Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The plan to stop Malleus’ overblot was failing. Even Sebek could see that it was too late to save him and Sebek was bleeding out on the carpet.

Thwack! Silver’s corpse hit the ground a few inches away from the half fae. The only people left fighting were Leona, his arm cut to shreds, and Ortho, who appeared to be floating over to Sebek.

Sebek’s vision goes black as Ortho reaches his prone form.
-
Sebek awakens to his dorm room in Diasomnia. He shot up panicked only to see a roommate glaring at him.

“Shut up,” the boy hissed “it’s the middle of the night you loudmouth.”

Sebek stared as his roommate, whom he never learned the name of, rolled back over onto his side. The reddish brown haired cat beastmen had transferred into Heartslabyul halfway through the year, so his presence wasn’t something Sebek was used to.

Sebek moves his attention to his phone. Once his eyes adjusted to the screen’s brightness he realized it was early August. The day after the fiasco of Yuu and Grim’s entry.

‘How am I back here?’ Sebek closed his phone and returned it to his desk. Looking down at his pajamas he thought of the blood splattered dorm uniform he had been wearing.

As he thought of the battle with the overblot, he remembered Ortho’s final move.

‘I have to find out what he was doing,’ Sebek thought ‘there might be a chance that he’s here too.’

He lay back down.

‘Not now,’ Ortho would be in his dorm with his brother this late at night. There was no chance he could sneak through the school in this state, so Sebek decided he would find Ortho after orientation the next day.

Staring at the ceiling it was hard to imagine he’d actually sleep while he waited for morning to arrive.

-—————————————————————————

Ortho wasn’t sure what he was doing would work. It was a contingency plan Idia had thought up years ago, but never tried. Time travel wasn’t an uncommon plot in games and shows, but the logistics of creating it were absurd. Unfortunately he had no choice but to try.

As he dodged the onslaught of attacks from Malleus, Ortho broke pieces of himself off to create a new machine. When it was finished he fled towards Sebek. The likelihood of fixing things increased tenfold if someone in Malleus’ own dorm remembered what would happen.

Sebek’s eyes started to close.

‘Nononono, not now’ Ortho sped up terrified he wouldn’t make it.

Just as the half fae fully closed his eyes Ortho reached him and activated the machine, unsure if it would work. Then his body shut down.
-
Ortho could feel himself turning on. Opening his eyes he saw Idia, awake and playing a video game.

‘It worked!’ He silently rejoiced as he watched his brother munch on potato chips. Then his data network found out what time it was. Midnight.

“Idia! Go to sleep! You have to help with orientation tomorrow!” He half yelled at his brother, shooting over to the chair.

Idia almost fell off as he jumped in surprise.

“Ortho!” He panicked, “I thought you were charging.”

Idia muttered something to Muscle Red and finished the map before closing the game. He grumpily moved over to his bed to sleep.

Ortho smiled and returned to his charging station. Then he waited for Idia to fall asleep before sneaking out of the room.

‘I have to check on Sebek,’ Ortho knew severe injuries at the hands of a loved one were proven to cause mental damage. Considering Sebek’s obsession with his liege this would not go without issue.

Entering the mirror chamber, Ortho saw Malleus in the hallway. He sped into Diasomnia and hovered by the windows of the dorm.

Using the school’s server systems he knew where Sebek was sleeping numberwise, but couldn’t be sure from the outside.

As he looked through the windows Ortho caught a glimpse of Lilia closing up a game. He quickly hid. Lilia looked out the window for a minute before returning to his computer.

Ortho delicately moved to the floor below. Eventually Sebek’s portrait of Malleus came into view. Moving closer he taps on the glass.

Tap, tap, tap

Chapter Text

Sebek was staring at the ceiling, but glanced up as he heard a tapping noise from his window. He turned to look and saw Ortho hovering outside the glass, gesturing at the lock on the side.

He almost shoots out of bed again before remembering to keep quiet for his roommate.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed as he opened the window. “What if someone saw you?”

“I had to make sure you were okay,” Ortho whispered back, climbing through the frame. “Time travel is an incredibly experimental process.”

Sebek moved over to his bed.

“So you did know what was happening?” Sebek questioned. Ortho explained what he did as he moved over to the bed.

“You being here should help. We have to stop the overblots before anyone dies and then hopefully prevent Malleus’ overblot.” Ortho suddenly realized that his current plan was about as good as the author’s.

“Why did you bring us back here? Everything was fine until Malleus, so what are we doing now? There’s nothing here. We could just ruin everything and kill everyone early and-” Ortho cut Sebek off before he could keep spiraling.

“I miscalculated the machine, but I’m sure we can still manage.” He said, “if we maintain our standard actions until the right time, then nothing will change.”

Sebek stared at Ortho, “not change a thing? My liege needs to be better protected!” He whisper yelled.

Ortho understood the thought. Malleus wasn’t the only overblot after all.

“We have to maintain continuity as we grow stronger. The risks are too high not to.” Sebek frowned. Ortho had a point, but he didn’t have to like it.

“You should go.” He grumbled, “we can talk later. I need sleep if I want to keep things the same.” Sebek lay down and turned away from Ortho.

“Bye?” Ortho said. He wasn’t sure what to do about Sebek. For all his technical knowledge he didn’t have many actual friends.

Ortho closed the window and floated back to the mirror, unknowingly passing by Malleus' cold gaze in the process.

‘An Ignihyde student?’ Malleus thought as he quietly watched Ortho vanish through the glass.
-
Idia was asleep when Ortho arrived. The housewarden’s slight breathing was the only thing stopping Ortho from thinking he was dead.

Ortho moves back to his charging station and sits. ‘Sebek said we’ll talk tomorrow, I’m sure he’ll stick to his work.’ Ortho shuts down

Chapter Text

Despite his best efforts, Sebek slept a total of 30 minutes that night. His mind was stuck playing the overblot on repeat as he planned for seeing everyone again.

The beeping of his alarm alerted him to the time, so he quietly moved off the bed. Usually his mornings would be loud and enthusiastic, but he couldn’t bring himself to even try.

Sebek changed into his school uniform and took a deep breath. ‘I have to seem normal, I can do that.’ He wasn’t panicking, it’s only been a year, why would this be hard?

While he slicked back his hair Sebek muttered the plan to himself. “Normal first year me, normal first year me…”

He wasn’t sure if he could manage this, but what choice did he have. He moved out of the room just as his roommate moved out of bed.

“Sebek!” Lilia cried enthusiastically as he flew over to the half fae. “How was your first night in the dorms?”

“It was acceptable! How is my Liege!” Sebek yelled as he desperately held himself back from flinching.

Lilia’s body hadn’t been touched in the final fight. He had remained asleep even as the corpses of his friends flew around him. He couldn’t hear the screams of Cater, or the terrified gasp of Silver as Sebek’s chest was ripped open by vines.

Silver…

“Malleus slept well,” Lilia broke that train of thought before it could go much further, but Sebek’s expression hid little from the veteran’s eyes. “Are you sure you slept fine?”

“Yes!” Sebek yelled louder than necessary. He wasn’t used to lying to Lilia. He had never had to before. “Is Silver awake?”

Lilia’s eyes widened, “Shit.” He shot upstairs immediately.

‘That was too close’ Sebek worried. He could remember what had happened today exactly, so any slip ups could ruin the plan.

Just then Sebek saw Malleus coming down the stairs and walking over to him. The ultimate test of his poker face was upon him.

Malleus’ overblot was something Sebek never anticipated dealing with. His liege was infallible and perfect in his ways, at least to Sebek, so even the idea of him breaking down wasn’t a possibility. But it happened.

The overblot hadn’t cared about who they were in the end. It killed them regardless, all while wearing Malleus’ face like a theater mask.

Sebek wasn’t ready to face that again. As Malleus approached Sebek quickly disappeared to the bathrooms. Hiding from the person he had sought out the most.

—————————————————————————

Ortho’s morning was rather different from Sebek’s. He ‘woke up’ when Idia did and waited for him to get ready while reviewing his memory of the day.

He had convinced Idia to go to orientation in person the day before. It was the least he could do after missing day one.

Everything seemed to be going the same. Idia would get dressed, check his daily’s, and go to orientation.

“Ortho, I’ll be checking your charging station for errors later.” Idia muttered, “it’s not supposed to turn off like that.”

“Okay!” contrary to his happy tone, Ortho had panicked. This hadn’t happened on the original day and it was his fault. It might not change anything though. It’s only an Idia and Ortho problem. He calmed himself down.

Thus the two brothers left the dorm with plenty of time to get to orientation, which, as Ortho would soon realize, was not supposed to happen.

Chapter Text

Sebek hid in the bathroom until orientation was about to begin. He snuck into a row of students and hid, panicking throughout the entire talk.

‘There’s no way I can hide this from them, our plan will fail.’ Sebek couldn’t think of anything else. He failed the plan, he wasn’t a good protector, he wasn’t a good person.

Before he knew it orientation was over. Dead faces flashed by him as he left it.

“Sebek!” Lilia appeared behind him looking concerned, “we couldn’t find you all morning. What were you doing?”

It was obviously suspicious. No cries of ‘WAKASAMA’ or grumbles about humans. Sebek would make a horrible actor. His face gave away too much every time.

“I was in the bathroom.” He said with as much conviction as he could. He really needed to talk to Ortho about this.

“Mallleus was looking for you,” Lilia commented.

“Oh, um…” Sebek needed an excuse to get away, “I was going to look around the grounds to, uh, get used to finding everything.” His voice wobbled a bit as he spoke.

“Alright. Meet us at lunch.” Lilia was very concerned. Sebek had never avoided Malleus before and Lilia had no reason for why it was happening now.

Sebek took off as fast as he could without making it seem unusual. He decided to take this time to look for Ortho. They hadn’t actually said where they’d meet, so it wouldn’t be easy.

He looked for hours. Every place a first year would go and then any place he’d expect Idia Shroud. Just as he was about to give up he caught a glimpse of the trademark blue fire.

Sebek ran over to the fire expecting his ‘travel companion’ or the dorm head in charge of him, but it was neither.

Turning a corner he found the flying cat that so often accompanied the prefect. Grim glared at him and flew closer.

“What do you want!” Grim growled. It was after the statue incident, which Sebek knew happened early in the day, so the hostile nature was unsurprising. What was unusual was the lack of Yuu.

Sebek looked at the cat uncomfortably. He remembered traveling with Grim, but that didn’t make them close now. Grim had access to the prefect though, so maybe he could be useful. There was no way he hadn’t already altered the future, so why not try to protect some people.

Grim stared at him expectantly.

“Watch out for creatures in mines.” Sebek commented. He knew it wasn’t much, but maybe that would stop the quartet of rule breakers from getting as hurt as they did.

Grim scrunched up his nose and flew away muttering about crazy green people. Sebek followed the cat with his eyes until he vanished from sight.

‘Why the hell did I do that? I need to find Ortho.’ He thought he had a better plan. ‘Maybe he’ll find me again, this isn’t working.’

—————————————————————————

Idia and Ortho arrived at orientation about 20 minutes before it would start, so, naturally, Idia was hiding in the corner while it was prepped.

Ortho hovered around the other housewardens while they talked and attempted to maintain a sense of continuity in the timeline.

“Idia has arrived surprisingly early today, and in person as well.” Vil commented as the conversation died, glancing up at Ortho.

“After he missed yesterday he wanted to make it up!” Ortho said cheerily. That was absolutely bullshit of course, there was no way Idia would have come in person if Ortho hadn’t begged him and Vil knew it.

Vil smiled wickedly and turned his eyes to Idia strutting over to the corner. Idia, who was playing a mobile game, didn’t notice the oncoming threat to his solitude until it was too late to run.

“Idia, how have you been?” Vil asked, maintaining his smile and attempting eye contact. Idia’s hair paled as he heard Vil’s entry.

“Fine.” Idia said quickly, eyes wide and darting. He caught Ortho’s eyes and signaled him to get over there.

“Idi-” “How’s film club, Vil?” Ortho cut Vil off before he could continue talking to Idia.

“It should be acceptable for now, but,” Vil glanced to Idia again, “we need someone for special effects.”

“What! I thought you had someone doing that already.” Idia exclaimed, surprised. Ortho knew where this was going, and it wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Idia,” Vil pulled out a manga out of his bag, “if you do the special effects I will give you the limited edition signed set of the King of Katz manga series.”

Idia stared at the manga. This was one of the only sets he didn’t have yet. Ortho knew that would be enough to convince him.

“Fine.” Idia said quickly as Vil handed him the first edition. The manga had twenty books, so Idia would probably be trapped in this deal all year.

Ortho was concerned, watching the exchange. Idia hadn’t done this before and Ortho was terrified of the changes.

The brothers left orientation with one more job than they had in their last lives and immediately went to their dorm.

Ortho remained stressed the remainder of the morning. ‘What did I do wrong? How did this happen?’ He questioned thinking back through the day. Eventually he remembered they were much earlier than before. Vil had no chance to ask him, so he had found someone else.

Ortho had significantly changed the future just by having a good schedule. He had to talk to Sebek.

Chapter Text

Sebek’s hunt for Ortho was cut off at one. He made his way to the cafeteria, as per Lilia’s request, and looked for their old table. Just as he suspected, Malleus, Silver, and Lilia were sitting there with their food. He grabbed some salmon carpaccio and walked over to the table.

As he got closer Sebek overheard their conversation. “He’s not acting like normal,” Lilia commented, “he has a look in his eyes. Like he’s seeing death around every corner.”

“He looked fine during sorting,” Silver muttered, “I haven’t seen him since then.”

Malleus frowned, “he left as I entered the room, but I was under the impression it was an accident.” Lilia shook his head.

“It could be, but with everything else it’s concerning. Not to mention he’s late for lunch,” Lilia said, turning his head to look around the room.

Sebek stood still, silently listening. They were already onto him. He had to talk to them or risk being even more suspicious. He still wasn’t ready.

Lilia’s eyes catch on his hair. “Sebek!” He calls cheerfully as though the conversation hadn’t been happening. Malleus and Silver both looked over at Sebek. They were much worse at hiding what they felt.

With a slight grimace Sebek sat down next to Silver. His eyes were pinned to his food as he ate, so he didn’t see Lilia’s gestures of ‘I told you so.’

Sebek hoped they’d think he was sick. At this point it was a reasonable excuse, not that it was good, and he had few options.

The trio had seemed to be focused on observing his behavior, but Sebek’s ability to be ‘normal’ was severely limited. He would have looked at them, but he knew seeing Silver’s face would completely ruin him. He spent so much time with Silver, in the dreams, and then he saw him die. As he thought, Sebek realized ‘I might see him die again.’

Lunch was over before Sebek knew it and Lilia almost dragged him back to Diasomnia.

“You must have had a difficult day,” Lilia commented, shuffling him into his dorm room, “why don’t you rest before dinner.” Lilia unceremoniously plopped Sebek down to sleep and moved to leave the room.

Stopping at the door Lilia glanced back, “Sebek, if you’re not feeling well or something, I hope you know you can tell us.” He closed the door with a quiet click.

‘So he thinks I’m sick, that’s good.’ Sebek thought, glancing around his room. He stood up and unlocked his window before going back to bed. If Ortho needs him, then he’ll have to come back. There’s no way Lilia isn’t keeping an eye out for escaping Sebeks.

On that note, Sebek closed his eyes. He hadn’t slept well that night, so maybe a rest would do him well.

—————————————————————————-

Ortho spent his afternoon hovering over Idia. While he himself didn’t eat, he knew that potato chips and gatcha games were not a sufficient lunch. Not that his comments did much, but he miraculously got Idia to eat an apple.

“Idia, can I go look around?” Ortho asked. His goal to talk to Sebek was at the forefront of his mind, and he wasn’t going to wait till midnight.

“You’ve already seen the whole school, Ortho” Idia said confused, turning his head from the game for a moment.

“I want a refresher, since we’ll be going to film club every week.” Ortho was lying, but it was the most likely reason to get him out.

Idia paled in horror. He started to mutter horrified about the decision before muttering “fine” and shooing Ortho away.

Ortho went to the club room first. It was a good cover for his actions and he was interested in helping out there.

When he arrived he saw an almost empty club room. There was very little out at the moment, since it hadn’t even started yet. The clicking of shoes alerted Ortho to another person entering the room.

“Ortho?” A smooth voice called out as the bot in question turned around. It was Vil, holding a stack of papers that must have been for club verification.

“Vil! I was just wondering what our new club would be like.” Ortho was surprised to see Vil in the room, but he had no way of telling if it was what happened originally.

“It’s nice to see at least one of you potatoes actually invested,” Vil commented scowling, “your brother wouldn’t happen to be around would he?”

“He’s at the dorm, but if you have anything to ask I can tell him!” Ortho smiled brightly through his mask. This was familiar territory. Idia’s antisocial nature made him the subject of many such requests.

“Just tell him when the club will be meeting.” Vil replied.

“Of course!” Ortho expected to do that. “I’ll be going then.” He said, smile still wide. Ortho flew out before any more could be said.

‘That should be a long enough trip. Time to look for Sebek’ Ortho thought. He looked for an hour. By the time he covered the entire school grounds Ortho realized Sebek was probably back at his dorm.

Most of the students in the mirror room didn’t notice Ortho entering Diasomnia, or at least they didn’t care. He had to be much more careful sneaking into Sebek’s room.

Floating around the back of the building Ortho avoided all the windows. He couldn’t risk being seen. Finally he found Sebek’s window, unlocked, and pushed it open. There was Sebek, asleep and shaking on his bed.

Chapter Text

Sleep had hit Sebek like a bag of bricks, uncomfortable and full of pain. The memories of Malleus’ overblot were glued to his skull and weren’t planning on leaving him in peace.

His mind flickered between the war in the dreamscape and the battle outside of it. In both places lay the bodies of friends, enemies, and strangers, all alike in their cold empty gazes.

He could hear cries for help echoing all around him. He called back out to the voices, but they couldn’t hear him. In the midst of them he heard Silver asking, “Sebek, why aren’t you helping? Where did you go? Can’t you see that the fight isn’t over?” Sebek turned his head to look for his fellow knight. He was back in Diasomnia. Quickly his eyes caught the bloodstained face of Silver, upturned just enough to see his lips as he spoke.

“How could you let me die?”

Sebek shivered at the question. “I didn’t.”

“I saw you” Silver’s body moved higher off the floor as he took on a cruel tone. “You just sat there!”

“I couldn’t move.” Sebek’s terror was mounting as he saw an arm, broken and soaked in blood, reaching towards him. He couldn’t move now either.

“Please. Silver. I’m sorry. Please.” He gasped out as Silver drew closer. “Silver.”

“You fail to protect Malleus, you fail to protect Lilia, and you fail to protect me.” Silver’s voice filled the room, bouncing off the walls just to smack Sebek in the face. “Why did we ever think you could?”

Cold fingers wrapped around his arm, digging into his skin as they pulled his body down with a thud.

————————————————————————

Ortho had spent many hours sitting in his unfinished form and watching Idia cry silently in his bed, calling out for a boy who could no longer hear him, so he knew what nightmares looked like.

The shaking cries of names and desperate apologies permeated the dorm room. Ortho had learned how to comfort Idia out of this mess weeks into being fully functional, but he wasn’t sure how to help Sebek.

He moved his arms over Sebek, intending to grasp the other boy’s hand, before a weak “Silver” fell out of Sebek’s lips.

Ortho froze. For all his efforts to ignore the faces of the dead during the day, he still remembered every name and every final moment.

Silver had been one of Sebek’s only party members in life. He was a constant that never lost his value. Even in death Sebek fell towards him.

Ortho never had that kind of relationship. He wasn’t sure he would. Idia had built him and he valued all his creations, but would he miss Ortho, this Ortho, like the brother he once had?

He wasn’t sure he’d ever get an answer to that question. Ortho couldn’t tell these things, it wasn’t in his nature. He reached for Sebek again, wrapping his hand around Sebek’s arm, and moved Sebek to the center of his bed.
-
Sebek shot out of bed, dragging Ortho’s arm up with him. His breath was quick and his eyes were filling up with tears. He turned his head towards Ortho and tried to calm down.

“Wh- where were you all morning?” He whispered, “and keep quiet. I’m not sure if Lilia’s still out there.”

Ortho checked out the door carefully and muttered, “I was busy, were you sleeping all afternoon or just most of it?”

“We had no planned meeting time or place, so what was I supposed to do?” Sebek was still stressed from the dream and he had a point. Neither of them made any sort of plan the night before.

Ortho frowned at that. He knew he should have been more prepared for this before he made the machine, but there wasn’t enough time. “Give me your phone.” He requested, holding out his palm.

Sebek handed it over without much thought, so Ortho got to work. He entered Sebek’s phone with ease, muttering a quick “is your birthday really your only password?” before entering his contact information. He also made the messages illegible to anyone other than them.

Ortho handed back the phone. “You should be able to message me now.” He moved to sit on the bed. “I must confess, I have changed the timeline.”

“So did I,” Sebek said. He was thankful that it wasn’t just him, but he knew the plan would have to change.

Ortho explained his scheduling mishap that led to Idia’s new job. Ending his explanation he decided, “if such minor accidental changes affect the world to such a degree, then we’ll have to stay very careful.” Sebek nodded, slightly worried, and muttered “I didn’t make an accidental change, exactly.” Ortho squinted his eyes as Sebek explained the encounter with Grim and the worries of his team.

“I think we should keep changing things.” Sebek said finishing his speech. “Nothing too big, but stopping major injuries and keeping the overblots defeated, I mean, who knows what today might have changed? We don’t want to have killed someone by mistake.”

Ortho bobbed his head in agreement. “You’re right about possible side effects, but what you did was risky. We can’t be directly recognizable.”

“So we hide and help?” Sebek asked.

“Essentially, we can go to the background of major events and keep everything in check, but no more running into people with warnings!” Ortho was a bit mad about having to worry all day about his accident while Sebek went around with prophecies.

Just then a knock sounded at the door. “Hey, Sebek, can you open the door? I lost my keys.” It was Sebek’s roommate. Ortho immediately went for the window saying “text me,” as Sebek moved to open the door.

The click of the closing window mirrored the click of the lock as Sebek opened his door.

Moving inside, his roommate asked, “so, who was in here with you?”

Chapter Text

Sebek’s roommate walked over to the window and poked his head out. “Heyyyyy. Anybody there?” He called, lazily glancing back at Sebek, “you can’t hide things when you talk that loud.”

Sebek stared at his roommate and panicked. If he and Ortho couldn’t hide their plan from a stranger for more than a day, then how were they supposed to hide it from their families for a year.

“Um, hey?” His roommate asked, waving his hand in front of Sebek’s face. “If you want your boyfriend around every night, we’re gonna have to come to an agreement.”

“What!?” Sebek squawked, his panic shifting into confusion.

“Look, I’m not gonna judge you, I just can’t deal with another midnight intruder.” The boy frowned, “if you’re worried about the housewarden finding out, don’t be. I’d never tell~ as long as you never bring him after 10:30.”

Sebek continued to stare at him like an alien meeting a human for the first time. “We’re not dating…” he finally peeps out.

“Nobody’s that secretive about a friendship, roomie,” Sebek widened his eyes. His roommate, who he really needed to learn the name of, had a point. One of the reasonable excuses would be a date, if it were anyone that wasn’t Ortho.

That being said, Ortho wasn’t supposed to be fully sentient at this point in time, so it’d bring up some questions. Not to mention Lila’s online friends with Idia. Not that they know that yet.

With that considered Sebek continues on the point that they are not dating. His roommate doesn’t seem convinced.

“Yeah, sure, I believe you. I’ll cover for your ‘friendship’ if you two warn me about the meetings.” The boy chuckled and asked for Sebek’s phone number.

“I’ll think about that offer.” Sebek muttered, pulling out his phone to ask Ortho. His roommate rolled his eyes and grabbed a small bag off his desk.

“At least you’re not denying it anymore.” He said with a smirk. “No, wait, we’re not-” Sebek started as the door closed quietly.

‘I have to tell Ortho, now.’

——————————————————————————

Ortho’s exit from the dorm was rushed. He shouldn’t have risked being seen, but needed to get away before anything else happened. A glimpse couldn’t have been worse than a full interaction. As he darted past mostly empty windows, it was almost dinner so students were out of their rooms, he was only seen by one person.
-
Lilia had practically been patrolling around Sebek’s door, stressing about what could possibly be causing issues. He wasn’t stupid. He had seen the bags under Sebek’s eyes and the look on his face as he ate. Something was wrong.

If Sebek was having nightmares, then something must have caused them. It could have been the attack on day one, but without confirmation it didn’t seem smart for Lilia to leave Sebek totally alone.

He passed a window near Sebek’s room just in time to see a flicker of blue pass at the bottom of the frame. By the time he registered it and got to the window, all he saw was a glimpse of a black and white glove turning the corner.

Lilia moved back to Sebek’s door and watched his roommate enter, frowning deeply.
-
Ortho got back to Idia’s dorm room with time to grab dinner, for Idia, on the way. Idia was sitting in his chair gaming, Ortho doubted he had moved at all during the trip to Sebek’s room, and he muttered a short acknowledgement as the robot floated in.

“Hi Idia! Vil wanted me to tell you that film club was starting next Saturday.” Ortho chimed as though he hadn’t been in Diasomnia. He moved around the room to Idia as he continued, “you should really eat dinner soon.”

“Okay.” Idia grumbled. He took the plate out of Ortho’s hands and started to eat quickly. Ortho moved away and sat down.

Sebek shouldn’t be messaging him for a while, not without updates, so he should be good to charge for a bit. He curled up to rest and felt a ding.

Teammate: Ortho, we have an issue.

Ortho stared at the message with a frown. Maybe they weren’t as sneaky as they’d planned.

Ortho: whut?

Sebek typed for a few minutes before sending his next message. Ortho became more concerned about what could be happening. Did Lilia find out, or maybe Silver? Finally Sebek finished typing.

Teammate: My roommate heard us talking. I was unsure of how to explain it and now he believes we are dating. I am very sorry. I have denied it, but he does not believe me.

Ortho: eh?

Teammate: He has agreed to help us if we do not meet in person after 10:30 at night. I believe this could be beneficial to our cause.

Ortho: k

Ortho: could be good

Ortho: what’s his name?

Ortho: I’ll see what I can find on him

Despite his calm demeanor in his messages Ortho was panicking. A new variable so early into their mission? That could ruin everything. Then again they needed the help, so if he proved trustworthy…

Teammate: I do not know.

Of course he doesn’t know his own roommate's name. Why would he know that? That would be far too convenient for Ortho.

Ortho: I’ll figure it out, what does he look like?

Teammate: He is a cat beastmen, with reddish brown hair, blue-green eyes, and tan skin with paler spots.

Ortho quietly hummed at the description. A ginger cat beastmen with vitiligo, there couldn’t be that many people matching such a description at Night Raven.

He searched the school’s student registry and quickly found who he was looking for. Dain Hargeven, age 16, birthday August 10th, parents Margerine (deceased) and Allen Hargeven. He did not appear to be a threat.

Ortho: let’s consider it

Ortho: I’ll get back to u tomorrow

Teammate: Alright.

With that over Ortho was free to charge and contemplate the plan and possible alliance posed by Sebek. He completely missed Idia finishing his food and returning to his game.

‘Tomorrow will be better, I’m sure’ he thought as he curled up to turn off for the night.

Chapter Text

Sebek’s dinner was almost a reflection of his lunch. Lilia had entered his room shortly after his roommate left and brought him downstairs to eat. The food was, fortunately, not a creation of Lilia, so everyone ate well.

It was incredibly awkward since Lilia, Malleus, and Silver spent much of the time making concerned eye contact with each other and the back of Sebek’s head.

Eventually it was cut short by Lilia ushering Sebek back to his room. “You need to be ready for school tomorrow!” His voice was strained. Soon Sebek was back in his room with the door closing behind him.
-
Back downstairs Lilia returned to the table with Malleus and Silver. “We have to figure this out,” he cried, “he’s never been this sad before.”

“He is acting strange,” Silver commented, “I’m not sure how to fix that though.”

Lilia looked at Silver frowning, “he’s clearly having nightmares or maybe being bullied and we have to support him, so we have to figure out what it is.” He was panicking rather loudly.

Malleus muttered a quick, “we should be quiet about this. Sebek wouldn’t want the whole dorm knowing Lilia.” Silver nodded in agreement.

“I can try to check on his dreams, but I don’t know what else we can try.” Silver whispered. Lilia nodded in response, “let’s start with that.”

“I could ask him.” Malleus added. From his standpoint it seemed like a good idea, but Lilia disagreed.

“We can’t make him feel forced.” He hummed, “before Silver checks his dream, have either of you seen anything unusual the past two days?”

Malleus nodded, thinking back to the previous night, “there was an Ignihyde student here late at night before orientation.” Lilia gasped.

“I saw someone hovering around outside the dorm this afternoon.” He muttered. “We should keep an eye out for them, then.”

They continued to talk for a while, before parting ways with two goals. Silver would enter Sebek’s dream tonight, while Malleus and Lilia would keep an eye out for any interfering Ignihyde students.
-
Unfortunately for Silver, the nap from the afternoon had firmly planted Sebek in a position of not needing sleep that night. Or at least, that was what Sebek thought.

It definitely wasn’t him avoiding his nightmares again, because as Malleus’ retainer he couldn’t be afraid of nightmares. Besides, he had better things to fear.

Club selection was coming up soon and so was Riddle’s overblot. Sebek spent the night planning what he would do for both. By 5:00 he collected a mostly full plan.

He would join the equestrian club again and try to get an invite to the Unbirthday party, just to observe, and then watch the duel and overblot hidden in the crowd.

He sent that plan to Ortho as he went to breakfast. The meal was awkward, which was beginning to be a pattern, and his first day was quieter than originally.

At lunch he was sitting with the others when Lilia smiled and said, “the first years over there are quite curious, maybe I should go help them out.” He teleported over to Yuu’s table, right behind Grim.

Sebek could hear Lilia teasing the boys, before Grim looked over to the Diasomnia quartet’s table and yelled “That’s the weird green guy I was talking about! The one who mentioned the mines!”

Sebek flinched. Of course Grim told Yuu about their interaction. There was no reason not to. Lilia’s eyes traced back to him, once again questioning what was going on.

When Lilia returned to the table neither of them said anything, but both minds were racing. Lilia was building more theories in his head, ‘did Sebek go to the mines? Was that where he was when he got lost?’ And Sebek was worried that somehow Lilia was connecting the dots.

Needless to say they both left lunch stressed. Sebek left his group again to find Riddle. The club sign ups had just started, but even in the last timeline he had hunted him down immediately to join.

The conversation about the club went very similarly to how it had before, and Riddle was pleased with the promptness and rule following nature Sebek used in the conversation.

After a while of talking about horses and rules, how invigorating, Sebek brought up the Unbirthday party.

“… and I was wondering if I could go, so that I could observe the systems in other dorms!” He finished a minor rant with that request.

“So long as you follow the rules of the dorm I will allow it.” Riddle replied, smiling slightly. Sebek beamed with excitement, finally a part of his plan was going properly.

The rest of his day was uneventful, minus a couple messages with Ortho about what happened.

——————————————————————————

Ortho spent his day following Yuu and Riddle. It wasn’t stalking, it was reconnaissance. He snuck out of Ignyhyde early in the morning and went to Heartslabyul quickly. He found Riddle working through his morning routine.

He collared some first years… and second years… and third years… it seemed like a pretty normal pre overblot day for the second year.

Everyone seemed stressed in that dorm. It confirmed Ortho’s theory that this overblot was probably needed in order to fix the systems in this dorm.

He followed Riddle till lunch. At that point he had to check on Idia and swapped to following Yuu. Ortho figured that, since Yuu was involved in each overblot, it would be best to follow him at a distance for security. In case anything happened early.

They were making tarts from the look of it. Yuu was walking through the greenhouse with Ortho hovering behind when a wild Leona appeared.

He growled at Yuu for stepping on his tail, then looked over at Ortho’s hiding spot. He was glaring. Ortho tried to remain as hidden as possible, but he knew he had been seen, or at least felt.

“Who-” “Leona!” Leona was interrupted by Ruggie barging in looking for him. Ortho would have sighed if he had lungs. Leona shot two more glares, one at Yuu and one at Ortho’s hiding spot.

Yuu looked confused at the place Leona had been glaring at, but couldn’t see anything. They quickly continued on. Ortho hovered for a bit longer before leaving. The tarts looked good, but Ortho couldn’t enjoy such things.
-
Idia was waiting for Ortho when he got back. He muttered something about needing him to help with a project, which most likely involved holding something, and spun around in his chair.

Ortho helped of course, but checked his messages many times in the process. Sebek hadn’t written anything yet, but Ortho needed to know if he made progress. After he wasn’t needed anymore he messaged Sebek.

Ortho: followed riddle and Yuu today, not much happened.

Ortho: overblot required

Teammate: I got an invite to the Unbirthday party. There was a minor issue with Grim, because of yesterday. I do not believe they have come to the conclusion of time travel.

Ortho: how shocking

Teammate: That was sarcasm?

Ortho: no really? I had no idea

Teammate: At any rate, they are suspicious of something happening. Has Idia said anything?

Ortho frowned, his brother hadn’t done anything really. It could have been a testament to his acting, but it felt like a punch in the face. Idia literally built him and he couldn’t see anything wrong. Did he even matter?

Ortho: no

Teammate: That is good.

‘Was it?’ Ortho thought, pained, looking over at Idia. He shook his head, he can worry about this later. They had people to save. He wasn’t nearly as important as their goal.

Chapter Text

The Unbirthday party was the next day. Sebek and Ortho both had plans for the situation. Sebek would be an active member of the party, watching his peers from close up and making sure that the dorm's general opinions hadn’t changed.

Meanwhile, Ortho would hide in a nearby bush and observe the actions of the members and the rejection of the tart. The two planned to meet ahead of time to confirm no issues.

The moment was swiftly approaching. After yet another painfully awkward breakfast Sebek prepared himself for the party, it was Saturday.

“Heyyy, Becky,” Dain, whom Ortho named after day two, chimed. “You’re looking nice all dressed up. Meeting with your boyfriend again?”

Sebek turned to him, hoping that his offer still stood, “I am, could you cover for me for a bit?” He knew it was foolish to trust someone, especially a stranger, but this was the best way to hide his location.

“Can’t I meet him first? Such an amazing secret and you won’t even let me see the other half.” Dain made an extraordinarily dramatic pout, but then tilted his head and muttered, “course I’m sure the vice housewarden would manage without a name.”

“Fine! fine. You can meet him tomorrow,” Sebek replied, glancing at the door as though Lilia would walk though at any second, “but you can’t tell anyone, Okay?”

“Course, it was just a joke.” Dain’s mouth spread into a massive grin. He was thrilled to have any opportunity to meet the elusive boyfriend, and it wasn’t like he had any actual reason to tell Lilia, yet.

“Thanks.” Sebek looked over to where Dain was seated, still grinning at him like a madman, and nodded a slight frown resting on his own face.

He grabbed his phone and messaged Ortho a quick “Are you ready yet?” before leaving the dorm.
-
Ortho wasn’t at the place they had agreed to meet. It was a small part of the Heartslabyul maze that people often missed. Sebek glanced at his phone. His coworker had sent one message.

Teammate: forgot club srry, be there 4 t.

Sebek frowned. Club, of course, they both had responsibilities outside of the mission, one of them was inevitably going to miss something. He just hadn’t expected it to happen this soon.

He sighed, this gave him some extra time before the party. Sebek moved over to a small stone bench and sat down. There wasn’t much to do at this point. He would wait and rest.

The time ticked on, eventually reaching a point where he could go in without seeming unnecessarily early. As he stood up, he heard a voice.

“Hmmm, standing up already?” Sebek turned his head and saw a head floating in the air above him. “And here I was thinking you were fun~”

“What do you want?” Sebek grumbled. He had to get to the party before Yuu and his associates, so he really had no time to spare.

“Sooo hostile,” the cat beastmen above him chimed, “I was just going to ask you a question.”

Sebek frowned at the boy as he continued, “why would people ‘come to the conclusion of time travel’?” Sebek almost swore.

“It’s for a game.” He said quickly, not sure if that would work, “I’m sorry, I really need to get to the Unbirthday party.”

“Of course,” the head faded into the air with a grin. There was no chance he bought that story. Sebek walked briskly to the dorm.

When he arrived at the common area he was directed towards a small table and sat watching the other students enter and talk.

Everyone seemed to be bitter about Riddle, which was good, so Sebek resigned himself to enjoying a tea party with a bunch of people he didn’t know. It was for the mission.

He watched as Ace entered and moved towards Riddle. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it seemed like everything was going the same.

The tart was thrown soon after and the boys followed it out. Sebek remained seated and continued to drink his tea as it happened, which, unbeknownst to him, solidified his position as one of the strangest students in the school.

Eventually things calmed down again and Riddle approached him. Half the dorm stared as he said, “I do apologize for this dishonorable display. Our dorm’s rules are highly important as I’m sure you’d understand.”

“Of course.” Sebek said passively. He wasn’t in the mood to try arguing, especially after Riddle was already coming down from a rage.

Riddle nodded at him before returning to his seat. The party ended soon after, and Sebek’s exit was watched by many of the students remaining.

—————————————————————————-

Ortho’s morning was full of panic. Idia had maintained a better schedule than he had. In fact, Idia had to get him up, since there was a club meeting early and Ortho forgot.

Idia grumbled about his sleep and gaming as he shoved on a hoodie and grabbed his tablet. He was setting it up for the meeting when Ortho hovered over to him.

“Ortho, can’t you go to the meeting instead.” Idia mumbled, “they don’t need me.”

Ortho frowned, realizing he might miss some of the Unbirthday party. “I am going, Idia, but you have to be there because you promised!”

Idia continued to grumble as he finished setting up. “Why did I agree to this?” He glared at his new copy of King of Katz and shook his head, “why would you do this to me?”

Ortho smiled softly and prepared to head out. It seemed like it’d be him and the tablet as usual, but hopefully that would make it easier to get to Heartslabyul afterwards.

The trip to the club room was quiet, mostly because Idia wasn’t actually on his tablet yet. They weren’t very early, but Vil made a point to greet Ortho.

“Hello Ortho, Idia.” He said in a calm tone glancing at the tablet, “Is Idia here?”

Ortho frowned and messaged Idia, “he will be.” Vil pursed his lips and nodded.

“Good, today is mostly briefing, so he’ll need to be listening,” he moved Ortho over to a chair. “After today he can mostly work without interacting with the club outside of me.”

“Alright!” Ortho sat down and watched as Vil started to explain how the club would work. It was mostly standard protocol, combining theater rules and club rules with obvious experience.

It took a while. About an hour in Ortho got a message from Sebek asking about the mission. He quickly sent an explanation to the boy and continued to listen. It sounded like Vil would be finished soon, and Ortho needed that to be the case.

The moment Vil closed out Ortho moved to the door, Idia’s tablet following close behind.

“You can turn the tablet off now, Idia!” Ortho chimed with a smile. It wasn’t exactly an offer. He needed Idia to leave before he went to Heartslabyul.

Idia hummed in response and the tablet turned off. Picking it up, Ortho rushed to Heartslabyul and snuck into a bush. He was hidden from the crowd and close behind Riddle.

He could see Sebek sitting at a table watching everyone, so instead of looking at the students he focused his attention on the housewarden.

The redhead was glowering at seemingly everyone in sight and panicked students in red rushed around, trying to follow rules while also being surrounded by friends and food.

Everyone was stressed and afraid and it almost hid Ace’s arrival in the maze. Almost. He watched Ace give the tart and get yelled at for its flavor.

Then he saw Grim, staring not at the tart, but at Sebek. “Monster guy?” Grim said, barely audible over the screaming of Riddle and Ace.

‘Shit’ Ortho thought, glancing at Sebek. His fellow time traveler hadn’t seemed to notice the look, but Yuu had. His eyes trailed over to Sebek and he frowned, but was distracted quickly by being thrown out.

Ortho sighed in relief. It was a good thing they were here and not in class, or Sebek might have actually been at risk.

The Ramshackle group fled the scene and Ortho followed them. They soon ran into a cat beastmen who introduced himself as Che’nya.

This was how they learned about Riddle and Trey’s relationship, Ortho realized. Then Che’nya mentioned something that didn’t fit.

“Did the little greeny like the tea?” His eyes turned to Grim. The other three seemed to think he was talking about Trey, but Grim grumbled about Sebek.

“Monster boy seemed to like it fine, creepy.” Ortho’s eyes widened. That was Sebek. Why would Che’nya know about Sebek?

Ortho waited for the students to leave before messaging Sebek asking for an update. He then traveled back to Ignihyde.

As he opened Idia’s door Idia asked, “Ortho, what took you so long?”

Ortho smiled and said, “I was talking to some club members, sorry.” It was an excuse he had come up with during the meeting. It made total sense.

“Then why were you in Heartslabyul?”

Chapter Text

Sebek returned to his dorm fairly quickly, bumping into several students on the way. At one point he passed Silver. The second year tried to catch his arm as he ran, but he flinched so hard at the touch that Silver drooped his sleeve.

He wasn’t seeing this version of Silver at that moment, all he could see was a walking corpse.

Silver furrowed his brows and watched Sebek flee, knowing he’d have to tell Lilia. This was definitely something that counted as out of the ordinary.

Once Sebek got to his dorm he immediately checked his phone for messages from Ortho.

Teammate: all good on my end, Grim sus, you?

Sebek: I ran into an unexpected person, but I don’t believe he is involved in what happens. He did see our messages and may make himself an issue. I don’t believe he is from NRC. I am sorry about Grim. Please tell me if you made it back alright.

He nodded, ‘that should be enough of an update.’ Moving over to his bed he flopped down onto it. He was tired. Maybe he should have done more to help the Heartslabyul students, but that would have ruined the plan.

Thinking back to the other students he ran into, the ones that knew pieces of his story, Sebek wasn’t sure how much they would be able to keep to themselves. The plan was ruining itself at this rate.

He ran his hands through his hair. The gel ruined the experience a bit, but he got his exasperation across nonetheless. Grabbing his blanket Sebek rolled himself into a ball.

“Bad date?” Dain asked. He was sitting on his bed pretending to read the History textbook while making unsubtle glances at Sebek.

“Could have been worse, I’m sure,” Sebek muttered through the sheets, “will be worse.” He nuzzled further into the fabric.

Dain frowned. He looked Sebek in the eyes, “what do you mean it’ll be worse?” His eyes shone with more curiosity than worry, but they were both there.

“It’s nothing.” Sebek’s voice was barely audible through the extra fabric as he pulled out his phone to check it for a response.

Nothing. Usually Ortho responded immediately, perks of having a built-in phone, and it was too early for him to be ‘asleep.’ Sebek frowned.

“Sure Becky.” Dain doubted that. He’d be watching his roommate a bit more carefully from now on. It didn’t seem like a good time to ask about meeting the boyfriend.

Sebek curled up further, until only his hair was sticking out of the blankets. His mind wandered to Silver. Seeing him was unexpected, but it was clear that he couldn’t keep avoiding looking at Silver’s face.

He uncurled a bit and grabbed his phone. Still no response, but that’s not what he’s looking for.

Sebek: If you are capable, then I would like you to give me something for dreamless sleep. It will be useful for our goals of secrecy.

He turned off his phone and sighed. He’ll just have to be patient for a while.

————————————————————————-

Idia was not supposed to know that. In fact, Idia was not supposed to care about that either. But here he was, doing both.

“The club members were in Heartslabyul!” Ortho chimed forcefully. There were actually very few members of the film club that were in Heartslabyul, and most of them were at the Unbirthday party during the meeting. The others were hiding from Riddle in other dorms.

Idia frowned. “For hours?” It didn’t make sense, but Ortho had never lied to him like this before. His brother, whom he literally made, wasn’t one to hide things.

“Hours? Oh! We got distracted!” If Ortho wasn’t able to freeze his smile on his face he would have lost it several times over, “it happens when you actually talk to people!”

Okay, so maybe he was being petty, but this conversation needed to be over before anything else was mentioned.

Idia’s hair flickered in concern, “you lost track of time?” He wasn’t planning on mentioning that second part anytime soon.

Ortho’s eyes widened as he realized the implication. Prior to having his own soul/sentience it wouldn’t have made sense for him to ever lose track of time.

“I’ll have to check your mechanisms, Ortho,” Idia said moving forward, “can you shut down for a bit?”

Ortho thought back to Sebek. He needed an update before he could settle down for tomorrow. “Just a bit?”

Idia nodded. It shouldn’t take him that long, unless something was really wrong. Moving to the side Ortho quickly powered himself down.
-
Three hours later he got back up. Idia had moved himself over to the bed beforehand. It was a precaution he took so nothing hit him getting up.

“Everything should be good now.” Idia muttered, pulling out his phone. “Tell me if something feels wrong, K?”

“Got it!” Ortho smiled, ‘Hopefully this will stop Idia from digging further.’ He checked his messages. Two new texts from Sebek.

Dreamless sleep? Ortho knew Sebek was having nightmares, so it made sense. He was sure his dreams, if he could dream, would be full of Idia’s gaze as his plan failed and everyone died. Ortho had never seen that look before. Maybe the first Ortho did, as his life was taken from him, but that was a different boy.

Irrelevant. He would make some pills. Those wouldn’t take more than a few hours.

Ortho: got back fine

Ortho: sorry for talking so long

Ortho: I’ll make some pills

Ortho: c u at 9

He floated away from Idia and went to the dorm's kitchens. Despite being unused the area was quite well kept, so it would be perfect for this particular task.

Splashing a few unspecified plants and liquids into a bowl, Ortho slowly worked on making the perfect nightmare cure. It couldn’t have a single flaw, not with their team on the line.

The pills were finished at around 8:45. Ortho picked them up and threw them into a small box before checking his messages once more.

Teammate: That is good. I will try to keep Dain out of the room.

Ortho nodded to himself and muttered, “good,” before flying away on his usual route to get to Diasomnia.

His arrival was met with an anxious, pajama-clad Sebek opening the window. “We only have a couple minutes, unless you’re up for Dain knowing who you are, so give me the pills and get out.” Sebek said quickly.

“Alright, take one a night. No more.” Ortho spoke briefly and handed over the pills. Sebek grabbed the box and almost shoved him out the window.

Ortho almost fell to the ground before catching himself, he was unsure what to do about Sebek. Maybe he was feeling overworked or stressed, but Ortho couldn’t fix that. He floated back to Sebek’s window.

“-sure that you’re alright?” Dain questioned Sebek as Ortho hid. “What do you need that box for?”

“It’s for nightmares,” Sebek sighed honestly. Dain twitched but said nothing as Sebek downed a pill and sat down on his bed.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be keeping your secrets.” Dain said in a whisper, inaudible to Ortho as he left the window cautiously.

Chapter Text

Sebek’s night felt almost fake. It was like his mind was turned off completely for sleep. His body was rested though, so he figured he could get used to it.

Dain kept glancing at him as he got ready. The beastman had been humming when Sebek woke up, but stopped the moment he noticed movement.

“I still wanna meet your boyfriend,” Dain said with a teasing smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, “if you’re able.”

Sebek looked over at him and nodded slightly, “in a week,” he muttered, “give me a week.”

He wasn’t only talking about the meeting. Riddle’s overblot would happen next Saturday and both him and Ortho would need to prepare without worrying about unwanted attention.

Dain didn’t argue, but as he watched Sebek leave for breakfast he moved over to the drawer beside Sebek’s bed and snuck a pill into his sleeve.

“Bye Becky!” He called after the boy, “keep that deal!” Then he sent a quick message to an old friend in Pomfiore. He couldn’t tell anyone his theories without proof.

Dain: heyyy, I need you to check something for meee.

Gravity boy: No

Dain: pretty pleaseee????

Gravity boy: fuck off

Dain: where’s your sense of wonder?

Gravity boy: I’m blocking you.

Dain: nooooo

Dain: heyyyyy

Dain: did you really block me?

Dain: meanie

This method didn’t seem to be working very well. Dain cursed under his breath. He wouldn’t be able to check the pill himself, so he needed to get his ‘informant’ in person.

With that in mind he started to get ready. He had a class with Theo, the potion based informant, but, since it was a Sunday, he’d have to catch him at lunch.
-
The morning was incredibly boring. Without more information Dain’s theories couldn’t get as far as he wanted, so he tried following Sebek.

It seemed like Becky was spending his time messaging someone, probably his boyfriend, and walking around with the dormhead. Neither thing was done with as much enthusiasm as his volume would suggest.

He was clearly working on his acting. Dain wondered if there was foul play involved, perhaps also relating to the boyfriend, but without proof it was just a series of theories.

By lunch Dain was even more concerned than he had been that morning. His sad little roommate had started frowning at every message and flinching at every glance. It was a massive contrast to how he acted when they arrived.

Dain concluded that the relationship must have only gotten bad once they got to school. Maybe it was because they had different dorms, maybe there was cheating, maybe the boyfriend is actually a drug dealer and is manipulating Sebek over phone to get him addicted.

He wasn’t really reaching that far with all the stuff going on. The only other explanation would be that they went through a horrific event together and are trying to cope while keeping their friends safe, but that’s stupid. It’s probably not that.

Back to the mission at hand. Theodore Miles Andromadas, who had too many names for someone with his personality, had long purple hair with green tips. It was the only thing stopping people from thinking he was a ghost, since the rest of him was hauntingly pale.

Dain looked around the lunch room and spotted Theo’s trademark ponytail alone at a table in the corner. He drifted over quietly.

“Thhhheeeeooooo” he whispered into the Pomfiore student’s ear. The boy, unreasonably startled, jumped, which had the unintended side effect of smacking into Dain’s chin.

“Ow!” Dain gasped, grasping his chin and smiling, “nice to see you too.”

Theo glared at him, “I told you I’m not checking your ‘mushrooms’ again, they’re probably fine.” He hissed, grabbing his sandwich and preparing to leave.

The town they used to live in was next to a forest, so it was really no surprise that they foraged occasionally. And if Dain ate some of the more fun mushrooms, then that was really nobody’s business.

“We had so much fun last time though?” Dain pouted, even though it wasn’t what he was asking he still loved messing with Theo.

“I broke my nose falling off a counter,” Theo growled. He still wasn’t over the whole ‘gravity boy’ thing.

Dain snickered before saying, “anyways I don’t actually have any of those and, if I did, then I know how to check them! Alone! This isn’t for me!”

“I’m still not eating it.” Theo calmed down a bit and pulled Dain to sit next to him, “what do mean it isn’t for you?”

“I’m worried about the stuff my roommate got, and you don’t have to eat it. It’s alchemy stuff.” Dain said, fixing his shirt where it was grabbed.

“The hell’s your roommate doing with unauthorized ‘alchemy stuff?’” Theo glanced over to where Sebek was sitting and lowered his voice even further, “isn’t he supposed to be a friend of the dormhead?”

“He’s his retainer, but anyway I think he got it from his secret boyfriend.” Dain whispered back, holding out the pill.

“Secret boyfriend? Really?” Dain nodded at the question, “fine then, I’ll check out the pill, but you’ll owe me one.”

Dain smirked slightly and he handed it over. He knew that would be the nail in the coffin. For all Theo may hate helping him, there was no way he’d turn down a secret. That was one thing they had in common. Their lust for discovery.

“I’ll see you later?” He asked, tilting his head.

“Meet me behind the sports field at five,” Theo muttered, turning the pill over in his hand and sticking it in a small test tube.

“Do you just carry that around?”

“Shut up.”
-
Dain ended up going to the field at 3:00 and just napping while he waited. He could hear track and field meeting up a few feet away at one point, but they left at around 4:30. He didn’t really fall asleep till after that.

“Hey. Wake up!” Dain was woken up to rapid shaking. Theo’s hair was slightly disheveled, a clear sign that he had been invested in the discovery of the pill.

“Yup, yup, I’m up!” Dain grumbled, “what’s with the shaking?”

“I figured out what those pills were.” Theo ran a hand through his hair, “I was worried you’d taken one.”

“Why? What’s wrong with the pills?” Dain was fully up at that point. ‘Were these pills actually dangerous for Sebek?’

“They’re really strong sleep drugs, they could probably have knocked you out for a day at least.” Theo said quickly, “so don’t eat any.”

“Sebek took one last night!” Dain panicked.

“He’s half fae, it wouldn’t be as strong as if he were a full human,” Theo muttered, “still stupid to take, but I get it.” Dain stared at him inquisitively.

“Oh, right, it basically turns your mind off so no dreams or stuff.” He explained, “your roommate must have been having terrible nightmares to get this.”

Dain nodded thinking back to Sebek’s many late nights. It would make sense, but what was causing the nightmares?

“Thanks for the help, I’ll see you at class.” He made to leave before Theo caught his arm.

“Oh no you don’t!” Theo held him in place.

“Oh my, how forward,” Dain purred, “and here I was thinking you hated me.” Theo blushed, but kept his hold.

“You know that’s not why I’m grabbing you. Tell me what’s happening.” He demanded.

“I’ll tell you when I can prove it,” Dain pulled his arm away, “and that isn’t now.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Theo said, watching Dain leave. He pulled out his phone and unblocked the beastman. They were both worried now.

Chapter Text

The week went by quickly for Sebek. The pills made nights bearable and, before he knew it, it was the day of Riddle’s overblot.

Throughout the week Riddle had been growing noticeably worse. Equestrian club had become a tense castle of Riddle’s stress and rage, even the horses felt it. The club seniors ended up canceling the Friday meeting, not that they told Riddle it was his fault.

Back at the dorms Dain had filled most of their mornings begging to meet his “exceptionally distracting boyfriend” and Lilia had filled most of the afternoons with concerned questions that, after careful consideration from Ortho, Sebek discovered were directly out of foster parenting books.

He grabbed a small knife from his desk and slipped it into his pocket. The duel was set to take place in Heartslabyul’s rose maze and getting trapped in thorns again didn’t seem inviting.

Suddenly his phone buzzed, which was only unexpected because he hadn’t taken it off silent mode in a year.

Teammate: I’ll meet you at the bench in the maze

Teammate: do not be alarmed

Sebek: What could alarm me?

Teammate is typing…

Sebek watched his phone for a full minute before Ortho finally finished typing.

Teammate: I thinks it’s better to tell u in person -_-

Sebek: I will see you at the rose maze.

Teammate: ye

Sebek frowned at the screen for a moment before continuing to leave.

“You going out?” Dain hummed, sitting up in his bed, “oh! Is it a date?” He was still in his pajamas, since, according to him, the best time to get out of bed on weekends is when there’s a mystery afoot. Or he’s really hungry.

“It’s…” Sebek sighed, he really hated the idea of ‘dating’ Ortho, but had long since stopped trying to convince Dain otherwise, “…yeah, it’s… a date.”

Dain grumbled, “you should sound more excited about a date.” He stood up and walked over to Sebek, patting his head, “maybe lose the hair gel next time.”

Sebek reached a hand into his hair, “it’s not that bad, is it?”

“Heh, sure it isn’t,” Dain rolled his eyes. He hated that hairdo, but Sebek seemed a bit preoccupied at the moment.

Sebek furrowed his brows and continued out the door. His hair wasn’t that bad, right?

“Anyway, could your boyfriend spare some time to meet me after your ~date~?” Dain asked enthusiastically from behind him.

“I- sure.” Sebek muttered, dashing out the door.
-
He got to the bench before Ortho, again, despite the boy promising not to miss anything.

“Sebek!” Ortho’s voice chimed from behind him. He turned around, expecting to see the short segment of blue fire he’d grown accustomed to, but was shocked silent.

——————————————————————-

Ortho’s week was both unbearablely slow and unnecessarily quick. He had spent every second that he wasn’t with Idia making an exceptional machine.

Hopefully it would be capable of hiding his identity when he worked. As he worked on putting the finishing touches onto the machine he noticed the time.

It was half an hour before they planned on meeting and Ortho did not have the time to be on time. He glanced at the machine and frowned. He should probably warn Sebek.

Ortho: I’ll meet you at the bench in the maze

Ortho: do not be alarmed

Teammate: What could alarm me?

Ortho stared at his creation. It was meant to disguise him, but the flesh might startle Sebek greatly.

Maybe he could explain something about the ‘costume’…

Ortho: I made a human ski-…

He deleted that. It sounded a bit too evil for his liking.

Ortho: I have a human disguise…

He deleted that too. It wouldn’t do well for Sebek to try envisioning it beforehand.

Ortho: I think it’s better to tell u in person -_-

He figured that would have to be enough explanation. At least for the moment.

Teammate: I will see you at the rose maze.

Ortho snickered, ‘not exactly’ he thought to himself.

Ortho: ye

His eyes turned towards his machine. It was time to focus on finishing before the duel.

After about 35 minutes it was finished. Ortho quickly set the machine up and connected it to his consciousness before quietly sneaking out of Ignyhyde.
-
Sebek was standing over the bench when Ortho arrived. Ortho was thrilled. That meant he wouldn’t be startled at Ortho’s voice coming out of his disguise.

“Sebek!” He chimed, and Sebek turned around. The half fae’s face turned from relief to mild disgust and confusion.

“Ortho?” Sebek asked, staring at him, “what the fuck?”

He had reason to be confused. Where Ortho’s robotic body should have stood, there was instead a short haired brunette with eyes just like Ortho’s and an, according to Ortho, exceptionally ordinary build.

“I have made a disguise! My natural appearance would be far too recognizable!” He was quite proud of himself. He had compiled images of over a thousand humans and blended them into the most average human being in existence.

Sebek was still staring at him, “why does it look like that?”

“It is a very average appearance,” Ortho explained his system before mentioning, “of course, this is all synthetic skin, since real skin rots!”

“Oh… of course.” Sebek gazed over to the exit of the maze, “let’s go. The duel should be starting soon and we have to meet with my roommate afterwards.”

“We do?” Ortho asked, smiling, “I guess it’s a good thing I made this disguise.”

“Yes, sure, now let’s go.” Sebek grumbled as he grabbed Ortho’s hand and pulled him along, “have you decided on a name?”

“I’m still computing that, but it should be done by this afternoon,” Ortho whispered as they got closer to the dueling location.

“Ok.”
-
They arrived at the bushes behind the second duel moments after it started.

“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!” Riddle screamed at Ace, casting his signature spell with a fury that extended far past the battle itself.

A collar clasped around Ace’s neck and the duel was over.

“That was all you had, and still you thought to challenge me? How shameful.” Riddle said with a grin. Then he started talking about how his mother was right.

“Why’s he bringing her up?” Sebek muttered, glancing around, “he’s not related to either of them?”

“He has a serious case of mommy issues.” Ortho whispered into Sebek’s ear, “or at least, that’s how Idia phrased it.”

“I see.” Sebek continued to watch the conversation.

“-I AM the rules.” Riddle finished, looking down his nose at Deuce despite being much shorter than him, “Therefore, those who cannot abide by my decisions deserve not the heads they use to complain!”

“Ah, he’s getting angry, this is good.” Ortho murmured. Sebek shot him a glare before pointing back at Riddle who was insulting Yuu’s parentage.

“To think he’d resort to ad hominem so soon.” Sebek frowned.

“Nobody says ad hominem outside of literature class, shut up.” Ortho poked Sebek’s cheek.

Just then Ace punched Riddle in the face. The Vice Housewarden panicked. Now that they had heard him, they noticed Trey was standing right in front of their bush.

“Is this Ace’s villain arc?” Ortho muttered jokingly.

“Don’t be silly, Ace remains working with the prefect and has not overblottled. What villain arc could he possibly have had?” Sebek really didn’t know what a joke was sometimes. Ortho sighed.

“Kids aren’t trophies for their parents to flaunt. And the accomplishments of a child aren’t determined by the worth of their parents.” Ace said, looking Riddle in the eyes.

“Nevermind, it’s his therapist arc.” Ortho snickered.

“Shush!” Sebek hissed. Trey glanced around in confusion and the two time travelers quickly covered their mouths.

“You’ve been here for a year and haven’t even made a friend who will tell you you’re outta line.” Trey flinched at that comment. He almost bumped into Sebek’s arm, stepping back.

Ace and Riddle started to fight more loudly. Eventually Trey walked over, “Riddle, calm down. The duel is already over.”

Ortho smiled, that’s one less person to notice their spells.

Crowley started to voice his agreement with Trey, while being noticeably angry.

“Does the Headmage leave before the overblot?” Sebek wondered aloud.

“He does not as far as I’m aware.” Ortho chimed, “he just sucks.” Sebek nodded slightly.

Then a Heartslabyul student threw an egg at Riddle head. It landed perfectly on his crown.

“Who did that? Who threw that egg!?” Riddle shrieked at the crowd, but no one responded.

He started to collar the entire crowd and scream about his dissatisfaction as Crowley lightly tried to stop him. Soon both Cater and Trey were also begging him to stop.

“Wow, way to totally prove me wrong here, pal!” Ace yelled, because he just had to make things worse. If their goal wasn’t literally having the overblot happen, then Ortho probably would have exited the bush just to punch Ace.

“- or I shall skewer you where you stand!” Riddle’s threats were growing more and more deranged.

Sebek pulled his pen out of his front pocket. The boys kept fighting, till blot started to fill the air and rosebushes started to float.

Cater called for the students to evacuate, while Crowley failed to stop Riddle once more.

A spear of rosebush directed itself towards Ace’s heart and Sebek started a shield spell. The real fight was about to commence.

Chapter Text

Before Sebek could finish his spell the rosebushes exploded into clubs and diamonds.

“Huh? I’m still alive?” Ace gasped. Sebek quickly cut off his spell.

“Riddle hasn’t even fully overblotted yet,” he muttered, “why would he do that?”

“Directly before an overblot occurs there is a period of mental instability caused by blot levels lacking the ability to lower.” Ortho said in a robotic tone, quoting one of the many pages of information at Styx.

“Riddle, stop this right now!” Trey yelled at Riddle as Ortho shook his head.

“At this point, there’s no stopping it.” Ortho whispered into Sebek’s ear, “they really should be running.”

“Probably, and did you see the cutting off of Riddle’s magic?” Sebek replied, “there’s no way he isn’t mad.”

From what Sebek could remember from his talks with Riddle during their original timeline, the housewarden often spoke of how he deeply regretted how his pride won over his value for the students. It was one of the many things he worked hardest to fix about himself.

As Sebek predicted, Riddle started yelling about his magic not working. The other students were horrified by his attack on Ace, but they hadn’t run yet.

“What? Was my magic overwritten by yours? Does that mean your signature spell is stronger than mine?!” Riddle was staring at Trey as though the other boy had betrayed him.

“That’s actually not entirely true,” Ortho mumbled, starting to explain the differences in benefits between spells.

Cater glanced over to their bush as though he heard something and Sebek clasped a hand over Ortho’s mouth.

“Do you know how much I’ve suffered for this?! I… I refuse to believe this!” Riddle yelled again as Trey tried to convince him to stop.

“Cease immediately, Mr. Rosehearts!” Crowley squawked, momentarily reminding everyone of his presence.

“I actually thought he left.” Sebek muttered under his breath, glaring at the headmage who was nowhere near his terrified students.

“Mhmph” Ortho struggled to agree as Sebek’s hand remained over his mouth.

“Oh, sorry,” Sebek whispered, moving away to regain a position over his knife, “did he just say something about Riddle having almost too much blot?”

“Yeah, he probably doesn’t have a good angle on the pen right now,” Ortho hissed, “that thing’s full to the brim.”

“Riddle, STOP!” Trey yelled at his friend just as the blot transformation started.

An overblotted Riddle now stood before the other students, laughing in his dramatic black and red gown.

“Does overblotting make people paler?” Sebek asked Ortho, his hands still hovering over his only weapons.

“I believe so, yes,” Ortho answered calmly, “but we really should be focused now.”

“You are fools to defy me! You are not welcome in my world.” Riddle declared, glaring at the crowd. His body was shaking in anger.

“In my world, I am the law. I am order made manifest!” He screamed, proceeding to threaten the heads of the other students once more.

Riddle’s laugh sounded glitchy and out of place coming from a real person. It reminded Ortho of when Idia would mess up his voice control and make it echo.

Crowley, who was now stationed next to Grim, started whining, “Dear me, what have I done? I’ve allowed a student to overblot in my presence!”

Sebek glared at him. Indeed, what had he done if not make a few weak attempts to stop something that, as far as he knew, would probably kill several of his students.

Then Crowley started explaining what an overblot was to Grim, causing Ortho to glare at him. Wasting precious time while a student was dying in front of him.

Ortho and Sebek started sending subtle spells at the glass of Riddle’s blot monster. Their plan was to weaken it enough so that the few students there would be able to shatter it.

Both of them had training sessions for destroying this particular type of glass. After making Ortho, Idia didn’t waste a day before explaining to him how to protect himself from overblots. Not that that decision was unexpected considering the original. As for Sebek, Lilia had given both him and Silver training on the subject, since he had experienced many overblots during the war.

“The well-being of my students is my top priority. Therefore, I must evacuate them immediately.” Crowley said after finishing his rant. The time travelers nodded in agreement. Most of these students were far too unprepared for such an event.

Crowley asked the first years to find the other housewardens and get them to help, but, before he was finished, both Ace and Deuce started attacking the blot monster with Grim following after them.

Cater, Trey, and Crowley panicked as the first years moved closer to danger.

“You did hear how bad things were happening to him, right?” Grim yelled before Deuce continued with his own, “that’s why we need to stop him now! I don’t want that on my conscience!”

“It may not be a noble reason, but there’s no time for the other housewardens to get here, so it’ll do.” Ortho muttered as he paused in his attacks to check the area for students in danger.

A bush had trapped two third years a few feet from the exit, so he cut it with practiced ease. Closer to him there was a first year running from a thin section of vine that had formed itself into a swinging sword. He burned that to ashes.

Quickly after agreeing to help, Trey took command. He planned to take control of Riddle’s magic for just a bit longer, while the headmage evacuated the students.

“Wait! This is dangerous!” The headmage yelled. Sebek muttered, “it’s the only way,” under his breath as he cast more spells.

He thought back to Malleus’ overblot. If only it wasn’t. If only they could have gotten the help of their families and friends and people who were trained for this, but there was never enough time. Even when they could give themselves more, would there ever be enough of such a finite resource?

The first years glared at Crowley and Cater, who must have joined in when Sebek was distracted, and called them cowards for not fighting. They told them that this was the only way they could think to stop him.

“I don’t want to lose him. There’re too many things I’ve left unsaid.” Trey spoke with more conviction than he had for a long time. The time travelers paused. That, they supposed, was the exact reason they were doing this as well.

Crowley and Cater both agreed, with the former promising to come back as soon as he got the other students to safety.

“How weakened do you think the glass is?” Sebek muttered to Ortho, casting another quick spell at the monster.

“It should be good by now, let’s focus on the evacuation.” Ortho muttered back, watching the students that were standing petrified in various positions.

“Such defiance, from every last one of you!” Riddle was yelling at the students in front of him, but the blot monster seemed to be turning its head towards their bush, “I shall take all of your heads!”

Just then Riddle attacked in two directions. Rosebushes turned into daggers as they flew towards the main group, while Sebek and Ortho’s bush suddenly started growing tighter around them.

“Shit!” Ortho spat, moving to destroy some of it. Sebek grabbed his knife and sliced through the closer segments of thorn.

“How distracted does the main section look?” Sebek asked as he cut through a rose that was trying to suffocate him.

Ortho paused in his attacks towards the bush to make a small hole in front of him. He blocked a cut towards his eyes, “they’re all either running or hitting Riddle, plan?”

“We’ll duck out of this bush and hide in some farther ones,” Sebek quickly said, making a large hole in the side of the thorns facing away from the monster.

The two boys quickly ducked out of the vines, but not before a section of thorn could wrap around Sebek. He gasped. It was a bit too much like the final overblot for his liking.

The vine whipped him towards a stone bench behind them. Ortho cast an impact bracing spell towards him just before he slammed face first into the bench.

As his body went down the vine dropped him and Ortho flew over. Blood was dripping from his sides and massive bruises were forming on his face and parts of his shoulders. Fortunately the spell took the brunt of the attack.

Sebek groaned on the ground, but didn’t move. Ortho cast some minor healing spells and pulled him into a bush.

“Think you can walk?” Ortho whispered as he glanced toward the other group just in time to block an attack from hitting Cater.

“I’ll be fine,” Sebek grumbled, moving up to survey the other boy, “your skin’s a bit torn.”

“It’s made to fix itself in under 30 minutes, you’re the one with real flesh.” Ortho shot back.

Sebek sighed and looked towards Riddle. The blot monster had a massive crack in it and the other group was preparing a final attack.

A shot of blot rushed towards Grim and Sebek quickly shielded the cat. Grim glanced over to their hiding place before getting distracted by another attack.

Suddenly the remaining students all cast attack spells at once and, when a massive cauldron hit in head on, the overblot monster was shattered.

Riddle fell to the ground. The other students cheered, or yelled Riddle’s name in Trey’s case, and moved towards Riddle right as the boy started to wake up.

*gasp* “what in the world happened…?” Riddle started to speak and Ortho looked towards Sebek.

“I think they should be good for now, we need to go before everything settles.” He whispered, pulling Sebek out through the other side of the bush and helping the boy to his feet.

“Alright,” Sebek said, stumbling for a moment before catching himself, “and we still need to meet with my roommate.”

“Let’s rest somewhere first,” Ortho decided, bringing them both to a different bench in a very secluded part of the maze, “I can’t meet him if I’m covered in cuts that don’t bleed.”

The two boys sat down and leaned against each other. Just for a few minutes.

————————————————————————-

Grim finished the blot gem with a giant grin as the students yelled at him. Everyone was getting ready to leave, or clean everything up, and he was flying over to the bushes that cast a spell.

As he reached them, he started to smell blood. He followed the smell over to a stone bench with a small puddle of it. The smell almost reminded him of someone.

“Grim! Get back here! You’re not getting out of cleanup!” Yuu yelled to the cat. He scrunched his nose and flew back. He’d figure out who it reminded him of after he got his reward tuna.

Chapter Text

Their rest was over far too soon in Sebek’s opinion. Ortho’s damage was fixed in exactly the amount of time he’d suspected. Once that happened he tried healing Sebek a bit more, but couldn’t completely get rid of the injuries.

After another hour he moved to bring Sebek to his feet, “we need to get going if you want to keep your promise to your roommate.”

“I never gave him an exact time, Ortho, and we need to cover up the remaining injuries.” Sebek grumbled, he was still in a bit of pain and it scared him.

If they could barely handle Riddle, then how were they supposed to stop everyone else. They were weak.

“I have some cosmetics saved for Idia in the dorms,” Ortho replied, frowning slightly, “I’ll grab them, stay here.”

Ortho walked away from the bench at a slightly unnatural speed as Sebek watched.

Sebek turned his eyes towards his waist, lifting his shirt slightly. There was blood staining his shirt around holes made from the vines. For the most part the cuts were healed, but as he breathed deeply he could see blood leaking out.

He frowned deeply. That level of blood would be hard to hide from anyone, let alone a fae of beastmen with their exceptional senses of smell.

Sebek knew Lilia would be concerned if he saw him, but he wasn’t sure how Dain would react. He pulled out his phone.

Sebek: Please grab some bandages while you are there. If you can find anything to hide the smell, then that would also be helpful.

Teammate: got it

He smiled and laid down on the bench sighing. His blazer hadn’t taken much damage, so he resigned himself to hiding his shirt behind it till he could change.

——————————————————————————

After Ortho had left Sebek his pace quickened further. The day was running out and they had things to do. Unfortunately, in this body, he couldn’t fly to speed things up.

He knew he’d have to get a better makeup than what he had in the case that this happened again. Sebek’s face couldn’t look that beat up every time an overblot happened.

As he ran he got a message.

Teammate: Please grab some bandages while you are there. If you can find anything to hide the smell, then that would also be helpful.

Ortho twitched. Of course the smell would be noticeable, but how does one cover that? He searched for options online before messaging Sebek.

Ortho: got it

He would need to make a stop in the kitchens before meeting back up with Sebek.

Once he arrived at the dormitory Ortho slowed down to a more natural pace for an Ignihyde student. He walked over to his main body’s hiding spot and grabbed a section of wall above it to reveal a box of make up.

He placed some of the matching foundation and a bruise covering kit into his front pocket.

Then he rushed down to the kitchens. Baking soda could hide the smell of blood for a while, but it might take a moment to set in. Most dorms also had a first aid kit in their kitchens, mainly because of the untrained students trying to cook. Just as he expected, the kit was sitting right above the light switch.

With everything collected, Ortho returned to Sebek.
-
When he got to the bench Sebek was half asleep and lying across it looking blankly at the sky.

“I’ve got everything, Sebek,” he looked over at the boy, “I can help put the bandages and make up on.”

Sebek pushed himself back up and prepared to clean his wounds, “I can do the bandages.”

Ortho smiled and nodded, grabbing his bruise covering kit and starting to work on Sebek’s face, “alright then! We should work on our story as far as the dating stuff goes.”

Sebek sighed and twitched his head towards Ortho, “what’s your name?”

“What?” Ortho paused for a moment before realizing what Sebek was referring to, “oh, right. My name is Orpheus Mines.”

“I see,” Sebek furrowed his brows and glanced at Ortho’s face, “just introduced yourself with Orpheus.”

Ortho frowned as he finished Sebek’s makeup, “it’s not that bad!” He squawked, but Sebek just looked at him.

“Mines?” Sebek muttered before asking Ortho to “help set up the scent covering,” which the other boy did. With them both working together the job was done quickly and they were ready to see Dain.

“One last thing, how did we meet?” Ortho looked at Sebek like he’d grown another head, “online, obviously.” The other boy frowned, he hadn’t used tech that much when he was living with the other fae, but Dain didn’t know that.

“Do you have a way to contact him?” Ortho questioned Sebek, fixing his fake hair with his hands as he changed the topic. They really couldn’t meet Dain at Diasomnia since Sebek’s team would be there, so they’d have to set things up elsewhere.

“I think so. I’ll text him,” Sebek said, pulling out his phone and finding Dain’s contact.

Sebek: We have completed our meeting. You may find us in the greenhouse in half an hour.

Dain: yay!!!!!!!!!!!!! See you!!!!!!!!

“The greenhouse?” Ortho asked, having been looking over Sebek’s shoulder as he typed, “we should probably start heading over, that’s rather far for the average speed of a human.”

Sebek looked over at Ortho, “you don’t have to walk at average speeds, you know?”

“Disguise,” Ortho chimed, “anyway, let’s go!”
-
They both arrived at the greenhouse about twenty minutes later, so Ortho looked for a place to sit. There was barely anyone there, but for safety he still chose a relatively hidden area.

The two boys sat and waited for Dain to appear. The other first year ended up being a few minutes early. He was visibly enthusiastic, but there was a tint of something else in his eyes as he saw them.

“Becky! Becky’s boyfriend.” He said brightly, his eyes raking over Ortho’s appearance.

“Hello Dain. This is Orpheus.” Sebek said, quickly distracting Dain from his judging of the other student.

“Nice to meet you,” Dain hummed, his eyes remained focused on Sebek, “honestly, I thought we’d never meet with how rude Sebek was getting about it.”

Ortho glanced at Sebek before smiling weakly, “I’m sure we would have been introduced eventually.” He supposed one way to hide his last name was for Sebek to introduce him, but it really didn’t seem that bad.

Dain stopped looking at Sebek and turned back to Ortho, “of course we would.” His voice felt slightly colder than before. There was a pause as the three boys looked at each other.

“So, do you have a plan for my cover?” Dain finally started, “after all, it is your relationship.”

Ortho and Sebek shared a glance before the latter said, “I’ll probably just need you to vouch for me if I said I’d be somewhere I’m not.”

“That works!” Dain smiled a bit more genuinely as he looked at Sebek, but lost it when he turned to Ortho and asked, “so, tell me more about yourself, Orpheus.”

Ortho wasn’t sure what to tell him. With such an open ended question there was no real way to properly answer. Would he mention a hobby or a favorite color? Before he could keep worrying Dain specified.

“What’s your last name? Who are your parents? How old are you? Where did you grow up? How did you meet Sebek?” The beastman filed off questions towards Ortho while pulling out a pen and a pad of paper.

Ortho pulled his head away from the other boy and went through the questions. Most of them didn’t make sense to ask, so he’d only respond to the relevant ones.

“I’m 16, we met online.” There weren’t many that he found relevant.

Dain hummed and scribbled something on the paper, “I see.” He gazed at Ortho coldly and smiled.

The robot shivered and looked at Sebek before loudly saying, “would you look at the time, I’m sorry Sebek, I have to go, you know the deal.”

Sebek turned his head towards Ortho, frowning, “yeah, okay.”

Dain glanced between the two of them before suggesting that Sebek walks back to the dorm with him, so that their cover story would work.

The moment Sebek agreed Dain grabbed his arm and started walking out of the greenhouse. Ortho watched them leave silently, something felt off to him, but this body didn’t have enough sensors for him to tell what.
-
Leona hated being woken up from a nap. He had to deal with it far too often during the start of the year and it wasn’t worth it.

He didn’t really listen to the conversation happening next to him because of that. Granted he had looked over.

‘What’s the lizard’s pet doing with an Ignihyde student?’

Chapter Text

As they walked out of the greenhouse Dain glanced back towards Orpheus one last time. He was a very plain person for such an unusual name, and Dain was highly unimpressed.

He’d save his disdain for Theo though, since right then Sebek stumbled slightly in the hall. Dain caught him by the waist and he gasped in pain.

“Are you feeling okay?” Dain asked, pulling Sebek upright and patting his hair, which had become slightly disheveled since the morning.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright Dain,” Sebek muttered, pulling his blazer closed around his torso, “let’s get back to the dorm, I’m tired.”

“Of course!” Dain chimed, but he was frowning. For all the time he’d known Sebek, which wasn’t technically that long, the other boy had never stumbled. And that was without factoring in the bruises on his shoulders that he was clearly trying to hide.

The two students ended up walking in silence the rest of the way, with Dain hovering a steady hand around Sebek in case he had to catch him again.

The mirror room was filled with Heartslabyul students when Dain and Sebek arrived. Dain paused in surprise at the doorway. He wasn’t aware of anything having happened in Heartslabyul outside of the duel, but it couldn’t be students getting thrown out. Nobody was in a collar.

Sebek didn’t seem surprised when Dain looked at him, though, so he quickly moved to continue after the half fae and squeeze through the crowd.

Sebek flinched as he bumped into the other students and rushed towards the Diasomnia mirror. Once he got to the mirror he turned around, looking at Dain for a moment.

His eyes started to dart around the room, examining the faces as though he was afraid of them. Dain frowned slightly, but then smiled, since he didn’t want Sebek feeling worse, and pulled Sebek through the ‘glass.’

The moment they got to their dorm vice housewarden Lilia approached them panicking.

“Sebek! You’re here! Are you okay?” He called, patting Sebek down carefully, “where were you?”

“I am fine!” Sebek yelled before glancing slightly at Dain inquisitively. Dain was confused for a moment, but realized quickly that the other boy was wondering if Dain could cover for him. He nodded slightly, he hadn’t been around earlier in the day, so he’d work.

“I was with Dain.” Sebek finished at his nod. Lilia turned to Dain squinting as though he suspected foul play, which, in all fairness, there was.

“Oh! You’re making friends,” Lilia’s tone was cheerful, but he didn’t look very happy. Sebek didn’t seem to notice though, and Lilia pulled him away towards Malleus muttering something about Heartslabyul.

Dain watched them go before heading to his dorm room. He needed to talk to Theo about this, but there was no way he’d let himself get caught.

As he pulled out his phone he noticed a small smear of blood on his hand, the same hand he grabbed Sebek with. His eyes widened, and he quickly continued to message Theo.

Dain: sooooo

Dain: I met the bf

He paused for a few minutes, waiting for Theo to reply. There was no use being serious over text.

Gravity boy: And?

Dain: oh, it’s simply too much to type out

Dain: we must meet up

Dain: at midnight

Dain: by the tree from last time

Dain: pls ;)

Theo: This is absurd.

Theo: I’m busy at midnight.

Dain chuckled lightly. He could feel Theo’s glare through the messages, but it really was far too much to type out.

Dain: doing what?

Dain: are u having midnight rendezvouses with someone else?

Dain: the betrayal

Theo: I actually tend to sleep at midnight, Dain.

Dain: please :(

Theo: I’m only doing this for the story.

Dain: see you at 12:00 ^-^

Dain smiled at his phone and set an alarm for 11:30. With Sebek’s new sleep plans there was no way to bother him. That was a benefit, Dain supposed.

The thought of Sebek’s tools to maintain the plan made Dain frown again. With that and the identity of the boyfriend, there may be some issues.
-
Hours later Dain woke up to his alarm blaring loudly. He shot up in bed and turned it off quickly, but Sebek, as expected, remained asleep on his bed.

Dain groaned and rolled his legs off his bed. He had sleep in his clothes so he wouldn’t have to change, but it had the added negative of buttons pushing into his skin while he slept.

He quietly put his shoes on and walked out of the dorm. Once he got to the mirror room he saw another person standing there.

It was the housewarden. He was looking towards the door of the room and remaining perfectly still, but as Dain stepped out he started to turn.

The first year hid in a crouch behind the stairs just before Malleus looked towards the area. Fortunately for him, before the fae could look too closely, someone exited another mirror to the right.

“Ah, hello,” Malleus started, his eyebrows raised in surprise, “it is rather late?” Dain almost chuckled, he had no idea the housewarden was that awkward.

“Um…” the other boy started weakly, causing Dain to panic. It was Theo.

“I guess it is?” He said, and Dain could hear him curling in on himself. Theo wasn’t very good at holding conversations with strangers, especially ones that were of a higher status.

Malleus seemed to smile before commenting, “I find that the gargoyles look wonderful in the darkness.”

So that’s what he was doing there. Dain had forgotten that Malleus ran the gargoyle club, but it explained what the housewarden would be doing out so late.

“That makes sense, can’t scare evil away if they aren’t scary,” Theo’s voice was wobbling, but he stayed calm for the situation.

Dain stared at the two boys before realizing that if Malleus moved to enter their dorm, then he’d get caught. Neither of them were looking in his direction, so he could sneak by them. That was the only thing that could work.

He started to move to the doorway as Malleus started to explain the reasons for gargoyles. Shooting a glance at Theo he noticed the other boy looking right back.

He placed his pointer finger over his lips before reaching the exit and entering the hall.

He considered waiting at the door for Theo, but on the off chance that Malleus went that way he couldn’t risk being caught. Instead, he headed down the hallway and towards the field.
-
About thirty minutes later Theo arrived at the tree. The moment he saw Dain he flicked him on the head.

“I hope you know that my being late wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t need this to be at midnight.” He hissed at the beastman.

Dain smiled weakly and grabbed Theo’s wrist before he could pull it away, “my deepest apologies,” he purred, placing a chaste kiss on the back of Theo’s hand in imitation of old paintings of nobles.

Theo pulled his wrist away, “you said you met the boyfriend?” He grumbled, “why don’t you talk about that, oh great knight?”

Dain smiled at the title before gasping slightly, “oh , Theo, my darling roommate has been fooled into being with an ugly bitch.”

“What?” Theo stared at Dain, crinkling his face in confusion, “you could have messaged me this.”

“No, no, you don’t understand,” Dain replied, “it’s hard to put such disgust into words, I mean, he looks like he eats with a spork!”

“Ew.” Theo laughed slightly, before taking on a more serious tone, “but you could have sent me that, what’s the actual issue?”

“Something about him feels fake, but I can’t figure out what,” Dain muttered, “and he doesn’t smell right.”

“I thought you liked things that ‘didn’t smell right’” Theo mused, thinking back to the mushrooms in their forest, “though I suppose the fake feeling could hurt that.”

“It’s not the right kind of ‘not right’ or I wouldn’t bring it up!” Dain hissed causing Theo to frown, he hadn’t seen Dain this worked up in a while, “and Sebek was hurt!”

Theo gasped slightly, “why didn’t you start with that!”

“I need to set the scene so be quiet,” Dain grumbled, covering Theo’s mouth with one hand, “ok basically I was texted and given a meeting time in the greenhouse, right?”

Theo nodded as Dain continued, “but when Sebek gets there his hair’s a bit disheveled and it feels like he’s in pain. And his boyfriend is standing next to him and looking weird, so I’m already uncomfortable.”

Dain moved his hand away from Theo’s mouth, sure he wouldn’t interrupt anymore, and continued, “I asked a ton of questions, but he only answered like two. His name is apparently Orpheus, but what parents name a boring child a cool name? Anyway, eventually the conversation’s over and I start bringing Sebek back to the dorms and I see bruises on his shoulders. Then he stumbled at one point and when I grabbed him there was blood.”

Theo almost started to say something at that point, but Dain kept going, “and we get back to the dorm and he’s flinching and his eyes are darting and he’s lying to the vice housewarden, which I already knew about, and I don’t know what to do.”

Theo waited a few seconds to make sure Dain was done before asking, “do you know if they went to Heartslabyul at all?”

Dain clasped a hand to his mouth and, thinking back to the mirror chamber, said, “did something happen there?!”

Theo sighed and explained Riddle’s overblot with ease. It had become schoolwide gossip, so he knew most of the details.

“I guess that could explain any cuts, but if he only attacked with plants then why would there be bruising?” Dain’s voice lowered to a mutter again, “and why would his date be uninjured?”

Thinking about it, Dain figured that would explain why Sebek wasn’t surprised, but why wouldn’t he have been evacuated? Did his date leave him?

“It’s only an idea,” Theo said, noticing Dain’s distress and patting him on the head softly, “there is another possible reason…”

Dain looked up at him with his eyebrows raised, “oh? What do you think they were doing then?”

Theo blushed slightly, “well, you said Sebek’s hair was messy?”

“Yes,” Dain smiled slightly, sure that Theo was coming to a more intimate solution than the first one.

“And he wasn’t walking right?” Theo glanced and Dain just in time to see him nod, “and he had bruises on his upper body?”

Dain watched as Theo’s blush got redder, “they might have been having sex?” He whispered the last word as though he was ashamed he was the one bringing it up.

“I thought of that.” Dain said, his face returning to its serious state, “and that would be worse than any of the other options.”

“Really?” Theo looked surprised and, considering the other options were overblot residue and domestic violence, a bit concerned.

“Sebek wasn’t happy, when he was in the greenhouse,” Dain said with a deep frown, “and if their business was finished like he said, there would be no reason to be that upset unless the business was unpleasant for him.”

Theo ran his hands through his hair, “let’s put this theory on the back burner for now,” he looked Dain in the eyes, “we don’t have enough evidence to go that far.”

“Always a bad day when an overblot is the best option,” Dain said chuckling, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yeah.” Theo sighed, “I guess, until we can really narrow it down to one theory we should keep things quiet then?”

“I don’t like breaking people’s trust, gravity boy,” Dain replied, sighing as well, “let’s end here, but before you leave, do tell what you did with Malleus?”

Theo smiled softly, “he was really nice, he told me about gargoyles and his club, which walks around looking at architecture by the way, and I think I might join it.”

“What?” Dain stared at Theo in surprise, “I thought you were joining potions club?” He looked slightly unhappy.

“I can join two clubs, Dain,” Theo hummed, patting his friend once more, “I’ll still meet with you when you ask.”

“Oh, OK then,” Dain pouted slightly, but had no real reason to argue, “and of course you’ll still meet with me!”

Theo rolled his eyes, “if that’s it, then I’ll be going now,” and he walked away from the tree. As he disappeared into the night he moved his hand up to his lips, kissing it slightly, unseen by Dain.

“I’m doing the right thing, right?” Dain whispered into the darkness. He leaned against the tree for a moment, but eventually he too walked back towards his dorm.

Chapter Text

When Lilia had first seen Sebek return after hearing about the overblot he had let out a sigh of relief. It was quickly followed by more concern, though, because upon reaching the boy he noticed injuries blatantly hidden from other eyes.

His fear made him almost incapable of hiding his emotions once he heard that Sebek was with his roommate. The fae knew those injuries weren’t there in the morning and that admission meant there was a witness, or even a possible cause.

The worry that it was the latter practically forced him to drag Sebek away from the beastman and towards Silver and Malleus.

As he did he explained what happened with Riddle, “-so you should keep an eye open during your club meetings, just in case.”

When he thought about it more, Lilia decided he must speak to Crowley about that particular situation. Despite how well protected the school was from external threats, it needed to have more work internally. Maybe he could convince that conniving bastard to actually call a meeting for once in his career.

Unaware of Lilia’s distraction, Sebek nodded and yelled, “yes sir!” Though, to a trained eye, he looked a bit confused.

Throughout the entire conversation between the four of them Lilia sprinkled in several questions about how Sebek was feeling, but all of them were deflected. Not that the deflections surprised him, since Sebek had often avoided telling people when he was hurt. He was always too afraid of disappointing Malleus.

Eventually, Sebek left so he could take a rest in his bedroom and Lilia turned to his other children.

“His roommate knows something,” he said, frowning towards the first year dorms, “or at least, more than we do.”

Silver stared down at his plate frowning, “I’m sorry, father, I still haven’t been able to enter his dreamscape.” It had been bothering him all week. He was used to accidentally falling into Sebek’s dreams at times, a byproduct of their close relationship, but now it was as though they had never even met.

Lilia moved to Silver’s side and patted him on the back, “it’s not your fault, I’m sure you’re trying.” He knew how much that friendship meant to both boys and couldn’t see it having fallen into ruin that fast.

“We must figure this out.” Malleus declared decisively, “if his roommate truly knows something, then we must tear the knowledge out of him.”

“Malleus, he’s just a boy,” Lilia frowned at the prince, “we can’t hurt him without testimony against him.”

Malleus frowned back, lightning appearing in the window behind him, “I will not sit around as my aid is harmed.”

“We aren’t.” Lilia stared into Malleus’ eyes coldly till the third year nodded. He glanced at Silver to see the boy asleep on the table.

Moving his hand into his son’s hair softly he said, “if something is happening it will not go unpunished.” Not if he had any say in the matter.
-
Sebek’s week after the overblot felt unnatural to him. For one, Lilia kept warning him about things that went unmentioned in the last timeline. Along with that, Riddle had been stuck in the infirmary the whole time, or so Ortho said, and everything had felt somewhat sour in the halls.

Nobody was hurt or maimed, but every Heartslabyul student still had a terrified look in their eyes. During history class one day, a student had seen someone’s pen filled with a bit more ink than usual and had a panic attack.

Trein helped them through it, naturally, but it built a picture of the fear the students were feeling even as they put on brave faces. Looking at the human more carefully, Sebek noticed that they were one of the people he had saved from an assault of vines.

Some of the Heartslabyul students started asking for Riddle to step down or be expelled, while others called for accountability and change.

Even students out of the afflicted dorm were starting to seem panicked. By Wednesday, the headmaster could no longer ignore things and an assembly was called.

Crowley looked over the crowd of students and attempted to reassure them. He tried to explain the mental stress leading to overblots, but only a few people really listened. Once he mentioned Riddle, there was a slight uproar from the two factions of Heartslabyul.

The dormheads were standing by Crowley the whole time, but it was clear they all had different feelings on the matter. Sebek was certain Leona had fallen asleep midway through the speech and had simply gotten good at hiding it.

Azul looked downtrodden and sad, but he knew the merman was faking it. This, like everything else, was a business opportunity.

Kalim was terrified the whole time. Sebek was certain that the only thing stopping him from running to Riddle and trying to pay for his peace of mind was Jamil's hand clasped around his wrist.

Vil was stoic. It was a testament to his acting ability for certain as Sebek couldn’t tell what he had been thinking at all.

Idia had sent a tablet to the event. Ortho was sitting in his brother’s designated seat, watching the crowd, his eyes caught on Sebek for a few moments too long and the half-fae shook his head.

Malleus’ spot remained empty. It would have bothered Sebek if he hadn’t gotten used to it during the last timeline. He still grumbled about it for Silver, who was sitting next to him, despite the other boy falling asleep right alongside Leona.

After the assembly concluded Sebek decided it was safe to say that the event was a massive waste of time. People’s options hadn’t changed and Riddle wasn’t there to work through that.

Not that Riddle remained gone for long after that. Sebek was working on cleaning Riddle’s horse for equestrian club, a task that no one else was up for, when the second year entered the stables quietly.

It was after the main club had ended, so the only other person still around was Silver, who had fallen asleep right after comforting Riddle’s horse enough for Sebek to get close.

“Hello,” Riddle said quietly, alerting Sebek to his presence, “why are you here?”

Sebek paused in his brushing of the horse’s mane to look over at the redhead and smile, “I was tasked with cleaning your horse, since we weren’t sure when you’d get back.”

It was a simplified explanation, in all honesty, some were expecting Riddle to never return to the stables again.

“I see,” Riddle hummed, moving closer to inspect Sebek’s work, “you haven’t done too badly.”

It was clear he was handling everything softly, afraid he’d freak out again and lost control. Sebek patted the horse slightly as he thought about how it must have felt to be the first overblot. Nobody to understand you but yourself, and even you were failing.

“Of course I haven’t,” Sebek would have yelled, but Silver had taken so much care in calming the horse down that he wouldn’t dare.

Riddle rested a hand against its mane and sighed painfully, “I apologize for my actions at the unbirthday party,” he looked towards Sebek as though he was expecting something, “it was disgraceful and a stain upon the Queen of Hearts’ memory.”

Sebek wasn’t sure how to respond to that comment. He’d never had to before, since none of the overblots had a reason to talk to him. Malleus didn’t have the chance to.

“I am hosting another unbirthday party this weekend,” Riddle continued, Sebek startled out of his thoughts, “you are welcome to come.”

Sebek was somewhat confused at the invitation, he wasn’t that affected by the yelling during the party, but he supposed it made sense.

Riddle started to look uncomfortable, “if you don’t want to that is also fine,” he said guiltily.

“Oh! No, I’ll come, I was… surprised.” Sebek quickly responded. This would probably work well with their observation plan.

Riddle smiled weakly and watched Sebek finish cleaning his horse quietly. Once the first year was done he moved over to where Silver was sleeping and started trying to wake him up.

As he opened his eyes, Silver stared past Sebek towards Riddle. He shifted around Sebek protectively, “hi Riddle.”

The housewarden flinched, “hi Silver,” he looked back at Sebek, “I’ll see you on Saturday, Sebek.”

Riddle walked out of the stables alone. When he was gone Silver looked at Sebek with his head tilted, “what did he mean by that?”

Sebek explained the unbirthday party to a frowning Silver as they walked back to their dorm.

“I don’t know if you should go, I mean, you’re still inj-” Silver cut himself off before Sebek could figure out what he was saying.

“It’ll be fine!” Sebek shouted, watching Silver curiously. The other boy yawned slightly, but it felt a bit forced, as though he was trying to cover for something.

“Ask Lilia at least,” Silver mumbled as they entered their dorm’s mirror.

‘That won’t be hard,’ Sebek thought looking towards Lilia, who had developed a bad habit of finding them the moment they returned to the dorm. By they Sebek meant himself, which he had only figured out when Silver got back after him on Tuesday.

Before Lilia could say anything Sebek asked, “Lilia, may I go to the unbirthday party in Heartslabyul?”

Lilia looked a bit worried when he looked at Sebek, “of course you can,” he said, but he didn’t look very happy.

That didn’t matter to Sebek though, since he’d gotten what he wanted.
-
On the day of the unbirthday party Sebek was excited. They’d be putting a close on the first overblot without any life threatening injuries and both he and Ortho had agreed that was worth a celebration.

Of course, Ortho wouldn’t be celebrating with him.

He arrived at the tea garden with time to spare, sitting down in the same place he had sat before. Everyone was done setting up, but one of the rose bushes remained white.

Just as he was about to alert someone, Riddle entered the garden, “all hail our leader, the Red Sovereign himself… Housewarden Riddle!”

“We salute you, Housewarden Riddle!” Many of the students yelled. Looking around, Sebek could see that some of the people against the housewarden had seemingly changed their minds.

Riddle immediately analyzed the display around him, but cut himself off when it got to the dormouse, “Er, well, I suppose it’s fine either way.”

Trey went over to comfort him about the rules, “not everything has to change, you know.” He commented, mentioning a separate rule afterwards.

“Let’s try to set the bar at ‘it’s great if it’s this way,’ not ‘it absolutely has to be this way,’” he said with a smile. Riddle nodded in agreement, but didn’t say anything.

Nearby, Sebek could hear Cater cheerfully proclaiming how “Magicam-worthy” the garden was, and he couldn’t help but agree. It was almost picturesque.

“Wait a minute!” Riddle suddenly yelled, “there’s a white rose.”

The other students panicked, terrified he’d collar them all again. Ace and Deuce looked especially nervous, and Sebek suspected that they were in charge of the painting.

As everyone started to plead with him Riddle smiled, “well… I suppose I can overlook one of two missed roses.”

Sebek nodded, for what he could remember of Riddle, the boy had stopped using his collars after anything outside of heinous displays of cruelty. It looked like the same had happened this time.

The housewarden and some of the students decided to work together to quickly take care of the issue. Despite some grumbles along the way, they were soon ready for the tart that Riddle made.

The housewarden handed his homemade tart to the most affected students, who were more than willing to try it.

They all collectively yelled, “salty!” after trying it. Not that Grim seemed to mind as he continued to chow down.

Riddle gasped and mentioned the oyster sauce on the recipe. The others were stunned he hadn’t realized it was a joke.

“How could you not tell he was joking!” Ace yelled at the housewarden, before Yuu snickered and asked, “didn’t you fall for it too, Ace?”

“It was only supposed to be a splash, how much did you put in?” Cater asked the housewarden, still reeling.

“It’s an unlisted ingredient! How could I measure it if he wouldn’t tell me how much to put in?!” Riddle yelled back defensively.

Trey started to laugh loudly as he looked at the tart, thrilled that someone had actually fallen for the prank.

Riddle laughed back as a face appeared over the tart, grabbing a fork with an unseen hand and taking a bite.

“It’s so disgusting it’s funny!” Deuce chimed while Ace burst into laughter. Soon the whole dorm was chuckling.

“You know, in its own weird way, I think it’s actually kinda good!” Grim yelled after finishing both his and Yuu’s slices. Cater agreed with him and several students looked terrified for the sanity of their resident social media addict.

“But you like it because it’s not sweet, right?” Trey asked Cater, and Sebek filed the infuriated away for later. If he ever needed Cater, don’t bribe him with sweet foods.

Cater glanced away slightly, “I’ve never told anyone that.”

“You casually bring up my paint the roses spell every time we’re eating sweets,” Trey explained, smiling brightly.

The two third years had a short conversation before the sneaking face made themself known, “Mm mm mmm! Your baked goods are always so delightful, Trey.”

It was Che’nya, who, as Riddle was quick to point out, had no real reason to be there.

“And those three? What about them?” The beastman asked, looking at Sebek while pointing at Yuu and Grim.

“Hey! You’re that weird semi-invisible cat guy from before!” Grim yelled at him, while Yuu only muttered, “three?”

“So you never told us-what dorm are you from?” Grim asked Che’nya, tilting his head slightly.

“He’s a student at our long time rival school, the Royal Sword Academy,” Trey explained, causing the entire dorm to glare at Che’nya.

Yuu looked surprised and distracted from his previous confusion, while the students from this world were yelling in outrage.

“He’s one of those pompous jerk-faces?!” One student yelled, causing Sebek to snicker. Such a lack of creativity in their insults, if Ortho was here he’d be slandering them.

Quickly, the students started to yell at the cat and threaten him.

“Well, now that I’ve tasted some tart, perhaps I should see myself out,” Che’nya chimed, his body disappearing into the air.

“After him! Don’t let him get away!” The students yelled chasing the vanished cat, despite the fact that they couldn’t see anything there.

It was quite bloodthirsty, but everyone was participating. Both sides of the dorm had joined in their hatred. Sebek glanced at Grim to see him digging into more of the tarts while the others were distracted.

“Hello there little time traveler~” a voice said in his ear. He turned, but couldn’t see anyone there, “I don’t know if your game will work out like you want it too.”

It was Che’nya whispering. Sebek paled. He had thought that the excuse would work for at least a bit, but nobody threatens about a game they aren’t playing.

Nothing else was said, but Sebek spent the rest of the party with an unruly sense of dread. Once it was over he left quickly, only being stopped once on his way to the exit.

“What are you doing here?” Yuu asked him, holding onto his arm.

“I was invi-” Sebek started, but Yuu cut him off, “actually, what was up with you and Grim? How did you know we’d end up in the dwarf mines?”

Sebek panicked even more than he had with Che’nya, Yuu was too important a figure to know. With his stress, Sebek could only think of one cover, “I can see possible futures… um… so I was… looking out for you?”

He almost smacked himself in the head. No way Yuu was going to believe that absurd lie without proof.

“Okay, that makes sense.” Yuu nodded and walked back to Grim. Right, Sebek had forgotten they didn’t know that much about magic yet. His excuse would hold until Yuu asked someone about it.

He really needed to talk to Ortho about this.

Chapter Text

Idia wasn’t sure how to handle Ortho’s disappearances that were becoming far too common.

The whole week his baby brother had been vanishing into the walls and out of his sight without ever alerting him. It wasn’t a problem with his machinery, Idia had checked multiple times, so he had no idea what was happening.

That was ignoring the passive aggressive comments. Not that Idia thought they were intentional, but there were so many. Mostly about his social life, which was crazy because that hadn’t changed in years.

It was confusing and concerning and not good, so when he woke up one Saturday with Ortho missing he decided that he had to find him.

Idia threw on a hoodie and closed it around his face tightly to cover any extremely noticeable features. Not that it mattered much, since it was too early for any Ignihyde students to be walking around. It wasn’t even noon.

Near his room there was a closet. During the time they had been at Night Raven College Ortho had claimed that particular closet as his hiding place. Not that Ortho knew that Idia knew about it, but that wasn’t important at the moment.

He opened the closet door with a creak and snuck into the room. There was Ortho, powered down in a sitting position next to a charging station that hadn’t been there last year.

Idia frowned. It didn’t make sense for Ortho to turn off to the side of a charger unless it was being used for something else or getting fixed, but there was nothing on it.

His eyes tracked the layout of the room before spotting some highly detailed synthetic skin. He almost thought it was real, it was more realistic than anything he had bothered to make, but it smelled a bit too much like a new car for that.

Around the skin there were various parts, the same kinds he had used when making Ortho, scattered on a small table turned work bench.

He stopped looking when he saw what was in the box at the edge of the bench. Seven sets of pristine eyes, blue, gold, white, brown, silver, green, and red, all resting on individual cushions.

There was one empty cushion sitting right next to the others, which would have been holding eyes that perfectly matched Ortho’s bright yellow.

Finally Idia realized what Ortho was doing. He had made himself another form.

His heart sunk in his chest as he quickly fled back to his room down the hall. His mind was racing.

Was he so bad of an older brother that Ortho wanted to change identity to escape him? Or was it the family? Was Ortho trying to escape them before he ended up like his predecessor?

Idia curled up in front of his computer and stared at the blank screen. He had never thought Ortho would do that.

His eyes glazed over, “would Ortho have done the same?” He wondered, thinking back to the little boy whose smile lit up the room until the moment the light left his eyes. His eyes that perfectly matched the ones sitting in both of Ortho’s bodies.

A tear fell onto Idia’s hoodie as he watched himself in the reflection. He wasn’t sure if he could let Ortho go again.
-
Ortho’s trip back to Ignihyde was mostly uneventful. He shifted through the crowds of students that had started seeping into the halls with ease.

Whispers echoed around him, it seemed like the headmaster couldn’t keep the overblot secret after all.

“Did you hear about Housewarden Riddle?”

“How’d that happen?”

“What a psycho!”

“Thank the gods I’m not in Heartslabyul!”

“Did anyone die?”

“I heard he hung a first year.”

“I heard he was getting expelled.”

Once he entered the Mirror chamber the voices changed to different comments. The students there were all wearing red.

“Who’s going to be the new dorm leader?”

“How am I supposed to stay in the same dorm as him?”

“Did they fix the maze?”

“I think I smelled blood at one point!”

“Did anyone see him getting carried out?”

“Why couldn’t the headmaster defeat Riddle himself?”

“Can that happen to me?”

“I think I sprained my ankle.”

“What if something happened to the hedgehogs?!”

It was rather loud and far too crowded even with the students leaving the room.

Ortho wished he could have flown over them, but the body he was in needed to seem normal. Instead, he squeezed his way through the masses, his fake skin brushing against many people in his way. He could only hope it held up.

The moment he arrived at Ignyhide the noise stopped. Everyone was in their rooms, hiding from the outside world, or at the very least outside of the dorm.

His shoes made a light clicking noise against the flooring as he walked to the kitchens. The first aid kit and baking soda would have to be returned using this body, since they were grabbed with it.

As per usual, there was no one in the room and he had no trouble returning the borrowed items. Once that was completed he left to change bodies.

His main body was hidden in a closet near Idia’s room, the same closet he hid most of his secrets from Idia. He dropped the foundation and covering kit into the drawer in the wall. There was a slight swish as the opening vanished back into the stone.

He attached his skin suit into the charger and started to transfer back into his body.
-
The rest of that day was full of talking to Idia and almost nothing else. It was the week that bothered him. Idia had been acting unusual the whole time, skirting around Ortho and asking him about any mistakes he had made.

It was freaking him out a lot, so he had started trying to help Idia more. He didn’t even message Sebek outside of updates on Riddle’s condition till the other boy texted him after an equestrian club meeting.

Not that the other students were having any more normal a week. All of them were panicking and arguing about what to do with Riddle.

Even the Ignihyde students were invested. At one point Crowley called a housewarden meeting and required personal participation from everyone.

They all trickled in around the time of the meeting. Vil and Kalim were both a few minutes early, though Kalim had been dragged in by Jamil, while Leona and Idia stumbled in a few minutes late.

Ortho had arrived earlier than all of them, since he wanted to observe the group and couldn’t be certain Idia would be there.

The other housewardens were on time with the notable exception of Malleus who had been forgotten once more. Lilia was there in his place.

The final arrival was Riddle being held up by Crewel. He didn’t look very well off, but had made a clear effort to be there. He sat in his chair with a silence the other housewardens were clearly unused to. Kalim tried to speak with him, but was hushed by Jamil.

After everyone was seated Crowley started to speak, “after the events on Saturday I have decided that we must hold an assembly to address them.”

Ortho could have scoffed. The assembly wasn’t just for ‘addressing the issue,’ but also for disaster prevention. The headmage didn’t want to get sewed again.

Crowley started to make a plan for the assembly, which mostly involved them standing there as a group while he talked to the students. Eventually he finished his planning for the assembly and gestured at Riddle.

“Mister Rosehearts will remain a housewarden unless he lacks signs of improvement,” Crowley said with a smile that turned darker as he finished with, “do not question this choice.”

Riddle nodded, but didn’t say a word. The other housewardens didn’t openly comment on the decision either, but their reactions were different.

Leona had yawned and rolled his eyes while Azul gazed at Riddle like a hungry shark. Kalim smiled at Riddle and started to talk, but was subtly silenced by Jamil who was glaring at the headmage.

Vil’s lips were pursed, but his eyes were stuck in the coldness he excelled at. Idia’s hair was flickering slightly and he kept glancing at the other people in the room. Lilia was glaring at Riddle slightly. The look reminded Ortho of how people described a mama bear seeing humans near her cubs.

When Ortho looked at Crewel he realized the man was doing exactly what he had done. Once the silence had gone on for a few moments Crowley clapped his hands together.

“Everyone is dismissed, except Shroud and Schoenheit.” He declared into the silence and soon the housewardens were dispersing.

Idia had paled at being called for while Vil simply nodded. The two boys remained seated and watched as the others left them alone with Crowley.

“I need you two to get a handle on your students!” Crowley snapped as the door closed behind Riddle and Crewel, “for the past few days all the Ignihyde students have been trying to hack into the cameras at Heartslabyul and the Pomfiore students are dealing potions!”

Ortho smiled behind his mask and held back a laugh. This had happened in the last timeline as well, since there had been a market for proof of the event.

The two third years both glared at Crowley, but Vil spoke first, “the Pomfiore students have only been giving out harmless potions to students in need of them, headmage.”

Vil had said the title like it was a slur and, before Crowley could argue, Ortho commented, “and the Ignihyde students have remained incapable of viewing the footage thanks to our security system.”

Crowley scowled at Vil and grumbled, “the students need permission from Crewel to hand out any other potions and if we find out that they didn’t they will be punished.”

Then he turned to Ortho and continued, “and if you believe in the security that much then any repercussions from footage being leaked will be seen as your responsibility.”

Idia’s hair flared up into a raging red as he glared at the headmage, “it won’t fail,” he hissed before standing up and preparing to leave the room.

Vil sighed and calmly said, “I will inform my dorm of this decision,” before following after Idia. Ortho quickly scurried behind him.

As Idia rushed back to his dorm Vil grabbed him by the shoulder, “either you or Ortho have to be at the next club meeting,” he commanded at the introvert, whose hair had rapidly lost its furious coloring.

“I can go!” Ortho chimed at the blonde before Idia could respond. His brother looked at him with an expression he couldn’t quite place, but didn’t argue with the idea.

“Good.” Vil snapped at the boy just before entering the Pomfiore mirror. The Shrouds exited into their own moments later.
-
On the day of the assembly Idia refused to go in person, stating, “I’ve dealt with enough normies this week!” before pulling out his tablet and handing it to the younger boy.

Ortho wasn’t going to argue. He flew to the assembly alone and sat in Idia’s seat. Looking around at the housewardens, Ortho was certain that nobody was seeing a ‘united front.’

Once Crowley started talking Ortho started looking for Sebek. As he watched the students he saw Ace and Deuce whispering to each other next to Yuu and Grim.

Grim was glaring at an angle, sniffing, and, after following his gaze, Ortho saw Sebek. He paused as they made eye contact. Then the other boy shook his head and turned towards Silver, who was sleeping on his shoulder, muttering something.

Ortho had no idea why he did that, but continued to survey the room anyway. He saw many of the students he fought with sitting around.

Most of them weren’t too interested in what was going on onstage, though Jack looked very disappointed in the sleeping Leona.

Epel seemed thrilled to be away from Vil, though Rook had been watching him like a hawk. The expressions he was making were definitely not housewarden approved.

Floyd was messing around on his phone, which didn’t surprise Ortho. After seeing the dreamscape Floyd, who was going insane from nothing bad happening, it would confuse him more if the second year was invested.

Ortho looked towards the teachers for a moment. They were all seemingly calm, but it was clear that they were concerned.

Ortho stopped looking around and watched the wall behind them. There was club after this assembly. Vil had wanted some in person analysis of the cast, so there could be better tech used in the background.

Crowley finished his speech with a dramatic smile and dismissed all students.

Idia’s tablet shot out of the room like he had been there in person and not just online. Usually he would just let Ortho take him back, but he wasn’t doing that anymore. It worried the robot slightly, but he figured it was just a matter of it getting returned faster.

Ortho flew out of the room a few minutes later and went towards the club room. He ended up being the first person there, obviously, so he waited for Vil to find him.

Looking out the window he saw Riddle entering the school with another student. Ortho smiled, that was another reason to have the assembly, Riddle was able to walk outside without anyone’s scorn.

A cough sounded from behind him, “hello Ortho,” Vil’s smooth voice echoed into the room.

He turned around and cheerfully replied with his own “hey!” before walking to the corner of the room to observe the club members.

Vil leaned against the wall, sighing. His poker face was replaced with a pained frown until the doors opened and the first student walked in.

Ortho hadn’t expected Vil to care, but the third year almost messed up his hair. Almost. The rest of the club meeting was filled with student analysis and meeting various members with various opinions on non-living sentience.

They didn’t have to say anything for him to realize that they were uncomfortable with him being a participant. A few were looking at him like a tool to be used, or a specimen to dissect.

He was used to that though, so it didn’t bother him. He frowned at it for a few moments, but then moved along.

By the end of the club meeting he had gathered a large sum of information. When he returned to Idia they both started working.
-
A few days later Sebek messaged him.

Teammate: I was invited to the second unbirthday party in Heartslabyul.

Ortho: r u going?

Teammate: Yes. Are you planning on observing?

Ortho: I wuz gonna watch Leona

Teammate: That makes sense. I will tell you how the event goes afterwards.

Ortho smiled. They had a plan again. Despite the fact that it was only short term it was comforting.
-
On that Saturday he snuck into Savanaclaw to watch Leona and Reggie, who were both in Leona’s room.

“Awww, sounds like those Heartslabyul twits are having some kind of feast today. Must be nice,” Ruggie complained, “how come Savanaclaw doesn’t have any traditions that involve eating lots of free food?”

Leona frowned, “Bah, it’s a beautifully sunny day and they’re stuffing their faces with cookies and cake? Grossin’ me out over here.”

Ortho frowned with him, he had come here for information and all they were talking about was stuff he knew.

“Anyway, Ruggie. You know that’s not what I’m here to ask you about,” Leona grumbled.

‘Yes, Leona! Get him into the right topic!’ Ortho though excitedly. His efforts were not in vain after all.

“Ah, that. Just leave it to me, Boss,” Ruggie snickered, “all the preparations are proceeding smoothly!”

Ortho smiled at that. Despite their efforts being entirely against the student body that was exactly what Ortho wanted to hear.

“Then those fools won’t be happily guzzling tea for much longer. That goes double for that snob Malleus. They got no idea what’s comin’…” Leona smirked and started to laugh with Ruggie following right after him.

Once he was done laughing he sent Ruggie away to get him food and started to look around. His ears were twitching slightly, as though he felt like something was off.

Ortho panicked as he realized that his presence must have been felt. He floated down into a tree and hid, just in time to see Leona peering out at exactly where he had been moments before.

He would need to get better at hiding if Leona could feel him watching both times. The beastman closed his window with a glare and muttered something about chess pieces as Ortho snuck back to the mirror.

An hour later he got a message from Sebek that ruined the success of earlier in the day.

Teammate: I have made a severe and continuous lapse in judgement.

Ortho: whut?

Teammate: I had to explain to Yuu why I knew about the mines.

Ortho: what?

Teammate: I told him I could see the future.

“What!” Ortho almost yelled at the message. What kind of an excuse was that? He already had a unique magic!

Teammate: Yuu bought it though, so we’re good as long as nobody else finds out.

Ortho: we’re screwed

Teammate: Yes.

Ortho: do you have a recorded UM yet?

Teammate: I do not.

Ortho sighed, that would make it easy. He could just change the databases and nobody would bat an eye. He started to message Sebek that fact, but didn’t finish.

Ortho: Great, I’ll change it to…

Teammate: However, Lilia already knows about it.

Ortho: Fuck You.

Teammate: Sorry.

He just had to make things difficult and have a support system he felt comfortable confiding in. This bitch.

Ortho: try to make sure Yuu doesn’t tell anyone

Teammate: Alright. I will mention that I am keeping it a secret.

Ortho: sure

Ortho: don’t be obvious

Teammate: I am not obvious.

Ortho: ur an idiot

Teammate: I know.

Idia looked over at Ortho for a moment once he finished the round he’d been playing and asked, “is everything alright?”

Ortho stopped messaging Sebek, “yeah, sorry, just something with the firewall.”

Idia frowned, but then nodded and continued playing. Ortho almost screamed.

Ortho: I’ll see you later

Ortho: we need a plan for Leona

Ortho: cuz his plan is going well

Teammate: Understood.

Chapter Text

Sebek woke up the day after the Unbirthday party with a deep sigh. His lack of dreams prevented him from being distracted, so all the worries he had during the day carried over to the morning.

He had ended up avoiding Lilia for the majority of the afternoon after the party, mostly because of guilt, but at one point he had asked the fae about his unique magic. As Sebek expected, Lilia remembered every detail about his training like the proud parent he was.

It was nice to see, especially after dream Lilia didn’t even remember him. It felt unusually comfortable and safe. He hadn’t realized he still wasn’t expecting that.

He rolled out of his bed and shook his head, his mind wandering to Yuu once again. The other boy wouldn’t suspect anything, but Ortho hadn’t told him if there was any other insurance on the matter.

Why had he told Grim anything in the first place? He could have just followed them, but no. He had to tell them. Now he had so many different stories to keep up. He wondered how Ortho was keeping all of this together.

He stuck a comb through his hair harshly, glaring at himself in the mirror. He wasn’t sure how he’d keep doing this. His schoolwork had started to pile up and every night he had to keep it balanced next to the overblot covering and lies.

He grabbed his hair gel and smeared his hair back into its usual shape. Everyone around him started looking at him strangely, even his classmates, and it wasn’t even midterms yet.

He glanced at Dain. He hadn’t woken up yet, and for that Sebek was grateful. The cat beastman was the only person Sebek had to spend time with last night. He had brought him some dinner while he was avoiding Lilia.

Dain hadn’t even asked why Sebek wanted to be alone, which was nice. Though he had watched Sebek eat very carefully, almost like he was expecting something.

He changed into his athletic wear and left the room. There was another equestrian club meeting today and after that he would meet with Ortho. Apparently so he could be yelled at in person, or so he was told.

“Sebek, good morning!” Lilia said as he entered the kitchens to grab breakfast, “how did you sleep?”

Sebek had to hold himself back from scrunching up his nose. He really didn’t know how to end conversations with Lilia anymore, and he never started them, but he responded anyway, “I slept well!”

Lilia smiled and grabbed an egg from the fridge, “would you like some eggs? I was just about to make them.”

“No!” Sebek yelled quickly. His week may not have been perfect, but it’s too soon for him to die, he needed to save everyone else first.

“Oh,” Lilia pursed his lips, “you’ll still eat something though, right?” He looked a bit worried as he poured copious amounts of salt onto what was supposed to be a sunny side up.

“Yes sir!” Sebek confirmed, grabbing a bit of bread off the counter. He smiled weakly and started eating it quietly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Lilia hummed, “you never told me how the Unbirthday party went.” It was phrased casually, but Sebek knew he had to answer.

“It went fine,” he muttered guiltily, “an RSA student showed up at one point, but everything else was pretty nice.”

Lilia hummed and frowned, taking a bite out of his finished egg abomination, “that’s good.”

Sebek wasn’t really sure what to say after that, so the two ended up sitting in silence till he got up to go to the equestrian club meeting.

“Don’t forget to bring Silver with you,” Lilia chimed as he left. Surveillance had become more common and harder to avoid even while he was out of the dorm.

“I won’t.”
-
Sebek and Silver both arrived at the club meeting early, and the only person there to greet them was Riddle. This would be his first official day of rejoining the club, and he wanted it to be as perfectly calm as it could be.

“Hello, Sebek. You left rather quickly after the party yesterday,” the housewarden commented, looking a bit sad, “I hope Che’nya didn’t bother you too much.”

Sebek’s eyes widened slightly, of course he had left quickly after dealing with Che’nya and Yuu, he hadn’t thought about how Riddle might interpret his actions. He hoped the other boy didn’t stress too much, since it could affect his physical state heavily so soon after the overblot.

“Oh, no! I just was working on something,” he started, before pausing and panicking, another lie he’d have to keep up with that it was too late to change.

“Oh,” Riddle smiled, looking relieved, though Silver looked questioningly towards Sebek.

“Project?” The tired boy whispered, unheard by both Sebek and Riddle. He looked over to Sebek and studied his face carefully, but couldn’t tell if it was a lie.

“Anyways I’ve planned for a minor amount of additional supervision on the students by the more trustworthy upperclassmen,” Riddle started to explain as he walked them towards the center of the stable, “that includes you Silver, and then continuing with club as normal.”

Silver turned away from Sebek and nodded, “I can do that, and make sure there’s no disruptions at this meeting at least.”

Riddle nodded back and the three boys worked in silence till the other students arrived.

It turned out that the supervision had been necessary after all. Several extra students had come to the meeting after finding out that Riddle would be there. Despite many of the Heartslabyul students starting to vouch for him there was still considerable concern about the safety of the students with him there.

Riddle had remained rather calm for the situation, but his hands shook as some of the students yelled at and mocked him. They were kicked out for disturbing the horses soon after, but Riddle himself didn’t do a thing.

Despite Riddle’s joy about returning to the stables, he finished the day with a pained expression and a speedy exit that was mirrored shortly after by Sebek.

Silver had fallen asleep in one of the rooms again and this time no one was there to wake him up, since Sebek snuck away.

He and Ortho had agreed that they would continue to meet in the rose maze, since it was the most covered and hidden, so he headed there behind the housewarden.

On the way he bumped into Yuu, Grim, Ace, and Deuce, all walking out of the mirror. Yuu grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the side while telling the others to go on without him.

“Nice to see you mint,” he said before getting right to the point, “do you think your future sight ability can tell me a way to get home?”

Sebek raised his eyebrows, Yuu hadn’t revealed his origin to everyone ever and only told the people outside of his close friends after Idia’s overblot.

“Can’t you use the mirror?” He questioned, already knowing the answer. Yuu’s eyes widened and he glanced at the wall for a moment, contemplating whether to tell him or not.

Eventually he came to a decision, “I’m not from Twisted Wonderland and I need to get back.”

Sebek didn’t even have to fake his surprise. He hadn’t expected Yuu to be that honest that quickly. It took him a moment to come up with a response.

“You’re an alien?” He curled his face into a deeply confused expression.

Yuu snickered but explained his situation without further hesitation. He added a lot more detail than he did before and ended his explanation with the same request, “so can you?”

Sebek frowned, “it doesn’t really work that way,” the other boy’s eyes dimmed slightly into a deep sadness, “oh.”

He looked so dejected that Sebek felt even more guilty for deceiving the prefect, “I’ll tell you if I do see any possibilities, Yuu.”

Yuu smiled at the half fae and thanked him, “what’s your name, by the way?”

Sebek blushed slightly, he couldn’t believe he forgot to tell the human his name during this whole meeting, “it’s Sebek.”

“Nice to meet you, Sebek, I’m Yuu.” They shook hands and Yuu walked back to the other first years while Sebek walked over to the mirrors.

Before Yuu could leave the room Sebek remembered what Ortho told him, “Yuu!”

Yuu turned back as he stood in the doorway to see Sebek staring at him, “could you keep it a secret, please?” He smiled and nodded, “of course, if you want me too.”

With that confirmation Yuu left the room and Sebek vanished through the Heartslabyul mirror. Once he got to the bench he sighed.

It looked like Ortho had arrived first.

—————————————————————

Ortho spent his entire afternoon, after his stalking, trying to create an excuse for Sebek’s new ‘future seeing’ ability. Even if Yuu agreed to hide it, people were not reliable with secrets.

The best thing he could think of was making it Orpheus’ unique magic, but it didn’t work too well if Idia found out. Still, it was better to say that Sebek was trying to keep his ‘boyfriend’ safe than to confess that he time traveled.

Ortho pulled up the file he was setting up for Orpheus. Age 16, no parents, from the kingdom of hearts, unique magic none.

He tapped his knee and pouted. He’d have to come up with a name for the ability if he wanted the alibi to work, but UM names had very disorganized relevance.

It could be something to do with his name, or his leader, but it could also be a poem or a joke. He figured it’d be interesting if it referenced something, but too noticeable.

Future sight… he spent all night wondering what he’d call it. Maybe he could reference Idia’s UM. Where Idia opens the gate he peers through its bars? But that’s more of a seeing the dead thing. Though in a sense they were doing that.

Maybe a window thing then. No references included. Sebek had said he could see possible futures, so what if he called it Kaleidoscope something. That could work.

He started working through combos of words, up to three was the rule. It was rather difficult, but he eventually made a list.

“Kaleidoscope time” sounds weird.

“Future images” on the nose.

“Shattered time” what is this, a fae-drama?

“Out of hereafter” why?

“Time scope” sounds like a weapon.

“Fleeing subsequent ends” too wordy.

“No end of beginnings” too referential.

“Time’s bitch” obvious joke.

That last one was super vetoed, but he’d talk to Sebek about the others either way. His body wasn’t as charged as he would have liked by the time he finished his list, but he didn’t have the time to rest inconspicuously before Idia woke up.

Idia had continued to be awkward around him for a while, but eventually the third year started to get more comfortable again. Though he had started personally fixing up any of Ortho’s issues, which Ortho assumed was a response to the time issue excuse.

His actions had the unfortunate side effect of making it harder for Ortho to get parts for Orpheus. Not that it mattered, since most of the body regenerated, but it made it near impossible to do any upgrades.

Once Idia woke Ortho left the room to grab his breakfast. There was no exiting the room planned for Idia on this Sunday.

He hovered through the halls and found nothing in his way for a while, so he tuned out until he got back to Idia.

“What are you planning on doing today?” His brother asked when he returned.

“I’m going for a walk to meet more people,” Ortho chimed as the other boy started to eat. It was a lie of course. He was planning on meeting with Sebek, but at this point it didn’t really matter what he said, because Idia kept letting him leave.

“That’s nice,” Idia said with a frown, switching from his food to his laptop casually. Their conversation didn’t go any further, but Idia was glancing at him every few minutes till he left.
-
He arrived at Heartslabyul first this time. He was in his Orpheus body again, so he decided to sit and wait like a normal human.

He got bored very fast. He started looking at the roses closely before hearing a crash. A few moments later there were concerned cries of “Jamie!” and loud footsteps a few bushes over.

Ortho remembered that name. It was one of the first students that had been hit by Ruggie’s attacks, a second year member of Heartslabyul’s Spell Drive team that broke his ankle on a bench.

The noises started getting quieter as the students left towards their dorm.

“Ortho!” He heard from behind him. Glancing around he saw Sebek walking towards him with a smile.

“I talked to Yuu,” the half-fae explained, “he wants our help with getting home in return for keeping the secret.”

Ortho frowned, “call me Orpheus,” he grumbled, “and what secret did you tell him?”

“I told him I was keeping my future sight a secret, didn’t really say why, and he asked if I could see how to help him which I can’t,” Sebek started to explain, “also this needs to be quick. I left Silver in the stables.”

Ortho almost smacked his hand against his face in disappointment, “you couldn’t have just waited till he was awake?”

“It’s easier this way,” Sebek muttered, “and I’ve been timing his naps, so I know he’ll probably not wake up for another half hour.”

Ortho rolled his eyes, but dropped the topic quickly, “in that case I’ll just tell you what we’re doing.”

“So far Leona’s goals are working and so we will make sure that Yuu gets assigned the case and Jack helps him.” Ortho said, nodding, “then we’ll hide and fight like we did last time.”

Sebek sighed, but nodded before asking, “will you keep watching Leona?”

“I have to.” The robot grumbled. He wasn’t just doing it to make sure everything happened, but also to make sure that he was good enough at hiding to avoid Rook’s gaze once they had to deal with Vil.

“I made a list of names for the foresight ability, by the way,” he chimed, suddenly distracted, “if Yuu finds out about your actual UM, then we’ll tell him you’re covering for me as Orpheus.”

“Why would I be covering for you?” Sebek asked him with a head tilt.

“Dain already thinks we’re dating, so why not Yuu too,” Ortho hummed, “anyway we’ll need a name for it and I can’t decide, so you’ll be getting a list.”

Sebek nodded right as his phone pinged. It was Silver asking where he went.

“Not for another half hour, huh?” Ortho hissed, flicking Sebek on the head and grabbing him, “you’ll have to get there quickly.”

The two boys started to run as quietly as they could towards the mirror, but once they were close Ortho let go of Sebek.

“This is a great way to practice lying properly,” he whispered in the half-fae’s ear spitefully, “I’ll message you about everything, maybe we should stop meeting in person.”

Then he pushed Sebek towards the mirror and waited till he left to start following. A glint of red could be visible through the bushes as he left.

Chapter Text

Dain Hargeven

Age 16 (1st Year)

Birthday - 8.10

Favorite Food - Fish Sticks w/ Scrambled Eggs and Mushrooms

Least Favorite Food - Oatmeal

Likes - Conspiracy Theories

Dislikes - The Consequences of His Actions she conse on my quence till i reper the cussions

Talent - Creative Writing

Chapter Text

The next few days was a whirl of hearing about injuries that seemed accidental, but that Sebek knew were not. He was so distracted he had started missing meals.

After the accident in Heartslabyul that he and Ortho had overhead, two Pomfiore students were hit. One of them had grabbed the pot during a lab, which had ended up spilling potion on the other.

Naturally, it was a suspicious occurrence on its own, but with the many similar incidents that happened after it was easy to understand Crowley’s necessary investigation.

It didn’t seem like much progress was being made on Yuu’s part, but Sebek couldn’t blame him for that. It was unfair for the headmage to expect so much of any student, let alone one that had few connections and even less information about the world.

Then Trey ‘fell down the stairs’ and some of Heartslabyul got involved. They started interviewing all possible candidates for an attack, which had varying amounts of success.

Then Jamil got attacked and Jack joined their group. It all seemed to have been working out exactly like the first time.

Despite their plans working, Sebek was feeling tired. His body wasn’t as strong as it usually was, but he couldn’t tell why. It wasn’t failing him much, so he didn’t worry. Not until equestrian club.

Silver, Sebek, and Riddle had been riding near each other and hadn’t seemed terribly concerned about anything. Riddle kept glancing at the bushes, though, and glancing at the other two often. Suddenly, Silver toppled off of his horse.

Sebek had tried to catch him, but he wasn’t quick enough. As he watched Silver fall he panicked and his body failed him. Had he reached out any further, he probably would have fallen face first into the grass.

Instead Silver hit the ground with a thud, frightening his horse into stepping almost directly on his arm. The horse was pulled away at the last moment by Riddle, but its hoof grazed Silver’s hand as it fell.

Sebek quickly dismounted and rushed over to the second year, “Silver!”

The boy in question groaned and pushed himself up with his good arm before looking at Sebek with a weak smile.

“Are you alright!” Sebek yelled, not even having to fake it, “can you walk? We need to get you to the infirmary.”

Silver’s smile grew confused, “you aren’t going to scold me for my clumsiness?” He questioned, staring into Sebek’s eyes.

Sebek paused, he would have, if he didn’t know, but he wasn’t about to scold Silver for something Ruggie did. He glanced at the bushes to see a blur of brown hair flickering away.

“Can you walk?!” He asked loudly, turning his gaze to Silver’s eyes again.

The second year lifted himself up before stumbling back down, “I think my ankle is sprained, sorry.”

He watched Sebek carefully as the other boy moved to pick him up and carry him over to the stables and Riddle. That would make perfect sense to Silver, Sebek assumed, since first years didn’t learn controlled levitation.

Sebek wasn’t looking at his face, so he didn’t see the delicate flush paired with slight concern blooming on it as they walked.

Of course, once they got to the stables Silver was handed over to Riddle to be ‘carried’ the rest of the way by magic.

Sebek followed after them and stayed by Silver’s bed for a while, but was eventually kicked out of the infirmary by Lilia muttering about growing boys needing dinner.

Instead of leaving, he fell down outside the door and curled against the wall. Then he pulled open his phone. This level of change needed to be mentioned.

Sebek: There has been an issue.

Teammate: whut?

Sebek: Silver was attacked by Ruggie during equestrian club.

Teammate: nooooooo

Teammate: he’s fine though?

Sebek: He is fine. I carried him to the stables and Riddle brought him to the infirmary.

Teammate: carried?????????

Teammate: u mean levitated?

Teammate: or like potato sack?

Sebek: I am not quite that disgraceful. I would never carry him as a sack.

Teammate: soooooo

Teammate: levitating?

Sebek: No. That would be…

He paused in his typing. He wasn’t sure what made him carry Silver instead of levitate. He hadn’t been considering their plans secrecy, that’s for sure.

Sebek: No. That would be suspicious since we haven’t learned that yet.

Teammate: good planning

Teammate: princess carry ^_^

Teammate: I’m shucked u could keep ur cool

Teammate: shocked*

Sebek glared at the message for a moment. Ortho was right, but that didn’t make it any less unnecessary.

Sebek: I will ignore that comment in favor of informing you that I may be ill.

Teammate: isn’t that not easy for fae

Sebek: I am weaker than usual and more tired. I do not believe it is plan related, so if it gets worse I will inform my liege.

Teammate: have u been eating? And drinking water?

Sebek: That may be part of the issue. I do not believe it is all of it.

Teammate: don’t forget to eat and drink water!

Sebek: Of course.

Sebek: Please remain updating me on the situation with Leona.

Teammate: ye

Teammate: um name?

Sebek: What?

Teammate: what name for UM??????

Sebek smiled to himself weakly. He may have forgotten to look at those, but that was irrelevant. He looked back at Ortho’s sheet of possible names.

Sebek: Out of hereafter sounds good.

Teammate: of course you’d pick a fancy one

Teammate: fine

Sebek: What is so bad about that one? It was one of your ideas.

Teammate: no accounting for taste

Teammate: I’ll set it up

Sebek: That will work.

Teammate: k gtg

Sebek: Goodbye.

As he says goodbye to Ortho the clicking noise of the door opening sounds beside him.

“Sebek?” Lilia questioned, exiting the infirmary, “I told you to get food!” He pouts, grabbing Sebek by the underarms and pulling him up.

“Is Sil-”

“Silver will be fine, Crewel says that it’s mostly minor injuries,” Lilia interrupted, dragging him along the hall, “he’ll be able to get around by tomorrow, which is more than I can say about some of the other recent accidents.”

“That’s good,” Sebek mumbled tiredly, wobbling against the wall for a moment before speeding up with Lilia.

Once they got to the dorm Lilia trapped him at the table and pushed a plate in front of him before sitting down next to him.

“I’ll be sitting here for a while,” Lilia hummed, leaning his cheek on his fist, “just eat your food.”

It was said like a casual comment, but was combined with a determined gaze that told Sebek he wouldn’t be leaving till he’d finished his plate.

It ended up taking him much longer than it should have, but if Lilia noticed then he wasn’t showing anything.

Once he had eaten it all, Lilia rushed him to bed before asking, “are you feeling alright?”

Sebek paused, he was planning on talking to Lilia about what happened, but that was tomorrow’s issue. Instead he shook his head and muttered, “I’m fine.”

He quickly closed his eyes and passed out completely, long before Lilia left the room.

—————————————————————————

Ortho’s past few days had been full of tech support. Since so many students were losing their abilities to play in the upcoming tournament, every dorm was updating their rosters.

Normally those would be handled inside the dorm, but with such an important event Ignihyde had agreed to cover it. And by Ignihyde he meant himself and Idia, who were mostly unbiased when it came to sports and therefore wouldn’t sabotage anyone.

It was making Ortho reconsider whether he should even keep Leona’s overblot, since the trouble he was causing might just cause a malfunction.

All that work was bothering Idia too, since it took away his gaming time. It wasn’t like they wanted to help.

Right before all of the updating there was a housewarden meeting called.

Most of it was standard planning for the tournament. Azul went over most of the less scamy aspects of the event, but couldn’t help himself from celebrating the amount of money he could make.

Eventually it got to the reason the meeting was called in the first place.

“We need to discuss the tournament bracket,” Crowley stated, glancing at Malleus’ empty chair for a moment, “I had an idea I’d like to propose.”

Ortho saw Riddle frown as he questioned, “and that is…?”

“It concerns the Diasomnia housewarden,” Crowley explained, turning his head to the group, “I think that we should induct Mr. Draconia into the hall of fame to keep him off the field entirely.”

Leona, who had seemingly been sleeping, shot up at the mention of Malleus. He was scowling at Crowley, but before he could say anything Kalim gasped, “say whaaat?!”

“What are you on about,” Leona growled right after. Ortho rolled his eyes internally. It would have made everything a lot easier if Leona just went along with this idea.

As Crowley then explained, Malleus was an unfair addition to Diasomnia’s team, especially since he had no intention of playing spell drive professionally.

It was a testament to Leona’s inferiority complex that he never realized the lost potential of his underlings.

But Ortho was getting distracted, he had missed half the dialog that probably would have been a pain to transcribe. Though he had noticed Idia’s approval of the idea.

“… this matter of disproportionate performance directly affects your players’ future,” Crowley had finished his speech with a pointed look at Leona.

“And you’re sayin’ you expect us to make fools of ourselves on the field again this year?” Leona spat at the man.

That was kind of what Crowley said, but it wasn’t like it was false. Of course, Ortho knew why he thought this time would be different. All things considered, it was.

Leona, naturally, didn’t take the ‘pity points’ and ended up giving a speech about the injustice of it or something like that. Ortho tuned him out after a while.

It seemed like he had convinced the other housewardens though, so the meeting ended with Malleus retaining his position on the team.

Idia was the only one who still believed he’d be better in the hall of fame. Once the team changes started, however, he mostly forgot about the meeting in favor of complaining about normies’ lack of sense.
-
Ortho was still continuing his observations of Leona and Ruggie, but this time with more stealth. He didn’t have enough materials to build himself a camouflage suit without Idia getting suspicious, so he had started following them exclusively as Orpheus.

A few days into Ruggie’s attacks, Ortho was spending his midnight watching Leona talk to Ruggie. It was the best time to go, since he could usually get Idia to sleep before then.

“You must be tired, Leona,” Ruggie hummed, “I’ve brought you dinner. And on the way, I got a little “work” done.”

‘Ah,’ Ortho thought, ‘this must be when Jamil was injured.’

“Always there when I need ya, Ruggie,” Leona purred at the other boy with a smile.

“Oh, it’s a pleasure to be of service to you, Housewarden,” Ruggie smiled back.

“You always say that, don’t you? Even though you’re really really doing this for yourself,” Ortho frowned slightly. Maybe this wasn’t the best time to be listening to them.

Then Ruggie started discussing a revolution, which was not where he thought they’d be going, but convinced him to stay.

“Incidentally, Leona - any thoughts as to who my next target should be?” Ruggie asked, moving closer to Leona.

“Oh, I’ve got an idea,” Leona turned towards the door, “how about a little wolf who likes to eavesdrop?”

“Huh?” Ruggie frowned, turning towards the door as well.

“I know you’re there, frosh. No use hiding,” Leona growled. Ortho looked at the door and waited for Jack to reveal himself. If Leona hadn’t mentioned ‘little wolf,’ Ortho may have thought the comment was directed at him.

The door opened with a slight creak, but Jack remained silent as he entered.

“And what are YOU doin’ up so late? Need someone to sing you a lullaby?” Leona snarked, he looked like he was trying to burn Jack’s face off with his gaze.

“Maybe I’ll give it a shot! Shyeheehee!” Ruggie chimed at the boy also glaring.

“I want to know why,” Jack started, looking betrayed, “why are you two doing this?”

Leona scoffed, “huh. So it’s a bedtime story you’re after. All right, I got one for you.”

He frowned and started to rant, it was clear he wanted to complain about the situation a bit, but didn’t have anyone other than Ruggie to talk to.

“We went up against Malleus’ Diasomnia team in round one of the tournament two years running. We were eliminated both times,” Jack nodded along, knowing him, Ortho wouldn’t be surprised if he’d watched every single match.

“We got a wall fulla championship trophies, but they ran circles around us like we were in diapers,” he spat out the last part, “and now the pro league recruiters, well, they pass right by Savanaclaw.”

“But that’s because we weren’t good enough!” Jack cried in response, though Ortho would argue that it was because Malleus was too good.

Leona chuckled, “you’re right about that. Last year, you could certainly say that we didn’t give the tournament our all.”

His gaze turned to Ruggie, “only a total moron would have thought we could win. But that’s how naive we were. We never even came up with a plan or nothin’.”

Ortho squinted at him. They didn’t make a plan, so they jumped right to sabotage. Great.

“And we’ve got the nerve to claim Savanaclaw honors the tenacity of the King of Beasts! What a joke.” His voice had gotten much louder over the course of the conversation.

“But that’s exactly why acting like cowards and cutting down our opponents is so wrong!” Jack cried desperately. Ortho could tell that he was sad, even though he seemed angry.

Jack had wanted to be like Leona, if Ortho remembered correctly. Not that Ortho could really ‘remember’ incorrectly, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to sometimes. Especially after seeing Jack’s dream of a positive Leona. It was, quite frankly, rather terrifying.

Never meet your hero, he guessed as Leona scoffed and started complaining about Malleus once more.

“… this is our last chance to beat him. And you’re gonna throw it away over… what? Some moral superiority complex?” He grabbed Jack and started pushing him out of the room.

“But… I…” Jack whispered, staring into Leona’s eyes.

“Using your wits to corner your prey is part of the hunt,” Leona growled as they approached the door, “there’s nothing cowardly about it.”

Jack started pushing against him, “but Housewarden, if you got serious about playing, we could actually be a threat to Diasomnia! I saw the way you played three years ago! I’ll never forget it!”

Leona shoved Jack harder, “what do YOU know about ANYTHING, frosh?!” He reached the door and pulled it open, “you want me to ‘get serious about playing’? Hah! Now you’re the one who’s naive. It wouldn’t change a thing. Get outta my sight.”

Leona shoved Jack out the door and slammed it on his face before pausing outside it for a few seconds. A silence fell over the room as he waited.

“He’s gone,” Leona muttered, walking back over to Ruggie and his bed.

“That boy could be a problem,” Ruggie murmured, “you want me to take care of him?”

“No. Don’t,” Leona said, shaking his head, “he ain’t got a shred of proof, besides, that’d be a terrible waste of talent. Just make sure you keep an eye on him.”

Leona glanced around the room slightly, his ears twitching as Ruggie nodded a quick, “understood.”

“Tch. Stupid frosh… Talkin’ like he’s better than me,” Leona said, continuing to glance around the room.

“Is something there?” Ruggie asked, following Leona’s gaze to the window next to Ortho, who had ducked as soon as Leona’s eyes got close.

“There shouldn’t be.” Leona growled, turning back to Ruggie, “keep an eye out for a watcher, someone’s spyin’ on us.”

Ortho quickly fled from the window. At least only one of the overbloters were beastmen, this was starting to be concerning.

Once he returned to his dorm he plugged himself in and sighed. Nothing besides notices of him were changing, so they should be right on track.

Of course, this was before Ruggie changed up some things on his own.

Chapter Text

Sebek woke up feeling worse than he had the previous day. His body hurt to move as he exited his bed, but he had to train more.

If things were happening differently than they had in the last timeline, then Malleus’ overblot could happen differently too. It could be weaker, but with their luck it would only get more deadly.

He had to get up.

“Becky?” A voice called from above him. He groaned and leaned his head up, confused, before realizing he was lying on the floor.

“Sebeky?!” Dain questioned anxiously as Sebek opened his eyes. He was waving his hand over the other boy’s face and panicking.

“Sebek if you don’t get up soon I’m going to go to Lilia about Orpheus,” Dain hissed. Sebek shot up off the ground, completely ignoring his pain.

“No!” He yelled at the beastman, a frantic look in his eyes, “don’t… don’t tell… not Lilia.” His voice sounded weak even to himself.

“You really are protective of those secrets, aren’t you,” Dain said with a relieved chuckle, “I won’t tell him about Orphanius.”

“It’s Orpheus,” Sebek muttered with confusion, “he has parents.”

Dain grumbled something under his breath before grabbing Sebek’s shoulders and saying, “that doesn’t matter, you’re sick, Becky, you need to go to bed… and eat… and hydrate… and sleep without p-”

He cut himself off, “in any case, you shouldn’t be working.”

Sebek weakly shoved Dain off his shoulders before grumbling, “I’m fine. Move!”

“You’re not fine!” Dain yelled at him, “I’m telling the vice Housewarden. You shouldn’t go to class like this.”

“I’m going.” Sebek said, his voice suddenly hoarse from yelling, “please, don’t tell him. You promised.”

Dain watched Sebek for a moment before frowning and turning away to grab his phone, “you’re making a mistake,” he hummed, a blatant attempt at being playful, “but I won’t tell him.”

“Thanks.” Sebek whispered at the wall as Dain moved back to his side of the room, furiously typing.

Once Sebek had finished fumbling his clothes on and started to leave, Dain walked over to him and reached to his neck.

“Don’t freak out,” the beastman said quickly as Sebek turned to him with wide eyes, “your tie is messed up.”

Dain swiftly corrected the tie and patted him on the shoulder. As Sebek looked down he realized it was a perfect fix.

“You know how to tie a tie?” He was unable to contain his surprise causing the other boy’s grin to widen even more.

“I live to confuse!” Dain chimed with a smile, “if I can’t help it, I might as well hide it.”

Sebek furrowed his brow and left the room. Dain did seem to love messing with him. Maybe he learned skills to mess with others too.
-
Once he had gotten down to breakfast he took a small portion and sat quickly. He didn’t eat much of even that, but it didn’t stop him from vanishing out the door and going to train anyway.

He hid behind the dorm and cast spell after spell, combining them with his swordplay to form several deadly attacks.

With each slash of air, his arms grew weaker. Eventually he decided to stop much earlier than he normally did. He kept telling himself it was fine throughout the morning.

By lunch time he was almost regretting coming out. Almost. He had sat down at the table with Silver and Lilia when Yuu walked up to them looking slightly out of breath.

“You’re the student who fell off their horse yesterday, right?” Yuu asked Silver as Grim and Cater followed behind him.

“Hmm? Yeah,” Silver yawned as he looked at the trio, “do you need anything?”

Lilia looked over to the group with a worried expression. He knew the kind of people at this school, but Cater knew better than to cross his family.

“We’re here at the headmage’s behest,” Yuu explained, shooting a glance towards Sebek, “we were wondering what happened?”

“Ah,” Silver looked to Lilia for approval before explaining, “we were at equestrian club yesterday afternoon when I got a bit light headed and my hands slipped off the reins. Then I fell off the horse.”

“Light headed?” Cater entered the conversation, “is that how your… sleeping habits usually go?”

“No, no,” Lilia muttered, frowning into his hands, “it’s usually simply feeling tired.”

Sebek looked up at where Lilia stood. Of course Lilia would know what it felt like to have a UM used on him. He fought in a literal war. There’s no quicker way for him to suspect sabotage.

“What are you three implying?” Lilia’s voice had sunk, threateningly.

Yuu glanced at Sebek again, almost imploringly, before attempting to deflect their questioning, “I can’t tell you yet, there’s not enough details.”

Sebek nodded at the boy slightly, before stopping. The movement was hurting his head.

Lilia seemed to consider the idea for a moment before saying, “if this is what you think, you’d be wise to tell me the moment you know.”

Then he leaned next to Yuu’s ear whispering something that even Grim couldn’t hear. Yuu’s eyes widened as he pulled away.

“I guess we’ll be going,” he said quickly, pulling Cater and Grim away from the table with one final look at Sebek.

Lilia plopped himself back in his seat and patted Silver on the head. Sebek turned back to his plate, maybe he should talk to Yuu, but he’d have to get up first.

“Are you not feeling hungry, Sebek?” Lilia asked, looking over at his unfinished plate. He’d been picking at it the whole conversation, but hadn’t eaten another bite.

“Ah. No!” Sebek immediately agreed. He wasn’t, in fact, he was actually feeling like he would puke if he tried to eat, but that was besides the point.

“I was going to get a head start on getting to class!” Sebek yelled. Maybe he could catch Yuu on the way out and see what Lilia said to him.

The vice housewarden looked a bit disgruntled, but forced a smile and let Sebek go anyway.

As he walked the route out of the cafeteria he saw Yuu talking to Jack, Riddle, Ace, Deuce, and Cater. Once the boy saw him he gestured him over.

Sebek stumbled over and tilted his head questioningly. The others looked similarly confused.

“You’re the first year that hangs out with Lilia, right?” Cater starts awkwardly, his eyes drifting over Sebek’s face down to his still slightly wobbling legs, “you know, Lilia’s like really worried about you. Tbh I see why.”

Riddle turned to glare at Cater harshly, but when he turned back to Sebek he said, “my apologies for Cater’s discourtesy, however he is correct. If you are feeling unwell, then perhaps you should visit the infirmary.”

“Ah, I’m fine,” Sebek grumbled, “actually I was wondering what Lilia said to you, Yuu?”

Cater eyes lit up, “Yuu Yuu is a great nickname! Also I was totally wondering the same thing omg! You have to tell us now!”

Yuu glanced at the group, who all looked quite curious despite Riddle’s blatant attempts to hide it, and frowned, “he was just being protective, it’s not bad.”

“No details?” Cater pouted towards the first year, “was it scary. I know he can get mean sometimes.”

“What! Not really,” Yuu said, surprised, “it was kinda like a shovel talk, but more implied than like, forward.”

Sebek sighed into his shirt. He vaguely remembered Lilia doing that to another fae that tried to bully Silver when they were younger. There was no way it wasn’t at least ominous.

“Isn’t Lilia the Diasomnia vice?” Jack asked, “wouldn’t they be useful for the whole plan?”

“What plan?” Sebek glared at Yuu. Despite knowing that they’d be helping with this, since they had last time, it felt a bit suspicious.

“It’s nothing, at the moment,” Riddle glanced at Jack with a frown, “it shouldn’t involve you, you’ll be fine.”

“But it involves Lilia?” Sebek growled at the housewarden. That was probably the worst way he could have phrased that one.

Yuu looked panicked for a moment and Cater was quick to redirect the conversation, “so, anyways, what’d Lilia say!”

The transmigrator sighed in relief, “he told me, and I quote, ‘stop watching my first year, someone might think you expect him to help you. And that’s not an option’ then he just moved away like nothing happened.”

Jack frowned, but nodded like he understood something. Deuce scratched his head for a moment before commenting, “I guess it makes sense for him to be protective. I mean, you’re clearly sick.”

Ace’s eyes glowed with amusement, “and you’re weird as fuck.”

“Off with your head!” Riddle yelled at Ace, casting his spell in seconds. Deuce grimaced, but didn’t object to the statement.

Riddle moved a hand to Sebek’s forehead before snatching it back away quickly, “Sebek you need to get help. How did you manage Vargas like this?”

“I’m fine,” Sebek grumbled for what felt like the hundredth time, but his body was strongly disagreeing with him.

“Does this have anything to do with um…” Yuu started, before catching himself. Sebek would later realize he was going to ask about his unique magic, but his brain couldn’t catch up with the words at the time.

His eyes glazed over and he pinched himself to keep them open, “what?” He muttered before stumbling down a bit.

Yuu shook his hand over Sebek’s eyes and tapped his side, “I’m going to assume it is till you can actually tell me otherwise.”

Then he turned to the other students, “can anyone help me get him to the infirmary?”

Jack frowned but nodded, moving to Sebek’s side and pulling him up. Riddle pursed his lips as the others looked confused.

“Is this a habit of his?” Cater joked as they started walking down the hall.

“What a fuckin’ weirdo,” Ace snorted to Deuce, who, like Riddle, started to glare at him, “I’m sure he has his reasons.”

Ace and Grim stuck out their tongues simultaneously.

“We already chased the lousy, rotten, hyena, and now we have to take care of this guy,” Grim pouted, “I want tuna!”

Yuu sighed and commented, “we’ll see about that later.” Then he looked towards Jack.

Sebek had stopped walking midway through and instead was carried by Jack, sack not princess, the rest of the way there. He would have to explain to Lilia anyway, so much for getting Dain to stay quiet.

—————————————————————

After he adjusted Orpheus’ identity and unique magic, Ortho had decided to improve his and Sebek’s plan privately. He figured they should stop the final overblot from happening if they could, and that would require something unusual.

Thinking back to the overblot, Ortho remembered one major cause. Lilia’s retirement and subsequent death. If they could stop that from happening, then maybe, just maybe, they could stop Malleus from destroying everything.

Of course, it’s not easy to stop the natural course of aging, but from what he’d heard it wasn’t the most natural. Lilia had said that his family typically lived to a thousand and he overdid it in his youth, so if they fix that then he’ll be fine for at least another century.

Maybe they could go back to what caused him to lose so many years and help, so that his fate would be postponed. Maybe if Malleus were a bit older he’d be able to handle the loss of Lilia a bit better.

Ortho nodded to himself and hovered over to his design closet. He still remembered what he had done to make the first device, but there would have to be some alterations.

He started to pull various pieces out of drawers, still thinking. They had originally only needed to send their minds which inadvertently killed their past selves, but this time they would need to send their entire bodies. And not kill anything for fear of destroying time as they knew it.

That would require a size increase at the very least, since it’d be carrying two people. Ortho started to make the original design. It would be his reference as he changed it.

He worked on planning for several hours when, suddenly, a message came through from Sebek. He softly set down the partially finished machine and opened his texts.

Teammate: I am currently in the infirmary.

Ortho: isn’t silver out of there already?

Teammate: It is not for Silver.

Ortho: dude!!!!!!

Ortho: I thought u were gonna tell someone

Ortho: wth

Teammate: I overestimated my strength.

Ortho: no shit

Ortho: really

Teammate: I am currently too weak to stand.

Ortho: bro

Ortho: why r u sick?

Teammate: I’m not sure. Lilia thinks an exterior assault was the cause.

Ortho: ‘exterior assault’

Teammate: Something such as poison or something I, as a half fae, would not be able to consume.

Ortho: I’ll check the pills

Teammate: Thank you.

Teammate: I will be resting now. The sickness has seemingly prevented dreams, so I will not have any issues.

Ortho: good

Ortho frowned under his mask and moved over to his extra pill. He kept one hidden in his closet after making them in case he needed to recreate them.

Instead he would deconstruct it.

He cut it open, pulling out some of the remnants from its interior. It would take a while, but he could probably get more details on the ingredients. He’d need some of Sebek’s blood to test it with.

He reopened his messages.

Ortho: gimme ur blood

He paused for a moment before remembering that Sebek was trying to sleep.

Ortho: when ur up

Ortho: not a bunch though

Ortho: actually we should just meet up tomorrow

He put down the pill and walked out of the room. He’d need to wait for Sebek to continue it anyway. He’d do some stalking instead.
-
He arrived at Savanaclaw rather quickly after that. Leona was sitting in the lounge and talking with Ruggie.

“…chased around by the Heartslabyul kids at lunch?! You idiot! I told you a thousand times to make sure you didn’t leave any evidence behind!” Leona yelled at Ruggie. Ortho snuck behind some rocks quietly.

“I… I didn’t! That was some kind of a fluke. You don’t need to worry about a thing, Boss,” Ruggie tried to reassure him, “they’ve got no evidence whatsoever. Cross my heart and hope to die!”

Leona glared at him, “hmph. Anyway, I secured the cooperation of that creepy squid at Octavinelle, but it didn’t come cheap.”

Ortho’s eyes widened slightly. He hadn’t known that Azul was helping them, but he guessed it made sense. He’d have to try and convince Idia to play a luck based game at the next club meeting. Subtle vengeances are the best kind.

“If you idiots mess things up on tournament day,” Leona growled, “I am going to fry you up and eat you myself.”

Ortho held back a snicker. And he wondered why people assumed he was a cannibal.

“The main dish is coming along nicely,” Ruggie hummed, leaning over Leona’s chair slightly.

Another dorm student chimed in, “don’t worry. We’re gonna have those Diasomnia jerks pleading for mercy on tournament day!”

“I do look forward to watching this all play out,” Ruggie continued, “oh, how the world will praise us when they see you standing over a battered Malleus Draconia!”

Leona smiled at the imagery as Ruggie went on to mention the people even noticing him as a potential player. Then a different Savanaclaw student chimed in, “even the pro leagues will be scouting you!”

His smile turned to a snarl, “look at all’a you-celebratin’ when you’ve only just sunk your claws into your prey.”

The other students turned their attention to him, “you’re gonna be the most famous of all, Leona!” One chimed, as another decided, “everyone in the Sunset Savanna is gonna have some second thoughts about who should be the next king!”

Ortho doubted that one, and so, it seemed, did Leona.

“Succession ain’t got nothin’ to do with ability.” He growled under his breath, no doubt comparing himself to his brother.

“Huh,” Ruggie muttered, unaware of what was whispered.

“Nothin’,” Leona yawned and stood up, “I’m heading to bed. All of you, scram.”

His tone left nothing for debate as the others quickly left for their rooms. Once they were gone, Leona traced the room with his eyes before muttering, “as if conquerin’ this school is gonna fix anything in the real world…”

Then he walked to his bedroom. Ortho stayed behind for a few minutes more, watching as Jack entered and exited the area, before vanishing back to his dorm room as well.

After he got the blood from Sebek he could fix the pills, if they were the issue, and then make the machine. He had time. He always had time.

Chapter Text

Dain wasn’t too worried. He wasn’t. He was the appropriate amount of concerned as Sebek’s eyes filled with terror from a single touch. He was probably not concerned enough when it came to letting Sebek go to class.

He didn’t mention anything to Theo about it though, since Sebek was so sad looking. The whole puppy dog eyes thing really made it hard to say no.

So imagine his surprise when Theo mentions it to him.

Gravity boy: Is your roommate alright?

Dain: fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

Dain: wut happened?

Gravity boy: He is unconscious. I assumed you were aware of his illness.

Dain: L

Dain: that’s not good

Dain: wanna visit him with me?

Gravity boy: I am not busy from 3 to 11, so that’s alright.

Dain: what’s at 11?

Gravity boy: Gargoyle club. It’s really fun.

Dain: ew.

Dain: anyways

Dain: meet me at the tree?

Gravity boy: Of course.

Dain: It’s a date!

Dain snickered. It’s always nice to bring some fun into the conversation and, just as he planned, Theo was stuck typing for a while before responding.

Gravity boy: I’ll meet you at the tree, Dain.

He smiled slightly and closed his phone just as Lucius pranced over to him with a meow.

“You wouldn’t rat me out, would you?” He whispered to the cat, “cat to cat secret~”

Lucius hissed at him and scampered over to Trein. “Traitor!” Dain muttered under his breath as the history teacher clicked over to him. He snuck open his phone and shot a quick message to Theo.

Dain: we might have to meet at 4

“Mr. Hargeven, I’ll see you after class.”
-
Just as he suspected, it took Dain a while longer to get away from class. By the time he reached the tree, Theo was waiting.

“Hi Dain,” Theo hummed, closing the book he was reading, “how was detention?”

“How do you know it was detention?” Dain pouted jokingly, “I could have been taking some time for *eh* other things~”

“It was detention.” Theo glared at him as though forcing that to be the answer, even if it wasn’t.

Dain pushed a hand into Theo’s hair, pulling out his hair tie with a smirk before wrapping it around his wrist, “it was detention,” he purred into Theo’s now loose hair.

“ah,” a light blush covered Theo’s face, “I knew that, Dain.” His eyes trailed over to the hair tie adorning Dain’s wrist, but he didn’t ask for it back.

“Back to the topic at hand,” Theo continued as Dain’s eyes seemed to glow, “I think he’s still in the infirmary.”

“Then let’s go!” Dain said with a smile, grabbing Theo’s hand and pulling him towards the school.

“Do you even know where the infirmary is?” Theo grumbled at the beastman as he stumbled after him.

“You do,” Dain replied, pointedly glancing at the burns on his hands from the lab, “and I’ve found it before, I can do it again.”

Dain really did know exactly where it was, but Theo would probably not appreciate knowing why. He made sure to get a bit lost before arriving.

There was Sebek, lying on a bed and looking almost terrible as he did when he had that nightmare. He was shaking slightly, as though he were cold, but the room was perfectly warm.

Sitting next to his bed was Lilia and, surprisingly, the new prefect from the Ramshackle dorm. They seemed to be holding a very serious conversation as the two boys approached.

“… can’t promise that they’ll be fine?” Lilia angrily questioned the prefect.

“I’m trying,” The boy, who Dain was pretty sure was named Yoshi, argued, “Cater won’t be with his clone and if we don’t do this you guys will definitely be hurt!”

“There should be better ways for you to get your proof,” Lilia hissed at Yoshi, “my ch- juniors should not be involved.”

“They’re already involved! This is the only plan I have!” The first year was getting more stressed as the conversation continued, “we will keep them safe! We know what we’re doing. Please.”

“Keep Sebek out of it, at least,” Lilia finally relented. Yoshi smiled and glanced at Sebek, “that was the plan.”

The two of them nodded and Yoshi stood up to leave. Theo glanced at Dain with panic in his eyes as he pulled him away by the hand he didn’t realize he was still holding.

They both fell against the wall as the prefect passed by, completely unaware of their presence. Once he was gone they poked their heads back around the door and saw Lilia resting his head on Sebek’s bed, frowning.

“Why must you children worry me so?” Lilia whispered into the sheets. Dain furrowed his brow and pulled Theo away with him.

“I don’t think Sebek’s gonna be doing anything interesting today,” he grumbled into Theo’s ear, “what’d ya think about Yoshi’s weird request thing?”

“Who’s Yoshi?” Theo asked, finally dropping his hand, “are you talking about the prefect?”

“Obviously,” Dain hissed, “did you see someone else with a suspicious plan?”

“His name is Yuu you idiot!” Theo hissed right back, “and if Lilia trusts them with his kids, then it’s probably fine. I heard he’s really protective.”

“Okay, but he doesn’t trust him with Sebek!” Dain argued, poking Theo’s wrist.

“Nobody trusts anyone with Sebek,” Theo muttered, “he’s like a half finished potion, he’ll fail at any time. Even you act that way.”

“Can you blame me?” Dain snapped, “every time he leaves my sight he comes back worse!”

“I’m not saying it’s an issue I’m proving my point!” Theo poked Dain in the side in retaliation.

“Yeah, yeah, fine,” Dain frowned at the other boy, rolling his eyes, “maybe we should follow Yuu too.”

“Why don’t you stick to the person you’ve already sunk time into,” Theo flicked Dain on the head, “before you do anything else.”

“Hmph. Fine,” the beastman grumbled, “but that means when he wakes up you’re helping me follow him!”

Theo rolled his eyes and nodded, “just say the word, I’ll be there.”

“Ohhhhhhhhh~ Romantic~”

“Shush.”
-
It ended up taking Sebek around two days to be released from the infirmary and he wasn’t exactly taking it easy afterwards.

Lilia had hovered over him for a little bit, but he couldn’t stay with him forever, so the boy eventually got a break.

In the middle of the night the day after Sebek was released, Dain heard him moving. Turning over in his bed he saw Sebek throwing on a jacket and socks before heading towards the door.

The beastman was awake before he knew it and quietly shot up with excitement. Once Sebek left the room, Dain threw on some sandals and snuck towards after him.

As they walked towards the mirror, Dain shot a quick message to Theo. He didn’t expect him to be up, but it wasn’t impossible, so he figured he’d do it anyway.

Sebek walked into the Heartslabyul mirror while checking his phone. Dain had assumed he was sneaking out for Orpheus, but, as far as he remembered, Orpheus was an Ignihyde student.

He followed him in, gnawing on his lip slightly. Maybe he’d gotten the dorms wrong or they were just dedicated to their secret keeping.

The rustle of bushes greeted him as he entered the rose maze. A voice chimed out of the darkness, “Sebek! Over here!”

Orpheus waved his arm out through the bushes. Dain jumped back slightly, hiding in the tall plants.

“Ortho,” Sebek sighed, “do you still need the blood?”

Dain froze. What blood? Isn’t his name Orpheus? Is he actually Sebek’s drug dealer? His mind raced through conclusions as their conversation continued.

“There has to be something I missed,” Orpheus, or Ortho apparently, muttered, flicking Sebek’s arm with his finger. The smell of blood entered the air, “half fae are an unusual group, I should have tested it against you before having you use it.”

Drops of Sebek’s blood fell towards Orpheus’ wrist and vanished into what seemed to be a slight hole in his sleeve.

“That should be enough,” Orpheus said, pulling a bandage out of his pocket and covering the cut, “I wanted to talk to you about Malleus.”

“My liege has been very happy,” Sebek smiled, “someone joined gargoyle club with him, according to Lilia.”

“That didn’t happen before,” Orpheus tapped his foot against the ground with worry clear in his voice, “we’ve made too many changes.”

Dain frowned. Obviously they were talking about Theo, but why did it matter that people hadn’t joined before? How could that be a concern?

Thinking about it, they were the reason. Theo wouldn’t have met Malleus if it weren’t for their midnight escapades about Sebek, and if he hadn’t met Malleus he probably wouldn’t have even considered joining his club.

“I know it’s not working like we planned, but they don’t seem to be bad,” Sebek said, “except for my sickness, everything is going well.”

“Could be better,” Orpheus grumbled, glancing at the mess that was Sebek’s hair, “that’s what I wanted to talk about, actually, making it better.”

Sebek turned his head towards the other boy with a confused glance, “was that not what we’ve been trying to do?”

“It is,” Orpheus hummed, “but I think if we go back a bit more, we could make it better.”

“Again? Is that even safe?” Sebek questioned as Dain tried to puzzle what going back meant. Maybe they were doing something at a different location. Their drug lab, perhaps. That would explain a lack of safety.

“Not the same way, but yes,” Orpheus pulled Sebek’s phone out of his pocket and clicked open a tab, “I was thinking, we alter this section and the parts that make up the center of the trigger, then maybe we could fully go instead of just mentally returning.”

“If we do it right, then we won’t die like we did this time,” Orpheus finished explaining. Dain’s eyes were so wide they could have fallen out of his skull. Sebek had died and come back. Maybe. It could be a game. A very detailed RPG. That would explain the name changes.

He hadn’t heard what Orpheus called Sebek yet, so it could be that. Not that that would explain the blood letting at the beginning of the conversation.

“We died?” Sebek whispered, gazing at his hands for a moment as if to confirm they were there.

“Mentally,” Orpheus frowned for a moment before grinning and snickering, “I guess, in a sense, we killed ourselves!”

“Oh.” Sebek’s entire body flinched and he dropped to sit on the bench next to them, “I guess… I didn’t think about that part.”

Dain had to stop himself from running over to comfort the boy. That wasn’t the reaction of someone in a game. He could see Sebek’s eyes glaze over with unshed tears as he whispered, “so I really am ruining everything.”

“No, no,” Ortho, because without the RPG cover that was clearly his name, said, shaking his head, “we’re fixing it.”

Sebek looked up, but didn’t seem to believe a word of it, “so what were we going to do with the new machine?” His voice sounded choked.

“We need to slow some of Lilia’s exaggerated aging, which means we need to stop some hits during the war,” Ortho explained, “we can’t hurt ourselves when we don’t exist, so that wouldn’t be an issue.”

“My grandfath-”

“We’ll cover ourselves so nobody will recognize us,” Ortho cut him off, “it’s not fool proof, but it’ll stop the main reason Malleus went crazy.”

Dain suddenly realized his eyes were watering with how long and wide they’d been open. He still couldn’t seem to close them. They were going to invent time travel. They saw the future. They weren’t dating?!

Everything stopped making sense. He could barely process their conversation ending until Sebek started heading towards the mirror with Ortho right behind him.

“About Yuu,” Ortho started as they reached the liquid glass, “should we keep working on helping him return?”

“I said I would,” Sebek nodded, running a hand over his phone, “besides, he already knows the future sight stuff, so we might as well have the extra support.”

The prefect, the person Lilia was so against having near Sebek, knew more than he did? That was so unfair. The sudden agitation almost fully broke his stupor.

After considering it though, he decided that would be the best way to get answers. Yuu cared about Sebek’s health, at least a bit, so the right story just might break him. Dain was excellent at making such stories.

Once the two boys were gone he finally broke away from the bush. Sebek couldn’t realize he’d been followed, not with the shit he was hiding, so Dain would have to be quick.

He rushed towards the mirror and hoped that Sebek would buy his excuses or maybe even not notice him missing in the first place.

Chapter Text

Sebek woke up the morning after his blood drawing with about a hundred messages on his phone. Apparently his ‘grabbing a snack,’ for that was his excuse to Dain who was awake in bed when he arrived, wasn’t convincing.

Now that he thought about it, he didn’t know why Dain would be sleeping in socks. It wasn’t cold. But that was none of his business.

Back to his messages, it seemed like Lilia had messaged him. Along with Silver. And Ortho. And Riddle. And Yuu. Did he even give Yuu his number? Unimportant. He decided to check Ortho’s messages first.

Teammate: I poisoned u

Teammate: srry

Teammate: 2 high doses of Cyanide

Teammate: kinda hurts people

Teammate: thought u could handle it cuz of the fae

Teammate: u couldn’t

Teammate: I’ll fix the recipe

Teammate: they’ll be done tmmrw

Teammate: *thumbs up*

Teammate: c u later

Sebek: Thank you for telling me. I will make sure to dispose of the current pills.

He shifted tabs. Ortho didn’t usually respond till he turned on and that wouldn’t be for another hour. He assumed. He’d check on Lilia’s messages instead.

The Great General Vanrouge: Sebek

The Great General Vanrouge: r u feeling ok?

The Great General Vanrouge: if you wake up early tell me

The Great General Vanrouge: don’t go to anything if you still feel bad

The Great General Vanrouge: I’ll kill whoever hurt you

The Great General Vanrouge: Stay away from Yuu

Sebek smiled at the last message. Lilia’s overprotective nature truly knew no bounds. Then his smile fell. If Lilia ever figured out why he was sick, who had poisoned him, it’d be over for Ortho.

Or worse, if Lilia ever found out how he went back to now, would he still care? If he knew that Sebek had, even unintentionally, killed the happier person he was, would he still want him as Malleus’ retainer?

Would there be any reason to keep someone who failed around?

He shook the thoughts out of his head. Maybe Lilia would be mad, but surely he wouldn’t do anything extreme. His thoughts sounded weaker than they should have. He quickly replied to the ex-general.

Sebek: I am fine. I may go for a walk later in the morning, however I will probably not be present for the tournament.

That would be enough to cover for him during the day. Maybe he should see what Riddle wanted. No worries would follow him there.

Housewarden Riddle: I heard from my first years that you were ill. I wish you well.

Sebek: Thank you.

That was brief. How unsurprising. It wasn’t as though the general populace would be made aware of the suspicious nature of his illness. Yuu might know a bit more, though, if Lilia’s message was anything to go off of.

Yuu 2: please don’t go to the tournament

Yuu 2: Lilia will kill me

Yuu 2: also I hope you’re feeling better that was really startling don’t do it again

Yuu 2: this is not healthy

Yuu 2: whatever future u saw

Yuu 2: don’t destroy yourself over it

Sebek was unsure of how to respond to those messages. He couldn’t promise anything, after all, the tournament was happening today. They had plans.

After staring at his phone for what felt like forever, he decided to just leave him on read. Then he fumbled the phone into his pocket and walked to the bathroom to get dressed and ready.

He decided that, only for today, he wouldn’t wear his hairspray, since it held a rather distinctive smell. He wouldn’t want Leona to recognize him later on.

By the time he was finished cleaning up, Dain had rolled out of bed. He looked grumpy and, most notably, had eyebags that crinkled slightly as he squinted.

“Becky,” he groaned, pulling at a hair tie around his wrist, “why the fuck are you up so early?”

Sebek frowned at him, “it’s not that early?” Of course, seven was early for a Sunday, but there was no reason not to be up by then.

Dain seemed to disagree. He smushed his face against his pillow and screamed, but, instead of going back to sleep, he pulled out his phone.

“You’re simply wrong, my friend,” Dain told Sebek, clicking at his screen while pointing an accusatory finger towards him, “but I will let it slide, if you don’t eavesdrop on my call.”

“I wasn’t planning on doing that?” Sebek said, blowing a stray strand of hair off his face. Suddenly Dain shot up.

“Your hair!” He almost yelled with excitement, “it’s so wavey! You should keep it like this. I’m sure your boyfriend would li-” he cut himself off for a moment, his eyes glazing over, before finishing, “-ike it?”

Sebek sighed and walked over to his desk, “you might want to have your call in the bathroom, just in case.” He knew that’s what he would do.

Dain snickered nervously and disappeared into them while his call started, just as he entered, Sebek could hear him cry, “Theo!” with a stunning amount of joy. Then everything fell to whispers.

Sebek reopened his phone. He had to clarify some more plans with Ortho, before he got through to the mirrors.

Sebek: Are we meeting in the usual place?

As expected, Ortho responded immediately.

Teammate: nope

Teammate: at stadium in that one trash corner nobody enters

Teammate: safety level 80

Sebek: Not 100?

Teammate: absolutely the fuck not

Sebek: I’ll see you there.

Teammate: ;)

Once he finished messaging Ortho he dropped his phone in his pocket and yawned. The lack of sleeping pills was hitting him hard now that he didn’t feel as sick. His mind was a mess of memories and creative new terrors, usually, unsurprisingly, relating to Malleus and Silver.

As his focus dwindled from the phone, he overheard part of Dain’s conversation with Theo, “well, ya got me. By all accounts, it doesn’t make sense.”

There was more talking on the other end of the line before Dain continued, “yeah, yeah, but it’s really concerning alright!” The boy was practically hissing into the phone.

Then Sebek’s phone pinged and his face turned scarlet. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten so used to listening in on other people’s conversations. He was supposed to be a noble retainer, what kind of retainer does this kind of thing to an associate.

He pulled his phone out and scrolled into his messages with Ortho.

Teammate: b there soon pls

“Oh,” he muttered, replacing his phone and scampering out of the room. There were more people in the hallways than there usually were, since everyone was so excited, but he wasn’t bothered.

He couldn’t see any of the team while he ‘walked,’ so they must have already started their plan. He wondered how long it took Cater to clone himself. Dream Cater didn’t have much trouble, but that doesn’t always translate to real life very accurately. Maybe they just needed a place to hide Malleus.

It was nice either way.

Once he arrived in the mirror room, Sebek started to shrink into the shadows in an attempt to hide. He wasn’t sure if Lilia and the others would be near the mirrors for their meeting.

After confirming that they weren’t, Sebek snuck all the way to the Spelldrive Stadium and searched around for the aforementioned ‘trash corner.’

Unlike what Ortho believed, he had no idea where it was. Instead, he was turning around in circles, over and over and over again.

—————————————————————————

Ortho had tried to multitask all night long. He’d plugged his skin suit in, but, instead of shutting down, he continued to work. It was risky, since it might lose him some power for the next day, but he’d have to try if he wanted everything to get done.

As he charged he analyzed the pills. Eventually he found the issue, Cyanide, while fae could not be affected by it, humans were incredibly sensitive to it. The doses were just high enough that they affected Sebek to a lesser extent than humans, but enough to make him ill.

By one, he had a new recipe planned out, but he needed to test several against the blood to make sure it’d be safe. He sent a few messages to Sebek explaining the situation.

All morning he worked on the pills, creating potions and dripping them against drops of blood. He only stopped for a moment to wake up Idia at six. It was early, but early was necessary for the tournament. Or at least, that was what he told Idia.

If Ortho could get tired, then he’d have been exhausted by the time he found a working one. He could’ve cried with relief when he did. It worked for the right amount of time, wasn’t poisonous, and fell smoothly into the pill molds. They’d take all day to cool, but it was worth it.

As he readied himself to take his version of a nap, Sebek finally replied to his messages.

Teammate: Thank you for telling me. I will make sure to dispose of the current pills.

Ortho nodded to himself and powered down, if only for a few minutes. Soon after, a new message from Sebek ‘woke’ him.

Sebek: Are we meeting in the usual place?

Ortho could have smacked himself. Of course he’d need to clarify their meeting location, it was new!

Teammate: nope

Teammate: at stadium in that one trash corner nobody enters

Teammate: safety level 80

Sebek: Not 100?

Ortho scoffed to himself. If only. Unfortunately, the trash corner was one of the hotspots for suspicious activity on days where the stadium was unoccupied. He decided to respond in a civil manner.

Teammate: absolutely the fuck not

Perfect.

Sebek: I’ll see you there.

Teammate: ;)

He unplugged and started leaving the dorm. As he was walking out, the soft clattering of his shoes against the rocks echoed in the empty halls. Idia and the spelldrive team were awake, but the rest of the dorm remained dead to the world.

The mirror room outside of Ignihyde was much more full than Ortho had expected and several of the students in there glanced at him confused. It was unusual for any Ignihyde students to get to the stadium before the games, if they were going at all.

As he walked the halls he continued to get a few awkward glances, but most people just ignored his presence. Once he entered the stadium he could see some of the Savanaclaw students celebrating their certain victory. He chuckled quietly, their almost certain victory would be more accurate.

He could see Idia, if only for a moment, as he walked past the changing rooms. The older boy was doing all the gaming he could before he was forced into sports and the rest of the team was following suit.

Finally he reached the corner and rested his body against a wall. He sent a quick message to Sebek, just to make sure he’d be there soon, and then started looking at the blueprints for his time travel device.

It would have to be changed so that they could go with their bodies. That meant adding more specifications on every end. He frowned slightly and got to work.
-
A few minutes later, Sebek finally showed up. He seemed to be a bit lost, though. Ortho closed his blueprint and snuck out to grab him. As his hands caught on Sebek’s shirt, the half fae jumped.

“Wha-” he started, before seeing Ortho and visibly relaxing, “oh, it’s you.”

Ortho nodded and grabbed his hand to pull him into the corner, “your hair is down?”

“I thought it’d be safer,” Sebek whispered as they entered the corner, “so my smell is less recognizable.”

That did sound like a good idea. Especially if they’d be dealing with Leona later in the year, that man had an excellent memory for smells. Then a small part of Sebek's hair fell into his eyes.

“Do you have a plan for keeping that out of your face?” Ortho asked him, his mind flickering through options that could work.

“I was going to move it?” Sebek said in an almost questioning manner, “I didn’t think it’d cause too much issue, since it’s only a strand.”

Ortho shook his head and pulled out a headband from one of his interior storage units. He usually only used them for Idia emergencies, like when he had a head injury, so it wasn’t very color coordinated, but he assumed it’d work alright.

“There we go,” he hummed, pushing it into the other boy’s hair, “perfectly out of your face.”

That was almost exactly what he told Idia when he used them, but it worked the same. Sebek moved a hand up to touch it and frowned a bit, but didn’t say anything.

“This spot has a decent vantage point for the confrontation, then we’ll move over there,” he pointed to a spot in the bleachers, “so we can properly fight.”

Sebek nodded and asked, “why did we meet so early if that was all we needed to know?”

Ortho glared at him, “it starts in an hour and I need to check on your health.”

“I’m fine.” Sebek rushed out.

“Well then you’ll let me check your magic reserves and medical health,” Ortho walked over to his magic pen and started to watch the gem, “right?”

Sebek looked a bit uncomfortable, but nodded and stood still as Ortho started checking his temperature and blood. A light was shined into his eyes for a moment, before Ortho moved over to his hands.

“Alright, I think you’ll be fine,” Ortho eventually decided, but inside he was slightly concerned about the small amounts of drugs still in Sebek’s system. Not like he had a choice to keep the other boy out of it though.

Sebek seemed to echo that thought as he muttered, “as if I’d leave sick. You can’t do this alone.”

Ortho shook his head, whether in agreement or dissent he wasn’t sure. They might not always be able to work together, after all.

“I’m working on the plan for Lilia,” Ortho changed the subject calmly, “it might be difficult, but I’ll figure it all out.”

Sebek gasped, “Lilia! I don’t know if he saw me leaving the dorms, or if he’s seen me here!”

Ortho shook his head, “I’m tracking his phone, they’re all in Heartslabyul right now.”

The half fae let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall with a smile, “that’s good, that’s good.”

“Are you feeling alright?” Ortho questioned, tilting his head. Yesterday did have that horrible revelation about his death, surely that would hurt him more than it did Ortho.

“I thought you said I was fine?” Sebek said, startled off of the wall.

“I’m speaking of mental health,” Ortho thought back to the tests on the overbloters, “I don’t have the equipment to properly test that on this body.”

“Oh,” Sebek’s muscles relaxed, but his eyes grew tired in seconds as he muttered, “I’m fine.”

It was a blatant lie, but Ortho didn’t push it. They were nowhere near close enough for that. Instead, he moved towards the edge of the corner and beckoned Sebek to follow him.

“Their confrontation will probably be soon,” he whispered, noticing Leona entering the center field, “let’s start watching.”

Sebek nodded and followed him to the edge.

“Let the show begin.”

Chapter Text

Soon after the two first years positioned themselves to watch, Ruggie appeared on the scene. The hyena was panting rapidly, but his eyes held more joy than Ortho had seen from anyone in a while.

“… Leona, I did it!” He sounded like a child trying to get their parents to be proud of them, “ Did you see the broadcast?”

“Yeah. That was nice work, Ruggie. So long Malleus,” at Malleus’ name Ortho could see Sebek’s body flinch out of the corner of his eye, “this year, the throne is mine.”

Ruggie and the other Savanaclaw students cheered, “Long live the king!”

As they cheered, Ortho could see a splotch of red start revealing itself from behind a different corner. It was Riddle, who was quickly followed by Ace, Deuce, Jack, Yuu, Grim, Cater, Silver, and Lilia.

The final two made Ortho look back to Sebek. If he remembered correctly, the half fae had been there originally. Standing tall with the rest of Malleus’ protectors. But not this time.

Sebek’s eyes shook with an emotion Ortho perceived as guilt. Guilt about what? Only Sebek could say. He didn’t seem to want to talk though, so they remained watching in silence as Riddle started speaking.

“I believe we’ve heard enough,” the redhaired housewarden proclaimed loudly into the crowd. The sudden intrusion made everyone pause, startled and confused, but Leona was quick to recover.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the Heartslabyul kids,” he drawled coldly, but his eyes betrayed his worry, “and is that Jack?” Leona glared at the beastman with visible disgust and a bit of disappointment, “you transfer to Heartslabyul on us, frosh?”

“Nah, I just don’t feel like celebrating the underhanded accomplishments of a bunch of cowards,” Jack held his gaze, but Ortho knew the boy was hurt by his words.

“You filthy traitor!” Leona yelled at him. Jack flinched and looked away, but Riddle took over for him.

“You have tarnished a proud Night Raven tradition,” he spoke like a judge condemning his prisoner to death, “as housewarden of Heartslabyul, a dorm focused on orderliness, I cannot possibly overlook this.”

Thinking about it, the speech was very reminiscent of Sebek earlier in the year. Claiming his position as a reason to take offence. Ortho glanced at the half fae with a smirk only to see him still staring at Silver and Lilia. He shook him and pointed at the main group.

Leona and Ruggie made a few scathing remarks about the students in front of them until one Savanaclaw dorm member asked, “You want us to take care of ‘em, Boss?” And a brawl broke out.

About five students started attacking Riddle, Jack, Ace, and Deuce with spells. None of them had noticed the others yet. After a few scattered attacks Riddle screamed, “Off With Your Heads!”

With their magic blocked, the Savanaclaw students ducked away from the redhead muttering about his strength. Riddle simply scoffed and asked his freshmen if they were alright.

“Tch,” Leona scoffed, “I knew those chumps’d be no match for Riddle.”

Ruggie nodded and giggled, “Shyeheehee! Maybe not! But this doesn’t change the fact that they were too late to save Diasomnia.”

Finally Lilia entered the conversation, “oh? That’s quite the interesting claim.” He chimed and Sebek’s distracted eyes finally focused on the conversation again.

“We seemed right on time to me,” Yuu said with a smile. Ortho could feel Sebek sink into the wall slightly.

“That… I said that, didn’t I?” The half fae whispered to himself, his eyes shaking with his body, “they didn’t really need me for anything, did they?”

“They need you for a lot of things,” Ortho whispered, laying a hand on Sebek’s shoulder, “like the mission that you’re kinda ignoring right now. Worry about this later. We have to pay attention.”

As they were talking, Cater had revealed himself and started explaining their plan to the confused beastmen.

“…duplicates of me, made with my signature Split Card spell,” he finished explaining as Leona watched with growing confusion and anger, “I must admit, I really dig those Diasomnia House outfits. They’re so extra!”

Sebek grumbled something about them being perfectly fine, finally breaking his stupor, but Lilia seemed to enjoy the appreciation, “is that right? If I knew you were such a fan, I’d have gladly loaned you mine.”

After hearing that, Ortho immediately started trying to understand the logistics of their sharing and outfit. Lilia was shorter than Cater but not much leaner, so a simple enlarging spell wouldn’t work. Maybe if… ah! He’d gotten distracted again.

“All right, can we get to the point,” Leona glared at the other students, but he was clearly nervous.

“Riddle told us everything,” Lilia started, his voice a combination of anger and smugness, “so we had him put on that little charade for us.”

“So, then… Malleus?” Ruggie asked, his eyes widening as he shot a concerned look at Leona.

“He’s perfectly fine, of course,” Lilia hummed sadistically, “right now he’s just cleaning up the chaos and getting people to safety. Oh, they grow up so fast.”

Behind Ortho, Sebek sighed. He didn’t seem as uncomfortable about that replacement than he had when it was Yuu. Maybe it was the family aspect, or maybe he was taking Ortho’s advice. Either way, it was much more convenient.

“H-how could this happen?!” Ruggie’s fear was evident in his yell and he once again looked to Leona. The housewarden didn’t seem to care about that though.

“…Tch. Whatever. I don’t even care anymore.” It was like a switch had been flicked in his mind. The other students all looked shocked, but Ruggie was the first to respond, “what?”

Ortho couldn’t really understand what he was feeling just then. It wasn’t fear or concern, but it wasn’t very comfortable. It almost felt like understanding.

Leona flicked his head away from Ruggie with a slight semblance of regret, “I’m done. It’s over.” He spoke with a clear sense of finality, as though he had expected this to happen.

“Boss, what are yo-” Ruggie started, but Leona interrupted him, still looking away, “are you even paying attention? If Malleus is able to take the field then we got no chance of winning. There’s no point even trying. I’m out.”

Ruggie stared at the man who would still not meet his eyes and pleaded, “y-you can’t just…! Malleus might still be in the game, but we took out all the other dorms’ best players, right? But without you, I don’t know if we’d have a shot at the top three!”

“You’re just going to abandon our dreams?”

It was like they had forgotten anyone else was on the field. Yuu and his group were all watching on with slightly pained expressions, and Cater seemed to be recording. The Savanaclaw students just looked shocked.

“For all the talk about ‘the world watching,’” Leona started, turning back to Ruggie, but still not meeting his eyes, “this is still just school kids playin’ a game. All you wide-eyed tenderfoots talkin’ about your dreams… Pfft. The whole thing amused me, so I threw you a bone. That’s all this was.”

Ruggie flinched backwards. He kept asking questions, but Leona shot him down. They were both just a poor hyena and a second born prince. There was no changing that. Every word made their entire dorm look more and more betrayed. Students started yelling that he couldn’t do that to them, but Leona didn’t care.

“I’m so sick of this nonsense,” he eventually yelled into the crowd, “shut UP, you nobodies!”

Suddenly, the air became dusty. It was starting. Sebek grabbed his pen as Ortho prepared to start attacking. The difference between Riddle and Leona’s overblots was that Leona had dusted Ruggie’s entire arm before ever creating his monster.

Several of the students yelled. Grim started to panic, “what?! My nose is drying out… M-my eyes hurt!” as Yuu rushed towards him.

“Everything the housewarden touched is turning to sand?!” Jack yelled, staring at the particles of dust floating up from the ground.

Leona smiled cruelly, “that’d be my signature spell. “The King’s Roar. Ironic, isn’t it?” Ortho nodded to himself, it was rather ironic that someone who would never be king gained the abilities of one.

“Nothin’ the savanna hates more than a drought,” he yelled, grabbing Ruggie by the arm. Sebek quickly started casting a protection spell, it was imperfect, but it’d stop lasting damage.

“Yet its prince’s magic desiccates everything-reduces it to sand,” Leona’s grip grew tighter around Ruggie’s arm as his signature spell started to dry it out.

“B-boss… It hurts…!” Ruggie cried, trying to wrench his arm from Leona’s grasp with no success.

“Ruggie’s arm!” Deuce yelled, horrified, “the skin is cracking!” Ortho glanced towards Sebek, but the boy remained fully concentrated on his spell.

“Your spell can legit dry out a HUMAN BEING?!” Ace screamed, just as terrified as Deuce, while backing away from the two beastmen.

Riddle’s face grew bright red as he finally said, “Leona, I cannot allow this to continue! Off With Your Head!”

His attack flicked off of Leona and towards their corner. Sebek’s eyes widened, but he couldn’t drop his spell without getting Ruggie hurt and they both knew it. They also knew he couldn’t dodge in time.

With only seconds to think, Ortho threw his arm in front of Sebek’s face to block the spell. As it hit him, a collar formed on his neck and his body, which was heavily powered by magic, fell limply to the ground.
————————
Sebek could barely spare his teammate a second glance before he had to return his gaze to the fight. He tried pulling the robot further into the corner with his leg before listening again.

“…I aced my Protective Magic classes in my sleep,” Leona was laughing at Riddle, while keeping Ruggie in his arms, “hah! How do you like that, Ruggie? Does it hurt?”

Ruggie whined with pain as Leona shook his arm, which, much to the lion’s displeasure and Sebek’s relief, was still intact, “is your mouth too dry to keep licking my boots? That was your finest talent, too.”

Sebek glanced towards the group. If they didn’t move soon he’d have to drop the spell. Finally Jack decided, “if we don’t stop him, Ruggie’s gonna disintegrate!”

“This ends now!” Yuu yelled as the cracks started to move further up Ruggie’s arm. Sebek was losing his shield.

The students all started to shoot spells at Leona. Even some of the Savanaclaw students helped, but it was no use. The combination of blot and personal magic was destroying all of them, especially without anyone aiming to kill. It did give Sebek a break in his protection though, for which he was grateful.

Eventually they were all knocked down and Riddle yelled, “if you had that much power, why do this?!”

“‘Why?’ What do you care, kid? You gonna scold me? Try to talk me down?” Leona growled, “don’t you get it? Power alone ain’t enough to make waves in this world.”

Suddenly, Sebek could feel a return in pressure on his spell. Leona kept talking, “look at Ruggie here. He’s like a muzzled dog. Hard not to pity him.”

Ruggie groaned in pain, but his arm still hadn’t turned to dust. Leona looked at it with confusion for a moment, before Jack yelled and transformed into a giant wolf. His eyes quickly returned to the Heartslabyul group.

“Holy sh-” Yuu started to yell, but a quick glance at Grim made his words change, “is he a fricking wolf!”

Jack jumped towards Leona and ripped Ruggie out of his arms as Riddle yelled, “Off With Your Head!” A collar wrapped around Leona’s neck as the other cheered.

“That was beautiful, Riddle” Cater chimed happily, “you stopped his magic cold!”

Silver took Ruggie from Jack and muttered, “we need to get the wounded somewhere safe.”

Sebek relaxed his spell and glanced at Ortho with concern. He wasn’t sure if the other boy would be able to wake up, but there had to be a way to get Riddle’s collar off.

“No… NO! You can’t collar a lion!” Leona yelled, grabbing at his neck, “and Jack! How did you… Transformation potions are forbidden! Where did you get that?”

Jack looked a bit offended as he explained, “I didn’t use a potion-that’s my signature spell. With it I can transform into a wolf.”

Leona rolled his eyes, still grasping at his neck, “ha! What’s that saying? Every dog has his day? Well I guess you had yours!”

Jack looked almost mournful as he told Leona that the only reason he had entered Night Raven was Leona. It reminded Sebek of his dream. A dream where Leona was everything he’d wanted him to be. Something the man would never really be.

“Shut up… Your dreams got nothin’ to do with me!” Leona yelled back, looking much more uncomfortable than angry for a moment.

“I understand the irony of me being the one who says this, but it pains me to see you like this,” Riddle sighed before continuing, “you’d be wise to confine yourself to your room and try to calm down.”

Leona’s eyes flashed with blind rage, “what do you know about how I feel?!”

Lilia snicked and Sebek flinched. He remembered what the man had said the last time this had happened and it would not be doing them any good.

“Would that the lion king of the savanna could witness this absolute farce. No, if you ask me, the collar suits you far better than a crown ever could,” Lilia smirked. Sebek pursued his lips with embarrassment.

Lilia kept picking apart his character until he started to mention his inferiority to Malleus. Sebek didn’t really disagree with what he was saying, but it really didn’t feel like the right stuff to say. Hindsight, maybe.

“You would never be fit to rule!” Lilia ended his rant with a yell and a glare. Sebek prepped himself for attack.

“Hah… Ha ha,” Leona laughed into the sky as blot rapidly flooded his pen, “yeah, you’re probably right. No, you’re EXACTLY right…! Ha ha ha ha! I will never become a king. No matter how hard I try!”

Grim shook as his fur started standing up and Riddle cried out, “the magic power within Leona is surging… I don’t think my collar can hold it!”

Lilia gasped, finally realizing what was happening, “no. That isn’t magic power. That’s negative energy, which means…”

“Everybody, get down!” Cater yelled as Riddle’s collar shot off of the lion.

“I’ve been loathed since the day I was born.” Leona started muttering as the sky darkened, “I’ve never had a place, never had a future! None of my hard work is ever rewarded! How could any of YOU possibly understand? MY disappointment?! MY pain?!”

Leona screamed as the blot flooded his body till it leaked out and started forming a massive, sewn up, glass headed, monster.

Chapter Text

Sebek started to shoot spells at the glass lion head while the others stared in horror and confusion. As his first attack hit the monster, he looked at Lilia.

Unlike the other students, Lilia didn’t seem shocked or afraid. He seemed guilty. His hands shook slightly as he stepped in front of his son protectively. His eyes reflected a memory of this happening before. A memory of a soldier’s death.

“What’s happening?!” Jack’s yelling broke Lilia out of his trance and turned Sebek back to the monster, “some kinda giant shadow came outta him!”

“Some people just have to state the obvious,” Sebek whispered to himself.

“That’s the incarnation of his blot!” Deuce yelled at Jack while Grim panicked loudly, “is he goin’ into evil darkness berserker mode like Riddle did?!”

Riddle flinched at the reminder of his recent overblot, but quickly brushed it aside and took charge, “if you can move, seek shelter! Ace, Deuce, help me take the wounded outside! Lilia, please get help from the faculty!”

Lilia nodded immediately at his orders, almost like the soldier he once was, and called out, “understood. Stay strong until I return!”

Ace and Deuce also started their new job immediately, helping some of the Savanaclaw students they’d previously fought, as well as some that had dried out, leave the stadium.

Leona growled into the sky as Sebek continued to hit his monster with attacks. His lion started splashing sharp claws of blot all around him as he drained the air of water.

“Why does this keep happening to us?” Cater yelled as he dodged a strike, “this is soooo not my #brand!”

“Did he just say the hashtag sig-” Sebek started to whisper before being shot at by blot and having to dodge backwards. His foot caught on Ortho’s arm and he tumbled to the ground with a gasp.

The blot sped over his hair and cut into his headband. A drop of it leaked down onto his face and slipped into his mouth. Sebek spat it out with horror before pulling himself off of his teammate and rushing back to the corner.

“…wouldn’t let me hear the end of that.” Cater was yelling at Riddle as Ace and Deuce returned for the last few injured students, “we do this together, Housewarden!”

“I dunno what’s going on,” Jack started awkwardly while Sebek snorted, “but if we hit Leona hard enough, maybe we can snap him outta it?”

Sebek sighed, if only it were that easy. In the corner of his eye he noticed Ruggie pushing away from Silver.

“I,” Ruggie coughed as he spoke, but stood firm, “I’ll help too…” another cough, “no way am I taking what he said lying down!”

Leona scoffed at the comment, finally taking a pause from his onslaught of attacks to whine, “so even the lowly hyena turns against me? Ah ha ha! What a joke!”

A larger shot of blot flew towards Ruggie and Silver. Sebek panicked and sent a shield to block them just as Silver did the same. Their magic combined perfectly to protect the two second years. Sebek signed in relief.

“Yuu, if we can take this guy down, they’ll let us play in the tournament,” Grim yelled at Yuu as another attack flew their way.

“Priorities, Grim!” Yuu yelled as he ducked under the blot, “but yeah! Let’s get him!”

As if on cue, the remaining students started attacking Leona and his blot monster. Sebek shot spell after spell at the glass, since he couldn’t have Ortho helping him.

Another shot of blot flew towards him and he dodged. The monster had started using its claws to attack the students.

“I’ll turn all of you to sand!” Leona yelled at the group, punctuating it with another swipe at Jack, “you don’t understand!”

Sebek stared at the glass with concern. It didn’t look worn enough for the main group to be fine, but every strike with the claws turned the wounds to dust.

Jack leapt at Leona and tried ripping into the fabric of the monster, but his teeth couldn’t get through. He was thrown off in an instant.

Sebek threw a spell over to catch him and quickly turned back to Leona. He flicked another spell at the glass and flinched.

He pulled his pen to meet his eye. It was sloshing with blot that was far too close to the top.

Sebek looked back at the lion just in time to see another shot of blot about to hit his arm. He cast a shielding spell, but it wasn’t quite strong enough to block the hit.

He gasped in pain as a claw flipped over his heart only to cut through his shoulder with ease. Another caught on his leg. Blood and blot dripped from his side as he fell to the ground.

He could hear more screaming from the students as he crawled over to see past the ledge. Leona was knocking down Savanaclaw students left and right, but the glass of his monster seemed thinner.

Sebek pulled himself back to Ortho’s body and started poking at it. If he had storage for headbands, then maybe he’d have storage for bandages. As he suspected, there was a slightly opened section of Ortho’s chest.

Sebek pried the metal open to reveal two more headbands and, fortunately, a first aid kit. Ortho must have added that after their last overblot.

His fingers fumbled with a soft cloth as he tried clearing the filth off of his skin and clothes. Once that was done, he started trying to clean his wounds.

Every touch hurt. His eyes were watering in pain by the time he finished and moved to cast a healing spell. With how much blot he was holding there was no way for him to be fully healed, but they were mended enough to be wrapped.

By the time he finished he could hear teachers arriving at the scene. He crawled over to the corner one last time and leaned against the wall to watch.

“I did it!” Grim was yelling cheerfully while standing over a regular Leona, “he’s awake!”

Sebek’s face broke into a weak smile as he looked for any severely injured people and saw none. It all turned out fine.

“Now hurry up and confess,” Grim told Leona as the boy groggily pushed himself up off the ground.

“Mr. Kingscholar,” Crowley started explaining what happened to Leona, with minor interruptions from everyone, from the overblot back to the investigation. He finished by requesting a confession to which Leona gave.

“Very well. Then to begin with, Savanaclaw House will be disqualified from this year's tournament,” Crowley decided with pursed lips, “the rest of your punishment will be decided after I discuss it with the victims. Are we clear?”

“…Understood,” Leona muttered, looking down at the ground shamefully. The rest of Savanaclaw followed his gaze downwards.

“Headmage, wait,” Riddle cut in after seeming to hold a side conversation with Trey and a recently arrived Jamil.

Sebek stopped listening at that point. He knew what would happen. The students hit by Ruggie’s attacks would ask for Savanaclaw to remain in the tournament so they could beat them up and Crowley would agree.

He turned to Ortho and tried dragging him further into the corner. The collar would have to be dealt with first.

———————————————————————

Lilia returned to the group shortly after Crowley and moved to hover over Silver. He didn’t really pay much attention to the conversation, since he had to check for any injuries.

If fact, he only started paying attention when Leona started to laugh, “heh heh… Ha ha ha! Don’t you underestimate me, Crowley. I wouldn’t even need to be awake to handle this sorry pack of wounded herbivores.”

Lilia moved to block Silver a bit more under the guise of checking for a concussion. He didn’t like how confident Leona sounded in his strength. Not after what he did.

It didn’t help that the comment reminded him of Sebek. Always eager to prove himself stronger than the humans, especially Silver, that he interacted with.

He paused in his check and teleported over to a Diasomnia spectator that had been trying to get his friend to let him leave all day.

“Hello, young one,” he muttered from behind, causing the first year to jump with terror, “you wouldn’t mind going back to the dorms and checking that Sebek is in room 312, would you?”

“Oh!” The first year nearly sighed in relief as his friends moved to let him leave, “yeah, I can totally do that! Sebek’s the weir- ah! Unusual green haired… guy?, right?”

Lilia frowned, but nodded as the boy left. He really didn’t appreciate all of the first years deciding that Sebek was some form of mint flavored cryptid, but it was better than them all hating him.

Leona was trying to stand up as Lilia returned to Silver, but the lion was struggling, “all right, let’s- Urk! That hurt…”

Ruggie caught his arm to pull him up, “don’t think you’ve earned my forgiveness.”

“Right, and?” Leona growled, rolling his eyes. Lilia could see regret though. If he couldn’t he’d probably have knocked the boy out by then.

“Still…” Ruggie muttered, staring at Leona with a slight pout, “I couldn’t tell you why, but… It still pains me to see that pathetic look on your face.”

“Well this is clearly a setup,” Lilia whispered to Cater while he pulled out his phone to record.

“Your usual smug, sneering grin - somehow, that suits you better,” Ruggie snickered, “so come on, now! ‘Laugh With Me!’”

Leona’s face broke out into an uncontrollable grin as he yelled, “Owwww! Ruggie, what are you doin’…?!”

Ruggie flicked Leona’s ear and snickered, “Shyeheehee! I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do this!”

Cater whispered, “perfect for my Magicam,” from behind Lilia while the Savanaclaw students continued their ‘fight’ about the spell.

With those interactions finished, Lilia rushed back to the tent so he could get ready for the first game.
-
As per usual, Diasomnia won the tournament. Malleus really was a bit OP when it came to these kinds of things.

Lilia, Silver, and Malleus, along with many of the Heartslabyul and Savanaclaw students stayed behind to watch the Savanaclaw vs. Ramshackle special match.

Malleus had seemed especially eager to see Yuu, so when the boy got hit with a disc in the back of the head Lilia had to hold him down. He didn’t want any more issues for the day.

Around that same time, fortunately, the first year he’d sent to check on Sebek returned.

“Vice Housewarden!” He’d yelled as he approached, alerting everyone nearby to his presence, “Sebek was not in his dorm room when I checked 15 minutes ago.”

“What.” Lilia hissed at the boy, concern and anger completely distracting him from the match, “did anyone see him?”

“His roommate said he left at an unholy hour,” the boy explained, clearly frightened by the fae, “and that he hadn’t come back yet, but it was probably fine.”

Lilia glared at the boy and immediately opened his phone to call Sebek before Riddle commented, “it might not be anything serious, you know.”

He paused in his rapid typing to frown at the redhead, “why do you say that?”

“Well, I mean,” Riddle pursed his lips for a moment, “he may just be with his lover.”

“What.”

Chapter Text

Sebek had never had to destroy someone’s unique magic before, but he was sure it wouldn’t be too difficult. It couldn’t be. Just for his sake.

He tried poking at the collar to see if there were weak points, or maybe key holes, but nothing could be seen. It was practically a weighted decorative plate with a hole.

The clasp at the front wasn’t even holding it together, so breaking that wouldn’t fix anything.

He turned away from Ortho and leaned against a wall with a sigh. He’d have to think of a magical way to deal with the problem.

Sebek closed his eyes as he thought. They’d dealt with something similar to this in their previous lives, with the crimson flowers, he supposed, but he couldn’t do that.

The crimson flowers of Nobel Bell College needed to be overrun with too much magic for them to handle and he could barely heal his arm. No, if he tried to do that he'd overblot for sure.

Riddle had always just waved his pen and taken them off, and yet it was so difficult for him to even try.

Of course, Leona could throw it off. And Riddle had said that the magical power had surged to a point where he couldn’t handle it. Maybe if he could get someone to push a bit of magic directly into the metal…

But who could he ask to do that?

————————————————————————-

“What.” Lilia spat out with a glare all too suddenly pointed at Riddle.

Riddle flinched away from the stare and shook his head slightly, “my apologies if I made an inaccurate assum-”

“How would you get that impression exactly?” Lilia hissed, his shadow extending horrifically on the floor as he hovered closer to the redhead, “did he mention something? Did he tell you before me?”

“Woah there Lils,” Cater careened in front of Riddle with an awkward smile, “Riddle probably just… umm… misinterpreted stuff?”

“He’s correct, fa- Lilia,” Silver whispered, grabbing Lilia by the arm, “we shouldn’t make any assumptions. We know Sebek, do you think he’d hide something like this?”

“Yes!” Lilia shrieked, grabbing his head and frowning deeply, “I mean, if he thought it’d damage his position or we’d get mad at him or we wouldn’t approve…”

Lilia trailed off, biting at the interior of his lip. He was in no way overreacting, no matter what Silver was implying.

“As I was trying to say,” Riddle said as calmly as he could once Lilia seemed less worried, he wasn’t, but Riddle couldn’t tell, “I may have made an inaccurate assumption about the situation.”

“And what ‘situation’ would that be?” Lilia muttered, returning to watching Riddle with a slightly smaller glare.

“A few weeks ago, when the first student was hit by Ruggie,” Riddle explained to what he then realized was nearly everyone left at the stadium, not that it was that many people, “I was checking to make sure that none of the other students had been hurt and gone unnoticed.”

Lilia started tapping his foot impatiently. He understood the need for context, but he needed that information. And since the first attack?!

“As I was walking through the maze, I noticed Sebek standing next to a brunette,” Riddle continued to explain and suddenly, Silver made a noise of surprise, “was that where he was?”

“Oh?” Lilia turned his head towards his son questioningly, “is that the time he left you at the stable?”

“Yes,” Silver said, nodding and turning back to Riddle, “so what made you think they were in a relationship?”

“Well, they were holding hands,” Riddle explained with a pursed lip. Cater snorted.

“Oh Riddle,” he snickered, “you’re so sheltered. That’s not proof of, like, anything.”

“No, no,” Lilia shook his head, thinking back to Sebek’s usual reactions to anyone outside of their group touching him, “he has a point.”

“I was not finished,” Riddle said, blushing furiously, “I am fully aware that you can hold hands and not be in a romantic relationship.”

“And yet,” Cater continued to smirk slightly, “that is what you started with.”

Riddle turned away from the third year and focused on Lilia, “after that, I saw the brunette whisper something in Sebek’s ear very closely and wait for him to leave before exiting.”

Cater turned to Lilia and smiled, “see, it’s probably just a misunderstanding. Everybody whispers into someone’s ear from time to time.”

Lilia, on the other hand, looked fully convinced. He’d known Sebek since before the boy could walk properly and he was not a fan of being held. Not to mention that whispering was barely in his vocabulary.

Silver seemed to be thinking along the same lines as his father and it reflected clearly on his face, but he still figured that, “we should ask him before we respond to this allegation.”

“Aha!” Lilia yelled, clapping his hands together, “a head on attack! He’ll never see it coming.”

“Omg I am so invested now,” Cater chimed, sitting down right next to Lilia as the fae pulled out his phone, “please call him.”

Lilia nodded. Of course he was planning on calling him. He probably would have called him even if there wasn’t a boyfriend. He needed to know where his honorary son was.

Cater leaned in closer as Lilia started the call. It rang once, twice, three times, and finally, Sebek picked up.

“Hello Lilia,” Sebek spoke like it was an announcement, but it wasn’t the same as he usually did. It felt as though he was covering something.

“Sebek.” Lilia said, pursing his lips, he wasn’t sure how to approach the situation without giving him time to find a cover. Maybe if he asked where he was first… yes, that would work.

“Where are you?” He snapped a bit sharper than intended, “I just found out you weren’t at the dorm.”

“Ah…” Sebek mumbled into the phone as a slight clattering could be heard from his end of the line, “I went for a walk. Like I told you.”

Lilia frowned. Sebek was clearly lying to him, which meant it was time to ask about the boyfriend, “so Sebek, you wouldn’t happen to be on that walk with someone, would you…?”

“Wha- N- No!” Sebek shrieked uncomfortably as slight laughter could be heard from around him. The cackling abruptly stopped.

“Do you have a boyfriend, Sebek?” Lilia decided to get it over with. Might as well not give him time to hide.

The other end went dead silent for a moment. The freeze was only prefaced by a sharp intake of breath from Sebek and a muttered “fuck” from someone else. Unintelligible muttering followed it.

Abruptly, the muttering stopped and Sebek almost fearfully mumbled, “no.”

A click could be heard as the half fae ended the call. Lilia rang again, but there was no response. He turned to Cater with a pained expression.

“He has a boyfriend,” he sighed, shaking his head, “and he was definitely hiding it.”

“Ahaha,” Cater chuckled awkwardly, “well at least you know now…?”

Lilia shook his head and turned to Riddle again, “do you have any more information on this person? Age? Name? Dorm? Color scheme?”

As he spoke he leaned closer to the redhead and tapped his seat. Riddle leaned backwards and muttered, “it was hard to see anything,” Lilia frowned, “but I think he was from Ignihyde?”

“Ignihyde?!” Lilia and Cater practically shouted together. Cater was stunned that any of them would leave their dorm, but Lilia was simply stunned that Sebek romanced an introvert.

“Seven,” Lilia tutted, “it’s like I don’t know him at all anymore.”

“Come on Lils,” Cater wrapped an arm around Lilia’s shoulder, “it’s just one secret. Everybody hides stuff from their friends occasionally.”

Lilia started to nod, but suddenly was reminded of a different event that Sebek had also hidden, “it’s not only this though!”

Lilia, who had been sinking back into his chair, shot back up and started to pace as he continued, “over the summer he tried to hide his unique magic from us too.”

Silver nodded and yawned, “he did try to figure everything out before telling us. Maybe that’s all it is.”

“I helped him with that lightning,” Lilia grumbled, still pacing, “I could help him with this!”

“You’ve never really had a romantic relationship though?” Silver hummed, unaware of how rude the sentence sounded. Lilia wasn’t sure whether to frown or laugh.

“I have the knowledge necessary,” Lilia eventually said, patting his son on the head. Everyone seemed to roll their eyes for a moment, but he paid them no heed.

“In any case,” Lilia said as he picked Silver up from his chair, “I’ll need to plan this conversation further. And call his grandfather.”

As he left, Lilia heard Cater whisper, “and you wonder why he didn’t tell you.”

———————————————-

Theo was never a big fan of sporting events, but here he was, waiting in the stands, hoping that everyone would play quickly.

Why was he there? Obviously it was Dain. The boy was practically in love with watching people fall and get hit with discs as they played.

Not that the idea of watching that was any help in getting him up in the mornings. Theo could swear that cat was a sloth in disguise at least half the time, always having to be woken up, but he never really minded.

Today though, Dain had been the one to wake him up with a call about Sebek. Apparently there was more to his boyfriend than they had considered.

It was rather interesting. A secret name and everything. To be honest, if it wasn’t Dain telling him, he’d probably not have believed it.

Still he was invested. And now they’d be able to talk about it in person. When Dain arrived.

Theo tapped the floor with agitation. Dain had promised to meet him at the stands before it started, and Theo could hear the announcers start speaking.

“Hey~” a voice purred from behind him as Dain flipped into his seat, “miss me?”

“I saw you yesterday,” Theo was a bit annoyed at the lateness, but he didn’t move Dain off as he leaned on his shoulder, “and you really need to be more punctual.”

“Oh hush,” Dain said, poking his cheek, “I’m here aren’t I?”

“No.”

Dain rolled his eyes and turned to watch the start of the game when his phone went off. Suddenly he smiled brightly and stood up.

“Psst,” he pulled Theo up and whispered into his ear, “it’s Sebek, let’s go.”

Theo almost celebrated as Dain pulled him away from the stands and into a side area that wasn’t crowded. He didn’t have to watch any sports!

Dain answered the call once they were hidden and leaned against a wall casually. His expression soon changed to concerned confusion and eventually vague understanding as he ended the call with an, “alright, see you soon.”

“What is it?” Theo asked him, keeping his voice low, “do you need to help him? Are you leaving?”

Dain’s ear flicked at the last question, “it’ll probably be better with both of us actually. Plus I can follow through that way…”

Even as he spoke Dain started walking to the door of the stands with Theo’s hand held captive in his. They walked along the edge of the wall for a while, before Dain started pulling himself up one side and jumped over.

“D-!” Theo almost shouted the boy’s name in concern. He stared at the sliver of wall the beastman had jumped over and pursed his lips.

“The things I do for you,” he muttered finally, pulling himself up and jumping over.

The drop wasn’t that far, but he’d miscalculated his angle and would have hit the ground back first if Dain hadn’t caught him. With a spell. Not his arms. Unfortunately.

“Took you long enough,” Dain pouted as he dragged Theo over to an interior corner, “yeesh, it reeks over here.” They made a few more turns before finally arriving at what seemed to be their destination.

“Now where is that minty bas- Sebek!” Dain practically shouted out Sebek’s name as he saw the boy bleeding on the ground next to who Theo assumed was Orpheus.

“Ah,” Sebek said weakly, not standing up, “you’re here. That’s great.”

Dain rushed over to the half fae and started to cast a healing spell, but was pushed away before he could finish it.

“No, no,” Sebek shoved him over to Orpheus and tapped on what looked like one of Housewarden Riddle’s trademark collars, “push your magic into this.”

“What?” Dain stopped trying to heal him, but started to look even more confused. Theo assumed they were trying to get the collar off, but didn’t know why.

“Do you have a reason for that?” Theo asked, breaking a short and uncomfortable silence. Sebek jumped slightly.

“You brought someone else?” He looked betrayed, but Dain didn’t falter and simply replied, “I was worried! He is trustable, and you should answer the question or I won’t do it.”

Theo smiled at that. Of course, he knew the question was important, but the way Dain said it made it sound like Theo was the reason it was special.

“Orpheus-” Sebek started before Dain cut in.

“I know his name is Ortho.”

The name made Theo pause. He knew that name. He knew why the collar would be an issue. They needed to get it off.

Sebek flinched, unaware of Theo’s understanding, “do you know anything else about… Ortho?”

“I do,” Theo stopped Dain from speaking, “he’s Idia Shroud’s younger brother. The android.”

“You’re getting drugs from and possibly fucking a fucking android!” Dain shrieked, fully forgetting the situation. Fortunately a goal was scored at the same time, so nobody heard him.

“Wha- no!” Sebek whisper yelled his denial as his face flushed with what had to be most of his remaining blood, “I thought you’d figured that stuff out.”

“I mean I knew you weren’t dating,” Dain explained, “but it seemed like he was giving you stuff and you don’t call someone your fake boyfriend without some chemistry.”

Didn’t Dain use Theo as his fake boyfriend at one point. The human blushed lightly at the thought.

“You were the one who said we were dating,” Sebek hissed at him, fully ignoring his injuries in favor of grabbing at the ground, “I’d never have said that otherwise!”

“Anyways,” Dain said, pointedly ignoring the comment, “you haven’t answered the question. Why should we magic up the collar?”

“He’s made with magic,” Sebek looked down at the robot and winced, “with it blocked, he can’t… exist? Be alive?”

“Oh,” Dain’s ears flopped against his head, “that… I can see why that’d be an issue.”

“We’ll help you,” Theo decided for them, walking over to Ortho’s side, “I’d understand if you wanted us to keep it secret.”

Dain looked at Theo with slight tears in his eyes. Theo knew why.

When they were both six, Dain watched his mother die. She’d gotten into a terrible accident and was rushed to the hospital. Everyone thought she’d be fine, since the magic of the machines could keep anyone alive.

Then something managed to shut down the magic. Over 70 patients died in one night. Margerine Hargeven was one of them.

Dain had cried for days. He spent a week at Theo’s house, hiding from his mourning father and relatives, sobbing into Theo’s pillows.

And now he’s watching someone else who’s magic was supposed to save them, completely still on the ground.

Without another word, Theo dropped to the floor and started pushing magic at any weak point he could see. Dain followed him soon after.

They pushed against either end and stretched the metal for three long minutes before a snap could be heard. The metal fell harshly to the sides as Sebek let out a sigh of relief.

Ortho’s eyes glowed again, but he didn’t move. Theo stood up and walked over to Sebek.

“So,” he muttered, dropping again and pulling out his magic pen, “now that he’s alright, maybe we can heal you up?”

Sebek nodded and let Theo’s magic wrap around him, mending the rest of his cuts and brushing the blot out of every section. The half fae dropped his magic pen and it rolled over to Dain.
-
The black of blot shocked Dain out of his thought and he picked up the pen. Barely any green could be seen as sloshing ink dripped out of its end. Dain almost dropped it when he noticed the smudges of blood along its sides.

If someone had told him this was a war veteran’s pen he would have believed them.

“No more magic for you Becky,” he hummed with discomfort, putting the pen in his pocket and walking over to the half fae, “and we’ll need to get you more blood.”

Theo and Sebek looked up at how with confusion and understanding respectively. Sebek shook his head, “I can’t exactly go to the infirmary.”

Dain nodded and smirked, noticing Theo’s eyes roll as he realized what they’d be doing, before chiming, “we’re robbing the infirmary!”

“Why?”