Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Act One: Alex

"She doesn't deserve the world. She deserves the heavens above. For her soul was more beautiful than the angels could describe."

April 6th, 2007 

“What the hell is that Corbeau chick doing here?” a male voice echoed through the Jujutsu Tech courtyard. 

“I don’t know. Maybe she escaped from the psych ward or something,” another voice answered. 

“This sure ain’t a place for a lowlife sorceress like her. If she could even be called a sorceress.” 

“Yeah. What is she even going to do? Carry that damn box around her all year? Does that shit even exist or did they make it up just like everything about their miserable lives?” 

“For all I know, she can shove it up her ass. My mom always said that the Corbeaus should’ve been exiled from the Jujutsu society long ago.” 

“I was thinking the same damn thing. Why did she think about coming here? No one likes ‘em anyway.” 

“Is she, like, even a grade two?” 

“Dunno. I wouldn’t ask her even if you gave me money to. I wonder if her weak ass can even clean the training grounds of those grade fours.” 

“I heard her mother cursed an entire Kyoto delegation.” 

“Bullshit. She ran away after pissing everyone off.” 

Alexandria Corbeau heard them. The irritating, non-coherent sound waves imitating human speech violated her ears. She didn’t need to look at them to know what kind of people they were. She saw them anyway. She always tended to. Nothing ever escaped her overactive mind. 

Two third years sat on the benches in the courtyard,  presumably enjoying their final day before the start of the semester. A guy with a horrendous haircut Alexandria hoped he had gotten for free spoke to a classmate of his, a pale, blonde girl.  

Just before the unsightly man could speak some more disgusting, pretentious things, a seemingly random gust of wind blew his drink right into his lap. 

A small smile appeared on Alexandria’s lips. 

The courtyard was bathed in gentle spring sunlight, but the speckles of cursed energy remnants lessened the sight. The ancient style buildings rose high in the sky, most perfectly maintained with hints of spider webs in the shadowy corners.  

Her footsteps echoed off the vintage tiles. The slow humming of her own cursed energy calmed her. Her brain automatically filtered out the information she didn’t want to see. All students had a field of energy around them. Millions of strings strung on their bodies revealed their fates, intentions and aspirations, only visible to her. She paid them no mind.  

The photons of light bounced off the freshly mown grass. The cherry flowers attracted bees. The fluttering of their wings played a calming melody in her head.  

On the other side of the courtyard, a boy with hair as white as the coldest January snow lounged on the chairs. He took up space shamelessly, crossing his legs over two chairs. His face emitted a smug grin with sunglasses lazily covering his eyes. A girl smoked beside him, keeping a respectful, secretly disgusted spacing. Another boy, in monk culture inspired clothes, looked to the sky, unbothered by the events happening around him. 

“Yo, Suguru. Can you come and unpack my things? I’ll buy you snacks,” the snowman asked. 

The other, raven-haired boy, Suguru, shot him an annoyed look, “I’m not your butler. Do your shit yourself, Satoru.” 

“But I have better things to do! Being the strongest and all...”  

“Like what? Breaking the vending machine again?” the girl interrupted, putting her cigarette out on her shoe sole. 

“I got us all free drinks! You’re welcome, Shoko.”  

“And detention,” Suguru said, positively fed up with Satoru’s antics. 

A faint wind rustled through the yard. The weather had just started to get warmer. Cherry blossom leaves gracefully fell from their respective trees, painting the vibrant green grass pink.  

“I can’t believe we’re already second years,” Satoru said. 

“Liar. Just last month you said that you should’ve already graduated, being the strongest and all,” Suguru said, rolling his eyes.  

“Me from last month was so right. Like I always am,”  

Silence filled the space for a moment. No one bothered to add on to the narcissistic celebration of himself Satoru started. 

“We’re getting a new student, right?” Shoko broke the stillness, cleverly switching to another topic. 

“I guess. Alex... something,” Suguru said. 

“Corbeau. A maniacal family that claims to possess a box holding the so called ‘secrets of the Universe’,” Satoru added. 

“Huh?” Suguru was confused. He was not so knowledgeable about the history of sorcerer families. 

“What I said. The box didn’t bring them shit for all I know. They’re one weird ass family.” 

“Interesting. If such a thing existed, wouldn’t there had already been attempts to steal it? Sounds like utter bullshit. Right, Shoko?” Suguru asked, his head once again rising to the heavenly blues of the April sky. 

“I guess,” the girl said, disinterested, lighting another cigarette. 

The Corpus Obscura, The Eye Beneath the World and The Vault of the Universe were only some of the names the Jujutsu society used when referring to the thing residing in the basement of the Corbeau house. Alexandria always thought there were names more fitting for the box that her mother always used. The Universe’s Ashtray, she called it. That Interdimensional piece of shit, she would say when she went on another one of her rambles, “I swear to God if I find out who made it, I’ll gouge their eyes out in the afterlife.” 

Many myths about how the box was created circulated around the Jujutsu society. Alexandria always got surprised when she heard another variation. The extent to which people could twist and alter things fascinated her. 

She only knew the version her mother had told her when she was a child. Naturally, there was no way to know if it was true. Carried through by retelling, the story probably changed various times, but Alexandria hoped that at least its very core remained unaltered. 

Or, at least, that was before she saw it all unfold before her. 

Her mother always told her that she shouldn’t go to the basement. That something really bad resided there. Alexandria didn’t mind. The upper floors of the Corbeau house, with their rotten walls and creaky floorboards were enough on their own. 

The high walls had paintings on them, yellowed and crooked. Alexandria could barely make out the faces of her ancestors. One always seemed to be smirking  Another seemed like he followed her with clouded eyes. Her mother called them bastards, all to the last one. 

Her hatred wasn’t without a cause. Alexandria’s mother told her the story only once, after the funeral of her last relative. They were kicked out. “We are forever cursed,” she said. “Because of power hungry assholes that meddled with divinity.” 

Before the Heian era, the sorcerers were rising. Every prominent sorcerer clan had something to distinguish them from the others. The Gojo clan had the Six Eyes. The Zen’in clan had the Ten Shadows. Only the Corbeau family had none. 

Mediocre sorcerers from the start, they never had anything to be proud of. Their techniques varied, but it was never something worth mentioning, let alone something worth rising up in Jujutsu society. 

The elders had gathered one day, full of ambition and hunger for power. Amongst the worthless ideas one stood out. Forbidden. Controversial for that time. One of the younger members of the family proposed creating a cursed object that would emit pure energy. They had to channel it into a cursed object similar to the Prison Realm, effectively trapping enormous amounts of cursed energy inside. 

“Those damn bastards didn’t know what they were doing,” Alexandria’s mother spat, cigarette smoke curling around her face. “Even the worst curse users knew not to mess with that.” 

The box was created on a full moon. The elders spent years making an object with the trapping properties of the Prison Realm, tuning it to perfection. It was a simple black wooden box, decorated with carved sacred chants and symbols. 

They laid it on the ground. Around the box, items representing the four elements were put down. A raven feather. A lump of coal. A handful of Earth. A stone polished by a stream. One sorcerer placed a book on divinity on the ground. Another placed a dove.  

They circled around the artefacts, channelling their energy to the ground. It didn’t matter that their energies were weak individually. They amplified each other.  

A shooting star crossed the sky at the moment of closing the box. It fell right inside, courtesy of the magnetic energies of the sorcerers colliding. 

The aftermath wasn’t dramatic. The box just hummed. And it didn’t emit power or open. They expected a reaction. A crack in the ground. A thunder strike. Divinity remained quiet without a sign of ever wanting to respond. 

“Morons. They really thought that would work. That damned thing never brought us anything but suffering,” Alexandria’s mother said, disinterested. Like she learned how to live with the generational disappointment. 

The sorcerers stood, confused. They placed it in the basement. There are records of some going crazy just from listening to the frequencies it emitted. Others claimed it was as heavy as all the burdens of humanity. 

It brought the family nothing but harm. Once the word was spread around through the Jujutsu society, everyone wanted it to themselves. Not a day had passed when someone tried to steal it. 

Many of Alexandria’s ancestors died protecting the very thing that caused their problems.  

There may have not been many attempts on stealing the box recently, but the Corbeau family were deemed cursed and were exiled from society. No one wanted a part in their suffering. 

Like a joke, no sorcerer had succeeded to open the box.  

Until Alexandria Corbeau wandered into the basement of her run-down house. 

Flashback to July 18th, 2005 

She was fifteen. Questioning the world around her. Her mother’s bitterness was trapping her, just like her father’s passive tone. The smell of alcohol followed through her house, simultaneous with her mother’s yelling voice. 

It was silently extinguishing her will to make something of herself. She was on summer break from the non-sorcerer school her mother had enrolled her into, not wanting for her daughter to be burdened with the Jujutsu society that was set on thinking about them as lowlifes.   

Her mother’s overbearing demeanour made her want to do exactly the opposite of what she was told to do. Her father’s anger made her defensive. Her family line and fate held her into place so firmly that it amplified her wishes to prove them all wrong. No ties, no family curses. She wasn’t like them, she told herself.  

One night, anger coursed through her veins as her father shattered yet another bottle on the floor. No matter how wrong it was, she couldn’t stop thinking what would life be if they were all just gone. If she could be just Alexandria. No last name, no family to trace back to. She didn’t get it. She wasn’t like them. She wouldn’t give her life up to resentment and anger directed towards the heavens.  

She wandered through the run-down halls of her house, wanting to get out of this place as soon as possible. She never wanted to be a sorceress, and she never wanted to become like her mother. Bitter and resentful. Working against it, she knew, would only bring her back to square one. No matter how hard she tried, her mother’s traits always popped up in her. 

This time, she decided to go against everything her mother had told her. The basement was a cold, unwelcoming place. Bookcases stood against the walls, the pages of the books so weak that they would turn into ash when touched. The place emanated a weird energy. It wasn’t inviting or pleasant. It was just there. Present. Humming forevermore. 

For a moment, Alexandria didn’t know what to do. She expected for it to feel more forbidden, to awaken something in her. The black, carved box just stood on a table, pulling her cursed energy towards itself. Just a slight pull was what she felt, no grand declaration of power, no call.  

She reached out and touched the carvings. She couldn’t make out the words that were made so long ago. The energy was weird. Pulling and pushing simultaneously. Humming slowly. Twisting her vision ever so slightly. 

Alexandria reached for the upper part of the box and opened it. 

“Why hadn’t they done this before? It was so easy,” she said to no one in particular. 

Not a thing happened until she took a glance at what was inside.  

Her pupils dilated in milliseconds as she took in the vision. Infinite light. Her heartbeat synced to the frequency of the Earth. She saw everything at the same time. Energies moved. Atoms clashed and built on top of each other. Sound waves moved around and dissipated into each other.  

The world was in harmony. Alexandria felt like she saw the world through thousands of lens, simultaneously zooming in and going out. Physics principles, chemical reactions and biological processes played out in front of her in real time.  

The stars realigned to greet her. Energies wrapped around her like she always belonged here. In that moment, Alexandria Corbeau realised that she would never be the same person again. 

She took a step back. The box was still open on the table. It now hummed a familiar tune. The room looked the same, except that Alexandria now saw the world for what it truly was. She saw the perimeter around her house. Her mother and father sleeping in separate rooms. The rain silently brewing in the clouds towering over the Corbeau property.  

The light particles bounced off the box. Alexandria closed it. Her vision remained the same.  

Wandering through the halls back to her room, she saw things that she couldn’t before. A whole family of spiders resided on the old walls. Cursed energy remains cluttered the house. She saw the footprints of her ancestors on the floors. 

That night, Alexandria Corbeau did not sleep for a minute. She reached for a glass of water and it materialised in her hand.

Chapter Text

April 8th, 2007 

Alexandria tiredly walked through the courtyard. She had stayed up last night, rummaging through her unpacked boxes, trying to make her room at least a bit orderly. 

Her dorm neighbours were quite loud. Her mother would’ve yelled at them already if she had been there. Thankfully, she hadn’t. Alexandria would go crazy if she had to live with her for another day. She was lucky she could just cancel the noise out herself.  

The courtyard was busy with people getting to their classes. There weren’t as many students as there were in her old, non-sorcerer school, but she presumed it was due to the fact that sorcerers made up only a small part of the population. 

Their energies meshed together. Threads hung from the students’ bodies, visible only to Alexandria. She could see their futures branching out, but her mind automatically filtered it out. Getting attached to people, especially sorcerers, was futile. They never lived long, and their fates were almost always entirely tragic. 

Seeing that she had some spare time before her first class, she sat on a bench underneath a cherry blossom tree. The soft pink petals were carried by the wind, spreading out like snowflakes. Trees always emitted peaceful energy. Alexandria could see their long, intricate branches spreading out into the ground. They always listened. 

The pleasant workings of her brain were suddenly interrupted by an unfamiliar voice coming from the other side of the courtyard.  

Alexandria didn’t answer. She presumed that it wasn’t meant for her. Years ago, she made peace with the fact that people disliked her for her family. She couldn’t change that, and she deemed it futile to try and make friendships in the Jujutsu world. 

“Hey!” the voice echoed through the space again. Booming, unpleasant and overly confident. 

No one in their right mind would pay any attention to her, let alone talk to her. Her permanent uninterested expression and dismissive attitude, mixed with her ancestry diverted the attention of other students to literally anything else. Even cursed energy textbooks became interesting in her presence. 

“You new?”  

Alexandria moved her gaze slightly, actually questioning if it was meant for her. She averted her eyes again, not wanting to be bothered or subjected to whatever random cruelty was on the schedule for today. 

Just moments after, a boy approximately her age, wearing the school’s uniform approached her.  

He is as beautiful as before.  

“What the fuck?” she thought, “I’ve literally never seen this guy before in my life.” She speculated who could he be, but she was certain that this was their first meeting. Maybe that was just someone else’s thought, though, and her brain was failing to filter information properly again. Alexandria sometimes heard fragments of others’ thoughts unwillingly, deciding to filter it out. 

“Wow. That’s one mean look. Did I kill your goldfish in a past life or something?” the guy was persistent. 

“Assuming I had a goldfish.” 

“You’re right. You strike me more as a poisonous spider person.” 

Alexandria raised an eyebrow. She expected a mean comment. Maybe a subtle jab. Not this. 

“ That’s the opening line you went with?” she said, dumbfounded. 

“I go with my instincts.” 

“And yet, they led you here. Living proof evolution failed.” 

The white-haired guy laughed. His hair reminded her of clouds. He had sunglasses on, round like the ones she had seen in Harry Potter. A strange fashion statement for sure, but it wasn’t unexpected. Men always tended to dress badly. 

Why was he laughing, anyway? She wasn’t a pleasant person to be around. She would like it way better if he wasn’t talking to her right now. Even so, he looked like she said the funniest thing he had heard all morning. 

“I’m Satoru Gojo. Strongest sorcerer alive and your new favourite classmate,” he offered her his hand. 

Of course. One of the Gojo family bastards. And it had to be the one with the Six Eyes. She refused to shake hands. Sooner or later, she thought, this guy will become a hindrance. 

“Alexandria Corbeau. Functioning misanthrope.” 

“Cool,” his grin widened. Yours official?” 

“No. Self-appointed. Just like yours.” 

He laughed again. Alexandria didn’t understand why. She couldn’t make out whether he was actually genuine or making fun of her.  

She noticed some other students glancing at her, looking disgusted. “You can have him, assholes. Talk to the snowman all you want, I’m not interested,” she said in her mind because she knew better than to say it out loud. Entertaining those people was like engaging in conversation with the local morons in the town near her house. Don’t make eye contact and they’ll go away, her mother said. 

Satoru distracted her from her thoughts, “You’ve really made some hell of an impression already. You set the dorm on fire or something?” 

“Give it time,” Alexandria said without thinking. 

“They really don’t like you, huh?” 

Her mind crumbled again. She couldn’t even have a damn conversation go well. Alexandria didn’t know why she reacted the way she did at the moment. 

“Yeah. And you won’t either,” she said, standing up from the bench she was sitting on. 

He didn’t chase after her. Didn’t try to talk to her again.  

Alexandria couldn’t pinpoint the cause of her reaction. She just hated being pitied. Being associated with her family and that damn reputation they had. She could’ve made herself more likeable, gotten rid of the rumours. But if she had done that, her family probably would’ve been in danger. 

Flashback to July 19th , 2005  

When the songbirds woke her up with their chirping and all Alexandria could see were sound waves, she knew that the thing that happened yesterday was indeed real. 

Last night, she had opened the box that cursed her family for generations, that her mother had strictly told her not to touch.  

Her world seemed to have crumbled and rebuilt into something entirely different in seconds.  

She heard her mother’s footsteps on the old floors even if she was rooms away. One hundred and eight crimson threads hung from her body. She could see them if she focused enough. Her cursed energy was spreading out in waves like it had never been before.  

Last night, she spent hours levitating items across her room. Materialising random objects and changing them. She had no idea about the extent of her abilities. 

The possibilities were endless. There was no telling what could and couldn’t she do. It was both exciting and fear inducing. Alexandria became paranoid. 

What if her mother could feel it? What if she sensed it and did something unthinkable to her because Alexandria wasn’t supposed to open the box? What if she cursed her family once again? 

She stood in front of a cracked mirror in her room. With a touch of her fingers, the crack mended itself. Her reflection was unchanged, except for the energy flowing all around her. She focused, trying her hardest to suppress it. Her mother wasn’t a great sorceress. She was more of a curse user the way she infested the world with her bitterness and passive aggression. Her father was even worse, a curse factory in the making. She hoped they wouldn’t notice the energetic change. 

Soon enough, the one hundred and eight crimson threads appeared, all firmly attached to her body, spreading out in various directions, infinitesimally. She didn’t touch them. They didn’t seem to be the kinds of things that should be messed with.  

The clock on her wall ticked. With regret, Alexandria realised that she would soon need to be downstairs for breakfast. She knew that breakfast meant something entirely else for her family. 

It was unpleasant and chaotic. Her mother always found things she could complain about. Mostly it was everything in the Universe including Alexandria’s father, who always tried his hardest to get drunk in the morning hours. Her mother would scream at him for being “an uncultured swine” while cursing like a sailor. 

Alexandria dreaded breakfast time, and any type of family gatherings she had to attend. There was no calm day in her family, but she had to suck it up not to draw any attention to herself and her newfound abilities. 

She made her way downstairs after getting ready. Her footsteps made the old staircase creak as if they were announcing her arrival. 

At the poorly made table, her parents were arguing again. 

“Could you at least wait until noon to get drunk?” her mother said, her voice condescending and high pitched. 

“It’s Saturday.” 

“And? That excuses smelling like a whole damn distillery before the maid even arrives?” 

“Maybe if you were easier to tolerate, I wouldn’t need the whiskey.” 

“Ah, yes. Blame it all on me. Who brought you into this house? Without me, you wouldn’t even have the money for alcohol, you spineless moron.” 

“I think we both know that sleeping on the streets would be better than being here,” Alexandria’s father said. He looked at his wife, “You think wearing pearls for breakfast makes you less miserable?” 

“At least I try to look decent.” 

Alexandria walked in the dining room after listening in to the conversation. Trying to fix anything would make things even worse. Their arguments always followed a pattern. It was miserably predictable. 

Her father, Leonard, was sitting at the table, hunched over in the clothes he wore yesterday after blacking out. Her mother, Vivienne, was in one of her dresses she bought when they still had loads of money hanging around.  

Her father reeked of alcohol again. Mixed with her mother’s sickly-sweet perfume, it made Alexandria sick to her stomach. 

She sat down, not paying attention to the argument. She knew better than to interfere.  

“Fix your posture. You look like a stray,” Vivienne told Alexandria. 

She listened to her without a word. Arguing was pointless. 

They ate in silence. The food was bland but filling. Breakfast had stopped being about eating a long ago. It was a test for Alexandria to see how quickly she could eat without doing or saying something wrong.  

“Alexandria,” her mother said. 

Focused on the tiles in the kitchen, Alexandria didn’t respond. 

“Alexandria. Don’t ignore me. It’s rude.” 

“She’s sulking. Let her,” her father said. 

The vintage chandelier flickered. Alexandria knew it was a challenge. They had nothing better to do, so testing her patience was next on the list. The air hummed a quiet frequency. 

“What’s wrong with her?” Vivienne asked. 

“Whatever do you mean?” Leonard replied. 

“Her eyes. She looks like she hasn’t slept.” 

Alexandria turned to look at them. Their faces appeared to be twisted, their own cursed energy eating them away. Crimson red threads hung from their bodies too.  

Her father shifted uncomfortably, “You on something?” 

“Oh, I know what it is,” her mother said, standing up. “You little traitor.” 

Alexandria could feel her blood flow stop at her legs. Not right now. Her heartbeat rushed as her brain frantically hoped her mother hadn’t noticed anything. 

“You went to the basement after I told you not to. Did you get disappointed? You were never special, Alexandria. Did it hurt when you realised that?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“You tried to open the damned box. I know. I also know it didn’t work. How does it feel to be a failure, just like all of us?” 

When her mother started raising her voice, Alexandria flinched. She couldn’t control that. She knew that her mother could argue for hours about pointless things, that she would twist and turn even the fakest of stories to fit her narrative. 

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” 

“I didn’t do anything.” 

Her mother sighed, her face turning red.  

“You know how I feel about lying. Did you think you were better than all of us?” 

“I didn’t do anything,” Alexandria repeated. 

“You little bitch,” her mother looked her right in the eye. “I swear to God if you-“ 

“Vivienne, calm down. You’re blowing this out of proportion,” Alexandria’s father interjected. 

“Shut up. I know that look. Our fucking disgrace of a daughter actually did something and is refusing to help us.” 

When her mother raised her voice and pointed an accusing finger at Alexandria, she stood up. Her abilities were still pretty unknown to herself, so she ran to her room. She needed to do something, but she didn’t know how. 

Her mother ran after her. Alexandria closed the door of her room just in time before the banging started. 

“Open the door right now! Restore our reputation! You will make us influential again right this instant!” 

Alexandria put herself against the door. Focused, she looked through it, noticing her mother’s anger. 

Her fingers moved instinctively to bend the world to her will. Conditioned to survive in the harsh Jujutsu society from her birth, weighted down by her mother’s expectations, she wanted to make things right. 

She believed she could just make the world to her will. Right before she untangled the threads of fate, a crimson red threat stopped her. A sense of danger washed over her and she pulled her hands back. 

“Alexandria, please! We can’t go on like this.” 

Her back was pushing the door back, holding on so her mother wouldn’t come inside. The pounding of fists on the door increased as Alexandria refused to open the door. 

She couldn’t give her parents what they want. She shouldn’t. No amount of prestige or respect would make them happy. Nothing would.  

In fact, she would only endanger herself and her family if she made herself and her powers known. She saw what had happened to her family when the Jujutsu society found out about the box.  

Her newfound abilities were dangerous. If she could really do anything, there was no telling who would want to get her on her side to get what they want. If people knew who she really was, she would become a weapon. Not a person. 

Tears streamed down Alexandria’s face. Her body shook as she held onto the door, preventing her mother from barging in.  

She reached for the strings of the cosmos once again. This time, her hands shaped the coloured threads to make herself unknown. To strip her family from the knowledge about her abilities and what she did. No one would know. Her parents would remain the same, miserable people, but at least, they would be safe. 

The aftermath wasn’t dramatic. Alexandria was still at her door, trembling. She could hear her parents downstairs. They didn’t know about the fight, or what Alexandria could do.  

For the first time, Alexandria realised the extent of her powers. She could change timelines and be the last person to know about it. Like in that one song, a sound is still a sound, even if there is no one around to hear it. She could change people’s fates and she would be the only person to know about it in the end.  

She went back to school the next day. Pretended to be a non-sorceress. Pretended not to know about her family’s suffering. Pretended to be fine with her reputation.  

Eventually, she got used to it. 

April 8th, 2007 

Alexandria anxiously anticipated the moment where she would have to enter the classroom. She stood in front of the sliding doors, waiting for the teacher to open them for her and introduce her. 

The teacher, Masamichi Yaga, told her to wait in front so he could make an introduction in front of the class. He said it would make things go smoothly for everyone. Alexandria knew that it was because of her family. She expected it. Her family line followed her everywhere she went.  

She fiddled with her fingers. Adjusted the hem of her uniform skirt. Kept her cursed energy in line. She couldn’t afford to slip up in front of the prodigal students. Keeping her identity hidden was something she promised herself, and Alexandria never broke promises. 

Suddenly, the door opened and Yaga gestured for Alexandria to come in. She hated meeting new people. Leaving a good impression was a job that seemed impossible for her. She didn’t know what kinds of things people liked. And even if she knew, she wouldn’t be able to replicate them. 

Her face never gave a thing away. She kept it like a blank slate, not wanting to give her emotions away. That was like sharing free weak points, she always said. 

“This is Alexandria Corbeau. She transferred to Jujutsu Tech because of circumstances,” Yaga said, giving Alexandria a moment to say a few things about herself. 

She politely bowed and said nothing. She would give away no information for others to use against her. 

“Feel free to pick a seat,” Yaga said. “Any one you want.” 

Alexandria picked the one farthest from that Gojo guy. He seemed like he would pester her a lot.  

When class started, Alexandria allowed herself to take a good look at the people around herself. 

There was only one other girl in the class. She had short cut hair and was also sitting away from the two guys. Her energy seemed rather calm. Unbothered. A few scarlet threads hung from her body. Some were darker, forbidden for Alexandria to touch and alter. Some were brighter. Thankfully, Alexandria observed, the sorcerer life wouldn’t kill her. She would, perhaps, become something else. 

The guy she didn’t know the name of sat close to Gojo. He had long, black hair and a pretty face. If Alexandria wasn’t herself, she would’ve asked him for his hair care routine. He seemed like a genuinely chill person. When she took a deeper look, the hues of his fate shocked her. She couldn’t discern what exactly could happen, but she saw transformations. Burgundy threads wrapped around him. So many of them. 

Gojo was the next. He was sitting lazily, barely paying attention to class. He was egoistical, that was undeniable. He was the exact opposite of Alexandria. Proud and known as the strongest from birth. Sometimes, she thought, I’m glad I turned out the way I did. His energy was immaculate. It filled rooms and overwhelmed people’s senses. He was a force to be reckoned with; she had to admit. When her eyes focused, she saw exactly one hundred and eight maroon strands branch out from his body. The same number as hers. His fate was as disturbing and horrific as hers. 

At that moment, Alexandria reminded herself that she could not change the destiny of others. 

She focused her gaze back on the board, immersing her brain into new information that wasn’t exactly novel to her, but it served as a good distraction, nonetheless. 

After the bell rang, marking the end of class for the day, Alexandria experienced her own personal hell. 

The sounds of chairs scraping woke her up from her half-asleep state. She closed her notebook and put her things away just moments before Gojo appeared in front of her. 

“So... are you allergic to conversation or just very committed to this ‘loner’ thing?” 

Alexandria ignored him. She continued putting her stuff in her backpack. She did not need another conversation with him. 

“Come on . You can’t be that antisocial.” 

“I can,” Alexandria said flatly. 

“You don’t know what you’re missing. In case you forgot what I said this morning, I’ll repeat it-” 

“You’re the strongest,” Alexandria cut in. “I remember. Still not interested.” 

“Give it up, Satoru. You’ll scare the poor girl away,” Suguru chimed in. 

“He already did.” 

“Do you have to be so edgy?” Satoru groaned. 

“Who, me or him?” Alexandria asked. 

“Both. Especially you. With a face as like that, being rude just seems unfair.” 

Alexandria stopped for a moment. The audacity of this guy completely threw her off guard. “I guess being the strongest doesn’t mean you’re the smartest. Or remotely pleasant.” 

“That’s a new record. Rejected in less than five minutes,” Suguru said, loudly enough to sting. 

Using the remark as a distraction, Alexandria left the room.  

“Shut up, Suguru. Where’d she go?” 

“She ran away from you.” 

“Yeah, no. This isn’t over. She’s way too pretty to ignore me forever.” 

“She’s not rude. Just real,” Shoko said from the corner where she observed the entire interaction, happy to see Satoru being humbled. 

“Not you too, Shoko.” 

“What made you think I was ever on your side?” 

Chapter Text

April 13th, 2007

The first days of the semester passed by quietly, like trees beside the road while driving. Alexandria slowly settled into a predictable, calming routine. She evaded the questioning looks of her classmates, avoided mindless, unnecessary hangouts and kept to herself.

Throughout the days, her dorm room filled with candles, blankets, and physics papers. Aside from schoolwork, she independently learned about the laws of the world. Since she could actively see the physical processes in action, understanding them, she thought, was the key to efficiently use her powers.

She immersed herself in equations and sketches, making sure that she understood each phenomenon to the smallest detail.

Working on her own, private interests gave her the will to go through with sorcerer education. No matter how constricting, how suffocating and limiting her environment might be, she still felt like herself. That’s what gave her hope.

Hiding herself from the other students proved to be possible. She put in maximum effort to pretend to be normal and to avoid mindless conversations that might give away her true self. Some might call it paranoia, but Alexandria liked to be safe.

At night, she would stare at the ceiling of her dorm room and think about how she could fix the world. That had been her intention since the first day of having her powers. The brainless, empathy-lacking heroes in books that had abilities similar to her and did nothing to actually make an impact infuriated her.

With her technique, she could actually help those in need. With it came the moral responsibility to improve the world. Like billionaires who hoarded money while there were still starving people, Alexandria refused to stand by and do nothing.

So, she subtly changed the course of the world. Since her awakening, the socioeconomical differences between people lessened. Wars faded slowly. Humanity was slowly transitioning to the better. Many attributed that to the birth of many powerful sorcerers, like her absolutely insufferable classmate, that egoistical snowman, Gojo. They presumed that with the rising power of sorcerers, the number of curses slowly decreased.

Alexandria, who observed it all from a distance, knew that it was far from the truth. To retain balance, the curses also grew stronger. But, as she worked from the shadows to resolve the problem of their materialisation, to lessen the amount of human-made negative energy, the number of curses grew smaller.

Carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders was a grave task for a seventeen year old girl. But, she bared it nonetheless, having accepted her desolate fate years ago.

Her room became her safe haven. Away from the judging looks of others, she surrounded herself with the things she loved the most. The condescending stares of others and the borderline evil rumours could never take away the world she had created for herself.

Hearing the sound of her alarm woke Alexandria. She knew by the sound that she had to get up for class and spend a few hours in the environment she didn’t particularly like. But, as hardships always are, unavoidable and meant to be lived through, Alexandria prepared herself for the day.

After she exited her dorm, the sounds of the students in the courtyard reached her. However unpleasant, she got used to them more and more with each passing day. She learned to tune them out completely.

She reached the classroom building quickly. It only took her a couple of minutes. The building was traditional, with curved roofs and walls with sliding doors. It wasn’t the cleanest. Dust settled in the crooks of the windows, and spiders were weaving their intricate webs in the corners.

Today, the place seemed a little bit more... empty. Alexandria was sure that she had arrived at the same time that she usually did. She wasn’t early, but she wasn’t late either. Nonetheless, no one was inside. That much she had seen just from the window panels.

The sound of footsteps echoed behind her.

It was Shoko, the only tolerable classmate of Alexandria’s. The two barely talked, but there was always lingering, unspoken respect hanging between them.

“Is the building supposed to be this empty?” Alexandria asked.

“I don’t know.”

Alexandria and Shoko made their way to the eerily empty classroom. The place was strangely quiet for the fifteen minutes before class started. Usually, Yaga would be there at least half an hour before. Satoru and Suguru were also absent, even though that didn’t bother Alexandria much.

After twenty quiet minutes of waiting for something to happen, Alexandria got bored with staring at the board in front of her. She had absolutely no energy to take her own book out and actually do work.

“I don’t think anyone’s coming,” Shoko woke her up from her dissociation.

“Yeah,” Alexandria said absentmindedly.

“I’m leaving. Don’t know about you, but staying here seems pointless.”

“Right."

Alexandria picked her bag up, following behind Shoko. She was happy that there was no class, but her usual schedule was indeed disrupted. That sent her mind running again, searching for other ideas to spend time on.

Shoko sat on a bench nearby. Alexandria stopped in her steps, as if waiting for something. Initially, she hesitated. She didn't need connections. She didn't need to be surrounded by people to be happy. It only made her anxious. Carrying such a secret and a burden made it unfathomably difficult to keep friendships.

Nonetheless, something pulled her forward. Was it wrong to wish for a meaningful connection no matter what kind of heaviness one carried in their heart? Denying herself of finding purpose through relationships stripped her of any desire to form friendships. It also made her lonely. Devastatingly lonely.

Alexandria stood there, as if waiting for something to happen. She didn't know how to start a conversation. She mostly avoided those.

Thankfully, Shoko spoke first.

"You don't seem like the smoking type, but do you want a cigarette?"

"You know what? Sure."

Shoko fiddled with her squished cigarette pack, taking out two and handing one to Alexandria. She rummaged through her school bag to find a lighter, too.

Alexandria took it and lit the cigarette. It wasn't her first time smoking, although it wasn't a habit she practiced often. In her old, non-sorcerer school, some people thought her fabricated, unbothered persona was interesting. They often invited her to casual hangouts, and sometimes, she would smoke. The lingering smell was unpleasant, but she could make it go away. The relaxing effects, were, however, the main cause of her picking up a cigarette.

"Why didn't we have class today?" Alexandria asked Shoko.

Shoko exhaled smoke, sighing. "I don't know. The thing that pisses me off is that nobody bothered to tell us. We spent twenty damn minutes in an empty classroom for what?"

"Just like idiots."

"Yeah. I can bet that Satoru and Suguru knew. There's no way they somehow managed to miss class at the same time."

"Oh, I bet they're laughing their immature asses off right now."

"You didn't even see them at their prime. Especially Satoru. He's like the plague. Contagious and extremely annoying."

"I think I got that from the first time we spoke. I don't even know where does his ego even fit in that tiny head of his."

"The hair. It's in his hair."

Shoko put her cigarette out, crushing the filter with her shoe sole. Alexandria did the same. The bitter taste lingered in her mouth, like a silent punishment for daring to speak.

It felt forbidden to admit that she actually enjoyed speaking to Shoko. She was grounded and calm, and she never forced her way in conversations. It stung slightly, the rising feeling of actually having a pleasant talk while guilt about potentially risking something ate away her mind.

"You aren't all that bad. You just gotta speak up more," Shoko said, standing up from the bench.

The words that came out of her mouth were entirely unexpected. Alexandria considered herself so elusive that people failed to form opinions about her outside the rumors about her family.

Hearing this made her brain short circuit. Just what was she supposed to say to that? There was no guarantee that she would talk freely. It was unsafe, she always thought. She guarded her powers as if they were the most precious things in the world, not the causes of her unavoidable demise.

"Anyway, I'll get going. See you in class, Corbeau."

Alexandria still couldn't find the right words. She uttered a "See you too," before Shoko left.

Being perceived was seemingly worse than she thought.

Alexandria could move mountains but she was still bad at holding a conversation. In the non-sorcerer school she used to attend, she often envied the social butterflies, the ones who were effortlessly funny and pleasant to be around. Alexandria knew that she wasn't like them, and that she could never be. That kind of life was unreachable for her.

In the afternoon, Alexandria found herself in her room. The lit candles alongside with hanging plants made the atmosphere cozy. She was immersed in her studies, writing down the time independent Schrödinger equation. Papers were messily spaced around her desk which was littered with sticky notes and used pens.

Her hoodie sleeves were rolled around her elbows. A half-finished cup of coffee was lingering on her desk. Her honey blonde curls fell in her face from time to time, diverting her attention somewhere else.

The page she was currently working on was ink-stained and crumpled at the edges. Her thoughts were flowing like a stream, hopping from one idea to another.

"... times the second derivative of the wave function... plus potential energy... equals, uh. Total energy times the wave function."

It sounded complicated. It was complicated, indeed. But, for a person like her, the symbols and numbers made sense. In a way, they were an outlook on life only completely understandable to her.

The equation meant that motion happens, even in isolation. One could be trapped and still exist.

That's when it hit her. She understood it completely, not because she had observed it, but because she lived it. The equation described a particle, one locked in an invisible cage which walls it could never cross. Not necessarily because the walls were real, but because the rules said so.

The solution, she knew, was always the same. It was neat, contained and predictable. The particle never stopped moving. It vibrated softly, endlessly, even when no one was watching. Even when the rules didn't allow it out.

She wrote the equation once again. It was like painting a portrait of herself through man-made abstract symbols. It recognised her, in a sense.

Distrupting her peace, her phone buzzed.

[3:15 PM] (+81 70-2913-6842)

we have training at five.

[3:15 PM] me

who is this?

[3:17 PM] (+81 70-2913-6842)

you don't have my number saved?

girl bffr

it's shoko

[3:18 PM] me

sorry

see you there

[3:19 PM] shoko

you better be sorry

see u

Alexandria put her phone down. Embarrassment washed over her, making her feel slightly uneasy. She had put off connecting with people for years until it became extremely difficult to adjust to.

The papers on her table called out to her again. Leaving things unfinished was never her thing. It showed laziness and a lack of interest, she was taught. Going back to solving equations, it was. She had an hour and a half before she had to leave.

It took her a few moments to divert her attention to the numbers again. She scratched at the page. Rewrote the final wave function. She visualised it in her mind.

The trapped particle looked like a perfect wave, It bounced back and forth between two fixed edges. It never changed shape, never leaked out. It just... existed.

It was just like people. Just like her. She often found that nature mirrored life. Just like Shakespeare had said. The little, helpless, trapped particle awoke a certain empathy in her. The kind of empathy that morphed into mourning the person she could have been if her life was different.

She was so used to the self-imposed limits around her, that she learned to move within them, like a ritual of survival. She could build her own shape inside a cage and call it living. Having a vast variety of powers didn't mean freedom. It meant boundaries. Self-made rules that constriced every single detail about life. 

"I am so not thinking about this right now," Alexandria muttered. She put her pencil down and stood up from her desk.

She showered and got ready for training. Not that she was particularly happy to attend. Five in the afternoon was the perfect time to nap.

A little before five, Alexandria found herself walking the familiar route through the courtyard to the training grounds. She could see Shoko standing there, in the distance.

"If class is cancelled again, I'm dropping out. Walking all this way for nothing is torture," Alexandria thought.

The moment she arrived, Shoko gave her a deadpan look. She was leaning against a wall in the shade, half-smoked cigarette in her mouth. Her facial expression indirectly stated: "We really got played, huh?"

"Suguru and Satoru aren't here again," Alexandria said, her tone resigned.

"I'm so gonna kill them."

Shoko put her cigarette out, scanning the perimeter to see if she could find their two remaining classmates.

The training ground was as empty as the classroom earlier in the morning. The gentle breeze of the wind moved Alexandria’s messy curls. Something in the air smelled like Alexandria and Shoko being played, again.

Shoko sighed. Her head instinctively moved when she heard a sound across the field.

"Oh my God. They actually came again."

Alexandria didn't need to turn around to know who it was. She could feel the gravitational pull of Gojo's ego. His laughter straight-up pissed her off. She couldn't believe that she actually fell for this again.

"Damn, Shoko. I didn't know you and Alexandria were that committed to your education," Suguru said, his hands in his pockets. He laughed alongside Satoru. "Imagine showing up to a cancelled class, twice. Couldn't be me."

Alexandria and Shoko exchanged a look. Satoru almost fell down from laughing.

"No, like, they literally sat in an empty classroom for twenty minutes? In silence? That's insane. Like, next-level sad."

Alexandria sighed, "Are they always like this?"

"Unfortunately," Shoko replied.

"How did you even survive the first year with them?"

"Why did you think I started smoking?"

"I would've been smoking something else by this point."

"Valid."

Satoru did not stop laughing by that point. Pissing off others, it seemed, was his hobby.

"Y'all should've texted," he grinned and looked at Alexandria. "But, you probably don't even have my phone number. Tragic."

"That sounds more like a blessing," Alexandria said, not even expecting that the words would come out of her mouth.

"Oh, miss Corbeau's got a little edge today."

"I think we broke her," Suguru said, his gaze towards Alexandria shifting a little bit. Like he hadn't known about a certain side of her before. "Or maybe Shoko did. I didn't know you could speak in full sentences."

"I can curse, too," Alexandria said, just to spite him.

"Language," Satoru said, taking a step back. His back hit a training dummy, which launched a chain reaction with tens of them falling to the ground until the last one knocked a very expensive-looking statue.

Suguru flashed him a not-again stare. Satoru ran over to the incident place, lifting the statue. Its hand remained on the ground.

"Oh, shit-" he said.

"What the hell is going on out here?!" Yaga's booming voice crashed through the training grounds.

The four students turned their hands in sync, like they were fourteen and caught sneaking cigarettes behind the gym.

Satoru was caught red-handed. With the armless statue in his hands, one would think that he had nothing to say in defense.

"Alexandria did it," he said.

"I didn't. He knocked over-"

"She knocked over the training dummies and also this statue thingy and I just went to see if it was broken."

"This is so stupid," Shoko muttered.

"Detention. All four of you," Yaga said.

Satoru whined, "What? But I didn't do anything!"

"You literally pushed the dummies," Shoko deadpanned.

"Allegedly."

"You have cleaning duties tomorrow. I don't care that it's Saturday."

He left, leaving utter silence behind him. Alexandria was pissed. Shoko couldn't believe that she had gotten herself involved with such idiots. Suguru wasn't even surprised. The number of times he had ended up in detention with Satoru was endless.

"Well, well, well. I guess we're all bonding now," Satoru said, grinning.

April 14th, 2007

Alexandria rolled her sleeves. A bunch of cleaning supplies were thrown around on the floor around her. She put her hair up, so it wouldn't get into her face.

Yaga told them to clean the classrooms spotless. They had four hours and the oldest cleaning supplies he could find lying around.

"I'll take this classroom. If we don't slack off, we may get it done on time," Alexandria said.

Her hopes were immediately down.

"I ain't doing all that," Satoru said, opening a bag of chips.

Shoko took out a lighter and smiled. "If anyone asks, I'm purging toxins from the air. With fire," and went on a smoke break.

Suguru deadpanned. "We are so not getting anything done."

Dust was flying in the air. The corners of the classrooms looked like they hadn't been cleaned in years. The board was almost white from the chalk remains. Alexandria was cleaning the windows. Satoru was telling Suguru how to mop while simultaneously stuffing his mouth with chips.

She should've been in Tokyo today. She had planned a trip for herself, one to get away from this environment for a little. Alexandria was short on stationery and clothes, and she was planning on going on a shopping spree. But, her little solo-girls-day was cancelled and turned into unpaid manual labor, courtesy of Gojo Satoru. Next Saturday was her day, for sure, she kept telling herself.

She washed a rag, looking at Suguru. A food piece hit her. She turned around. Satoru was trying to get his snacks to stick to the ceiling.

"I'm so gonna kill him," she said.

"Can you kill a concept?" Suguru asked, fed up with whatever Satoru was doing. "Because that's what he is. The concept of utter disaster."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Satoru whined. "I'm a gift."

Shoko popped her head through the window from the outside, where she was on her third smoke break. "A gift from hell," she giggled.

"Alright, alright. Let's just get this over with. I'll sweep, you wipe the boards, Alex," Suguru tossed a sponge to Alexandria.

"Alex?" she stopped in her tracks.

"You don't like it?"

"I love it," Satoru said, suddenly interested in the conversation when it wasn't about cleaning. "I'm taking all the credits, by the way. It's so much like you. Short, curt, kinda rude but beautiful..."

"Shut up. You can mop," Alexandria said.

"Do I look like a mop guy to you?" he whined.

Alexandria turned her head towards him. "You look like the guy who’s getting us another Saturday of detention if you don't stop slacking off."

Satoru groaned like someone had asked him to clean the whole room with a toothbrush, then theatrically dragged the mop bucket across the floor like it was made of lead.

Alexandria wiped the blackboard with mechanical precision. The sponge smelled like a dead rat, but she was ignoring that, trying to imagine how good it would be when they finished and she could take a nap. Right as she reached for the left corner, Satoru spilled over the entire bucket of water all over the floor. It splashed around, getting all over her sleeve.

She froze in place, a look of annoyance settling on her face. He grinned.

Like a snowman possessed, he reached for another bucket and spilled the entirety of its contents and poured detergent all over the mess he made.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Alexandria asked.

"It's called innovative cleaning, you idiot."

"That can't possibly be-"

Before Alexandria could even finish, Satoru ran and slid on the soapy puddle turned makeshift water slide. His arms were raised, his hair flying with the wind. He almost slipped, but he made a decent landing, grinning at Alexandria.

"God, you're such a child," Suguru said, not even a tiny bit surprised by his antics.

"You've lost your mind!" Alexandria said.

"Or found it," Satoru was on the makeshift slide again. "Woooo!"

Shoko entered the room, giving Satoru an unimpressed stare. The smell of cigarette smoke lingered behind her. "I'm so not getting my shoes wet for this. But I'm also not missing the part where he eats shit."

"I'm gonna die here," Alexandria muttered.

She had never met someone so... carefree. Someone who didn't care for consequences. She envied Satoru so much. While she was slightly mad that they weren't getting anything done, she couldn't force down the bubbling feeling in her chest that she forbade herself from feeling ever since she was a child. She couldn't possibly be enjoying this. Enjoyment meant that something would go terribly wrong after.

Just that moment, Satoru slid again. This time, he missed the landing entirely, crashing into an old bookcase. The papers and books flew out, one of them hitting his head.

"Whoops," he said, ruffling his head where the book hit him.

"You're cleaning that," Suguru said, fed up with his shenanigans.

"Alex, you're next," Satoru pointed to Alexandria.

She wasn't impressed, "Hell no."

"C'mon. You look like you need to feel alive."

"I'm already losing neurons just by being in the same room as you."

"Don't be a coward."

Her mind was telling her not to. Engaging in his stupid ideas would only add fuel to the fire he got going on. She just wanted to get this cleaning thing over with. She didn't need friends, she repeated to herself.

They were beautiful, innocent beings. The ones that didn't have to shoulder the world's burdens. They had their whole lives to do what they wanted. She had a destiny. She didn't want to curse them in some twisted, unexplainable way. They didn't know who they were dealing with.

"What are you waiting for?" Satoru asked.

He got behind her. She looked around the room. Suguru was pretending to sweep the floor. Shoko was looking at her with a raised brow, hands in jer pockets.

Suddenly, Satoru pushed her. Her legs suddenly slid on the water. She gasped. The droplets splashed her arms, wetting her hoodie. She slid across the room, arms raised, trying to maintain balance. But, for the briefest of seconds, Alexandria was laughing.

"Wow," Shoko said. "Was that... a human emotion? Coming out of you?"

"I have layers," Alexandria said, trying to smooth her hair, which would most certainly frizz up from the water.

"Like an onion," Suguru said. Alexandria shot him an unimpressed look.

She grabbed the sponge again. Her hair was starting to stick up, and her hoodie and shoes were all wet. If this had been any other situation, she would've been entirely miserable. Why was she feeling... content? Her fingers gripped the sponge, launching her into a thought spiral.

She wasn't supposed to feel this way. She didn't need friendships, or anyone else. She didn't want to be dragged into this.

They cleaned for a while after that. Alexandria was silently spiralling. Satoru was mopping without miraculously creating the second flash flood. After her fifth smoke break, Shoko helped, too. Suguru restored order in the violated bookcase.

With fifteen minutes left, Alexandria was putting away the brooms in a hallway. Satoru was right behind her, doing whatever task required the least effort.

She took one look at his water-soaked figure. His wet shirt was clinging to his figure.

"You'll get hypothermia walking around like that," she said, opening the broom closet.

"Is that your way of saying that I look good wet?"

"What? Absolutely not."

"You're not allowed to lie to me, Venus."

"Your flirting attempts are as miserable as that mop you're holding."

The mop in his hands was barely holding on to life. He flashed her a cocky smile. She left the room without another word. His audacity to just say things he meant caught her off guard. It was both endearing and annoying.

That word. Venus. It seemed like something she had heard before. She was certain that he had never said it before to her, but it carried a familiar tinge to it.

"Yaga is coming in a minute!" Suguru yelled out from the other classroom.

Alexandria was facing a door leading to a room she was sure they hadn't cleaned. She peeked inside, noticing that it was absolutely covered in dust. Shit. She would not give up another Saturday of her life to impersonate a maid again.

She envisioned the room cleaned and brought it into existence. Any change in cursed energy was undetectable. She had mastered that. It was breathtaking and deeply lonely, how she could hide herself off so easily.

Suguru rushed out of a classroom, carrying rags and buckets in his hands. He shoved them all into a broom closet.

"Wait," he said, glancing at the room Alexandria had cleaned. "Did someone already clean this one?"

"Nope," Shoko said.

Alexandria stood in silence behind them.

"That's weird," Satoru appeared out of nowhere. He glanced at Alexandria. "Wait a second."

"What?"

"Didn't this room look different before? Like, messier?"

"No," she said quickly. Maybe too quickly for her liking.

Satoru stared at Alexandria for a moment too long.

He smiled, but his voice was low when he replied. "Huh. Okay."

He decided to let it go, for now, atleast.

Chapter Text

April 21st, 2007

For the first time in weeks, Alexandria felt happy to hear her morning alarm. Today, she said to herself, would have purpose.

After last Saturday, when her whole day consisted of pretending to be a maid and doing unpaid manual labor, she planned her Tokyo trip for today. Just her and some peace and quiet, she told herself.

The morning was quiet. Soft rays of light illuminated her room. Alexandria's curly hair was all over the pillow. It was golden, imitating the rich wheat fields in late summer. Her mind was still scattered from sleep, but the first sprouts of happiness emerged from the mess. She rarely gave her mind space to grow such ideas, but after almost three weeks of being in an environment that suffocated, she had to take a break.

After getting ready, she looked at herself in the mirror. Behind her, light broke in thousands of different directions. Her hair had a mind of its own. Her outfit was picked out to the tiniest detail. A smile that she thought was long lost found its way back to her. Some days really did carry hope within them.

After sneaking out of the dorm because she didn't want to have any uninvited guests, better known as Gojo, she went to the bus stop. No one else was there except for her. The grass was green and shining from the morning dew. The sun promised a new beginning. The clouds moved away to reveal a cerulean blue sky.

On the bus, the familiar melody of The Smiths played from her wired earphones. The vehicle was almost empty, with an occasional child or an elderly person sitting in a corner. The sun had risen higher, its rays passing through the cracks in the leaves of the trees beside the road.

As the bus came closer to the city, the buildings became more modern. More people could be seen walking around. As she changed the songs on her phone, Alexandria noticed that she felt content.

Here, no one expected anything from her. Nobody knew her just from her family name. No one suspected her. No one even noticed her. She blended seamlessly into the mass of people. Without being constantly observed, she found freedom to just exist as a human being. Not a sorceress. Not the Corbeau family daughter.

She was just a nameless person people passed by. No one cared, let alone knew about her past. It was an intensely freeing experience.

When the bus stopped, she could feel just how much people were there, on the Shibuya station. Their energies blended together, some brighter than others. Each one told a story that Alexandria didn't read. She let them all pass by, just like they all passed her without a word. There was peace in just letting the world exist on its own.

She stepped out, taking in the scenery. The familiar feeling of a bustling town brought her more happiness than the sorcerer world ever could. She navigated Tokyo without a problem. In her non-sorcerer high school days, she often wandered all throughout Tokyo. Without a parent to stop her, she memorised the streets completely.

First, she made her way to Muji. It was her favorite stationery store. Inside, thousands of notebooks emanated the smell of soft paper, ink, and linen. She tested pens to see which one could write the smoothest lines, and still ended up picking up the ones she always bought. The papers on which people tried the pens out were always filled with names and cute doodles. Just beside her, two schoolgirls wrote their names on one of the papers, connecting them with a heart. Alexandria smiled, listening to the giggles of the girls.

Alexandria looked through all the notebooks. They were always simple, but that only meant that she could paint the covers. She raised her gaze to the speakers. They played the newest pop songs from the radio that she recognised but didn't know the lyrics to.

She waltzed through the home section, glancing at the blankets, candles, and bedsheets. The store smelled fresh. Alexandria could picture every single of those things in her room, but decided to go to a thrift store instead. She liked her curated collection of trinkets to have stories.

After paying, she went back to the station. After a glance at the schedule, she took the metro to Shimokitazawa station. The bohemian neighbourhood always left her peeking inside corner stores, looking for vintage postcards and handbags.

The music there was soft and comforting. Alexandria could swear that she heard The Cranberries playing somewhere. Fairy lights and neon signs were all around, presenting an intricate picture for one's eyes. One of the stands was filled with sun-bleached books. Murakami, Alexandria noticed one of the names of the authors. He always had such atmospheric books, it's a shame his talent didn't extend to writing women, she thought.

She made her way to a small corner store that caught her eye with interesting clothing displayed in the front. Embroidered skirts, short dresses and colorful bags drew her attention. Those kinds of clothes were the things she would never dare to wear, but they spoke to her nonetheless.

Inside, soft music was playing from the radio. A couple of people were browsing through piles of clothes, hoping to find the perfect piece. Alexandria looked around for a couple of minutes, the sounds of her footsteps disturbing the quiet music. She pulled out a dress, a silk slip that felt heavenly soft against her fingertips. How would anyone leave such a beautiful dress here?

Even though she could use her abilities to see who it really was, she imagined a girl wearing it to a dance. A woman picking it out for a first date. Clothes carried sentiment, she knew, and something in her mind pulled her to try it on. She hated standing out. Being a shapeless, monotonous blob in the mass of people always felt better than being the one everyone noticed.

Nonetheless, she pushed herself to the changing room, a small place hidden away with a piece of long, cheap fabric. The dress fit her like a dream. In the small, secluded place she twirled and looked at herself in the mirror. She felt beautiful, like she hadn't in a long, long time.

Walking through the store, uninvited and unpleasant questions formed in her mind. What would my mother think about this? I don’t need a dress, I shouldn't even be looked at.

She stopped in her tracks and made effort to drive the negative speakers in her head away. How could I even say such awful things about myself, she wondered. Moments later, she realised that it was all learned. Not truly her.

She clutched the dress tighter in her hands after battling the crippling internal doubt and insecurity and continued browsing around like it had never happened. The store was not only filled with clothes, but miscellaneous items, too. Looking at one of the shelves, she found a candle holder that caught light in its crystal-like material. Her eyes widened, observing the way light broke into different colors around it. She picked it up, knowing that it would fit perfectly in her room.

After she paid, she left the store feeling happier than she had in weeks. Such small, seemingly mundane things made her feel like she was truly human. It made her feel like a teenage girl, not an omnipotent sorceress that could change things with a single glance. A seventeen year old girl who found a pretty dress, that's who she was at that moment. Away from expectations and responsibilities.

While making her way back, she found her focus on the book stand she saw an hour prior. Most of the yellowed, worn out books were already sold. One of them stood out to her. Kafka on the Shore, it said in thick, red letters. There was a picture of a boy walking down a street of what seemed like a seaside town on the cover. She reached out to inspect it further, when an older-looking man looked at her from behind the stand.

"Do you want to buy it?" he said. His lips curled into a geniune smile, his wrinkled face tanned from the sun.

"Yes, I mean, how much is it?" Alexandria replied.

"Two hundred yen. But, since you look like you read a lot, I'll give it to you for one hundred and fifty."

"Thank you," Alexandria smiled, giving him the money. "I do like to read."

"Murakami?"

"Everything, really."

"That's good. I hope you'll like the book, young lady."

"Thank you. Have a nice day."

Alexandria left the neighbourhood, clutching the book and the bags from the stores she had visited. She hadn't felt genuinely happy because of an interaction with someone for a while. This time, she felt like it was all meant to happen.

At the Shimokitazawa station, she got into the train for Nakameguro station. She remembered getting coffee with the girls from her class somewhere in that neighbourhood.

The train was filled with all sorts of people. No one paid much attention to the curly haired girl that was looking out of the window, peeking into a bag from time to time to see if her dress was still there. A soft kind of happiness dawned upon her.

When she noticed that the train was getting closer to Nakameguro, she stood up and walked out when the vehicle stopped. The bustling tempo of people didn't make her anxious now that she knew that she belonged.

She made her way into one of the cafés. Its minimalistic interior paired with too many potted plants and climbing vines caught her attention. Alexandria ordered an iced coffee and picked a table in the corner, secluded by an almost real wall made out of vines.

She sipped on her coffee and opened the book she had bought earlier. Kafka on the Shore. The pages were slightly bent, and there were annotations in the corners that she couldn't quite read. The book smelled like old paper and coffee.

She spent five minutes reading the first chapter before turning the page to see a highlighted part.

"From now on—no matter what—you've got to be the world's toughest fifteen-

year-old. That's the only way you're going to survive. And in order to do that,

you've got to figure out what it means to be tough. You following me?"

Alexandria paused, noticing how the words stopped being just text. They became a reflection, a painting of sorts. How did someone portray the feeling she felt her whole life so perfectly?

It was a portrait of her at fifteen. The her that had just opened the box. The her that did not know of the sacrifices that would come with it. She didn't know, in all her elusiveness and distancing, that the feeling was universal. That everyone, at one point, would have to endure a period so demanding that they think it's too much for them to handle.

She continued reading, her fingers tracing the soft paper.

"And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic

storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake

about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed

there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your

hands, your own blood and the blood of others."

She didn't need to take a step back to know that a certain metaphysical storm was happening around her. The way she carried the immensely heavy responsibilities with her bare hands, away from the sight of others, was her storm cloud. She hoped that people wouldn't bleed because of her. She would make sure of that, never revealing herself and making sure that she takes every hit for herself. She could endure it. The others couldn't.

Her thoughts spiralled. The ice in her coffee melted, leaving a circle of water around the glass.

She turned the page reluctantly, bracing herself for the next storm hiding in the ink.

"Excuse me, miss?" A girl, who looked about five years old looked at Alexandria with big, brown eyes that were filling with tears.

"Are you okay? Are you crying? Wait, let me get a tissue for you," Alexandria panicked for a moment, rummaging through her bag.

She didn't know what to do with a kid, let alone a crying one.

So, she handed the girl a paper tissue.

"I lost my mommy," the girl said, wiping her tears.

Alexandria looked at the tiny girl, her heart aching. The poor kid must've been so scared.

"We'll find her, okay? What does she look like?"

"Mommy has black hair and a pink shirt, like me," the girl sniffled, looking around anxiously. "She was just there, talking to my auntie."

"Okay. We'll go and find her together," Alexandria stood up from her seat, her caretaking instincts kicking in.

She didn't know why she did it, but the sight of a crying child woke something in her soul upl.

She picked up her stuff and exited the café area with the girl following her.

Alexandria crouched down to get to the little girl's level. Her brown pigtails fluttered in the soft wind. She held on so tightly to the tissue in her hand.

"You have nothing to worry about. We'll find her. What's your name, little lady?"

"Hina," she said, looking at Alexandria with teary eyes.

"Hi, Hina. I'm Alex," she said. Then, she blinked. It felt like she walked into upcoming traffic. She never called herself Alex, but Satoru did. "I'm sure your mommy is somewhere around. She would never leave without you."

Hina nodded. Alexandria stood up, looking around. She looked for the people who had a similar energy signature as Hina, ones who seemed to be connected to her.

A street away, a black-haired woman was talking to someone. She wore a dusty pink blouse and a similar face as Hina. It must be her mother, Alexandria deducted.

Hina took Alexandria's hand as they passed through groups of people. Moments later, Alexandria pointed to a woman standing near a park, who she presumed to be Hina's mother.

"Is that her?"

"Yes! Thanks, Alex," Hina squealed, running to her mother.

Alexandria stood there for a minute, smiling. Hina hugged her mother, telling her how she got lost. She pointed at Alexandria and waved to her. Alexandria waved back and made her way through the crowd.

On the metro to Sangenjaya station, Alexandria felt her lips curling into a smile. She always felt like she was working from behind the scenes, altering the world little by little so that the world could become a better place for everyone. This was the first time that she helped someone, and she saw the impact. She went from working behind the curtain, to the stage lit by the bright lights. It felt rewarding.

She didn't know why exactly she did it, but it was instinctual. In the non-sorcerer world, she could actively help people and not be sought out as a weapon by the power-hungry sorcerers. It was safer. More gentle, in a way. It felt good not to hide for a day.

At Sangenjaya, Alexandria noticed that her bus to Sunigami wouldn't depart for another 45 minutes. She sat on a bench, letting the afternoon light hit her face. The tension in her body was gone. The world vibrated brightly as usual.

She dug through her bag to find a crushed cigarette box. She bought one to stop stealing them from Shoko every time they took a smoking break. The familiar smell of smoke reminded Alexandria of her. Somehow, in the chaos that was Jujutsu Tech, they grew closer, slowly.

Alexandria had nothing to do. It was comforting, not having to think about anything. Being an observer is what her soul wished for. The swirling cigarette smoke rose up in the air. She crossed her legs, listening to the sounds around her. The trains screeched, the birds chirped. Some teenagers gossiped.

An older woman walked past Alexandria, carrying two bags that seemed heavy. She stopped, sighing. The bags carved lines into her hands.

Alexandria put the last part of her cigarette out and noticed the woman. Something in her called out again, and she rose.

"Excuse me, Ma'am. Do you need help with that?"

"Oh, honey, no. My house is right here," the older woman smiled, but tiredness lingered in her gaze.

"It's no problem," Alexandria said, taking the bags from the woman.

"You're such a sweetheart, young lady."

"It's nothing, really. No one should carry all this by themselves."

The grandma smiled, walking beside Alexandria. She pointed to a house decorated with many plants in colorful pots. The curtains were embroidered with intricate patterns and flowers.

"You can put them here," the lady said. "Thank you so much. What school do you go to, young lady?"

"The one in Sunigami."

"The religious school?"

"Yeah."

"They should be proud to have such a good person there. The world needs people like you, young lady. Thank you for helping me."

"You're welcome," Alexandria said, a smile coming naturally to her lips. "Have a nice day."

As she walked back to the Sangenjaya station, something shifted in her chest. A heavy feeling nestled there. She was happy to hear that she belonged. That someone felt like there was a place for her in this world. That the world needed her. Nonetheless, a thorned sentence appeared in her mind. Nobody knew that she needed the world, too.

"Where have you been?" the questioning voice of the one and only Satoru Gojo echoed through the courtyard the moment Alexandria returned.

"Calm down, Molly Weasley. I was out," Alexandria replied.

Shoko laughed. That answer didn't satisfy him.

"Out where?"

"Shopping in Tokyo, mom."

"And you didn't invite me?" He put his hand on his heart, pretending to be deeply hurt.

"I wanted one peaceful day. You and peace are antonyms."

"You hurt me, Alex."

She somehow managed to escape to her dorm without answering a million of his questions. She feigned ignorance, refusing to let him interrogate her.

Alexandria threw herself on her bed, the bags from the shopping spree lying around on the floor. The silk of the dress peeked out of a paper bag, subtly reminding her of the beautiful day she had spent alone. Now, she was back in the place that made her head spin with confusion and repelling.

After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, her phone buzzed.

[5:37 PM] shoko

girl

i forgot to tell you we have training at six

this time it's real

me [5:38 PM]

it better be real or i'm drowning satoru in the fish pond

Not again. This could happen only in Jujutsu Tech. Training on a Saturday evening. Sorcerers could hardly ever catch a proper break. It felt like this whole twisted curriculum was designed to break the students before it could turn them into functional sorcerers. However, none of them were really functional, anyway.

Alexandria forced herself out of bed. She quickly showered and put on sweatpants and a shirt. She put her hair up and sighed when she approached the mirror.

There were no such things as rest or relaxation in this forsaken world. She could take a break and be a girl for a day, but her sorceress reality would sneak up to her every single time.

The training yard was illuminated by the orange and yellow hues of the afternoon sun. The cherry blossom trees swayed gently with the wind, the pink petals gracefully settling on the soft grass below.

Four figures stood in the middle. Yaga was scolding Satoru, Shoko was looking away at the distance, and Suguru was cackling. The moment Satoru noticed Alexandria getting closer, a big, boyish grin found its way to his face.

"Alex!" he said. "You're late again. Trying to make me miss you more?"

Alexandria sighed. Satoru Gojo was like a fungus, she always told herself. Once you caught him, you couldn't get rid of him, ever.

"Trying to avoid you entirely," she said, setting her bag on the ground. "Guess my plan didn't work."

Shoko shot her an empathetic look.

Satoru pretended to be hurt. "You're so cold."

"Do you ever shut up?"

"Not when you're around. You're my muse," he said cheerfully, like he meant every word of it.

Alexandria ignored him and swore to avoid hin entirely during the training. People like him were the worst to deal with. He was too carefree, too powerful for his own good. He thought he was just picking on the girl with a bad reputation for fun. The truth couldn't be further from that. He was digging his own grave.

"You'll be sparring today," Yaga said.

Good. No technique training or cursed energy work yet. When that time comes, Alexandria would need to take on a role. She had a fake technique ready for the day she would need it. She was grateful it hadn't been today. She didn't feel like acting.

Alexandria turned around to find Shoko. The two often paired up together, slacked off, and went to smoke behind the gym. Satoru and Suguru were often genuinely interested in training. Alexandria and Shoko weren't. They often described training as a "sweaty mess of teenage boys pretending to be important."

Instead of Shoko, Satoru was walking right towards Alexandria. He was smiling widely, his smug confidence that spoke I was picked by the gods to be the strongest radiating off his body.

"Absolutely not," she said before he could even say a word.

"Yes," he countered, tossing his sunglasses on her bag like they belonged there. "I'll be gentle, okay? You can't just slack off with Shoko all the time. You gotta spar with me, for real."

"Shoko gets me. You don't."

"Come on. You're no fun."

"If by 'fun' you mean throwing me around just to prove you're the strongest-"

"One round. That's all I want."

"Fine. After that, I'm out."

He smiled victoriously and stepped on the mat in front of her.

In a moment, Alexandria observed the movement of air around them. His center of gravity. In a moment of spite, she decided that he would not be the master of her. That she wouldn't let him make a fool of her, no matter how she presented herself.

The second his foot hit the mat, she moved. No hesitation, powered by pure knowledge of physics. He’d expected her to banter, maybe stall, maybe give him some kind of dramatic lead-up. Instead, she dropped low, swept his legs before he could shift his weight, and slammed her palm into his chest with controlled precision, just enough to sweep him off his legs.

Satoru hit the mat flat on his back with a startled grunt. She followed the motion smoothly, pressing a knee into his ribs and catching his wrist before he could push her off.

For the first time since she’d met him, he looked genuinely surprised.

"Huh?" He looked up at her, blinking slowly. His usually big, flashy smile was replaced by something quieter. "That was fast."

"Maybe you just aren't as good as you think you are."

That sparked something in him. He looked like he had just discovered a very important detail about her. "Since when do you know how to fight? I thought you didn't want to be a sorceress."

"I don't. My mom got me into self defense classes when I was six to protect myself from people like you," she lied carefully.

He stared at her for another moment, like he was deciding whether to push further or laugh. Alexandria knew that she had to tread carefully, so she shifted her weight slightly, pushing her knee deeper against his ribs.

"Are you going to move," she asked, "or should I take a picture for everyone to see the great Satoru Gojo on his back?"

Somewhere behind her, Suguru snorted. Shoko was laughing. They must've noticed the embarrassing event Alexandria orchestrated.

Finally, Satoru spoke. His signature grin found its way to his face again. "Y'know, Alex. Most girls buy me dinner before they get on top of me."

Alexandria's face shifted to one of contempt. "You're disgusting."

She stood up, turning her back to him before he could turn it into another one of his dramatics. For the first time, he didn't immediately launch into another joke. He straightened his uniform with exaggerated care and shot a look at Shoko and Suguru, who were still laughing.

Yaga ended training quickly after that. No one wanted to spend their entire Saturday evening on the training grounds. Alexandria finally made it to her room, ready to relax and spend some time alone, recharging from the disaster the training has been.

She hoped that Satoru wouldn't start to catch on. She should've pretended to be weak, but her pride and the annoyance she felt towards him refused to let him get what he wanted.

While skimming through Kafka on the Shore in bed, Alexandria noticed her phone buzzing with notifications.

+81 70-4829-1375 added me to "pinning season"

[8:18 PM] +81 70-9361-5842

you did god's work today, alex

[8:18 PM] shoko

real

[8:18 PM] +81 70-4829-1375

CHANGE THE GC NAME RN

+81 70-9361-5842 changed the name to "still waiting on gojo's W"

[8:19 PM] +81 70-4829-1375

suguru do you hate me ☹️☹️

[8:20 PM] suguru geto

kinda

it was funny watching you suffer today

[8:20 PM] satoru gojo

what if i jumped off the gym roof 💔💔

me [8:21 PM]

why am i here

[8:21 PM] suguru geto

so we can give you an award

[8:22 PM] satoru gojo

because i miss you already my queen

me [8:22 PM]

ew

[8:23 PM] shoko

preach

we're going to 7/11

come with us

me [8:23 PM]

nah i'll go sleep

[8:24 PM] suguru geto

you have to since you're in the groupchat

[8:24 PM] satoru gojo

it's mandatory

me [8:25 PM]

i didn't consent to this

Chapter Text

April 28th, 2007

Alexandria's dorm room felt like the moments before a storm. Yaga had assigned a mission. That alone wouldn't have been a problem. If it was a solo one, she would already be one foot out of the door already. But, this one was for all four of them. Together.

She had a bad feeling about the entire thing. Anxiety pooled in her gut, spreading out through her entire body, suffocating without a place to escape from. Her hands were trembling, like her body knew something before her mind did.

She was prepared for anything, as it would be only right for an omnipotent sorceress to do so, but preparation didn't change the fact that she had to hide. She'd made a promise to herself: no one could know who she truly was. Out of sheer principle and a hint of fear, she wouldn't break it. The cost of revealing her true technique was too high, for her and for whoever was close to her when the truth came out.

So, she worked from the shadows. Like she always did.

With her uniform half-buttoned, she paced around her room. The dreadful feeling in her chest didn't let her relax for a moment. The soft light coming in from her window was a total opposite to her unrest. The soft humming of trees swaying in the spring wind mocked her panic. Alexandria spent half an hour looking through her window, looking for an anchor that might calm her down. In a moment of desperation, she thought of calling Shoko, but that seemed like too much.

She hated acting. Putting on someone else's skin. For the first time in her life, she wanted to be seen. Not for validation, but to be seen as the girl who she really was. She owed that to herself, but it was long gone, buried underneath fear and hiding.

Alexandria would have to be someone else today. Limit herself so that nothing of her true self comes out today. Use Resonance, the technique she made up to shield herself from the suspicious gazes of the Jujutsu society. The one she had told her classmates all about.

Flashback to April 21st, 2007

"Why did you buy three bags of chips?" Shoko lowered her cigarette, giving her white-haired classmate a look of pure disappointment.

"You're so right. Why buy three when I can buy four," Satoru said, pivoting and striding back into the convenience store without another word.

Alexandria, Shoko and Suguru were sitting outside on a bench. The street was empty, the air cool, and the leaves on trees moved with the wind. There was no moonlight in sight. It was hiding, just like she always did.

"Does he always eat that much?" Alexandria asked.

"Yeah," Shoko replied.

Suguru tilted his head, "You should see him on missions. He's like a black hole when it comes to food."

Alexandria nodded, focusing her attention back on the starry sky and the gentle swaying of tree branches in the wind. Tiredness slowly seeped into her body.

"Speaking of missions, we'll probably get assigned soon," Shoko said.

"Yeah. I hope I don't get paired up with Satoru," Suguru replied, following Alexandria's gaze.

Shoko put her cigarette out. "Me neither."

"That just leaves Alex," the nickname left Suguru's mouth, catching Alexandria's attention. "What's your technique? You haven't shown us yet."

"Nothing really interesting," she replied, lying like she had practiced. "It's based on the physical principle of resonance."

"That's not an explanation, though."

"Do you want the physics, basics or both?"

"Physics," Suguru said.

"None," Shoko added, lighting another cigarette.

"Both," Satoru said, sliding on the bench to sit next to Suguru, hands full of chips bags.

Alexandria sighed. One part of her wanted to tell them the truth. She had even started considering them friends. But, she had to sacrifice that wish of hers in order to protect herself. That was a rotten fact deeply vowen into her mind.

"Every object in this world has its natural frequency. When those frequencies are manipulated by an outside frequency, the amplitude of the original one is maximised, and the whole thing can tear itself apart," Alexandria explained. "That's why bridges break. Why singers can shatter a glass with their voices. I can see frequencies and adjust them accordingly. It's not much, but it's not entirely useless."

"It's not useless," Shoko said.

Satoru stared at her, silently observing.

Suguru was intrigued. "Can you demonstrate?"

"Sure," Alexandria said. She focused her cursed energy on a stick on the ground, and it broke apart.

Satoru opened his mouth to speak, "Wait, that can't be the only thing you-"

"I can also do this," Alexandria said and moved her hand. Satoru's voice was silenced.

Suguru and Shoko burst into laughter. No one has managed to silence their intensely egoistical classmate like that ever before. Satoru stared at her, pretending to be hurt. His eyes subtly revealed a deeper kind of interest.

A smile found its way to Alexandria's lips. The sounds of Suguru and Shoko laughing made a part of her happy. She had rarely managed to make people laugh. It was rewarding. "Sound is also a wave."

"Girl, you should've told us earlier about this," Shoko said through giggles.

"Why did you do that? I thought you liked me," Satoru whined.

"I like you quiet," Alexandria said.

"You like meee!" Satoru exclaimed, leaning closer to her.

Alexandria rolled her eyes. Suguru's laugh faded first. He looked at her again, seemingly pondering a question.

"You're not that weak. Why don't you want to be a sorceress?" he asked.

Alexandria's eyebrows furrowed. "Isn't it obvious?"

"No?"

"You're fucking with me."

In a split second, her demeanour changed. This topic always evoked negative emotions in her. Alexandria wasn't sure if he was making fun of her. They were the only people who didn't ignore her because she was a Corbeau. What if it was all a ruse?

"Alex, I genuinely wanna know."

Three pairs of eyes were on her. With an uncomfortable feeling in her body, and a sense of panic residing in her gut, she forced herself to speak.

"I would never serve a society that hates me for my lineage while knowing nothing about me," Alexandria said, feeling a little lighter. "You can't pretend that you hadn't heard the rumors."

"Why care about what others say?" Satoru asked.

"It's easy for you to say when people only praise you," Alexandria replied. "I know what they call me behind my back. I won't try to find my place in the group of people that hate me. I have nothing to prove to them."

"Why not, though? You're just showing that you're weak."

Alexandria scoffed. "The real strength sometimes is in getting away. I don't owe anyone anything here. I'm gonna do what I like and whoever is against it can watch from the sidelines."

The air filled with stillness. For the first time, Alexandria realised, she was speaking her mind. She said what she really thought, and it felt good.

"That's a valid point," Suguru said, breaking the silence. "What do you want to do, though?"

"Study physics," she said. "Become a teacher or something. I can see waves because of my technique. It's a useful thing, just not for the people you think it is."

"You'd make a great antisocial gloomy teacher," Satoru said. His voice had a teasing note to it.

"I'm not that antisocial."

"Did you ever, like, have friends before us?"

"Who do you think I am? Sorry to hurt your ego, but I sure did."

Satoru pouted. Suguru, who was quiet for a moment, asked another question. "Which school did you go to?"

"Hibiya," Alexandria replied.

"Did you have a boyfriend there?" Satoru asked, his voice both a little hurt and sarcastic.

"None of your business."

Suguru laughed. He leaned forward, his eyes reflecting a hint of curiosity. "No, no. I wanna know too."

"You gotta tell us now," Shoko added. Alexandria looked at her, faking a gasp of betrayal.

"Do you really think I'm that reclusive?"

The three replied in unison, "Yes."

Alexandria buried her head in her hands. The three didn't falter. They demanded an answer, still staring holes at her.

"Then, this is the answer you didn't expect. I did."

Shoko laughed and lit a cigarette, not believing the answer. Suguru nodded, not surprised. Satoru gasped, not expecting the words to come out of her mouth. He felt like she kept surprising him, over and over again.

Moments before he could open his mouth to speak again, Alexandria used her technique to stop a single sound in escaping his mouth.

"I won't be taking any more questions about my love life."

Late evening of April 21st, 2007

Four sets of footsteps echoed through the dorm complex. Laughter and shushing bounced off the walls. The night was dark, still moonless.

When Alexandria and Shoko waved goodbye and went to their dorms, Suguru and Satoru were left alone. Silence lingered in the air, unspoken words and secret impressions hiding behind the stillness.

"Alex is hiding something," Satoru said.

Suguru sighed, knowing that his best friend was destined to say that at one point. "Would you leave the poor girl alone? She literally said that she wants nothing to do with sorcery."

"She's hiding something. I know it."

"Maybe she's hiding it with a reason," Suguru said, his tone of voice shifting into defensiveness, not knowing why.

"There's something about her I can't explain. Tell me you've noticed it, too."

"Satoru, it's late. Go sleep. You're just spitting nonsense," Suguru almost turned his back to Satoru, dismissing his best friend's theories.

"I'll figure it out no matter what."

Walking away, Suguru sighed. He knew that Satoru wouldn't listen to him. "You'll get a restraining order."

Satoru ignored him, walking carefree to his room, whispering to himself. "She'll be mine."

April 28th, 2007

No matter how badly Alexandria had wanted to slow time down, the hour of the mission approached her. Slowly, devastatingly. She boarded the train nearby Jujutsu Tech alongside her classmates, clutching the mission files in her hands. Yaga had followed them to the station, waving to them with a small smile.

The train rattled along the tracks, a steady, metallic rhythm that was determined to drown out Alexandria’s suffocating thoughts. They were threatening to turn her stomach down, to eat her alive. She picked the seat by the window, the spring countryside blurring past, sunlight flickering through the glass, contrasting her grim thoughts.

Suguru immediately chose the seat furthest from Satoru, spoke about "keeping his peace" and exclaimed that he was going to take a nap. No one dared to wake him up.

Satoru had claimed the seat across from Alexandria, a bag of snacks in his lap and the kind of grin that suggested he was either up to something or about to be. Knowing him, it was probably both.

“You know, Alex,” he began, opening a packet of rice crackers with a loud snap, “I’ve decided you’re the mysterious type. Which is really unfair, because I'm supposed to be the most interesting person in this group.”

“That’s one way to say you’re jealous,” she replied, not looking away from the passing fields, trying her hardest to keep her attention on them.

“Jealous? Of you?” Satoru’s boyish laugh was loud enough to earn a glare from an old man in the next row. “Please. I’m just curious.”

Suguru, who was eavesdropping instead of sleeping, added. “That’s his polite way of saying he’s been trying to figure you out for a week and it’s driving him insane.”

“I’m not insane,” Satoru whined. “Just invested in the mystery.”

Shoko leaned back in her seat, missing her characteristic cigarette. She had already cussed out whoever banned smoking from public transport. “You’re going to get bored eventually, Gojo. You have the shittiest attention span I've ever seen.”

Alexandria finally glanced away from the window, allowing herself a small smile. “I think I can survive your attention span.”

“That sounds like a challenge,” Satoru said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. He never cared for personal space. “Alright, tell me something personal. Favorite color. Weirdest fear. Have you ever-”

“Are we really doing this?” Shoko cut in, eyes half-lidded. She was looking at Satoru like he was a snotty kid.

“Yes,” Satoru said immediately. “It’s called team bonding, Shoko. Look it up.”

Suguru, who had been quietly watching them, gave up on his sleeping ruse and added, “She doesn’t have to tell you anything if she doesn’t want to.”

Alexandria’s grip on the edge of her seat tightened for just a second. That familiar dread was pressing against her ribs once again. Nonetheless, she covered it with a shrug. “It’s fine. Favorite color’s purple. Weirdest fear is,” she paused, her mouth twisting into something teasing, “long train rides with you.”

Satoru gasped in mock offense. “You wound me. Shoko, she’s bullying me.”

“Good,” Shoko replied, now already used to Alexandria's demeanour towards Satoru.

Suguru chuckled under his breath. “You walked right into that.”

The train lurched slightly, making Alexandria’s stomach twist. It wasn't from the movement, but from that same cold certainty sitting in her chest, that something was coming, and she wouldn’t be ready for it no matter how hard she had prepared. No matter how hard she tried to work it out behind the scenes.

She forced herself to return the question at Satoru anyway. Forced socialisation was better than the feeling of impending doom that resided in her mind. “Your turn, then. Weirdest fear?”

Satoru tapped his chin, pretending to be deeply in thought. “Running out of snacks during a mission.”

“That’s not a fear,” Shoko said. “That’s just a lifestyle hazard.”

“No, it’s a tragedy,” Satoru corrected. “And if it ever happens, I’m blaming Alex.”

Alexandria rolled her eyes, letting their voices wash over her, even as she kept her gaze fixed on the countryside. She hoped they couldn’t see how tightly her hands were curled in her lap.

When the train came to a stop, Alexandria looked around. A small town was residing on a meadow, surrounded by numerous trees. The houses were mostly traditional, and the town gave off a cozy feeling.

Still, her hands were slightly trembling. When her gaze met with an old, run down shrine, a chill went down her spine. Even from a distance, she knew that something ancient and inherently evil was residing there.

Having dealt with curses from the very first days she had opened her family’s box, she wasn't surprised by the intense wave of negative energy that was emanating from the shrine. However, mixed with her feelings of uneasiness, it was ominous.

The contrast itself felt wrong. A town that looked soft and lived-in, sitting shoulder to shoulder with something rotten. The clash made her chest tighten, as though the air itself wanted her gone.

Satoru noticed Alexandria staring off at the distance, his watchful cerulean eyes following her every move. "Are you ready to go or should I just carry you there?"

"Please don't," she replied, tearing her gaze from the sleepy town.

Satoru chuckled. His eyes lingering on her for more than it was necessary. He felt her uneasiness, noticing the physical parts of her anxiety. He spoke nothing of it, deciding to let it go, atleast for now.

Alexandria followed him to the rest of the group. Suguru was studying the mission files while Shoko had lit her long awaited cigarette.

"The curse we need to exorcise is in the town's shrine," he said. Alexandria froze for a moment. "It's a grade two, so we'll be in and out in ten minutes."

"So, you're saying that we have time to buy snacks on the way?" Satoru asked, a grin plastered all over his face again. His body language didn't give off a single hint of fear about the mission.

"Don't you have enough already?" Shoko said, exhaling smoke.

"There's no such thing as too much snacks."

Their words slid easily against the silence of the town, but the quiet didn’t bend to them. It pressed closer instead, like the place itself wanted to listen in.

The town was eerily quiet. The residents lowered their gazes as the four passed them. Satoru called them all weaklings.

The weeping willows gently swayed their branches with the wind as it howled its way around the old houses. The energy was stagnant, like dust that hadn't been wiped off shelves long forgotten.

Alexandria looked around with an anxious gaze, the energy making her stomach twist in an uncomfortable way. The abandoned shrine soon crept up to them.

The ribbons tied to posts were worn, with numerous holes and stains from dirt. The walkway was taken over by grass. The bells, gently moved by the breeze, carried a creepy tune.

It wasn't a place of worship anymore.

Every step closer felt heavier, as though they weren’t moving toward the shrine but into it. Like stepping into a mouth that was waiting to close.

Upon entering the shrine, Satoru stopped in his tracks, turning to Suguru.

"This place is icky. Are we sure that the curse is a grade two?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Eh. Who cares. We're the strongest, anyway."

The floors were wet with humidity. The air was so stale that the whole building smelled like mold and mud. Alexandria had to put in effort not to gag.

A single drip of water echoed from somewhere unseen. Then another, then silence again. The rhythm was uneven, mocking her attempts to keep calm.

Something in the air was shifting. Her vision filled with lines and waves, rythmically disturbing her thoughts. The curse was making itself known.

Alexandria pulled out her phone, trying to see the time. Her screen was pitch black, even though she vividly remembered her battery percentage to be almost full. The pull she felt in the air felt strangely familiar.

"Why the hell does my clock show that it's midnight?" A bright 00:00 flashed on Shoko’s phone.

The floorboards creaked eerily. Almost no light managed to get through the cracks in the walls, which were overgrown with plants.

As they made their way further inside, the energy became more intruding and intense. Wind was howling through the building without a place it could come from.

Every hallway bled into another. Left, then right, then left again, yet the smell of mold never shifted, and the sound of bells kept following.

While passing another room, the sound of bells echoed in the silence. Alexandria could swear that they had been in this room already. A picture on one of the walls shook and fell, causing Shoko to latch onto Alexandria's arm.

"We've been here before. The curse is fucking with us," Suguru said.

Satoru crossed his arms. "We've been here already."

"We should find it eventually."

"How productive. I say we blow this thing up."

Alexandria left the talking to the strongest guys here. She glanced around, deciphering the space around her. It shifted around on purpose, confusing whoever dared to enter.

She didn’t want to admit it out loud, but it wasn’t just the curse reshaping the place, it was the place itself refusing to be mapped, having been a residing place of the curse for so long.

Suddenly, a sound reached her. Something similar to crying. It cut through the suffocating silence like a thread pulled taut. Too thin, too fragile. Too real. Was it a trick? She turned her head to the direction that the voice was coming from, noticing that none of her classmates seemed to have heard it. It was real. She saw two small figures hiding in a corner of a nearby room, trembling.

She couldn't just walk away. The voices were hushed by the screeching of the wind. Someone would find it suspicious that she had heard something none of the others did.

So she enhanced the sound. Made it louder for them to hear. Soon enough, the cries echoed through the building.

"Did you guys hear that?" Shoko asked.

"I think someone is trapped here. Sounds like children," Alexandria replied, instinctively turning towards the source of the sounds.

"I didn't get assigned to babysit," Satoru said, his voice carrying a hint of sarcasm.

Alexandria moved. "I'll check it out."

"Trying to get yourself killed? I never expected it from you."

"It's a trap, probably," Suguru added.

Alexandria shrugged, not fazed by their warnings. She knew more than them, even though she couldn't say it. "I'm not stupid."

"Go on and get yourself killed on your first mission. Congrats, Alex."

She exited the room anyway, shooting Satoru an annoyed look. She felt his stare on her back, and the familiar signature of his energy following her.

The corridor closed in around her as she walked. Every creak of the wood sounded like it came from behind, yet nothing was there when she turned. The crying led her like a candle flame in a pitch-black maze.

Nonetheless, she made her way through the suffocating room, finding two kids hidden away in a corner. She approached them slowly, careful not to scare them away.

"You're going to be okay. Everything is fine now."

She whispered, lowering herself so they wouldn't be scared. The kids said nothing back. A little boy sniffled.

"Did you get lost?" she tried again. "I'll get you out of here, okay?"

Alexandria reached her hand out. The kids, one girl and one boy no older than ten, stared at her, wide-eyed. They stood up reluctantly. No one could know for how long they were stuck in the cursed shrine. Alexandria felt immensely bad for them.

The little girl took Alexandria's hand, feeling the warmth of it after having spent so much time lost in the cursed shrine. Alexandria felt that the girl's hand was clammy and ice-cold. It was like holding someone who had already been outside their body too long.

The energy signature of the curse was everywhere, floating around the air. Nonetheless, Alexandria saw the way out. She would have forced her way through, no matter if her classmates were nearby.

She had her suspicions about Satoru, that he could read other people's energies, so she was always careful around him.

But, for those little children, those souls with a bright future, she would give anything.

The exit was near, she could feel it. The two kids held onto her hands as if they were their own lifelines. They didn't say a word. Alexandria presumed it was horrifying for a non-sorcerer to stumble upon a curse. Sorcerers atleast knew what they were dealing with.

As she led the children out of the shrine, they let her hands go and ran the moment they had seen the moonlight and the forest clearing. Alexandria made sure to whisper to the Universe to send them home safely. It would. The Universe always complied with her wishes.

She returned to where her classmates were without a problem. A simple curse would never be able to confuse her. The three were still standing in the room, trying to figure out what to do next.

"How did you find us so quickly, Alex?" Satoru asked her, a devilish smile on his face.

Alexandria shrugged, "I followed the sound waves of your yapping."

Satoru opened his mouth to speak. "Why are you like-"

Suddenly, a strong force ripped through the space. The air snapped like glass under pressure. Alexandria's body moved involuntarily towards the wall. Shoko was glued to floor. Suguru was on the opposite side of the room, unable to move.

Alexandria tried to move her hands, but they wouldn't budge. It was like her veins had been replaced with iron, her own body magnetized against her will. Something hit her in the back, harshly. She barely moved her head around to see her white-haired classmate staring at her.

He smirked. "We're pretty close now, huh?"

Alexandria gave him a look. Satoru took it for a green flag to bother her more, despite them being on a high-stakes mission that was going very wrong.

"I look pretty good up close, hm? Wanna kiss?"

"Shut up, Satoru."

She debated pushing him away, but that would only show that she could somehow avoid the force that surrounded them.

A muffled 'what the fuck' could be heard from the other end of the room. Suguru was glued to the wall, courtesy of the curse.

"It's a magnetic field of sorts," Alexandria said quietly. She saw the waves herself. The curse had assigned different properties to them and the enviroment, making them and the room affect each others variously.

The walls attracted them. Some repelled. The force was extraordinarily strong, feeling like an intense gust of wind that carried everything away.

Suguru slightly rose his head. "Great. Magnets. I wish I'd listened in Physics class more."

"I need a cigarette," Shoko said from the floor. "Or ten. Or ten packs."

Alexandria looked around. She felt Satoru's back on hers, sending shivers through her skin. She couldn't remember the last time she had been physically close to someone.

Satoru grinned. "You're all lucky to be around the magnificent Satoru Gojo to save your asses."

He tried moving his hands, but to no avail. Alexandria felt the intense surge of cursed energy emanating off his skin, swirling and gradually growing more and more suffocating. He couldn't control it without the use of his hands.

Suguru couldn't summon any cursed spirits, thanks to his magnetically paralysed body. Shoko gave up entirely, relying on her two classmates who often reminded her that they're 'the strongest' to save her.

"Well, pretty girl. Got any ideas on how to get us out of here?" Satoru woke Alexandria up from her mental stream of thoughts.

She could've gotten them out of here in a second. But, the burden of pretending pushed the plan down.

"Uh," she started, her brain analysing numerous possibilities already. "We could-"

Just as she was about to speak, the curse started showing itself in the room. Alexandria's hands trembled. The feeling was back, pure fear mixed with a primal need to run away.

It was her first time seeing a curse while pretending to be powerless. She felt desperate to leave. Her heartbeat was in her throat, thumping and irregular.

The curse was slick with black goo, oozing from its inhumane skin. Multiple mouths materialised throughout its form. A pile of dismembered humans was what it looked like. Alexandria averted her gaze to the floor, giving it her all not to just get away. Every mouth screamed at a slightly different pitch. The sound scraped her bones like nails against tin, overlapping until her eardrums rang.

She gave herself a little push, a small rip in the seams of the cosmos. Her hands moved. With a small push in the air, she weakened the magnetic waves, letting relief settle in.

Satoru exhaled. He tried to move. It was easier. He looked at Alexandria with a questioning gaze, looking for an answer.

"I'll weaken the waves so you can move. Exorcise the curse and we're out of here," she said quickly, her voice still carrying hints of panic in them.

Satoru nodded, mouthing something to Suguru. There was no time to waste. The meaty curse had been dragging its body outside from the crevices and the cracks in the walls slowly. The mouths let out high-pitched screaming sounds, hurting Alexandria's ears.

She wished she was alone so she could demolish that curse in a tenth of a second.

As she made the magnetic waves around them disperse, Satoru and Suguru moved. Alexandria focused her gaze on them.

Satoru looked at her with something akin to worry in his eyes. "Get Shoko out of here."

Her mind bypassed the limits of the present and she saw a flash of red, and a blinding light. Screaming. Destruction. It was devastatingly familiar, but she have the time to entertain the thought.

She darted towards Shoko, her eyes darting to Satoru's figure. His hands were raised in a symbol, something beneath them glowing scarlet.

The air shifted suddenly as she felt like she remembered something important.

Shit. Satoru wouldn't be precise enough not to hurt them all. Red is an explosion.

Those words weren't hers. Atleast not what she said. Alexandria froze for a moment, but moved instinctively. That voice inside of her spoke sometimes, rarely of prophecies, and mostly of seemingly random commentary.

In a few seconds, Alexandria used her powers to recenter Red. It was eerily silent, destroying walls and the flesh of the curse in a flash. It tore through space flawlessly, like a well-sharpened knife. She made it more potent and more precise, careful to hide her enegry signature from Satoru.

When he released Red, the entirety of the shrine shook. The curse dissipated in flaming pieces, dematerialising into thin air. The floorboards screamed before they broke, the walls bowing outward like they had been waiting for this collapse. The impact hit quickly. Suguru quickly summoned a curse to protect him and the girls, but it wasn't enough.

Alexandria and Shoko hit the floor with a loud thud.

When the smoke cleared, Satoru was standing above them, grinning widely.

"You okay?" he said smugly.

Alexandria lifted her head. Of course they were fine. In the last moments, she had stopped the impact from affecting her and Shoko. But, as always, she had to pretend that it was luck.

"The next time you decide to use your atomic bomb powers, tell us earlier," Alexandria said, getting up from the ashy floor.

She could see the dim daylight coming from the nonexistent ceiling. The building didn't carry the heavy energy anymore. The quiet chirping of birds filled the space now.

Shoko got up, wiping the dust from her uniform. It was finally over.

If I hadn't recentered Red, we wouldn't be standing here right now. But, no one should know that. Let's just go home.

On the train ride back, Alexandria was silent. Her heart was racing, and panic settled into her stomach once again. Familiar and raging.

She kept telling herself that no one had seen her. That no one could detect what she had done. She looked out of the window, trying her hardest to focus on the passing scenery. It felt cruel, how the world just kept going while she was breaking apart.

She exhaled. In her mind, she repeated sentences like mantras. It'll all be okay. You're doing good. Just relax. You're okay.

She didn't know where they came from. No one in her life had ever told her such things, yet they felt so familiar, like they came from the deepest parts of her soul. Sometimes, it felt like she had to parent herself.

You'll be fine.

The train rattled softly, the fluorescent lights above flickering once before steadying. Alexandria shifted her gaze from the green blur of forest to her own reflection in the glass. She was pale, eyes a little too wide, like she’d just crawled out of a nightmare and no one else had noticed.

“Y’know,” a familiar voice of her favorite egoistical classmate cut through her spiraling thoughts, “you look like you just saw a ghost.”

Satoru was sprawled across from her, long legs stretched shamelessly into the aisle, sunglasses tilted down the bridge of his nose. His grin was lazy, but something in his gaze was inquiring, sharp.

She blinked at him, too caught up in her thoughts to sound enthusiastic, “What if I did?"

He chuckled, leaning forward so the light caught on the pearly white of his hair. “Yeah. That would explain why everything went so smooth in there. Almost too smooth.” His voice was covered with playfulness, but there was a blade underneath it. “Funny, huh? When you’re around, things just somehow fall into place.”

Her throat tightened. “That’s called luck,” she said quickly, too quickly.

Sitting in the corner, still pissed about the smoking ban on trains, Shoko added, "Maybe you're just in love with her."

Satoru tilted his head, still smiling, like a cat playing with a cornered bird. “Luck, huh? Guess I should keep you around more often, then.”

Suguru, sitting on a seat in front of Satoru, made a noise of disapproval. “You’re bothering her. Again.”

“Me? Never.” Satoru flopped back into his seat, stretching like he hadn’t just cornered her with words, and added with a wink, “Still. I’ll figure you out, Alexandria. Eventually.”

She didn't reply. She felt like whatever she said would just add more fuel to the fire he was starting. Her pulse thundered again, but she forced herself to breathe evenly, to keep her mask in place.

Later that night, when everything about the mission had settled, Alexandria opened her dorm window. The time on her clock was 1:08. She couldn't sleep.

The weight of the day pressed strongly on her shoulders. Satoru was onto something. Alexandria felt cornered.

But, it wasn't like all the other times when people tried to uncover the so-called secrets of her family. It seemed like pure intrigue, a childlike curiosity hidden in the heart of a teenage boy who was so different than her, yet so similar.

Strangely enough, it warmed her heart that someone wanted to get to know her.

It was a shame that he would never know about it.

Alexandria leaned on the windowsill, lighting a cigarette. The smell of smoke reminded her of Shoko, again. A brief smile appeared on her lips.

She exhaled the smoke into the night, the moon shining brightly in the darkness. The feminine, gentle light illuminated the courtyard. Alexandria remembered what the folk stories said about the Earth's satellite. It uncovered illusions.

It also lit up Satoru's white hair. The moment she saw him walking alongside the path that passed near her window, she moved. But, he was quicker.

"Can't sleep?" his voice was quieter, raspier.

Alexandria blinked. He looked very different than he usually did. He was wearing shorts and a sweatshirt, his hair slightly messy.

She leaned on the windowsill. "Yeah."

"Smoking isn't good for you."

"Neither is being a sorcerer. If something's supposed to kill me, it better be smoking."

Alexandria took a drag of her cigarette, letting the soft breeze blow her curls away from her face.

"There is something about you that I don't understand," Satoru said, his voice sounding honest.

"What is it now?"

"You say that you don't want to be a sorceress, yet you jumped immediately when you heard those kids cry in the shrine."

"Satoru," she said, the name rolling off her tongue like honey. "You don't have to be a sorcerer to save people. You don't have to be anything. Just being there when someone needs help is enough."

He stayed silent, looking at her through the window. Genuine words from her always came in at unexpected moments.

Alexandria exhaled smoke again, "What I'm trying to say is that I don't want to be a part of this 'sorcerer' world. I don't want for saving people to be a chore that destroys me in the end. It should be natural. On my own terms."

Satoru took a step back, not opening his mouth to provoke her again. He looked at her with somethink akin to admiration in his eyes. After breaking eye contact, he turned away.

Before leaving, he whispered, "You're beautiful."

Alexandria was left stunned by his unexpected behaviour. Her heart raced. She threw away the finished cigarette and closed the window.

You'll be okay.

That night, Satoru dreamed of a curly hair girl who saved children and eased the ache of the world whenever he was around her. His mystery, he called her.

Minutes later, he woke up, covered in sweat while shivering, questioning himself about why he wanted to save others.