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"the higher-ranked magia lupus are clearly the top students in this school... with the exception being (y/n)." lance stated.
mash whisked the cream puff batter as you were set on making the custard. both you and the magicless boy worked away at creating the pastry.
"what do you mean by exception?" you questioned, stirring around in the pot as you hovered it above the stove.
"your grades are... something." the siscon closed his eyes, recalling the oddness of your grades.
50.
everything was a perfect 50.
an uncanny amount of 50s littering your papers and assignments.
"my grades are average." you responded with a huff.
"too average. you're putting more effort into scoring a perfect 50 than getting high grades!" he scoffed, folding his arms.
"i'm trying to keep a low profile." you retorted, giving the siscon an expressionless peace sign.
"with an inhumane amount of 50s?" he deadpanned.
"huh... guess i'll just copy finn's work." you shrugged.
"that isn't any─ oh, forget it. you're helpless." lance sighed, shaking his head.
"i don't like the idea of us being sitting ducks. however, because the school encourages inter-dorm competition, the dorms locations' are hidden from each other." the cyan haired boy stated.
while you helped mash preheat the oven, the boy silently piped the batter onto a tray.
"that's why we need to find where they're hiding and steal the coins back from them." lance declared.
the ebony haired male slid the tray into the oven, slamming the doot shut. however, he hadn't realised that your robe had gotten trapped in the oven.
"'kay." mash only uttered, understanding nothing about what lance said.
"you didn't hear a word of that, did you?" lance deadpanned once more.
"uh, i don't mean to interrupt your plotting but... my robe may be on fire." you piped in, pointing at your newly received dorm robe that was slowly being engulfed in flames.
"that reminds me..." dismissing your situation, lance pulled out a raven robe.
"lastly, it's been a month since you were admitted. here's your dorm robe. put it on." he handed he robe to mash.
"um, it's nice and all that you've got your robes, but i'm about to lose mine here." you addressed.
"what do you want me to do? just put the fire out." lance blankly stared at you, unphased by the fact that you were on fire.
"i would but i kinda need my wand to both stop the fire and fix my robe??" you pointed to your wand that rested on the kitchen island.
"ain't an easy spell to perform without a wand, y'know. so hand it over." you gestured.
lance only gruffly sighed before grabbing your wand and tossing it over to you.
"you're not so bad when you have your mouth shut." he pointed out.
"i mean, if you needed your wand, you should've just said so instead of being a chatterbox and complaining." he crossed his arms, watching as you ceased the flame and restored the parts of your robe that were affected.
"why do you hate me?" you stared at the siscon with a sour expression.
seriously, what was his problem?
"be glad that you even have my attention." he scoffed, before turning to mash who was─
...somehow struggling to put on a robe.
"at least i'm not as clueless as the mushroom-head..." you muttered, stepping toward the struggling boy.
"that's one thing i agree with you on." a sigh left the siscon as he watched you help mash with putting on his robe.
"not on your head. arm, around, arm again." you guided the mushroom-head with putting on his robe.
"it's got a logo on it." mash spread his arms, checking out the dorm's emblem embedded into the robe.
"i can only hope you'll live up to it." lance said.
"(y/n)'s got a different logo and uniform." the mushroom-head pointed out.
"even though i asked for adler..." you sighed before shrugging.
"seriously, what made you think that you could just ask─" before lance could finish his sentence, lemon barged into the kitchen.
"mash!! big trouble! it's tom!" the blonde stressed.
"can you hold on? my cream puffs─"
"but tom!"
"no, my cream puffs."
"tom!!"
(...)
after the small back-and-forth bickering of the two, you, lance, and mash found yourselves following lemon to the infirmary.
you had a good idea on what the issue was about. you just didn't quite understand why tom had fallen victim so soon. you were procrastinating on bringing tom to abel last night.
perhaps abel had found out about your procrastination and fetched tom himself? but if he did, he would have also went and chastise you for procrastinating. wouldn't he?
as much as none of your theories added up, you figured that it wasn't that big of a deal.
"h..hey guys... how are you all bamboo-ing...?" the second-year hoarsely uttered.
"even his catchphrase came out tired..." mash pointed out.
"what happened to you? you look so drained." lemon worried.
"that's the thing... i don't really remember. when i woke up, i was here. usually, i fall asleep and bam, it's morning. but the night i collapsed, i dreamt that i was trapped in some dark box." tom started to elaborate, and even you listened in.
your eyes glanced around the room. a number of patients that had far exceeded the amount of students you recalled bringing in that night. you were the only fang entrusted to escort the students to abel without being caught, and there were faces you did not recall walking alongside last night.
"i was conscious, but i couldn't speak. it lasted for hours. what a nightmare..." beads of sweat ran down tom's temple at the bone-chilling memory.
"captain's really shook up. he needs a cream puff." mash muttered.
"mash, please. how do you feel now?" lemon questioned.
"i'm still kinda woozy... also, i can't cast any spells right now. i hardly feel any magic inside me. like it was sucked out." the second-year glanced down at his palms.
it sounded about right, the after-effects of abel's magic drainage.
"tom. did you, by any chance, hear any voices in your 'dream'?" you asked.
your inquiry caused lance to glance at you. he thought you knew something about the situation.
and as if a fog had cleared up in his memories, his eyes brightened as he recalled more of his dream.
"yeah! a voice! there was a voice telling me to 'forget', and it was terrifyingly synthetic and uncanny! it's voice sounded closely like..." his smile fell as realisation dawned upon him.
"...yours."
you pursed your lips as the four adler students turned their heads to you.
"(y/n)... i thought you weren't against us..!" lemon spoke up, yet you only shook your head.
slowly, everything started to sound more complex and serious.
you weren't there that night. you didn't escort all those students that were in the infirmary. and you most definitely didn't have a synthetic voice.
"you won't suffer any serious damage from what happened to you. but there weren't supposed to be this many students in the infirmary." your expression fell stern.
"then why are there so many patients?" lance asked in suspicion.
"they've lost their magic too. and just when the headmaster was called into the bureau..." tom dropped the bombshell as your mouth ran dry.
something that was able to mimic your voice. something that had most likely convinced abel that it was you bringing all those students to him. something that made sure you wouldn't find out that it was stealing your identity.
no, it wasn't something.
rather, it was most definitely someone. you had an exact idea on whom, but you needed to confirm your suspicions.
if it was who you thought it was, the outcome of things would be far graver.
"i need to go." you urgently uttered, hastily making your way to wahlberg.
"w-wait!" lemon grabbed your arm.
"i don't know what's up on your end. but be careful, please." the girl pulled you in for a tight hug, pouring all her well wishes into that single embrace.
"i'll be fine." briefly waving the group goodbye, you soon found yourself emerging from teal flames in front of wahlberg's office.
(...)
it had barely been a minute before the wise man came into view, approaching you.
"you've heard already? come in." wahlberg spoke up, pushing the doors to his office open as he invited you in.
"give it to me." you stood in front of him as he took a seat.
"are you sure? it might be quite a lot to stomach, especially since it's mostly concerning you." the man said, fingers interlocking with one another.
"there are things i need to know. urgently." you ushered.
"very well..." he sighed, taking a deep breath.
air thick with anticipation, you awaited the news. you needed to have a talk with abel as well, especially if the two incidents had some sort of correlation. and most importantly, you needed to understand the situation of your siblings after you had left for the bureau.
there were many things left unanswered that you desired explanations to.
"innocent zero is on the move." wahlberg's words had left you momentarily speechless.
innocent zero.
them again.
'even if it's taken a hundred years, they still won't let up?' your eyes darkened as you silently allowed wahlberg to continue.
"working alongside them, their benefactor, has been proven to be your twin sibilings." the man held up a messily written note.
with jagged strokes of ink, what was written was nothing more than a record. you could easily pick up the magic residuals from the note. it was intentionally left behind. and the note was even more so an intentional provocation.
PROTOTYPE 001
CODENAME: (Y/N)
──────────────
keep dormant.
FAILED.
"lastly, the bureau requests your return to explain... this record." wahlberg slid the paper over to you.
each step you took toward wahlberg's desk was excruciatingly slow. yet you were swift to snatch the paper, ripping it apart.
"there are things i cannot explain. if you search the kairos estate, you will find all the answers you need. i won't be returning, but what i can say is this." you spun around, ready to take your leave.
"prototypes 053 and 054, they're responsible for aiding innocent zero. their respective codenames are asmodeus and esmeree." your words were tainted with bitter tanginess as you uttered those names.
"we're all just cogs of a large-scale project that had been demolished 13 years ago." you folded your arms.
"i don't know why or when it's been restarted, but the fact that they have my record only means that they're out to retrieve the components; the remaining 'prototypes'." you bit the inside of the cheek.
"what i do know is that it cannot stabilise without the primordial function." you stated.
"the primordial function?" wahlberg furrowed his eyebrows, having never heard of such a discovery before.
"the primordial function, prototype 000. codename... alistair." your face ever so slightly twisted into a remorseful expression at the unwelcomed memories.
prototype 000, who was both the start and end of the project. prototype 000, who had been lost for a near decade.
and to run an unstable project of such a large scale, would be simply beyond a human's capabilities to sustain.
"what's the objective of the project?" wahlberg furrowed his eyebrows. not once in his lifetime had he ever heard of this, and he has lived for a long time.
"why can't you remember, wahlberg? i am the objective." you sighed, explaining for what felt like the nth time and turning to face the man who only had confusion written all over his face.
"you have never told me this, (y/n)."
"if he can remember... why can't you?" you mumbled under your breath, words inaudible to wahlberg.
"thank you for all you've said, and i apologise for my poor recollection." wahlberg's stern expression was washed away in a quick second.
"i'll let the bureau know of this. they'll carry out an investigation." he said.
"keep me updated. i want answers as well." with that, you left the office to seek out abel.
things were taking a darker turn than you had imagined. you had believed that you weren't going to get involved with your family after leaving for the bureau, yet there you were, delving into the situation deeper than anyone.
no matter how much you ran, the truth will always prevail.
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ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁
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ᝰ.ᐟ ︎︎ ︎︎ ︎︎ ︎︎ ︎︎AUTHOR'S NOTE
；i really hate this chapter,
but we're nearing the end
of s1!! i actually didn't
mean to do a lore drop 😓
anyways, please ignore
any mistakes... /(｡ŏ_ŏ)\