Ripping off the rails
It all started on an average day. The roof was still leaking. The wind was still threatening to blow down the entire Ramshackle dorm, and Yuu was waiting for Malleus.
Even after discovering Malleus’ identity, Yuu’s perception of him did not change. He was a constant and calming presence in her life, and she realized that he was the one she could count on the most. After all, the fae prince gave her his true name. He gave her full power over him, and he trusted her not to abuse it. He gave her riches and treasures, but most of all, he would come to her in an instant if she was in any harm’s way.
It was Malleus who introduced her to Corvina. Corvina was a member of Malleus’ royal court. And while Lilia acted as his father, it was Corvina who substituted his late mother. Corvina was also the second most powerful mage in the land, following Queen Malefica and followed by Malleus. Malleus was aware that Corvina was getting bored in her later years so when he moved to Night Raven he took Corvina with him, except she entered as a teacher.
Corvina, in typical avian fashion, saw a hatchling and decided it was now hers. Yuu was currently in the process of being transferred to Corivna’s guardianship. And Yuu was ecstatic, she no longer had to worry about her survival.
Despite Corvina’s prickly and morbid appearance was a golden heart. Though most people doubted Yuu when she said that Corvina would pay for the finest luxuries. Yuu no longer looked out of place with the regal and opulent Pomefiore, Scarabian, and Savanaclaw dorm leaders.
There were some technical difficulties but Yuu was adamant it would all work out. She already lost hope in returning to her home world, she knew that her life now with Corvina would be better than anything she could have hoped for before. The one thing she was worried about was that the government authorities would be much more willing to let Corvina adopt her if Corvina wasn’t single, how a magical world could have such blatant discrimination was incomprehensible to Yuu but she was sure that she could aid Corvina and figure it out. Corvina was lonely and a long-term partner might do her some good.
Speaking of partners, Crowley was interested in Corvina, siting “Birds of a feather should flock together”, but Corvina wasn't interested. Especially after being made aware of Crowley’s neglect, Corvina gave Crowley another reason to wear his mask. Talon marks are hard to explain for someone so benevolent.
But what Yuu didn’t know was that Crowley was angry. Furious even, and decided to take manners into his own hands. He was once the Queen of Briar Vally’s most trusted advisor, so it wasn’t hard to push around his status to get some results. Creating discontent in a Fae court was practically child’s play. Lo and behold they were calling for the Prince to get a fiance.
A plot was hatched, and Malleus was invited to an event that he gratefully attended. It was there where he was attended to by one of the most manipulative fae in existence. It was almost as if he forgot about Yuu overnight, and Yuu was feeling severely neglected, but this time Malleus went out of his way to invite Yuu. Yuu was ecstatic and wanted to make sure her secret crush was alright.
But Crowley made sure that Malleus was smitten with another. The serpentine crow was one malicious bastard.
Malleus showed up but he was distant. Yuu was too lovesick to notice the imminent tragedy.
“Malleus! How are you, I haven’t been able to contact you for days! You just disappeared to court is something wrong?”
“It’s fine Yuu, just some new developments.”
Well, that was odd. He never called her Yuu. He also never was that brief.
“Alright but if you need something let me know,”
“About that, it would be improper for us to continue this dalliance and this lack of formality. Others might misinterpret your intentions.”
“Huh? What do you mean, what intentions? Why?”
“I’m engaged, naturally I would avoid those who could hurt my beloved’s reputation,”
Yuu felt like she was punched in the gut. She felt bile rising in her throat and it took all the self-control she had not to turn green and vomit. She was planning to confess, but Malleus had to go. Then when he came back it was as if he had never returned. He had lost the spark he had when he looked at Yuu. He looked at Yuu with distance, as if they were strangers.
Yuu didn’t know if she could take it. It was as if the rug was pulled out from under her feet. Her only pillar of support crumbled away. He was the first person in both worlds that she ever bared her soul to, and he bared his in return. Only for this stranger to take place of her barely hidden crush.
It was just this morning when Ace was teasing her for falling harder than Azul from a broom. And it was all because of him. Malleus was one of the main reasons she could survive so long in Twisted Wonderland. It was him who taught her about this world, it was him who introduced her to Corvina. Yuu remembered all of the midnight promenades and walks throughout the world. You remember the kindness and warmth that he exuded.
All of that was gone now. And Yuu was a fool for depending on stability on someone who was a stranger. She was a fool for expecting better. She’s a fool for ignoring the red flags. She was a fool for ignoring the fact that Malleus was an overgrown manchild who depended on others, and was clueless about her feelings despite how open she was about it. She resented him for constantly leading her on, only to recede back into his own shell.
She was so stupid! She allowed him to take her vulnerable state and make her bend and break as if she was putty to be molded to his whims.
It seemed so stupid to only realize now, how she bent over backward to accommodate his every whim. She would rationalize her own behavior as love. But no. It was just a twisted delusion. She made the same mistakes before and she made them before. God. She was so stupid.
And the worst part is, Yuu was sure that Malleus wasn’t even aware of the extent to which he hurt her. He probably didn’t take any notice of her crushed eyes. Eyes that just lost the little hope she had left.
But there she stood, as rigid as a pole, pallor reaching the fae prince’s level. She was shocked and frozen. And during that time, the prince disappeared, escaping any repercussions and responsibility for whatever happens next.
Yuu was left staring at the spot where the bastard stood. She slowly came to, and that shock and sadness became grief. How many betrayals does it take for someone to stop? Two worlds worth of betrayal have finally broken the girl who lived to help. Yuu turned around and stormed backwards, still halfway present, only to be hit by a shockwave.
Yuu went flying and landed on rough rocks and broken cobblestones on the way up to her dorm. She rolled to a stop, rocks cutting deeply and embedding in her skin. Yuu teared up from the sudden pain but quickly got to her feet. First an emotional pain, now a painful one. Yuu’s day was quickly shaping up to take place among her worst.
Now, who to make Yuu’s day better, than an over-smug crow. A crow who looked far too happy for her current state.
Dire Crowley was barely hiding his smug grin and a malicious glint in his golden eyes. Yuu hasn’t seen this malicious side of him before. He always hid his true tendencies before others, but now he showed his true self. A vindictive and overgrown scavenger whose skills lay in manipulating the scenes secretly and then claiming the kills of others.
Recently, Crowley had lost a bit of his luster. When he was officially and definitely rejected by Corvina for the last time. He was coming on hard, and Corvina was pissed. A prime recipe for disaster.
After that catastrophe, Crowley left to lick his wounds. When Yuu saw him afterward he looked like a deflated balloon. He was rarely present and stopped showing up to lessons. Corvina suspected it was because he needed time to lick his wounds and that he would bounce back sooner or later, but now Yuu suspected that this would not be the case.
“Ooooh Yuuuuu,” The disgusting crow crooned. There was something deeply wrong with his voice and body language, Yuu instantly suspicious remained quiet and on guard.
“Oh poooooor child, you look quite disheveled, how very unfortunate…but I am benevolent, so why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”
This was a trap, this was so clearly a trap. Yuu grit her teeth and hissed out “I just went flying into gravel, not exactly pleasant…” She answered with a definitive air. She hoped that would be the end, but what Crowley did next made her heart stop.
Crowley appeared in front of her. It was faster than Malleus or Lilia could have done physically or with magic. He grabbed her face with his talons and squeezed. Yuu hissed once again as his claws broke skin and hurt her already bruised face. She tried to break away but Crowley’s grip was steel-like.
“Poor child, are you sure that’s all this is? Are you sure it's not heartbreak? It seemed as if something unfortunate has happened? I surely hope no one took your heart or wishes for granted?” Crowley made the motion to whip away blood with his fingers, but in reality, he poked at her open cuts and ripped them open more with his metallic talons.
It took all of Yuu’s self-control not to flinch. She stared at Crowley’s face without any expression. But Yuu’s mind was spiraling. The implications were all too clear. Not only did Crowley know about Malleus, but he might have contributed to it. Now the miserable creature came here to rub salt in her wounds and gloat. All because of circumstances out of her control. It was Malleus, after all, who told Corvina enough information to worry her about Yuu’s situation. It was Malleus that inadvertently caused Corvina’s investigation and consequent rejection of Crowley.
Crowley looked at Yuu for several seconds more, seconds that felt more like years. Then he tsked in disappointment and roughly released Yuu. Yuu fell back but refused to break her composure. She had already suffered enough humiliation that day.
“Well so be it,” Crowley smeared and disappeared, leaving Yuu to limp her way back inside. Swearing at Crowley and Malleus the entire way.
But there was something Yuu forgot. Even with the turbulence surrounding Corvina’s attempt to adopt her, Corvina has been making the effort to drop in with dinner and see Yuu. Yuu entered her living room only to find Corvina and Grim sitting on the couches drinking tea and eating tuna respectively.
Corvina immediately rushed to her feet, and before Yuu knew it she was on the couch being examined by her potential guardian while Grim dropped his tuna in shock and was busy jumping around, screaming and demanding explanations.
“Henchman?! Hey Henchman?! What happened? Why do you look so banged up? There wasn’t another overblot was there? Was there a fight?”
“Grim…,” A deep voice cut through Grim’s nervous and incessant questioning.
“Get me some antiseptic, and the first aid kit, I want to make sure that Yuu does not get any infections.”
“Eek!” Grim rushed off at Corvina’s suggestion.
“Now my dear human child, Yuu, what happened?”
Yuu knew that Corvina, despite the opinions of others, was a truly kind individual. But she was an individual to which cruelty was branded onto her very soul from the torment of others. Yuu knew of the bargain she had with Corvina, to be honest, open, and loyal to each other that was made at Corvina’s insistence.
Yuu broke down and told Corvina everything that had happened.
Corvina’s eyes darkened with hatred and bloodlust. For the first time, Yuu understood why others feared her so. Corvina was tall, concerningly so. She was the tallest student in the school, and that was included when compared to the Tweels and a certain jackass of a fae prince with his horns included. Corvina towered over all of them. She also was thin but muscular. Something about her stance implied that she was an apex predator, to the point that other predatory beastmen avoided her. She was pale too. As pale as any of the fae, with sharp and angular features, keen eyes that were frequently covered with a haze of exhaustion with prominent and dark eye bags, there were those who said she resembled a corpse for this reason. But now her eyes were sharp with feeling, if those who were afraid of her in her lethargic state, Yuu was sure they would drop dead from fear from her current murderous expression and rage. Corvina also tended to favor coloring her long and sharp talons as red as her lips, the color of fresh blood.
Yuu was reminded that Corvina was a warrior that survived wartime and political battlefields and outlived all her enemies. A feat few could claim to achieve. But in her ferocity, Yuu saw the being that Corvina once was, before she was morphed into a shadow of herself during the previous Fae Wars.
“Yuu, this is unacceptable,” Corvina replied with a chilling calmness. Carefully enunciating every word.
“This will be dealt with, however, I want to ask you, how do you want me to deal with this?”
“I want to know more, I want to understand…and then…” Corvina raised her brow, “I want to carve out their hearts as they did mine with little to no provocation! I am no longer going to take this standing down, it’s time to claim my own future!” Yuu fired herself up, all her emotions conglomerating in rage.
Yuu was huffing, and Corvina nodded solemnly with pride in her eyes.
“Well then, we must plan. I will help you make your own path and shall be at your disposal. My name and fate are in your hands.”
Yuu smiled ruefully, gathering her strength she began to think. It was later that night when Yuu decided to share her plan with her ally and loyal companion. Corvina agreed and once again swore herself to Yuu.
Now the stage was set, and it was going to hurt.
Just not for Yuu.