*
"Long ago, there was a kingdom ruled by a King."
**
Somnia Superbiae
(Dreamland of Pride)
Y/n laid on the hard stone, in the same position she was when she fell asleep on her bed. But before she could even try to get comfortable, intending to just continue sleeping, the smell was what woke her up. 'The smell of...earth?' she fluttered her eyes open to see that she was inside of a cave. As she sat up, she also noticed the outside which used to be so full of life but now is dead, having a suffocating and dry atmosphere that made the crown princess wheeze a bit.
She placed a hand over her chest, trying her best to control her breathing so it wouldn't hurt as much as she eyed a bird caged inside of a ripcage of a mysterious animal a few feet away from her. "Oh, Zazu, do lighten up and sing something for me with a little bounce in it." the voice belonging to the King of Beasts caught Y/n's attention. He was currently lazily laying on a stone nearby where the lion looked down at the bird named Zazu.
"Oh...I would never have had to do this for Mufasa." Zazu groaned as he rolled his eyes, completely fed up with the King of Beasts.
"What?" The King of Beasts angerily looked down at the bird. "What did you say? I...am...the KING!" he growled with a glare.
"Hey, boss!" Banzai sternly called out, walking into the cave with his fellow two hyenas. "We got a bone to pick with you." he growled.
"Scar, there's no food, no water...We're hungry!" Shenzi growled out as the third one looked like a completely clown.
"What are you complaining to me for? Eat Zazu." The King of Beasts scoffed, causing Zazu to flinch in surprise before backing up into a rib. Y/n just blinked, completely dumbfounded at the situation at hand.
"I thought things were bed under Mufasa..." Banzai grumbled to the other two hyenas who agreed.
The King of Beasts growled, turning over to the three hyenas as he heard exactly what Banzai said. "What did you say?! Get out!" he demanded.
Banzai and Shenzi scoffed as they walked out of the cave. "But we're still hungry!" Ed, the third hyena, says before walking off with his friends.
Y/n let out a cough, still completely dumbfounded. "If he can't stand being compared to him, maybe he should try harder...." she muttered before something expected fell on top of her.
**
"Ugh...." Y/n groaned in pain as she felt a large mass of ink pin her to the stone floor as the scenery changed. Her ears began to ring, promptly making her cover her her ears.
"Hidden in the dark, an evil flower blooms...
Fading petals, now beginning to droop.
What was once a paradise, a dream fit for a King...
can't sustain under their pain and crumbles underneath."
Y/n squinted slightly as she noticed a yellow silhouette of a young King in front of her. He looked like he was looking straight at her until Y/n adverted her eyes to the inky darkness. She widen her eyes in surprise when she saw her reflection, which was completely different to her present looks. Instead of her snow white hair, she had blonde hair as bright as the sun.
"Listen now, my King, give your clothing to me.
You and I will switch, and away you must flee.
You will be okay, we are twins, don't you see?
They won't know, now dear, don't look back and just leave!"
"How dare you show such disrespect?!"
Y/n flinched unconsciously as she felt pain in her neck as the inky mass continued to press onto her back, feeling some sort of hand grabbing ahold of her tail.
"I am only the double; the true king runs free.
Us, a pair of broken twins damned by cruel destiny.
If the devil's your lord as the masses curse your name.
Then I'm a demon too, for our blood's one and the same..."
**
"Heuk?!" Y/n yelped when another hand grabbed her at the back of her neck and pulled her up onto the lap of someone who was sitting on a stone throne. She shuddered upon her back touching the front of the dark figure that loomed behind her like a predator. As she winced in pain, she noticed a familiar face. "L-Leona..." she choked out.
"My lovely kitten..." The dark shadow figure who was Leona Kingscholar, purred, moving his hand around to grab the front of her neck as his other hand grabbed one of her breast, fondling it while having his face close to her neck, taking in her scent. "Surely you realize that life isn't fair...especially since the succession to the frozen throne is far different. It makes me seethe in jealously." he snarled before licking her neck.
Y/n flinched as she desperately clawed at the Shadow Leona's hand. "Agh...R-Release me...!" she yelled, gritting her teeth with her usual indifferent expression. "You're nothing but a coward and a fool...aiming for my brother and Malleus at the cost of one's life. Not to mention lazy." she insulted, her voice filled with ice. "You'll never achieve anything in life by hurting others and risking your very life by almost killing me for your personal petty grudge...all because you were weak." she bluntly says.
Leona let out a low growl, pushing Y/n's head into his chest while tightening his hold on her neck. "You will be mine one way or another...no matter what I have to do. You are MINE either dead or alive, for I am your KING!"
"Some king you are!" Y/n managed to say as she used both of her hands to pull on Leona's hand to free herself, but due to the strength difference in their dream world, she was struggling. "A true king would never do this...I wouldn't be surprise if Malleus turns out to be a far better king than you'll ever be! Gah!" she yelped in pain when Leona harshly pinned her onto the floor, one hand impaling through her center of her wings. She spat out ink as some drip from the side of her mouth. "L-Leo....na..."
Leona smirked as the hand that held onto her throat soon grabbed both of her wrists and pushed them up while pressing his body onto hers, like a lion on top of its prey. "Then I'll just have to break you...until you learn who your heart belongs to." he snarled.
Y/n's vision slowly began to hurt black. She bit her lip, drawing some blood before opening her mouth, for she wasn't about to give up.
"Sleep...Sleep...oyasumi...
kawaii ko yo..."
"Huh?" Leona perked an eyebrow up, halting in his movements. He noticed the stone began to freeze and widen his eyes in panic. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Close...Close...shiawase na
negao misete...!"
Sudden frigid winds pushed Leona back, freeing Y/n. The shadow was forced back onto his throne as the throne room of dust and stone began to turn to ice. "Grrrr...." Leona growled as he too began to turn to ice. "You are mine...! Don't try and fight back!"
Y/n stood up, stumbling a bit as she turned toward Leona, seeing the desperation for love in his eyes. She weakly stepped forward while she continued singing.
"Sā yume no naka de
kowai me mitara..."
She softly sang as Leona continued to struggle as ice slowly crept up to his chest. "I am your king! Once I'm free, you'll pay the price!" he roared as ice began to cover over his head.
"Ōkiku nareta na
mimamotte iru wa..."
Leona flinched in surprise when Y/n then embrace him. He gritted his teeth as he couldn't help but calm down before his head fell onto her shoulder, completely turning to ice, freezing all the ink in the room. He clenched his teeth but couldn't stop the tears from escaping his eyes. "I...just want to be acknowledged for once..."
*
"I pray...that you're now at peace and have reunited with the Duchess, your highness." A noble women sobbed, holding the hand of the formal King who passed away from suicide a week ago. Now he lays in his coffin next to his beloved wife. "As I promised my sister, I will take care of your son and raise him to be a good king...one you can surely be proud of." she vowed as she placed two beautiful flowers in both of the King's and Duchess's coffin.
*
Lumikuinen Dorm - Your Room
"Hey, wake up." a familiar voice says. Y/n fluttered her eyes open slightly before slowly sitting up while rubbing her eyes.
'Was that just...a dream?' Y/n thought as she blankly stared at her hands on her lap, noticing bits of frost at her fingertips. She pressed her lips together as she turned over to Jack, who was wearing his P.E uniform and sweating a little. "Huh...? What are you doing in our dorm?" she meekly asked.
Jack was about to say something, but then noticed how sloppy her nightgown was. A sleeve was off her shoulder, revealing her cleavage, which caused him to blush brightly as adverted his eyes away because he is a good respectful wolf. "I-I'm on my morning run. Today's the day of the Spelldrive tournament, and I wanted to make sure you didn't mess everything by forgetting and overslept."
"That was...today?" Y/n softly asked, already forgetting. Jack nodded as he pouted.
Grim, who was awake as well, immediately riled up from Jack's words. "Oh! Yeah, you're right!" he exclaimed. "We gotta catch the bad guys so they'll squeeze Lumikuinen House into the tournament as a reward!"
"Let's give it our best shot...I guess..." Y/n mumbled before yawning tiredly while rubbing her eyes again. 'I have a bad feeling about this...' she thought as she covered her mouth with a hand.
"*sigh* I'll see ya at the tournament grounds." Jack says before flinching in surprise when Y/n plop onto the bed, laying in her side. "Hey! Don't you dare go back to sleep!"
*
Side Street - Festival
"Hm, excellent attendance again this year." Azul says, smiling in satisfaction as he walked through the side street that was bursting with activity. "Angelfish did a marvelous job at setting up the festival venues, even when injured..." he trailed off, narrowing his eyes. "I'll have to check how the kiosks are doing. After all, now that I'm the head of the planning committee, we can't have merchants underreporting their sales, now can we?" he says out loud, causing a nearby staff to flinch.
"Eek!"
"Housewarden, everything's ready at the coliseum. The players will begin arriving in ten minutes." Jade informed as Floyd rested a arm on his twin's shoulder.
"Jade, Floyd, excellent work." Azul praised.
"Hey, Azul, what's the deal?" Floyd then asked. "Why do you have the players' procession starting at the east building this year? The paths are so clogged with attendees that it'll be real hard for the players to get through 'em!" he stated.
"That was a special request from a certain client. I'm not privy to ALL the particulars." Azul sneered, lowering his voice a little.
Jade then blinked in realization. "Ah, I understand. So this is related to that magic-boosting potion you were making yesterday." he couldn't help but grin, knowing full well that Azul sabotaged the potion.
"Wait, you understand WHAT?" Floyd asked, interjecting. "What does rerouting the players have to do with magic potions?" he blatantly asked.
"Shhh. Someone might hear us. Lower your voices." Jade sternly took his brother in a quiet tone with a finger over his lips. He then pointed over to familiar looking imperial knights that belonged to the imperial family of Permafrostine.
Floyd looked over to the knights and then back to his twin and Azul with a mischievous smirk. "Ooh! Is something shady about to go down?" he asked.
"That potion is only going to last for about thirty seconds. What could be possibly be plotting, I wonder?" Azul smirked as he pushed up his glasses. 'I've be sure to add a little something that would weaken the person drinking it greatly...'
"Azul, you needn't feign ignorance." Jade smirked mischievously. "You know exactly what he's planning, don't you?"
"Do I? I wonder! Heh heh heh." Azul chuckled.
"Aw, come on! Tell me too!" Floyd whined childishly.
"Hee hee." Azul grinned. " And I was just thinking I wanted to refurbish the lounge, so this offer came at a most opportune time. But that's enough chit-chat. Time is money! Let's go see how concession sales are going." he stated, resuming his stroll with the twins following behind. He then narrowed his eyes slightly, his hat hiding his scowl. 'Angelfish...you better be alright...I refuse to have you suffer once more...'
Meanwhile, in another part of the side street...
Y/n held onto Grim who looked excited while a gloomy looking Ace and Deuce walked next to her. Isfrid wasn't present for he had to prepare for the tournament with his team. "Myaaah! Get a load of all the food stands!" the weasel exclaimed excitedly. "They got churros and funnel cakes and...Ooh, is that jerky?" he wondered while looking around.
"Man, I can't believe I didn't make the team after all that." Ace bemoaned, sighing in disappointment as he placed his head on Y/n's shoulder as they walked.
"Me neither..." Deuce muttered, side-hugging Y/n while sulking.
"There's always next year..." Y/n softly reminded.
"Well, we have an important job to do anyway. We should focus on that." Deuce says as Ace and Y/n nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, good point." Ace nodded. "Focused. That's us." he grinned before he walked over to a candy apple stand. "I heard Jack made it onto his dorm's team, even though he went on and on about how he doesn't like any of them." he says while placing a coin on the payment tray.
"But a first-year being selected for the team is pretty amazing." Deuce says while Grim looked really excited as he gave paid for a chocolate covered banana before giving it to Y/n who happily enjoyed it.
"You guys're takin' real easy, I see." Jack suddenly says, suddenly appearing behind Deuce and Ace, standing next to Y/n.
"Ah!! Jack! How long have you been here...?!" Ace yelped, turning to Jack.
"I heard everything." Jack answered.
"Why are you here...Don't players have to get ready for the match?" Deuce asked.
"...I was taking a run before the match and just happened upon you guys. That's all." Jack says.
"Didn't you say that you were on a run this morning, too?" Grim asked, eating a takoyaki that Y/n paid for.
"Uh..." Jack flinched before blushing bashfully as Y/n eyed him. "D-don't get me wrong. I didn't come to check on you guys because I was worrying about you or anything!"
"This guy is so easy to read." Ace bluntly says.
"What did you say?!" Jack glared at Ace.
"Worry about yourself instead of us." Deuce added.
"We're fine, Jack." Y/n assured before taking a large bite of the frozen banana. "We'll make sure to play or parts...as planned..." she says while covering her mouth as she chewed on her banana before swallowing it.
"RIght." Jack nodded, balling his fist. "We'll throw a wench in their plans and comfort them head-on!!"
*
Savanaclaw Dorm
Meanwhile in Savanaclaw dorm, Leona leaned against the tree with other students present as they all prepared for the grand beginning and finale. "The players should be reachin' the stadium soon." Leona informed Ruggie has he gave him the potion from Azul. "Up first is last year's grand winner, the mighty Diasomnia. You'll have 30 seconds to seize victory. No blunders Ruggie." he sternly says.
"Of course." Ruggie grinned, clenching onto the potion. "All right. I'm heading out."
*
Side Street - Festival
"*ahem*... Welcome, one and all, to the Night Raven College interdorm Spelldrive tournament!" The announcer says, speaking through the PA System. "Thank you for your patience."
As restlesness fills the air, finally, the tournament begins. Jack, who was with the other players, looked around in slight confusion for he is the only one in his team to be present. "It's time to make our entrance but the upperclassmen aren't here..."
"The athletes will be entering the stadium momentarily!"
"WOOOOOHOOOOO!" Many people cheered, clearly excited.
"First up will be last year's champion. But can lightning really strike thrice? Give it up for the Reigning Light... DIIIIIAAAAASOOOOOMNIIIIIAAAAA!" The PA System announced as team Diasomnia began walking down the path to the coliseum. The team consist of Sebek, Silver, Lilia, Isfrid, and Malleus who led the group.
"WOOOOOOOOO!"
"Yeah, Malleus Draconia!"
"Pummel Savanaclaw this year, too~!!"
"Ooh, what a crowd! It should be plenty large enough... Sha ha ha!" Ruggie grinned, as he stood in the middle of a large crowd of people enjoying the festival He then looked down at his drink and opened it. "First, to drink Azul's potion... Urk?!" as soon as the hyena drank it, his face immediately scrunched up in disgust, feeling like he was about to vomit.
"Blech! What IS this?! It's awful! It's like...stew someone aged in gym sock..." he gagged before looking at his hands that were slightly shaking. '...But...I'm overflowing with power...!!' he grinned before he suddenly felt pain. "Gah! And it hurts...!" he yelped from the sudden pain of burning in his stomach. He tried his best to not stumble or pass out from the pain, for he had to stay strong in order to not disappoint. "Urgh... Okay, get it together, Ruggie. Let's go. Time to fire off my signature spell..." he weekly says, pointing his magical pen foward. "Now, like a heard of wildbeasts...Everybody run!" he began to chant. "Kings and Hyenas. Everyone is my friend! Laugh With Me!"
Nearby, Ace wiped around upon feeling a lot of rumbling from the ground. "That's a pretty strong tremor..."
Deuce looked forward and widen his eyes. "Th-that's...!!"
"The crowd's rushing for the procession....?!"
"Wh-whaaaaa?! My body, I can't control— Ah! Out of the way! Out of the way!" Someone from the forming stampede screamed.
"EEEEEK! Don't push me!" A women exclaimed.
"Run! Before you get crushed!" Another shouted.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
"It's Ruggie's Signature Spell!" Y/n exclaimed, as Deuce quickly picked Y/n like a sack of potatoes to protect her.
"Find Ruggie!" Ace says.
"How do you expect to find him in all this panic!!" Grim asked, his hands on his head.
"WAAAAAAAAAH!"
"More and more people are getting dragged into the stampede...." Deuce noticed. "At this rate they're gonna charge into the Diasomnia athletes!"
Ruggie panted, finding it very different concentrate as his vision became blurred as he controlled the crowd like puppets. "Whoa... Azul's potion is insane! Look at how many people I can control at once! *pant* I don't know how many more... *pant* ...I can handle, but this...should be enough!" he panted, clenching onto his stomach as he smirked as he continued on running. "Let's see what you do now! Surely you wouldn't use magic against civilians? You're the Prince of the Fae, Malleus while Isfrid is the crown princess's personal guard. Even if you wanted to, you wouldn't dare! So get squashed instead! Shyeheehee!" he smiled wickedly.
"The rush of stampeding spectators is headed right for the Diasomnia players...!" The person behind the PA System noticed. "Everyone, run away! Please, run awaaaaay!"
"WAAAAAAAAAH!"
"If they keep coming, we're gonna get crushed!" A boy with Silver Hair shouted. "Everyone, protect Malleus and Isfrid! Bring them over to the Permafrostine Imperial family!" he demanded.
"This way, Housewarden! Malleuuus! Isfriiiid!" A Tall Boy shouted before panicking when they were separated. "N-no! We're too late! Oof! We're getting crushed!"
"AAAAAH! MALLEUS, ISFRID, NOOOOO!" The Boy with Silver Hair screamed as team Diasomnia was completely trampled on.
"Haah...Haah..." Ruggie panted, his magical pen dropping the floor before he too collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting a lot. "It worked!" he beamed while letting out heavy breaths, completely drained as he tried his best to catch his breath. "Exactly as we planned it!"
'Though I have a vague feeling Azul sabotaged the potion....'
"....." Leona had watched from high above, watching the whole scene and smirked.
"Farewell Malleus and Isfrid..."
~To be Continued~