushed just because he's not human-like enough totally sucks. And he is kind of right. "Let me show you! I've got spells that'll knock your socks off!"
...And then Grim goes and shoots fire everywhere with complete disregard for anyone's safety, and your feelings return to exasperation. You might've at least yelled a warning, but it's not like anyone can hear or see you anyways, so what good would it have done?
"Somebody catch that blasted animal before it sets the entire school ablaze!" Crowley shouts, the students responding in a series of yelps and grunts, followed by a scoff from the Savanaclaw Housewarden who doesn't seem interested in even trying.
Octavinelle's housewarden, instead, jumps right into action along with Riddle Rosenhearts, housewarden of Heartstabyul. Poor Yuu is left dazedly blinking after them.
"Everyone, stay put!" Crowley commands. Some of the excited chatter dies down, but that only means you can hear the rest that much clearer.
"So... are we going back to our dorms or not?"
"Are you kidding? We just got attacked--be a little more serious!"
"Hey, um, my butt's still on fire... could someone maybe put this out?!" You find yourself giggling as you recognize that piece of dialogue from Kalim. Never change.
Another screech catches your attention all too soon. "I'm not a weasel! I'm Grim, spellcaster extraordinaire!"
The exchange between Grim and his future captors ends with a solemn declaration from Riddle, "Furry miscreant. I will abide no rule-breaking. You will be judged by my hand." Shooting another stream of fire, Grim bounces around the room, terrorizing several more students in his path.
As Azul's patience thins, Riddle at last manages to catch Grim with his signature spell. "Off With Your Head!" Rings out through the hall.
Yuu gasps softly. It's likely they think he's been hurt, or perhaps they're just not yet used to the sight of magic. But Grim is perfectly fine, they'll see soon enough, if only a little indignant.
"Don't try to collar me! I'll burn if off, easy!" He raises a paw to the collar, confidently unleashing a blast of bright blue flame... that never actually detonates. "Wh-what gives? My fire ain't workin'!" Grim's brows furrow as he tries over and over. He only half-listens while the Heartstabyul housewarden explains his signature spell. Until he calls Grim a pet, of course, which is when said cat tries another underhanded strategy: thrashing and clawing Riddle's eyes out. Azul takes it upon himself to laugh in his face, mumbling something towards the end that definitely has something to do with marketing.
You trudge up right next to Yuu, their hands fidgeting absently and Crowley lecturing them a second time over Grim, which Yuu finally gets through his thick skull they had nothing to do with. He always seems to be late to these kinds of epiphanies.
Thankfully, that pushes him to actually do something about it and send Grim off-campus. Yuu looks somewhat distraught, but there's no use worrying about it; he'll be back later anyway.
"Well, that was quite the unexpected fracas." Crowley shrugs the ordeal off as though he didn't just leave his students to fend for their lives against the fire-breathing intruder. Then, he changes the subject almost immediately--and quite expertly at that. The housewardens from every other dorm are left to sort out the issue of Malleus Draconia's nonattendance.
Almost everyone else shirks away at the sound of his name. The whispers have moved on, just like that, to another matter entirely, with Yuu standing forgotten by the mirror.
"Well, Yuu." Dire Crowley's declaration goes mostly unheard by the students, though he doesn't bother to turn down the theatrics. "I'm afraid you will not be attending Night Raven College after all. Surely you realize I cannot very well admit a student with no magical ability to my academy."
Yuu nods obediently, "Of course not."
"Then, step into the gate, and visualize the place whence you came. Worry not--for the Dark Mirror will return you safely home."
"What a long dream this was." For you and me both, you think with a grin. You're quite enjoying the whole show, but you can't exactly blame Yuu for being ready to leave. They won't--however, that's for you to know and them to find out.
They fix their expression into one of unyeilding determination. "I'm ready." They say, more to themselves than the headmage.
He steps back, shouts across the distance, "O Dark Mirror! Return this soul to where it belongs!"
Yuu stares into the glass. They see a family, a home perhaps--maybe even a friend. They see it and they smile, and they are ready. They know it.
But nothing happens. Were they thinking the wrong thing? Did... did they not belong there? You can see the panic cross over their face. And then a head-shake, no, no. Maybe the headmage just did the spell wrong. It'll be fine.
So Crowley tries again.
Bluntly, the Mirror responds. "There is no place in this world where this soul belongs."
And everything is not fine, and Yuu's thumb-twiddling gets exponentially faster. It's as if a palpable kind of anxiety is swallowing the air around them. "W-what?" With all of the students nearly gone from the hall, their voice is but a whisper on the wind. "But I was... so sure..."
"That's not- that's not possible." Crowley seems at his own loss, fruitlessly arguing with the age-old mirror. "Unless..."
No possessions, no familiarity with NRC traditions or magic--as if a lightbulb went off in his head, he finally acknowledges Yuu again. "Where was it you said you came from?"
You nearly snort. Bingo!