Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was lonely.

Oh so lonely down here in this rotting basement where they were locked up; chained and deprived of the sun they desperately wished to feel.

They wished to feel the grass upon their feet, the rain cooling down their skin and washing their sins away and down a drain where they would never have to be faced with the notion of everything they had done. Everything they were forced to do.

They wished and hoped; they were, after all, still a child. A child that bloomed in the dark, craving blood and screams because that was all they've ever experienced, all they've ever been shown in this world of darkness.

They were a flower forced to bloom in the shadows, forced to survive off of fear.

They wished they were never born.

They never wanted to be born with the thing inside them. The thing that made them hurt other people around them. They never wanted to cause all those bad things to happen.

And yet they did.

People say that a child is born innocent, free of sin and greed.

But they weren't born like this. No, they were full of sin.

From the moment they were born, some would say the moment they first took an inhale of air, was the moment they had sinned. The moment they had been cursed.

(Or was it that they were cursed and, that when they were born, they had cursed the world?)

Q shook their thoughts away. There was no point in thinking about that anymore. They were stuck here. That was a fact, that despite how much they wanted to be false, was anything but. It was the cold hard truth.

Their eyes shut and they fell asleep with nothing but thoughts on how cruel the world had been to them; on the cold hard ground with nothing but the clothes they had on, curling into themselves as they breathed ever so softly. Looking innocent and rid of sin despite the blood on their hands and the chains of punishment weighing them down.

It was a peaceful slumber.

(Well, as peaceful as it could be when their sleep was riddled with nightmares, and when they could feel the cold concrete dig into their skin.)

When Q woke up, they found themselves in darkness. Feeling around, Q discovered themselves to be in a coffin.

(It felt comfortable here.

Nothing could bother them, and they couldn't bother anyone else either.

Would it feel like this when they'd meet their inevitable end?)

Q pushed against the wood a few times before falling down, the door crashing on the floor in pieces.

(The wood looked old, like it was rotting...

Like their sins seeped out of their body and corrupted the wood.)

They stood up, making sure not to get any splinters (which wouldn't matter in the end; they were numb to pain anyways) and dusted their clothes off.

They looked around.

It looked like they were in a chamber. A mirror in the center, with chairs surrounding the front of the mirror.

They walked forward, their mary janes clicking against the clean and shiny checkerboard tiles as they inspected everything.

Their heads whipped to the door when they heard voices.

The jangle of keys was heard along with a clicking: the lock?

The door turned and Q was faced with strange men in robes. Robes of purple, gold, and black, looking regal.

"Oh dear, it looks like someone was impatient." Q turned to look at the man who spoke. He had a crow mask on, blocking the view of his yellow eyes. He exhibited an air of importance and confidence.

"Well, no matter. Since you are already awake, why don't you sit down?" The man pointed to some chairs. Q turned, adjusting his hold on Dogra Magra before going to sit down on a chair.

Q swung their legs around, being too short to reach the floor. They didn't know what was going on, but went along with it; maybe it was their morbid thinking but they almost wished this was a dream. That they would wake up in the dark and dingy basement again where they belonged. They didn't need to hope again nor dream about an alternative where they had never been taken and recruited into the mafia; where they could've been raised as a normal child, never rejected of love or affection.

(They knew it couldn't be that simple.

Dogra Magra existed after all.)

Chapter Text

A few minutes later, Q turned around to watch the other people after observing the room.

They went to a pedestal, all of them standing and waiting for something.

The man with the crow mask, though, went to the back of the room, where Q came from.

There were other coffins, similar to the one they fell from-except they were more clean, newer.

(It was obvious they didn't belong here.

They were an unknown variable.)

He swiped his hand, the boards on the floor disappearing almost instantly.

Q saw him shake his head, muttering something they couldn't hear.

"It seems everyone is here. Let the ceremony begin!" The crow-man clapped his hands. "I am the gracious Headmaster of Night Raven College, Dire Crowley! I formally welcome all new students to a new adventure at this esteemed school."

Crowley gestured to the mirror, "new students, please step up to the mirror and say your name. The Dark Mirror will look and sort you into the dorm best fit. Once sorted, you may stand near your Housewarden." He pointed to the people who came in with him.

With that, the ceremony commenced, students going up one at a time to be sorted.

Q stepped up, his shoes clacking on the polished floor as he walked up to the mirror clutching Dogra Magra.

"State thy name."

"Kyusaku Yumeno," they said, their voice childish despite the situation.

(Despite everything, Q was a cheerful child.

Whether it was because they were genuinely cheerful, or if they were out of their mind.)

"Thy has lived a woeful and cursed life," the mirror started, "magic that has been cultivated for one purpose only."

The hall was silent as the mirror said those words.

"A pitiful child indeed. Pomefiore shall be the place where you'll find what you've been looking for."

Q backed up, heading towards where all the other Pomiefore students congregated.

"Another successful orientation this year!" Crowley crowed, clapping his hands. "Housewardens, you may now escort your students to the dorms." And with that, the ceremony came to a close.

The Housewardens left one by one, Q following behind his own Housewarden.